July 4th - A nice easy picture of the kids

Digital photography is such a wonderful thing! You can take a dozen pictures and then pick your favorite one - or in other words, the only one that is acceptable - like this nice picture of my smiling children. Really - they are always like that - happy to hold the baby and take a nice picture. Really!


This was the first picture I took. Could Charlie look any grumpier???

Then the Josie torture begins as Ronny tries to get Charlie to sit up and get happy. It starts with the two-hand face squeeze.

Then Josie gets the one-hand face squeeze.


Then it was on to the eye-poking. Sorry Josie! I hate to tell you, but this is just the beginning. I only had one big brother, but unfortunately you have two and try as we might, we will not be able to save you from all of the abuse your brothers will someday shower upon you. On the bright side, you will likely be one tough girl!

July 4th - Bike Parade

We took part in our neighborhood's annual Fourth of July Bike Parade this morning. It has been very hot here (breaking records) for weeks and this morning was no exception. It was 87 degrees with a heat index of 96 at 10am. Ugh! It was fun, though. A fire truck led the way and afterwards they let the kids check it out. Josephine slept the entire time.

July 1st

June - The many hands of Josephine

June 28th - Hard rock baby

My friend Jen sent this awesome Led Zeppelin onesie for Josie. It was the perfect outfit to welcome Ronny home from a 5-day work trip. We sure missed him!

June 26th - Miss Independence

That's actually what the navy blue tag on the front of the dress says - "Miss Independence".

Jack is getting better at writing his name.

June 23rd - A snuggle with Grandma

June 22nd - A late Father's Day present

June 21st - Father's Day at Nana and Papa's

We went to Nana and Papa's house for Father's Day. We had a great time! The boys loved playing in the pool and sprinkler with their cousins, Camilla and Violet. And we got to check out Papa's new barn. Very nice!

June 16th - Big brothers rock!

I brought down the baby floor gym and all of the kids enjoyed it.


Charlie just loves kissing his baby sister.


Jack put the sling on and asked if I would put Josie in it so he could hold her. It was very sweet. He would put his fingers in her hands sometimes and she would grab them.

Here are more kisses from Charlie while Jack is playing peek-a-boo.

When Jack was done, Charlie had to hold her too. He is so proud.

June 15th - Who let the dogs out?

The boys love playing with Daddy's belts. Today they decided they were dogs and asked Grandma to take them for a walk.

June 14th - Charlie loves his baby

Charlie loves his baby sister. He interchangeably calls her Josie, Josephine, and Josie Posie. He gives her more kisses than anyone else. He will even squeeze into the corner of the chair when I feed her.

June 13

June 6th - The Baccus women

We had a nice visit with the Baccus women - Nana, Melanie, Leslie, Camilla, and Violet. Nana brought some great books for the boys. Melanie and Leslie brought some very cute presents for Josie.

June 5th - Josie's new swim hat

June 1st

May 31st

Josephine's first bath...

The boys love to play in the hamper on the weekends when I'm doing laundry.

May 30th - "I read a book to the baby!"

May 29th

She is really a very good baby so far, but Ronny couldn't resist taking a picture of a not-so-very-good time.

May 27th

May 26th - Grandma time

May 24th - Coming home

We were able to convince our doctors that we could escape the hospital on Sunday night and we made it home right before the boys went to bed. One change since the last time we had a baby at the hospital was the installation of a baby lo-jack system. There is a little sensor on Josie's right foot in the picture below and apparently if she got close to the elevators or exits, the hospital would shut down. It was a good sign when they cut the band from her little ankle.

May 22nd - Big Brother Party

The day I went into labor with Josie, there was a surprise party at school in room 3. I was already at the hospital when Grandma went to get the boys and brought Jack to Charlie's classroom for cupcakes that the boys got to frost (yum!). Charlie opened presents for him (a big brother t-shirt) and for his little sister (cute outfits!). The kids all got to diaper a baby for practice too. So far Jack has helped with diapering just once, but we'll get him changing the messy ones soon, I'm sure. Charlie's friend Jonah was the other honored big brother in the classroom. His mom is due to have a little boy at the end of June. Many thanks to the Wanda and Sandi for the great party and presents. Sorry I missed the festivities. :) I'm so glad that Grandma had her camera.

May 23rd - Welcome Josephine Grace

Welcome our newest member of the family - Josephine Grace. Josie made her appearance at 12:08am this morning, May 23rd, 2009. She weighs 9 pounds and is 21.5 inches long.

Josie's brothers are proud as can be with their "Big Brother" t-shirts. Charlie loved holding and tickling his little sister.

The boys are having a great time with Grandma.

Nana and Papa stopped by for a visit too.

May 21st - My due date

Oh yes, that is my enormous belly. Today is my due date and I'm a bit dismayed that her royal highness is still in residence. I've never made it to my due date before. Jack was 8 days early and Charlie was 6 days early. Needless to say, I expected our little girl to make an appearance DAYS ago.

So the eviction notice has been drafted and an induction is scheduled to begin Monday night/Tuesday morning. There is still a chance she will make her move this weekend, but if not we should be meeting our baby girl on Tuesday.

9-months pregnant

8-months pregnant

7-months pregnant

6-months pregnant

5-months pregnant

4-months pregnant

3-months pregnant

May 8th - The National Space Trophy Dinner

Friday night we went to the National Space Trophy Dinner, our annual black tie event. It was a wonderful night. Miles O'Brien was the master of ceremonies, our friend Zeb won a Stellar Award, and Mike Griffin (past NASA Administrator) won the National Space Trophy.

It was 13 days before my due date and I received lots of looks and comments. During the reception before dinner, a nice lady stopped me and said, "If anything happens, there is a nurse/midwife at table 35." I laughed and said, "If you hear screaming from table 40, just come running!"

The evening is always fun to share with Jenny and Ian.

I love when Miles O'Brien is the Master of Ceremonies. He is so funny!

They gave Mike Griffin this flight jacket and I was excited to see the WB-57 patch in the bottom center area.

Thanks to Lauren Harnett, JSC Photographer, for the great pictures at the event. I had the pleasure of working with Lauren on the C-9 when I was working with the Reduced Gravity Office last year. She takes great photographs!

April 26th - Painting project

Charlie 2006

Jack-o-lantern 2004

April 21st - 8-months pregnant

One month to go...

8-months pregnant

April 12th - Happy Easter!

April 7th - Charlie's first ER visit

On Wednesday night after about 21 hours of a variety of symptoms – cough, runny nose, fever, increased respirations, complaints of a tummy ache, and throwing up – I took Charlie to the ER.

So here is how the ER went:
8:25pm – Checked in
10:30pm – Finally made it into triage after Charlie was fully asleep
11:15pm – Registration for payment
12:30am – Got water and animal crackers for Charlie who had been asking for a snack.
12:45am – Got back to a room
1:15am – Saw the doctor who then ordered a chest x-ray
1:30am – Nurse checked Charlie’s temp, which was back down to normal
2:15am – Chest x-ray to make sure he didn’t have asymptomatic pneumonia
3:07am – Left the hospital
3:40am – Put Charlie to bed and then collapsed myself
5:45am – Both boys woke up. Ronny brought them downstairs and they all slept another hour or so.

Charlie was sent home with a diagnosis of bronchitis and fever. He was acting completely normal by the time we saw the doctor – reading books and playing in the hospital room.

Unfortunately this was not the first ER trip for the Baccus family this year. On March 21st, Ronny took Jack to the ER a couple of days after he hit his head hard on the corner of a wall upstairs. We knew that we should be on the lookout for brain trauma symptoms and 2 days after the bonk, he started throwing up. He turned out to be fine, thank goodness.

April 7th - Potty time with the boys

Jack was going potty, so Charlie read him one of his favorite books - "It Looked Like Spilt Milk".

April 5th - Decorating Easter eggs

Today the boys decorated some Easter eggs. They took turn with a cool egg spinner that Ronny bought. The first picture is Charlie patiently waiting for his turn.

This weekend we gave potty training a try with Charlie. He wore underpants instead of a diaper both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Not much luck, so we will try again in a few months.

March 29th - Nana and Papa visit

Nana and Papa came for a visit today. They brought Easter gifts for the boys and their little sister. The boys had a great time reading with Nana and playing with Papa.

March 28th - NASA Spring Fling

Today was NASA's Easter Party, a.k.a. the Spring Fling. We had a fun time. The boys got their faces painted. (Both wanted elephants.) Then they went on pony rides, spent some time in the petting zoo, bounced in the moon walks, and tried climbing the big climbing wall. Then it was finally time to collect some eggs. The recent rains meant that the fields where they planned to do the egg hunts were soggy and full of fire ants, so the boys hunted for eggs in classrooms at the rec center. They still had a great time.

March 21st - 7-months pregnant

March 15th - The short urinal

On Sunday, Jack and Daddy went to Home Depot and although we always make Jack use the bathroom before he leaves the house, he is still on a mission to spend as much time as possible in public restrooms. So Jack is at the short urinal doing his duty and he leans back until he has cleared the privacy barrier and says, “Peek-a-boo!” to the guy peeing at the next urinal. Hilarious, but time for a little lesson in urinal tact.

March 3rd - Grandma's visiting

Grandma was visiting and I was terrible and didn't take any pictures of her with the boys. She took some nice pictures, though.

Disney Photo Pass

If you are planning a trip to Disney, I highly suggest the Disney Photo Pass. There are professional photographers in all of the parks just waiting to take your picture. And if you are the family photographer (like I am), this ensures that you will be in some of the vacation pictures. You can add all kinds of fun borders on the website as well. (Make sure you get a Tinkerbell picture!)

February 21st - Six months pregnant

February 8th - Our first trip to Disney World

Today we flew from Houston to Orlando to begin our trip to Disney World. After a quick stop to get groceries, we were on the way to the Fort Wilderness Cabins – our home for the next week. Our cabin was great. It looks just like the pictures that we saw online.

The next stop was a character dinner at the Swan Hotel in the Garden Grove restaurant. While we ate, Pluto and Goofy made the rounds to all of the tables for pictures. Both boys were thrilled to see the characters, but Charlie was much more tentative when they got close. Jack was so excited after dinner when we were walking out to the car and he said, “Holy cow! I like this sidewalk!” I think we were all excited to be there.

February 9th - Magic Kingdom

Today was our first full day at Disney. To get to the Magic Kingdom, we walked down to the bus stop, which isn’t too far from our cabin. Then we caught the bus to the marina area and then took a ferry boat to the Magic Kingdom. When we got there, we started our Dumbo-or-Die touring plan. We went on the Dumbo ride, the Winnie the Pooh ride, and then Its a Small World, which wasn’t nearly as annoying as I remembered it to be 20 years ago.

After Small World, we realized that we lost Ronny’s entrance card, so we stopped for a quick lunch and then went back to City Hall to replace Ronny’s card. While he did that, we waited in line to see Chip and Dale, which the kids liked. By then, the kids seemed ready for a break, so we took the boat back to the cabin for a nap, stopping at the playground for a bit on the way.

After naps and a quick pizza dinner at Crockett’s Tavern, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We got there about 15 minutes or so before the parade – perfect timing. I sat on the cement with Charlie on my lap, so I had a front row seat. We saw the Little Mermaid, the Big Bad Wolf, the Three Pigs, Alice in Wonderland, and more.

We moved into the center of Main Street for the fireworks, so we had a good view of the castle, which changed from being lit up in orange to blue to purple. It was beautiful. The fireworks were good and the show was set to music.

For the first time, we let Jack sleep on the top bunk of the bunk beds with Charlie on the bottom bunk.

February 10th - The Animal Kingdom

Today we went to the Animal Kingdom. From the moment that you enter the park, you get the feeling that you are in the rainforest. It is really beautiful and calming, which was just what we needed after the frantic pace of the last couple of days.

We headed back to the Kilimanjaro Safari and the line was already 25 minutes long. We grabbed Fast Passes and move on to the Maharaja Jungle Trek. We saw some pretty cool animals on the Jungle trek, like some huge fruit bats. On our way out, we could hear some very loud noises, so we went to see what it was. It was a group on monkeys way up in the trees. They were yelling back and forth at each other and just going nuts.

After the Trek, we went to see “Flights of Wonder” which is a bird show. The kids got restless after about 10 minutes, so it was time for us to go.

We went back and hit the Safari tour via the Fast Pass line. We went past hoards of people who were waiting in the regular stand-by line. On the Safari, we saw a ton of cool animals like giraffes, okapis, ankole cattle, bongos, warthogs, ostriches, elephants, hippos, rhinos, and lions. What a cool ride! The kids loved it too.

We went to the Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch, which was quite tasty. The outdoor seating was like another bird show. We were surrounded by ducks and ibis, which were beautiful and all waiting for some small children to drop a hot dog bun or a french fry. At one point, Charlie started crying, “The duck ate my lunch!”

From lunch, we went to play in the Boneyard in Dinoland, which is a big playground. I followed Charlie all over the place and down the slides. We went over a bridge that was covered in a dinosaur skeleton, which was neat. On the other side of the bridge was an area where you could dig up bones of a woolly mammoth.

Next we went to see Finding Nemo, the musical. It was really neat. The actors held puppets of the sea creatures they portrayed. They hit all of the high points in the movie and the timing was just about perfect. Actually Charlie was really good for most of it, but got a bit restless towards the end saying, “I all done now. I all done now.” Sorry kiddo – just hang in there a bit longer.

On the way out of Dinoland, we stopped by a character photo stop and got pictures with Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.

We walked around the Tree of Life to see all of the animals carved all over it. By now it was 3:30 or so and time for the exhausted Baccus family to go. The park closes at 5pm, so we decided to skip naptime today and just press to see what we could. We got back to the cabin and hung out for a little bit before heading out for dinner at a local Mexican place.

February 11th - Epcot

Today we went to Epcot. We first went to Spaceship Earth, which is the ride inside the iconic Epcot geodesic sphere. We rode in a car together as Dame Judy Dench narrated the past, present, and future of technology on earth. At the end, we ended up under the stars staring back at Earth. Then the cars turned backwards for our “descent back to Earth” (the PA system announced). Jack got upset, saying, “I want to go home! I want to go back to Earth!” Ronny had to explain that we really never left Earth.

The next stop was a Finding Nemo ride, followed up by “Turtle Talk with Crush”. Crush is the surfer-dude-talking turtle from Finding Nemo. Jack was very brave and sat in front with all of the kids, while Charlie sat on my lap. It was a cute interactive cartoon Crush, who actually asks the kids questions.

Ronny had told Jack that “Crush might talk to you”. When the show was over and everyone got up to leave, Jack was crushed. “Was he going to talk to me? Crush didn’t talk to me.” Jack was so sad. He recovered pretty quickly, though, as we checked out the different exhibits – especially the one with Bruce the shark – Jack’s favorite character from Nemo.

Naxt we saw “Circle of Life” which is a movie about how the bad humans are destroying the earth and better stop it right now. After a quick lunch, we went on the Living with the Land ride, a neat show about the past, present, and future of agriculture. The best part was going through some really neat greenhouses, where things are grown hydroponically.

After naptime back at the cabin, we went back to Epcot to go to the Biergarten for an early dinner. We had a fun time watching the Oom-Pah band while we ate. On our way out, Jack pulled us down to the dance floor as they were starting the chicken dance. Funny kid.

After dinner, we went on Maelstrom, which is a ride on Viking ships in the Norway pavilion. It was a little intense and Jack was scared of the trolls. He said, “I didn’t like those trolls. They made me feel a little bit sick.”

The next stop was on to Mexico for another boat ride. This time it was with the three amigos – one of which was Donald Duck. This cute, funny boat ride was the perfect thing to follow up the “scary” boat ride so we left the evening on a happy note.

February 12th - Magic Kingdom

This morning, the Magic Kingdom opened up at 8am for resort guests (an hour early). We made it in the gate, just as they were opening and saw a bit of the opening ceremony where Mickey and friends appear above us to wave us in and start the day.

The first thing on our agenda was to hit Buzz Lightyear. They were having technical difficulties, so we got Fast Passes and went on to the Indy Speedway to drive racecars. Jack was so excited that Daddy let him drive the car. (Ronny had control of the accelerator/brake pedal.)

Our next ride was Peter Pan, which was just like the story book we have at home. On the way to our next new attraction, we hit Small World again since it is a cute little boat ride with NO LINE! Then it was on to see Mickey’s Philharmagic, which is a 3-D movie. It was really cute and had us laughing.

After the show we rode on Cinderella’s Carousel. Then we toured through Mickey’s house and let the kids play on a little playground for a bit. Then it was back to Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyear. Jack was really excited about the Buzz Lightyear ride. He said, “We shot those bad guys!” “We shot those aliens and made them go away!” “We shot them with our laser beams!”

After Buzz, we had lunch and then stopped to get a picture with Donald Duck dressed in his frontier gear. We walked by the Jungle Cruise, but the line was 35 minutes long, so we decided that it was time to throw in the towel. We walked to the Frontierland train depot and took the train around Disney World back to the front gate.

Back near the front gate, Ronny decided to hit the restrooms with Jack while I went into a nearby shop and looked around with Charlie. When they joined us, we went outside and were unable to cross the street because they were starting a Block Party parade. It was a short parade, but the kids could barely watch they were so tired.

In the evening, we went to the Ft. Wilderness Meadow for the campfire sing-a-long. We made it there just as the sing-a-long was starting. Ronny wrangled the boys while I roasted marshmallows for smores. The sing-a-long was fun and was led by Cowboy Anthony, who eventually introduced some other guests – Chip N’ Dale. Chip N’ Dale made their way through the crowd and stopped at each bench for greetings and pictures. After the campfire a movie started, which tonight was the new version of the Parent Trap. We stayed for a little while, but the boys were getting the comatose look on their faces so it was time to head back and put them to bed.

February 13th - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Today we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even though we were there when the park opened, by the time we made it to Toy Story Mania, the wait was already 45 minutes, so we got Fast Passes. Next we went to see a Playhouse Disney puppet show, which was cute, but difficult to see as we were sitting on the floor and the stage was above our heads.

After the show, we went by a gift store and Jack spied a cute bank with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He turned it around a couple times looking at all of the dwarfs, and then asked me, “Where is the evil witch?” Where is the gift show with the villain paraphernalia? Where is the Maleficent Barbie? The Sea Witch piggy bank? The wicked stepmother and stepsisters t-shirt?

Next we went to catch the Muppet 3-D movie, which was cute. After a quick lunch, it was back to Toy Story. The ride was really fun. There was a little cannon for you to aim and shoot at arcade-type games. The car kept track of your score. I thought I did pretty well with my score of 58,200, but at the end, it showed the high scores of the day and they were all up around 250,000.

After Toy Story, we went to the Little Mermaid show, which was a live musical show. It was cute, but pretty short. Afterwards, we had our picture taken with Jojo and Goliath. Then it was time to head back to the cabin for naps. We ate a quick dinner in our cabin and then went on a wagon ride around the campground/RV area. We had a really nice time.

February 14th - Valentine's Day at the Magic Kingdom

Today was our last full day at Disney World and we chose to spend the morning at the Magic Kingdom. We went on the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet, the Mad Tea Cups, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and Peter Pan’s Flight.

After a quick lunch break, we caught the last morning show of Dream Along with Mickey at the Castle Forecourt Stage. It was really cute, but the best part was when Maleficent came out. No one was happier than my boys! Then it was time to get our Mickey ears and head back for a nap.

In the afternoon, we went to Downtown Disney to check it out. We took a look around and ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express, which was nice. In the evening, we went to the Trading Post to get an ice cream treat to have back at the cabin.

February 15th - Our last day

Today was our last day at Disney World. We went to the Contemporary Resort to have breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. During breakfast we were visited by Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck, Mickey, and Minnie. It was a great way to end our vacation.

After breakfast, we took a spin on the monorail, seeing some of the other resorts on the monorail route. Then it was back to the cabin to pack up our belongings and head to the airport.

January 27th - Baby Pictures

Here are some pictures of our baby girl. In the first picture you can that she is bent in half with her feet up by her face. Since I'm about the least flexible person on the face of the Earth, seeing my flexible little baby girl was a bit surprising. In the second picture, you can see her mid-yawn.

January 25th

January 24th - Kaiden's Birthday Party

Today we went to Kaiden's birthday party. The boys had a blast playing at the playground, but the best was the Dino Dig. There was a sandbox filled with buried dinosaurs, alligators, and coins. The kids all got plastic forks to dig through the sand and find goodies. The kids loved it, but Charlie wouldn't leave. He sat at the sandbox long after all of the other kids left it. He would dig something up and then rebury it - over and over and over. He loved it.