Golf Anyone???

I know that I am his mommy,

but man he is HANDSOME!!!!!!

The Boys

Look at my two

handsome guys!

Carlie's Bedroom

I FINALLY finished painting and decorating Carlie's room. It took FOREVER! And YES I hand painted every single ridiculous polka dot (no stencil- no nothing), just me and a paint brush and a level. I know I am talented :). But, seriously I am pretty excited how cute it turned out [Maddi's (my niece) room in Utah inspired me]. But, I will NEVER paint another polka dot in my life - UGH!

Introducing Fudge Face II

Carlie is OBSESSED with chocolate. She wants chocolate for every meal and snack time. Pretty much everytime we allow her to have some she gets it EVERYWHERE. Therefore, she is Fudge Face #2 (Fudge Face #1 is my sister Michelle - the number one chocolate fan of all time)
Carlie loves to play dress up. She is always appearing from her room in some kind of get-up. This day she put on her dancing skirt and butterfly wings, with her minnie mouse mask (she had taken it off by the time I took a picture of her). She called herself Minnie Princess.

Carlie had her last day of preschool until next year. This cutie in the pink hoodie is her buddie Viola. Her preschool teachers put that enormous and beautiful vest on her because being the totally awesome mom that I am I didn't send a jacket to school that day and it was really cold (in the beginning of June we were still wearing winter clothes). She is SOOOOO sad, but I think I am the most upset. It was 8 hours a week of FREE & AWESOME preschool and FREE time for me.

Carlie is always trying on high heels in the stores. I think she is bummed that she has a mom that is 6'1" and doesn't have fun high heels for her to play with.
Here are some more pictures of DIVA Carlie. Ever since Berkeley was born, Carlie has morphed from sweet, laid back Carlie to Miss Attitude. She is still sweet until you tell her to do something and then WATCH OUT! Good thing she is still so gosh darn cute.

Berkeley's Blessing

Berkeley was blessed by Corey on June 1st. It was a fantastic day. It was super windy outside so we went back to my house after church to take family pictures. Berkeley was pretty sleepy, so there are not too many pictures with his eyes open. All of Corey's family was able to attend including Matt's brand spankin' new wife - Kelsey. Their open house was the day before and my baby shower was the day before that, so it was a busy, busy weekend. My mom is not in the big group photo because she had already changed out of her church clothes and was BUSY cooking a fabulous dinner for everyone. We had pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw, baked beans, etc. It was super yummy (well - except I didn't like the pulled pork being vegeterian and all!!!)

My Boy

MY MOM ROCKS!

My mom has arrived and oh how my life has improved 1,000,000 percent! She has saved my life! I actually get sleep, eat great meals, and have a clean house. She is even helping me with all the projects I never seem to have enough time to do or my arthritis will not allow me to do. She is super mom. I have been having a major arthritis flare up since Berkeley arrived and I am so thankful for her. It is pretty crazy that a woman that is 24 years older than me has 10 times more energy than me. I LOVE HER!

More Berk

Here are some more pictures of the Berk. He is one month old today, I can't believe it. At his doctor's appointment on Tuesday he weighed 8 lbs. 4 ounces. He is gaining weight at the rate of 2 ounces a day - what a little piggy!

Carlie Uh-OH!

Because life is not hard enough with a newborn, Carlie decided to have a little accident. Because the only withnesses to the accident were a 3 (Claire) and 6 (Sean) year old, we really are not sure what happened. But, we think she fell off the swing. We took her to the emergency room and she had a positive fat pad test in her right elbow according to the x-ray. That means there was a pool of blood in her elbow that could be hiding a fracture. They put a sling and splint on her and the good news is the sling makes an excellent carrying case for Carlie's Barbie and other toys. This all happened last Monday, May 19th. We went back to the orthopedic surgeon today and they took the splint off and her arm was crazy swollen. They had put the splint on WAY too tight in the emergency room. It was so sad. Anyways, they took new x-rays and he said it looks like she had a small fracture. He put a new splint on her and we go back next week to see how she is doing. He thinks it should heal well without a cast (YEAH - a 3 year old and a cast all summer - I would die). Oh, a interesting side note Carlie is now 3 feet 10 1/2 inches and 47 pounds!!! That is insane for a 3 and 1/2 year old. But, what else would your expect from her "ginormous" mother

Dancing Queen

Carlie O has been taking dance lessons with her cousin Claire since last year. Their dance for the annual recital was "The Bunny Hop". This picture and video are from the dress rehearsal. We decided (after MAJOR influence from Corey - he is much better than evil me) that she would not dance in the actual recital because it was on Sunday. It was a difficult decision for me (Carlie never realized she was missing out), but I know it was the right one. FYI: The obnoxious lady laughing the whole time during Carlie O's video was not laughing at the little girls, but laughing with them! And yes Carlie is a whole foot taller then all the other little girls. Granted she was the oldest of the group, but NOT that much older. I really am getting to experience what it was like being so tall growing up through my daughter Carlie.

Carlie O and Berk MC

Carlie O loves her new little brother. She always wants to hold him and give him kisses all over. She also loves to "help" push him in his swing. She is also the Berkeley crying alarm. Anytime Berk starts crying she starts calling out, "Berkeley is crying, baby Berkeley is crying."

Coming Home At Last!

We finally got to take Berkeley home after 11 days in the NICU! Here is a picture of his empty incubator, what a wonderful feeling to know he was permanently leaving that behind. He left the hospital weighing in at a whopping 6 lbs. 11 oz (which happens to be his birth weight).

Berkeley - Day 9 in the NICU!

Well here we are 9 days later still in the NICU. Berkeley has what is called a pneumothorax. This is where the lungs leak air into the chest cavity and a air pocket is created. This air pocket is pushing his lungs and heart to the side. The air pocket is finally getting smaller and we thought we might get released today, BUT they decided to order a CT scan today to check the lung that is underneath to make sure their was no other reason the air was not decreasing as fast as it should. The sad part of the CT scan was poor Berk needed an IV. They stuck him 10 TIMES and could not get it. His veins would not cooperate. It was soooooo sad. But, the CT scan showed that everything was great except for that stinkin' air pocket. So... maybe we will get released tomorrow, or Friday, or who knows??? The good news - he is eating and sleeping well, and super HANDSOME! I am staying at the Ronald McDonald house and spending every waking moment with the Berk MC (that is his rapper nickname). Corey is in The Dalles with Carlie - he had to go back to work. I would add more pictures, but the internet connection is not the best and it took FOREVER just to get these two cute ones from yesterday.

Berkeley Michael-Cline Aldridge Arrives!!!!

Berkeley arrived at 9:53 AM on 4/29/08. He was 21 1/2 inches long and only 6 lbs. 11 oz (so little - at least compared to Carlie O). He was having a hard time breathing & he was accumulating air in his chest cavity so they came and picked him up and took him to Portand to a Children's hospital with a ICU. Corey is with Berkeley in Portland and Gina is in The Dalles recovering from her c-section. Berkeley is doing fine - no need to panic, but they are keeping a close eye on him and they are hopeful his lungs will seal up on their own. Gina is getting discharged early (gonna need lots of pain pills :)) from the hospital today so she can go spend time with her little boy. She only got to hold him for 5 minutes before they took little Berk away so she is super anxious to see him. Here are a few pictures of him in the hospital in Portland. If you want to see more look at the previous post - it will have more details of the birth. Please post comments so we know you were here and because we LOVE to read them!

The First Few Days of Berkeley

THIS POST IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!! I AM LEAVING FOR PORTLAND IN A FEW MINUTES - SO YOU ALL WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT!

Well, our little boy is finally here, but he is not doing it the easy way. We arrived at the hospital at 6 AM and went in for surgery around 9 AM. Here is a picture of us in the operating room waiting for Berkeley. They were really cool and let Corey take pictures of anything and everything (they did not let us do that with Carlie O). Don't worry, I won't post anything too graphic. Anyways, he was born at 9:53 AM and here is a picture of him coming out!!!!

My Beautiful Girl

Now that I am on maternity leave from work I have been enjoying more quality time with Carlie O. I just wanted to share some pictures of my super rad little girl. The first picture is of Carlie with her cousin Claire. They are on their way to the park for a Children's Fair. Thanks to Aunty Anne for taking them. Can you believe they are both three! My child is so SUPER tall. (Claire is down on here knees though! A little decieving) The other two pictures are of Carlie waiting for the school bus to pick her up to take her to preschool. She LOVES the bus and all her teachers and friends at school.

What in the World is our Baby's Name??????

Baby Boy Aldridge is arriving in 11 days! The C-Section is offically scheduled for April 29th. We are so excited and so NOT ready! I am still painting the nursery AND we can't agree on any names for our boy. I have come up with a bunch of names, but Corey doesn't like any of them. The only name he really likes is Corey Esquire, which is a ridiculous name. I don't even like the name Corey (I told him I love him in spite of his name - maybe I have just known too many girls named Corey) plus I refuse to have 2 people with the same name in the same house - annoying!!! So I am opening it up for suggestions. I need to tell more people about my blog, but if you see this post PLEASE give us some suggestions. We LOVE unusual names that aren't too wierd and we love the idea of a meaningful family name.

Here Are Some Pictures of Our Super Fabulous Family

Isn't Corey a pretty princess?

Gina turned 37 on March 19th! Wow she is getting old!

Here is my easter girl. She loved her easter dress and shoes. She called it her pink princess dress.

The young women "help" me paint the baby's nursery.

Carlie's 1st day in Primary

Santa and his favorite reindeer

Making waffles with daddy
Our beautiful Princess Carlie
Gina going crazy juggling teaching science full time, sponsoring ASB, YW President, and being a wife and mommy & being very pregnant!!

For Christmas Eve Dinner this year I made a big mexican food spread for Corey's Family Carlie in her Christmas bathrobe
Playing Guitar Hero on the Wii

Daddy & Carlie on Christmas Day 2007