My grandson is here!!!!

Noel David joined the clan this morning shortly before 6 AM, via c-section (after a grueling 24 hours of back labor, another 2 hours of puking and transitioning, and 90 minutes of pushing to no avial!) weighing in at 9 lbs 0.6 oz, measuring 21 1/2 inches long and with a 14 1/4 inch head! Mama and baby are doing well and proud papa is grinning for ear to ear! And yes, he has a HEADFUL of hair! Unheard of in this family until today!

Just a couple of pictures!

2009 B-SR Tealtown Tigers East Regional Knothole Champions. Front Row: Josh Fardy, Garrett Gronotte, Dominic Gabriele, Timmy Neiser, Peter Kamphaus, Reid Hehemann. Middle Row: Shaun Bacon, Grant Riesenberg, Jacob Wellbrock, Chris Leland,Peter Garvin, Christopher Keating. Back Row: Steve Hehemann, head coach Jay Riesenberg, Nino Gabriele. On Sunday July 19th, the Tealtown Tigers defeated the Goshen Arrows to gain the East Regional title and advance to the Knothole City Final Tournament.

Cade's Team is D-SR Silver Division Champions!

So we didn't bother to tell the boys that they are really just 13th in the county, since the top 12 teams went to the gold division tournament...but the boys really RALLIED....after going 0-9 ...no that isn't a typo....in the second half of the season.....and managed to WIN the tournament!









2009 D-Sr. Tealtown Coyotes Clermont County Tournament Silver Division Champions. Front row: Alex Dulaney, Paul Rammel, Clayton Richter, Cade Riesenberg, Andrew Williams, Bradley Hamilton, Jared Black. Middle Row: Josh Bunton, Brandon Hamilton, Vinny Gabriele, Jack Schmidt, Hayden Cunningham. Back Row: Head Coach Jay Riesenberg, Dave Richter, Nino Gabriele, Alex Black, Neil Rammel. Not pictured Kyle Kaiser and Tyler Smith.

I am not sure....

if in every large family there is a WILLIAM....a child that just constantly surprises you with the things that comes out of his mouth or by the things he does. I just had a share a couple of WILLIAM moments, he just turned 5 the end of June!

Last Friday, early in the morning, I am on the computer like I always am in the morning, as I like to check email before starting the day. William comes up and asks me if, when I am finished, I can get him into YOUTUBE.

Me: Yes, I can get you into youtube, but no one is awake to help you find what you want.

William: That's OK, I know how to NAVIGATE it myself!

Me: (laughing) You know how to navigate it yourself? Do you even know what navigate means William?

William: (rolling eyes) Yeah, it means to get around!

So the only thing to do.....get him into youtube and let him navigate it!

Saturday evening, Jay takes William up to the park to through him some batting practice. When they get home, Jay walks in....

Jay: (to me) Ask William how he learned to hit a baseball.

Me: William, how did you learn to hit a baseball?

William: YOUTUBE!

And then he goes into repeating step by step how the video on youtube showed him how to bat, it was HILARIOUS, wish I had thought to videotape it, would have made a nice youtube addition!

Comic relief for my life, bundled up in a 40 lb package!

Gro Baby Cloth Diapers:
Link to website: http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/grobaby%E2%84%A2-ic-11_16.html

I heard about this great offer from Cloth Diaper News (http://clothdiapernews.com/?p=363)! Gro Baby is running a promotion, blog about their diaper, and they will send you one to try for FREE! I just couldn't pass up this opportunity!

We are HUGE cloth diapering fans.....I have tried many combinations over the years, back when Brett (18) and Hannah (17) were babies, we even used a diaper service, good ole diaper pins and plastic pants! Boy how things have changed over the years! This last go round with Luke (2) we ended up deciding on Fuzzi Bunz after much trial and error, but I hated that I had to buy a new size each time he outgrew the previous size (so we ended up with 3 complete sets of 24 diapers...small, medium and large and more inserts than you can possibly imagine!). We also tried Bum Genius one size diaper, and although I LOVED the concept, I found it to be too small on my not so chunky toddler, but I loved it when it fit well, it certainly is a more economical choice for anyone starting out cloth diapers, since I figure you can get probably almsot 2 years out of them, vs about 6-8 mo out of each size of Fuzzi Bunz. I am so excited about this new diaper...GRO BABY! From the description, it looks like it will fit my toddler until he is potty trained (PRAYING that will happen by next year!). This diaper could be the perfect "start to finish" cloth diapering choice!

The thing that I feel is unique about GRO BABY (and am eager to see how it works) is that (according to their website) “Gro Baby is a modern, one-size diapering system. Its unique, waterproof shell and organic cotton soaker pad minimizes waste and cost. Gro Baby is designed so that the outer shells may be used for multiple diaper changes. If the soaker pad is wet, simply snap in a fresh one and you are ready to go. If the shell is wet, allow it to air dry and use for the next diaper change. When your Gro Baby Shell is soiled or very saturated, start fresh with a new Gro Baby Shell.” I think this will really cut down on the amount of laundry that needs to be done because most times, you will just be tossing an insert into the diaper pail, how cool will that be?

I will post pictures of Luke in his new diaper! Can't wait to try it out and report back to everyone!

Free Online Photography Course

http://creativetechs.com/freephotographycourse

Thought someone might be interested in this 4-Week Digital Photography Course that is completely FREE! The time isn't super convenient, for those of us on eastern time it is from 11 AM to 1 PM on Wednesdays, but I think I am going to give it a try!

Hannah's Senior Portraits:

Hannah and I attempted our first round of senior portraits today. This are right out of the camera, I plan to edit them before printing them, but was excited to share them! I am sure round #2 will be coming soon! Pause the radio player in the sidebar so that you don't have to listen to the two songs compete with each other!