T-ball

Sam started T-ball yesterday. He seemed to really enjoy hitting, trying to catch and running the bases. Here are some pics from the night.

George W. + Walter Reed = CRAZINESS

Well Sam and I had an interesting morning. I got up at 5:30, which is REALLY early for me, and got us out the door at about 6:34. On the way to the hospital we were listening to the radio. The DJ was so excited to share that President Bush was going to be visiting Walter Reed today, how exciting, right?! Well if we'd gotten to see him it would have been nice!! When I told Sam "W" was going to be there he said, "Oh good, I've been wanting to meet the President". It took us about an hour to get to Walter Reed (it's 26 miles away) and about another half hour to get through the gate and to park. I was actually very pleased. One time I came up with Ethan and spent over 45 minutes looking for parking, it was terrible!!

We were very early for Sam's appointment so we walked around the hospital. Sam always enjoys the sights of Walter Reed. It is an interesting place. Nuclear medicine finally opened at 9:00 and we were the second ones in (Sam hadn't eaten anything because of the test and I was hoping to get in a little early). His appointment was at 9:30, but they didn't take us until 10:00. Poor kid, he was really hungry. They finally came and got us and Sam got to wear some snazzy purple gloves while he ate his radio active egg sandwich. He ate it pretty quickly BUT it was disgusting. They cook up the egg with no grease, no butter, and no seasoning. It was very dry and he couldn't drink anything until it was all gone. I was very proud of him. After he ate they took pictures of the food "going down" every fifteen minutes for an hour and a half. Walter Reed is not the most kid friendly place so it was VERY boring between pictures. We colord A TON of pictures!! The best part of the test was that the tech would let Sam "draw" on the computer screen after each picture with his radio active tummy. It was kind of neat! After all was said and done the doctor read the results and said it appears that he is digesting well. I was pleased with the results but also a little disappointed because I had hoped this test would explain what the heck is going on.

Leaving the hospital we had to find the special "non being used by the President" elevators. When we got down to the lobby they were blocking off hallways so we hoped we would get to see the "big guy". Unfortunatly he was on the floor above us, but I had my camera phone ready, just in case!! Sam went up to a Secret Service guy and asked if he could meet the President. He told him no, that only certain people can meet the President but that if Sam told him his name he would be sure to tell the President that Samuel Spencer said hi. Sam was pretty happy with that. We ran into another Secret Service guy who gave Sam a Secret Service pin. He was thrilled and told me he wanted to put it in his scrapbook. We managed to get out of the parking garage and off of the Walter Reed's grounds just as they were going on "lock down" to get the President home as well.

Getting home was yuck!! It took us about an hour and half to get home. Traffic was bad because of lunch, Friday and the start of Spring Break. Gotta love DC! It is so nice to be home and relaxing!! Thankfully I have about three weeks to rest before venturing down there again. Next time I'll be with Greg so that will help a ton. Hopefully that appointment will give us a clue as to what is wrong with his belly....stay tuned!!!

Heather

CHECK THIS OUT!!

I added a new link to our website. It's for a company called Saving Dinner, their site is www.savingdinner.com

I LOVE THEM. Every Wednesday they send you a menu of six meals, plus a grocery list. All I have to do is print everyting and I'm on my merry little way. It is saving me SO MUCH TIME and the dinners are REALLY good. You can pick from several different types of menus, Regular, Hearty Healthy, Low Carb, Frugal, etc. as well as how many diners you have (2, 4 or 6). I can't tell you how this has helped my sanity at the grocery and at meal time. In the past every week I would drag out my cookbooks and come up with a menu for the week along with a grocery list. It was HORRIBLE. We are eating healthier, eating things that are in season and I'm spending less at the commissary, what more could you ask for. Check it out!

Heather

P.S. Don't forget to read the other five posts I made today!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well as you can see from all of the pictures, we have been very busy. Things never seem to calm down around here, but we're having fun.

As of tommorow, 26 MAR, I will be exactly 20 weeks. Time is really flying. We had another ultrasound done on 20 MAR and we are DEFINITLY without a doubt having another boy. I followed the news with a trip to IKEA!! Lately Gabe has been getting his leg stuck in the crib. If Greg wasn't here to lift and then pull I'm not sure I would be able to get him unstuck without calling the fire department (maybe a little extreme). We decided with new baby about four months away it was probably time to move Gabe to a BIG BOY BED. We went a little crazy in the kids department but he now has a room that is too stinken cute!! I think we are all jealous of his new bedroom "stuff", which includes, new bed, pillows, sheets, quilt, rug, stuffed dragon, dragon wall hanging as well as much more. Yesterday we spent the afternoon, cleaning, rearranging and setting up the dragon room. He loves it and has been really good (knock on wood) about staying in bed!!! We are waiting on some new curtains which will be the finishing touch for his new big boy room.

Gabe's first nap in his big boy room.

Snuggeling after his nap.

In the process of resetting his room we had to find room for all of his "baby" stuff. We have a really, really big closet at the end of our hallway perfect for a nursery!! Now Spencer baby #4 has his own room complete with crib, changing table and a bunch of linens, but I don't think he will complain. When he starts sleeping through the night we will move him in with Gabe, but for now he has his own cozy abode!

On a more serious note, Sam and I have been spending a lot of time at the doctor lately. Poor kid, he has this wee problem with vomiting. For those of you who have known us since he was a baby this isn't necessarily a shocker. He was a PROJECTILE VOMITER as a baby and spent four days in the hospital because of it when he was a toddler. We felt like we had everything under control until recently when he started vomiting in the morning. He would wake up ravishingly hungry and then throw up four or five times, rest for about thirty minutes and then be back to normal. For awhile he was doing this about every 7 to 10 days. I took him to the peditrician. He told me that he was clearly not contagious (none of the rest of us have every gotten sick) and that he could go to school after an "episode" but that he wanted him (Sam) to see a Pediatric GI. In the meantime he put Sam on Prilosec in hopes that that would calm his stomach. Unfortunatly it did not. We saw the GI on 09 MAR. She spent a LONG time with us and was VERY helpful. She has put Sam in for a TON of tests to try to figure out what is wrong and put him on some new meds. She also told me that Prilosec works best when taken in the morning (oops, nobody told me that). Before leaving the hospital Sam had a bunch of bloodwork done. He was a TROOPER, didn't even cry. So far all of that bloodwork has come back normal (YEAH!!). She was testing for Celiac, food allergies and a few other things. On Wednesday I spent the entire afternoon at Walter Reed getting Sam ready for his tests. This coming Friday, 30 MAR, he will have a Gastric Emptying done. Basically he will eat an egg sandwich that is made with some radio active material and then they will take pictures of him every 15 minutes to watch as the food goes down. On 19 APR he is going to have a scope done of his esophagus. They will also do a biopsy of the cells in his esophogus and stomach. This should definitly rule out Celiac and or food allergies AND give them a better idea of what is going on. He will also have a head MRI done that day just to make sure he doesn't have a brain tumor. He has had this done before so we aren't too worried, they just have to rule everything out. Sam will be asleep for both procedures, please keep us in your prayers during all of this as I'm sure I will be a wee bit nervous!

Other then all of that things are looking good around here! Greg and I feel like our lives and marriage have finally gotten back to "normal" since all of the deployments. The kids are doing really well. Sam loves school. Ethan and Sam love AWANA and Sam is getting ready to start T-ball. Gabe is a joy, he suprises us everyday with how big he really is getting. We are excited to see what this new season will bring. Hope everyone is doing well. I would love to hear from everyone soon.

Heather

Greg's Birthday!

On March 14th Greg turned 34!! He's an old man!! Just kidding baby....here are some pics from the big day!!

Dr. Suess' Birthday?!

Evidently Dr. Seuss' birthday is a big deal. When I was a kid I don't recall celebrating but now a days you are an "ol' stick in the mud" if you don't. Ethan, Gabe and I started our big day at a celebration at the public library. They read books, played games, did a craft and had a cookie, YEAH!!

After that big celebration we decided to meet Greg at Costco in Arlington. HOLY MOLY!! I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. I have never been so completely overwhelmed in all my life. I am not meant to be a big city girl! After shopping and a bite to eat at Subway we headed over to Sam's school for their Dr. Suess parade. Sam was so proud and handsome.

My FIRST Weekend Away!

In February I got a wild hair and decided to go visit a friend of mine in KS. I have NEVER left the boys with Greg overnight so I was really nervous. Of couse the big day arrived and we had SNOW and ICE. Greg got me to the Metro, I made it to the Airport, and then I sat for 10 HOURS!! Everything it seems had been canceled. I finally got to Fort Riley, 12 hours later then expected. Chrissy and Robin (two of my girlfriends from Riley) graciously came and got me even though it was almost midnight. We spent the next five days catching up and having a great time. Luckily my trip home was far less eventful. Greg and the boys had a great bonding experience and I enjoyed having NO responsibility!! The first pic is of me leaving, the others are of the boys playing in the SNOW!!

Lots of NEW PICS!!

I have a ton of new pictures to add. For some reason blogger has had a really hard time loading them lately so we will see how much I actually get on here. Things, as usual, have been really crazy around here. These first pics are of the Super Bowl party we attended. Everyone there were people we knew from Fort Riley, which was rather odd, seeing as we were in BOWIE, MD!! We had a great time. The last picture is of Nancy and I showing off our pregnant bellies!! In this pic I was about 12 weeks and she was about 24.