I've been away...

Well, I am on week 19 of my pregnancy. This morning we found out we're having another boy! I'm just hoping that this boy is a little calmer than the first! I love Bryce to pieces but I'm not sure I could handle 2 of them!

Also - in other news (sad news) - we put Emmi down on Friday. Emmi was our rescue dog. She was the sweet cuddly one that everyone loved. Well, towards the end her legs were getting so disfigured and crippled from her arthritis that she became pretty cranky (reasonably so!). While it was incredibly hard to do - we thought it would be best for everyone involved (us and her) to let her go.

I miss her tons... although I miss the old Emmi. The last year or so has been very hard with her and I think we were all a bit miserable. I miss the sweet cuddly Emmi that we had before the arthritis took over.

Blah

I feel like blah. This week started off so incredibly well. Monday I felt fantastic and Bryce and I had such a great day.... which was such a relief because 2009 started off pretty crappy with a sinus infection. Well, Tuesday rolled in along with rain for 2 days. Today I thought that since the sun was back that we'd actually get out of bed and do some things but I was wrong. I just wanted to sleep. Then I had lunch and spent the rest of the day wishing I could have my stomach pumped.

I guess I should explain a bit. On our way back from Florida I found out I was pregnant. Yes, literally on the way back... in the airport bathroom. I had my suspicions at the beginning of the week but I was not going to test because darn it... this was my vacation and I didn't want to hold anything back! 20 months of not being able to become pregnant after my miscarriage... 20 months of thinking maybe every month and gosh darnit... this was our vacation!!! I know that sounds selfish but this was truely our first family vacation by ourselves (well, without my parents or inlaws attending). Well, at the end of the week I just couldn't wonder anymore and the rest is history.

Yup, I'm pregnant. I was supposed to start the IUI process when we returned from our vacation but well.... don't need that! It's hard to believe... 20 months of not being able to become pregnant. I went through all of the infertility tests (and let me tell you... that HCG was not comfortable!) and well... I didn't need to do that.

I've had 2 sonograms now. The first one at 6 weeks at my dr's request because she saw something a little odd on her sonogram (just ended up being that her songram machine is old and blurry) and the 2nd one at my request because I had been cramping a little over Christmas. I was 8 weeks at that point and that is when the last pregnancy ended (although I was 10 weeks when I found out). At both the heartbeat was strong but I'm still not convinced. I go back to the dr. next Tuesday at 10 weeks and if I hear something then I'll feel a little more confident.

Anyhow - that brings me back to feeling blah. I'm SO tired. I can't wake up and when I am awake all I want to do is lay down. Yesterday I was cramping but I felt better when I relaxed so I stayed in bed all day with Bryce. Today I was just exhausted and after I ate lunch I just regretted it so I spent most of the day again in bed trying not to get sick. I've seen GI Joe enough times now to recite it in my sleep.

It really is depressing. I know that I'm depressed because I haven't left my room much this week, let alone my house! I need to get out! But I don't want to go out because I'm so tired and I'm afraid of feeling crappy while I'm out. It just circles around and around.

And poor Bryce.. I really did have so much planned for this week. Tuesday was Three Kings Day, Wednesday was Old Rock Day (but I forgot to dry the rock off so we couldn't paint it anyways) and today was English Toffee Day. I have all of the ingredients to make the toffee so I'm hoping we can do it on Sunday. Tomorrow is National Apricot Day and I'm hoping we can stamp with dried apricots and make apricot pancakes for dinner but I guess we'll have to see how I'm feeling. I didn't make dinner tonight because the thought of food just tossed my stomach so Bryce and Dave had McDonalds. Saturday is Milk Day and I'm hoping to make homemade milk paint to use.

Anyhows - I really should try and get to bed. Plus, I need to stop rambling. My dad says I ramble too much in my blog and I'm sure I do but I don't even stop to think about what I'm typing sometimes. I just type. If I could ever find my old diary I'm sure its the same way.

Well - goodnight for now and I'll blog ya later!

New Years Resolution

So this year my resolution is to spend more time with Bryce on a daily basis doing planned activities. Sure, we go out and do a lot and we play and such but I want to focus on a theme for the day and do activities/crafts that relate to that theme.

Yesterday was "National Bird Day." So after preschool we made cardboard bird binoculars, fed the birds, made chocolate nests with marshmallow eggs and listened to bird calls on the computer. We had a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, I left my camera at a family friends house this weekend (at the annual Epiphany Party) so I have no pictures of what we made. But - I found some examples online to give you an idea of what we did.

Bird Watching Binoculars

(picture from http://www.thriftyfun.com)

Chocolate Bird Nests (chow mein noodles & chocolate... we used mini marshmallows instead of jelly beans for the eggs)

(picture from http://teachers.net)

Bird Call Websites we visited
http://davenation.com/birds/
http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/

Today is "Three Kings Day" or Epiphany and I have some activities planned out for that today. I will share tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!

Disney World Vacation Pictures

So I've been away from blogger for a long time now. It's been pretty crazy here and I crashed big time after we returned from Disney. Then came the holidays and the whole family has been on again, off again sick since then. I'm hoping to return on a more normal basis from now on. Before I update everyone on what we've been doing I thought I'd share some pictures from Disney World!

Bryce with the red PowerRanger at Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios (Outside Star Tours Ride)

Magic Kingdom Main Street decorated for Christmas

The Castle at night - dripping with lights

Bryce and Peter Pan

M I C, K E Y, M O U S E... Micky Mouse!

Epcot at Night
Bryce's Favorite "Ride" - the Waste Management Booth at InnovationsBryce was in the "What's Your Problem" show in Epcot (sponsored by Velcro)... everything was supposed to be stacked on top of the blue cube with nothing touching the floor but he didn't quite get that.

Epcot

Bryce's Caricature done at Animal Kingdom

This was Bryce pretty much every night - he was exhausted after a full day!

Last day in Orlando! We went mini-golfing at Pirate's Cove and they gave the boys goodie bags with a bunch of stuff in it.

Well - now that I've shared our vacation I think I'm going to go downstairs and focus on getting dinner on the table! I'm starving! Be back soon!

Back from Disney!

So we just got back last night from Disney and I just checked my blog. Apparently the post I had left before we went on vacation did not get posted. Oops. Yup, so we've been away!

I'm busy doing laundry, getting the dogs and kid re-situated and trying to decorate for Christmas. Plus, uploading pictures... so I'll post more tomorrow on the vacation!

I'll leave you with this....

Pictures from the One Curtained Thanksgiving

This year has been dubbed the One Curtained Thanksgiving because we put off hanging our curtains till the night before Thanksgiving. Of course, one of the curtain rods was missing the hardware to hang it (all of the important stuff). Instead of taking down the other curtain I decided to keep it up so that I could show my mom the curtains (which are actually tablecloths cut down the center and hemmed).

This year we had 13 people for dinner. Last year we had 19 and had to use 2 tables. I was excited this year because I thought we could once again have everyone at 1 table but alas, my table only will only seat 12. We once again had to set up another table.

Here's the gorgeous turkey. We've been frying our turkey for at least 5 years now. I love it... especially since it frees up the entire oven for me to use on other things!

Getting the turkey off the stand is a 2 person job! Here's my hubby and my soon to be brother-in-law working on getting the turkey ready.

Here's me and my awful chin! The food was yummy!

Dessert is ready!

Here is my menu for Thanksgiving this year:

Appetizers
Smoked Cheddar Cheese and Apple Butter Fondue
Munster Cheese and crackers
Wrapped Cocktail Franks

Dinner
Turkey
Sweet Potato Casserole
Corn Pudding
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry Sauce with Golden Raisins and Apples
Pumpkin Muffins
Cranberry Bread (made by my dad)
Macaroni and Cheese (made by my sis in laws soon to be mom in law)
Potato Casserole (made by same as above)

Dessert
Upside Down Pecan Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie

It was great to have the whole family over! I love having the house filled with people. But now I better get to cleaning it up! I won't be posting for a week. We're using this week to spend as a family and going sightseeing. We're going to limit our computer usage while we spend time together. I'll post pictures when I get back onto the computer.

Thankful for my Family

Things right now are going a little crazy. I have a ton of things coming up in the next week and on top of that I was sprung with something very interesting yesterday. Sort of a friend emergency. Because of everything going on and the support I will also be giving to my friend I'm not sure exactly how much I am going to be able to post this week. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show you the pictures of where we ended up putting the door. We did put it up today but there was a slight problem with one of the hooks so it's going to have to be rehung tomorrow.

I do want remind myself and everyone else out there... do not take your family for granted. Stay connected together and be grateful for every moment you can all spend together. Right now I am just oh so thankful for my fantastic husband. He's such a great guy and he really supports me in the things I want to do. He's also very open minded and caring - I'll be able to share more about this in the coming months.

Tomorrow I'll be shopping for food for Thanksgiving. I just LOVE this time of year. I can't wait to cook! Wish me luck at the supermarket! I hope it's not too crowded...