Big Brother!!!!

Yes, Ben does have some exciting news for everyone...... He is going to be a BIG BROTHER!!! We are so thrilled and excited to finally be able to share the news with everyone! Our new little angel will arrive some time in early January! We have been to several different doctors and specialists and they have assured us that our new baby is very healthy and is doing well. They also encouraged us to share our news with everyone.

Once again Jeff and I decided that we didn't want to know the sex of the baby. We will wait for the delivery to be a surprise. I know a lot of you are going to be disappointed with that decision but we just want to focus on the baby's health. We will be thrilled either way. We know we love little boys, and we will be tickled pink if we are graced with a little girl. Besides it is fun to see what people think.

Jeff, Ben and I want to thank all of our friends and family that supported us through last year. You will never know how much your love, cards, letters and just being there for us helped. It was a very difficult time and very emotional. We will never forget our friends who just stepped back and let us deal with everything that we needed to work through. I learned a lot about my many friendships and our real friends really stuck by us through thick and thin. I treasure these relationships that are true even more today. We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have so many wonderful and special people in our lives. We were finally able to make our peace with our demons in March and then God blessed us with a new pregnancy in May. Although we were a little afraid at first, our excitement soon took over. Believe me...it was very hard for us to keep our news a secret!

Ben is so excited! He talks to my tummy all the time. He rubs my belly and asks the baby questions like "How are you doing today? When are you coming to play? Are you sleeping?" Ben also gives the baby kisses and says "I love you." He is always telling me that my stomach is getting really big. It is quite funny. Ben and I recently went to Toys R Us to walk around and he began to pick out things for the baby. I love seeing him so excited and sharing this experience with him. It has been so incredible.

I am also feeling much better now. The first 16 weeks were not pretty. I can't even remember a lot of that time. I thought I was sick with Ben...boy was I wrong! I didn't even know it was possible to feel that bad ever!!!!! Jeff finally took matters into his own hands and made me go see the doctor. I was lucky he did because I was in very bad shape. The doctor was very concerned and wanted to put me in the hospital for a few days. We freaked out because we were flying to San Antonio the very next morning to see my parents. We explained our situation and told him that if anyone could make me eat and feel better it was my mom. He gave me some meds and let me go. Two weeks later my mom had me eating and feeling much, much better. The drugs were awesome too!

Although I was sick through out our entire visit to San Antonio, Jeff, Ben and Autumn still were able to have tons of fun! My parents live in an awesome part of the city and their house is so beautiful! We all were so excited to see them set up so well! They have given up so much to live overseas for so many years and now they live in an awesome city with so much to offer. Their house is so cute and they have a great big pool in the backyard which was perfect for our water dog, Ben. It rained a lot while we were there and the water was freezing but some how Ben was able to swim everyday with no problem. He amazed us all. Now Opa and Daddy looked like they were going to die of hyperthermia when they were swimming with him. The pool has a diving board and you can only imagine what Ben learned to do!

We visited the Alamo one morning and I must say we were all pretty surprised how small it was and that it is located right in the middle of the city. We really enjoyed walking through and listening to the speakers. I learned a lot and was amazed by several of the stories. We also went to the famous River Walk. It was awesome! Jeff, Autumn and I were ready to move to Texas after we experienced that place. It reminded me of being in Europe for some reason. We took a boat tour with the best tour guide ever. He was so funny and taught us a lot about the city. We had dinner at an awesome Mexican restaurant and just waked around. Ben loved all the boats and people. My dad also took autumn and Jeff to the World's best Water Park, The Shlitterbahn. They had a blast and came back bragging all about it! Ben and I will go next spring!

Ben and I stayed a little longer by ourselves to spend some special time with Omi and Opa. We had a week to just hang out with them. Ben loves them so much and had a blast being spoiled. I love to see the relationship between my parents and Ben. It was hard to leave them.

I think my parents are doing well. I can tell in many ways just like myself that they miss Germany. It is just a different and simple way of life there. They lived in a little village with many wonderful neighbors who enjoyed them both very much. They had great restaurants and shops with delicious food. And they had amazing friendships that were very hard to leave behind. I know that they are happy to be back in the states, but a move is always hard. They are making new friends and even meeting up with old friends from Germany. Mom is enjoying the shopping and they have even found some new delicious food. They both love their house and I think they like the city.

Well....Ben is getting too big! We have spent the summer at the beach or in a pool. He loves swimming and surfing at the beach. I have a true Florida boy! Our computer crashed and I lost all of me email addresses! So if you are checking this site please email me so that I can get reconnected with you! It took a few weeks to get everything fixed but now we are up and running again. I hope everyone is well and look forward to hearing from you soon. I will post some pictures of the new baby soon...Take Care!

Love,

April, Jeff, Ben and Baby V. too!