The Fairest Strouds of All

A New Hobby: Beekeeping

2012-02-07T22:58:00.002-07:00

I guess I've reached a new chapter in life. That new chapter is created because normal people don't keep bees. My first step was to buy the bees and they should be here April 7. In the mean time I need to build a hive for those bees. Another thing I'm gotta do is read this book and continue my research on bees so I can be the best beekeeper on the street. I will keep you posted on my progress...

Hair styles

2012-02-05T08:46:00.001-07:00

Mckenna is always trying to put the cutest things in Ellie's hair. I don't understand why when we can do hair styles like the infamous X-Men character Wolverine. Isn't this hair style awesome?

Ellie in the Sky with Diamonds!

2012-01-29T12:41:00.003-07:00

So a few weeks ago we got ALL of the windows in our house replaced... that's 14 new windows! Our old windows were single pane and COLD! The new ones are double pane with argon gas and Low-E (whatever that means....). Anyways; Now that those are taken care of we have been able to focus on finally making our house a HOME.The first room that wefinished was the Nursery... baby Ellie's bedroom! Her room is kind of a tower in our house, the only room upstairs. The window was completely rotten in that room, so she has been sleeping in ours FOREVER. She slept in her new room for the first time last night and it was SOOOOOO NICE!!!

Here is what her window looked like before:

And After:

And here is the rest of my sweet little girl's room, alongside her enjoying it.

And here she is playing with her toys... she loves that dolly on the floor that Gamommy gave her!!!

Next up and almost finished: the Living Room! I am really enjoying what we've done with it so far! But! You have to wait to see it. Ha ha!

FRAGILE (It's Italian)

2012-01-04T19:51:00.002-07:00

My husband (along with every other member of the male species plus quite a few females) loves the movie A Christmas Story. In it, as many of you know, Ralphie's father receives a Major Award that his wife is completely disgusted by.... A lamp shaped like a woman's leg.

Because this movie is so awesome many people have wanted a leg lamp, and you can buy them for around $200 online. Robby decided that our house has the PERFECT windows to display a leg lamp, so I decided I wanted to get him one. Not willing to spend that kind of money, I looked into making my own. I found out that I could buy a mannequin leg for only $10 on Amazon.com and figured the rest couldn't be that expensive.

I looked to ooblick.com for more information on how to make one.

I ordered the mannequin leg and was so excited. I was ready to hide it and make it in the garage... Robby would never know. Then came the day before Thanksgiving: 4 days before the leg was scheduled to arrive. Robby went out to check the mail while I chatted with my awesome brother & sister-in-law (who's blog is quite awesome). He came back inside laughing hysterically, "Look what was sticking out of the mailbox!" It was a black garbage back shaped like a leg..... Obviously there was only one thing that could be for. I was mortified. My awesome gift was no longer a surprise. Robby went to bed early that night because he had to be to work at 5 in the morning. So Aaron, Carrie and I sat up discussing how to make it a surprise again. We decided that the next day when we were at Thanksgiving dinner at our other brother & sister-in-law's house we would put the leg in Aaron and Carrie's car... and make Robby help so he'd know it was gone. They live 13 hours away from us so it would be very believable. He was told because he spoiled the surprise Carrie was going to make it instead for Aaron. Robby was L

IVID. He was hurt that I took away such an awesome gift and refused to speak to Carrie for a while. (Thanks again, Carrie :D)

Meanwhile, after Robby and I left, Carrie left the leg and David & Jacie's house for me to get later.

My sister brought it to me when she came to town next and the work began. I had to build it in my younger sister's apartment so Robby wouldn't suspect. It took probably 15 hours or so, but most of that time was figuring out how exactly to put it together so it would work best.

I have to say our windows are quite perfect to display it. Don't you agree?

Long Time No See

2011-12-29T19:23:00.002-07:00

So I pulled up our blog the other day and realized it has been like 4 months since we posted anything.... WOW. We've been meaning to post on our new house, but wanted to wait till we made it a little more... ours. A post is near on that subject though!In the meantime, Ellie had her first Christmas (and her hair has gotten quite a bit longer since the last post). She got her first baby doll from Gamommy (which she LOVES!) We're horrible parents and didn't get a picture of her opening it, but when she saw that doll her face lit up like a firework. She also got a fun grow-with-you play gym/activity table and a walker and other fun things.

We got to go to Georgia for a week before Christmas to spend time with Rob's family. We had a lot of fun. Granted, there was drama, but Ellie got to go to her first playground and swing on the baby swing. She LOVED it! Laughing and squealing all the way

Her awesome cousin, Brianna, pushed her on the swing and helped her walk around the park too. Brianna was the ONLY person besides Rob and I that Ellie would go to for most of the week. She must just be the most awesome person in the world.

Ellie has 5 teeth now and 2 more are working their way out. She is trying desperately to walk and insists that we help her walk everywhere. The past 2 days she has also been saying "mom" a lot. Not when I want her too, of course, but I'll set her down and she'll say "mom." She must love me.

A post about the house will be soon! We are getting new windows installed this week and choosing out some paint for the living room.... Guess what color?????

Baby loves food!

2011-08-29T10:14:00.002-06:00

We started Ellie on solids a month an a half ago, and recently began giving her baby food.

SHE LOVES IT!!!!

But she sure doesn't like chicken....

She's Growing Up

2011-07-15T23:12:00.000-06:00

Ellie went in for her 4 month doctor appointment this week... I can't believe it! She is a teeny tiny girl for her age.... 11 lb 14 oz (10 percentile) and 23 1/2" (30 %). It's time for her to start experimenting with solids and fluoride.... however, she is pretty advanced in the other areas! The doctor gave us some milestones to be looking forward to in the coming weeks/months:
Right now she should
-May sleep through the night. (She has been sleeping 7-8 hours at a time for 2 weeks now)
-Smiles, coos, laughs, squeals, giggles,and makes good eye contact (she has been doing this for months!)
-Plays with hands (again... months)
-Holds his/her head high and raises body when laying on stomach (for a few weeks)
-Can hold head up well when held in sitting position (months)
-Rolls over from stomach to back (She started this last week! And she does back to stomach now too! See video below...)

In the next weeks she should
-Be able to sit with support at 6-7 months (She is pretty good at that already.... still working on balance)
-Put weight on her feet (She's really good at this when she's mad and can lock her knees.... lol)
-Reach out and grasp objects (she's been doing this for a week or so.... another video below :))
-Bring hand to mouth at will (for a week or so again... same video)

My little girl is so smart! I just can't believe it.... I love her so much and I have no clue how I got so lucky with such a good baby!

One Week till we move!

2011-05-06T12:39:00.000-06:00

The other day something happened that made me even more excited to become a homeowner... and move....

Our poor dog had been shut up in her kennel all day (because she has to be an outside dog at our apartment). I had to run to the store so I let her out and tied her up so she could run around at least a little bit and I planned on playing some fetch and taking her on a walk when I got back. I got back and the lawn mowing people were there (taking up 2 parking spaces so I had to block the driveway, mind you...) It looked as though they had put Bella back in her kennel. I ran inside to get dinner started because Rob was starving and this particular meal takes an hour to cook. As I was finishing up I saw someone with Bella at our kitchen window. I ran upstairs and it was our neighbor.... He had seen Bella chasing after some girls on bikes so he brought her back.

The conclusion I've come to is these idiots who don't know how to park either let Bella off her chain to run wild and didn't tell us before they started mowing the lawn, or they let her out of the kennel and off her chain when they left and didn't tell us. Her collar was still on, so it's not probably she escaped by herself....

Since when is it okay to do that???!!!

I'm so thankful our neighbor found her and brought her back, but I spend the next two nights worrying that she somehow found a way to escape and had done it again.... luckily she hadn't.

Next week we'll be able to break her into being an inside dog.

I'm so excited :)

Ellie at day 48

2011-04-29T21:06:00.000-06:00

This is Ellie at day 48. If you can't see this video you should become a friend of ours on Facebook hope you enjoy the video of our bundle of joy

Real Men...

2011-04-15T11:31:00.000-06:00

One hundred and fifty years ago this week a war started that would eventually free the slaves in America. The Civil War was fought to end slavery (no, it was not about states rights as some like to claim...) and until a few years ago I thought the war was a success...

The Civil War time is my favorite time to study in the United States' history. A few years ago I took a class by my favorite professor, Eric Kimball, titled Slavery in the Atlantic. We began by talking about slaves in ancient times, then moved on to the African Slave Trade then on to the Civil War... I expected this to be where the class ended but I was wrong. We continued by reading King Leopold's Ghost which outlined the horrors experienced in the Congo throughout the 20th century and mentions the friendship the United States had with the dictator in charge.

Finally, we discussed modern day slavery: human trafficking. This had been brought to my attention recently by the movie Taken. Liam Neeson stars as a former spy whose daughter is kidnapped while on vacation in Paris. He has just a few days to find her before she is forever lost to the sex trade. In my class, however, I learned that this is not just a problem in foreign countries... but it happens in the United States as well.

The average age for someone to enter the sex trade globally is 13 years old and there are as many as 300,000 sold just in the United States. I don't know how anybody can just sit around and let that happen to innocent little kids.

There are multiple foundations dedicated to ending human trafficking.... (like the Polaris Project, The DNA Foundation, Wellspring Living, and GEMS) most of them focus on raising awareness. While it seems like there isn't much we can do, we can watch and notify authorities. For example, everyone has access to Craigslist... where a lot of trafficking takes place. It takes 30 seconds to flag an ad if it seems to be trafficking...

So I'm taking a pledge to do whatever I can to stop human trafficking in the United States and I hope you will too.

Way Down Deep Inside I've Got a Dream

2011-04-08T17:44:00.000-06:00

When I was 12 years old I volunteered at the Jensen Historical Farm (Now the American West Heritage Center). I got to dress up like the early Utah settlers and bake in an old stove, garden, weave on a loom, and just hang out around old buildings. One such building there was an underground cellar. I thought this cellar was so cool and ever since then I thought it would be kind of cool to have one at my house when I grow up.

I love old cars. I think that love originated from my family going to the Cache Valley Cruise In every year. When I was younger I would insist on going just to see the "Back to the Future Car." Eventually, however, I began to just love all of the cool old cars. I also saw a few rusted out old cars sitting in fields around the Valley and I thought it would be so cool to just have a random cool car sitting in my back yard.

Campfires are my favorite part of summertime. We used to have a fire pit at my parents house, but they got rid of it when I was little. I always wanted a fire pit that I could sit around anytime I wanted... preferably hidden somewhat by some trees in the yard so it was somewhat secluded.

Recently I had a baby. At the hospital the shower had a built in shower head as well as a hand-held shower head to get every nook and cranny. I loved that hand-held shower head and decided I really really wanted one in my house whenever I got one.

A few days ago I decided to look at houses on KSL and some real estate sites. I was flabbergasted at how low the prices were on some seemingly great houses. I called up dear hubby and told him of my findings. He responded, "I was going to call you about the same thing. Some people at work are telling me about all of these deals for first time home buyers and I have been thinking it's time for us to get a house."

So we decided to start looking at houses. Rob called up his mom, Annette Stroud who is a Realtor in Georgia, and had her refer us to agent, Justin Harding, who happens to be a friend of ours and we began looking at houses.

We found some really cute houses we wanted to look at, but when we saw them in person.... ewww.... It sure seemed like the pictures we saw were photoshopped. After looking at a dozen or so houses hope seemed to be lost. We found three houses that we liked, but we weren't in love with them and there were some smells and foundational issues that had us worried. We stopped at McDonalds after seeing one such house to search for some more. We found two more to look at, one of them we were not sure about because it was only a two bedroom and seemed small. We figured, though, we could build an addition eventually if we needed to so we went to look, not expecting much.

We walked in the door and fell in love. The style of the house was exactly what we had been looking for: rustic and old; a house with character. It had a spacious living room and dining area, though the bedrooms might be small. One room was upstairs with a small window and reminded me of Rapunzel's tower.

Walking through the house, I found that the bathroom had a hand-held shower head.

And an underground cellar (with some above ground storage as well!)

A cozy fire pit nestled among some trees.

And finally, a 1940's Dodge Plymouth sitting the pasture behind the property.

There is also a dog run that comes included with the house.

I think the house was trying to tell me something: BUY ME!!!

On Wednesday we made an offer...
On Thursday they counter offered, as did we...
Friday... after much sweating and waiting.... We finally got a response from the seller around 2:30.... Another counteroffer.
We debated for an hour or so, did the math and decided to accept the counteroffer.... The papers have been signed.... now to wait for closing....

Support a Friend

2011-03-31T14:05:00.001-06:00

My friends Dane & Lewis are doing a start up company. They have a really cool product that I think all of us could use. They're website is http://www.houselynx.com/. I think you should check it out...
I'll let them explain it to you. Watch the videos below

Lewis Wight from The Businessmakers on Vimeo.

A Dying Song

2011-03-25T12:19:00.002-06:00

McKenna and I love the background music it's awesome...
The batteries in the tunes in the bassinet were dying because of it.

Ellie isn't in the belly......

2011-03-15T13:12:00.000-06:00

Early Friday morning I awoke to strange tightening in my belly. They weren't painful and I was way too tired to time them and see if they were at regular intervals, so I just figured I was finally getting my turn with Braxton Hicks contractions which I had somehow avoided my entire pregnancy. They came on and off, mostly when I was relaxing. I played with the dog for a couple hours and didn't really notice them then, but they returned when I was eating and talking with my sister. I timed them and they were about 5 minutes apart, but sometimes had huge breaks in between. I was scheduled to work at 5.... and the contractions were still 5 minutes apart and painless so I went in. I figured they would go away like they had while I played with the dog....

I was wrong.

About an hour into my shift every table in the restaurant decided to leave at the same time and the third busser wasn't there yet, so suddenly it was very hard work for about 30 minutes. After that a slight cramping began to accompany the contractions. I timed them as much as I could and they were still coming about every 5 minutes and people began to ask if I was okay, noticing I was struggling a little. I told them all thought so, stood and took some deep breaths, then went back to work... but it was beginning to suck. I felt bad because one of the bussers was working a double and I wanted to let him go home first, but I was beginning to get very uncomfortable and figured I should go home and rest. If it had been a scheduled double he would have automatically gone home first, lucky for me he had picked it up so I still got first dibs on going home.

As soon as I could I got my closing work done and headed home. I put my feet up to relax and got some food and water, but the contractions kept coming. I told Robby what was going on and began to time them, this time paying attention to their length as well. Sure enough they were all between 4 and 6 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long.... and the cramping seemed to be getting worse. After an hour I finally let Robby call Labor and Delivery to see if we should come in.... and they said we should....

By the time we got all checked into the hospital it was about 10:00.... Even though my dilation and effacement wasn't progressing very much they decided to keep me and deliver the baby because my contractions were so steady and getting worse.

At 1 am my doctor came and broke my water.... an hour later I got my epideral.... at 6:30 the nurses came and helped me start pushing... and at 7:17 on March 12 the most adorable little angel was born.

I have to say.... my dad would be pretty darned proud of me that I worked an entire shift while I was in labor...

Full Term and Ready!

2011-03-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Although we still have 2 1/2 weeks left until our due date, Eloise is now considered full term and can come any day now without worry. They've started checking for dilation and effacement at our now weekly doctor visits. Last Monday I was almost to a 1 but not quite.... I think I may need to take Bella on more vigorous walks to get the ball rolling :)

This close and we are to the point that we really need to be getting things ready! Yesterday my awesome sisters threw a baby shower for me. It was a lot of fun.... besides the fact that I had to eat a spoonful of baby food every time I said the word 'cute'.... that was so hard because I got some darling stuff! We got a lot of clothes, some diapers, a diaper bag, headbands and bows and flowers, blankets, a crib set, and of course some baby hygiene necessities. You'll just have to keep watching our blog for pictures of little Ellie in all of the cute clothes we were given! Thanks again to everyone who came!

We are also finishing up on the nursery! We are still waiting on the "L" to get here... but I put the rest of her name on the wall because I was sick of waiting. We should have the last letter this week. If not I'm going to order an "F" and cut off the second line to make it an "L"... Here are some pictures of how the nursery is turning out!

A view of the Nursery from the door way.... don't know why Robby moved the quilt to the inside of the crib right before I decided to take pictures.... dang his hide.... But as you can see we don't have bumpers in the crib. They were adorable, but I've read too many things about suffocation and SIDS to scare me enough not to use them in the crib. Instead I hung them up as valances above the window and closet/cupboards to add some color!

We're going to do something to make that cord less of an eyesore... but these are some box shelves I bought at Hobby Lobby and painted. The piggy bank in the middle is also from Hobby Lobby, the lamp belonged to my Grandpa Iverson... I thought it was so cool looking! The pink dinosaur was a gift from the awesome people I work with and the colorful dinosaur was bought by my mom at the farmers market this summer right after we announced we were pregnant. Then of course, there is the string of bows and flowers that have been given to us. Aren't they cute?!

Here are my favorite built-in shelves.I've decorated them with dolls, books, animals, and flowers... and in the corner is my dresser from when I was growing up. My daddy made it; he was awesome that way.

This doll was actually made by my mom.... who isn't crafty at all until the last couple years. It's strange. But she's made out of a pillowcase that was embroidered by my Grandma Iverson... she did all sorts of stuff like that.... The plaque in there was Robby's. It says Be an Angel Pick Up Your Toys and Clothes... hehe

We learned how to make these little yarn dogs in Young Womens a couple weeks ago... isn't she cute?! The shoes were a big hit at my shower too. My little niece was there and as soon as I pulled them out of the bag she wanted to wear them.

Over Spring Break a year ago Robby and I went to Seattle to visit his brother's family (an Mom who was also visiting) and we went to a little yarn shop that had a pattern book for these sock monkeys. I bought it and made this for little Ellie! This was my second attempt that I started after I found out I was pregnant.... the first one was not nearly as cute and never actually got finished....

A better view of the crib, with the quilt being shown off. I love the purple and butterfly theme. The quilt on the back of the crib was made by my awesome Grandpa Jeppsen (Who my MIL calls Romeo. He's handsome and does everything... sewing, woodwork, music, you name it. ) He embroidered the little bear on it and above he embroidered Eloise as well. As you can see... no L yet in her name... it will be much cuter when it gets here I'm sure...

And finally, the changing table corner. We've got the table all stocked up and ready to go. The princess poster was supposed to be a joke gift from Robby on my birthday... but I love it and hung it up the day we found out we were having a girl!

Everybody is always bugging us for belly pics as well... since we really slacked during the first 30 weeks.... so I made Robby take a few tonight.... I feel a ton bigger than I look!

Home Teachers Give Such Great Advice....

2011-03-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

So last week our home teachers brought us some banana bread. They told us they always had a ton of banana bread at their house because they did this thing called Bountiful Baskets. Basically for 15 dollars you get about 50 dollars worth of fresh fruit and veggies. Each week something different was available, but you never know what you're going to get. Sometimes even after you've picked up your groceries you don't know what you have gotten. We decided to try it out this week..... I was not expecting to get so much!

If you can't see what's there I'll move from left to right: fresh green beans, a bag of potatos, pineapple, that green thing is a type of squash, tomatos, spinach, turnips, bananas, apples, oranges, 2 yellow squash, and I think the yellow fruit on the end are mangos.... the sticker on them just says Guatemala.

Pretty sure I couldn't get all that for 15 bucks at the grocery store.... and most all of it is in better condition than the produce you find at the store these days. The tomatos especially.... Now.... any ideas what I'm going to do with the turnips and spinach? Or really all of it.....

Snow Day with a Dog

2011-02-26T19:38:00.002-07:00

Our Brand New Addition

2011-02-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to my mom's house to help my awesome little sister apply for financial aid.... because she's old enough to start college. Weirdest thing in the world.... While there I received a text from DH saying there was a guy he works with that needed a good home for two six month old Australian Shephards. He wanted one very badly. We discussed it over text for a good couple hours (as hubby was at work and couldn't talk) and decided it was very bad timing and maybe we could get one after Ellie came. The answer "NO" was really set in my mind after I found out the one hubby wanted was named Bella..... I can't handle Twilight....

I got home and could tell that he was sad about the decision... and still hadn't given the guy an answer. So we discussed the matter for another hour or so and did some research online about these dogs.... I was very nervous to get one because my sister's family has an Australian Shephard who is CRAZY! I don't think I could handle a dog with as much energy as he has while trying to figure out how to raise a baby as well.

Finally, after much debating, Robby promised he would be the one to take Bella out to play daily right after work (lucky he gets off so danged early). I told him we could get her as long as it was okay with our awesome landlord. I really didn't think she was going to say yes.....

He made the phone call. After a long conversation he got off the phone and put on his coat so we could go meet the dog and make the final decision. After driving back and forth on the same road for a while we finally found this guys house and went around back to meet Bella.

I fell in love.

She was the sweetest dog I have ever met! She wasn't jumpy and excited but she was oh so friendly. She had the most gorgeous blue and brown eyes and red fur... she looked kinda like a fox. Turns out she's 1/8 red heeler. She loved me and I loved her and I now want to just cuddle with her on the couch all day long. She is the dog I've been dreaming of having for years.... unfortunately we have to keep her outside. One day we'll have our own house though and she can come inside then.... hopefully sooner rather than later....

Introducing........

Bella!

35 Weeks

2011-02-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hey, Ellie! It's your dad!

2011-02-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

Everybody has told us throughout our pregnancy to talk to our sweet baby. While I don't think studies have proven it she is supposed to be able to recognize our voices once she is here. It is also said that babies are calmed by the familiar sounds and motions of the womb. This is why rocking and swinging motions are comforting, as well as the sound of a fan going or being held to someone's chest next to the heartbeat. The fan is similar to the blood and amniotic fluid surrounding the baby inside the womb.

I have also been told stories of parents calming their babies with music they listened to often while pregnant or songs they've sung to their babies while pregnant. Well, if all of this is true, all we'll need to do when little Ellie is upset is get Robby to come in and say, "Hey, Ellie! It's your dad!" We try and talk to her every day, but Rob doesn't know what to say most of the time. Instinctively the first words that come out of his mouth every time he starts to talk to her are "Hey, Ellie! It's your dad!" with the same voice inflexion and everything...... although sometimes he mixes it up with a silly voice...... He then proceeds to sing either "Mmmmmmm bop" or "Have I told you lately that I love you" and tell her about his day. Most of the time, though, he gets distracted and starts talking to me and has to start all over with another round of "Hey, Ellie! It's your dad!"

Personally, I play the piano and listen to a lot of Beatles and Broadway hoping to influence the musical tastes of the little angel inside of me.... we'll see how that pans out.

It's fun to talk to her and we're both getting so anxious and ready for her to be here! The nursery is almost done (that blog posting is waiting for the letter L to come in the mail so I can put the finishing touches up) although we haven't bought any bedding for the crib yet and there are some empty shelves where I plan on putting pictures of little Ellie.

Just over 6 weeks left! I might add.... I can not wait for those weeks to be over so I can lay on my belly again...... After having this little stranger here that is the thing I look forward to most......

Is there an L?

2011-02-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

If you where on the game show Wheel of Fortune and you asked Pat Sajak, "Is there an L?" To my name puzzle "ELOISE" the answer would be yes. Unfortunately the letter company must of missed that memo, because they're out of stock. We have 7 weeks let in the our pregnancy and no "L". Shucks! So, McKenna decided to get the babies room set up, so she ordered some letters to put on the wall above the crib. Well on a good note we have 83% of the letters. Almost there... As we are nearing the approach of our first born child we have resorted to using a countdown. Awesome thing about this countdown is that its a 25 days until Christmas countdown. After Christmas came and went we thought it would be fun to use it to countdown the weeks until delivery.

The Shelf...

2011-01-18T21:28:00.001-07:00

Well my wife's great grandmother always made comments about how thankful she was that God gave her a built in body shelf. Now that we're married I hear her family make reminiscing references about it. The funny thing about it is McKenna called me in to show me that she has a new one. The Belly...

Orange? What?

2011-01-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

Today at work while I was in my cubical focused on my work minding my own business, I heard a question come from my neighbor on the opposite side. Not knowing what she said, I responded with a, "What?" Unfortunately, she heard me say, "Yes." Oddly enough the question was, "Do you want an Orange?" So when I said, "What?" I was quickly greeted by an Clementine landing on the bridge of my nose, shoving my glasses into my face. After realizing what had happened and the initial shock of the Clementine. I was overcome with laughter, because I just got pegged in the face with a Clementine.
Thanks Sammi

Merry Christmas!!!!

2010-12-26T12:47:00.017-07:00

So, as most of you know I am starting the third trimester of my pregnancy this weekend. It has gone by so fast and I feel like I'm getting so big! Right now I'm feeling awesome though. Morning sickness has pretty much left me alone (as long as I drink a glass of milk in the morning at least...) and little Ellie moved off of my ureter so I'm not having problems with my kidney anymore either! I'm taking advantage of this time to get our apartment cleaned and the nursery ready. Among the loot we got a few months ago was a bassinet. Unfortunately, it was boy colors. So I am working on converting the cover to a more feminine look. Pictures will come when it's ready!

As for Christmas, it was an overall good year I think. Despite the emptiness at parts we had a lot of fun with family. We have two twin baby nieces now, which everyone is excited about. We got to go see them the day after they were born and they were so precious! I can't wait for mine to get here!

Robby got me a suitcase record player AND an Abbey Road record to play on it! Now I can enjoy my record collection by listening as well as looking. We also got a camcorder, a new air mattress, stainless steel pots and pans, books, and my mom bought us a nice propane grill and grill cover. We cannot wait to use it!

Now, for your Christmas present! People have been complaining to me that I haven't been posting belly pics. I blame Rob, but I guess it's kind of my fault too. We couldn't find the charger for the camera so even the pictures I had taken I couldn't get to on a dead camera. But, I made Robby find it the other day so now we have the pictures! Not very many, since we didn't have a camera forever, but it's better than nothing! So Merry Christmas!!!!! These are from 7 weeks, 10 weeks, and 27 weeks.

(Sorry about the cut off head.... there's only so much you can do when you're taking the pictures yourself.... we don't have a big mirror with room to do it in really...)

Kicked In the FACE

2010-12-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I pressed my head against McKenna's Stomach. As I did so I thought I heard the heart beat. Sadly enough, the moment I found the heart beat I lost it. A moment later I pressed my ear back to McKenna stomach. Suddenly I was kicked in the head by my baby inside. This KICK possibly could of been heard around the world. I couldn't tell you if it really wasn't or not but it could of been. I thought this video would explain my feeling about being kicked.