Just a Teensy Post

It's been a busy couple of months. Mikey and I went to California to visit my family, my sister-in-law Hannah got married in Atlanta, we vacationed in North Carolina, and now we're back in Miami. Whew! I have so many pictures to share. It's a bit overwhelming, so I'll just upload a few to tide you over for a little while.

Here's boy with his papa at the beach in California.

And with his daddy in North Carolina. I love his little face!

On a blanket made by one of Nathan's cousins...

With me!

With his auntie and cousins.

A Christmas Brother Update

Merry Christmas from the Sampleys/Onaindias/Parkers. We had our family Christmas last night, all the while thinking of my brother, Matthew.

To make a long story short, he was hit as a pedestrian by a Chevy Silverado about a week ago. He is in ICU at the same hospital where Mikey was born. He sustained a host of injuries including bleeding in his brain and stomach, broken ribs, a broken back, and lots of abrasions. He's already had surgery, and he has a huge scar with stitches from his chest to his groin. It looks like he is going to live, but yesterday he took a turn for the worse. Both of his lungs re-collapsed, he has double pneumonia, and he is back in a medically induced coma. He is in a lot of pain and confusion and is not very cooperative when awake, which means he's had to be restrained at times. This is really hard for him and our family because he is deaf and uses his hands to communicate. He NEEDS them to tell medical staff how he can be helped. Please continue to pray for him and us, especially my parents.

Anyway, it's been bloggy silence on this end because of all the excitement over here... and my old faithful computer is dying a slow but sure death. I'm on Nathan's right now.

Enjoy the Christmas Eve pictures!

Holding Baby Mikey

June took this one. She's quite the photographer.

Dad/son Christmas bonding

Winnie and Mimi made cupcakes. Yummy!

Happy Belated Halloween

As I've said before, my favorite part about Halloween is not dressing up or passing out candy. In fact, I didn't do either this year. No, my favorite part is the next day when I spend about 5 hours "liking" photos of everyone's kids on Facebook. I love seeing little kids dressed up. I just love it.

I have been really bad about taking pictures lately, so I tried getting these off of my sister's Instagram account. They looked normal on the iPad, I promise, but on here it just looks like I did a really bad editing job.

First off, a little pre-Halloween fun. My sister dressed up as June, and June dressed up as my sister. Hilarious. June's bracelets, Starbucks, purse, hair, sunglasses, everything is SO my sister. Perfection.

We had a little fun at the park with the Josie Bear, the dog, one day. I did not make it very long before needing a nap.

And here are my nieces, Winnie and June, on Halloween. SO PRECIOUS!

One of the best parts of being in Bakersfield for a while is hanging out with these two. Winnie (Minnie Mouse) has been obsessed with Michelle Tanner from Full House these days, insisting on wearing her hair in two pigtails - NO BOWS - and saying things like, "You got it, dude." June (Ariel) has been talking a lot about our baby recently. If I decline a certain food, she says, "Is that because Baby Mikey isn't allowed?" When I'm chopping something with a large knife, she tells me to put it down because it's dangerous for the baby. And, the other day she asked me how Baby Mikey got into my tummy in the first place. I deferred that one to my sister, laughing to myself thinking that giving her an IVF answer would have been so much simpler if that's the way God would have chosen to do it. 

Happy November, everyone. It's going to be a memorable month!

Whipped Cream, Early Birthdays, and Selfies

Last weekend we celebrated my dad's birthday a little early at Aunt Deanie and Uncle Bob's house with the family. We had some of my favorite foods including chicken fried steak and chocolate pie. I'm still dreaming about it.

Papa asked for his pie with lots of whipped cream. I think the plate is mostly whipped cream. I love this picture of him and June.

June took the rest of these pictures because I was laid up on the couch trying to get my cankles under control.

June's little selfie cracks me up. I have the best family.

Happy birthday, Daddy. I love you.

Happy 35th Birthday to My Love!

My sweet husband is 35! We went to the beach for the day to celebrate.

This spot is quite near where we went the day after we fell in love. Aww...

As I was taking this picture, some ladies behind me were hooting and hollering and taking his picture too. I love Americans.

The Pacific Ocean is cold.

We had clam chowder by the pier.

We got pretty sunburned too...

When we came home we had a great dinner with my family and a few friends and found out that Nathan now shares a baby with the new royal prince! This is blurry, but Winnie gave Nathan the sweetest birthday hug.

Nathan blew out his candles on a home made chocolate cake.

And then Winnie blew out some candles...

And then June blew out some candles...

Good times had by all. Happy birthday, my love!

We're off to Atlanta. More blogging from there will commence soon.

We're Having a Baby ______ !

My sister hosted a beautiful baby shower for Nathan and me on Saturday. It was so much fun to celebrate our baby's upcoming arrival with family and friends here in California. It was a "gift cards only" shower because we don't know where we'll settle eventually, which meant extra time chatting to people and building up the anticipation of the big gender reveal.

Here's our beautiful cake with either pink or blue sponge. What color is inside? You'll just have to wait and see like everyone else... :) Nathan is probably asking, "Do you think you know?"

Yummy punch... leftover from my brother's wedding last weekend.

Happy face cookies from Smith's Bakery, a Bakersfield staple. They went perfectly with the yellow theme!

June went swimming with her triplet friends across the street during most of the shower, but we got a quick picture beforehand.

Chatting to people...

And feeling the baby move around...

My sister and I (in the middle) grew up with these sisters, Vali (on the left) and Kiki (on the right). They lived right around the corner from us. Love these girls!

Nathan and I had a question-and-answer time (Where will you live? When is the baby coming? What kind of job is Nathan looking for? How was England?) and then opened cards together.

My sister's friend, Anamie, made this beautiful cake that matched the invitations perfectly. It was tasty too! Lemon poppy seed with cream cheese frosting. Yum!

My friend Allison Skyped in from Bangkok, Thailand, and some of my in-laws Skyped in from Atlanta. It was so great to have them there, if only virtually.

It's BLUE! We're having a baby boy! His name is Michael Harrison Parker, after my father and Nathan's father.

I wonder if my mom's excited... and I wonder if Winnie's arm is still attached.

Wish y'all could have had a piece.

My "Aunt" Linda and my friend Nancy, who gave a beautiful devotion at the shower

 My friend, BreAnne, brought her sweet baby girl to the shower too.

Many thanks to Amy for taking all of these pictures. I am truly grateful to each person who came to celebrate and to all those who wish they could have been there but couldn't make it, especially our English friends who were stalking our Facebook pages for news. We miss you and love you so very much!

Little Brother is Married!

Winnie and me the night of the rehearsal

Winnie's flower girl basket was a little hat for the night.

June and me

Priya's nieces

The Onaindias

Winnie taking pictures of her mom and dad

My sister and brother-in-law, Kristen and Nick

Pastor Jeff delivers the homily.

Exchanging vows

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Sampley

Nathan led the charge on the crazy wedding party picture.

The whole fam

Crazy pic of the whole fam

My parents and Priya and Matt

Parkers and Sampleys

The Sampley kids

Nathan gave a little speech (well, part of it) in sign language. I'm so proud of him!

They're off to Disneyland for their honeymoon!

Nathan and our friend Steve wanted to know who had more grey hair, so I took this picture for them to compare. Who do you think wins?

No matter what, they're still friends.

Clean up time! Winnie's favorite Disney princess is Cinderella, so she was stoked to have the mini-vacuum.

Dad was bribing little kids to pick up all the flower petals and said he would pay them a dollar each after they were all picked up. Winnie was running around screaming, "DOLLARS! DOLLARS! DOLLARS!"

It was a gorgeous wedding and a great opportunity to see lots and lots of family and friends. Congratulations Priya and Matt!