Samantha is 3 months old today!

Happy Birthday Samantha!

The last three months have gone so fast! She is now really grabbing and holding onto toys and my nose! She is so close to rolling over. She is definitely getting a little personality and a lot louder!

She had a great Christmas..Santa brought her a toy chest to go in her room and her grandparents sent lots of toys and clothes. She got a jumparoo, a mat with toys that hang over it, a huge teddy bear, a baby doll, a sweater and blanket made by her Aunt Kalena, wrist and ankle rattles...the list goes on and on. Santa got Lenny and I a Playstation 3!

We have posted all the pictures at this link - Christmas. Here are a few of our favorites and a video.

Samantha Update

So Samantha is almost three months old...whoa! Things that she is doing:

-Almost rolls over from her tummy to her back - she's almost there
-Trys to grab toys and sometimes gets them!
-Smiles a lot
-Sleeping through the night, not all the time, but enough for Mommy to be really excited
-Stares at anything red
-"Talks" to us - she's even tried to mimic some of the sounds we make
-Definitely recognizes her Mommy, Daddy, and Grommit
- Starting to put everything in her mouth
- She loves Christmas lights and Christmas songs (despite the fact that Mommy has to make up some words because she can't remember them)

She is so much more aware now and it's getting pretty fun. It will be hard to go back to work on January 5th. Christmas will be fun so I will take the time to enjoy it with her and Lenny.

Birth Announcement

Amazing 24 hours

Okay so we had an exciting last 24 hours...

1. It snowed in Houston! A whole inch! We went for a walk in the snow and showed it to Samantha!

2. Samantha slept all night last night - 7.5 hours! So did Mommy - YAY!

3. The Space Shuttle Endeavor flew over JSC on the 747 this afternoon! We watched it from Ellington field - on the runway, so it went right in front of us! It was making its trip from California (where is had to land a week and half ago) to Florida to get ready for its next mission.

Sam and Mommy hanging out in the snow.

Our bench in the back yard with an inch of snow.

Lenny took this picture of the shuttle going over - it's attached to the 747 and you can see a chaser T-38 above the shuttle.

Two month pictures

Here are a few more of the pictures we had taken! I will put all of them up soon! All pictures were taken by Carina Olson of Kat's Photography.

Videos!!!!

More Pictures

Hi - it's been a little while, but we posted more pictures in the Samantha 0-3 months link to the left. Also I wanted to let everyone know that the pictures from my (Amy's) parents visit are in that same folder.

Samantha is doing great. She's sitting in my lap now :) She has graduated to 3 month size clothes - it's very exciting! A whole new wardrobe. I have been hitting all the holiday sales for kids clothes because after 3 months, we don't have much! She is a lot more interactive now - she smiles and gets close to giggling. She tries to reach out and grab things, but doesn't quite have the muscle control to really grab anything but my hair :) She is "talking" a lot more now too - she just loves to coo and make noise!

We are getting ready for Christmas - we put up the tree, which Samantha loves - she could stare at it for hours! I put a blanket on the floor next to the tree and she lays on her back and just loves to look at it and kick and get excited.

We had a big Thanksgiving at our house with our Houston family. It was a ton of fun. We had 12 adults and 4 kids. Surprisingly all the food was done at the same time! It was all delicious too! I made a really awesome batch of turkey soup the day after! I've posted pictures of that as well - Thanksgiving.

Thursday Sam, Steph, and I went to the Container store and REI. It was Samantha's longest/farthest trip so far. She did great and I think she really liked getting out and looking around. She was fascinated by the lights in the Container store. Steph is a good sport for coming along too - everything takes a little longer with a little one and her help was much appreciated.
I ended up buying a stroller at REI that is great - it's a super stroller that doesn't throw Samantha around when we go over sidewalk bumps. We have already taken her through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights!

I have been having trouble posting video to the site...I hope to have that fixed soon - I've been getting a lot of requests.

2 month checkup and pictures

Samantha had her two month check up today - she is 70th percentile in length and 45th percentile in weight. So she is doing great! Unfortunately, she got three shots too. Poor thing - I've never heard her scream like that before. I ended up just holding her in the lobby after that for awhile before we got in the car to come home. She is sleeping right now. I hope she wakes up and is okay. I gave her some Tylenol.

Anyhoo, last night we went over to a friends house who runs a photography business from her house and had a bunch of pics taken of Samantha...they are so cute! Here's a few:

It's November!

I just didn't realize how quick it came! Anyhoo, some pictures and a video for you to enjoy!

Daddy is reading Sam a bedtime story - the Sneetches.

Sam's first "date" with Reese Lillard - not sure Mommy approves.

Sam likes to smile now.

Samantha got a wagon from Grandpa Cassady!

Note

Just wanted to let you know that we changed the blog so you don't have to log-in to leave a comment now. So leave us one!

We also updated the bottom of the blog - now it has Samantha's age instead of a countdown to her birth - so check it out!

Good news!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Lenny got the first round astronaut letter last week! He applied in the spring and the astronaut selection committee started sending out requests to qualified applicants to get flight physicals and he got one! The people he asked to be references are also getting letters and forms to fill out as well.

We have not figured out how many people have gotten those letters (we have heard anywhere from 400 to 120 people get those letters out of the many, many thousands that apply). So this is really good news. Lenny will get his physical sometime this week and then we wait for the the next letter. The next set will be a request for an interview and the big fancy physical that NASA performs sometime in January.

We are so excited and I am really proud of Lenny!

Happy Halloween!

Samantha loves her Mummy!

Happy Birthday Samantha! 4 weeks old!

Samantha is a month old today! Yeah! Luckily she is young enough not to remember the Michigan football season this year :)

She is doing well. She finally got back up to birth weight this week! A little behind, but we are getting her more food now. It's a long story, but the bottom line is that we will have to supplement with formula for the time being. My milk supply just isn't producing enough. So we can't rely on breastfeeding alone. There's more to it and I will post the whole story some other time. But she's getting back on track with her weight and we couldn't be happier.

We have had a ton of visitors - Grandma and Grandpa Fischer, Uncle Patrick, and Grandma and Grandpa Cassady. We can't thank them enough for their help. We also want to thank all the people who have come over to visit and helped out with dinners! The meals really helped us out!

We posted some more pictures at this link - Samantha - Week 2 -3.

Enjoy!

Samantha went for her first walk on Wednesday.

Patrick was here too.

Samantha Week 2

It's been a great week! Samantha is changing every day...she is so beautiful. This week we got more visitors. Grandma and Grandpa Fischer flew down to Houston from Grand Rapids, Michigan to see little Sam. She is having a great time with them. I think they are smitten with her too. Uncle Patrick just got here today to visit before he heads to Australia for two years!

We have had a bit of an ordeal learning to breastfeed. Both Sam and I are learning together. My milk supply came in late and it caused us to supplement with formula. Sam still hasn't gained enough weight - she still hasn't gotten back up to her birth weight. So we are working on it with feedings every 2 hours. I am very tired!

We will post some pictures tomorrow. I need to go to bed right now.

But for my Aunt Sandy - here's a pic of Grandma Fischer and Samantha!

Samantha's first week

We have posted a bunch of pictures from her first week. We came home from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon and have been getting used to feeding around the clock. I will say that learning to breastfeed has not been easy. We have had our first pediatrician appointment - she is doing great. We head back next week for her 2 week appointment. I can't believe it's been a week! She has grown and changed so much in a short time! She's great and makes the cutest faces! Anyway, we'll keep trying to posting. Here's a link to the pictures - Samantha.

Samantha Day 3

Amy and I have been extremely busy learning how to feed and care for our new little one. We are still at the hospital and hope to leave Tuesday. Saturday night we tried and failed to catch up on sleep - getting maybe 5 hours. Sunday night we got more sleep - six whole hours in bits and pieces! Learning how to breast feed takes a lot of work and time for both of us. We are make slow progress getting Samatha to feed, but things are looking very good now. Samatha is a little jaundice, but it is nothing to worry about. Larissa, Lindsay, Edgar, Betsy, Jess, and Katie visited on Sunday. Monday Randy, Ami, Brian, and Christine visited and brought us food. Thanks.

This afternoon Amy had her epidural removed. She is feeling much better. It looks like we will be going home Tuesday, but our doctors have not said anything for sure yet.

To be clear, Amy did end up having a C-section at 6am Saturday. I watched most of the first half of the surgery over the curtain. It was strange to watch people cutting and pulling on Amy. The doctors were amazingly rough on Amy and Samantha. The OB pulled Samantha out by the head with what looked like a lot of force. Babies are much tougher than they look. The nurse then cleaned Samatha up and she was throwing Samantha around too. I thought that Samantha was beautiful and fell in love immediately. I missed the second half of the surgery (the placenta and sewing parts) to watch Samantha be weighed and measured.

Samantha Marie Cassady

Samantha Marie Cassady was born at 7:01 am. She weighed 7lbs 6 ozs and was 20" long.

Still in labor

Amy is still in labor. She is dialated to almost 10cm. We are in birthing room 13. Amy is doing very well with the epidural. We are just waiting for Amy to be fully dialated and to feel like she has to push. The excited part is just around the corner!! I can't wait to meet baby girl.

At the Hospital!!

Amy and I are now checked in to the hospital. Amy started having contractions at 1am this morning (Sept. 26). She let me sleep (mostly) until 4am at which time I took a shower and started packing the car. We had an appointment at the hospital at 9:30 to pre-register for an induction starting Sunday evening. The contractions were not coming often enough to go directly to labor and delivery so we attempted to make our pre-registration appointment. We made it to admitting on time and contractions were coming every 7 minutes as we filled out that paperwork. Then we went to the labor and delivery pre-registration desk - there were no nurses. We waited for 15 minutes before the first nurse to appear and we asked to be admited directly to labor and delivery. The nurse (Gayle) checked us in. Unfortunately, after 2 hours they said that we had to go home. The hospital is packed because 3 other hospitals in the area are still closed because of Ike. On the way out we completed our pre-registration paperwork because we knew that we would be back soon.

We were at home from 1:30 to 4:30. During that time the contractions got stronger and more frequent. We called the doctor and said that were ready to go to the hospital. We are now admitted and Amy is dialeted to 5cm and has her epidural. Her water broke around 6:45pm. We are now waiting to get a better room and for Amy to dialate to 10cm.

Eviction Notice

It's official, little baby Cassady has gotten an eviction notice. I saw my doctor this week and we have scheduled an induction starting Sunday night! We go in at 8:30 pm and hopefully we'll meet our little girl on Monday. I have been having contractions this week and yesterday they got pretty intense, but still far apart. So we could end up at the hospital sooner. So keep an eye on the blog!

I am officially on maternity leave now too. I tied up the loose ends this morning and I don't plan on going back to work until the start of the new year. I am really looking forward to spending the next three months with this little baby - I just hope I can make it through the tough non-sleep period!

Lenny is planning on taking two weeks off and my parents will be here when he starts back up at work. Then Lenny's parents are coming down for a week. So I should have help for the first month. Plus, I think all our friends are willing to help out too - a lot of them have had babies within the last year and I guarantee I will want some help!

We'll take one last belly picture and post it soon.

After Ike

What a week! Houston was hit by hurricane Ike and it wasn't a little storm that's for sure. As you can see from the last post, we were required to evacuate.

At 36.5 weeks of pregnancy we had to leave our home - not the best of circumstances. I was pretty upset and tense through the whole thing. It's hard to think that after all the preparation the one thing you thought you could control (where the baby was going to be born and the ability to come back to your home after) was completely out of my hands. I had talked to my doctor last Monday and all she said was to get to a city with a good hospital.

So we did that - we went to stay on the west side of town with friends (Kara and Ross) in Cypress. Turns out that the storm was huge and ended up hitting them too. So we left Clear Lake Thursday night for Cypress and weathered the storm there on Friday night. I was quite the experience - 80 mph winds and a lot of rain. They lost power before dawn and sustained some damage to the house - their roof lost some shingles and leaked and their fence was partially blown over. So not too bad and everyone was safe.

By midday on Saturday the hot weather kicked in and being so preggo, I needed to get into some AC. So Kalena and Jon helped us out and found us a hotel in Austin. So we headed farther west to get some relief. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Holiday Inn they wanted an extra $100 (room was already $200) for Grommit! They are required to let animals stay with evacuees, but wanted a "deposit" that they don't refund. While we were deciding what to do - they sold our room - so that's the last time Holiday Inn gets my business - punks! So we called our good friend Jeremy Rea and he came through for us - we ended up staying with some of his friends. We had met them before so it wasn't too bad and they were so nice! We stayed with them on Saturday and Sunday. Fortunately, we were not alone out there - we hung out with Jeremy and the Lillards. Randy and Ami were staying with relatives about 2 miles away so we got to hang with friends. They just had a baby too! Reese turned one month old over the weekend.

We got a call Sunday night that our power had come back on - our neighbor across the street came back on Sunday and luckily we exchanged cel phone numbers before the storm hit. I was so excited I almost cried. We were planning on coming back Monday power or no to check out the house even though we had several friends who came back early check out the outside. You know, you want to see your own house and get inside to make sure a ceiling didn't leak through or something. Plus - there is definitely something to be said for being in your own home and being comfortable. And poor Grommit didn't know which was up with all the house hopping and long drives.

Our drive home was long - there were a lot of people going back. It was pretty eery as we approached Houston, you could see more and more houses with roof damage, tall buildings with windows blown out - but there were already crews working to fix it all up.

As we approached Clear Lake we got out the camera because it just looked crazy. There were a ton of really huge trees down and damage to buildings and houses, but all in all, not too bad (obviously not as bad as Galveston). So we were very lucky that we had minimal damage from a Category 1/2 hurricane going over our house (the eye did go over our house - as a side note, we got to see some physics at work as all of our soap dispensers leaked soap on our counters - as the eye passed over the pressure changed significantly it forced the soap up and out - cool huh?!)

So here we sit - the house looks good - no damage really. The yard was full of debris - branches, twigs, leaves. A tree fell on our back fence, but didn't knock it over. Lenny has already cleaned up most of it. Some of our neighbors have a lot more to do, but thankfully our neighborhood made it through pretty well. Next door to us they lost their entire back fence and two big trees, but nothing the house. Two blocks away trees took down the power lines so we still have a lot of neighbors without power and we'll help them the best we can.

So we are safe, the baby is still comfortable in my belly. The local hospital is open (I called to make sure) and the downtown hospitals are open as well. So all is well on the baby front and I couldn't be happier that we'll be able to have her here - in a safe environment and be able to bring her home.

So all is well. Grommit is enjoying having his yard and spot on the couch back (as soon as we got home and he was satisfied the house was properly sniffed, he plopped on the couch and promptly fell asleep.)

On the NASA front - it looks like space center won't be open until next week at the earliest. I don't know what kind of damage it sustained. There hasn't been much coverage of the local area on the news - just Galveston. I know a lot my friends closer to work and closer to the lake and bay still don't have power or water. So I am sure the center is in the same situation. Not going to venture out there though. We need to conserve gas and at this point we just don't know what condition all the roads are in. Though to be safe we took a drive to make sure we could get to the hospital today and the route was open - but we saw that clear lake did sustain a lot of damage. The majority of the traffic lights are out, most of the businesses are without power still and Nassau Bay is closed off to everyone. We did see a boat in parking lot of the Hilton (the one everyone kept seeing on the news).

Lenny also saw Air Force One go over our house today - the president landed at ellington field this morning to tour the wreckage.

So that's our story - I have posted before and after pictures at this link IKE.

Ike

Looks like our zip code is under mandatory evacuation. Lenny and I will be leaving either tonight or really early tomorrow morning to stay in Cypress with Kara and Ross.

Good news is that little baby Cassady shows no signs of wanting to move out - let's hope that lasts another week :)

Week 36

Hi everyone - Wow it's week 36! Less than a month to go! Things are going well - I feel really big right now. I swear my belly has popped in the last week or two. I am starting to get pretty uncomfortable and a little antsy. We had an ultrasound last week and the little one measured 6 lbs and 3 oz at week 35 (about 10 oz above average, but well within the plus or minus 3 week uncertainty in ultrasound measurements). Her head measured what an average 38 week baby's head would measure (ahhh). Everything looks really good though - she just has a lot of brain! She'll be a smarty pants like her Mommy and Daddy! After talking to my OB it looks like she isn't going to want me to go past 39 weeks so we are looking at the last week in September to get things moving. I have been having contractions (real ones!) the last week so that's a good sign that I might actually go into labor naturally, but I am not getting my hopes up too much on that because I am still 0% effaced and 0 cm dilated. We will just have to wait it out.

Things are going well at work - just trying not to get too stressed and starting to gather all my work to pass off while I am away. Lenny is doing well too - I think we are both excited and nervous! His work is busy - he has a bunch of colleagues in from Costa Rica this week, so he is entertaining them.

We had our final baby shower last Friday with Ad Astra folks. It was a lot of fun - thank you Lindsay, Jacob, Christine, and Brian for throwing such a great party!

We also celebrated my 32nd birthday (I'm old!) with a cookout at our house with our close friends - it was a lot fun! Plus we had our 5th anniversary over the weekend! We went out for a really nice dinner at Perry's steakhouse - Mmmm! So I was a little bad with keeping on track for gestational diabetes - I had one slice of cake (the best ever - Lenny made it with homemade frosting!) and creme brulee on our anniversary. I think all turned out okay though - my doctor just smiled when I told her.

Anyhoo - I have gathered all the belly pics and posted them for your viewing pleasure - it shows how my body has changed the last 9 months. Here is the link: Belly pics. Enjoy!

One more thing...we are keeping an eye on Ike, but have no plans to evacuate. We won't know anything for the next day or two until the storm has a chance to make it's path in the Gulf. I really hope we don't have to leave.

Week 34

Oh my, how the time has flown. It's now countdown time - 6 weeks to go! Everything is going well. I am visiting the doctor every week. Last week the appointment went very well - the little girl is growing and gaining weight right on target. As for me, not so much, I haven't gained weight in a few weeks. Which means with my new diet, I am getting just the right amount of nutrition for the both of us. I certainly feel bigger though - the tummy is getting pretty big now. I'll have to have Lenny take a picture and we'll post it this week.

We are addicted to Olympics right now - I think it's good that's it's over today. I won't miss sleep anymore to see volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, and track! We'll finally get the baby's room finished up - though it's just putting things away - it's looking pretty good. When it gets settled we'll post some pictures.

Anyhoo - in the last two weeks two of our friends had babies! Reese Pascal Lillard was born on August 13 and Chase Edward Clem was born August 21. Congrats to Amy and Randy and Kylie and Andrew! I love that there are two friends going through everything one month before me - I know they won't have momnesia and they can give the whole scoop and advice!

Edouard

No that's not the baby's name! It's the tropical storm going over our house right now! Not too bad - as you can see we still have power - but we have gotten a few inches of rain already. Lenny and I are hanging out doing "work" on our laptops. Both our employers gave us the day off due to the weather. It's nice to be able to take it easy for a day without having to plan in relaxation time.

I had my Houston baby shower over the weekend and it was fantastic! Betsy went all out on the invites and rocket diaper cake! They were awesome! It was at Katie's house and Ami, Kylie, Steph, and Heather helped decorate and set-up - thank you so much! So many friends came too - it was fun seeing everyone and getting advice - especially when I opened a gift and had no idea what to do with it :) Motherhood will be quite a learning experience.

We are almost ready for the baby to come - we still have to get some of the big items - the pack'n play, the bedding (though, I'm not sure she'll ever use the quilt with Texas temps, but it sure is cute!), a high chair, and a few small things that I haven't got on a list yet. We have to finish decorating the babies room...we have it all laid out, we just need to hang things on the walls. Lenny also redid the baby's closet and we designed and installed new shelving from the container store. It's really cool and as she grows we can change it around to fit bigger clothes. We will be picking our pediatrician next week too. We have one last interview with a doctor that's supposed to be really good and we can make a decision in plenty of time.

We also started our Lamaze class - which is Lamaze and a bunch of other topics - we covered breastfeeding last night and we went over natural delivery and induced deliveries in previous classes. We'll go over c-sections, epidurals (I'm very interested in this one), and child care for the remainder of the class. It's been pretty educational. I have had a lot of friends explain these things to me, but my engineering mind needs visuals and numbers...and they certainly provide those with all the videos and instruction in the class. Lenny got to see what it was like to be pregnant the first night - the instructor had him wear a 30 lb backpack around his front torso - it was a hoot to watch him try to sit on the floor and get up. So I think he may get a small understanding of how I just can't be graceful when I attempt the same thing.

Now for a bit a depressing news (for me at least)...I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. It's a form of diabetes (like regular type 2) that you only get during pregnancy. There's not rhyme or reason for why I got it, it just happens to some of us. It is controllable with diet and exercise and I don't feel any different - In fact for being so big I feel pretty good. The depressing part is that I have to watch what I eat very closely - no more pasta, very little bread, and no sweets. All my weaknesses during pregnancy and all I crave! I got pretty angry when I first found out...I am easing into though and am probably eating the healthiest I have ever eaten in my life. So I suppose it's a good thing in a way. But I still mourn the uneaten plate of spaghetti, the chocolate bar I have to give up, and the pizza I will not be able to order. I better stop, I am starting to drool...better go get that celery stick with peanut butter.

Here's the 31 week belly picture with the rocket diaper cake Betsy made!

99 days

If you check the little ticker at the bottom of the page you'll see we are on double digit countdown now! 99 days left until the due date! Whoa! I need to get some stuff done!

Our trips were a lot of fun. It was nice to be with family and in the northern summer weather. We got to spend a lot of time with our nieces and nephew. I got a ton a cute baby clothes at my shower and I got to catch up with a lot of family I haven't seen since our wedding. My sister-in-law Wendy, my nieces Megan and Maddie, and my Aunt Sandy threw a great shower - thank you! And thanks to all the family that helped too including Lenny's Mom and cousins!

I will post a few pictures when I download them. I hope to get a better site for all our pictures up and running soon as well so you can just go over and see all of them!

Oh and I've been asked a lot about where we are registered - Babies R Us and Target! Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on what to put on there...I needed it!

Ultrasound video

Way overdue...but here's some of the video that was taken a month ago...look for the cute little hiccup and wave!

My ankles have disappeared

So I figured we should update since it's been a good month. My morning sickness has died down -finally! The heartburn has kicked in though. As the title says - my ankles are swelling almost every night now...it is the weirdest thing. It goes away after I get off my feet, my I do miss seeing my ankles when it does happen.

Anyhoo, Lenny, baby girl Cassady, and I are doing well. We are getting ready for the next few weeks of traveling. We just got back from Florida on Sunday for my Space Flight Awareness Award. That trip was awesome. We got to see and incredible launch and I got to feel really honored - it was a great experience and it certainly reinvigorated me. I think everyone needs to be inspired every once in awhile to keep up with face pace jobs. I really do have the coolest job in the world and it's nice to be reminded that people care. The nomination means so much more to me after experiencing last week. We stayed in a resort in Universal Studios, Orlando. We had a huge reception/dinner Wednesday night (700 people or so) where we got to hang out with astronauts and hear the upper management at NASA thank us for our hard work - it meant a lot to me. We got our awards at a smaller breakfast awards ceremony the next day - Milt Heflin (JSC deputy center director) and Charles "Scourch" Hobaugh (an astronaut who has flown on STS-104 and STS-118). We had the rest of Thursday off and went to Universal Studios - where I couldn't ride all rides, but was still fun. We happened to run into the Mendeck (Gavin got an award too!) and hung out with them at the park. Lenny got to ride all the rides with them, so that was nice. Friday we got tours of KSC all day and on Saturday we went to launch. The launch was beautiful! We could see it for about 4 minutes...much longer than STS-123. I love launches!!!!

We are headed to east coast for a wedding June 13 - 16 - our friends Robb and Sara are getting hitched! And finally to Michigan for a baby shower and family visits June 17-24. It's going to be a busy time!

Anyhoo, I am finally posting some long overdue pics!

Wow look at that belly - that's me really showing at 22 weeks.

Lenny sold his trusty old car - thank you ford probe!

We had a hail storm at our house May 11 - marble to golf ball size - it was crazy. Still waiting to hear from the insurance company as to whether they will pay for a new roof!

This us in front of Pad A where Discovery sits waiting for launch of STS-124.

It's a Girl!

We had the big ultrasound today and the baby looks completely healthy! We couldn't be happier!

We also found our the gender to 99.9% accuracy! We are having a girl!

We will post some pictures when I have time to scan them in and cut the video down to a reasonable size.

The big ultrasound rescheduled

It looks like we won't be finding out the gender of Baby Cassady today. Unfortunately, our doctor had to reschedule the appointment for Thursday. We'll post after the appointment! Lenny and I were getting pretty excited - guess we'll have to maintain the excitement for few more days!

STS-124

I am a very lucky girl! I just got told that I won a Space Flight Awareness Award for STS-124. That means that I get to go see the launch and spend a few days out at Kennedy Space Center as a VIP - plus Lenny gets to come with me! That's two launches in a row! I am so excited. I can't wait!

This award means a lot to me too. I have put so much time and effort into work and especially the Space Shuttle Program. I can't tell you how many weekends, holidays, late nights I worked before return to flight and during the missions. I've not taken vacations and missed a few things like weddings...I finally feel like I am getting recognized for some of it. Though I have loved the work (with the exception of a few hard days and a little stress) I really appreciate getting this opportunity!

Dr. Appt

Hey everyone...I had a doctors appointment last week - just the routine check-up. Everything looked good. The baby's heartbeat sounded good and my blood pressure was perfect. The only problem is that I am still losing weight. The good news is that my nausea has started to wane - thank God! Hopefully that will change the weight loss...I have never had a doctor tell me to eat more food until now. How crazy is that?!

I also went shopping for maternity clothes and got a ton over the weekend. As most of you know I really hate shopping for clothes, but with the help of my friends Steph, Betsy, and Kylie I made it through. Seriously though - they all made it so much easier than if I had tried to go alone - thank you guys! Surprisingly, all the clothes are girly too, so watch out!

Big News

Set your calendars for October 4, 2008 - that's when we expect our very own little launch! That's right, Lenny and I are expecting! I am 14 weeks along today and I wanted to share the news with everyone. We are very excited and couldn't wait to tell you - that's why we didn't post for so long - we didn't want to spill the beans too soon.

So far, the pregnancy has been going well - we've had two ultrasounds and the baby looks really healthy. I have been extremely nauseous, but have been working through it the best I can. It is starting to subside and now I am starting to feel the pants get a little tight. I know all of you Moms out there understand - but it's crazy the way my body is changing - it's amazing though. Especially when we went to the second ultrasound. The first was cool and we could vaguely make out a small life like shape (it was at 8 weeks) and saw the heartbeat as a small flicker on the screen. But the second one, we could clearly make out the body, head, feet with toes and hands with fingers! The kid is pretty active too - I swear it was doing flips in there! I haven't felt anything yet, but I have been assured that it's only a matter of weeks from now. That ultrasound really made everything real. We do not know the gender yet, but will find out at the end of April when we have our full-up anatomy ultrasound.

It was a hoot telling our families - I think we had them completely convinced that children were not in our future. They are really excited though - I am pretty sure all of them either cried or screamed into the phone when we told them. I was also pretty cool to see my parents for the launch and talk to them face-to-face about it.

Anyhoo, check out the pictures of our little munchin and the video of the baby moving around!

This picture is from our first ultrasound - at week 8 - you can a peanut shaped kid between the white marks near the top right of the image - 14.2 millimeters long!


This picture is from the second ultrasound - week 12 - you can see the baby's face - kinda looks like spiderman!

STS-123

Hello all - sorry it has been so long since we last posted (hint: the next post will explain some things). Anyhoo, on March 10 Lenny and I headed to Florida to see the launch of STS-123. My parents were staying in Florida for the month of March and wanted to see a launch. So after thinking about it for about 3 seconds, Lenny and I thought it was a perfect excuse to go. I got a causeway pass, which let's a civil servant (that's me) take 6 people on site at Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch from a long causeway that gives the perfect view. We were about 4 miles from the launch pad (that's pretty close actually). So my parents and my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bob (they were vacationing in Florida at the time too) picked us up from the airport and we headed to Cocoa Beach. We had some lunch and caught up for the afternoon and then decided to get some rest - the launch was scheduled for the middle of the night. We headed to Kennedy Space Center at about 10:30 pm to get a good spot. And that we did - it was perfect. There were loud speakers that went over everything that was going on - both on the pad and in mission control. Then when the loop gives all the go/no-goes (all goes for this one) you really start to get excited. The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched at 2:38 am on March 11. It was amazing! Though the cloud cover only allowed us to see the Space Shuttle for about 30 seconds we could hear it for over a minute. A Space Shuttle launch is the most amazing, breathtaking thing in the world...I can't even begin to come up with words to describe it. The whole sky lit up like it was noon!

Needless to say it was an awesome trip and it was fantastic to see my parents and aunt and uncle, even it was only for two days. Check out some of the cool pictures we took and definitely check out the video my Dad took of the launch - notice that we didn't hear the launch until about 45 seconds after lift-off.

Everybody's getting excited -this is right before launch (from left to right - Lenny, Dad, Sandy, Bob, Mom)

Launch!

Sandy, Dad, and Lenny try out an Apollo Command Module - cozy!

Don't we look good is space suits!

Launch video!

Buffalo and toys

Right now, I am in Buffalo, NY. Not my favorite place in the world, but I am up here for another wind tunnel test and it's going really slow. I get stuck in a small over-heated conference room (though for some silly reason, my feet never warm up) and wait out the test. We get 1-3 tests a day, so the waiting can take forever. When the data does come in it gets frantic and I really enjoy those bursts of energy. The time in between seems to be dragging though. On a good note, for the very first time ever, I had no crazy delays or canceled flights on my way up here through Midway - it's a miracle!

Now for the cool part of the post. Over Christmas Lenny and I got iphones and they are the coolest phones ever! I haven't been this excited about a gadget in a long time. I can even post on this from the phone. I have also discovered a way to have it list the direction and strength of the wind near our house at any given second. Isn't that cool! We also got a Wii a few weeks ago...yes I know we are spoiled! We are having a ton of fun boxing, bowling, and playing tennis. I am surprised how much we actually use it. Last weekend we bought Super Mario Galaxy and it's so much fun, but a little addicting. I didn't realize how much I missed that game from when I was a kid - though it's a lot fancier now. Poor Grommit thinks we are nuts when we have the controllers in our hands and we jump around the room. He barks at us for being crazy. It's quite funny.

I must get my head back into the Buffalo mindset now...someday I will post pictures of our vacations!

Oatmeal

So apparently I am one of the weirdest people on the planet...for some reason this week my friend Katie and I were talking about oatmeal. Maybe she had it for breakfast that morning, I'm not sure. The bottom line is that, up until that point, I had never had oatmeal in my entire life. I don't know if I just don't remember it as a kid or I didn't like it or what. I remember my parents eating it, but I never remember having it myself. So apparently, I am really weird. So I decided to rectify that situation this weekend. This morning I had my very first bowl of oatmeal. Instant Quaker Oatmeal - Maple and Brown Sugar. It wasn't bad...but I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Haven't decided if I am going to become an avid oatmeal eater. Maybe I need to try Apple and Cinnamon.

Happy New Year

What a holiday season! Lenny and I traveled up to Michigan to celebrate Christmas with our family. It was crazy! We drove - it took about 20 hours of driving on the way up and about 22 hours on the way back. Grommit came with us and did great! In fact, I think we all bonded during the trip - he is much more cuddly since we got back. I think he's happy we didn't leave him anywhere. He did enjoy the snow - it was the first time he had seen any - by the end of the trip he was catching and eating thrown snowballs.

It was great to catch up with our family. My nieces are getting so big and they have certainly grown up. Megan made us a great mug with a space picture she drew - I keep it on my desk at work to show off to everyone at NASA. I think Maddie bonded a bit with Grommit and Molly is a little drama queen. Our nephew, Mathew is also getting big. He was a hoot to hang out with. I can't believe how fast they grow up. We got the typical harassment about having kids of our own, but I am happy with all the nieces and nephew! Plus, Kalena and Jon are expecting another child in August, so that should make the Cassady's happy! I keep reminding my Mom how cute Grommit is and she just rolls her eyes.

It was nice to come home after all the chaos and rest for a few days. We both caught colds and where glad to just lay on the couch. In fact, we didn't even make it to midnight on New Years - does that mean we are getting old?!

Anyhoo, here are some pictures from the trip...

Here's Megan and I building a block tower.


Maddie and Grommit.


Molly all dressed up to party.


Mathew sitting in all the wrapping paper.