Harper Milo Stoops Arrives!

Well, well, well... he is finally here. I was put on restricted actives for 2 weeks by my doctor November 6th. It seemed that Harper was ready to come. My mom and family all pitched in to help me stay off my feet. Shari flew out from texas for 2 weeks to help out too. All was going well, Maire and Liz threw me a great baby shower with the cutest theme HMS airline and airplanes. It was alot of fun and we recieved tons of clothes. Wednesday i started having some strong contractions, so much so that i thought for sure we would go to hospital that night. But at about 11pm they completely slowed down, so much so that i fell asleep and went to bed. The next morning i called the doctor because my contraction were barely there and harper wasn't moving very much. We went in and had an ultra sound, he looked ok but wanted to be on the safe side and sent us to the hospital for monitoring. one thing led to another and it was the safer choice to admit me and get harper here. Well i was a bit emotional. i hadn't really said good bye to Zerrell, my bag wasn't even packed AND i hadn't eaten since 9am because ted and i were going to go out for lunch after they finished monitoring me at the hospital for an hour. My aunt Marianne came out to stay with me while Ted ran home. That time with her was such a special gift that God gave me that i didn't even know i needed until she was there. They broke my water at 4:30, started me on patocin and Ted and Shari arrived back at the hospital.i was already 4cm dilated and 80% afaced. The contractions were strong and i was so emotionally tired already. The fabulous epideral came shortly after 7pm. God Bless the man that invented the epideral. Ted and i got to relax, fill out the baby book, visit with Liz, i read a few chapters in my book. Shari and i watched Greys Anatomy while Ted took a nap. Just as Life from Mars was starting i started feeling terrible pressure, the nurse checked me and said we were ready to go as soon as the doctor got there. My doctor came in and 3 pushes later Harper Milo Stoops arrived at 10:29pm on November 20. 3 weeks early or so we thought, it turns out after all the newborn assesments that they did he was really born at 38 weeks 6 days(just like Zerrell). 7lbs 6oz, 20 inches long.
He is doing great, im recovering well but we are all still trying to adjust to our new reality. Zerrell is very sweet with him although she is having a hard time sharing me with a needy newborn. So far he has a very mellow personality. We are praying he stays that way.
It has been a special time having Nana Shari here for his birth, and these precious days afterwards. She flies home on Sunday the 30th and she and Dan will be back December 14th for Christmas.
We are so excited that he is here and can't wait for everyone to meet him.

We are blessed

The past month has just flown by which is very scarey! Ted spent two weeks at Camp San Luis Obispo and Zerrell and i spent two weeks missing him. Zerrell asked about him every morning when she woke up and all day long. Everytime the phone rang she thought it was him. I barely hung in there having to be a single mom while being 7 1/2 month pregnant. I did get some good things accomplished while he was away. I got our house looking like an actual home. Pictures hung, books but away, knick knacks out, etc, etc. I had a HUGE yard sale with my mom which was very successful. And i started having contractions( no wonder? ) so my doctor said i needed to take it easy for the next 3 weeks. Which i have been trying to do but easier said then done with a 20month old running around. We had a fun Halloween. Carving pumpkins and going to trick or treating with our family. Zerrell was Mary Poppins. I made her costume, which i thought turned out very well.
Some wonderful news is that Ted has a job. He started this week. Its with the national guard fixing helicopters. Its the same one he has had on and off over the past year and he really enjoys it.
Zerrell is talking more and more and climbing more and more everyday! She is just getting SO big, turning into such a little girl. She has this naked barbie that she takes everywhere with her. plus she loves a little tea set that her great grandma gave her. She pretends to pour us all tea and puts milk and sugar in it and then sips it.
Harper is moving around inside of me like he's trying to get out. Zerrell finally felt him move but wasn't too sure about the whole thing. She still thinks that everyone has a baby in their belly button.
Another blessing i wanted to share with you is that ted and I got a free king size mattress. Which has been a prayer of ours for the past 7 months. We had gone looking at beds and came to the reality that we couldn't afford one before Harper was born. Then one day last week my aunt called me to say that she had found a free king size mattress online for us. We have been enjoying a wonderful nights sleep of all three of us having more then enough space to sleep and role over for about 4 days now.
So while we have faced a number of challenges over the past few months we have also been shown how God is good and has blesses us with everything from a job to ted and a free king size mattress.

end of summer

Well, we spent the end of summer STILL fixing up our house and finally moving in. Things are still in shambles but we unpacked ALL of our boxes from the garage and the back room and our wedding presents.
Ted's brother and his girlfriend came to visit us for about 5 days. That was great and alot of fun to see them. We went up to yosemite for the day and otherwise just hung out and spent time togther.
Ted has been out of work due to the state budget, but he leaves next week for two weeks of training, so that will bring in some income and hopefully things with the state budget will be setteled and he will have work again when he gets back, please keep us in your prayers.
Zerrell is growing up so much. She is talking more and more everyday. She recently learned the word "mine." which has been funny and annoying all at the same time. She is a great climber too, almost too good. She is loving her new room, always playing in it and she has to show any new guest that comes to our house her room, she drags them in there. She is alot of work. very determined, very passionate and very opinionated. But she also extermely sweet and gentle and very very funny.
As for me, im getting bigger abd bigger with this little guy growing inside of me. 9 more weeks seems like a life time. Im very uncomfortable too. having a 19month old running around doesn't help either. harper is very active too, always moving around.
We recently spent a week in cayucos with my moms family. It was a nice break from our current reality and it was fun to hang out with everyone. Zerrell just LOVED the beach, getting soaking wet and covered in sand everyday. The weather was great too.
We are looking forward to a change in weather here in fresno and God being faithful in providing ted with work. We are still fixing up the house as much as we can at this time and waiting for harper to get here.

Home Sweet Home

Well, July was a VERY long month. My mom and I spent the whole month stripping wallpaper(with some help from my cousins Micah, Christian and Ian). Zerrell became addicted to frozen blueberries, Mary Poppins and Cinderella. Ted finished at Ft. Eustist with the second highest grade point average of his class and made it home from Virginia in 3 days!! Driving 1200 in one day.He was a sight for sore eyes, zerrell just started screaming with delight the minute she saw him and wouldn't let him out of her sight. I broke down and cried, like i said it had been a LONG month. Ted's parents came out to help us with our new place and THANK GOD they did. We all worked like mad for about 10 days, painting, stripping more wallpaper, sanding, priming, and basically turning the house upside down. BUT lots of progress was made, room have been painted, cabinets have paint on them, and we have a projected move in date of labor day weekend.
Zerrell is growing fast. She has already out grown 2 pairs of sandles this summer. She SO close to talking, but is very verbal already. She has LOTS of sound effects, and hand gestures. And like i said loves Mary Poppins and Cinderella.
Our new baby we found out is a BOY!!! His name will be Harper Milo. He is already quite active inside of me and responds to Teds voice. Zerrell points to my belly button when we ask her where the baby is.
Ted is leaving tomorrow for his two week summer training with the national guard, so that will be hard. My car got broken into too. They only stole our satelite radio reciver but that alone caused me 5 hours of work with cleaning up the glass, calling the insurance company, taking it to the auto body shop, getting a rental car(which sucks)etc etc. We still don't have our car back yet.
I can't believe that August is almost over! Ted is temporarly working at the AVCRAD and we are trusting in God that he will get a perminent position very soon, so please keep that in your prayers as well.
It will be exciting to get into our new place and start preparing for this new little guy to come in December.

July 4th Week

We had a busy week last week. One of the major hightlights was my good friend Erika came for a visit. She is the one that has joined in my obsession with Dave Matthews. We took the drive up to Charolettesville, VA, home of where the Dave Matthews Band was formed. We ate lunch at the bar that dave himself use to work at. Ted had 4 days off for the 4th so we headed up to Lexington, VA where his friend from college lives. It was so beautiful up there. We hung out with his friend, saw some great fire works and had a good time. Zerrell and i are headed home to CA tomrrow. Ted is gone for the whole week at a Field Training Exercise. We are trying to pack up and finish some last minute things. We already miss Ted. But we know this is just the start of our next adventure back in CA. and we are all SOOO ready to be home!

washington DC

Well, we went to Washington, DC this past weekend and it was quite the adventure. We didn't leave Newport News until 7pm and we made it there ok but just as we got into DC we got SOOOOO, I mean SOOOOO lost!!! Wed were lost for almost 2 hours, trying to find out hotel. It was aweful! It was LATE and ted was tired and Zerrell was DONE with the carseat. I had called the Omni about 3 times to get dirrections and it just made us even more lost. I was praying and praying and then literally out of NO WHERE our street that the Hotel was on just appeared! and we finally found out hotel at about 12:30am! The next day we got up ate a WONDERFUL breakfast at this great cafe down the street and headedon out to see the sights. We saw ALOT! It was HOT, VERY hot. But we pushed through and hit almost all the sights. By the end of the day it was 10pm and we were BEAT!!! we went back to our hotel and crashed. We were going to see more on Sunday but we woke up SO sore and still exhausted that we voted to just come home. One of the highlights of our trip was that we met Bob Dole!! truely! He was at the WWII monument taking pics with people.
We also realized how exhausting it is traveling with a kid who wants to walk the whole time and touch every flower, every pebble, take a drink from every water fountain and thinks that she can have a bite from anyone with an ice cream or popsicle, and i mean anyone, total stangers, she would get upset because she wanted some. We did have a good time and are glad we went.
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an UPDATE..at last!

OK, So i said I was going to update this more often, and I will from now on, i promise. But you know how it is, life just never stops and Zerrell NEVER stops and she seems to HATE it when i get on the computer, so while she is taking a nap I'll get this homepage going again. Since it's been awhile since i've updated and ALOT had gone on, ill give you the highlights:
*We are pregnant again! Due Dec. 10! I felt like crap for about 4 weeks but am now feeling wonderful!
*My mom came to visit for about 2weeks, we ALL got a nasty flu, i mean nasty! But inbetween being sick we got to go see ALOT of sights, which was fun!
*Zerrell and I flew back to CA for about 2 weeks, it was great to be home, we really missed ted, and Ted was lost without us. Not to sound full of myself but He really was, poor guy.
* Ted is doing GREAT in the training program here. He has gotten high grades on everything but he is sick of the "army bullsh*t" People yelling, young kids fresh in, with BIG attitudes. Only 6 more weeks!

Zerrell is growing and growning, she is getting SO tall. She outgrew her shoes in about 2 days and i had to go get her new ones. She is talking alot more and we are constantly working on "communicating" instead of yelling for the things she wants. She is getting funnier and funnier everyday. the other day i apparently had a sticker on the back of my shorts and she started laughing and pointing, because she thought it was funny. She LOVES the water, we go swimming almost everyday and she puts her face in the water all by herself. She loves animals, especially dogs. She can still spot an airplane sounds anywhere and loves people, always making friends wherever we go. She is very passionate about almost everything, which can be challenging. She is truely a joy and keeps Ted and I on our toes ALL of the time.
I am hanging in there, Trying to see sights on the weekends(poor ted, he's tired on the weekends but i drag him to ALL these sights) i figure we have the oppurtunity and we need to see as much as we can! We are on to Washington, DC this weekend.
We really miss CA, even Ted who complains about CA has said how much he misses it and can't wait to get back.
Zerrell and i will be back in CA on July 8th and Ted will be done with school on July 28th and then he will drive home! So about 6 more weeks and life will begin to be normal again, well normal for us, even though we have never really lived "normal" we are planing on changing that though. Our own place, Ted getting ONE normal job and us getting ready for baby #2.

Virginia

We we made it! over 3000 miles and 48hours in the car, we are on the east coast! We are a very nice place, in a nice part of town. We have gotten all unpacked and pretty organized for the small studio we are in. We have found the local stores to comfort us (target, trader joes, coldstone) and even found a few new ones ( a gelato store and a great sandwhich deli). We are still in search of some good mexican food, so far what we have tried is just sad compared to CA. We miss everyone SO much. Its really boring without all the family around.

No comment

The rest of our trip was too long. Even though we were only driving about 6 hours a day, compared to the 9 hours a day we did the first part of our trip, it was 6 hours too many! we stopped for a night in Fayeteville, NC, which is the town from hell! Every street forms a semi circle and none of then connect! Its like a giant maze! We got lost about 3 times in the less then 24 hours we were in the town, totally about another hour in the car. All 3 of us were spent, it was not a proud moment in the Stoops family and we all agreed it was better to just put the whole experience behind us and not bring it up again. Luckily the trip from North Carolina to VA was only about 3 hours and Zerrell slept about 2 hours of that, A MIRACLE!

Atlanta, GA!

After the terrible day before we were ready to be out of the car and have some fun togther! Which we did!! We went to the "World of Coca Cola" Museum. We got in free because of Ted's military id (thanks you jesus). It was great! we got to see two short movies about coke, TONS of coke products, ads and other stuff from the the time coke was invented and from around the world. We met the Coca Cola polar bear (zerrell LOVED him), Tasted all of the different coke products from around the world and got to take home a FREE old school glass bottle of coke. It was ALOT of fun.
Next we went to the CNN studio. And by a grace of GOD Zerrell fell asleep in Teds arms and we got to go on a tour of the studio AND she stayed asleep the whole 1hour tour! It was great!! We had already deciced that taking her on a tour wasnt the best plan since she is SO active, so this was a very nice treat for ted and i. After that we went and hung out at Centenial Park, where the 1996 Olympics were held. It was a beautiful park. The weather was Perfect and the Day couldn't have gone any better

The Coca Cola Polar Bear

Zerrell picking out her own Coca Cola Bottle

Zerrell and I at the CNN building

The park

are we there yet?

when we left Memphis we drove through Mississippi and Alabama! We stopped ALOT because Zerrell ( and me) where not doing well. By that i mean we were both SICK of the car! We finally got into Atlanta, GA after dark and to make matters worse we got lost on the way to the hotel. Zerrell was screaming, I was crying, Ted was mad. It was pretty bad, so bad that at one point Ted turned to me and said "We need to pray right now" We finally found our hotel which was VERY nice, thank God, and we all got a Good Nights Rest!

TOO MUCH DRIVING!

Well after we left Oklahoma, we drove through Arkansas and into Tennesse where we stayed in Memphis. BY this point we were very tired of being in the car and we were all on edge! I gave Zerrell a sucker(for the first time) to see if that would help her last a little longer, it turned out she was more interested in the stickiness of the sucker then the actual sweet taste. She spent about 45 minutes licking it then seeing what it could stick too. We finally made it to Memphis. Once there, we decided to walk down to this famous area called Beale Street. It didnt look that far on our map, and after walking forever and through a really BAD part of town we finally got there. It was a fun street with lots of places to eat, bars and fun shops. We decided to take a taxi home that night, it was BEST $12 we ever spent since it turned out our hotell about about 3miles away

Zerrell with the sucker!

The Mississippi River

Zerrell helping Ted with our lugage!

Oklahoma!

We arrived in Oklahoma on Thursday April 3rd. We stayed with Teds cousin on their cattle farm and we had a a WONDERFUL time. Ted's cousin has a daughter that is just 4 months older then Zerrell and they got along great together. Ted's grandmas was there along with two of his aunts and uncles. Shari came up from Texas too. So it was Big ol' party for 3 days. Zerrell loved the farm, all the cows and just running around outside. It was such a blessing to be with everyone and just enjoy eachothers company.
Zerrell and Eva with their great-grandma

Zerrell with the Cows!

It was VERY windy there!

Shari's side of the family!

southwest

We made it to Flaggstaff, AZ on monday, march 31 and it was Freezing!! There was still alot of snow on the ground!! We stayed in a nice place and the next day we went to thr Grand Canyon. It was amazing, almost unable to grasp! Zerrell had a good time picking up rocks and seeing animals. The next day we moved on through New Mexico and into Texas. The car rides were ok although LONG

Raggedy Anne and Andy liked the Grand Canyon too

Snow at the Grand Canyon

Zerrell gave Ted a break and drove for a little

Lunch in New Mexico

Virginia Here We Come!

Well, it's almost 12am and i really should be in bed but too much running through my tired head to get any rest. Its finally here! Our big Move. We are just about packed. I think i did very well packing but Ted still gave me a dirty look when i mentioned i had 3 bags. He only has one. Our destination tomorrow is Flagstaff, AZ where we will see the Grand Canyon on Tuesday. Then it is further east to Amarillo, TX where we will catch some Z's. The next day we will go to Oklahoma to see Shari's side of the family for about 3 days. Then it is on to Memphis, TN, Alanta, GA for a full day, Fayeteville, NC for the night and finally our new home Newport News, VA on Thursday April 10. Please Keep us in your prayers, especially for saftey, money and the housing we want in VA! I love you all!

Easter Sunday!

We had a great Easter! We went to Mass with Nana and Papa, came home where dad made pancakes. Then we went to Janice and Joe Meltons home where we had a delicious lunch and Zerrell did the ester egg hunt with all her cousins. Zerrerll loved finding the eggs and putting them in her basket. She liked that when you shock the eggs they made a noise. It wasnt until later that she realized that there was candy inside of them. She spent the rest of the afternoon carrying her basket all around and trying to open up the eggs to get the m&m's, which she got good at. She LOVES m&m's now

Zerrell, Spencer, Sadie and Mackenzie

Zerrell looking for the eggs with Ted!

She found one!

Zerrell carrying her basket around

SNOW!

On Saturday, March 22, we pack the car, along with Jacob, Liz, Spencer, Mackenzie, Sadie, Noah and his girlfriend and all headed up to Shaver Lake to play in the snow. It was beautiful up there! It was just the right temperature and for the most part had a good time. Zerrell loved eating the snow and Spencer and Mackenzie loved going down on the sleds

Jacob and Spencer flying down the hill!

Zerrell. Mackenzie and Spencer trying to build a snowman!

Ted is DONE!

Ted graduated last week from San Joaquin Valley College! He graduated at the top of his class! He recived several awards including the highest "Student of the Aero" His teacher said "Ted is someone to look up to and aspire to be inside the classroom and outside." This past week he took several long test and recived his Aircraft Maitence License from the FAA! It is so exciting to know that he is finally finished! Everyday going to school from 7am - 4pm for 18month and then working nights, I am SO very proud of him. He followed his dreams with passion, commitment and a trust in God. He has worked so hard and now it is over! What a relief! He is working for 3 weeks with the Army National Guard at the AVCRAD, doing what he is good at, repairing aircrafts! It's been so wonderful to have him at home in the evenings! All of our prayers and trust in God and we are finally able to experience the rewards! We are truely blessed!

Zerrell is 1!

Last week we celebrated our daughters birthday! WOW! how the time had flown by! We had a fun day on her actual birthday hanging out with her cousins and going to dinner. Then homemade carrot cake for dessert.
On Friday we had "THE BIG PARTY" for Zerrell and Nana Shari and Grandpa came out from Texas to help us celebrate. Zerrell had alot of fun with all the people here, especailly all the kids. Her cousin Spencer helped her open presents since Zerrell was much more interested in her new baby cousin, sadie. We all had a great time!

Spencer Helping us open presents

Those CRAZY Stoops

eating her yummy cake

her actual birthday!

Zerrell

Zerrell is this wonderful child of mine that keeps me on my toes, makes me laugh everyday and teaches me patients on a minute by minute basis. She is almost one and is walking! she has hardly crawled at all in the past few days! This girl wants to be apart of everything! She is always exploring, NOTHING scares her(THAT scares me!). She loves opening things, drawers, doors, boxes, purses, envelopes. She is always trying to pick up things too and she does! she is incredible strong. with small things she likes to have two thing in one hand, like two straws, or two spoons, she will spend alot of time getting two things into her one hand. She loves moving around things too. The other day we were in a furniture store and she had a blast walking inbetween all the couches and coffee tables. She thinks its so funny to peak out from around something, she laughs and laughs. She is a social butterfly too. She has yet to meet a starnger. She flirts with everyone, even yelling to get peoples attention, especially kids! she goes nuts! Her favorite thing right now is the cat. We have two. the one cat is scared of her, it gets the hell out of the way anytime she sees Zerrell getting close, our other cat(which is old and an outside cat) is SO starved for attention that he lets Zerrell do anything to him, Zerrell of course LOVES this and screams with delight. She is getting so big and loving life! So are we!

Stoops Family

I am creating this page in the hopes of making my life a bit easier and sill staying in conact with everyone. Life is moving so fast that it is hard to keep everyone up to date on our lives. Our little family is doing well. Ted is almost done with school (march 4th) and that will be such a huge relief. As some of you may know Ted is in the Army National Guard. So because of this we will be moving to Virginia for about 4month so that he can get further training. We are leaving April 1st and taking some time to drive back there and see a few things along the way. We will be there until the end of July. Then our plan is to drive back to California and see what jobs are around here for Ted. We are looking forward to going back east and experiencing something new for a little while. Keep us in your thoghts and prayers