Finally a new update

So I jinxed myself by saying I had done a  good job at keeping everyone updated. But I am finally here with a new post. Since I last posted we have run into problems with the router here and our website. Basically if we connect through the router we are unable to do anything to the website, even view it. Don has connected directly to the box and put up photos for everyone but I haven't even seen what it looks like. I am still able to update the  blog through Blogger which seems to still function correctly. So on to the updates.

Thanksgiving was nice. There was a big crowd here although not as big as the crowd will be for Christmas. The food was good and the company nice. It was basically the traditional Thanksgiving feast so not too much to say about it. Anthony came up from DC and it was nice to spend time with him. Jackie definitely taught him a few new games. She had a blast playing with him and he was a great uncle and went along with all her tossing, and him picking up, of her stacking cups. I think she will really enjoy spending time with him again at Christmas.

Since Thanksgiving, life has been a bit of a rush. With Russell getting married the week before Christmas, all our preparations and December appointments had to be made before Jackie and I leave for TX on Saturday. Thus a crazy first half of December with this week being the worst. Jackie and I had to finish the last bit of Christmas shopping, which we did today. Then everything needed to be gift wrapped, which I spent some of the last two weeks accomplishing. Laundry has to be done, Jackie needed a flu booster shot (she got it today and did her brave; there were very little tears), I have a doctors appt. tomorrow for the little baby and Don's work Christmas party is Friday evening. In the midst of all these things I have to find time to get organized and packed and we needed to decorate for Christmas. It has been a crazy week already.

Last night we decorated the Christmas tree and Jackie was so excited. She helped Nana put the star garland and the pearl garland on the tree, she was holding onto  the strand and placing it on the lower branches in between little dances of excitement at all the glittery-ness of the garland. She was also draping it on herself and walking around with it. Jackie also helped Don hang her first Christmas ornaments on the tree. And she had fun carrying around Jackie safe (unbreakable) ornaments before they were hung on the tree. Jackie has so much wonder about all the decorations and lights, it is wonderful to see her face all lit up and full of joy. It reminds you of what this season is all truly about. It isn't the gifts or even the decorations but about the joy and wonder we should feel because of the birth of one special child and all he means for Christianity and humanity. It is a great gift to be able to teach Jackie about Christ and for her to teach us about Joy and wonder.

Have a very Merry Christmas with your families and try to focus on what Christmas is truly about. I'll post again the week of Christmas to update everyone on Jackie's Christmas experience.

~Tiffany

Weekly Update

So I guess I am getting pretty good at actually keeping the posts up to date. Maybe I can keep up these weekly installments on our lives. Don worked on photos a little this week and uploaded some to the web Monday night, he just needs to link them in. He is also hoping to get a few more galleries together soon for everyone's enjoyment. 

We spent the weekend with Don's sister and her two kids who made the trip up from NC. It was great to see them and Jackie enjoyed her first truly interactive visit with her cousins. Charlie and Jackie had a lot of fun running up and down the long hall by the kitchen with Kaelin, still a little wobbly on her feet at times, trailing behind. The concept of yours and mine was a little lost on Jackie who thought any cup or food item must be for her and not for the other kids. But they played very well together and Charlie even tried to teach Jackie about sharing toys. It was pretty cute to see a 3 year old telling a 1 year old about sharing especially since the concept was pretty lost on Jackie and Charlie couldn't figure out why she didn't understand. The visit was a bit of a dry run for Christmas when the whole family will be together for the holidays. We just have to keep Jackie taking naps and things should be just fine if not a little chaotic in the best of ways.

Today Jackie and I ventured forth for the third time this week. Having a car is turning out to be quite convenient and I am getting better at finding my way around MA. On Monday Jackie and I went to the outlet mall and did a little shopping. She now has some pretty pink boots to wear when we get the first snow of the year. We also bought her a little outfit for next winter with a cute penguin in honor of her dad. And I found a few more pieces of clothing to help make it through the winter with my basketball belly. Still need to find more pants but I should find some soon. 

Tuesday, Jackie and I had to drive over to my OB in Norwood to get the little baby checked on. It is doing well and has a heart beat around 140-150 bpm. Everything is growing nicely. This afternoon Jackie and I had to head back over to Norwood for an ultrasound of the little baby. One of my tests showed a slightly elevated level of a hormone and they just wanted to check to make sure everything was fine. No worries, the little baby has a nice, strong, perfect spine. But because they couldn't find the reason for the elevated AFP (alpha-fetoprotein) they will continue ultrasounds every four weeks just to check the baby's growth. That means we get new pictures of the little baby once a month. Don should have the pictures up the weekend after each visit but we'll let you know when they get posted. Today we were able to see the little baby in 3-D which is a little odd at first but is pretty neat. We were also told that the baby is a little over 1lbs which is right where it should be.

So I guess that is about all that has been going on in our lives this week. I think the rest of the week will be spent in the pursuit of clean clothes and diapers. Not too exciting. Maybe in the midst of the laundry I will do a little baking. I'm sort of in the mood for something a little sweet.

Until the next post,

~Tiffany and Jackie

Exciting News

So we have a big announcement to make. 

We bought a car!!!!! So that was the big announcement. I guess you might want some details about the car now, right? Well it is a 2009 Toyota Camry. It is a lovely shade of gray which is entitled "Magnetic" by the car company. Does that mean things will start sticking to our car? I think the shade is closer to the color of graphite, a nice medium gray. Jackie likes the view from her carseat and the smooth ride of the car. It is nice and compfy and is probably the first car Jackie will ever drive. She didn't seem too thrilled with that last bit. I took a few pictures of the car yesterday after it was delivered. I will try to have Don put them on the website this weekend along with the anxiously awaited pictures of Jackie at Halloween.

And as for Jackie we had her 15 month check-up on Monday. The doctor said she looked great. By the way this is the same doctor Don had growing-up and he asked me to tell the family "hi."I thought that was kind of neat that he  remembered the Fosters. Jackie is now 21 lbs 7 oz , which is in the 20% and although I don't have her exact height (the nurse didn't tell me, I forgot to ask, and they didn't give me a hand-out with her stats) she is in the 90% for height. So she is nice and tall and her Papa is already talking about a career in basketball. But other than the three shots they gave her, she seemed to like the visit. And she got a cool orange squeaky fish, I only ever got stickers. 

That is all for now. I have another appointment for the new addition on Tuesday and will try to give an update then. 

~Tiffany

Jackie's Trick-or-Treat

Since we haven't given an update in the last month, I thought it was time to fill you in on what life has been like in MA. Jackie has had a blast with all the leaves. She and Don and Papa raked leaves last weekend and she loved playing in the pile raked for her. I missed most of the excitement because Joann and I took a bread baking class at a nearby convent. Let me tell you those were some very earthy-crunchy nuns (and I only met one of them). But we brought home loaves of yummy bread which have been enjoyed by all. 

Besides all the bread baking, I have been getting a head start on holiday baking. So far I have made an apple pie for Thanksgiving and will make one for Christmas this week. That way there is less to do around the holidays and the pies are made with fresh, local, yummy apples we won't be able to find in a month. I also need to make a pie for Dave and Don to eat soon or they might kick me out of the house. ;-) 

As for Jackie's Trick-or-Treat: it went as well as can be expected of a 15 month old. She went as an adorable Starbucks' short cup, which she only sometimes enjoyed wearing. Don should post the pictures this weekend so everyone can see how it turned out. Jackie had a very shortened trick -or-treating experience. She went to visit Nee, she walked across the street to the neighbors there and she had to ask Nana for treats at home. So although short, she was pretty cute on her first outing.

Jackie has also gotten a new puppy since we last updated everyone. It is an adorable little yellow lab and she carries it almost everywhere she goes. She even sleeps with it at night and nap-time. But don't worry, it is stuffed so it tolerates her tossing it to the side when something more important grabs her attention. She is so cute with the little puppy though; she even will take a drink from her water cup and then put it up to the dog so it can have a drink too. 

As you can tell Jackie is as cute as ever. We will try to keep posts coming more regularly. But this is all for now.

~ Tiffany

New Photos

Don spent part of the holiday weekend working on the digital pile of photos from the last several months. He uploaded them last night so they are ready to be enjoyed by all. To find the new pictures, click on the family photos tab under photo gallery. These three sets are just the first of the group, there will be more to come before too long. Also photos of the coming addition will be up shortly. So stay tuned for more updates and more pictures.

New Addition

Just to let all of our fans out there know, who might not have heard yet, we will have a new addition to Flea and Company around mid March. If the doctor's guess is right it will be here on St. Patrick's day and no there will be no naming the addition after the saint. We should have more updates coming soon, including pictures. 

In other exciting news, Don got a job!!!!! He is working for a small pharmaceutical company in Cambridge. He is enjoying the train ride in every day and likes his new boss and the company. They work on RNAi which is nicely explained by PBS "Nova: Science Now" if you follow this link:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3210/02.html . The company's website also has some information on RNAi at  http://www.alnylam.com/science-technology/index.asp .

We meant to get this important information on the website a few weeks ago but with Don's new job and me and Jackie doing the stay home mom- daughter thing (really I couldn't figure out Don's new blog thing until now) we didn't get it up until now. We do have the new edition of Lightroom so as soon as Don gets a little spare time he will get a photo post up as well.

Welcome to September!

Hello World!

We've all moved up to Massachusetts, and I (Don) am looking for jobs. I decided to finish grad school with a Masters of Science in Pharmacology rather than continue about three more years to finish the PhD, for a variety of personal/family reasons that I can go into later. Regardless, I'm hoping to get a job in the pharmaceutical industry soon! I had a few interviews in the Philly area, but no offers. Since moving to MA, I've had one interview (of which I don't yet know the result). I also got a few more "bites" today, so hopefully those will turn into interviews!

Jackie is doing well, and walking everywhere. Still no words, apart from "mommy"- and "daddy"-sounding words. She was about 20 pounds at her last doctor checkup, about three weeks ago. And she was about 29 inches tall then too!

I've got a lot of photos to post... but unfortunately my trial of Adobe Lightroom 2 just ended, and I can't easily go back to version 1.4 (which I own)... my fault, not Adobe's.

Also, I have video to edit and post.

And unpacking and settling in to do!

I'll post photos when I find $100.

Take care!
Don

Photo galleries updated!

I updated all of the baby photo galleries to the new format.  That means that photos can be downloaded by first right-clicking (or control-clicking for a one-button mouse on a Mac) on the photo and selecting "open in a new window".  Then right-click/control-click on the photo in the new window and save the file.

Also, the photos are larger, so stretch the photo gallery window as large as you can to make them bigger on your screen!

Feeding photos uploaded

Hello again.  Just wanted to let you al know that I uploaded a few new photos of Jackie feeding herself.
Don

Crawling around and making a mess

Hi everyone!  Today we let Jackie try to feed herself with a spoon, and we practically had to hose her off afterwards.  I got some good pictures, so I'll upload those soon.  We also spent some time sitting on Penn's campus, letting Jackie crawl around.  She got dirt all over her bottom, under her fingernails, and so on (hooray!).  She had fun crawling around the brick paths toom, and trying to track squirrels and pigeons down.  As a sidenote, Starbucks continues to provide a source of entertainment for Jackie- she spent a good amount of time chasing a plastic cup (Don's) around the pathway!

Still here!

Hi everyone!

I've upload photos from April through yesterday, so we're officially up to date on that count. Things have been hectic around here, but I'll get to that discussion another day. Jackie has four teeth now, crawls, can pull herself up on things, and seems to be getting into everything around here! We have video too, but I haven't had a chance to edit it yet... Hopefully soon!

Don

A little video

Hi again,

I've posted a few videos from this month on the Video page. Go have a look! You can also click the links below:

Dadadada
Excited Jackie
Smart baby


Don

Long time no blog

Hello everyone,

So it's officially been a long time since I last updated! Things have been busy around here, but I'll get to that in another blog in a few weeks maybe. Anyway, I've uploaded new photos to the Gallery. The new ones are January - March, and April of this year.

By the way, the April gallery uses a new layout. It lets you open a photo in a new browser window by right-clicking on it. That means you can download the photo in the new window by again right-clicking (the images are 1000 x 667 pixels). You can also navigate using the keyboard (up/down and left/right). Stretch out the browser window to make sure the images are as large as they can be.

Don

Photos & videos, and organization too!

Hi again,

I put photos and video from Jackie's baptism online, and reorganized the photo albums that were already online. Hopefully that makes things a little easier to navigate! Oh, and the baptism video is rather large (331mb), so depending on your internet connection it may play better if you download it first.

Hello again!

Hi everyone!

Well the big news of the week is that Jackie had her baptism last Sunday! We had it at Saint Agatha Saint James. I'll have video and photos from Sunday posted soon. Also, in case no one noticed, there are more videos online now- just go to "Videos" under the "Files" heading on the right side of the page.

In other news, we've started feeding Jackie rice cereal. She's not a big fan of it! Check the video out.

Time to go feed Jackie, I'll try to post again later today!

Don

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone!

I posted a bunch of photos from November and December of last year. You can check them out here:

Home for the holidays

Jackie's getting bigger! She laughs, smiles, and talks a lot now. Jackie had her first solid food on Christmas day. Those photos are in the link above. I'll post some videos soon so you can all see and hear her!

Take care,
Don