Growing, growing, growing

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed (Mackenzie and Ashleigh)

Me in February (5 months)

Me in March (6 1/2 months)

Rob and Ashleigh hanging out 03/25/07

It has been a while since my last posting and I guess between the nice spring-time weather we're having and watching another toddler in addition to my own keeps me really busy. As you can see from the two pictures I posted, the first taken February 18th and the second taken March 25th, I've grown quite a bit in the last month. I'm now almost 29 weeks along in my pregnancy and pretty convinced I'm having a boy, even though we aren't finding out. I have another ultrasound this Friday, so I'll also post an update after the appointment. We're praying that all goes well and that the kidneys are back to normal size. Thank you for all your prayers!

I'm going through the book of Psalms and happened upon my posted verse on Tuesday and was reminded that everyday with our children is a gift from the Lord. It's up to him how long he gives us with them. I got Ashleigh's picture taken on Monday by a Christian girl who is ex-military and had twin girls that were born a day before Ashleigh. They were taken away to be with the Lord after 4 hours and 9 hours and I asked her if it's hard to work with kids or twins Ashleigh's age. She said she learned a lot about life in Iraq and has peace about it - that everything happens for a reason. Amazing! It was the next day I re-read my verse and it spoke to me in a different kind of way.

Doctors and Ultrasounds

I am now almost 25 weeks along in my pregnancy, had my third ultrasound this morning, and am scheduled for a fourth one in four weeks. We aren't finding out the sex of the baby before it's born, and for now we're calling it Jr. Good news is that the placenta is moving away from the cervix, so no more risk of placenta previa. Bad news is that Jr's kidneys are showing that they're dilated, which could either mean an obstruction and/or a Downs indicator. I declined the triple screen in the beginning to determine whether the baby has Down Syndrome as we would have this baby regardless of the outcome of that test. Sometimes I wonder if we really need to know this much to have a healthy and successful birth. There isn't much that can be done in the meantime while they're in the womb, other than worry about things that we may not need to worry about at all! I declined the doctor's suggestion to go see a maternal specialist and opted for another ultrasound to check it again at the next appointment instead.

Here are two pictures from the first ultrasound at my 20-week appointment. We have printed 3D pictures of the face, but not electronically. That was a goof-up on the office's part as they didn't make it onto the CD. They promised to have them at my 28-week appointment, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Things are good with us, otherwise. Busy, but that's the life of a mom. I am getting my rest during Ashleigh's nap time and exercise about 3x a week on our treadmill (walking). Enjoy the picts!

Christmas, Sledding, and Snow

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. January has nearly passed and I have yet to post a blog for the month or Christmas pictures, for that matter. As an update to the last month, we have gotten snow every week for the last six weeks and I'm getting pretty tired of the snow and cold. They never came by to plow or streets either so now we have six inch high ice ruts that several cars and even minivans and trucks have gotten stuck in while getting into or out of their driveways on our street. Typical Colorado winters have snow and cold, but then it's 60 F for a week and all the snow is gone. I'd say with all these snow storms and our north-facing yard, that the pile in front of our house is about the same as it was when I took the blizzard pictures in December.

I've been feeling well and am now half-way through my pregnancy. I have my ultrasound appointment this Friday, but we're waiting until the delivery this time to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl. It'll probably drive me nuts since I'm a planner type, but these last 20 weeks have flown by, so we don't have too much longer to wait and see. I find this pregnancy to be easier than when I was pregnant with Ashleigh and I think it's the extra rest and not working full-time that's helped.

Our Christmas was good, even though the three of us were sick with colds. We went sledding and to church on Christmas Eve and to my brother's house for brunch Christmas day and to my in-laws parents' house for Christmas dinner. Here are a few pictures from Christmas.

Rob and Ashleigh decorating a gingerbread house

Bundled up in our front yard in front of our 'sledding hill'

Ashleigh sledding on Christmas Eve at our house

Jacob, Mackenzie, Ashleigh, and Ashley at church

The family after church on Christmas Eve

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve

My brother and Ashleigh on Christmas Day

Christmas Day at Rob's parents'

Grandma and Ashleigh on Christmas

December Blizzard

Out our front door

Out the back door

Passing time with our neighbor Chase

I haven't posted in a while. Maybe it's the busyness of the Christmas season or the distractions that come with the family spending Thanksgiving weekend very ill and my 30th birthday. I've been quite inspired today though to tell the tale of Rob trying to get home from work (remember it's 50 miles) in a blizzard. It starts with a forecasted 2' of snow in Denver and 16" of that in Boulder by 3 pm yesterday. Rob drove the Daewoo into work as usual and not the truck, but even four-wheel drive won't save you in 2' of drifting and blowing snow. As some of you know who live in Denver, they closed the Boulder Turnpike from noon through most of the day Wednesday, so Rob had to find an alternate route home. He spent about five hours going 10 miles. The problem with traffic at a standstill is running out of gas, so he probably would have been OK if he could have found gas, but with 1/4 tank left, he asked me to find a gas station between him and tollway, without having to backtrack. I found one on Mapquest using their gas station pin-pointer, and gave him directions. I called since from the map, it looked like a neighborhood and the cashier said it was their corporate office (no gas). Calling him back, he was already there realizing the same thing and made a U-turn. He ended up getting stuck in the neighborhood and trying to dig out for an hour and a half. We are grateful for the good samaritan that gave him a shovel and took him in for the night in Lafayette. In the morning, he was still stuck with no sign of the snow stopping. I called for a towtruck, but they were either busy helping the Broomfield Police get to work or taking their downtime from working until 4 am. Rob ended up making it out on his own. Did he head for home after all this?!? No, he went back into work for two hours, showered and had lunch there, then came home, finally arriving around 4 pm (of course, not before getting stuck in our neighborhood once more). Meanwhile, at home, Ashleigh and I hunkered down for the storm and went out today in the snow gear and carrying Ashleigh in the backpack over to our neighbors' house down the street. I fell once in a big drift and it was impossible to get back up in the powder with 30 lbs on your back and pregnant! So I ended up taking the backpack off to stand up again. I'm sure many others will have tales to tell of the blizzard of 2006, but this one is pretty good.

Pooh Bear Halloween

Ashleigh dressed up as Pooh bear for Halloween and we celebrated at our church's Fall Harvest Festival complete with games, horse and carriage rides, a bouncy castle, and lots of candy. She's a little young for the bouncy castle and they scare her right now. She did have fun with the games and candy though. It's great having a safe and fun environment that's indoors (it was 25F here on Halloween night) for celebrating Halloween. Last year, we tried door to door trick or treating and went to the neighbors we knew, but this year was much more fun seeing our friends and their kids dressed up in costume too.

On a side note, I started watching our neighbor's daughter on Halloween. Here's a picture of she and Ashleigh at the Harvest Festival. She's about 10 months younger than Ashleigh is and so far, they're getting along really well. There are some jealousy issues, but it's good for Ashleigh to realize she isn't the center of the universe.