An Honor and a Priveledge:) The Heart Walk 2009

What a lovely day to celebrate Duncan's life and legacy! As fate would have it, it was supposed to rain, but the skies just above downtown Columbus turned blue:) We all donned our shirts and were honored to walk in Duncan's memory. Thank you so much for all the people that made donations to the Heart Association in Duncan's honor and thank you so much to out team that made it out to downtwon Columbus before 9AM! Most with several kids in tow! My teammates include Emily Devaney Replogle, Carli Amlin Dean, Helene Mundrick Wirth, Jenni Alspaugh Smith, Lisa Hall, Tiffany Compan McCallen, Audria Stout Reed and Jessica Beyer Fry. And all the kiddos that made the walk, Gabe, Savannah, Hannah, Charlie, Austin, Kaiya, Cassie, Noah, Taylor and Olivia! Special shout outs to some of our team members that could not make it - Amber Casper Baumer, Lizz Caton, Tricia Johnson Arthur, Kat Whittman and Sherri Slagle Ebert, all of whom made donations to the team:) Shout out also to Brianne Stewart Harman who works for the American Heart Association and is an honory team member. Most importantly, thank you to Duncan for touching all of our lives and making us better people. We are thankful for you even though your time on earth was short... your legacy will always continue.

Happy 3rd Birthday Braylen!

What a nice way to spend a Saturday night:) Boog threw such a nice party for Brabbles, complete with leis, grass skirts, flowers, a pinata and lots of great freinds and food! The girls had an absolute blast and thought the party was "great fun at night" as Kaiya put it! Thanks for having us Sean, Boog and Bray. It was a great night!










The next day, Kaiya was still feeling the party vibe... hula away my dear!

Painting the bathroom... with help

Ever since the day I wanted to paint the bathroom green, I have hated it. It did not come out at all like Preston and I had thought. SO! 7 years later, we decided to do something about it. It also had Ivy border, but we had taken that down because it never stayed up great since we put it up. We are almost done painting the bathroom a color called "Clear Blue Sky" and I love it already. One more coat and we will have "after pictures".... but in the mean time, Cassie and Kaiya thought it was a family project.... so we let them help a little and soon realized we were pretty dumb:) So we let them paint and then waited until they went to bed to finish the primer. Cassie still has primer in her hair and this was Sunday:P

The "twins" :P

Ok, so I left for a doctor's appointment the other day and when I came home, Emily and the kids were over and Hanni and Kaiya had transformed themselves (with Em's help) in to twin sisters! Even the hair is the exact same and they were making twin craft projects:P I think they were excited because of all the talk of Amber's twinsies:)

What a NICE day:) Meeting Lucy and Emma

Today I got the privelidge of meeting Amber and Josh's twin daughters Emma and Lucy. I went to see them at Riverside and I was smitten immediately. Not to mention Amber and Josh. The room felt so joyous and loving. Both babies were there and needed no assistance when they were born. You should have seen Josh and Amber handling these teeny little ladies like that had done it all their life. I got to hold both girls and heard a lot of their already different personalities. I absolutely love listening to a new mother talking about her newborn. It is just so adoring and pure. I always say that children and proof that God exists and you could feel that entirely in the room. I left the room with an overwhelming sense of happiness that reminded me of giving birth to Kaiya and Cassie and the total wonderment of taking in the fact that you have had a child or children. No matter how many babies and families I visit, it never gets old. Amber has always had a special place in my heart because we are both infertility survivors and both had success with the same protocal and doctor. And then upon finding out she was having twins, I prayed for each milestone, 12 weeks, then 18, then 20 then 24... you get the idea and now that they are here it makes the world just that much sweeter. The fact that Em and I are twins made me so happy for the girls as well, at age 33 Emily is my best friend and it has been that way and will continue to be no matter what. These little girls are double blessed by parents who wanted them and waited for them so long and also to have each other!

I still cannot believe the fact that she carried these babies until 38 weeks and was one of the most laid back pregnant gals I have ever come in contact with. Amber, thank you for including me as well as so many others in your amazing journey. So many people feel a part of these girls lives and they are only 2 days old:)

Here are some pictures of the little ladies. Emma was in a solid pink onsie with a money on it, wrapped in a yellow blanket and Lucy was in a pink onsie with brown polka dots and wrapped in a pink blanket.

Miss Lucy Ellison Baumer


Miss Emma Harper Baumer


Lucky me getting to hold the ladies


And finally... the Baumer family all together, Josh, Amber, Emma and Lucy!!!

Not our day... again!

We thought that we had our fill of family issues, injuries, car problems and things in the house breaking.... Boy were we wrong. I am feeling almost feverish at this point because of how many different things are not going right in my life and my families life. Sometimes I almost feel like I am being strangled... but I am still trying to breath. This past week has been very hard on me. Things are not right at all with me and my sister and Mom. We cannot seem to get it right no matter what we do... everytime I try to explain my feelings on things, I wind up making someone mad or hurt, so my only other option is to retreat. I am feeling very alone because of it and was so stressed last night that I had two broken blood vessels in my eyes and a headache that has continued since Monday. Preston and I sat outside for a bit and talked to our neighbors last night for a good hour, it was relaxing and very nice to talk about random stuff that did not effect me much. We came inside... Cass was already in bed since she was asleep at 7 and we were getting ready to put Kaiya to bed when Preston all of a sudden tripped and compound fractured his baby toe. It was at a 90 degree angle. We knew it was broken for sure and since it was 9pm, we knew urgent care would not be open, so he had to go the ER. They got the toy back in place and fixed him last night, but now all of his paperwork is missing, he lost it somewhere between being discharged and coming home. He lost his discharge work, his xrays and his presciption... so now he has nothing and has to go our family doctor today because of all of it. We were able to get his xrays at least from the hospital. Then this morning after Columbus Gas came to check our hot water heater... we found out it likey has to be replaced, $650 at least. Not to mention a new hospital bill coming our way... we still are paying on two others with a WAY to go, *sigh*. From last July to now we have lost two pregnancies, broken 3 bones, had 4 ER visits, one hospital stay and countless testing... so countless bills, not to mention probably 15 visits to the pediatrician. One the consumer side: we have had to fix both cars, Preston's transmission went and both cars had to have batteries replaced and my car had the step board on the drivers side completely fell off. We had a toilet break up stairs flooding our entire living room and ruining the ceiling perminently as well as out fire and carbon detectors and carpet upstairs, we have had our dishwasher break, our sink disposal and our fridge died completely and had to be replaced. We also had our garage door break 3 seperate times and just had to pay for most of it to be replaced.

It is hard to feel like I am not in a tailspin but that is what I feel like. Believe me, I know other people have it a lot worse... but our issues feel so constant and endless. The thing with my family is the hardest. I just feel lost and angry. When I talk to my Mom or sister, the stuff I say never comes out the way I intend and I feel worse everytime we talk. So I guess it is good that we are going away tomorrow for Williams birthday in Austintown. I think a change of scenery might be good.

I cant seem to grab the reins in life at this point... so I think I will just stand still.

Sorry for the downer, bitchfest... kist wanted to get this out. It explains a lot of my actions lately, but I am afriad of what is coming next.