Well here it is. Mike finished my entertainment center and I love it! It is 6 ft long and is really pretty. The picture doesn't do it justice. And of course my little girl, I love her hair in pig tails but boy is it a challenge to get it done.

Breech....

Sorry I had to post it. On my last trip home I played a funny joke on my mom and walked by and attached a maxi pad to her back. Worse yet I let her walk around with it there for quite a while so yes I deserved this one. Here ya go mom!

Well we had a dr. apointment about a week ago and our little guy is breech. No worries yet (although most babies are already head down by this point). I am going in again on the 20th for my next appointment so we'll see which position the little squirt is in. My sisiter in-law had her baby early this morning, a little girl 8.5lbs! Congrats Jenny and Chris!

Getting Big!

Alright, well I know it is a little late to put pictures of us carving pumpkins but heck I was busy and didn't get around to it until now.....I've also included a picture of me (although, I really didn't want to) so that mom and other friends could see the belly. It is really starting to pop out there. I am now 28 weeks along and they just moved me to 2 week appointments. My mom just bought a plane ticket to come over in January so hopefully we see some baby action while she is here. I would love to have her there for support. But that would have to make the little guy come a little early seeing as I am not due officially until the 27th but she is leaving on the 26th. Let's hope for the best!!!!

Halloween Fun

We took Ashley trick or treating at the Clinic and she had a blast. She even walked right up to the big guy in a scary costume and took the piece of candy out of his big nasty claw-like hands without flinching. We were so shocked. She wasn't scared of the costumes at all. She did try to "help herself" to some of the candy buckets so mom and dad had to keep an eye out.

Our trip to the pumpkin patch

We took Ashley to the Nelson's Pumpkin patch for her first trip to get pumpkins. We had such fun going through the corn maze and playing basketball with pumpkins. Ashley loved the chance to sit on the monster pumpkin.

We got a new car!

Well we finally did it. Now that we are expecting a little one in January we finally decided it might be a good idea to upgrade to a bigger vehicle. We finally decided on the Toyota Rav4 and really like it. The dealer made us a decent deal, got us a good interest rate and sent us away with happy faces. We were contemplating between a mini van and a suv and decided that the mini van we were eyeing was stretching our budget a little too thin so we opted for the suv. I think we are pretty happy, now I just have to get used to driving an automatic again....

Alright Ellen, Here is your picture. Ours is white but otherwise looks the same. It's a 2007 and drives so nice. I was nervous to take it out on highway 2 (cause I'm a nut) but I did it tonight and oh my it drives so nice. It's the base model with a few additions such as 17 inch alloy wheels, roof rack. But it has all the safety features that Toyota is known for like traction control, ABS, and LSD (no not the drug:)) Plus side, curtain, and front airbags. We were sick of feeling like we were driving in a tin can in both of our compact cars. It feels weird to sit so much higher, I feel like I am on top of the world....Yes I know I am a nut.

My finals are done!

Well I finally finished my finals. What a relief that was. I felt so much better today after having gotten all that out of the way! Now I have to go and register for some more...

Here is Ashley's newest feat! Eating cereal all by herself. Well honestly she has been eating cereal for a while but she just figured out what mommy was doing when she tilted the bowl to get the last of the milk. Oh and now she is tall enough that she can grab a box of cereal (that mommy left on the counter) and take it down. A whole new era of baby proofing is coming....

Copy Cat

Here is my little munchkin trying to copy mommy getting ready for work. What a silly girl. She was walking around putting my hat on and getting in her new little tikes car. Oh and the deodorant, it's funny how much they pick up on at this age. It was absolutely hillarious. She is finally gaining weight after her brush with the ickies. It took weeks for the test results to come back only to find out they were all clear so it must have been a bacterial infection in her digestive tract like they were thinking. Oh well, she is back on reg. milk and getting to eat fruit and veggies. What a happy camper.

Here are the ultrasound pictures from the 18th. He (I think we are going to name him Benjamin Thomas) is weighing in at about 1.3lbs. A little large for his time in utero but we will see.

Well its a BOY!!!!!!!!!!

We had our ultrasound this morning and it's a BOY! We are super excited! Mike will be detailing my car because he lost the bet we made last night so I am getting a clean car out of the deal. I will post the Ultrasound pictures as soon as I get them scanned in. "He" is measuring a week larger than we thought so my due date is between 20 Jan and 27 Jan. The ultrasound tech and the dr. disagreed.....Oh well, at least I have that range to plan on.
Whoohooo now I've got to get looking for clothes and more BOY stuff.....this should be fun.

Were back!

Well Ashley and I arrived home from our trip to Washington last night after 24 hours of traveling. Yikes! But at least the train and plane rides went much smoother this time around. There were no delays nor any uncontrollable screaming babies (hint hint Ashley). Whooohooo for that one.

Here are a couple of pictures from the wedding. It was such great fun to get the group of us girls back together again.

OH and one piece of GOOD NEWS....

I got an email today from Mike and a phone call "hey did you check your email yet...go check it now!!!" So upstairs I went to check my email and was absolutly shocked at what I found out.

MIKE GOT STAFF Sergent!!!!

He made the cut off for this cycle by mere weeks as he just put on SrA in November. He didn't study a wink because he really didn't want to make is as he put it "as soon as he gets staff and they get him up to a 7 level they will ship his butt off" and lord knows we need him home for a little while at least. But he got it anyway so that is great! His line number is some 12,000 or something so it will be some time but at least he got it! He just signed up for honor guard so regardless that gives him 8 months of no deployments!!!!!! So we will be safe until a little after the baby is born.

Whoohoo, Congrats Mike! I am so proud.

A trip from hell....

Well my trip back home hasn't started off on a good foot, not even a bad foot, I would have to say more like an amputated stub.

It started off with my amtrak train running 4 hours late. Thankfully I had about 7 hours before my flight left msp so I had time to make that. Ashley had a rough night on the train and I got harrassed by some mean amtrak passengers for having a crying child. So I spent almost 3 hours pacing the lower level and sitting in the ladies bathroom/lounge to please the other passengers. I felt awful not to mention tired. If finally got her to sleep around 6am and was able to catch a few hours of interupted sleep there. My amtrak finally arrived in MSP at 11:30am (instead of the 7:15 am scheduled arrival).

The cab ride to the airport was fine, uneventful and welcomed.

We boarded our 1st plane headed to Dallas at 1:50 and Ashley screamed and I mean screamed for the 1st 45 minutes of our 2 hour flight....or so we thought. She finally fell asleep and was quite until the crew announced that we were within 25 mins of dallas. Then about 5 mins later they announced that there was a thunderstorm over dallas and they were not allowing us to land. So we circled dallas for the next hour until we recieved the announcement that we were running out of fuel and had to divert to Littlerock, AR to refuel. Another 45 min flight to littlerock where we landed 4th in line for the refueling truck. Over 2 hours later we were okayed for takeoff and headed back to dallas to land. We were all cleared for landing at dallas so everything was looking up, but then we had to wait for 5-10 minutes that turned into another 1 1/2 hours waiting to taxi up to our gate. It took over 8 hours for us to make a 2 hour flight to Dallas and to make it even better Ashely was not the happiest camper nor did the airline offer anything more than one beverage service and a small bag of pretzles.

I was in the very back of the plane so was one of the very last passangers deboarding the plane. As I approached a turn I felt weak and lightheaded and collapsed. I was offered water and a sugar cookie and then pushed in a wheelchair to my next gate. Needless to say the lady at the counter recieved an earfull from a very unhappy Mandy. I think I was stressed, dehydrated, starving, and did I say stressed from dealing with a toddler on a plane for 8 hours.

I then grabbed a bite to eat from a deli in the airport and boarded a plane for another 4 hour flight to seattle. Yikes, to say I was a nervous wreck was an understatement. Thankfully this flight went over much better and Ashley only cried for a minute during takeoff and then fell asleep until we were landing when she cried again. But overall this flight was a well needed rest break for me both mentally and physcially. Then.....

at baggage claim I learned that they had lost my baggage. 2 pieces of luggage and my carseat. Wonderful....I am surprised I was able to keep a smile on my face and wring the neck of the poor guy helping me to file a complaint for my lost luggage. As of this time right now I just recieved a phone call saying that my luggage should be delivered in the next four hours. Whoohoo, I can get a clean change of underwear :) Thankfully my mother is about the same size as I am so I was able to sneak into her closet to find some shorts and a tee shirt to wear for the time being.

Well thats about it for now. I will update again soon.....

Breayne's getting married!

So I am leaving this Sunday after work to go back to WA state to be the maid of honor in Breayne my best friend since 2nd grade's wedding. It is going to be an evening wedding in a zoo and I think it will be just stunning. I am nervous about the toast but I am sure it will go fine. Maybe a little stuttering or some tears but hopefully I can hold it together! Sorry Brea I had to do it. This is a picture of us at our 8th grade graduation. Brea is on the far left next to me!
Wow it has been a while since I pulled out those photos.

Greater Grand Forks Fair...

We had a good time at the fair. Ashley was able to go on 2 rides which she really enjoyed. It was a much smaller fair than we are used to but we had a fun time anyway. Mike was sweet enough to catch a picture of a "Cow Pie" so I have included that one for your viewing pleasure!

Pushing fun!

Chloe came over last week and her and Ashley really enjoyed our garage sale find. It kept them entertained for quite a while.

Baby, Baby, Baby...

Well I finally had my OB appointment and after a little scare of not finding a heartbeat and getting sent down for an impromtu ultrasound we learned that we are not as far along as I was thinking. We are officially 10 weeks along (not 14 like I thought). This now puts us with a due date of 27 January we hit the 2 year mark pretty close because Ashley's due date was 30 Jan. So we will see what happens... Here are the pictures from the ultrasound. It more or less looks like a little blob but if you look carefully you can see a head, body, arm, and a faint leg.

I was a matchup instawinner!

Well I finally entered in my game pieces and I won an instawinner coupon good at any of 6 services locations. Whooohooo! I never win things!

Here is Ashley in her bumble bee costume that she HAD to put on. She tried on her cow one also and loved them both.
I have my first OB appointment in the morning so I will finally have a due date...

things are calming down here....

Well finally things are calming down here.

Mike fixed the Ford and now it is running fine again. Plus the new alternator that he put in has a lifetime warranty. So if the darn thing goes out again, we get a free replacement and Mike already knows how to install it!

Mike broke the door handle on the Toyota so now it looks pretty trashy. We have to order a new part to replace it. But it is rigged right now so you can still open it from the outside so at least that works.

Our puppy Macy is finally getting the hang of potty training. Ahhh, I hate potty training! But hopefully she will finish up her "training" soon so I don't have to deal with anymore "uh oh's"!

Oh and the pregnancy. I think I am about 11-12 weeks along right now. I have to wait until the 30th for my OB appointment to find out for sure. So it looks like I missed most of the 1st trimester without even knowing I was preggo. So I am feeling good with very little morning sickness or anything else.

My sweet darling Ashley got into mommy's twix candy bar yesterday while I was cooking dinner. I thought, hmm it's too quiet, and went to go check on her and she was sitting on the couch with her face covered in melted chocolate. She wasn't good enough to get that candy bar completely out of the wrapper so she insisted on sucking on the wrapper which made a huge melty mess. What a dear! And then at the same time I turned around and Macy had stolen a roll of TP and shredded it all over the carpet. Wonderful!!!!

Ahh, I hate FORDS!!!!

Ahh I hate our FORD! I will never again buy one!!!!! Our Focus is a 2002 and just hit 30,000 (well 32,162 to be exact) and guess what....On our drive into town yesterday our battery idiot light came on. We took it to Sears (cause no one else is open on Sundays in GF) and our alternator is going out. What, our alternator! Ugh, Sears wanted to charge over 400.00 for new one and installation. Nope, don't think so. We went and ordered a new part from the auto store (168.00) and Mike is going to do it himself. I just cant believe that they can be so crappy! My poor toyota is a 97 and the only work I have had to do to the darn thing is a replace a flat tire (my fault) , and put in a new battery (also my fault for parking it all summer long in the garage and never starting it up)! Our next vehicle will be either a honda or toyota, no more of this made in the USA (well part of it b/c our ford is made in Mexico and assembled here)AHHHH, cars, I hate them~!

Sprinkler Fun!

Ashley got her first chance to really play in the sprinkler. She loved it. The water was really cold but felt nice considering it was 94 degrees outside. She hasn't donned a swim suit yet this season but we are hoping to head to the pool this weekend to go swimming.