Blast from the Past

Wow-y!  We are putting together a website for our 10 year high school reunion and gathering photos to put on there... So I dug these up and thought it would be fun to share!! What a walk down memory lane!!! :)

<- Prom: Shannon Talcott, Jenn Gable, Amy Nicholas, Jen Hietikko

<-Graduation: Doug Mellema, Mark Hinshaw, Bob Edenberg, Mark Jennings, Jen Hietikko and Amy Nicholas

<- Band Banquet: Jared Goodrich, Jenn Gable, Me, Beth Welliver, Jill Welliver and Chris Donzell

<- Just the girls goofing off!  Check out those faces... man we were awesome! :) haha!!

<- After Prom - the whole gang 

<- Junior/senior Banquet - Shannon Talcott, Amy Nicholas and yours truly! (And Doug's middle finger...)

OMG. Dog's gonna die...

So, while I'm waiting for my computer to catch up to what I'm doing, I thought I'd write a quick post to vent (again... getting good at that). So, I told you all about Elwood's "incident" Monday night... well, Nick got home from work last night and he had done it again... Fortunately, this time, he only had a blanket and a little pillow and a towel in there (not his big bed pillow thing) so it was easier to clean up and he didn't throw it everywhere trying to flip the big pillow over... So, we're thinking, maybe he's been constipated and now he's "letting loose", for lack of better terminology... Well, this morning, I get up to let the monsters out and I smell it as soon as I open the door to the basement... Yup... Once again, the poop-master has managed to go in his bed... somewhere in the two hours between when Nick lets them out and when I let them out, he went in his bed again... because obviously going outside the first time wasn't an option... What the hell??? I don't know what's going on with this dog... Either a. there's something wrong with him or b. he's still insanely jealous of Jake (after 2 months) and is trying to get attention by going in his kennel... ugh. Anyway, if anyone else has had another incredibly spoiled dog and then shattered his world by brining another puppy into the mix and had any of these situations, let me know... I really need to know how to stop it... it's so nasty...

What the F*@& Wal-Mart????

So, since we forgot last weeks' photo with me working a million hours and all, here is the brand new 23 week photo.  Everything is going good, as far as I can tell.  I actually got some rest this weekend and was good and rested up for about a day, now I'm super tired again.  I suppose this is how it's going to be for about the next 18 years, huh?? :)  We might have to move home sooner than planned so we can have some grandparents weekends so I can get some rest!! Haha!!

The dogs are doing good... I thought for sure Nick was going to kill Elwood today.  Apparently he had gone to the bathroom in his kennel 3 times and somehow managed to poop on all the walls around his kennel and into Jake's kennel... Not sure how Hudini did that one, but he did... so, when I got home, both kennels and all bedding was out on the lawn and Nick was out there with the hose trying to clean it up before it went into the washer.  The basement still reeks, by the way... even after cleaning everything up, fabreezing the entire room and burning candles since 6:00... looks like this weekend is going to be yet another cleaning weekend.  Crazy dogs.  Not sure how we are going to fit a kid into this mad-house, but I guess it's too late to change our minds now!! :)

Oh - so I went to register at Wal-Mart the other day (I had already done most of the big stuff online, but needed to do the little stuff).  Well, the Wal-marts out here are incredibly ghetto... You know how in Michigan, people go to wal-mart because it's clean and bright and has everything you need and whatnot?? And the K-marts are really ghetto-style??  Well, out here it's completely opposite.  I do everything I can to avoid walmart out here because it's dirty and dingy and the lines are always like 10 miles long and they hardly have anything in there... So anyway, I was registering at walmart to try to make it easier for all you folks at home to go shopping since there is a walmart in both alpena and cadillac, and target and babies-r-us (also registered there) are much further away... well, anyway, so i go into walmart and ask the lady at the service desk where i need to go to complete my registry.  So, she sends me to the jewelry counter (why jewelry, when I'm shooting for baby, I do not know... but I was going with it...) so i get to the jewelry department and tell the lady i need to complete my registry and she says "I don't know why they keep sending people over here.  We don't have a gun to do those in this store.  It doesn't work, so you can't do it here."  Lovely.  So, I thought, well, while i'm here, might as well go check out the things that I already registered for online and make sure I like them and stuff... well, i get back there, and they literally have 3 rows of baby stuff... one row of diapers/wipes, one row of toys/bottles/safety stuff and one row of bibs/onesies/blankets.  Then they have a little display with about 3 strollers, 3 carseats and 2 playpens on it.  That's it... the end of the baby section... I was so disappointed.  So, anyway, they didn't have anything with the nursery theme I have registered for, so I'm still just hoping I like it.  They did, however, have the stroller that I loved online... however, when i got there, I still loved it, but it was REALLY girly... i thought i would go with the brown and blue because it was really cute, but the blue pattern was really flowery looking, so i switched my stuff over to the green and cream set that i was debating on... so, at least i go that covered.  Well, then, after the "we can't do registries at this store because we are a giant pile of poo" incident, I thought, well, no biggie, I'll just take the time and register for everything online.  WRONG!!!  Apparently at Walmart, you can't get the little stuff online... so no socks, diapers, wipes, pacifiers, teethers, etc.  So, now my choices seem to be, 1. go find a different walmart store around here and finish the registery (assuming I don't drive 20 miles to a different store just to find they don't have a working registry gun... in which case I might just go find a regular gun... who knows with these prenancy hormones) 2. say F*%^ you walmart!!! and go register at target even though that makes things more difficult for those of you at home 3. register at target and walmart and risk getting doubles of stuff 4. suck it up and hope the little things come with the big things!!!  So, I have to go do a little thinking about this walmart situation and see what comes of it...

Whew!!! That was a lot of venting!!  I need some rest now...

Nothing New

Nothing new to report, really... Just wanted to put this picture up of the monsters cause they were so darn cute. :)

Working Woman

So, I've been working all weekend.  Ugh.  I'm exhausted.  On a positive note though - the president of our company is giving the two of us that worked all weekend 4 days off!! :)  She's so awesome!  She decided to give us double comp time for our time this weekend, which means, I basically get a whole week of vacation free!! (well, except for the time I had to work this weekend... two days free... whatever... I'll take it!)

Tomorrow marks week 22 - I think of our pregnancy... I'm so tired I can't even think straight!  Good thing I have that little ticker on here to keep me aware of how much time I have left!  The little one is moving around and growing like crazy.  I'm trying to keep it fed and rested! :) 

 So we are going to be home August 22 - August 31.  As usual, we will be splitting our time in Cadillac and Alpena - Caddy the first part, Alpena, the second this time... We will also be doing baby showers in each of those places on the respective weekends... Look forward to invitations whenever I get around to getting the info to my moms!! :)

 Well, the dogs are snoring at my feet, nick is in sleeping and it's raining outside.  Sounds like at good time to be in bed!!

 I will post this weeks belly pic - sometime this week!

There's an alien in there!

Well, as promised, here is the 21 week photo.  I think there's an alien in there! :)  It just keeps growing and growing!! The doctor told me today that I better try to control my weight gain or I'm going to be in all sorts of pain, but that she wasn't going to yell at me because I didn't gain anything the first 3 months... So I'm thinking 6 lbs in one month - not too shabby... overall I'm only up 8, so I guess that's good... Now I just have to convince Nick to quit bringing home that chocolate cake so I won't be so tempted by it!!! Because we all know I'm far too lazy to make my own chocolate cake when I'm craving it! :)  I just stick with pudding - it provides a much quicker satisfaction.

Anyway, it was another long day at work.  I've been home for a whole hour now and am posting this from the bed.  So I'm about to kick the dog off the bed and get some shut eye.  P.S.  Anyone else ever have a dog that eats their own poo??? My little one just keeps recycling it and it really grosses me out... ugh.

Like a Bird in the Spring

Well, I do believe the nesting has begun...  I'm pretty sure this is how a bird feels in the spring!  This weekend I was going crazy cleaning and organizing and whatnot. I put together the last of our bookshelves and unpacked 4 totes of books and put up some shelves and some pictures and sconces and whatnot that have been needing to find homes.  So we are now down to a very small stack of stuff in the living room that still needs to be put away.  There's a couple more shelves that need to be put up and then I think that should about do it! :)  Super exciting!  This week or next weekend, I will put together the shelf unit that I got for the bathroom so we can get that cleaned up as well.

I went to work for a few hours today... big deadline tomorrow and another on Friday... ugh. It's going to be another long week!!! Hopefully that will be the end of it for at least a couple weeks, but I'm not going to hold my breath!

Anyway, that's about it for now.  Tomorrow is another doctors appointment and we get to hear the heartbeat of this little one again.  The baby has been moving like crazy and really beating on me this week.  It's the coolest feeling, but sometimes I need to push it around a little so that I can sit comfortably!!  Tomorrow is also the beginning of our 21 weeks, so I will post another belly shot either tomorrow or Tuesday, whenever I get the time! :)

Oh yeah, and I did go to Babies-R-Us this weekend because the one in Annapolis opened up, so I got to check out all the cute stuff and I tried to contain myself, but I still bought a few crib sheets (for the crib we have yet to get) and some cut little receiving blankets!  I can't wait to get the crib and the rest of the stuff for the nursery so I can start putting it all together!! :)  Gotta love baby stuff!!!

Half Way There!!!

We have made it half way!!! I can't believe it!! Here is a photo from yesterday (20 weeks).  Monday's are the start of our new week, so you got it exactly half-way - a day late! :)  I feel like I'm growing exponentially now.  Sleeping is getting tougher as this belly grows.  I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it in a couple months!  Other than that, everything is going well.  Eating normally and only minor heartburn, so I'm happy!

I finished my diaper bag this weekend.  I attached a picture of it because it's so darn cute (if I do say so myself!).  haha!  I haven't had much time to make anything else, just a couple burp cloths.  I have two little monsters that think it's awesome to grab my fabric and run, while I'm trying to work on things, so it makes sewing a little difficult, but I will eventually get things done!

 

 Oh!!! And how could I forget!! Little one has been moving around like crazy! Now that I've finally been able to distinguish the difference between baby movement and gas (no - not me!!!) and other things, it's been pretty cool!  Mostly it just moves at night and after dinner, but I can feel it a little other random times throughout the day.  It's a really cool fluttering feeling! :)  I can't wait until it gets a little bigger and I can really feel it!  But mostly, I can't wait for it to be big enough for Nick to feel it!! Right now he just thinks it's gas when I tell him it's moving... But what does he know??? Boys... I tell you what... :)

 

Well, I think that's about all that's new for now.  Same old thing, different day! :)

End of the Weekend

Well, it's the end of our "long" weekend.  I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!  Nick and I did some relaxing and a little bit of cleaning.  We had some friends over Saturday night to play Xbox with Nick.  Oh - did I mention that I have beautiful pink Xbox controller??? :)  Poor Ben had to play with the pink remote!! He loved it! haha!!!

Not much new to report though.  Jake went to the doctor for his shots and a new puppy check up Saturday morning.  He managed to get sick in the car both on the way there AND on the way back, which was lovely.  I'm glad I have a carpet protector in there!!! Those crazy dogs manage to get stuff everywhere!  But those shots gave us a nice easy day - the little guy was passed out pretty much all day!  Ahhhh... relaxation! :)

Well, that's all for me.  Tomorrow begins our 20th week of this pregnancy!!  I can't believe we are already (almost) halfway there!  I will post new belly shots tomorrow or the next day.  I don't think much has changed, but I will post them just the same! :)

Another Day

So, I think I felt the baby move yesterday... But I'm not sure... Nick says it was just the tacos!! :)  I guess I will eventually feel it consistently and then I'll know!

I got all the baby clothes that were mine, Nick's and JJ's when we were babies washed and put away.  They are so tiny!! I can't believe any of us were ever that small!  It's so crazy.  Well, okay, Nick was never really that small - being the 10 pounder that he was!!  All I have to say is that this baby better get it's size from me, not him!!! I'm not sure I could handle a 10 lb baby!

The dogs are wild and crazy and the parents are exhausted.  That's all there is to update today! :)

Enjoy your Independence Day Weekend!! :)