New Apartment

Finally...I have taken some pictures of our new apartment. We are still getting things settled in and I still need to buy stuff for the dining room (so no pictures of that). Also, for some reason this apartment has only 1 ceiling fan (which I don't really like anyway) and it happens to be in the dining room. That is weird, right? Also (and this may bug me more than other people), the ceiling fan is not centered in the dining room. It is really close to the back wall. That drives me nuts...so I think I'm going to take it down and get a new light fixture. We're planning to stay here for a couple/few years so it should be worth the effort. No problem...right?

The current living room. We had a bit of a challenge during move in with the couch not fitting, so we had to buy a new one. We also got a new tv...love it! We still have the other half of the couch that didn't fit (we'll get rid of it soon as we get something new for that spot). We're going to get either a loveseat or chair for that spot. We haven't put anything up on the walls yet either. We're waiting until we get some of the wedding pictures blown up to decide where the pics should all go.

The kitchen. We had to get the pantry cabinet and the microwave cart.

The Guest Room...or as Theresa likes to claim: her room :) It is also serving as our office.

Guest bathroom.

Master bathroom.

Master Bedroom. We got all new bedroom stuff, including a new mattress :) I love the new bed! I sleep so much better on it! I don't wake up with neck pain. Heavenly! Also, I don't even remember how long its been since i had an actual bed frame and all matching bedroom furniture. I feel so grown up!

So...there is the basic tour of the new place. As you can see we had a spare room so guests are of course welcome anytime! Just let us know! We will have a dining room before the holidays so then we'll be able to have people over for dinners.

Andrew's Website

Theresa is in Los Angeles visiting Albert & Andrew (she comes back tonight). Since she's been out there she has been able to visit Andrew in the hospital and talk to his parents about all that has happened. Andrew is doing really well! She discovered that Andrew's sister, Liz, has created and is maintaining a website about what has happened to Andrew and is posting updates about his condition. I thought I would share the website with everyone who has been keeping him in their thoughts and prayers! We all really appreciate that you're keeping him in your hearts! The fact that he has survived at all is amazing and that he is doing as well as he is...well I just can't describe how relieved Shawn and I are to still have such a great friend still in our lives!

Andrew's Website

All Moved In

So we are all moved in to our new place. It was a LONG weekend and I'm still slowly trying to get things settled, but it was worth it. I really think we're going to like our new place. The other residents in our building seem really nice! We've already met several of our neighbors (and we never met any of our old neighbors) plus when you see people around the building they talk to us and hold doors and stuff. Nice!

The move was a bit stressful at times...especially when we discovered that our couch wouldn't fit into our new apartment...only we didn't realize until the guys had already carried it up 3 flights of stairs! We tried every angle to get it through the doorway, including taking the door off the hinges. It just wasn't going to happen. So we had to get a new couch, which wasn't one of the pre-planned moving expenses. So looks like I'll be working so overtime soon! We did get a few things we had already planned to buy...like a new bed! YAY! I love it! We got a new mattress and a bedroom set that all matches (I've never had that before!), plus we got a new 46" flat screen tv (which Shawn has been acting gaga about!). We love how everyting is coming together in our home. Once I get things up on the walls and such I will take some pictures.

Aunt Kathy is in town from Oregon this week so we went out to my Aunt Mel & Uncle Glenn's the other night for roast pork and potatoe dumplings. It was yummy! Plus I got to see my cousins and their children, which is always fun. Those kids are so cute! My cousin Kimberly's son Christian is going to be Winnie the Pooh for halloween and he was so excited about it that is went to get the costume to show me. Kimberly said he's been trying it on everyday for her to take pictures of him. He does look cute in it...especially since he has his own little "honey" belly to fill it up! It's gonna be cute. Hopefully I'll get to see some of the kids in their costumes on halloween. We'll see.

Moving again...

This weekend is moving time again...Shawn and I decided we wanted to find a bigger place but stay in the same area. So we found a 2BR/2BA apartment not far from where we currently live. We're still going to be close to the train and to all the shops and the movie theater. We're a bit farther from the library and Oberweis though (boo) but we'll survive. The the apartment is larger than we have now with a ton of storage in the apartment plus a storage space. The rent includes a parking space as well as heat and water, which is awesome because we pay for all of that now on top of our rent. Oh yeah...and the rent is a tad cheaper than we pay now! So yay for saving money! We really felt like more space would be good and it will be nice to have a place we can stay for a few years and grow into.

So the move it set for tomorrow morning. I just got off work and we're off to pick up the keys in a bit. Then...and this is the best part...we're buying a new bed! Woohoo!!! I am so excited for this! I've been wanting a new bed for some time but we figured we'd wait until we had two bedrooms so our current bed can move to the guest room (which means that guests won't have to sleep on the couch anymore so everyone book your visit). I don't sleep well on our bed because it is too firm and my neck just can't handle it. We're getting a bedframe too, which is really exciting because I've never had a real bed like that! I've hit the big time I guess :)

Theresa is coming up to help with the move too, so of course it will be awesome to see her!
We'll post some pictures once we get stuff in an settled.

Wedding Pictures!

The wedding pictures are ready for viewing! Our photographer will have them up on her website for another 3 weeks if you want to see them or buy any. They are beautiful! There are a ton of pictures too, so be prepared! To access the pictures:

http://www.babygracephotography.com/

Clients

Client Gallery

Lisa & Shawn: Wedding (it is a bit down on the page...you'll have to scroll down)

enter your email address

password: mcgaughey (all in lower case letters)

Enjoy the pictures! We really love them! A friend of the family gave us some of the pictures she took at the wedding and I've put a few here that I like.

The ceremony...Albert did a GREAT JOB!

The bridesmaids and flower girl. Don't they look beautiful!

The little brother and sister. They are looking so grown up...makes me feel OLD!

Superhero groomsmen and ring bearer.

Mom and Aunt Colleen with our super cool ice sculpture. The kids loved this thing! A few times they were caught licking it...Gross!

Our Sweethearts Table...the happy couple!
Mom & her married girls.

Oh Albert & Andrew...the life of the party, as usual.

Speaking of Andrew, we got a new update on his condition. The CT scan they did a few days ago looked good and they've been weaning him off the of the medications that were keeping him in the induced coma. He has now opened his eyes and is moving his left arm a bit. He is still on the ventilator and has acquired ventilator associated pneumonia, but things are starting to move in the right direction. As he becomes more alert the physicians will have a better idea of how he will recover and what the extent of the damage is. I know he, and him family, really appreciate all the people that are thinking of him and praying for him. Thank you all so much!

Irish House Party

While we were in Ireland I posted many blogs along the way to keep you all posted on the things we were up to. I mentioned in Dublin that we went to something called Irish House Party. It was one of the highlights of the trip for us! All the people were awesome and we learned a lot about music as well as Irish history. This video is of the first song they performed. It was awesome and the experience got even better through the night! The Irish dancer even taught Shawn and I some dance steps. We weren't very good though...shocker I'm sure! I wish we could have recorded the whole show, but we didn't have nearly enough video space. If you go to Dublin anytime you should totally go to the Irish House Party! I hope you enjoy the music as well as we did!

Side Note

On a side note, I think we may have found a new apartment. We will know for sure on Monday morning. Both of the apartments we have narrowed it down to are 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms! Yay! So we'll have plenty of room for guests. We'll be moving October 17th if anyone wants to help ;)

In this process of apartment hunting I have discovered that my credit has improved much more quickly that I had expected since the accident! I checked my credit report a few months ago (maybe 5 months ago) and it was terrible. Now it's not bad at all! Yay! Apparently I've been doing the right things to correct the damange that stupid jackass that caused our accident put me through!

My favorite little baby at work is getting sick again as well. So if you are already praying for Andrew could you maybe keep my favorite baby Carlos in your thoughts as well. He has had a lot of issues and complications since his birth and now he has gone into liver failure. He is the sweetest, cutest little guy and we are all really pulling for him at work. I know his family would appreciate the thoughts and prayers.

Andrew Update

Thanks to everyone who has been thinking and praying about Andrew. He still is in critical condition and could use all the prayers.

He has had a second surgery now to remove clotting in the brain. The surgeons are keeping him in an induced coma to keep the pressure in his brain at a minimum. He still hasn't woken up since this all happened so the doctors don't know what the extent of the damage is yet. Hopefully it will be minimal and he'll be able to recover with therapy. He still isn't out of the woods yet though. The doctors are still worried about blood clots, especially when they start moving around the body because they can cause strokes or become emboli other places in the body, like the lungs. He also has begun to develop pneumonia. This also is not completely unexpected since he is on a respiratory ventilator, but still a complication he doesn't need. He is still fighting....