We recently entered a contest to win 10,000 dollars for college.  The contest was to enter a video of someone telling why you deserve 10,000 dollars for college.  We entered a video of freddy “telling” why daddy deserves the money, all of you need to vote for it so we can get the money, each person can vote they just enter thier email addresses and each person can vote every 24 hours.  PLEASE VOTE FOR US AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, FREDDY NEEDS HIS DIAPERS!!!

Go to this link to view and vote:

http://www.tuition-tales.com/video-contest-entry-profile.asp?vid=DC4FD5B3F78B4CAFBC1AABF46968F99C

Thanks so much to everyone!  And please share with everyone!

Today is a day for celebration.
Today I was able to zip up AND button a pair of pre-maternity capri’s.
I will not post a picture for your sake.
So nevermind the mini muffin top I am sporting…I am looking on the bright side!
I think this calls for some cake and ice cream….DON’T YOU!?!?!

So the comments about Turbo Jam made me miss my mission.  You may be thinking, “Why would Turbo Jam make her miss her mission?!”…Well I will explain.

My last 6 months of my mission I was serving in the Trail Center around the most amazing sister missionaries.  I was definitely TIRED near the end of my mission and finding the motivation to do my 30 minutes of exercise at 6:30 in the morning was very difficult.  There were many mornings that I would get out of bed and lie on the floor next to my bed and start to do my normal routine (crunches, butt crunches – what are they really called?, the normal…) and the next thing I know I’m waking up and realizing it’s personal study time and I haven’t even showered! (SO DISOBEDIENT!)

Turbo Jam saved me from the rut I was in.

Sister Chipman (Trail Center Director’s wife) brought Turbo Jam with her to Nebraska and she let us borrow a couple of the DvD’s to try.  You may ask where a bunch of Sister missionaries would find a t.v. and dvd player to work out to….WELL, we just so happened to be serving in a visitor center with a large theater downstairs.  We would all get up in the morning, drive up to the trail center (like 30 seconds from our apartment complex) let ourselves in and Jam it up for 30 minutes!  It was really fun.  We all loved Turbo Jam so much that during the late winter/early spring months when it was super slow and pretty much completely dead at night we would bring the walkie talkies downstairs and leave the senior couples upstairs to watch the door.  We would strip down – yes…into just our G’s and work out.  The senior Elders knew they were not allowed to come downstairs, this is why we used the walkies….

It was a little weird if a tour did come in….you would have to HURRY to get dressed and then run upstairs and if we were already like 15 minutes into a 20 minute jam, you would be really rather sweaty…

I enjoyed my Turbo time so when I got home after Burg and I got married I saw one of the famous infomercials and got sucked in and spent $75 to get my “rockin hot body” but in my defense I got the weighted gloves for free because I called within the allotted time.

OK, so enough of Turbo Talk.  I was missing my mission so this morning I decided to wear a shirt I bought in my first area and wore my whole mission.  Then when looking for some earrings in my jewelry box I saw a bracelet that I was given in my first area.  I haven’t worn it since I was in that area.  My companion and I were both given jewelry from a beautiful Peruvian woman in our area.  I loved that area.  So many of the people had pretty much nothing – BUT – they would give you ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they had.  Here is a picture of Freddy and me this morning before church, in the photo you can see my mission shirt and my bracelet.

So this morning I resumed my regular exercise routine.

Freddy was a little concerned.

Frankly, so was I.  Will I ever have my body back?

WARNING:  This is going to be a rather long post.

My mom and dad came to Pittsburgh for Freddy’s blessing and we have had the most wonderful time!  Mom and dad got here on Thursday and we had a nice dinner of “Fall of the Bone BBQ Ribs” (Thanks to Jenn for the recipe VERY TASTEY) and then just hung out telling stories, laughing and having a great time.

Friday, we woke up and after a quick doctors visit my mom, dad and Freddy and I all went to Station Square and took the sight seeing tour of Pittsburgh on the Gateway Clipper.  The “Duchess” showed us a really good time.  Here’s a taste:

Freddy had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Saturday was even better (surprisingly because Friday was such a BEAUTIFUL day!).  We started out at Pam’s.  Pam(ela)’s is our FAVORITE breakfast place (for anyone in Pittsburgh YOU HAVE TO GO if you haven’t been already).  We had an awesome breakfast and then we went downtown to the Pirates game.  This was a big event in our family.  Burgess has been talking about taking his kids to Pirates games since I first met him and I think it’s pretty safe to say he’s been dreaming about it for a long time before that.  Nana bought Freddy a little Pirates outfit and he loved the game.  He was SO good the whole time.  We sat in the shade and with the breeze it was pretty much the perfect temperature.  We ate junk (the guys had Primanti’s) and the Pirates killed the Braves 10-0.  It was a great time….here are some pictures:

Then we went to Fat Head’s.  Yes, Pam’s, Primanti’s, and Fat Head’s all in ONE day.  You can’t just come and SEE Pittsburgh, you have to TASTE Pittsburgh to truly experience it.  Erik took the challenge and got the HUGE “South Side Slopes” sandwich there and pleased Burgess greatly by finishing the whole thing.

After all of that fun I know your thinking “How could it get any better?”, but today was the most wonderful day of all.  Today was Freddy’s blessing day.  I wish I could capture the spirit of the blessing Burgess gave him in this post but that is impossible.  He was blessed and I felt the spirit seal those blessings on his head.  He is a very special boy and it was so wonderful to have so much family here with us to celebrate the beginning of Freddy’s life.  We had my mom and dad of course, and Kerstin and Erik.  We also had Burgess’ Aunt Judi and Uncle Craig and also Freddy’s Great Mammaw (Grandma) from Delaware and West Virginia.  Of course there was also Asher (and a friend) and Nana.  We took up a whole bench in church.  Burgess gave Freddy a beautiful and spirit filled blessing.  I feel so extremely blessed today to have such a wonderful husband and beautiful son as well as such a supportive and loving family.  I wish more people could have been with us but for those of you who couldn’t make it (we totally understand) here are some pictures:

The Priesthood that blessed Freddy: President Ferguson, Grandpa Edwards, Daddy, Uncle Erik, & Bishop Bushman.

Everyone who came to support Freddy: Great Uncle Craig, Uncle Erik, Auntie Asher, Grandpa Edwards, Daddy, Freddy, Mama, Auntie Keri, Nana, Great Mammaw, Grandma Edwards, & Great Aunt Judi.

Freddy is named after Grandpa Edwards

He is also named after Daddy, who was given his Mammaw’s maiden name.

Uncle Erik made Freddy a Beret to wear on his special day, “Thanks Uncle Erik”.

Auntie Keri picked out his blessing outfit, “THANKS AUNTIE KERI”

It’s a wonderful world don’t you agree?

What a glorious Easter we had.  It all started that morning when we told the story and testified of the Resurrection of the Savior.  Then we were privileged to have family come up from West Virginia to see Freddy.  After a quick search for our Easter basket, we got Freddy all dressed up for his first time at church!  He was an angel, he never got fussy, he was happy, loved all the songs, definitely a hit with other church goers.  We brought him home for an incredible easter dinner highlighted by my Uncle Timmer’s ham, some great pasta, and perfect potatoes. Of course there was pie, cannoli, and Eat N Park smilies for dessert.  Then it was off to our sunday nap.  We would have gotten a picture of Freddy in his cute Easter outfit, but on the way home from church we had a HUGE blowout!  His clothing and car seat SOILED!  Take our word for it he was the cutest.  We have attached a picture of his first easter basket.  

This is Freddy here.  I wanted to let you know my mom finally had the mind to put me in something a little stylish today.  What do you think of my outfit?

It’s still a little bit but it’s nice to finally be in some real clothes…

My mom and dad took me to the park today and it was so much fun!  I have never been awake for the park but I was today and it was really cool.  I had a pretty good time.  Of course my mom and dad took lots of pictures so here are some of the park for you.

Well, my mom is going to put me down for my nap soon so I need to go but Auntie Keri, I miss you and I can’t wait to see you next week.  Also my mom promised me that we would come and see you at your house next month no matter what.  I love you!

OK, this is the Mama.  Freddy is so advanced….it’s hard to keep up with him sometimes.  Here are some of my favorite pictures as of late for everyone else

Daddy snuggles

Look at all of his smiles!  He is such a sweet happy baby!

Sorry about the spit up….

And heres his serious face…

OK, those are just SOME of my favorites!  It is pretty hard to take a bad picture of him (but I’m his mother) but it isn’t always easy to get his smiling when I’m taking pictures of him and trying to make him smile at the same time (I’m pretty proud of these, although I still haven’t been able to get him with his big full face smile yet.

Freddy has started sleeping in his big boy bed (his crib in his room).  This has been nerve racking for me, but he has slept pretty good in there.  He does a pretty good job of putting himself to sleep at night and comforting himself to keep sleeping for quite a long time.  He usually only has one feeding a night.  He is also barely starting to talk.  It is so fun to hear his voice!  He is such a joy to be around.  He is a snuggle monster just like his Daddy and he just loves singing songs with his Mama.  I love it!

Daddy here.  A couple of video’s for your viewing pleasure….

Freddy being a frog in his frog jammies

Watch his cheeks bounce in this one!

Today you are one month old.  I can’t believe how fast time has gone by!  It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with you and then all of the sudden the doctor put you in my arms and now here we are one month later!  When you were first born I couldn’t believe how beautiful you were.  I just kept thinking to myself, “How did I end up with such a good looking kid?!”  I remember when you were officially two days old and how sad I was.  I just wanted time to slow down so that I could take you all in.  Now you are one month old….can you slow down please?

You are such a good baby I hope you know.  You are already sleeping so well through the night.  You sleep about 5 hours straight and then back to bed for another 3, then it’s morning!  You are so happy in the morning after your breakfast.  One thing you love to do is snuggle your Daddy for a minute before mama takes you downstairs (just so you know, Daddy LOVES that too).  You are a great eater and have gotten so much bigger!  You are actually starting to get a little heavy (Mama needs to start working out again…).  

Freddy you are so strong!  You love to stand up and bounce on my lap.  Your legs are so strong you can hold yourself up for a long time.  You have also been able to hold your head up by yourself for a while now.  You can turn your head and look all around.  You LOVE to look at the world around you.  I remember one of your first doctors appointments the doctor kept saying over and over again how surprised he was at how awake and alert you were.  He kept thinking you would drift off to sleep any minute but you didn’t.  You stayed WIDE awake through out the whole doctors appointment.  You are a very smart boy, don’t ever forget that and I hope you’ll always work hard to learn all that you can!

You are a super happy baby!  You started smiling the very first day you were born.  You especially love to smile at me and I love that.  We play lots of games during the day, but one of your favorite things to do is sing songs.  So far your favorite songs are, “I Am a Child of God”, “I’m Trying to be Like Jesus”, “I Love to See the Temple”, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”, “Wheels on the Bus”, and “Old McDonald Had a Farm”.  You get a big smile on your face every time I start singing to you….I love that too.

Freddy you make me so happy!  I love being home with you all day everyday.  I love loving you when you are sad.  I love snuggling you when you want some snuggles (and even when you don’t…sorry but your just so chunky!)  I love feeding you, you are just so precious.  I love watching you sleep, you are such an angel.  I even love changing your diaper and getting thrown up on.  Did I mention you have the cutest cry there is!  I just love everything about you!

Fredrick, you are a very special boy.  You have a very important purpose in our family and here on this earth.  You are so important to me and Daddy.  We love you so much and could not imagine life with out our Freddy boy.  Even though I wish time would go a little slower I am looking forward to seeing you grow and seeing all the wonderful accomplishments that I know are in your future.  I love you my baby.  I love you so much.  Thank you for bringing so much joy into my life.  Happy one month baby, I love you.

We shared in a wonderful family day today.  We watched the first session of conference, and were spiritually edified.  Then since it was such a nice day we decided to take Freddy to his first park.  We went to South Park, just a couple minutes from us, and went on a 20 minute stroller ride around a small pond.  It was a perfect spring day.  Then we came home and watched the final session of conference and Amy made some awesome chicken.  I love having a family, and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my wife and son.