Xavier Jeffrey is here!

Xavier Jeffrey Traben was born last week, Thursday, August 26, 2010, at home here. He weighed 9 lbs, 1 ounce and was 22 inches long. It was a wonderful homebirth, and all the kids got to be here and experience it. It was a fairly quick labor and uncomplicated delivery. He is beautiful and healthy, and we all love him soooo much!

Fun in the Sun!

I LOVE summer!! It's always been my favorite time of year. I think I could easily live in the south and often wonder why we don't just pack up and move there. Well, mainly because all our extended families are around here I guess. Too bad.

This summer has been unusually hot in Cleveland, with a lot of 90+ degree days! You'd think with me being 8 months pregnant, it would bother me, but it hasn't. We've been hanging out at the pool, the beach and the baseball fields all summer. It is flying by and I am sad :(

I know fall will be here soon and the weather will get cold again. But, for now, we are enjoying fun in the sun!

Dance Recital

The girls had their dance recital last week. This is their 3rd recital! They were so cute, and did so well on stage. They seem to have no stage fright! I know when I was their age....I would have died to go on stage dancing, but they seem to love it.

Both Kateri and Luanna are very fancy and girly-girls....and again...unlike me as a child! I was pretty much a tom-boy, who hated getting dressed up. Baseball was more my thing.

Van for sale!

We are selling our 8 passenger Chevy Astro van. We bought it new a few years ago and it has served us well. With the new baby coming, we will be a family of 9 now, so need a bigger vehicle.

It is a burgundy 2005 Chevrolet Astro van with 50,000 miles on it. It has been a wonderful vehicle for us and we’ve had no problems with it. We bought it new in 2006. It has 8 passenger seating, air conditioning, power steering, power windows, power door locks, tilt wheel, cruise control, A/FM radio, CD player and a DVD system in the car (great for long trips with the kids!). It also has duel air bags, ABS (4 wheel drive), roof rack, privacy/tinted windows, running boards and Dutch doors in the back.

We are selling the van for $9,900. If interested, please contact us, come take a test drive and make us an offer. We are near Cleveland, Ohio.

Here are some photos of our van:

Week 31

Traben family at the Indians game a couple weeks ago.

I am starting Week 31 with Baby # 7! I can't believe how fast the pregnancy is going. We have a ton of things going on this summer with our family: baseball almost every night, swim lessons every day, Metroparks camps and 2 weddings coming up in July and August.
Ken's sister, Diana, is getting married on July 3rd and my sister, Mandy, is getting married on August 7th. Baby is due August 21st, so hopefully, we'll make it through everything and then baby will decide to come.

Here we are (me, Kateri and Luanna) at Diana's wedding shower on May 24th. Doesn't Kateri look just lovely with her chocolate sucker face!

The kids are rooting for a baby girl, to even things out a bit with the 4 boys and 2 girls. I just want a healthy baby...really does not matter to me. With all the nice weather, I've been walking the dogs a lot every day. Good for me and good for them too.

Week 23

I am in the 23rd week of pregnancy with baby # 7!! Everything is going well and this pregnancy is flying by. I am starting to get big I think...although I had someone today tell me they did not even know I was pregnant. ?? Guess they just thought I was fat!

The 3 boys all just had their birthdays. Jeremy turned 11 on Feb 17th, Oliver turned 9 on March 11th and Isaiah turned 13 on March 31st!! Kateri's 7th birthday is this friday (April 30th), and then Elliot's 2nd bday is the next day (May 1st). Lots of birthdays! Both Luanna and the new baby (and me!) will all have the August birthdays.

This is an ultrasound photo of baby Traben from April 2, 2010. He/She looks great and is healthy and vibrant...such a cute profile. We did not find out the sex, so we are all left in suspense here.

I'm Back!!

(Traben family- November 2009)

Wow....sorry to be gone for tooooo long.

I've been so busy with the kids, dogs, work, homeschooling and posting on Facebook that I honestly forgot about my blog. I just thought about it again and checked it out and I miss posting here with longer posts and lots of stories and photos. I will attempt to keep up with it again.

Our big news now is that I am again expecting a baby....baby # 7 for the Traben clan. I am due in August and we are all thrilled and excited. Baby Elliot may not be thrilled though when baby comes, as he has become my spoiled little love.

I need to post some updated photos.