Freckles & Bones

I don’t know what it is but I have had some success lately with winning stuff on Twitter. Random and various things from $25 cash to a MacBook Pro laptop bag from radtech.com to Transformer 2 tickets that I sadly could not use but gave away. This time all my tweeting paid of big.

Griffin Technology is a company that makes very cool accessories for Macs, iPods, and of course iPhones. My first encounter with Griffin products was actually years ago. When I did a lot of video editing in Final Cut Pro I was looking for a device to help finely scrub through my video. That’s when I found Griffin’s PowerMate. It was and still is a thing of beauty. Everyone who saw my desk quickly noticed the PowerMate and asked about it. It worked great in any app you wanted to have a very tactile scrolling/scrubbing feel. Griffin also makes a few iPhone apps. One very popular one is called iTalk. I actually used it to record the audio of our baby girl’s heart beat during her first ultra sound. Worked great!

I’m not sure who exactly I heard it from but I heard through Twitter that Griffin was doing a big shopping spree to help promote their new blog. So I headed over to http://blog.griffintechnology.com to participate. You can see the contest blog post here. The contest was simple. Post a comment on our blog on what your favorite feature of the new iPhone3GS is and one will be randomly selected to win a $500 shopping spree. So I posted my comment and left it to fate. Here is a direct link to my comment.

To my surprise a few days later (completely forgetting about the contest) I get a tweet from one of my tweeps (friends on Twitter) @chrisherbert1 congratulating me on my winning comment. I actually missed @griffintech’s own tweet announcing the winner. At first I didn’t quite believe it. I told Andrea and showed her the blog post announcing the winner with my face on it!

Almost immediately I went to GriffinTechnology.com and began looking through all their products and creating a wish list. You think spending $500 is easy but not when there is so many great products available that you just want them all.

This Monday our package from Griffin arrived. Watch the video below to see what we got.

Thanks once again to Griffin Technology for all the cool gear!

We are going to get some real world use out of all this stuff then post our mini reviews and thoughts.

So our baby girl is already growing and changing so fast! We feel so blessed to enjoy these precious times and we thank everyone who has sent us prayers, food, gifts, and help! It does take a village!

We have updated our photo gallery and will continue to do so throughout the year so make sure to check out upcoming weeks and months of our family photos!

Last weekend Ainsley got to meet her other Grandparents and just fell in love with them, it was great to have Chris’ parents here in Stillwater, OK. We also had Ainsley’s baptism since Chris’ folks were down so we have added those photos as well to our gallery!

My brother Philip and his wife Aleia are expecting in July and unfortunately I had to miss her shower last weekend but I will make sure to get up to Kansas City once they welcome their new baby into the world!

We hope everyone is doing great and we will try to keep you updated!

Love,

Andrea (Freckles)

On this Memorial day we remember all those who have served this great country. Without you we would never be able to have a family like this. Thank you.

Here is the photo gallery for Ainsley’s second week of life and freedom.

We added some more photos of Ainsley and of our dogs to our Photo Gallery. I love our Nikon D40 camera. Worth the money for sure. I can’t wait to get Ainsley a rugged point n shoot so we can go on fun photo walk adventures together.

So, it’s no longer the two of us, we truly are blessed with the beginning of our own family. It’s true what your mother tells you about love, you’ll never know unconditional love until you hold your own child for the first time. I have no words to explain the joy that I feel now daily just when I see her little self. I also have fallen even more in love with my husband who has become the man that God purposed him to be, he is going to be the greatest dad in the world and he is the greatest husband for me.
We all have had a tough first week recovering from a hard pregnancy and c-section, it was a test of faith and determination for us all. Week two and so on will get better and better. Overall, we have had multiple hands help us out with dinners, lunches, flowers, words of encouragement, and visits. So thank you to all our family and friends. Make sure to check out Ainsley’s week one pics on our photo gallery.
Thank you again for the prayers & everything else!
Love,
The happiest mom in the world
Andrea (Freckles)

Some thing fun I whipped up with Animoto.com for Andrea for Mother’s Day. Enjoy.

So Andrea and I are watching LOST on our last night of being just a couple. Very apropiate because we are so not lost. Ainsley Jane will hopefully be here tomorrow or Friday and our path’s in life have led us here. We are both so very anxious to continue on this path with an additional pair of little feet.

Some very big thanks are in order to those who have helped us along the way.

First, our Lord, for bringing our wandering paths together. Second, both of our families who have given us their full support. Espeacially Grammy Maciula who has been cooking us some amazing dinners. (Andrea got tired of frozen dinners fast).

Finally, our friends who have helped us. Either getting Ainsley some cute outfits or just hangin with us and having fun.

Our life is about to change and I am so glad we have you all with us.

Let’s go.

The best Musical

So Chris, baby A., and myself had an amazing weekend and a very stressful start of this week! Grammy & Grampy Maciula took the whole family to the Lion King in OKC, and The Mantle for dinner! It was extraordinary.
Saturday, April 25th: First the food at The Mantle was excellent, served well, and the atmosphere was great! Second, the VIP seats that we had for the Lion King were amazing. I was crying the first five seconds from the awe inspiring sounds and sights of the play! Ainsley was turning and jumping all around during most of the show! It truly was an experience that we will never forget!

Then Monday we had our normal Non-Stress test where they monitor the baby and look at her heartbeat to make sure she isn’t stressed, we then had another ultrasound to look at her size and weight, she is estimated at nine pounds. Then we saw Dr. Henry and my blood pressure was sky high so he sent us to the hospital. We had to stay overnight where they monitored baby and mommy and then we were sent home Tuesday afternoon.

Now I am taking blood pressure meds, and supposed to be on full bed-rest until she decides to come; this means bathroom, bedroom and doctor’s visits. So please pray that baby Ainsley is developed fully and will come soon!

35 weeks. The count down has begun till little Ainsley’s arrival. I must say this past month has gone by slooow. Andrea has been a real trooper though. It’s not easy being stuck at home. I love her dearly and I am so very proud of her. She is going to be a great mommy!

Bones

So, it is about time for another update on our little growing family! I am not working anymore, I am on bed rest to keep my blood pressure down and keep growing our little A which is hard for Chris. He now is in charge of all grocery shopping and chores. (he is getting good at groceries!)

Most days I can usually cook us dinner or dinner and lunch, my mom helped with cleaning up our house and I rely on Chris to be my gopher. Ainsley’s room is ready except for a crib mattress, which we will get someday and we need to pack our hospital bags.

Other than that, Chris is working on networking with Stillwater’s Chamber of Commerce and he will be teaching some this summer for Meridian Vo Tech which will be great!

We get checkups on my health and the baby’s every Monday and Thursday so we will make sure everyone is updated. That is it for now!

keep my Granny Maciula in your prayers and our baby girl

Much love,
Andrea (Freckles)