The Place, The Belly, The Goats, and Big Stories

Like my title says this post will be about our new place, my big belly, Penny and her goats at the zoo and the big stories in the time we have lived here.  I will be going in that order, in case you are wondering...haha!

Ok, So, I finally had every room in my house clean and was able to take pictures.  I don't know if it totally does justice on the amount of space we have but I can tell you that this place has over 6 massive closets.  It is really great!  I wasn't given the talent of decorating or the means to do it, so it may look bland to you, but it is home to me:)

Here is our dining room

 Kitchen, with lots of cabinets that are really deep! Not a ton of counter space but I was working with none in Milwaukee.

 Living room and Entry way

 Penny's bedroom, she has a walk in closet.  It is pretty nice.

 Our Bedroom

 1/2 Bath, downstairs by living room.

 Master bath, upstairs by our bedrooms

Well that should give you a general idea of the place that we live.  We also have a basement but it isn't that exciting.  We also have a patio but it is boring...  Well not boring it is just cement.  Chuck loves its:)

Next we have my belly... These pictures aren't that great.  I look gross because I didn't do my hair today, it is just too hot!   I will be 17 wks tomorrow.  This baby is a mover.  I have felt him/her a lot and am looking forward to an ultrasound in the near future to tell me the gender ( all of our guesses are another girl:)) We couldn't get the lighting right since our walls are a light yellow so Chuck make me go out on the patio against the brick.  I like the top one better than the bottom, but oh well:)  I can't tell you how much weight I have gained because I don't know, but I think it is 4lbs.  That is mighty better than with Penny.  This pregnancy I have still been dealing with morning sickness but, it is usually when I have had a crappy nights sleep.  Other than that, things seem to be going good.  I have a Dr. appt on Friday so we will go from there!

We have a zoo pass here so, we have been taken advantage of that on days that it is nice.  Penny just loves the zoo.  When we get near she can see the waterpark slides and she instantly gets very excited.  She screams WEEEE!! and then laughs.  She has 2 things there that are an absolute must each time we go.  Brush the goats, and ride the carousel.  They have this pen that has about 10-15 goats and a bucket full of brushes.  You can just get a brush and go brush them!  Those of you that know Penny well know that she is quite into brushing hair so of course it would be a favorite event. 

 This little white and brown one is her favorite.  She always goes to her.  The last time Penny brushed her hair she fell asleep, so I think she likes Penny and her technique:)

When I was little we went to Lagoon and my Mom has pictures of me screaming on the carousel.  Penny is quite the opposite.  She screams when it is over and has to get off.

Oh Penny we will come again!!

The stories I have to share are quite dramatic.  At least they are to us.  The first night we moved in Penny got a minor concussion.  The way our basement is set up, is that the stairs have only one wall and the other side is open to the basement floor.  Penny decided to wear my shoes and go down the stairs to follow dad.  Unfortunately, the side of the stairs that has the hand rail is the open side.  I know that she was holding on to the railing, because she always does.  All I heard was a smack and loud thud, and then a few seconds later Penny screaming in a cry I have never heard before.  She took a long time to take a breath, I think she had the wind knocked out of her pretty bad.  We took her upstairs and Chuck looked her head over for any bumps, we couldn't find anything, so we assumed that she hadn't hit her head.  Well about 5 minutes later she fell asleep.  Not a very good sign after falling down, but because she didn't seem lethargic like most concussion cases, we just thought it was the move, late nights, and no naps.  I put her in bed and about an hour later went and checked on her.  She immediately started to puke.... and puke....and puke.  Then we started to get worried.  Chuck examined her and she was just very alert.  We just watched her during the night and when she woke up the next morning it was like nothing was wrong.  She ate, and kept everything down.  It wasn't until I pulled her hair up that day that I noticed that the top of her ear and the surrounding area was a very deep shade of black and purple!  We thought, well there is her head injury.  We felt so bad for her.  She is fine now.  It was just very scary, especially after just moving in.  

My other story is about the crazy time we had with no electricity.  On Friday, some of you may have heard that we got slammed with a high wind, rain and lightning storm.  I tell you, I have never seen the sky so black.  Nor have I seen the wind so strong.  Chuck was working that night till 10pm.  So I didn't want to make dinner.  I decided to just put in a frozen pizza for Penny and I.  It was about 4:55pm that I started to preheat my oven.  As soon as I heard the beep for preheat, my power turned off.  I was bummed, but thought that the power would be back on in a few hours tops!  Me and Penny sat and watched as the storm came.  It was pretty powerful, and I later learned that the wind was 85 mph, which is a hurricane force wind. I started to get worried at about 7:30.  So I called the power company and of course It was an automated machine telling me that my power was out and they had a high volume of calls...DUH!  I just wanted to know when the estimated time my power would come back on.  I put Penny to bed, and it was getting dark outside.  So I called Stacey and she was so nice to sit and keep me company till Chuck came home.  Otherwise I would have just sat in the dark, hungry and alone, with nothing to do.  I didn't have a flashlight, so it wasn't like I could pick up a book.  Finally Chuck came home and I went and got us some food.  It was a ghost town, all the lights were just out.  The street lights, stop lights, everything.  I found a White Castle, which by the way were the worst burgers Chuck and I have ever ate, but we weren't going to complain because we were starving.  I wouldn't recommend White Castle...  Anyways, I kept thinking during the night that the power would come back on... Nope! The next morning a gal from our neighborhood came over and told me that the power was going to be out for 3-5 days!  Can you believe that!  I was so overwhelmed by the amount of time.  I had someone from the ward with power freeze my meat.  Then the next night (sat) the power came on at about 8.  So we were without power for 27 hours!  I know that sounds pitiful that I was freaking out, but being pregnant in 90+ weather and humidity makes for one nauseous lady.  We were so excited when the power came on, and glad it wasn't the predicted 3-5 days.  Right now there are still people without power.  Statewide here in Ohio there was about 600,000 people without power after that storm blew through.  It was a crazy adventure.  Well that is all for now! Until next time:)

We went Camping

We made it to OHIO!  We love our new apartment and we love the area!  I will post pictures of our place later when I take them:)  Chuck had his first day today.  I was a little sad seeing him leave this morning.  It is just really really nice to have someone there with me during the day, but I can't be that spoiled:)  We have been going to the zoo a lot!!  Our friends Sarah and Ben bought us a year membership for watching their sweet little girl.  They are so nice to do that!  Let me tell you, it has been used A LOT!  We love our Zoo here.  I have never been to a zoo before that you could interact with the animals so much.  There are a lot of animals that you can pet and others you can walk into their habitat and they are just all around you.  I need some visitors so I can take you to the zoo!  We decided that before Chuck started that we would go camping.  Now, most of you know, I do like camping, but I always get sick.  Almost every year at girls camp I left throwing up!  This trip was much different:)  It was really fun!  We did have a small raccoon problem.  They literally had no fear at all.  They would think that we couldn't see them or something.  They stole Penny's bag of crackers, and I could hear them in the night getting into the charcoal.  I hope they tried to eat it and got a nasty surprise:) 

There was a resevior there so Penny and Chuck put their feet in.  Penny decided to sit in it, but that's ok:)  The next morning we made pancakes and eggs and hit the road.  I don't think that Penny got a very restful nights sleep.  She ended up puking on the way home!  I hope I didn't pass my curse on to her:(  But she was fine the rest of the day, especially after she got a nap:) 
Since Chuck has started work again he has his first overnight shift coming up.  He wanted to find a bed, that we would eventually pass on to Penny when this baby was born, to sleep in after he came home from overnight call.  He couldn't find one that was very reasonable so he decided to make one!  Talk about talent!!

Isn't it great!  He is going to do that slats like they do at Ikea.  That is what we have on our bed, instead of box springs.  It literally took him less than 4 hours to build and it only cost him less than $40!  That is great!  I feel like I have the most handy husband:)  It is also nice that our place has a basement that will be nice and cool and dark for him to sleep in.  Hopefully he can't hear me and Penny running around upstairs.  Well,  keep posted, I will post pictures of our place and our dramatic first night here in Columbus!  It is a wild story, let me tell ya!

All of the Exciting Things!

This month has been very exciting for us.  This is going to be a long post so, bear with me.  I promise it will be interesting:)  First, Chuck became a doctor!  Crazy!  During his graduation I was so emotional, I have never felt so much pride!  Chuck has worked so hard in school and now he is done, it is a very sweet moment.  Here he is walking and getting his diploma.

Chuck in his cool outfit:)  We kept teasing him that it looks like Harry Potter robes but he started to get mad, so we laid off him, haha!

Since I can't keep this a secret any longer,  we are adding another little Burtis to our family this December!  We are so excited!!!  I have been feeling a lot different from when I was pregnant with Penny.  I have only thrown up once this time around, with Penny I was throwing up multiple times a day for about 2 weeks.  I had a first trimester screen this time around.  Mostly I wanted to get one last look at the babe before we moved.  Everything looked good!  The technician was super nice and took a peak to see if we could tell if it was a boy or girl at all, and she said that she suspects that it is a girl!  Nothing set in stone yet obviously,  I am only 12 wks.  WE ARE SO EXCITED!!  So many fun things in the our little family.  I hope I don't jinx us by saying that:)

And then that brings us to now.  Today is our last night in Milwaukee.  It is a little bittersweet!  We have enjoyed Milwaukee and have great memories here.  It has been hard to say goodbye to friends.   I feel like 4 years is only enough time to get pretty close to people, then we leave:(  It is ok though.  I like change and handle it pretty well.  I like new adventures!  Columbus better be ready for us! 
Of course, it wouldn't be a post without a little Penny.  She has been so mischievous lately!  It is unreal!  She gets into the fridge and gets whatever she wants.  Sometimes I catch her eating lunch meat or trying to fill her sippy cup with milk.  Sometimes she brings me things to open for her, sometimes she doesn't....  Well we have been busy packing and I had an appointment one morning.  Chuck was left at home with Penny.  He said it became very quiet and so he went into the bathroom this is what he found.

That is her rubbing Calamine lotion all over the place!  What a messy little pest:)  At least she likes to clean herself!

Well I will be MIA for awhile.  With moving, we have to get the internet situation figured out and we have to get organized after moving.  Goodbye Milwaukee, it's been real.

The Senior Gala and self portraits

I haven't blogged with pictures for quite awhile.  I realized that there was a lot that happened in between.  First Penny got terribly sick.  Well, not terribly but me and her were both miserable.  We first got colds that turned into nasty!  We both had infections in our eyes and poor Penny could hardly open her eyes. Especially in the morning.  It wasn't pink eye.  It was a type of bacterial flu.  

Anyways after we got better came Easter!  We ended up being in Columbus, looking for housing, so I never got pictures of Penny in her cute dress.  But she did have an Easter egg hunt with her friends at playgroup!

These were the best pictures I could get.  She was much more interested playing on the little play ground.  OH WELL! haha

Then we had the Gala.  This was a semi-formal celebration for the graduating Seniors. We had some delicious food and fun dancing. I found a 'fancy' dress, and we got all dolled up.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with my cute girlfriends that I have been with for the past 4 years.  It is going to be extremely hard saying goodbye to the wonderful women! ( and husbands:) they are pretty awesome too, especially been great friends to Chuck).  It was a very fun night.  We got a babysitter for Penny, Jenny.  Who I am so grateful for!  It was truly a great night knowing that Penny was safe at home with another great friend! 

 It really is going to be so hard to say good bye to everyone!  It seems strange that these 4 years are over.  I have made some great friends that can not be replaced!

The next pictures are funny pictures of Penny.  She has gotten pretty good and taking her own picture.  It is quite funny!  These\ first pictures aren't self portraits but I thought she looked like a little punk rock girl with her skinny jeans and hat.  Then she ate a green popsicle...

Above and below are her own doing.  It is funny that she seems to be posing!

I know not very interesting to most people, but I think it is pretty good that she actually got her face!  Don't mind her booger that becomes ever present as the picture progresses.  Well that brings us up to now.  We are getting ready for graduation and company to come visit.  Then, we move!