it's a girl!

madeline claire arrived on july 31 at 0205.
she weighed 9 lbs and 9.5 oz and weighed 21.25 inches!



thursday started with fears that sarah's water had broken. this wouldn't be an issue, but she wasn't really having regular contractions. she went to the birthing center where they checked her out and sent her home, basically telling her not to worry just yet (her water wasn't really broken). i kept in touch with her throughout the day and by 2200, i got a call from ray saying that sarah had been having regular contractions for about an hour. i was officially on stand-by. by 2300, sarah was calling me asking me to come to her house because ray kept falling asleep. gladly! i headed to their house and was there by 2320. by 0015 we were in the car on the way to the birthing center. by 0155 sarah was pushing and their beautiful baby girl was born at 0205. everything went beautifully and sarah was very glad to be able to carry the "little" bundle of joy in her arms!
we stayed at the birthing center for about 5 hours, letting the midwife and birth assistant monitor sarah & the new baby and making sure that everything was as it should be. i headed back to the proctor household to get my car and see the reactions of liv and jonah when they found out that their new baby sister had arrived overnight (they had already had plans to spend the night with ray's parents before sarah went into labor). they arrived home and the first question liv asked was "mommy, did the baby come yet?" when sarah said yes, liv's mouth dropped open in excitement and she ran to the bassinet. she inspected for a moment, then ran back to sarah and hugged her. so cute! jonah was excited too, but showed much less interest in wanting to hold and play with the new addition, he was more excited just to see his mom & dad. both the kiddos were excited about the birthday cake, though!
congratulations to my sister and her family! and

welcome to the world madeline claire!

baby madeline

getting older all the time

i figured it was time to get my eyes checked...i hadn't had them checked since middle school or so. i've never needed to, since my vision has always been 20/15. but, i set up an eye appointment with matt's eye doctor and told them the only trouble i was having was with my distance vision when i was driving. it just didn't seem like things were always as clear as they had been. my fears were confirmed when the doctor said that yes, glasses would help my vision. fortunately, it's only because my vision has gone from 20/15 to 20/20. i guess to most people this wouldn't be such an issue, but those things far away seem so blurry now without glasses! matt helped me pic out some cute frames that even had the fancy clip-on sunglass lenses for driving. my glasses arrived on monday (the 27th) and i picked them up before work. so far, the response has been positive and most people think i've had them all along. apparently, i look "natural" in them. i tried a few times to get a good pic of me in them, but i guess i'm just not used to seeing them on me yet, because i think all the pics of me in glasses look very silly. here's the best i've got so far...

a walk in the rain

on sunday we spent some time at my parents house with the family. we figured this would be one of our last chances to hang out with the whole family before matt has to leave for ohio (on saturday! yikes!). we enjoyed some fun with the family and even decided that after the cooler weather blew in that we should go for a walk. we were hoping we could help coax out sarah & ray's next arrival since she's due any day now. dad had checked the radar and, much to our disappointment, had told us that all the big storms we saw to the south were going to miss us, so we headed out. what started out as sarah and i quickly turned into sarah, shari and i, then all of the kids and our mom, too! we were just walking around the block, and got about half-way around before the skies opened up. the kids thought it was great, and although none of us adults were complaining about the rain, it actually got quite cold! once we got back to mom & dad's house, everyone was ready to go home and change into dry clothes. so much for all the weather missing us!


getting ready for the walk

gia's baby shower

my friend gia is expecting and some of our co-workers threw her a baby shower on the 19th. we had fun watching her open baby gifts, dancing to the music and eating all the tasty foods. i was too tired to stick around for the games (i had worked the night before), but i did get some pics... see below!

gia's baby shower

time to visit ohio!

it had been a while since matt and i had been to ohio to visit his family (although we were lucky enough to see them here in december for his & shari's graduation), so july 8 -15 we spent in the much cooler climate of ohio in a take-it-easy type week. we enjoyed the cooler temps (i don't think it ever made it to 90 degrees, and most days we were comfortable in jeans and t-shirts!) and catching up with the family. matt and his family surprised me with a trip to a fireworks show and a chance to babysit our newest niece, madeline sue, who will be a year old on september 7th! the fireworks were a real treat because i had to work on 4th of july and since i work nights, i missed all the independence day festivities. babysitting maddie was a blast, too, she's grown so much since we saw her last thanksgiving! other fun things we did in ohio: pedicures for the ladies, lots of naps, trips to bookstores and time for reading, cook-outs (which became cook-ins) and cookie baking in a kitchen that was newly remodeled but didn't have any measuring cups, cookie sheets, electric hand mixers or oven mitts! what an adventure! thanks to our wonderful family in ohio for another great trip! enjoy the pics :)

ohio 7/09

a day out

on friday the 3rd, matt and i decided to spend a day doing pretty much nothing. we went to stores that we had gift cards for, shopped around in furniture stores (comfy chairs and free cookies!), went out for a free lunch, and generally just goofed-off. we both enjoyed the no-obligations, no-responsibilities type of day. for anyone who knows us well, you know that both my husband and myself tend to be over-workers and over-committers when it comes to the day-to-day. i've got a few pics from our time out, and a pic of lexi so she wouldn't feel left out (we did have to leave her at home after all!).


trying out the comfy chairs


matt thinks they are all nap-worthy




taking advantage of free video games at best buy




at lunch, olive garden!

an over-due birthday

green cards up!

more than a year ago, matt & i promised jared that for his birthday gift we would take him to fogo de chao, a brazillian style restaurant with all-you-can-eat steak, chicken, lamb & pork (they also have an amazing salad bar and wonderful side dishes, not to mention superior service). we gave him a coupon as his birthday gift telling him to let us know when he was available to go out with us. a year came and went, and we found it very difficult to align our 3 schedules accordingly so we could indulge in the experience that is fogo. finally, this month we picked a day and stuck to it. on wednesday, after working a 12 hour shift and staying up that morning, i accompained my husband and brother to a wonderful meal at fogo de chao. we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the meal, except for the one downside that always accompanies this eating experience....feeling full too soon! even jared had to give in eventually and leave his card on the red side, meaning he couldn't eat anymore. after the meal, we did enjoy a tasty dessert for jared's birthday (if you ever go there and have room for dessert, order the molten chocolate cake...you won't be disappointed!). happy birthday, jared! sorry it was late, hope it was worth the wait!


sirloin...yum!


jared with a plate-full!


molten chocolate cake!


i guess i missed the blue-shirt memo...