Friday, June 27, 2008

Baby games

I had never really thought about it before, but yes, you can in fact play with a baby while it is inside of the mom. My husband has discovered that this week...he felt the baby move for the first time on Sunday, when he blew on my stomach, she reacted with a rather strong kick. So he discovered that he doesn't have to wait for her to move on her own, he can encourage her to move. She will also respond to poking. Its fun, and she isnt strong enough yet to really keep me awake (except when her daddy is poking and blowing on my belly...a little hard to sleep then!) so I'm really enjoying the past week of pregnancy. It is going so fast I know it will be over before I know it! I have another doctor visit, just a regular checkup this afternoon and if the chances of storms are great enough, then I have the whole day off. If, however, the chances of storms isn't so great I have to work and camp out overnight with work. So, I am kinda hoping for storms....

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Class Reunion

Has it been ten years already since I left high school? Yesterday, I received an invitation for my 10 year class reunion. I will not be able to attend, because of the fact I don't live near Branson, but I thought in honor of my ten year class reunion I would make a list of the things I miss about high school. Um....let's see. Things I miss about high school. Is there anything I miss about high school? No bills. I had no bills to pay when I was in high school, that was good. I would like to not have any bills. So that's my list. That's all I can think of. I actually am quite happy with life right now and would not repeat the teenage years, even if given the opportunity. Life is definitely much better now. So, as it has for the past ten years, we will just go with the assumption that life just keeps getting better.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Photos

I have to work late today. Therefore I have time to add a few pictures to my blog for a change. My mother took pictures last week when they were here, although she made me look directly into the sun. Neal and I keep talking about getting pictures of me, but we never think about it until I am already in my jammies and those arent pictures I really want to post online:)


So this morning with a little help from Boots and Kendall (they thought they were helping anyway) I tried to get a picture so I could actually post it online.


Here are the pictures.


Week 20



Week 21

Monday, June 23, 2008

Crafty Fat Cat

I think Garfield must be his hero. Bootskitty that is. He is fat, and lazy, although I've recently discovered a hidden talent of his. He has figured out how to pop the lid off of the bucket of cat food, at least when I dont secure it to where it is hard for me to get in! And who knows what else he gets into while we are gone. I'm pretty sure him and Kendall work as a team to get into stuff! But Kendall runs and works off extra pounds. Boots simply lounges, therefore, they add up. I got on the scales holding him the other day. I am not really sure who is gaining weight faster...me or the cat! He was at 21.5 pounds, and we are just not going to say what I'm up to, but it is definitely the most I've ever weighed, but I think my excuse is better than Boot's excuse.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Coming Soon...

It has gotten to that point where you can actually tell I'm pregnant, depending on what I'm wearing at least, so we are going to start taking my picture once a week so that even though my best friends are hundreds of miles away you can still see how I'm growing. Baby is definitely getting bigger and stronger. I feel her move every day now. My husband was able to feel her a little bit this morning, but so far she stops moving every time he can feel her. Its just starting to be enough movement that you can see it on the outside and subsequently feel it on the outside.

I must tell you that so far however, I think my sister was terribly disappointed with the fact that I'm not fat. Hopefully the baby grows a lot more than I do:)

Now, I must give in to my addiction and see if I can find any bargains at the local garage sales this morning....

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Long Days

Today we will wrap up our outdoor skills camp. I'm only required to be there for the afternoon today but I am already up and will probably arrive well before noon. I just feel bad when I know that there are plenty of other people that have put in just as many hours as I have and will be there all day today without complaining! And most of them dont even get paid for it. So whenever we get finished with all this I will try to post on a more regular basis. But for now, I'm going to try to get some rest.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Jealous Puppy

I am pretty sure that whenever the baby arrives, there will be one terribly jealous puppy in the house. That is, until the baby gets big enough that they can plot together to get into things. Kendall is just a little on the spoiled side anyway, getting attention pretty much whenever she wants, and being the center of attention whenever we have company. But maybe as long as Grandpa still pays attention to her she won't get overly jealous. She also gets concerned about things and will probably let us know whenever the baby wiggles, cries or does anything else. It could be very interesting....

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Baby on the Way

I did have my ultrasound yesterday. It was neat that we got to see the baby moving around and even got a minute or two of the 3-d ultrasound as an added bonus. Baby is right on track for the November 6 due date. I still say with my luck if I don't vote absentee that is probably when it will decide to make an appearance! So without any further comments, here are the pictures we got yesterday. The first two are the 3-d---looks like baby has a mohawk. The next is the profile adn the final one is the answer to Thursday's question.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Comments, anyone?

Ok, so I know you are reading this, and the counter keeps going up, so I know you keep coming back, but what I don't know are anyone's opinions. So in an attempt to get you to comment, I want you to post a comment on theh baby. I go for an ultrasound tomorrow and if the little baby cooperates we will know if we are having a boy or a girl. So I want to know your thoughts, BEFORE you know if it is a boy or girl...any guesses? I considered saying if you post a comment you will find out before others, but then I thought that probably wouldnt work, so just let me know you are out there! Now, laundry, dinner and dishes await!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Early Mornings

For those of you that are faithful at checking my blog, you may have noticed that my normal morning posts have vanished, replaced infrequently by evening posts. Throughout the month of June I have been involved in Outdoor Skills Camp at work, which requires me to be at work by 7:30, and when it is a 45 minute drive...you get the idea, especially if you've seen me function in the early morning. And then when I return home in the evenings, I try to type something if I can keep my eyes open long enough to get anything typed:) Tonight is no exception, I am tired, especially after fighting the wind all day, however I received my most recent ebay purchases today (25 pieces of maternity clothes for $30--I should be set now!) and would like to get them washed and put away before I go to bed. Plus my dear husband is mowing the yard, even though it makes his allergies flare up, and I feel guilty not working when he is working so hard. So now I'm off to clean up the mess from dinner and any other mess we have made so that my house might actually be prepared for company on Friday.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Summer Food

It has come to the time of year when all the comfort foods of winter are not what I am wanting to eat. Nice juicy watermelon, BLTs, taco salad, and barbeque are the foods that I want when I get home (not weird pregnancy cravings, just hot all day and those are cool foods). Tonight for dinner I have prepared bacon, tomatoes (don't worry they were grown in a local greenhouse), lettuce and fresh squeezed lemonade. I also have fresh watermelon and cantaloupe in the fridge. So even though it wasnt really hot today but the bacon and tomato sandwiches still sounded good.

Any other good summertime meals you like to fix? Criteria are that it doesnt heat the house up and is easy to prepare, and tastes good after a long day of work in the sun. Thanks in advance for you suggestions.

Friday, June 6, 2008

A Puppy's Talent

Sometimes we come home and are just left speechless by the acts of one little miniature schnauzer. You've all heard about the potatoes. Then there were the jelly beans, hot chocolate, ho hos, more things than I can easily list quickly. Then the other day, she had a new trick. One of my coworkers had given me a couple boxes of poptarts and they were on the table. We had been eating them, so one of the boxes was a little bit open, but standing upright on the table, still with a walmart sack around it. We get home from work and there are poptart crumbs and a crumpled wrapper next to them. Ok, so easy to deduct that the dog had gotten on the table and helped herself. What was amazing was that she never moved the box, it was still upright and hadnt fallen over. If only she knew how to throw away the evidence, she would never get caught in a lot of her acts. But then again, maybe she does and there are things we just don't know about......

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Storms

I think it has almost been 24 hours since any rain fell, with high winds and strong thunderstorms expected tonight. I wonder if I'll have any luck with fire starting in 40 mph winds....maybe I should develop a backup plan so I dont ignite the entire conservation area. Anyway, night before last it did storm. A very slow moving storm. For a long time, it stayed just to our north, with doppler indicating tornados and everything, including lots of lightning. While I was inside, watching slightly fuzzy tv on an antennae because the cable was out (ok, I admit after about five minutes I was SOUND asleep), my husband kept checking the weather himself from the front porch. Here is what it looked like. A little luck and a lot of lightning helped to capture this picture. While it is a neat picture, I hope we don't have any major storms tonight to get pictures of because it really disrupts Kendall's sleep, which in turn disrupts everyone else in the house sleeping.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Drawing a blank

I sat down about ten minutes ago to write this. So far, I've come up with nothing witty, creative, amusing or entertaining. All that has been going through my head are corny quotes from Jeff Dunham. And wondering what exactly it is that the puppy dog does all day. Sometimes, whatever it is really wears her out, other days she still has lots of energy. The days are probably more exciting when we get a package delivered...there is someone to bark at for five minutes. So now, I think I will play with the puppy instead of continuing to write things that are probably less than interesting.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Magnesium fire starter

Have you ever tried to start a fire with one of those magnesium fire starters that they sell at any sporting goods store and even walmart. The plus sides..they are cheap, wetness does not affect them, they are small, lightweight, and will produce a guaranteed spark if you follow the simple instructions. So, have you ever tried to actually build a fire with one of these?

Imagine this, you are out in the woods, and because you found this handy dandy fire starter for just a couple dollars you figured, hey, it will work to get me warm and to have heat to make smores. Sounds logical, right? (totally hypothetical) So you get out to the woods and pull out your magnesium fire starter. You pull out a pocket knife to shave the magnesium. After an hour of scraping, you might have enough shavings to equal the dime sized pile you are supposed to have to build a fire. That is, if it isn't windy and they didnt all blow away as you scraped, making your efforts fruitless. (or in this case, fireless). So you turn it over, strike the knife against the side and waalaa you have a spark. Ok, now you just have to figure out how to get that spark to go in the right direction and to land on the pile you worked so diligently to make. Another hour passes, and suddenly, there it is, a spark lands on the magnesium. You have the fire you wanted, except now when you add the rest of the essentials of a fire, you realize that bedtime has arrived because you spent all evening trying to build the fire. So you stop adding fuel and sit, watching the stars, wondering, will the fire ever die so you can go to sleep? You worked too hard to put water on this fire, if you are lucky, maybe a spark will remain for a breakfast fire.

That was totally hypothetical, but this month during our Outdoor Skills programs at work, I am in charge of teaching wilderness survival which includes a large part of fire building, and I have been having the kids attempt to build fires using different methods, one of which is the magnesium block. Even with some charclothe provided by one of our youth volunteers, those kids would never have gotten a fire started. The match and dryer lint worked much better!

So give it a try sometime, see how well you fare at building fire with a magnesium fire starter, then be thankful that you have not relied on it, pull out some waterproof matches and build your fire!