Update

Last week we had our first appointment, and boy was this fun! We had our first ultrasound with the ease of mind that everything looks good so far.



Answers to my main questions:



1. There is only one baby :).

2. Our due date is June 22nd

3. Currently, I am 12 weeks along

4. I am doing fine on my weight gain

5. So far, everything looks healthy and normal... Praise God!





Introducing our little peanut... Doesn't he/she look just like us?? :)

(I love this picture, for you see his/hers' little arms waving... "Hey mom and dad, doing fine here..." So sweet).

So what else?

Week 11- 12 is great! Food is beginning to taste good, with the cravings starting... Yesterday, it was bratwurst- ideally from Home Depot. Go figure, when it is freezing outside and there is no one manning the grill at Home Depot. Rob suggested Phantom Canyon, a local brewery. I was willing to give it a try, being that it would be a bratwurst. We sat at the bar, so the waiter who delivered our food didn't know who had ordered what. It make sense if there was an order for mac and cheese and bratwurst... the woman usually orders the mac and cheese right?? Well, that is what he guessed and boy was there an out roar of laughter and NOOOO---- the Bratwurst is for the pregnant lady--- you might get hurt if you take those bratwurst away from her. It was quite funny and I enjoyed my bratwurst with leftovers for today's lunch ;). Thanks babe for accommodating my craving ;).

I love hot chocolate in the morning, due to the smell of coffee made me sick for so many weeks and tea doesn't do the trick. Trying to get the most nutritional value out of not a very nutritional drink, I have switched to using "real" chocolate milk delivered from our milk man. I dilute the chocolate milk with white milk and heat it up on the stove (still no microwave in this house). That way it counts in my diet for calcium, protein, and helps my craving for a warm drink in the morning. Yummy!

Being pregnant, working full time, and trying to keep up with the house definitely has it's own challenges, but the challenges increase with a husband that also works full time and is going to grad school. Quitting for me really isn't an option for the time being, but here are some thing that Rob has implemented to ease my work around the house.

1. A housekeeper every other week... how we love the Monday's that she comes!

2. Supper Solutions for meals. I couldn't stand cooking for several weeks, it's getting better though.

3. Dry cleaners for his shirts.

4. Two-minute pickups at the end of the day to keep up the maintenance of the house.

5. A change in my attitude to receive these services, as I felt like I should be able to do it all (and still have energy to work out, time for my husband, and did I mention energy??). What was I thinking??? So now that I have let go of my pride and received these gifts, life is easier. I realize that I am blessed to receive this help, so thanks babe for implementing what is best for our family.

One more person to thank... After reading this post there is a big THANK YOU that goes out to my lovely sister who went through quite a journey to send me this:

A maternity care package!!! It was filled with clothes, books, and information for baby equipment. (Don't you love the art work from my nephew? Absolutely precious!) Thank you for the your generosity and effort to bless us... Aunt Rebecca ;).

A question for everyone else:

Any recommendations of books to read, recipes, baby items, blogs, etc. that people found helpful? I'd love your input.

Lastly: Rob's sister has posted a blog... check out my cute nieces here or listed in my family and friend's as Buffy and her girls.

Note from Rob; What kind of pickles did you crave? My wife has the most random cravings, but I'm enjoying going to the store for Cheese pizza and Chocolate milk.

I think guys should have maternity visits with doctors as well, am I gaining the right amount of sympathy weight, and is my sympathy fatigue normal?

Allison is a rock star!

SURPRISE!!!!

My apologies for not writing or even reading my blog (or others) for awhile... it's been well... a couple of great weeks, yet much to digest. I will share...

A week ago, my sister and my husband were scheming up a way to surprise me for my birthday- And they did a FABULOUS JOB!!!! Both of them kept inquiring about what I wanted to do for the big 3-0!!!! My answer- "I just want to see my sister and nephews in Austin". Rob's response: "Babe, you know we can't do this right now." Well, little did I know that Rebecca and her boys were coming up here to surprise me.

Rob, took me to Red Robin on the way to Bible study, saying the group was meeting here for the night, when I turned the corner, there was my sister and nephews (one that I had not met yet), my mom, Rob's sister and her family, and our dear friend Craig (which was the Bible Study part). Tears streamed down my face as I hugged my sister and met little Sam. It was a great night of laughter and fun as the nieces and nephews all played around us. I wish I had pictures, but I was not prepared. I felt so blessed as an Aunt- it truly was a great 3-0! If my sister post pictures I will post the link.

Our special day was Monday: I had taken the day off of work, and we went shopping, out to lunch, and enjoyed each other's company~ We almost completed our Christmas shopping as well, and even got a head start on wrapping the presents. I have never been this ready for Christmas! Thank you Rebecca for coming to Colorado and making me feel so special and loved!

Tuesday was special time with the boys- we went and played at Focus on the Family Adventures of Odyssey, including my brother's son. It was a great fun spending time with the family.

SURPRISE #2
WE are Expecting!

I have known for a couple of weeks now, but I was trying to think of a creative way to tell the blog world. Nothing came to mind, as my mind is currently just trying to do the best things for our family, and trying to process of all the changes that are ahead of us.

I am 8 weeks along, so God willing, at the end of June, we will have a healthy, beautiful baby! We ask that you join with us in praying over this little one, that everything will go well through the pregnancy and labor. The last couple of days, I have felt much better than week 5 and 6- those weeks were just difficult dealing with all-day nausea. It was hard to even function. But the last couple of days, I have felt well enough to make it to the gym and do some cardio (of course, keeping a close account of my heart rate).

We certainly feel blessed as the Lord has decided to give us a child. The surprise was- it wasn't our timing, but when is ever our timing God's timing? There is so much to be grateful for as we get the opportunity to nourish this baby in our womb.


So... that is why I have been a little distant. Things have been a little crazy around here ;).

Pics

The summit of Pikes Peak- all in day's hike;)

The descent. You can see that the wind was coming from the west blowing the clouds back over the city. Really cool to witness.

Styled with my natural curls.

Breckenridge, CO. Spending time with our folks.

My Parents:

His Parents

Awaiting Ski Season...

It's not too far away... It snowed the last night we were there and woke up to this view.

Fireproof

Yesterday I had the day off, and completed many projects around the house - finished washing the windows, painted the ceilings in the study and hallway. I was touching up the paint job in the hallway and realized I had used the "adjusted" paint to do my touch-up- creating more work for me, because I now actually had to paint the hallway the rest of the "adjusted" color.

I was in the middle of doing these projects when my wonderful husband came home and said, "I want to take you out tonight- I need you ready by 5:45". When he said this, of course I was excited, but it was very difficult not to argue and ask to do it another evening when I am not in the middle of so many projects. Nonetheless, I kept my mouth shut, stopped my painting, hurriedly got ready, and out the door we went.

As we are driving away, he says:

"We are going to dinner and then see Fireproof."

YES, YES, YES!!!! I have been asking since opening weekend to go and see this movie! My husband wasn't that excited about it, because he thought we would be a "cheezy Christian film". But one of his co-workers had seen it over the weekend and encouraged my husband to take me.

Fireproof.... It's great! Husbands and Wives go see this movie (bring Kleenex too)!!!! Our society needs more movies like this. Sure, there were some "cheezy" moments, but it's not enough to not see the movie. We talked about the movie the rest of the evening, and woke up this morning with it on our hearts. It truly makes an impression.

I looked on their website this morning (http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/) and here is an insert from an interview with Dr. Phil. Alex is the co-writer of the screen play.

“Alex, what was your main objective in doing this film?” Dr. Phil asks.

“You know as well as I do that marriages in this culture are being devalued, watered down, called a piece of paper, and we want to bring a standard and honor back to marriage,” Alex says. “So doing this movie was one way to put a message out there of hope, and inspiration and faith for couples to say, 'Hey, marriage is worth honoring and fighting for.'”


Alex says the old addage “Never leave your partner behind” has significance to non-firefighters as well. “You know, it’s now national policy for firefighters: two in, two out. If you go to a fire, you stay with your partner, you go in and you come out, and that applies to marriage as well. You’re going to go through fire. The meaning of fireproof is not that fire will never come, but when it comes, you can withstand it. And the only way to do that is to purposefully stay together, to have a higher standard than living just with yourself and meeting the other person’s needs.” (http://www.drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/4632/?id=4632&showID=1130 for the interview)

Put down your paint brushes, and go on a date with your husband. It is actually worth the price of the movie ticket.

Happy Anniversary!

On Sunday, the 21st of September, marked our one year anniversary. Friday, I pampered ourselves to a couples foot message, and he surprised me with a night away at the Westin near Boulder, CO. Our evening included an excellent, beautiful dinner and then a short walk over to the improv theater- MadCap, where we laughed till our sides hurt. My husband even volunteered to make the sound effects for one of the actors:).

Sunday, we took a nice walk in the morning, with Starbucks as our destination, and then left the Hotel to enjoy an afternoon in downtown Denver. Upon returning home, we finished our celebration by eating our wedding cake topper.

Here is the best part, the bakery, where we ordered the cake, makes you a fresh cake to enjoy on your anniversary. The candle symbolize "we are truly one now" per my husband.

So those are the details, but my favorite part was having time with my husband. With both of us working full time jobs, and my husband starting his MBA, we are just busy. And getting away just for the night, with no agenda except to enjoy each other's company, was the best gift that could have ever been given.

To My Dear Husband,

This past year has brought me more laughter, tears, realizations, and yes, even some refiners fire than I ever expected. But I would say "yes" to you all over again if you were to ask me to marry you again tomorrow.

Thank you for demonstrating to me the tangible love of Christ- as I have been so humbled to receive love from you when I did not deserve it. Thank you for providing for us not only in a tangible way, but also spiritually, protecting our home with your prayers and accountability.

I love you and look forward to the rest of our journey together, as the Lord wills for our lives.

With all my heart- Your bride.

Snap Shots of August...

One of our glorious sunsets (looking out from our picture window in our kitchen)...






Rob chillin' on his port-a-ledge (babe did I spell that correctly?)

Chopped my hair :).

Enjoying the Veggies of our Labor...

The New Addition to our Home:

(We sold our microwave at our garage sale. So far so good, I might regret this decision later, but trying to keep our health in mind.)

Remember...

Your wedding day? 

 I am getting ready for a garage sale in a couple of weeks and cleaning out closets.  It has been great fun to get rid of stuff and also to find that one item that floods your memory with memories.  

I had my wedding dress hanging up in our guest bedroom closet, and pulled it out.  I started to hastily pull out items that need to go in the garage sale pile, when I stopped.  I went back to the day that I married the man I love.  I put it on.... a flood of memories and emotions...I remembered my sister holding my hand during the moment reality hit me... "I was getting married today!"  She has always been there for me. Remember picking out the dress and admiring it as it hung on the hanger.  Seeing him for the first time that day... he looked SOOO handsome and joy filled my heart.  I Remember my precious bridesmaids helping me put my dress on,  then buttoning all 50 pearl buttons laughing that "he will have fun getting these undone tonight".  I remember my guests and thanking them for attending and being a witness of the best day of my life.  I remember dancing and not wanting to leave the party, but my husband saying "Let's go".   The limo, the cookie dough, the toast, our first dance, and I never want to forget.  Sure, sure, it's been 10.5 months; but I don't ever want these memories to fade.  

As I stood there in front of the mirror, a stream of tears rolled down my cheek as I remembered.  Then a smile lit up my face as I have fallen deeper in love with my husband, than the day that I married him.

Randomly, put your wedding dress on and just live in the moment.  It was well worth the time to break up the task mode and just... remember.  

The Creative Room

Several months ago, I received this urgency to create a space for me. Space to paint, start going through boxes that are scattered throughout our basement from being a single, start organizing recipes, pictures, and hopefully photography; but the best part is I can leave the project behind, shut the door, and come back and work on it in increments.

As I surveyed the basement, I recognize that there is a lot of space that is available it is just UGLY! We have 70's green carpet throughout the main room, cement floors everywhere else, wood panelling makes up the majority of the walls, foundational solid... cosmetically needy.

I asked my husband if I could take the bottom room and make it my creative room. My personal budget was less then $500 to transform the room. He agreed to the idea, with some doubt of the finished projected, but humored me enough to go along with my idea.

Here are some pictures at the beginning stages:

At this point, I had primed the walls, and my husband marked out the strips for the eastern wall. I then went to the paint store and purchased "oops" paint, which is $3/gallon. I bought a green and brown, but then actually matched a pink accent.

Notice the ceiling tiles? We debated whether or not to cover, pull out, or leave alone because we were unsure whether or not we'd be dealing with asbestos in the tiles, being that our house was built in the 1940's. Our neighbor down the street has the same ceiling tiles and they just repainted it and it looked great~ so we spent $20 on ceiling paint, $30 on a new light fixture.

Last but not least, trim. I painted over the wood trim with the trim paint used on the rest of the house. We looked around at remnant carpet pieces for the floor, but found that it was cheaper to purchase a new piece at Lowe's and then we paid for someone to install it.

The corner desk I bought at a garage sale for $10.

Total cost of the makeover: $350

Here is the after pictures.

(See the green carpet, wood panel, and boxes that sit through the doorway... this is why I needed a room to start putting things away=).

Now we just have to nail down the rest of the trim and put up curtains... and let the creativeness flow!

My husband loves the way this room turned out, that he now wants his "own creative room". I guess there will be more pictures to come of our basement transformation. So Fun!

Hey honey, look what's for dinner

So I'm a slacker when it comes to blogging, My wife is a much better and more creative blogger. Creative inspiration comes at the least convienent times for me, still I feel the need to express my creativeness (is that a word?) when it happens.

My wife had put a meal in the crock pot this morning, and I was responsible for removing the meal (which smelled great) from the crock pot and making salads for dinner.

We often laugh about what we are going to have to change when we have kids, it's just about everything. I'm sure our first Parent teacher conference will contain the phrase "I've never had a student do that before, did you teach that to your children?"

So while I still have a chance to play with my food, here is what came out of the crock pot.

Sandy... Why are you following me?

Remember Annie? "Dumb dog, why are you following me? I don't have a crumb dog..."

Well, today, we ended up with our own "Sandy". He is a gray Lopso apso without anyone to claim him. We put him on a leash, while we were gone today, with some water, a sign saying take the dog leave the leash and call us. But when we got home, he was still there. We also called the Humane Society for their lost and found, but no one has put a request in for him yet. Poor pup.

This is the funny part: The other evening, we were at a local cafe playing cribbage, enjoying a glass of wine, and the live music, when a lady sat down next to us with her small, dog carrier. I was a little annoyed that these small accessorised dogs are allowed in restaurants. These dogs get treated better than people at times. Anyways, walking home we were discussing the scenario and we both agreed... "We will NEVER own a small dog!"

BUT, now that we have a stray we are seeing that there are some perks for having a small dog:
1. They do not tear up your yard like a larger dog
2. This particular dog is very mellow and doesn't demand much attention.
3. The dog is older and potty trained... another great perk!
4. This dog I have yet to hear bark... Hmmm, not all small dogs are yippy dogs?

So, are delima... do we keep him till we find the owners, or do we turn him into the humane society? He will be held for 5 days before getting adopted at the H.S. We were thinking of housing him for those days, but knowing us, we will become too attached and he will become our permanent stray. Any thoughts?

Owners... PLEASE come and get your dog!

What do you do...

With old textbooks, childhood papers/stuff animals, that are now sitting in a box? Any creative ideas? My thought right now... Pitch em.

Parents for the weekend

Last weekend my brother and sister-in-law went away for the weekend to have a retreat before baby #2 comes in Oct. We were adopt a parent for the weekend and had a great time with our niece. It was challenging and fun, and both of us decided that it's not time to have kids quite yet... we will just borrow others for awhile.

What about the rest of our trip?

(This has been saved in my box for a couple of weeks... just needed time to post. We've been a little busy these days.)

From Vancouver we started down memory lane for my husband. We drove to Othello, WA where he worked on a farm for a couple of summers while attending Washington State University... Go Cougs!

In Othello, being that it is a small town, there were several people awaiting to see "my hubby's wife" and who she was. For they had all prayed for me back when he was working on the farm. I met and heard all sort of stories from my husband's past. It was great!

Farm Golf: the second evening, while we were there, the people we were staying with had set up 9 holes around their home. Friends had come over again to visit with us, and the golf game was absolutely necessary and an absolute blast! The "holes" were hitting the "orange plastic on the tree", hitting it into the baby swimming pool, or through the PVC pipe. Other rules were if you hit your ball on the gravel it was considered water/dead ball, but if you actually hit your ball in the irrigation ditch (where water actually runs) it's still a live ball=-). SOOOO many laughs!!! It will always be the most memorable golf game I have ever played.

From Othello we drove to Pulman, WA to visit WSU were my husband graduated from school. Here are some pictures of the beautiful rolling hill country. It reminded me of the wallpaper on Microsoft Program or maybe it's Gateway. You know what I am referring to?

(His name was Pepto the pig=).

After visiting my husband's stomping ground and the Bookie at WSU, we met with his old Pastor and started our drive to Spokane to stay with another college buddy and his family. Here we had a wonderful evening... again walking down memory lane with stories, prayers and many laughs.

In the morning we visited the Damn of Spokane and had late morning snack and much needed cup of java.

Then our road trip took us back to Seattle. We stated at The W in downtown Seattle. It was a much needed retreat, especially for me, as I had met so many new people. I needed some down time. The W was a big treat for us... having a bell man, very comfortable down comforters and soft sheets, and our own personal bath robs. We were on the 14th floor and could look over downtown from our window. (A pic of our bathroom... so relaxing!)

The next morning we visited:

Rebecca, Vicki and Jana... Remember Flying Fish and screaming;-)....

We took a ferry over to Bremerton, WA where my husband worked as a Mechanic at the Naval Ship Yard. There was another homecoming hosted by his good friends, inviting the old worship team over to again... see who this girl is that he married.

Here are some pics from the ferry ride. It was a beautiful, clear day!

This trip made me realize how amazing it was that we even met. Has anyone ever felt this way? The many paths and choices that people make, yet God in his faithfulness bring two hearts together... Even Mt. Rainer wasn't too big for God.