Pregnancy Update

So here are some the weird/funny/sad but true things that have been happening to me since I have become pregnant.

1. I have mastered the art of eating a whole pint of ice cream in one setting. (Ted calls me an ice creamivore.)

2. I have cried over spilt tuna.

3. I realized I do not like when borderline strangers come up and pat my belly OR ask me if I have "a baby or something cookin' in there."

4. I have cried over underdone brownies.

5. I have narrowed down my wardrobe to 3 pairs of pants.

6. I have cried over someone sticking their finger in a pan of raw brownies, and therefore getting batter on the side of the pan, which then makes them imperfect!! (no, but seriously..)

7. I have craved nachos and fettucine alfredo at the same time, and made a request to have a sampling of both, in which I would only want the fettucine IF it came with bread sticks...(that whole scenario did not turn out well).

8. I have cried over a movie, TV show, book, song and more.

9. I have made it part of my morning routine to check for stretch marks (they are a curse in my family).

10. I have cried over having to sleep in a caboose with the nearest bathroom 100 yards away.

11. I have realized the need for a full 9 hours of sleep.

and

12. I rub, pat, tickle, talk and pay attention to my belly more than I ever have before. And so does Ted.


As you can see...I have cried a lot. But these episodes of crying usually only last a minute or two, especially if Ted is there to rescue me by making me laugh.

One of his favorite sayings lately is, "Man, you are PREG-NANT!" and then, "Don't worry Pregs, it's just _____________." And then he fills in the blank about whatever I am crying about. And, then most of the time I feel silly for crying in the first place and we end up laughing about it while tears are still streaming down my face.

So, 6 days until the big day of finding out what the little baby is. Here are our guesses:

Me: Boy
Ted: Girl

We will have to see! It does not matter though, we are just so happy to have a little baby on the way!

L-M-N-O-P

For those of you who are looking for an easy, funny and quick book to read...I have the PERFECT suggestion. I just read a book called Ella Minnow Pea and it was one of the funiest books I have read in awhile, and it only took me 2 days to read the whole thing.

The book takes place on a fictional island off the coast of the Carolinas. The island is founded around this guy named Mr. Nollop who invented the sentence,

"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."

Some of you may have no idea what significance that sentence has, but it uses all of the 26 letters of the alphabet using only 36 letters altogether. Which I am led to believe is a pretty hard task. They use the sentence to show what fonts look like.

So, anyway, the island has a statue built in his honor and they become an island that loves the use of language and its' letters. But, the letters of the sentence start to fall off the statue and as they do, the leaders of the island decide that those letters can't be used as part of the language anymore. The people are not allowed to speak or write any words that have the letters that fall off the statue.

The book is written in the form of letters written back and forth to different islanders, and as each letter falls, the letters and the rules of the island become more and more funny. It is a silly book, but it is one worth reading just for fun.

Just a Little Something...

...that brightened my day! :) And they make me think of summer, which is even better.

Thanks Tami!

They are going to look great as a centerpiece for when we have our friends C.J. and Breann over for dinner tonight! :)

Pictures!

Here are some pictures of New Year's Eve. I know they are from a few weeks ago, but one of them is the funniest pics I have taken in a long time. On New Year's Eve Ted and I went out to City Park with my Dad and Tami. We had a fun time. :) Almost hit a deer on the way home, but still a very fun time.

I have to explain that the new camera Ted and I got for Christmas has this green light that shines when focusing for dark lit pictures. The first time I took a picture of my Dad and Tami while we were on the dance floor looked like this....

Our waitress took this very nice photo of us right before we left. :)

I also have a couple pics of my nieces, Maddie (4) and Bailey (1). They live in East Lansing, so the last time we saw them was around Christmas. I realized I have never shown updated pics of them. So here are some cute ones. :)

This last picture is a "picture of a picture," hence the glare...but it is sooo cute!

Financial Peace University

Last night, I started taking a class at my church as a part of our Wednesday Night Family Thingy. The class is Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It is really exciting to be taking this class because Ted and I have listened to Dave Ramsey for a couple of years whenever we hear him on the radio, and we think it is a great way/strategy to handle money...especially when you don't have a lot.

I have to thank my husband for letting me take this class because it is at the exact time that Jr. High Youth Group is and I am usually his #1 volunteer. So...THANKS!!! He is going to be going through the class vicariously through me, because this is a thing that married people are supposed to do together. But, really I am kinda in charge of all the money happenings anyway! :)

Another cool thing about taking this class is that one of my best friends, Jamie, from high school and her boyfriend, Steven, showed up to take it! And this is super exciting because we never see each other and we only live 20 minutes apart. So, now we get to have dinner and class together every Wednesday night for the next 12 weeks. :) YAY!

If you don't know anything about Dave Ramsey you should check him out. He is on AM radio stations and he has a show on Fox News (I think). He also has a website (of course). He is also going to be in GR (for all you down-staters) on Feb. 19th.

I kind of feel like I am being a spokesperson for him, but I am really excited to be able to learn about what he has to say about money and how to save/invest it, so our little children can have lots of money when we are gone. Ted and I have kind of thought about that for a while now..since, you know...the whole baby thing. :)

11 days!!! --- till we know what our little baby is.
And then we can reveal some name options!

An Ode to the Sun

After what seems like weeks, and feels like months, I have seen the sun in its crisp blue-sky home! I almost forgot what a blue sky looked like and I definitely forgot what it feels like to have the rays of the sun warm my body through a window.

This morning I woke up before the sun was up, but then something different happened. The sun actually came up!! It wasn't hidden behind gray, dreary clouds that promised snow and cold. It was popping up right in our back yard trying to shine through our shades (which have worked out really nice, by the way.) So, when I got out of bed I opened the shades and I could FEEL THE SUN'S WARMTH...that lovely, relaxing warmth that makes you feel like it is not winter anymore. So, I closed my eyes and I soaked it in, pretending that winter was gone, my toe nails were painted and I was down at Michigan beach. It was PERFECT.

Of course, I eventually had to open my eyes, realize winter is here to stay at a solid 9 degrees, and get ready for work. But, it was nice while it lasted. :)

Very nice.

So, here is my ode to the sun...well, actually it belongs to the Beatles, but the sun could not be more perfect. :)

Ode to the Sun

Just be sure to listen with your eyes closed and pretend that it is summer!!

B E A--utiful!!

Here are some recent pics of some of my neices...Olivia, 5 and a half, and Izabella, 1 and a half. They are so precious and I can only hope my babies will be as beautiful. :)

@ Christmas

Izabella

Olivia

Tsk Tsk

So....about that appointment that I have been telling everyone about. You know...the one where we get to find out if the baby is a boy or girl. You remember, don't you?

Well...I lied. Turns out we will find out what the baby is on February 2nd. I have to go to the hospital that day for an ultrasound and they will tell us then.

Sorry to let everyone down. :) I guess we will just have to deal with the anticipation for a little bit longer. About 2 and a half weeks to be exact.

But here is good news from the baby visit:

1. Baby's heart beat is 158 bpm. Which is good.

2. I gained 3 pounds. Which is good.

3. Starting this week (week 18) I should be able to feel the baby's movements. They should feel like butterflies or nervous feelings inside my tummy. And then as the next couple of weeks go by I should be able to distinguish which side of the tummy they are coming from.

4. We were given the a-okay to go on a little pre-baby vaca in the middle of March.

That's it for now. :)