KBIS

Two weekends ago (yes, I'm that far behind), I was at the 2008 Kitchen / Bath Industry Show at Chicago's McCormick Place. Wow. What an event. We were only there for part of one day, but got to see a lot of cool stuff. Anyways, the Sears booth featured a functioning prototype of the new Kenmore Elite refrigerators with shaved ice. Some of the guys were performing demos of the product which got a lot of attention. Ty Pennington was also getting a lot of attention as he was filming at the show. Not sure what network it was for. He came by the Sears booth and filmed a piece on our fridge.


It's hard to see much from my camera-phone pic, but I redesigned the doors on this product last summer. These are hidden-hinge, hidden-endcap contour doors. They look really sharp. This product should be out late this year.

HGTV will be airing their annual review of the show. I'm not sure if we are in there, but be sure to watch it and let me know.

National Kitchen & Bath Association/K/BIS ALERT!

HGTV's K/BIS Television Special Air Date/Time Has Changed!

Watch hosts Monica Pedersen and Eric Stromer tour the NKBA's K/BIS 2008 show in Chicago and find some of the most innovative and green kitchen and bath products and designs in existence today.

"Kitchens and Baths 2008" will air at the following dates and times:

April 27, 2008 8pm ET/PT

April 28, 2008 12am ET/PT

May 3, 2008 12pm ET/PT

Subscriptions

On the right, you'll find a new feature - Subscriptions. Enter your email address in the box and you will receive an email whenever we update our blog. You can also us RSS, but I have no idea how that works. Enjoy!

Spring has arrived!

Spring has arrived here in Michiana! With the on set of spring we have been keeping very busy. This photo is just a few of the many beautiful flowers that have came to life in our yard in the past two weeks. We have been enjoying them both inside and outside. I was able to till the garden by myself last week using our new tiller. It was great! I was able to get the whole garden tilled in about 1 1/2 hours and it did a great job. I also planted my peas, carrots, potatoes and onions.

The girls are also keeping us busy. Addie is loving the weather. She is rarely in the house any more. She spends most of her day outside riding her bike or swinging. Since both of those activities are done in our front yard her neighborhood friends come by daily to join her in the fun.

Margaret is growing nonstop! At her doctor's appointment on Tuesday she weighed in at 15 lbs 10 ozs, 24 inches tall. She is in the 90th percentile for weight! Her appointment on Tuesday at the Cincinnati's children's hospital went really well. We were able to learn more about the type of tumor she had and the surgeon also checked out her leg to see if it was healing properly. The surgeon we met felt like her leg was healing very well from the surgery and felt like there would be no complications for her. I had asked him to to tell me about the type of tumor she had because I could not find information online about it. He explained to us (me and Peggy) that congenital hemangiomas are a fairly "new" and extremely rare. They only gave these types of tumors a name about 5 years ago and they are currently working on their first research project to learn more about them. He stated that of the 3% of babies born with infantial hemangiomas only 2% of them are congenital hemaniomas. Margaret really hit the winning lotto number with this one! Here is the only info I have on it and I just quoted the info they gave us at the hospital.

"Rarely, hemangiomas are fully grown at birth and do not increase in size (illustration 11). These tumors are called congenital hemangiomas. Unlike hemangiomas of infancy, congenital hemangiomas either involute rapidly or not at all. Rapidly involuting congenital hemangiomas are referred to as RICH. Non-involuting congenital hemangiomas are referred to as NICH."

Margaret has a follow up appointment in 6 months with probably only one more appointment in another 6 months after that. Then if everything seems to be going good for her they will only need to see her back if she has any related health problems.

On Tuesday when we went to the appointment it was a beautiful sunny day and Peggy and I had a great trip to Cincinnati and the way home was going great until we stopped in Indy for dinner. When I went to take Margaret from Peggy Margaret when to reach for my hair and missed. Her little figure went straight into my left eye! To make a long story short... I ended up going to Jasper county hospital that night to the ER. She did give me a wide scratch on the cornea. Three days later I'm finally seeing correctly and my eye is not constantly throbbing.

Things are going very good for us right now and we feel very blessed with the outcome of Margaret's health problems. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for her recovery. God has answered all of our prayers!

Quick Trip

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. On Sunday my friend Jill had her bridal shower back home in Indiana. Michael and I managed to get some things caught up around the house Saturday morning and then we headed out, dogs and all for a quick trip back home. For a short trip we actually were able to get some quality time with both sets of parents. We enjoyed a nice home cooked meal with my parents and brother on Saturday night. Addie didn't eat much but Uncle Ben is very exciting! At least to 4yr old girls:). We stayed at Michael's parents house over night and then went to church the next morning with them. Of course everyone LOVED seeing baby Margaret and grandma Margaret loved telling them that this is the baby who was named after her. The shower was that afternoon. It was fun and I did enjoy visiting with friends and an old classmate I have not seen since high school.

Sorry but no photos from this weekend. Some how in the hurry to get out the door Saturday the camera was left at home. But don't worry... I'm sure we will be taking more photos soon!

Spring Break

Last week was Addie's spring break. At the beginning of the week it really did not feel like spring but by the end of the week it was just gorgeous! I was able to take the two girls home for the last half of the week. Grandma and grandpa Suiter and grandma and grandpa Breymeyer were able to meet Margaret for the first time. Margaret just loved both of her great grandmas so much. She "talked" to them both and loved it when the grandma's talked back. Addie had really missed her and grandma Suiter's reading time. As you can see from the photo Addie had a stack of books for her to read. Addie also enjoyed her time with Peggy on Friday. I took Marget home Friday but Addie was able to spend the night be Bill and Peggy. She loved her slumber party with Nana.


This past weekend spring arrived! Warmer weather and sunshine for both days. Michael and Bill where able to get a lot of spring yard work done. Peggy and I worked on a lot of little projects including cleaning windows and starting to put screens in. As you can see Addie and Margaret also enjoyed the beautiful weather outdoors. Addie loved being able to use her swing set again. She also enjoyed her bike and many other outdoor activities. But like usual the weekend was over to fast. Addie is back at school and Michael is back to work.

Margaret Update

Margaret is healing very well. She has been so amazing to watch through all of the recovery phase. She must have a high pain tolerance because she did not need to take much in the way of pain medicine. Her incision on her leg has scarred over and the scabs are coming off. It looks great and should fade away. I don't think that there will be any scar on her leg in a few years.

I was able to get her an appointment at the Vascular Malformation Center at the CCH. Her appointment is on April 22nd. When I called to make the appointment I was told that I would need to fill out the intake paperwork along with some other information, send photos of Margaret and her leg, and also the front and back of her insurance card. She also wanted me to get this to her within the next 2 -2 1/2 hours so that the doctors could review it the next day. They review intake files once a week and if they accept your case then they would see you on a Tuesday (they only see patients on Tuesdays). So I was a little nervous about the "accepting her case" part. Then I opened up the paperwork that needed to be completed... apx. 20 pages! I about died. I had Addie standing next to me asking 101 questions and Margaret on my lap crying then nursing. Some how I managed to get it all completed and sent in that day. Then I did not get the call back the day the lady told me I would. I was REALLY nervous then. When I called her to find out she was just waiting for the surgeon's office to call back to see if they could coordinate appointments for Margaret. Nice thought but Margaret did not have a follow up appointment.

It was a big relief for all of us when we found out that she was accepted. I really think that it was harder to apply for the center and wait to be accepted then it will be for the girl's college applications and acceptances.