It's a...GIRL!

Well, after months of bragging that I thought, nay, KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt we were having a boy, I was humbled greatly with the news that this mother's intuition is not always the most accurate. :)
At my appointment we spent some time watching our baby kicking and squirming around as the radiologist made measurements. While the baby was active it was very cooperative. At one point she needed me to get the baby to turn over so I had to walk around the tiny room and do knee bends, high kicks etc. When I got back to the bed the baby had turned so we could get the spinal measurements. Good baby!


We kept referring to the baby as him in the appointment. Then David explained that we think it's a boy, but we're open to change. Out radiologist smiled and said, "that's good." She said it so passingly though that I didn't think anything of it. And why should I? We were having a boy anyway. :) After the tests were all done came the big moment.


True surprise.





Admiring the pictures of our daughter

Look how cute!

Here are the pictures:

She's sucking her thumb.

The front of fer face.

Nice little profile picture.

Hi everybody!

She's ready to suck her thumb again. :)

I'm still in shock and amazement at how wrong I was, but I'm more thrilled then anything else! :)

Mother's Day Surprise

This past weekend was Mother's Day, so on Saturday Doug and Amy offered to take us to dinner. They were planning to pick us up at 4:00 so we could stop at Babies R Us first so we could show them some of the things we had been talking about. When we got there we wandered around for a few minutes until we got the crib section. I wanted to show them the crib bedding we had picked out, but they seemed more interested in what kind of crib we wanted. We wandered around and pointed out different cribs we liked. Then to our shock and amazement they said, "Pick one and we'll buy it for you." Our jaws both dropped open in disbelief! After taking another look at the ones we liked we agreed on one. First we took a small detour to Burlington Coat Factory to check out their selection, but I think in both our minds we had already settled on the one we had picked out.

Here it is:

They don't keep any in stock at the store so it needed to be ordered. It should arrive in 7-14 days. Hooray! Thank you Doug and Amy for such a generous gift!

Here is the bedding we had picked out which is also at Babies R Us:

Isn't that super cute? Mom already bought the pillow so she make a quillow with the little monkey face on it. :)

After we left the store we headed to Bridgeport to eat a P.F. Chang's since David and I had never been there. By this time we were pretty hungry and since we didn't know when we would get there we didn't make reservations. When we arrived it was an hour and half wait! David called Macaroni Grill to see what that the wait was there. A much easier 25 minute wait. We got a table there and decided that P.F. Chang's will have to wait for another day. After dinner we headed to the theater to see Star Trek. While the theater was full it wasn't really packed. We ended up sitting pretty high up. About 20 minutes into the movie the screen went blank and the emergency lights started to flash. A voice came over the P.A. system telling us that there was an emergency detected and that the building needed to be evacuated! Of course a million things go running through your head and you're thinking the worst. People were just pouring out of the theater. It was amazing to see. It was after the mall had already closed so everyone out there was from the theater.

After about 20 minutes we started getting a little bored...

We began wondering if we should leave when they started letting people back in. I asked one the employees what happened and apparently the emergency alarm was pulled. We got back to our seats and as soon as everyone was seated they started the movie right where we left off.

What a memorable day filled with surprises!

Mmmmm Lemonade

I bought this citrus press last week.

I had been wanting one for some time so it would be a lot easier to make cocktails and mixed drinks. However, with being preggers I decided to initiate it by making some fresh lemonade. I got this recipe out of one of my old Cooking Light magazines. So far it has gotten rave reviews to each person who I given a taste. So give it a try:

(P.S. It's a whole lot easier with a citrus press then by hand- I got mine at Home Goods for $16.99)

Basic Lemonade

Make a simple syrup. Combine 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil for 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, pour into a glass pitcher, and transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely. (Mixture may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.)

Squeeze lemons. Slice about 11 lemons in half, then juice. They'll yield about 1-1/2 cups.

Combine and serve. Pour the lemon juice into the pitcher with the simple syrup, along with 3-1/2 cups of cold water and 2 cups of ice; stir. Garnish with thin slices of lemon, then serve. Yield: about 8 cups

Berry Variation:

This is to give is a more fanciful twist. I made two pitchers: Strawberry and Blackberry mint.

Replace the 1-1/2 cups of lemon juice in the original recipe with 3/4 cup pureed and strained berries of your choice with 3/4 cup lemon juice.

Optional: Add 6 chopped mint leaves for a gourmet and unique taste.

Just a Few More Kinks

Ha! And you thought our plumbing issues were over.
A few days ago David noticed that our downstairs toilet was not draining water. He checked the outside piping and his suspicion was confirmed - we were clogged again! His first thought was that the piping we had done a few weeks ago had become somehow dislodged with the impact of the dirt. He called our regular rooter guy and he said he could be out that morning to take a look. David took the day off of work to wait for him. What they found was a sort of kink about 50ft from the drain outside our house. The pipe was angled wrong and was not causing it to flow down easily to main sewer line thus causing a backup. What we are going to do is reroute the pipe so they connect with out new plumbing we had installed with the new bathroom and then have it come down the slope of the driveway and meet up with the mail line. In order to do this we needed to dig a trench. David got started on it right away and even Dave Hammerstrom had been coming a helping out the last few days while we've been at work. (Thank you Dave!)

Here is what our driveway currently looks like:

Yes, we had to cut into our driveway to get this trench done. The rooter guy we had felt so bad for us that he offered to chop it for us for the cost of the rental.

Our roses had to be dug up too! :(

The trench is almost deep enough, and hopefully we can get the plumbers out here early next week. Just pray that all goes well and this is the last time we have to deal with this issue.

Fun with the Spears

Last weekend John and Nancy came down for another fun-filled visit. Last time they came down we took them to Edgefield for dinner and dip in their lagoon. We had such a fun time we decided that this time we book a couple of rooms and spend the night there. We met them at the lobby Friday evening and checked into our rooms. After a filling dinner at the pub we went to the pool.

We proudly strolled the grounds in out bathrobes and slippers. :)

We stayed there until the pool closed and went back to our room to change a get some dessert. Apparently, that was just too much fun for John and he ended up crashing on his bed and refused to get up. So, the 3 of us went downstairs for brownie sundaes and fruit cobblers.

The next morning we gave John major grief for missing out on the BEST DESSERT EVER and went to the Black Rabbit for breakfast. Then we checked out of our rooms and headed for Multnomah Falls.

Nancy just loves the moss...

We went down to the little museum and while I was reading all about the history of Multnomah Falls here is what my husband was doing...

Yeah...I don't think I'll be taking him to another museum anytime soon... :)

On our way back to the car we heard the sound of a bagpipe playing and when we got to the parking lot we found this:


We also saw a group of people on the other side of the lot dressed all in black and in 19th century wear. To my best guess it was a funeral or memorial service of some sort, but it was interesting to see.

Well, we were not quite finished with out hiking expedition and decided to go over to Elk Rock Island in Milwaukee. When we arrived it started to rain, but thinking it would pass we decided to go anyway, because that's what people who live in the Northwest do apparently. We were more then half way through when it did finally stop.

Yes, you can see me here in all my pregnancy glory.

We went home to get ready for the dinner theater put on by King's Academy.

We had a fun and musically-filled evening interrupted only my the auctions and raffle. One of the items that was raffled was girls pink guitar. Look who won...

It's so pretty. :)

Trying to get a group shot is harder then it looks...

On Sunday we spend the afternoon at our house watching our last installation of Back to the Future and just hanging out. We eventually wandered over to the Hayes' house.

Adam had recently returned from his class trip to Washington DC and he was showing off his souvenirs: A Lincoln Beard and Civil War soldier's hat.

Nancy tried the beard too...


The Spears went back home later that evening. Next time we'll be going up their home, so watch out! :)

Springtime!

Spring is in bloom! The lilacs have finally come in. I really enjoyed the springtime surprises last year. I had no idea what was planted when we bought the house and since it was in the middle of winter there was nothing in bloom. Today I picked a small bouquet of flowers from our yard.

I so do love color! :)

I have an ultrasound scheduled for May 13th to find out if it's a boy or girl. David continues to go back and forth on his guess while I always have been and continue to be convinced it's a boy. With my pregnancy almost half way through we are getting slowly started in converting our computer room into the baby's nursery. First we needed to move the computer downstairs. Before we could do that we needed to get a desk for it. David found one on Craigslist and we had the Comcast guy come out today and install a new cable outlet for the internet. I just need to set up the printer and we set up to go!