Cassady Family

Addison Pictures

2011-08-18T11:38:00.005-05:00

More pictures for everyone! Addison is a month old now and she's doing great! Her two week appointment went really well - she was 7 lbs, 3 ozs and 20 inches. I am sure she will be pushing 9lbs soon. She is much more aware now and has even done a little tummy time and lifted her head. She likes to snuggle but also needs time to stretch out - she will definitely let you know when she needs something different. She is starting to smile now as well. Her Grandma and Grandpa Fischer were here until August 9th and had a great time. Her Grandma Cassady just headed home after two weeks here. Samantha is doing good too. She's a great helper - she gets diapers, wipes, burp clothes...anything to help out, and even helps feed Addison by holding the bottle. She loves to gives Addison kisses on the top of her head. I should be interesting when she realizes Addison is here to stay though. She has her moments where she needs complete attention from Mommy or Daddy. Having Grandparents here really helps - she's got great bonding time with them!

Daddy and Addison

Sisters!

Grandpa Bill and Addison

Grandma Mimi and Addison

The Cassady girls

Cassady family

The Cassady girls

Cute little feet!

Grandma Cassady

Sisters hanging out

2011-08-02T20:47:00.006-05:00

Addison Emma Cassady. Beautiful baby girl born at 12:47pm July 28. 6 lbs, 13 ozs and 18.5 inches long. She came out with chubby cheeks and loud crying.

The End of the Space Shuttle Program

2011-07-20T15:31:00.010-05:00

It's time to dust off the blog with kiddo #2 ready to arrive anytime. So I thought in tribute to the last Space Shuttle Mission (STS-135), I would post a few pictures...I had the privilege to be a part of the program and had the opportunity not only to work missions, but to see the most amazing machines ever built by man up close and personal. I got to see the launches of STS-95 in 1998 (when John Glenn flew) where I got to see the space shuttle in person for the very first time - my first road trip with Lenny too, STS-93 in 1999 (Eileen Collins was the first female commander), STS-123 in 2008 with my parents and Aunt and Uncle, STS-124 in 2008 for a Space Flight Awareness Award, and STS-131 in 2010 to see my friend Dottie off. I also was lucky enough to see two landings, STS-119 where I was part of a flight experiment and STS-131 for the flight experiment again and to watch Dottie come home. It is a sad day for us all at NASA...

Lenny and I standing on the launch pad on the back side the stacked Endeavour in 1998.

STS-123 was in the middle of the night, here we are anxiously awaiting launch!

Right before the launch of STS-124, yes Samantha is in this picture too! :)

Atlantis in the VAB - my favorite.

Got to go inside Endeavour - this is the side hatch - I am coming out of the Orbiter.

The docking hatch inside Endeavour, that's me on top of the picture.

In the commander's seat!

Checking out the aft stick looking out on the payload bay.

Next to the tail of Discovery just after it landed for STS-131.

Under Discovery in the Orbiter Processing Facility just after STS-131.

Inside where the main engines usually sit on Discovery.

Next to the wing on Atlantis just prior to rollout for STS-132 in the VAB.

Me and Atlantis in the VAB - getting ready for STS-132.

The wing of Discovery after STS-119.

The nose of Discovery after STS-119.

The flight experiment right after STS-119 landing.

The body flap of Atlantis in the VAB - getting ready for roll-out for STS-125.

Discovery landing to close out STS-131.

Zero G Movie

2010-10-04T20:58:00.004-05:00

Here is a 10 minute movie of me flying in the Zero G airplane - also known as the vomit comet. The plane starts at about 25,000 ft and pulls the nose up to 45 degrees causing about 1.8 times the force of gravity. You can see me tossing the little cube and how fast it falls. The video is real time. Once the airplane is at about 45 degrees nose up the pilots start to pitch the plane over in such a way that inside there everyone is in free fall and it feels like zero gravity. We got only 20 to 30 seconds of zero gravity before the plane is 45 degrees nose down and they have to start pulling up again. The plane reaches about 35,000 ft at the top of the parabola. It is very odd to look out of a plane window and see the horizon at a 45 degree angle!

This video is from the first 10 minutes of my second day of flying. You can see me still getting comfortable to weightlessness and tossing the cube around. Keeping busy kept me from getting too sick. Turning my head during the 1.8 g pull out caused a lot of disorientation so you can see me holding my head very still when sitting on the ground. During my first day the zero g time made me instantly feel like I was upside down. On the second day it was much more fun and it was an interesting and new experience. It was fun to float around, but hard to control myself. I was afraid of kicking other people on the plane.

I hope to gather a couple of better videos during the next few weeks.

Pictures!

2010-09-25T15:03:00.008-05:00

It has been awhile, so here's a ton of pictures!

To see all off our pictures use the following links:

Michigan Trip Sept 2010

Cassady Visit May 2010

Samantha's 2nd Birthday Party - a shared adventure with Reese Lillard, Chase Clem, and Markus Sostaric. They all have birthdays within 6 weeks of each other!

Samantha at Lundington State Park.

Samantha at Lake Michigan.

Samantha with Grandma Cassady.

Hanging out with Aunt Kalena, Ann, Mom, and Mathew.

With Grandpa Cassady in the garden.

Riding the tractor with Grandpa Bill.

Cousin Katie with her little one Evie.

Hanging out around the campfire with Grandma Mimi.

Having fun with cousins Maddie, Megan and Molly.

Godspeed Dottie and Hello Mickey Mouse!

2010-04-08T20:41:00.007-05:00

What a great week! We went to Florida to see the launch of STS-131 on April 5th. We were invited by our friend Dottie Metcalf-Lindenberger, who is Mission Specialist 2 on STS-131. How cool is that?! We arrived on Saturday, April 3rd and checked into our hotel in Orlando. We rented villa with our friends the Clems. It was so much fun.

On Sunday we hit the pool and then headed to a reception for Dottie thrown by her husband for all the friends and family in town for the launch. Dottie wasn't there as all astronauts go into quarantine a week before launch so they don't get sick while in space. But we got to see her family and hang out with a lot of friends, including "flat Dottie" - a life size cardboard cutout of Dottie in her flight suit (we all had a few too many jokes about that one)! Then we went back to the villa for some rest so we could get up at midnight to get a good spot on the causeway for the launch at 6:21am. We went with Katie and Fred. Samantha was such a trooper! She slept in the car on the way there, but was up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. We got her settled for a little while, but had to wake her up for the launch. She was so cute, saying "shuttle" and pointing to it and our shirts (yes we all had matching shirts on). It was the most beautiful and amazing launch. It lit up the pre-dawn sky and the plumes were amazing - all colors of the rainbow as the shuttle went into the dawn light. We saw it for about 7 minutes, which is a really long time! Samantha described the launch as "loud", but I got a little emotional. I had such mixed emotions - Dottie - my friend - a person I know and care for on the most amazing machine built by man - on the ultimate adventure! I can't even describe it in words - I am so excited for her and can't wait to see her land (yes, I will be there for work) and hear all her stories! Combine that with my profound sadness here, at the end of the Space Shuttle era. Only three missions left (at most four if congress approves). I watched this launch with the knowledge that I will never personally see one again. It weighs quite heavily on me. With the changes going on at NASA and the uncertain future of human spaceflight, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that I may not have the opportunity to fly a spacecraft I help design. As one of my friends said "I am very optimistist about the future of the space program, but I am decidedly unoptimistic about my role in it". It was hard to have that in my heart as I watched the launch...

On Monday after the launch, we grabbed breakfast with Boyles and the Clems and then hit Cocoa Beach. Samantha loves the ocean and the sand, we had a great time for about an hour and then we all got hit with the sleepies and decided to head back to the villa.

Tuesday we went to Animal Kingdom. It was so much fun. We saw giraffes, rhinos, a cheetah, gorillas, an ant eater, elephants, huge bats, a lion king show, and a finding nemo show! Samantha got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger! She's been walking around saying "Tigger the Pooh" ever since!

Here are some pictures! I will post more in the next couple days!

Flat Dottie and the family

Samantha and Amy at Dottie's send off party

Katie and Fred at the launch (the white spot to the left is the shuttle)

Getting ready for the launch

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Kylie, Chase and Andrew at Animal Kingdom

Checkin' out the flamingos!

Mickey!

Minnie!

Winnie the Pooh!
Tigger too!

Samantha Pictures!

2010-03-23T21:33:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone! We had Samantha's 18 month pictures taken over the weekend and they are super cute! Thank you Carina at Kat's Photography!

She turns 18 months on the 27th, so they are a little early (please don't faint)! I can't believe how big she is getting and she is talking so much now! Well here's a few pictures...and the rest are here.

Holidays!

2010-02-14T20:02:00.006-06:00

Time for a much overdue update! Samantha is doing awesome. She is practically running everywhere now and she talks all the time! Here's a bunch of pictures from the holidays and before...

Snow!

Samantha and Daddy!

Samantha and her cousin Megan.

Hey Santa!

The family.

Sam and Uncle Patrick at the zoo!

That's my girl - Calvin and Hobbes anyone! :)

Guess what Samantha can do?!!!!

2009-12-02T21:21:00.002-06:00

December 1, 2009 Samantha is officially walking! She had taken lots of small steps - two to three steps to get from the couch to Mom or Dad, but she started walking across the room yesterday. Yay! She is also talking up a storm...she sings the Elmo song, she says cookie, giggle, tickle, mine (that's fun!), turtle, frog, moo (for a cow), tigger, and of course Elmo, Elmo, Elmo - her absolute favorite thing!

We posted a video - see below! Also after way too long here is the link to her 1 year pictures taken by Carina at Kat's Photography - Samantha 1 year. Here's a preview too!

Samantha turned 1!

2009-10-11T16:41:00.012-05:00

Hi everyone! Our little girl turned 1 year old on September 27! She is doing great - she is so close to walking. She has taken a few steps, but only does it when she isn't paying attention. It's only a matter of time. She is also talking a lot. She likes to repeat after you. Her eating is also ramping up - which we are quite happy/relieved/excited about.

We had so much fun celebrating her birthday - twice! First, with family up in Michigan on her actual birthday and then with our Houston family a week later. Here are some highlights from our trip to Michigan and the parties...all the pictures are posted here - Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, First Birthday - Michigan, and First Birthday - Houston.

Lenny, Samantha, Jon and Mathew heading to Michigan Stadium.

Samantha up in Michigan - Grandpa and Grandma Fischer's backyard with pumpkins from their garden.
Samantha with Grandpa Fischer at Lake Michigan - she really likes the beach!

Samantha with Grandma and Grandpa Fischer at the beach - Grand Haven.
Samantha and Ann in Grandpa Cassady's wagon. The hair must run in the family!
The Tigger cake Amy and Kalena made for Samantha's Birthday!
Sam got a cammo hat for her birthday!
Happy Birthday Samantha!
Swinging with Grandma Cassady.

Samantha with Mommy and Daddy at her Houston Party!

Videos

2009-08-30T21:22:00.004-05:00

Samantha is learning to stand. She also has a hilarious laugh. Here are 2 videos to prove that.

Pictures!

2009-07-22T21:13:00.008-05:00

Okay - demands have been made! Here are some pictures of Samantha. I know it's been far too long. She is doing great! She started crawling full force on her 9 month birthday - June 27. She has just gotten speedier since. She is pulling herself up on furniture now and walking along it. She can climb one stair step too! She also has four teeth now - her two top teeth came in last Friday (July 17). She talks up a storm - she says "wow", "whoa", "ut-oh", "dog", "no", "hi", "dada", " mama"...it's great! We are now working with a nutritionist to figure out a way to get her interested food other than her bottle. It's coming along. It's mostly Lenny and I getting reassurance that we aren't doing anything wrong and that Sam is doing just fine - she will eat eventually! Well some pictures...there's more at this link - Sam - June 2009.

Samantha at 9 months!

Sam at 9 months.

Look at those teeth!

Crawling girl!

Hi!

Samantha with Daddy, Grandma Cassady, Cousin Matthew, Aunt Kalena, and Cousin Ann at the zoo!

At the beach with Aunt Kalena, Matthew, Mommy, Grandma Cassady, and Ann.

I love the ocean!!!

Samantha with her cousins Victoria, Elizabeth and Kelsey.

I'm exhausted!

2009-05-31T21:26:00.005-05:00

This is a video from Samantha's first time in the community pool.

Happy 8 Month Birthday Samantha

2009-05-28T20:00:00.003-05:00

Samantha turned 8 months old yesterday! She has grown so much... she's weighing in around 19 lbs now! Remember when we were so worried about her getting back to birth weight - how time flies! She is still in the scooting backwards phase - I swear she is going to crawl any second now. No hurry baby girl - we still haven't put the gates up! She is "talking" with more syllables now - "ga", "goo", "la", and "ba" have been added to the already popular "da" and "ma" - I will give one guess as to why she says those two so much :)

She definitely keeps us entertained! We put up a swing in the back yard and she likes it, but isn't 100% sure about it, so we put her in it for short times. We also got her a little kiddie pool that she loves to splash around in. We are planning on taking her to the neighborhood pool this weekend. We also want to hit the beach sometime soon to see how she likes to play in the sand. Her hair is getting longer now too...it's definitely coming in as reddish blond. It is so cute - it sticks straight up in all directions. Her second tooth also came in about two weeks ago - her smile is so cute with her two little teeth!

So Happy Birthday Samantha! Here are her 6 month professional pictures we had taken by Kat's Photography. Better late than never!

I kinda wanted to keep this post about Samantha, but I thought I should add a little update on me. Unfortunately, I had to have my gallbladder removed last week. All through my pregnancy and after I have been dealing with what I thought was really bad heartburn. My doctor said that it should have gone away a few months after having Sam, but it didn't. So I finally went to the doctor again because I was in some serious pain - all the time with severe attacks every week or two (really bad sharp pain radiating up my back and chest causing me to throw up, have the chills, and basically not be able to move for 4 - 6 hours). After describing the attacks in detail my doctor had me get an ultrasound of my gallbladder - where they found gallstones. The stones were high enough in number and size that they recommended removing it. After talking it out with my doctor and a surgeon, I decided to have it removed. The alternative was cutting fat completely out of my diet - which I tried and is nearly impossible to do - everything has a little fat in it. Even then, it wouldn't have been guaranteed that I wouldn't have an attack again because I already had the stones and if my gallbladder flexed (which it does to release bile) it would really, really hurt. So I had the surgery on the 19th. It was a laproscopic surgery so they only made four small incisions. The recovery hasn't been too bad, I was really sore for the first few days and my digestive system is still getting used to it. So far my stomach feels much better! I didn't realize how uncomfortable it was making me. Plus it turns out that not only did I have gallstones, my gallbladder was severely infected and I had crystals forming on the walls - so eventually, I would have gotten really sick and would have probably ended up in the hospital to have it removed in an emergency situation. So in the end, it is a good thing - I will have to report back on how it feels when I am fully healed and have a chance to adjust to eating food again. But that's the scoop...the worst part about it was not being able to pick Samantha up for a week (I totally cheated).

Fun Samantha Video

2009-05-21T20:53:00.001-05:00

Samantha has a tooth!

2009-05-05T20:05:00.004-05:00

Samantha in a blue bonnet field - it's Texas tradition to take pictures with blue bonnets every spring.

On Thursday, April 30, Samantha's first tooth came in. She had been a little cranky and now we know why! She is handling it very well given how much it must hurt. It's her lower left center tooth. We think the lower center right tooth is not far behind! I can't believe she already has a tooth! Now all we need to get her to do is eat! She still isn't into eating baby food, but we keep trying (any of you parents out there have advice on getting her to eat?). She is also on the verge of crawling - she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks, but ends up scooting backwards. Lenny and I really need to get those baby gates up!

This week our regular babysitter (Jess) has family in town so we are having a bunch of friends watch her this week. On Monday she spent the day with Fred and Lily, today she spent the day with Ami and Reese, and for the rest of the week she will be with Lindsay and Helen. She is doing so well for being hauled all over and staying with different people every day. I think she is having fun actually - I was little worried, but she seems to be adjusting just fine. We do have a big decision about day care make coming up soon too. We need figure out if we would accept a spot at the day care at my work this summer (we've been on a waiting list from the minute I knew I was pregnant) or if we want to keep taking her to Jess. A lot to think about and talk to Jess about - if we keep her out this summer, we would most likely have to wait another year. We don't know if we even have a spot, but if it comes up and we say no, we lose our place on the waiting list. If we move our no earlier than date, we keep out priority on the list, but wait a year. Not quite sure what we are going to do.

Well a lot has happened in the last month so here are a lot of pictures. My parents visited for a week, which was a ton of fun. My Mom taught Samantha how to blow kisses and it's the cutest thing ever! It was nice to have Sam home with them during the day.

Here are some pictures!

Happy Easter!

Samantha's first trip to the zoo on Good Friday.

Sam with Grandma and Grandpa!

If you're happy and you know it...

2009-04-02T19:56:00.003-05:00

So Sam started to clap her hands this week! I think it's really fun! She's also sitting up well enough to be able to reach out for toys and bring herself up again. AND she's waving hello and goodbye! She is learning so fast it's hard to keep up. It is so much fun to watch her grow and learn new things.

I went on my first work trip this week and I saw so much of a difference in just 48 hours! It was so hard to leave her overnight for the first time. Lenny did just fine - I was the wreck! I think she missed me too.

For my work trip, I got to go to Kennedy Space Center to check out the space shuttle Discovery after it landed on Saturday for post-landing inspection. My team at work had a flight experiment on this mission - we had a special tile made to stick out into the flow over the space shuttle's belly as it reentered. When you stick something far enough into the flow it changes the smoothness of the flow and the energy that flow puts into the space craft. Long story short...it was a success and we got to inspect the tile. We also got to see Atlantis stacked with the external tank and SRBs for STS-125 slated to launch in May. It was going through the last of it's check outs before heading to the launch pad, which we also got to see when they rolled out. It was a lot of fun and it's trips like that which remind how cool my job is. If you are interested, I posted a few pictures here - STS-119.

Happy 6 Month Birthday Samantha!

2009-03-27T16:03:00.004-05:00

"I love sweet potatoes!"

Oh my! Samantha is six months old today. She has grown so much since the very first time we got to meet her. We have been having a lot of fun getting her to try new foods - though she still doesn't quite want to eat it as much as she wants to play with the food :) She has tried rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, apple sauce, bananas, sweet potatoes, and peas. I think she likes the sweet potatoes the best. If we mix just about any of the other foods with the cereal she eats that up a lot better than when it's solo. Not surprising if you have ever tasted the cereal (yak!).

She has totally mastered rolling over and gets around pretty well. If you take your eye off her for more than 10 seconds, she's across the room. Just this past week she started sitting on her own! Before this past weekend she would sit for a few seconds and fall over, but now she can sit for just about as long as it keeps her entertained. She is so much fun and if you can believe it, she gets cuter every day!

We had her 6 month checkup appointment today. She weighs 17 lbs 9 oz and is 26.5 inches long - both 75th percentile. So we have no idea where she gets her height from - she may end up taller than both Lenny and I by her third birthday at this rate :) Poor Sam had to get three shots too! She did not like it one bit. She is taking a nap now and I hope that when she wakes up it feels a lot better.

I posted more pictures in the 3-6 month link and added her 4 month professional pictures taken by Kat's Photography on the left - enjoy!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Michigan Trip

2009-02-23T20:10:00.003-06:00

Sam's serious side.

So we just got back from a great trip to Michigan. Samantha got to meet a ton of her relatives for the very first time! Unfortunately, she got a cold the day before we left and had it the whole time we were up there. Poor little girl! She is just now recovering. The flights went okay - I was very worried about taking Samantha on the flight. The flight up there was eventful...the first 15 minutes on the plane - in which you are required to sit in your seats - she screamed. She wanted to be walked around, but obviously we couldn't do that. After that she settled down and slept for most of the flight, but Lenny and I were "those" parents for the flight. On the way back she was pretty happy. I think it was because her cold was getting better so she felt better.

The trip was fun, we spent the first three days Lenny's folks' house and the last three days at mine. Lenny's sister Kalena and her husband Jon and two kids, Mathew and Ann stayed at his parents too. As a surprise for his parents, Lenny's brother Patrick also came into town from Australia. It was a lot of fun to see them - we had never met Ann (she's about 2 months older than Samantha).

The time at my parents house was busy too, we had a ton of visitors. We especially liked all the time we got to spend with my nieces. I also want to mention that my Mom made Samantha a beautiful blanket - thank you Mom! I want to make a special note here because I know how hard she worked on it - with one hand no less!

So there are a couple of things I really miss from up north that I thought I would write here - besides the obvious one: missing our families...
-Being able to store beverages outside (I love crisp cold pop - colder than a fridge gets it - something I will never get down in Houston)
-Cold water from the tap - I mean real cold water - not the "cold" water we get here
-Fresh air - it just feels fresher up there in the crisp cold
-Wearing thick comfy socks
-Rosy cheeks

Okay, I will stop with the writing...here are a few pictures from the trip and from the last month. I have posted all of the trip pictures at this link - Michigan. I have also added pictures of Samantha from Christmas until now at this link - 3 - 6 months.

Just for an update...Sam has been doing a lot lately - she tried Rice Cereal (and didn't like it...we are still trying), she is rolling over - the first time from back to tummy on January 4 and from tummy to back on February 22, she is talking more and more, she grabs and holds objects, she is very interested in her feet and toes, and she is really getting a little personality now.

Sam's first taste of rice cereal - "why is Mom doing this to me"

I'm cute!

Rice cereal try #2.

Samantha at 4 months.

Happy 4 Month Birthday Samantha

2009-01-27T14:00:00.003-06:00

Today is Samantha's 4 month birthday! Yeah! She is doing so well! She is rolling over, holding onto toys for longer, putting everything in her mouth, and definitely talking more and certainly louder. We weighed her this week and she 15 lbs. Her hair is getting lighter and her eyes are still blue/green. I am starting to see a little more of me in her - she is totally a Lenny mini me so it's nice to see some of her mommy in there too! She is pretty attached to us now too - she knows her mom and dad (Grommit too!).

To celebrate a little early, on Sunday we gave Samantha rice cereal for the first time! Too bad she didn't like it! When I put it in her mouth she made a face that definitely screamed "what the heck is this!". She pushed the cereal out of her mouth so I tried again (several times) and she definitely didn't like where the situation was going and started to cry. Poor thing! She did want to hold the spoon herself though. We'll keep trying every once in awhile. I hope to post pictures too...we took a ton!

Laughing

2009-01-24T16:45:00.003-06:00

So today Samantha did an all out laugh for the first time! She has been squealing when she smiles, but today it was a full out belly laugh. It was awesome. Lenny was holding her and I was making some silly faces and jumping around - she thought it was hilarious! I can't wait until she gets up from her nap so we can try to get her to laugh again - it's just the coolest thing I've ever heard!

Samantha's 4 month appointment

2009-01-19T19:14:00.002-06:00

So Samantha had her 4 month appoint when she was 3.5 months old. Her doctor is moving offices and we had to go early or wait until March - to keep on her vaccination schedule we had to go early (plus it's fun to find out how she's doing).

So we went on January 16 - she weighed 14 pounds exactly (that's roughly 75th percentile) and 25.5 inches in length (90th percentile). We have no idea where she gets the length part :)

She is doing great developmentally - she's rolling over now. She's really good at rolling from her back to her tummy, but the other way (tummy to back) gets tricky for her because her arm gets caught. She is also "talking" more. It's pretty fun! She's also grabbing and holding onto everything and then sticking everything in her mouth!

Since the last post, I have also started back to work. Samantha stays with our friend Jess during the day and she is doing great other there. She's doing much better than her Mom! I really miss spending the day with her. Not that I don't enjoy going back to work, but to be honest I would rather spend the day with Sam. I never realized how hard it would be to leave her, but I also get really mad at people who say I can't go back to work - especially old guy engineers who just tell you that you won't want to back to work. That just grinds me!

Samantha is 3 months old today!

2008-12-27T12:55:00.005-06:00

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

2008-12-19T16:56:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-14T16:31:00.001-06:00

Amazing 24 hours

2008-12-11T19:33:00.007-06:00

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

2008-12-09T20:05:00.008-06:00

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!!!!

2008-12-07T22:02:00.004-06:00

More Pictures

2008-12-05T14:53:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-25T13:30:00.006-06:00

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!

2008-11-07T17:35:00.008-06:00

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

2008-11-02T14:41:00.002-06:00

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!

2008-11-02T09:42:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-10-31T20:11:00.004-05:00

Samantha loves her Mummy!

Happy Birthday Samantha! 4 weeks old!

2008-10-25T17:39:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-10-19T18:00:00.003-05:00

Samantha went for her first walk on Wednesday.

Patrick was here too.

Samantha Week 2

2008-10-14T20:31:00.003-05:00

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

2008-10-04T20:32:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-29T22:23:00.004-05:00

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

2008-09-27T13:44:00.005-05:00

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

Still in labor

2008-09-26T23:59:00.002-05:00

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!!

2008-09-26T19:27:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-25T16:54:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-16T10:25:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-11T09:42:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-09T20:14:00.004-05:00

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

2008-08-24T16:06:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-05T10:39:00.005-05:00

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

2008-06-27T12:08:00.003-05:00

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

2008-06-05T00:36:00.000-05:00

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

2008-06-05T00:30:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-04-24T16:20:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-21T10:06:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-16T21:39:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-16T21:33:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-05T18:15:00.000-05:00

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

2008-04-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-23T13:02:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-20T22:24:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-09T21:32:00.000-06:00

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.

Holiday Fun

2007-12-01T20:25:00.000-06:00

What a hoot!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1134715281

Getting ready for Christmas

2007-11-29T19:58:00.001-06:00

I guess I have already broken my promise to update every week, but I'm back. We had great Thanksgiving. We got together with our Clear Lake family - all of our friends here in Houston who live really far away from their families. Over the weekend we worked on the house and garage. We also started our Christmas shopping - I can't believe how fast time flies. It was just September. We also put up our decorations. It was great to have a few days off. I needed it and I know Lenny did. Unfortunately, I had to travel right away after the relaxation. I went out the Kennedy Space Center for some meetings. The nice part was the you could see Atlantis stacked for STS-122 on pad A from conference room window. I also got to see a design unit of the heat shield for the CEV crew module. It's great to see the result of all the design and analysis. I posted a picture below - just imagine the big disk around the blunt edge of the gum drop shaped entry vehicle. It's pretty big for a capsule. I will have to shift back over to Space Shuttle work next week for the mission - it's scheduled for December 6 - 17. Let's cross our fingers that it all goes well and on time so Lenny and I can go up to Michigan for the holidays to see our family. It's been too long since we have seen everyone - we miss them! I think all my nieces are growing up too fast! TTFN!

Our family in front of the tree.

A big piece of hardware and the team that built it.

Italy and Paris

2007-11-20T20:26:00.000-06:00

Hi! Welcome to our blog - this is a long time coming. I hope that Lenny and I can update at least every week. We are getting ready for a few days off of work. We plan on working on the house, training Grommit, and starting our Christmas shopping. I will be traveling for work a lot before heading to Michigan for Christmas, so we need to get a lot done!

We recently took a month off work (September) and spend an amazing time in the Carribean, France and Italy. Our first trip was a 7 day cruise in the Carribean with 8 of our friends - it was a blast. We went to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. After a week back, we headed to Europe. We started in Florence where Lenny attended an International Electric Propolsion Conference and I got to sight see. We revisited the bridge where we got engaged back in 2002 - Pointe Vecchio and got to know the city. We stayed there for six days and then headed to Manarola - a small city in Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean coast. It was beatiful. We hiked to four of the five cities in the area and had some of the best seafood and pasta we've ever had! After a weekend there, we got on a train and went through the Alps to Paris. Paris was fantastic - we tried to see everything. The Louvre was impressive and I can't even describe what it's like to stand under the Effiel Tower. We went up in it while it was raining and when we got to the top two beautiful rainbows were shining over Paris. Here's couple pictures from our adventures. Later gators!

Here we are in front of Pointe Vecchio.

This is Manarola in Cique Terre, Italy - we stayed here for three days.

This is at Montmarte in Paris.

First Posting

2007-10-31T19:06:00.000-05:00

We are testing out our new web page. Here is a picture of my nephew Matthew.