My Sweet Papa

This past Tuesday, December 20th, 2011, my sweet Papa passed away. Although he was a young 89 years old, his passing was very sudden, and took all of us by surprise. I don't think any of us were really prepared to give him up quite yet. I am very comforted to know that he was never sick, in a hospital, and lead a very active life down to his very last day.

This picture was taken on my wedding day

My Meme and Papa, Christmas 2010

Meme and Papa with all of the grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson

This was taken at my cousin Jennifer's wedding this past October

this past Thanksgiving...I love how he is holding hands with my Meme. This coming February, they would have been married for 60 years. What awesome role models we have!

Thankfully, the entire family had gotten together for a Klodzinski Christmas celebration this past Saturday. Papa was in great spirits, and got to visit and talk to so many family members. I am so glad I have such great memories of him. He was an awesome father and grandfather, and served as such an important role model to so many of us. His Rosary took place on Friday night, with the funeral on Saturday morning. His online obituary is posted HERE. I may be a bit biased, but his funeral was the most beautiful I had ever attended. He had a Catholic mass, where the entire church was decorated with poinsettia's for the Christmas mass that night. At graveside, taps was played in honor of his service in WW2. What a beautiful and special memory I will remember always.

Although this Christmas was certainly very different than any I have ever experienced, at what an amazing and joyful time to enter into Heaven. I know Papa had one grand Christmas celebration with Jesus himself!

I know I already posted this on FB, but thank you for everyone's kind words and prayers for my family. We will all miss my Papa so much!

Santa Breakfast 2011

Each year, we usually get to meet up with my great friend Tamara, and her sweet boys to have breakfast with Santa, but this Christmas season has been a tad different to say the least. Between clinical hours and being newly pregnant, the time just slipped by us. The day before, Courtney sent me an email asking if Avery and I wanted to go see Santa at the aquarium. Of course we jumped on it, and quickly made reservations. Tillie even got to come along. For a last minute trip, it was really nice, and the girls enjoyed it as always. I have to say, the breakfast buffet they serve is so yummy too!

And look who we ran into when we got there, the Galik/Vannatta crew!

Gender Reveal!

On Monday, December 12th, we had our appointment with the Center for Medical Genetics for our first trimester screening ultrasound and blood work. This Ultrascreen combines an ultrasound, also known as the nuchal translucency scan, and labs to test for genetic abnormalities such as Downs and trisomy 18. An additional test the company provides is the early gender test, also known as the Jack and Jill test. (We also had this done with Avery, but it was brand new then.) The labwork looks at fetal DNA circulating in my bloodstream to determine the gender of the baby. It is relatively new, and many offices don't offer it quite yet. It has about a 98% accuracy rate.

The day we did the testing that lab technician gave us a number, which we were to call only after 7-10 business days. However, since I am working/getting clinical hours in the office where my OB is, I knew we would get the results super fast. So on Wednesday, Candace, the phone RN, came running down the hall with the results! Instead of having her tell me then, I had her write it down on a sheet of paper, and put in in an envelope so Brian and I could open it that night.

So here is what we saw!!!!!

We were so surprised!!! Poor Brian, I don't think he ever even considered we were having a BOY, since I have been so sick with this pregnancy, which is exactly what is was like with Avery. I think we just both expected another girl. I love surprises, and this was a BIG one :) The next day my OB also texted me saying that they received all of the other ultrasound results and labs, and that they were all normal. What another wonderful blessing.

Now it's time to start getting ready for a little boy! This house needs some BLUE!

Ultrasound pics

I know I am still backtracking, but I wanted to make sure I post all of the ultrasound pics I have. My blog really serves as more of a virtual scrapbook for my family, so I wanna make sure I don't leave anything out...especially since these ultrasound pictures will definitely fade with time if not scanned. Anyways, I went to my new OB appointment on November 18, 2011. It was pretty convenient since I was already in the office seeing patients with my preceptor. At this point, our families still didn't know, but the suspense was killing me! It is pretty amazing to see the big change in development between 9-10 weeks. Baby Ash #2 looks like a little teddy bear now!

Avery's Christmas program and parade

I absolutely love all of the fun Christmas activities this season! Cannot believe that next year I will be shuffling 2 kiddos around! Avery's school always puts on the cutest Christmas program...although too bad my pictures turned out horrible! Oh well! It is also really special since we get to see so many of our friends' children as well. During the program, I laughed so hard, I started to cry. I love it when kids perform!

This was also Avery's first time in the Magnolia Christmas parade. It actually turned out pretty fun...I was a little skeptical at first, but the girls had a great time as they hung out with their dance friends.

Here comes their float! I thought it was pretty cute that Avery had no idea what a parade float was, which I realized as we were on our way. She said, "Mom, it is really too cold to get in the water!"

All Aboard!

On December 4th, our huge crew of friends and all the kiddos made the drive to Palestine, TX to ride the Polar Express. All of the kids loved it. This was our first time to go. We dressed the kids in their Christmas pj's, packed the snacks, video games, and dvd's, and loaded up the vehicles.

My gosh we have a big group!...Hmmm tell me why we left the dads at home again???

The train traveled to the North Pole to pick up, guess who....Santa!

What a great Christmas memory!

Happy Birthday Peyton and Rachel!

In our family, we have 2 special birthdays in December. December 1st was Peyton's first birthday, and the 5th was Rachel's 28th! For Rachel's we celebrated with the family at BJ's Brewhouse in the Woodlands. That was my first time going there, and it was great. Can't wait to go back when I can have an adult beverage..or two :)

All of these pictures are from Rachel's blog...thanks Ray.

For Peyton's birthday, we celebrated at the Robert's household with a cupcake themed party

Avery loved decorating the cupcakes

Happy 1st Birthday sweet baby girl!

School Pic 2011

While updating posts, I came across Avery's school pics. Her school always does a great job at school pictures. I think they turned out pretty great. My little girl looks so grown up!

First trip to the Nutcracker!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Tillie took all of the girls in the family to see the Nutcracker ballet. This was the first time for both me and the little girls. I was curious to see how well the girls would behave since many adults have a hard time sitting through the ballet, lol. However, all the girls really enjoyed it. They even lasted through a yummy dinner at Carrabbas afterwards. What a fun way to kick off the Christmas season! Since then, Avery has even watched it on TV, which has lead to several performances in our living room.

I love this picture!

Merry Christmas!