A NEW PICTURE OF MILLER

Can you tell we are excited to go meet this baby girl?

Austin's School Christmas Party

Austin playing pin the star on the tree

Austin having his snack

This is our Christmas tree. I just sit and stare at it every night.
I took a picture from Austin's classroom of Belle on the playground.

John's Work Christmas Party

Here are some pictures from John's work party. We had a great time. It was at the oldest hotel in Wiesbaden and very very beautiful!
We did a White Elephant gift exchange and it was more than hilarious. You can only imagine, a bunch of adults partying with one as SANTA. We had to sit on Santa's lap before we could pick out a gift. Can't really add the picture on here of me on Santa's lap. Will share it later. But, my gift was a liquor called Tequila Rose I think. Don't think I will be getting much use out of that one. It will be added to "THE BAR".

Meet Miller

This is our newest family member. My dad just got a new puppy for Christmas and this is a pic of him holding her. They have named her Miller. Isn't she adorable? The kids can't wait to meet her.

An Interesting Article

THE 5 DIRTIEST FOODS.

I found this article on Yahoo and thought it was pretty important. I knew about a lot of them but there were a few that suprised me. Hope you find this helpful for your families.

The 5 dirtiest foods by Sarah Jio, Vitamin G, Glamour Magazine, on Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:56am PST Read More from This Author » 497 Comments Post a Comment Report Abuse How would you rate your food-safety IQ? I know someone who never washes their fruits and vegetables after bringing them home from the market because he believes that they're washed at the store. Um, no. Read on to learn about what some call the "5 dirtiest foods" and for a food safety wake-up call...

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The dirty food list, according to this fascinating piece I found over at AOL Health include the following:

Eggs: While most eggs aren't going to make anyone sick, experts estimate that more than 2 million germy eggs (as in Salmonella infected) get into circulation each year, sickening 660,000 people each year and killing as many as 300. Um, maybe we should think twice about eating that cookie dough (or, judging by our conversation on Vitamin G, perhaps you'd rather take your chances?). How to buy cleaner eggs? Make sure the carton says they're pasteurized and never buy a dozen that contains any obvious cracks or leaks.

Peaches: They're pretty, but that's just skin-deep. Health experts warn that peach skins are doused in pesticides before they make it to grocery store to prevent blemishes. On average, a peach can contain as many as nine different pesticides, according to the USDA. This is one fruit you might want to buy organic (which may have blemishes, but won't have pesticides). (Here's How Peaches Can Help You Build Muscle.)

Pre-packaged salad mixes: Surprise! "Triple washed" doesn't mean germ-free say experts. Pathogens may still be lurking so be sure to wash your greens before tossing in your salad bowl. (Don't make these salad mistakes!)

Melons: Get ready to be grossed out. According to the article, "when the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5 percent of the melons carried Salmonella and Shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7 percent tested positive for both bugs." Ewww. Your best bet: Scrub your melons with a little mild dish soap and warm water before slicing. (Stay healthy with these delicious winter fruits!)


Scallions: Blamed for several recent outbreaks of Hepatitis A, and other bugs like the parasite Cryptosporidium, Shigella and Salmonella, scallions present a food safety problem because of the way they grow (in the dirt) and lack of proper washing. While you can't control what happens in restaurant kitchens, you can give them a super-duper washing at home before cooking with.

Other dirty foods in the article include chicken, ground beef and turkey, raw oysters, and cold cuts. Click here to read 5 more.

The bottom line: Don't be afraid to eat these foods, just be aware of the precautions you need to take before enjoying them. Most food-borne illnesses are the result of hygiene carelessness somewhere in the food chain. Protect yourself!

Kid's Christmas Party

Austin making a special cupcake for SANTA

Momma and Annabelle making a beaded candy cane

Austin with Santa

Annabelle with Santa

Annabelle and Daddy wrapping a present she picked out

Mommy helping the kids decorate cupcakes

Here are some pictures from our kids Christmas Party for John's work. Both Austin and Annabelle had a blast. They had all kinds of crafts for the kids to enjoy and even cupcakes to decorate and hot chocolate with candy canes to mix it up. Major highlight for Austin. Santa was there too and I have never seen such a flirt as Annabelle when she saw him. She was hilarious. Here are the pictures.

PINK EYE

A picture of my little man's eye. He apparently has pink eye. We are heading to the doctor this afternoon for confirmation and medication. It just won't stop around here. We get one healthy and then someone else gets something. MERCY!! He did say it does not itch or hurt at this point so hopefully we can get the medicine in it before it becomes bothersome.

Annabelle is 3!!!!

Our baby girl is officially 3! I can't believe it. Her birthday was so much fun. We did the family stuff on her actual birthday and she got a lot of neat gifts. She got a bike from her Nonnie and Poppy, a new baby doll from her Nan Nan and Weedee and a check from her Grandma. Then her big brother gave her the Cinderella dress that she has been asking for nonstop. Mommy and Daddy got her a few little things but those were the big birthday items. Here are some of those pics.

The Ball

Tonight is our Formal Winter Ball for John's Batallion. But, he has gone solo. We had already purchased tickets for both of us, ordered our dinners, gotten a babysitter, found a great prego dress for me, got my hair highlighted and all. But, as most parents know, children seem to get sick at these times. Annabelle is really sick AGAIN. I feel like since we moved here the child has been sick nonstop(which was in January). But, I realize now that she also has started school for the first time and this is usually what happens. I just can't wait for her to be healthy for an extended period of time. It will be nice.
Anyways, Austin, Belle and I all woke up from a nap on the couch as John walked upstairs to the living room. Annabelle looked up and said, "Oh, my dad just looks SO handsome." He was standing there in his dress blues which IS so very, very handsome. She jumped up and disappeared into her room. I knew exactly what she was doing. She put on her dressiest dress and came out for a picture with her daddy. So, that is the last picture you will see. Please excuse the hair, she just woke up. The first one is of her in that dress by herself. Then Austin wanted his Christmas outfit on, this is the picture of him. The next one is of Belle asleep in the car, I just thought is was cute.
ENJOY!!!

Dr's Appt. , Baileys, Move, Thanksgiving

SPENCER
I went for my 25 week check up yesterday and it was great. My iron is low again but nothing we can't work on. I am loving that we get an ultrasound at every appt. It is so much fun to see Spencer and amazing to see how much he has grown each month. He made the doctor and I both hysterical yesterday because he is in a breech position(hiney down/head up) but has his foot up above his head. His hand looked like it was scratching his foot up there while we were doing the ultrasound. I think we have our next football kicker. He is definitely flexible enough. I know Aunt Graham and all the Brenner's will be proud to hear this news.

BAILEYS
Other than that, it has been a VERY BUSY week around here. We had our very close friends move away to a town a good 2 hours away. We are ALL very sad about that. Poor Belle just can't understand what has happened to her friends. She keeps asking for them all the time. Luckily they will be here in less than two weeks. WE MISS YOU VERY VERY MUCH BAILEY FAM!!!

MOVE
We have moved to a new apartment. We accepted the quarters late afternoon on Wed. and began the journey of moving the entire place by ourselves. We were able to move everything except for the extremely large furniture(not allowed for pregnant women). One of the guys John works came over for about an hour one day and they got the big stuff moved in. We luckily were just moving from the 3rd floor to the second floor in the same stairwell. This made it easy to bring the stuff down and put it where it belongs instead of using boxes. We just got two laundry baskets and I would empty one while John went back upstairs to fill the next.
The apartment is great and we have so much more room now. Now we just have to paint the apartment, get our Christmas decorations up from the basement and decorate, and get Spencer's gear up here and ready for him. Once that is all done we will be settled. Could be a while but so far it is fun.
The hardest part was the fixing up of the other house. John was up there for two days straight cleaning and touching up paint. He had to get it cleaned like new so that includes all the fun things like cleaning all the appliances, moving the appliances to clean underneath and behind, checking all the lights, cleaning the patio, and then all the regular cleaning. But, he is done now. Thankfully!
Now I can get him to paint with me.

THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving was great! We took a break from the house and went to the Dining Facility. It was a wonderful experience for the whole family. I think the kids really enjoyed it also. We went with some of our friends whose husbands are deployed. All of the soldiers who were serving the food were dressed in there fanciest of uniforms and they had the place decorated so nice. The food was really wonderful too. We were just glad we got there so when they opened. Some people waited over 2 hours in line.

SPENCER UPDATE!

I know I just posted about Spencer kicking Austin the other night. But, we are 24 WEEKS today. I have two different websites that send me information each week. I have only received one so far today but I was blown away by what it said. I will just copy and paste it because some of it is pretty funny.

Here it is:
Fetal development in pregnancy week 24:fetus in sixth month This is another big week for your magical growing baby! Just take a look at the checklist for this week: 1) ears: done; 2) fingernails: done; 3) (if you have a boy) testicles: taking their 3-4 day trip from the abdominal wall to the scrotum; and 4) lungs walls: secreting “surfactant”. By the end of this week, your child will be weighing around 2 lbs and 14 inches long. Your cutie-patootie may even be a little more plump, but isn't anywhere near their full baby-fatted cute-self. Most of the “filling out” is coming up in that long awaited (and slightly dreaded?) third trimester. Woo-hoo! Get ready!

Did they seriously say he is 14 inches long? Crazy, and 2 lbs. I can't believe it. Well, I was just excited. So, to all the people out there that think once you get to the 3rd pregnancy it just isn't as exciting. YOU ARE VERY WRONG! I am clearly as gitty and excited.

Snow Pictures

Pictures from the snow we received last night. This was right before we left for school. They weren't exactly looking at me much, to busy looking at the snow. Austin kept begging me to let him make a snow angel but I couldn't give in due to the fact he just had jeans on for pants. Didn't want to send him to school in wet jeans. I know, mean mean mommy.

AUSTIN'S FIRST SLEEPOVER

Austin had his first real sleepover Friday night with our friends the Baileys. He had a blast!!!! He stayed up until 11. All I have to say about that is POOR JEN!!! Sorry about the late night Jen. When they woke up it had snowed A LOT here. So, Jen took all 4 of her kids and Austin out and they played in the snow. Then, they came in and made airplane and train shaped pancakes. Boy was he excited.
He took a nap yesterday from 1:30 til 4:30. I would say that boy was flat worn out.

Suprisingly enough, Annabelle handled it really well too. I thought she would cry for him but she didn't. She went in his room and went to sleep and never complained a bit. Now when it hit about 10 a.m. she had waited long enough and was asking for her big brother. She was really excited about the snow also but didn't go out to play in it. It is gone today but we are expecting more and we will definitely be making a snowman next snow.

There is one more bit of exciting news. Last night before dinner I was reading a book to the kids. When we finished reading the kids wanted to feel Spencer move in my belly. They put there little hands on my belly and waited patiently. Austin said Spencer Kick, Spencer Kick, Spencer Kick. Well, on the third time he lowered his voice and he kicked. This went on for a good ten minutes and every time Austin lowered his voice Spencer would kick them. They loved it and of course John and I couldn't believe it. I promise to video next time. We just weren't expecting it this time.

5 MONTHS!!!

Today we completed 5 months for this pregnancy! I am counting the months by the actual date. He is due March 17th and today is the 17th of November so there are just 4 months left. We are all getting so excited to meet the new little man who will be joining our family. He is really active now and John, Austin and Annabelle have all been able to feel him. I think my favorite thing is that every time I yell, "Hey Austin come here buddy". He responds with much excited "Is Baby Spencer moving?". He is also by my side with lightning speed. So awesome!! Spencer typically gets the most active in the evening and then again as soon as I wake up in the morning. It is just so much fun to feel him moving around in my belly.

Here are some pics of the big brother and sister with the gifts they picked out at Disneyland Paris. Belle got the minnie mouse doll last year at Disney World Orlando but we took them with us.

Trip to Paris

I have finally put some pictures on here from our trip to Paris. We had a wonderful time but I must say that 2 full days is NOT, NOT long enough!! Paris is breathtaking and even the kids being as young as they are were able to appreciate it. Annabelle keeps talking about the Ice Power(Eiffel Tower). It really made a mark on her and Austin really liked everything. He was reminding us things he thought we needed to take pictures of. We went downtown the first day and then we went to Disneyland the second.
Well, Belle is out of the bed now so I will right more later.

Pictures from Paris

Me in front of the Arch De Triumph

The kids on the train into downtown Paris, Annabelle's 1st train ride!!

Daddy and his girl in the pool at the hotel

John in front of the Eiffel Tower(on the lawn side)

Austin,Me and Belle in front of the Eiffel Tower(other side)

Austin & Belle's view on Paris

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Baby #3

WE FOUND OUT THE SEX OF THE BABY TODAY. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, JUST CLICK ON THE LINK TO DROPSHOTS ON THE RIGHT. WE POSTED A VIDEO OF US TELLING THE KIDS WHAT THE BABY
IS. WE WILL POST PICTURES SOON.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Here are some pictures from today. The first one was taken by Austin. I promised a belly pic, hope you like it. Then there is a picture of some artwork Austin did for Nani, and a picture of each kid in there costumes. The picture of the cupcakes are from this morning. When Belle and her buddy Brady were at school, my friend Jen and I got together and let our older three make these cupcakes. They had a blast and the cupcakes turned out yummy too.
ENJOY!!!
Oh, I also added two funny videos of the kids today. Check them out to the right at the dropshots link.

Can They Really Be Serious?!

So, they are saying we won't even make it to 40 degrees tomorrow. That is way to cold. Austin's last soccer game is tomorrow night. WE ARE GOING TO FREEZE!!!

Today at school Austin had a Halloween party. It was great. They wore there costumes and there were halloween themed centers for them to enjoy and goody bags, snacks and more. I will post some pics soon.

Belle went to a Pediatric Cardiologist today because we were told last week that she has a heart murmur. First I have to brag about her for a minute. She was an angel. She laid still holding her daddy doll and explaining to it what she was doing during the EKG. Never fussed. Then when the doctor came in she did an ultrasound that lasted at least 20 minutes. Well, Belle still stayed still for that. She just would ask about every 5 minutes if she was being a good girl. The doctor said that Annabelle's heart is fine and that she is a very healthy little girl. She said they call it an innocent murmur and she expects it will go away. This was a German doctor and I loved her. I wish I could go there for all our appointments.

Tonight, we went to John's work. They took all of the planes out of the hangar and put down paper so we could all carve pumpkins together. They had pizza, cake, soda and of course some halloween candy. They even brought the outlines if you wanted for ideas for the pumpkins. What a great time it was. I wish we had thought before to do pumpkin carving as a party. It was really neat to see everyones finished products. I will also post some pictures from this tomorrow.

One more thing, John is feeling much better today. He was able to join us tonight and even had pizza. Still praying the rest of us can avoid this nasty bug.

POOR JOHN

I woke up in the middle of the night and my husband wasn't in bed. I got up to see what was wrong and he was out on the couch. He has the stomach flu and BAD. Poor guy is miserable. The kids and I got up this morning and went to the food court for breakfast to try and give him some peace and quiet. We also stopped by the PX to stock up on lysol, hand sanitizer, gatorade and clorox wipes. He is hoping it is just a 24 hour bug. I am going to clean like a madwoman today and hope to save even one of the three of us left from this awful bug. I guess that is what I get for writing that I had been off the "no more vomiting pill" for 5 days on the blog last night. Hopefully we can nurse him back to health and the rest of us be lucky enough to no get it. I know, good luck with that.
The worst part of this is that we had the same thing last year on Halloween. I guess this is just a bad week for us each year. Please say a prayer for our family.

Update, update, update

Well, you probably thought we fell off of the face of the Earth. Nope, just been busy and terrible bloggers. We do have a lot to update everyone on though.

First of all, MY PARENTS CAME TO VISIT!!!!!! It was so wonderful. The kids were so excited to have there Nani and Poppy here to see them. While they were here we did a lot of traveling. My favorite thing we did was go to Stuttgart for there Oktoberfest. Boy was it a blast. I think John and Dad would have liked to have a few days there but we just had one. I will post pictures of them with there enormous 1 Liter beers. The kids even loved it because it was like a giant fair also. Lots of rides. We mainly traveled lots of Germany but we did venture to France one day.



Second is the pregnancy update. We made our appt. to find out the sex of the baby while my parents were here. We all went in to find out the big news(me, John, Austin, Annabelle, Nonnie and Poppy). Well, will all of the excitement you can imagine that one might get stage fright. Oh yes, that is right. This silly baby of mine had the cord between its legs. So, we still aren't sure whether it is a BOY or a GIRL. I still think it is a girl due to the extreme morning sickness but we will see. On that subject, I have been off of my medicine for the vomiting for 5 days now and how been feeling good. I will be 20 weeks tomorrow. HALFWAY THERE!!!! Hopefully this lil muffin will cooperate at our appt. next Monday. It will just be John and I so maybe!

We are all doing well other than that. The kids are enjoying school. Austin's last soccer game is this week. John is getting great flight hours and has also started working on his Master's Degree. I am just happy to not be sick anymore.

Enough for now, I know yours eyes are burning. Hope everyone is doing well.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Austin's 1st Soccer Game

Austin had his 1st soccer game for this season on Monday night. He did awesome, he scored 7 goals!!!! He ran to me after each one with the biggest grin yelling how many goals he had scored up to that point. Here are some pictures.
His sweet baby sister was there cheering him along the whole time. She kept screaming GO AUSTIN!! She was so proud of him. I can't wait until they can both play this Winter/Spring. How fun.

Our Baby #3

Here are some pics of Baby #3. The top pic is of the entire body with the head on the left. It is a profile shot. I just LOVE it! The 2nd one is the same pic just zoomed in. Not as clear. It is so nice to see it moving around in my belly and to know that it is growing as expected. The doctor has moved my due date up to March 17, 2009(St. Patrick's Day) due to the fact that at all three ultrasounds he has measured me ahead of the estimated due date.
My morning sickness is also getting a lot better. Today was the best so far. I have been really tired but the doc said my iron was low and the tiredness might be due to that. I was able to take my prenatal vitamin tonight so that should fix the iron problem.
Hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy the photos!!!

Belle's 1st Day!!

Annabelle had her very first day of preschool on Wednesday. She was very very excited and just LOVES it!!! She is always asking if she can go see Miss LaJulia and then says I love Miss LaJulia mommy. I love her. She was the same teacher she had for hourly care so it made the transition a very happy occasion instead of stressful. Although, I don't see there ever being a problem with Belle as far as going to school. She is very independent. I will post some pics of the first day soon. She was really happy about her new backpack. It is a pink bunny,need I say more.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Today was Austin's first day back at school. He was really excited and went right in with no problems. His friends weren't even there yet. Here are some pics.

Cool Day at work for Daddy!!!

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John had a flight to Italy which was intercepted by a Swiss military F-18 fighter jet. They intercept them sometimes to check there registration and personally I think just because they think it is fun. Anyways, it is really awesome!! The guy he was flying with happened to have his cellphone and videod it. Tough day for daddy, he had to fly to Italy, eat some really good pizza, buy some delicious wine, get intercepted by a fighter jet and last but not least of course, come home to us!! Ha!

Hope you enjoy!!

And Then There Were 3!

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WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!! Yes, believe it or not the Bartholomew's are expecting baby #3!! We are super excited and already 9 weeks and 5 days along in this pregnancy. We haven't posted about it because we were waiting to see the heartbeat first and I was fortunate to see it a week ago Monday. The doc says the baby looks very healthy and that he is THRILLED that I am suffering from some awful morning sickness. For those that don't know, we miscarried in Dec. and the doc said that my morning sickness is a great sign of a healthy baby and pregnancy. I am really looking forward to reaching 12 weeks in the hopes that I will start feeling better. I did try a medication this morning and have felt really good today. I even made it to the grocery store. THIS IS HUGE!!! And no frowing up as Belle would say.

Oh, the kids are beside themselves with excitement. They are fighting everyday over whether the baby is a GIRL or a BOY. Because of the sickness I have been preparing Austin for the possibility of a girl. Telling him I was sick like this when Belle was in my tummy. Anyways, yesterday Belle was misbehaving and Austin told her, "That is it Annabelle, now the baby is going to be a Boy. God is watching you and he is going to make the baby a boy now." They both just crack me up.

Please keep us and our new baby in your prayers!!

Is he the next Tiger Woods?

We took the kids to the golf course Sunday. They were having a family day there and unlimited range balls for children. Well, they have begged us to go back everyday since then. Belle did well hitting the ball but needed help most of the time. I must say she looked pretty stinkin cute though. Austin on the other hand I don't think missed a single ball. Hope you enjoy the video. Here are some pics as well.