Be My Valentine?

So, the tough question...

Who will be my valentine?

Joey...

Or Mark?

Sorry Mark but...

Joey Wins!

Happy Valentines Day To All!

YELP

So, I love to YELP!

I got started on Yelp, because Maria, my best friend, became the community manager for Miami.

Yeah Maria!

My YELP site: http://cmichelle.yelp.com

What is YELP?

It is a review website where you can look up reviews on practically anyplace with a real address. A restaurant, doctor's office, hair salon... you name it!

Where do these reviews come from?

From people like you!

That is the great thing, these are REAL reviews from REAL people, not from some food critic who was paid off to say what he said anyways and treated real special to begin with.

You can create a profile for free, and then you too can start reviewing the places you go. What do you love? What totally sucks? Where do you go on an everyday basis?

YELP is also more than just an online thing, it is a community thing. There are YELP events all the time. Want to check out the hot new bar that just opened up? How bout' doing that, and getting discount drinks or free appetizers while doing it? And you get to socialize with other YELPERS.

Write enough, and you can ask to be ELITE. Then the free stuff really starts coming in! Why? Because the ELITES are what make the site successful. So we get perks.

Special parties, tickets to up coming events... all for sharing my opinion! It seems to be worth a whole lot more than two cents!

Family & Friends

Look at Grandma!

I'm not sure if Grandpa is clean enough to hold you!


KaKi has another girl to shop for!



Papa Rick is gonna need a long piece of wood to carve out Josephine!

Uncle Chris says his blue eyes are prettier.

Aunt Doyle is a bad influence.

Uncle Matt. Master Swaddler.

Auntie Mandy & Joey

(No, you're not crazy. I am 2 months, not 2 weeks in this picture.)

So... what's your name? Uncle Mickey? Then whose this Cracker they've been talkin' about?

Mindy thinks your cute.

Patt thinks your cute too.

Even though Andy has umptine niecies and nephews (he is one of 11 siblings), your the first birth he has witnessed.

Maria won't smile for the camera cause' she doesn't like having her picture taken. (The only reason she didn't run is she was holding the baby.)

Madison is a great older cousin, because she has had lots of practice being an older sister.

Mom-Mom can't get enough sugar.

Ride For Kids 09

So, the Ride For Kids event was yesterday, Sunday, Feb 08.
The Craven-Meyers family did so well, we raised $7,000!

We were the 1st place fundraisers for this year!

Thank you to all who donated. To all who helped sell raffle tickets. To all who forwarded e-mails on to family, friends & co-workers. You made the difference this year!

Special thanks go to the following friends and family who volunteered this year:

Kathy, Rick, Dad, Andy, Terry, Tara & Joe.

I heard the weather was nice, the event was well organized, and they all had fun doing the different jobs they were assigned.

The whole event raised over $80,000 in one day to help fund research on Pediatric Brain Tumors.

Remember** There are several RIDE FOR KIDS events throughout the year in different cities throughout the country. If you want to get more involved, click on the RIDE FOR KIDS link, and find an event near you!

Faces & Bath Time

Eyes Open!

IT'S A GIRL!

OKAY- The answers to all the questions:

Joesphine (Jo, Joey, Jo-Jo) was born at 4:13 PM, Sunday, Jan 18, 2009. I had my first mild contraction at 5:30 AM, which means 11 hours of labor. I was able to have the natural labor and delivery I had planned for at the Miami Maternity Center. I labored in and out of the tub, but delivered in the tub, experiencing the water birth I had wanted.

They broke my water when I reached 8 cm, and then I only had 3 more contractions before I started pushing. 2 pushes and she was out! No tears, and no episiotomy! Mark joined me in the tub when it came close to the time to start pushing. After the shoulders turned the midwife told me to reach down and deliver my baby, so I did. I pulled her out and onto my belly. That was the most precious experience of life.

The whole crowd was present for her birth. Friends and family mostly hung out outside and popped into the room throughout the day. But when it came time to push, everyone came hurrying in. Besides mom and dad, the following were present for Joey's intro:

Michelle's dad, mom, brother and friends-- Jim, Peggy, Chris, Maria & Andy.

Mark's dad, mom, brother and sister-in-law-- Rick, Kathy, Matt & Mandy.

Mark's best friend Doyle & his wife Nikki, driving from Jacksonville, missed the main event by only a couple of hours. Mark's brother Mike missed it too.

I have pictures and video of the birth, but thought it would be to graphic for most to publish here. Chris did a great job filming the birth and caught all the special moments between family directly after. Really moving.

Normally, new mothers only stay 4 hours after birth and then are released from the maternity center. However, I had lost too much blood and they had to take steps to correct that. That meant that Mark and I had to stay the night for monitoring. I feel great now and am already helping with the house work again (A little). Breastfeeding is rougher than I expected, but I am hanging in there!

We are glad to be home, and are enjoying all the sweet little things about our new bundle of joy. She has her father's bad gas.

She has her mother's lungs.

She is already spoiled.

We have lots of help, and have had plenty of visitors. She loves to be held and is none too particular who is doing the holding.

RIDE FOR KIDS

Jimmy @ 12 years old

Craven/Meyers Family at 2008 Ride For Kids

The Craven family is now starting to raise money in memory of Jimmy for this coming year’s Ride For Kids Event.

The Ride For Kids event raises money for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds the research that will someday cure our children of brain cancer.

Our goal this year is $5,000!
If you would like to make your donation by credit card on a secure site, you may do so online at:
http://www.firstgiving.com/jimmycraven

This year’s South Florida event will be held Sunday, February 8, 2009 at the Pompano Beach Goodyear Blimp Base (1500 NE 5th Avenue, Pompano Beach, FL 33060).

Also, if you or someone you know, is interested in riding at this year’s event or volunteering, let me know.

For more information about the event or the foundation just click on the underlined links from this page.

Thank you for your support, your donation, and above all, for caring about kids like Jimmy.

Christmas with the family

Chris, Dad, Aunt Vanesa, Uncle Tom, Mom, Michelle & Mark.

Christmas morning.

Do you like my new haircut?

Weekend before Christmas in Disney. Look! Mommy has Mickey ears!

No matter where you find a Craven, he or she is eating ice cream!

Poor Mickey :(

Dad, Mom, Michelle, Mark & Chris in front of Epcot.

1st Outfit

And the baby's first outfit will be...

Did you expect anything less?

Baby Shower

So thanks to everyone who got us all the neat stuff. The baby shower was on Dec 06, and Ellen did an amazing job. Her house looked great, the food was amazing, and the little baby details everywhere were really cute. The baby games were fun too.
The pictures weren't taken on my camera, so when I get a copy of them, I will post some.

Since the due date is getting close, we have gone ahead and bought most of the organic items that we needed that weren't purchased yet. There are still some miscellaneous items from Babies R Us that we still need to get, but they don't have to be pre-ordered, so we will take care of that later.

I'm still amazed that with all the books we received, not a single one duplicated! That was a really good idea of Ellen, different and very special.

Thanks again.

Gift Registry

So, there were some change in plans.
I didn't like the way the online registries worked. So, we went to BABIES R US and registered.
But we didn't register for everything. There are items that we want, that Babies R Us just doesn't carry. At least, not in the organic/environmentally friendly version that we want.
Or, all the options were ugly.
I will be updating this post with additional items that we would like, but you are going to have to tell us if you are planning on buying it. Otherwise, we could end up with duplicate of items that are hard to return.

Of course, the number one thing that we are registered for remains VIACORD.

Amy's Wedding

The pictures below are from Amy's wedding.
We flew up on Thursday and came back on Sunday.
Mark was too sick to make the trip. :(

The weather was perfect. Timing was just right to watch the leaves changing colors.

And the Nemacolin Resort... phenomenal!

Dad & Chris horsing around under a Fire Maple tree.

Craven Family

Amy & Kevin waltzing there way into the reception.

The Cravens and the Bradys.

That is Frank Llyod Wright's Fallingwater house behind us.

The rope swing obstacle course.

Just one of the many amazing things to do at this resort.