18 weeks old

Stevie went for her 4 month check-up. She now weighs 15 pounds and 11 ounces ( 90th percentile) and is 25 1/4 inches long (between 75th and 90th percentile). The doctor gave her an A+. She got two shots, which she didn't really like, but made a quick recovery. She has rolled over from her back to belly, but gets mad because she can't get back over yet. She loves to play with her daddy's goatee and will sit and "talk" to us in the evenings.

We had her pictures made Saturday in some of her ASU wear. This kid doesn't have a chance. She has to be the cutest ASU fan alive. We are now in the new housen in Dobson. I will post some pics soon. We are in the beginning stages of the basement remodel. It is a crazy, but exciting time.

13 weeks old....

We take a picture like this every Friday. She is getting soooooo big!!!!

Summer pics

I have finally gotten around to adding sme of our favorite summer pictures....


Steve loves this onesie on Stevie..."Who needs a superhero when I have my Dad"... she has a mom version too


4 generations....

Steve, Stevie and Uncle Mikey...

Steve got Stevie dressed up so they could be twins to take her to MCA to show her off...

Stevie LOVES to suck her thumb... and it always the left one....does that mean she will be a leftie????

Steve and Stevie in their tie-die t-shirts.....

Stevie waking up at the lake...I don't think she realized where she was...

Steve, Stevie and Rubi....

Summer at the Lake

Many of you know that we spent a great deal of time this summer in Seneca, SC. Steve's granddaddy made the decision to move into an assisted living facility and the family spent most of the summer helping him make the transition. After long days spent with him, we would come back to Uncle Jim's house and relax o the water at night. The big kids absolutely loved it.


Nanny and the big kids on the boat....

Sarryn and David lovevd being in the water with Steve. He taught them how to jump off the end of the ock and swim around to the ladder...

Steve and David swam all over the lake....

Stevie had fun at the lake too. She had to shohw off her marvelous figure and her new shades....

She had fun riding on the boat. She had a special baby life jacket we had to put on when we were on the water...

Stee's sister, Michele, spent a huge amount of time with her granddaddy this summer. She enjoyed one of the few breaks she took with us out on the lake.

Nanny brought down outside games to play with the big kids. They learned to play monkey ball and some other kind of tailgating type of game.

The whole family went out on the boat before we left.... Unle Jim, Aunt Jamie, Sarryn, David and Elwood (the dog)

Stevie's 2 month check-up

All went smoothly with Stevie's 2 month check-up. She weighed 13 lbs and 15 ozs and was 23 inches long. She got 3 shots, but stopped cryig within seconds of being picked up. She goes back October 9. I can't wait to see how much she has grown.

Virginia Beach Vacation

Here are the pictures from our summer vacation. We went to Virginia Beach, Norfolk and the Outer Banks during August this year. We visited several piers, an aquarium, Nauticus and the Fort Story Lighthouse. Steve's mom came and spent one day and night with us. I think everyone had a great time. The only bummer was that our family pictures on the beach got rained out. We are going to try again the 2nd weekend in September.

The Ocean View Pier was the first of 5 piers we walked...
We ate at the restaurant on the pier....

We had a little time to spare so we took some pics....

I walked with Sarryn up the Fort Story Lighthouse.....

Steve took David. We couldn't go up together because the baby couldn't go....

Family photo at the Lighthouse...

We visited the Life Saving Station at the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach...

We ate lunch at Waterman's.... there was a great view of the ocean...

Nanny and the big kids walked the beach at Sandbridge...

There was a great playground in Sandbridge.... Steve and Sarryn had fun....

We toured Nauticus and got to visit a US Navy ship....

Us on the Wisconsin....

Could we gt one of these at home?!?!?!?!

Sunday on the Beach.....

Daddy and baby on the beach.... Surprise, surprise!!!

Sitting in front of granddaddy's house in Norfolk.....

First ASU football game

We took Stevie to her first ASU football game Saturday in Greenville, NC. ASU opened their 2009 season against ECU. Steve's mom joined us in the festivities of the day. It was a truly family affair since Steve's brother Michael graduated from ECU. Michael had to work and couldn't join us, but the text messages were flying back and forth. We met Steve's friend Matt and his family there and did some awesome tailgating. I think everyone hahd a great time. Unfortunately, ASU didn't decide to really play until the 2nd half and lost the game 29-24. Oh well, hopefully we will do better next week.

I am still learning about this blog thing and put all my pictures in backwards. I still think you will be able to enjoy them...

The Braune family at their first ASU game...
Stevie slept through most of the game...I don't know how with all those noisy ASU fans... Steve and Matt....

Steve and Stevie....

Nikki and Pam tailgating....

Amada and Jacob tailgating...Poor Amanda was the only ECU grad with us...at least Jacob got to wear the right shirt :)

Jacob's ball went down a sewer drain and Matt and Steve crawled down there to try to find it. All those germs!!!!!

Stevie tailgating.... enjoying those fingers....

Stevie getting ready at the hotel....

8 week update

yes... I know that I am really behind. It has been extremely hard to get to a computer this summer and have enough sane moments to blog. We have spent a great deal of our summer in Seneca, SC with Steve's granddaddy. Our precious "little" baby girl is doing marvelously. As of yesterday, she weighs 13 pounds and 6 ounces. She is definitely eating well and often. My arms will be in shape by the time she is walking from carrying her so much. I go back to work in 2 weeks. Hopefully I will be much better about blogging then when I have daily access to the internet. We are beginning to make progress on the housing front, more on that to come later. We just returned from a trip to Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks. We visited the Virginia Aquarium, Nauticus and the Cape Henry lighthouses. It was nice to get away for awhile, but I was a little happy to return home. Steve and I both realized this morning that we are going to have to get back in the routine of getting up for work. I know that I will miss spending days with my new baby. Stay tuned for pictures and house updates.....

2 week update

Ok... I know I have been extremely slack on updating. I finally made time to go to the library to do internetting while Steve and his brother Michael went to play golf. Stevie and I both had our two week check-ups this past Friday. Stevie now weighs 9 lbs. and 9 oz. The doctor said that it was obvious that the breastfeeding was going well. He checked her over and said that everything looked great. I went back to have the doctor check on my incision. He took off the steri-strips and said that everything looked great. I got on the scales as I was leaving and realized that I now weigh 5 lbs. less than I did when I got pregnant. My body doesn't quite look the same, but I do like the numbers. Steve asked when I could start the ab work-outs. Thankfully, Dr. Venus told him at least 6 more weeks. I brought pictures with me today to put online but the disk wouldn't load. Oh well, I will try again next time. We did go and get her first set of pictures done last week and it went surprisingly simply. We will be sending those out as soon as they get back. She has been an easy baby to have. She ets up every night between 2 and 3 and then again between 6 and 7. Steve stays up with her at night after she has her lat feeding so that I can get some sleep. He is getting remarkably fast at changing diapers. My favorite quote from him however has been when he told his mom when we first came home... "I was born to do this." She and I almost wet our pants laughing. He is being a great daddy. He loves to tell people that she is the spitting image of him...I'll get some pictures on and let everyone decide for themselves.

Baby update

Things are going very well so far. We took back for her weight check yesterday and she is up to 8 pounds and 11 ounces. She loves to sleep! I guess she gets that from her daddy. The kids have loved playing with her. They stop whatever they are doing to come kiss on her hands. I willl be updating new pictures shortly. We are are Millennium checking emails and someone (wonder who????) is getting hungry and is ready to go home. We still have to stop by my school to show her off. Look for new pictures at the beginning of the week....

Day two.....here come the visitors...

Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Stevie

Great Uncle Jim and Stevie

Great-Granddaddy, Nanny and Stevie

Great-Granddaddy, Daddy and Stevie

Stevie Braune

Today was a busy day. It started with the shock of another diabetic/clear liquid tray for breakfast. When the poor CNA walked in with that nasty tray, I very bluntly told her that that was NOT my breakfast, that I had been promised regular food. She said that Dr. Venus had not put in the order and that was all they had. I asked if she could get a regular breakfast after I took a shower. She said that would be possible. I ate the jello off the tray and went to take my shower. Steve helped and then took his own shower. By the time we were all cleaned up, I had a breakfast waiting on me. I really enjoyed my pancake and cheerios!!

We had lots of company today. To start the day, "Missy" Couch and "Missy" Blackburn stopped by. They were the secretaries at schools where both Steve and I had worked in Wilkes County. Steve's Granddaddy and Uncle Jim came up from Seneca, SC. The assistant superintendent of Surry County Schools, Mrs. Widdowson, stopped by to see me. She had actually stopped by to see another teacher from Surry County Schools who had had a baby on Friday when she happened upon me. Susan White, a teacher from my school stopped by too. Coincidentally, it was Susan's daughter that was the other teacher from Surry County Schools who had had a baby on the same day as I did. Steve's mom and my parents were both back again. My daddy arrived carrying two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. YEAH!!!! Steve's good friend Matt, his wife Amanda and son Jacob came by, followed by an old friend of Steve's from college, Kevin Stainback. The boys all caught up on the recent goings on.

Dr. Venus stopped by this morning and said everything looks great. The nurses are bragging that it seems like I haven't even had a baby. It helps me tremendously that Steve has been so helpful. He is great about getting me the baby and changing diapers so that I don't have to get up. The baby had all her tests today and passed with flying colors. She has a wonderfully normal cholesterol of 61, which had us all breathing a sigh of relief. She had a bilirubin test, a hearing test and a PKU test. Steve changed quite a few yucky diapers today. He caught one in the process of happening and I laughed so hard that I had to lean against the counter. He has really been a trooper and is adjusting to being a daddy wonderfully!! We had our "celebratory" dinner provided by the hospital tonight. Steve's marvelous cooking has spoiled me though. Now nothing tastes as good as the food he cooks. He has promised me his special shrimp next weekend for our anniversary dinner. I can't wait!!!!