Quick update...

Not sure if anyone is interested, but I thought I should update quick on my ultrasound. I had my doctor appointment today to get the results and the doc said that everything looked great, and she was measuring right on track, they said they are going to keep the due date the same because it is within 4 days, so that was such a relief, luckily it was a busy week so it went fast!

Also, I think I am finally starting to look a little pregnant, my sister said that I am finally getting a belly, and I agree, it seems like over the past couple days it is really showing more, so that is exciting!

Oh! We are also getting some home updates, I am so excited, I really wanted to get it done before we had the baby. We are getting all new countertops and backsplash and some other miscellaneous things. I can't wait, I think it will be a big improvement!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

Almost Christmas!!

I can't believe Christmas is in only a couple days! I am excited, but not really in the Christmas spirit, too bad it isn't snowing, that would help a lot!

I bought my first maternity shirts this week, I got two that were on sale, and I really wanted something to wear to the Christmas parties that made me look like I had more of a belly, and those shirts sure do the job!

We thought of a name to call the little one until she is born, so that we don't leak the name we picked. There is a little story behind it, so I will share that first. The other day my sister was telling my nephew, Ethan, how Ella, my niece, was going to have a baby girl cousin the play with. Ethan asked what the name was, and my sister said we wouldn't know until the baby was born. Then Ethan said "I have an idea! We can name the baby Tootsie Roll!!!" Then my sister reminded me that my grandpa used to call my grandma "Toots" So we are using Toots or Tootsie, I think they are fun and cure, and there is no way that we will accidentally say the real name using them.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas Weekend!!!! And hopefully today will speed by!

Ultrasound pics...

Hey! I am on a roll this month with all my posts, you all are probably getting sick of me!

Anyways, since I don't have a scanner, I took digital pics of my ultrasound pictures, they aren't the greatest, but you get the idea :) (By the way, thank you so much for the offer Melissa, but I just don't have time to run to your house, which stinks, it would have been nice to see you, oh well.)

Here is the profile pic:

I had to flip it over because she was upside down in the picture, and I think it is easier for people to understand when she is on her back.

And here is the bonus picture, I think we would have only gotten one otherwise, but the lady seemed to think this was a really good one, which I agree, but I am partial, I think they were all good, and could have had a picture of every movement! Anyways, here it is:

I flipped that one too, because it seems everyone doesn't understand it. It is a picture of her face, and she looks like she is waving with her right hand (although it looks like fingers by the chin, it isn't)

The lady said that she is very photogenic and was posing very good for all the shots needed and she was very active, it was so fun to watch! I can't wait to go to the doctor next week and to hear that everything is looking good, I wish they could just tell you right away! The heart rate was 154.

I guess that is it, hopefully I didn't bore anyone :)

Have a great day!

Keeping myself busy....

I have my ultrasound at 1:30 today, and I have like nothing to do here to keep myself busy, so it is going to be a long morning!

I thought I posted these pics already, but I looked back, and I never posted them. Here are Elsie and Presley after their first grooming:

This one is my favorite, Elsie's face I think is hilarious, like she is just saying "leave me alone and stop taking pictures!!!!"

And finally I have my bathroom before and after pics! I am kinda mad at myself, I wanted to try to do the same angles, but of course, I didn't have the before pictures at my house, so I had to try to remember, which didn't work that great, but here you go!

Here is from the door:

Here is from the window:

The counter:

And here is the best one I have of the new hardware which I about had a coronary about! When I bought them online it looked like the hinges matched the pulls pretty good, but when I got them they weren't that close, so hopefully it isn't that noticable. Also when we were putting everything together, we realized that those 2 tall cabinets had 3 hinges on them! I didn't even count hinges, I just figured 2 per door. I just didn't put them on because I would have been 2 short later, and it has been working okay, but the holes really bug me!

Yesterday was super boring, there was absolutely nothing on tv so I was watching the preview channel hoping something would come up. Well, I was watching and I saw a movie called "Harvey" was going to be on TCM and when I was little until I was in high school when I demanded it stop, my dad called me Harvey, yes, very embarassing. Anyways, I always wondered where it came from and was always told a movie, so I thought maybe this was the movie. I called my dad and asked, and he confirmed, going on about how good it was, so I gave it a watch. Oh my! It was the weirdest movie I think I have ever seen! Harvey is a 6' tall invisible rabbit! What am I supposed to take from that! Weird, that is all I can say...

Anyways, I guess that that is it, hope everyone has a good day!

Elsie is famous!!!!

She was on the news last night in the Super Saver section on channel 13 news. They went to the grooming place when she was being brushed and she made it in, it is only for like 3 seconds, but still exciting. My cousin works at the groomer and was the one brushing her. I heard that it is supposed to be on again tonight at 6, but I don't know. They haven't put the segment online at all, and if they don't I am going to record it with my camera and post it, lame, I know, but I HAVE to share! I hope she doesn't get too big of a head now :)

In other news T minus 6 days until the big ultrasound, I am SO excited, I hope the baby cooperates!

New Christmas Card Pics...

So we had Elsie groomed for the first time this week, so we thought we would redo her Christmas pic because she looked so darn cute. So which one should I pick, or should I stick with one from the first batch? My only problem with this group is that the hair under her mouth is a little scragly, we should have brushed it first, but oh well.

Thanks for the input!

We figured out a way to keep her hat on! I tied a piece of thread to the top of it and Joel held it above her! It must have been pretty funny to watch us, Joel holding the string and me with a treat and a camera trying to get Elsie to look, but not come! It was pretty amusing.

I was hoping to have before and after pics of the bathroom up, but when I went to put the cabinet doors on they were not up the par, so we need to put another coat of paint on them :( Hopefully next week!

Christmas card pics!!

This year we decided to take a pic of Elsie in front of the Christmas tree for our Christmas card, so here are the results, well not all of them, but the best 4, so help me pick which one to put in our card:

Keep in mind that that stinkin' hat was SO hard to keep out of her mouth! I really wanted one with her laying under the tree like a little present, but she wasn't having any of that, so this is the best of what I got! I am leaning towards the first one, but it doesn't have any presents in the background, the second one she doesn't have her hat on but she looks cute, I really like the third but she isn't looking at the camera, and I think she looks a little funky in the third and you can't see the little fluff ball at the end of the hat. I am sure nobody would notice most of the problems I see, so what do you girls think, which one is the cutest?

Thanks for the advice!

16 Weeks

Not much to report. I had my 16 week appointment today, and I don't want to forget the info, so I thought I would put it here! Anyways, the appointment went well, the doc said I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, which I don't believe! I think the first day I must have had a big lunch or something! According to my scale I am up 2 lbs. He said I should be up 10 lbs by next month, but that probably isn't going to happen. Oh well. Anyways, we got to hear the heartbeat, again I was worried he wouldn't find it because I haven't gotten any bigger yet, but he did :) He said it was 156, so that is good.

Oh! And I finally found out my blood type! I have always wanted to know, but never could find out, it was so annoying. But I am O+! I am such a dork!

Nothin' else, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

The Real Thanksgiving Story

I am on a roll, 3 days in a row!

Since I won't be in tomorrow, here is the real Thanksgiving story (for those of you who are bored, as it is kinda long!)

"On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work.

"But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness," destined to become the home of the Kennedy family. "There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims – including Bradford's own wife – died of either starvation, sickness or exposure.

"When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats." Yes, it was Indians that taught the white man how to skin beasts. "Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. "Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part [of Thanksgiving] that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share.

"All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well. They were going to distribute it equally. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well. Nobody owned anything. They just had a share in it. It was a commune, folks. It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in the '60s and '70s out in California – and it was complete with organic vegetables, by the way. Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives. He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace.

"That's right. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn't work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years – trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it – the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson. If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future.

"'The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God,' Bradford wrote. 'For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense...that was thought injustice.' Why should you work for other people when you can't work for yourself? What's the point?

"Do you hear what he was saying, ladies and gentlemen? The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford's community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? 'This had very good success,' wrote Bradford, 'for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.' Bradford doesn't sound like much of a..." I wrote "Clintonite" then. He doesn't sound much like a liberal Democrat, "does he? Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s? Yes.

"Read the story of Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis 41. Following Joseph's suggestion (Gen 41:34), Pharaoh reduced the tax on Egyptians to 20% during the 'seven years of plenty' and the 'Earth brought forth in heaps.' (Gen. 41:47) In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves.... So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the 'Great Puritan Migration.'" Now, other than on this program every year, have you heard this story before? Is this lesson being taught to your kids today -- and if it isn't, why not?

Can you think of a more important lesson one could derive from the pilgrim experience? So in essence there was, thanks to the Indians, because they taught us how to skin beavers and how to plant corn when we arrived, but the real Thanksgiving was thanking the Lord for guidance and plenty -- and once they reformed their system and got rid of the communal bottle and started what was essentially free market capitalism, they produced more than they could possibly consume, and they invited the Indians to dinner, and voila, we got Thanksgiving, and that's what it was: inviting the Indians to dinner and giving thanks for all the plenty is the true story of Thanksgiving. The last two-thirds of this story simply are not told.

Now, I was just talking about the plenty of this country and how I'm awed by it. You can go to places where there are famines, and we usually get the story, "Well, look it, there are deserts, well, look it, Africa, I mean there's no water and nothing but sand and so forth." It's not the answer, folks. Those people don't have a prayer because they have no incentive. They live under tyrannical dictatorships and governments. The problem with the world is not too few resources. The problem with the world is an insufficient distribution of capitalism.

The real story of Thanksgiving as written by Rush Limbaugh (aka my Rushy) in the book "See, I Told You So!" Chapter Six here: "Dead White Guys or What Your History Books Never Told You," page 70.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!

Happy Veterans' Day... a day early

I am not going to be around tomorrow so I thought that I would post today!

I have my only Veteran's Day memory. When I was probably 10, my grandpa was in the veteran's day parade, they had a special car for him and I got to ride with him and wave at people. Well, after the parade he had to go to some stage or something, and he left me in the car with the driver! Well, I didn't know what to do, so I was on my own for a while, then finally we found my family, and I find out they all got to meet Governor Engler and get their picture taken with him. I was so sad, they still pull out that picture and I feel bad because I was not in it! I guess I could get over it...nah.

Anyways, wish me luck, we are going to start with painting the bathroom tomorrow, I still haven't picked a color!

On a sad note, I took my poor DeVos sign out of my lawn today, I am a loser :(
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cravings, cravings...

I can't remember if I wrote about this so I will quickly recap: Last week I was having a major craving for a long john, I told Joel about it every day hoping he would get me one... finally he got me one on Friday when I told him they were on sale at Meijer, it was SO good!
Saturday I had a craving for pistaccio salad, mmmm so good, so I told Joel, and we were going to our friends' house so we stopped by D&W on the way, but the deli was closed! So I am still stuck with the craving.

Yesterday, I send Joel to West Side to pick up 2 more keycards, and I mentioned that there was a certain store close to the school, not wanting to ruin the surprise if he had remembered on his own that I wanted pistaccio salad. So after a while he comes back and says he got the keycards, but was empty handed in terms of a treat for me! So I was a little sad, I asked him if he forgot something, so he went to the car and brings in a little bag, which confused me, why would they put pistaccio salad in a small paper bag, then it hits me.... he got me another long john!!!! I about died! I thanked him profusely because it was so nice, and told him I was talking about the pistaccio salad, poor guy! I guess next time I shouldn't try to save the surprise I should just say what I want!

Hopefully this is all mildly amusing to someone and not just me, otherwise this is another boring post...

Hope everyone has a great day and doesn't forget to vote!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween everyone! My mom got a couple hats for the puppies:

Presley as a warlock (even though I think it is for a witch):

Elsie as a pumpkin (she doesn't sit as well for pictures):

The only way she keeps it on is if she can chew the strings, not very lady like!:

I have been putting it around her neck, usually she will ignore it, not as cute as on her head, but still cute!

Okay. On to the doctor's appointment yesterday. Here is a bit of advice, if you know you have to pee in a cup, don't go to the bathroom before you go, no matter how much you think you will be able to go when you get there! I went before we left, thinking it wouldn't be a problem, I ALWAYS have to pee. Well we get there, and she said I have to get the "midstream" pee in the cup, well, I totally misjudged when midstream was! I felt so dumb coming out saying I didn't think I peed enough in the cup!

Then we went to hear the heartbeat, which I was SO nervous about, it was so disappointing last time when we didn't get to hear it. The doctor said that I lost a pound, and asked me if I "felt" pregnant, which I really don't, I just feel tired! Then he got the doppler out and couldn't find anything because he said it was too staticy, so he got a different one, and it still seemed to take a long time, I was having a private coronary! Then he finally found it, it wasn't as fast as I expected, but he said that is sounded strong, so that is good news. Then I started nervous laughing because I was so happy, which made him lose the heartbeat, and then he said I laughed the baby into a different position, so he had to find it again, and I couldn't stop laughing, I felt like such a moron!

The doctor also said I haven't "popped" yet, I thought I wasn't supposed to be showing yet though! He said I may not show until Thanksgiving or maybe even 20 weeks! I kinda hope it doesn't take that long! I know I will regret that when I look like a whale, but still, I would like to show by Christmas! Speaking of Christmas, we scheduled our big ultrasound, it will be December 18, so I am excited we will know by Christmas if it is a boy or girl, but a little nervous because it is 19 weeks and I hope we will be able to tell!

Joel and I went to look at a car last night, and they sold if before we got there! We have the worst luck! We drove a hour to Ionia, for nothing! I may take this afternoon off to go look for something, it is like the only time we have for like 2 weeks.

Okay, I have one more bonus pic because it is so cute...

Elsie loves to chew on ice, so sometimes we will put it in her water bowl, and this is what we get:

Hope everyone has a great day!

Birthday

I really wanted to go out to see a movie tonight (well actually I just really love movie theater popcorn) and I looked and there is like nothing good out right now :( That stinks. So I don't know what we are going to do tonight now, maybe we can just go get popcorn and eat it at home, The Office is on so that will be fun to watch. I hope Joel gets me a Bill Knapps cake!

Oh! I just thought of one more thing! My dad sent me a "happy birthday" email, that was all it said. It may not sound like a big deal, but my dad usually pretends he doesn't remember our birthdays, and only says something if my mom makes him, I don't know why he thinks it is funny. Anyways, that already made my day because it was so unexpected, so I guess I can't be mad that they all went to Florida without me.

Not a good picture, but how cute was I? Seriously! My mom always says I was her cutest newborn because my first sister was a cone head and my other sister was super early, and just not cute, and I was a month early c-section, so I was the cutest! Ahhh, I have to bask in my newborn cuteness :)

Have a great day everyone!

Kids are so funny!

So my 4 year old nephew just came up to me and said "Can you name the baby Ella?" Which is his sister's name. I said "No, we already have an Ella" He didn't get that, so we went back and forth for a few minutes, me trying to explain why we couldn't pick Ella. Then he says, "Can you name the baby Presley" My mom's dogs name! Again, I tried explaining we couldn't do that. Then he looks at me and says "Well, why don't you just name the baby!" And sits there looking at me. I told him I couldn't yet, blah blah, he was ignoring me. Then he sat and looked at me for a few minutes waiting for me to come up with a name, then he said, "I am going to name the baby Ella" and walked away. That little stinker! I just had to share with someone! Sorry, it is probably boring to most, and I am sorry for not being a good story teller! Hope everyone has a great day!

Bummer!

Well, I had my first doctor's appointment today, well actually the second, but the first was just for confirmation. Anyways, I expected it to be short because Julie said hers was short, boy was I wrong! It took about two and a half hours, most of the time waiting! First we had to go through all these questions that I already answered, then she told me a bunch of stuff I knew, then we had to wait for the doctor, who went over most of the stuff the nurse said! I guess they are thorough.

It was taking so long Joel had to leave to go to work, so I had to call my mom to pick me up. The doctor tried to find the heartbeat, but said it was 50/50 and couldn't find it, which I expected. Then during the pelvic he said that my uterus is tilted backwards so that is probably part of the reason he couldn't get the heartbeat. Oh well, we should hear it next time.
Anyways, I got a bonus mole biopsy and a flu shot! Lucky me!

Oh! And he said my due date is May 15, so that is nice to know. I wish I hadn't been charting, the doctor said if I hadn't I would have been able to get an early ultrasound :( That's what I get! Oh well I guess.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Well, Grandma is in the hospital again...

I guess she went in last night because she has the flu, that is really all I know right now. It was nice of my parents to tell me! My other grandma asked me about it this morning, and I didn't know anything about it! I yelled at my mom and she said she told my dad, and she figured he would tell us! I have no clue why he didn't tell any of us, he is such a gossip! Anyways, I don't know how serious this is, so any prayers would be apprciated, hopefully it will pass soon. I wish that she would just move into assisted living, it would be SO much better for her!

Happy Anniversary to me!

Unfortunately all I want to do is sleep! I can't believe it has been 2 years already, although I do feel like we have been married forever! (in a good way though) I don't think we are going to do anything special, we have to go to the grocery tonight, and that will probably take up most of the night. We did go high class with some Wendy's for lunch though, maybe we will go to Applebees for dinner. I just wish I had more energy! Sorry, I am such a sour puss complainer! Anyways, here are a few of our favorite wedding pics in honor of 2 great years!

Hope everyone has a great day!

This weekend...

So, this weekend, we told all of our family about having a baby. Joel wanted to just call people to tell them, but I really wanted to do something fun to make it a little more special, after all it is a big deal! Anyways, I finally decided that we could take a bunch of pics of ourselves, and say we were having pics done for our 2nd anniversary, and then we would have the last one say we were having a baby. Well I told my idea to Jamie, and she graciously offered to take the pics for us, which was so great of her because I didn't think we could take good pics of ourselves.

Jamie did a great job, here are the pics we chose to show our family:

Oh! It feels so good to not be keeping a secret anymore, I don't know how Julie did it for a month, I would never last that long! It was like torture for the week and a half that I couldn't tell anyone!

Hope everyone is having a great day, and I hope I haven't been black listed ;)

Yay!

We finally put our arbor up last night! I am so excited about it, I wish I would have taken a pic, but I decided not to so I could take one when it was all done to post. It was hard to do though, harder than I expected, but at least it is up, I am so proud of us! We hope to get the fence up next week, so I should have pics then.

This weekend my mom gave me a cd with the radio broadcast of when my grandpa came back home after the war and they held some ceremony for him or something (I had been complaining because my grandma just gave my sister a ton of his stuff, and I only have a couple things) anyways, I made a copy of the cd and then started a little internet searching to find a pic of him so I could make a cd cover, and I found a couple I had never seen, so that was exciting. This is the picture I am going to put on the cd cover:

Oh, and here is one with Truman, my grandpa is the one just to Truman's right:

I guess that is it :)

Landscape Pics!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally I have "after" landscape pics! And since it is the end of the month I have to use up my xanga picture space. Too bad it was so sunny Saturday, it came out kinda shadowy and washed out, but you get the idea.

Here is a far away before/after pic:

The end of the house, I don't really know if I like the daylillies there, I feel like it is too much, I am going to leave them this year, but I might take them out next year.

Corner, in the front I took some Azalea that were on the brink, they were really yellow and way weedy, I think they are coming around well, some are still yellowy though.

Where the bark stops here, we want to put a flag pole, so we didn't finish that part yet:

And my beloved windmill:

Now we just have to start the other side!