Feeling Crafty!

Lately, I have been in the crafty mood.  I had made Penny another owl hat because I wasn't entirely satisfied with the first one.  I also made a felt Halloween wreath and a complete crocheted outfit for baby sister.  I am feeling a little burned out for now.  My hands have started to cramp from all the crochet and cutting, but I felt like it was all worth it.  I was pretty proud of my projects. 

Here is the outfit I made for our new little girl. The hat was fairly simple but, I had to do the dress over 5 times because I didn't understand the pattern.  It wasn't written very well and eventually I just figured it out.  I hope this little girls feet are little and dainty because the little booties are quite small.  These were the second pair I made and I think they turned out really cute.  The dress is mostly done in shell stitches, which I think makes it look quite delicate.  All of these were done with a much heavier thread than what I was supposed to use. But I wanted it to be deep red and even though the pictures look more tomato red, it is much more cranberry dark red. 

 Front

 Back

 Here is my Halloween felt wreath.  I like it ok...  It still doesn't look quite like I imagined.  I got the pattern from tatertotsandjello.com  She has some super cute wreaths on there.  She used grey felt but I wanted to make it more Halloween with the black and orange, but I am afraid it made it look much more elementary craft.  I should have stuck with the grey because it looks a lot cleaner but overall Halloween is a fun holiday and I think this wreath was fun too.

 Of course Penny has to be in the post!  She has really been such a character lately.  She has been calling Chuck and I, Honey.  Whenever we walk down the stairs she says, "careful honey!"  It is so funny.  When she goes to bed she tells me, "Bye Bye Honey!"  I don't even think Chuck or I call her honey very often!  Every morning she tells me when she wants to get into the tub by stripping from the waist down.  She can't get her shirt off so she stopped trying. This morning I slapped her little bum.  This is what she said.

Penny: "HEY! My bum bum!" 

Me:  "But it is just so CUTE! 

Penny: "Oh... Thank you."

Haha oh Penny you are just the cutest, (most times:)  She has been having some serious tantrums which hopefully simmer a little before Dec.  She gets really mad when she can't find her makeup (her lip gloss).  It is like the end of the world, along when she can't find her stupid binky.  I hate binkies!  So tired of looking for them. 

Chuck started his OB rotation this month.  I think it will give him some good practice before this baby comes.  He has yet to deliver a baby, but has to deliver 10 sometime in the next 3 weeks!  Hopefully that will happen:) As for myself,  I am getting bigger.... The END!  haha

Hello Third Trimester!

Today I am officially 28 weeks!  Yay!  This post is going to be pretty uneventful.  I have been really bad at documenting this pregnancy, but I was really bad with Penny too:(  Oh well...such is life.   Here is my belly in all its glory.  I feel like I look bigger at 28 weeks than I did at 36 weeks with Penny.  Lets compare...

This was taken today:

This was 36 weeks with Penny:


Ok, so maybe not quite as big but seriously getting there.  In case you are wondering this was a week and couple of days before giving birth.  The good thing about this pregnancy is I don't feel I look like I exploded as much.  I only gained 5 lbs last month, which for me was a huge surprise and I gave myself a good pat on the back.  The 'bummers' about this pregnancy is HEARTBURN!  I feel like my throat is a volcano.  It is always hot and I am always burping... not pleasant.  Other than that, pregnancy is pregnancy.  You become immobile, get out of breath walking to the bathroom (if you can make it before you sneeze:)), and wadling like you are a duck.  All in all I am feeling pretty good most days!
       Lately, I have been trying to get Penny to say sister and for some reason she keeps thinking I am saying Stacey, which she does know Stacey's name, but refuses to say and instead says, "funny".  So I guess to her Stacey and her little sister are both Funny...  Silly girl.  Chuck has been working hard.  I hear a lot of complaints of other residents wives saying they never get to see their husbands.  I think I must have prepared myself fairly well because I still feel like I get in OK time with him.  Notice, it is just OK because yes I still don't seem him as much as I would like.  I think I had a very over glorified schedule of the ER in my mind that he would be gone all hours of the night.  But the most wondorous thing about ER is you have a schedule and then you get to come home.  Leave work at work:)  Chuck got some new glasses that I really like on him.  He will be mad I posted this picture but I thought it was funny because he and Penny both are terrible posers for the camera when I want to take a picture.  This is the face of someone who really doesn't want to go to work.

And when I try to get a picture of Penny I get this:

A chin and nostrils... Penny would rather be the one taking pictures. 
Speaking of Penny, she is a runt.  I took her to her new pediatrician and she weighed
25lbs and was 34 in tall,  10% for both. I didn't get the head measurement but I am sure it is somewhere in the 90%.   We sometimes call Penny little lady, and she really is a little lady.  She is shaped like a lollipop but she is much sweeter than one:) 

Penny's First Haircut

Today I was feeling quite adventurous!  Which is in most cases is when I have really bad ideas.  Like today, when I decided I would 'trim' Penny's hair.  The day started out really crappy.  I woke up to Penny moaning from her bedroom.  I went and got her and she moaned all morning long.  It was so frustrating.  I kept asking her what she needed and to tell me what she wanted and all she wanted to do was moan.  So, I put her in the tub and that is when the terrible idea came into my mind.  After she was done bathing I sat her down and started to cut.  I tried to get it even but one side of her head was dramatically shorter than the other side.  Instead of continuing to cut, I decided I would just take her to a hair place and get it done.  It was this place called Cookie Cutters, and they did a great job.  Side note: being new to somewhere can really suck sometimes.  I don't know where anything is.  It is like having your house just how you like it and then someone coming in and rearranging everything.  It can be very frustrating.  Well, on the way to the hair place I rear ended someone.  I was so focused on the GPS and it telling me to turn into a strip mall where I could not see Cookie Cutters.  I had been stopped a the light before so it wasn't anything significant, but I looked up and all could see was the guy in the car hold up his hands and get mad.  I thought, "oh great, a jackass!"  ('scuse the language)...  I got out and he was on his phone.  I looked at my car and his car and there was nothing on either, a little bit of paint transfer on my car but hardly noticeable.  He got off the phone and was like my 'master mechanic' son is going to come over and look at the undercarriage.  I was just ready to say goodbye because I literally could not see anything, not to mention I couldn't have hit him at more than 10mphs since we were just starting to go from the light.  So, we waited about 20 minutes for his son to get there, he was trying to get me to just give him my information and I was like no I will just wait:)  I was not going to give him anything!!  His son comes, takes 20 seconds and is like, there is nothing wrong here.  I felt like yelling, YA I KNOW!! Anyways, we went and got Penny's haircut.  She was pretty excited when we walked in.  She got to sit in an airplane chair and watch Elmo at the same time!  She loved it and cried when we left.  Here is her new do!  I actually want to get my haircut like hers:)

Isn't it just so cute!  I mean talk about body!  She has great hair.  She also refused to get her picture taken without her binkie so just ignore the blatant mouth piece.  We get going home and I am at a light to turn Left and my light turns green and someone tries to hit me!  He got so pissed and sped around me, I am thinking YOUR LIGHT WAS RED!  Needless to say, I needed to get off the road.  There was a lot of crazies out today, including myself.  I went home and was so drained I decided I didn't want to do anything else today.  Talk about a stressful day!  It all started when I had the idea of cutting Penny's hair, never ever again will I be doing that! 

Family Picnic

The weather here lately has been wonderful!  I am a huge sucker for fall and can not wait till the leaves change and the air is nice and crisp, without being too cold.  We have been having a taste of fall the last couple of days and so we decided to take full advantage.  Chuck doesn't have any days off besides Sunday so we decided to go on a picnic and enjoy the general splendor.  He googled a fun park/picnic grounds and we were off.  It was so nice and beautiful!  I think Chuck felt very rejuvenated after the day was over:), which was the whole purpose! 

 For some reason anytime we get a sandwich Penny always tries the jalapenos.  I let her try it, and her face always says it all.  Then she inevitably always spits it out, like the picture below:) 

Penny says, " MMM!  Yum Yum" She was essentially eating all the mayo off the bread, haha!

We decided to go on a little nature walk.  It was kinda hot but I am not the right person to gauge temperature these days.  I keep telling Chuck, I would be fine to live somewhere in the Northwest coast, and that I enjoy the rain.  He always says that is just being pregnant talking, but I would really like to live there.  I am just so HOT!  It was a very pretty walk, the only gross thing was when we got back in to the car there was a tick on Penny's foot!  I felt like there were creepy crawlies all over me.. ugh!  Luckily it hadn't burrowed in or bitten her yet but it was going to, I tell you.  Penny runs warm so I am sure he really liked her:)

 Don't we have some cute butts!  I think so:)  Though mine is looking a lot curvier these days...

  Whenever Penny wants someone to pick her up she asks for a hug.  You can't help but pick her up, even if she is being a booger!

 She kept seeing Chuck look at the map so, this is Penny being like dad, and trying to navigate us.  She was talking her usual gibberish as she was walking and looking.  Occasionally she would look up and tells us something and shrug. 

 I like this picture, but man I would like it more without a binky!  Work in progress:)

 Combing dads hair with a giant leaf.

This is my pretty much 23 week belly, in all its glory.  I have many people give me second glances when I tell them I am due in Dec.  I think I am bigger this time around, but I do know that the baby is bigger.  I am not too worried.  I don't really want to gain 50lbs like I did with Penny so I am trying really hard to be good.  I am not succeeding very well.  It is hard to be pregnant with a girl because I feel like all I want to eat is JUNK!  Anyways, I have been feeling pretty good.  She is so active and she has kicked my bladder a little too hard sometimes:) but I love feeling the movement, it is my favorite part of being pregnant! 

Well, all in all it was a pretty good weekend.  We got some much needed R&R without even having to go on a vacation, even though a vacation would be nice too:)

Baby Girl!

Most of you already know but, I had my ultrasound yesterday and found out that we were having another girl!  We are so excited for 2 little princesses running around.  I think Penny will have so much fun to have a little friend:)  Here were the pictures from the ultrasound.  They gave me a strip of pictures instead of a cd, like my OB in Milwaukee.  So, they aren't the best of quality but I thought I would share anyways.  I did try to scan them but the scanner didn't work, so I had to take pictures of my pictures.

I think that she looks like Penny.  At least as far as I can see.  She was very cooperative during the whole time.  She did keep putting her arms over her face:)  I also could see on the screen when her hand would go across my stomach and I could feel little tiny tickles inside, it was so COOL!  Anyways, we love her already:) 

5 year anniversary

Today I have been married to my best friend for 5 whole years!  I am realizing that I never have documented anywhere how we met.  So for my personal purposes I am going to write it down, or rather type it:)  It is going to be long, but I enjoy the story:) At the time I met Chuck I was dating someone else.  It was kind of an 'off and on' relationship I guess you could say.  I didn't know what I wanted.  I was only 18 and had just graduated high school and started to date people 'seriously'.   According to my dad; one day when he was at work, his fellow co-worker, Babette, was talking about her son.   I think she had said something about how he wasn't having luck with the girls he was dating, that they were not what he was looking for.  So my dad asked her what he was looking for.  She said, a girl that likes to get dressed up nice, likes to be active, and is still girly.  My dad said, " I have one of those!" haha!  So he gave Babette (chuck's mom) my number.   I am pretty sure that my Bro in law, Shane actually gave Chuck my number, because my dad had given him our home phone, but that is besides the point.  He called!  We set up a date.  I remember being so nervous that he was going to be an ugly toad.  So I made my sister Stacey answer the door.  I remember her coming back to get me and saying, he's cute, you don't have to worry.  I went out and I was very impressed:)  He was cute and poor Chuck was totally bombarded by my whole family.  I mean I think everyone of my siblings was there.  Not to mention that they were passing around a cup of Mate... haha!  He said that it was kind of strange that he met everyone, I think he was glad when we left!  I remember my feelings when we were in the car and looking at him and just having that sense of familiarity.  I felt like I knew him already and that we were going to be together.  I know that it sounds corny but I think that when you are meant to be with someone that, that is what I always thought would happen.  I remember never running out of things to talk about.  We could have talked forever because we carried on conversation so easy!  We went rock climbing and I remember thinking that he had a cute toosh when he was climbing up the wall:)  We went  and got a burger and then watched a movie.  I can't remember the movie name but remember talking the entire time!  It was so nice to go on a date where conversation never got old.  Now, Chuck claims that I kept texting during our date, I personally don't remember doing that, but oh well.  He dropped me off and I felt good about the date.  Well the next day was church.  I was still kind of dating this other person so I sat by him at church.  I remember at the end of church I see this guy walking to the front of the chapel that looked strangely familiar.  It was Chuck!  I couldn't believe it.  I am sure he saw me with this other guy with his arm around my shoulder.  In fact I know he did...  I immediately felt my stomach drop.  That was when I knew that, ya, we had only been on one date but he meant something to me.  I called my sister and she said to text him.  I had said something like, I think it is ok to cuddle at church don't you?  haha something really strange.  He wrote me back a somewhat reassuring text, I don't remember what it said but I still felt sick the rest of the sunday.  He called me again to talk and he was kind of cold.  He was telling me how I wasn't the only girl he was dating and that it is ok if I also want to date other people.  It was a weird conversation.  I hadn't heard from him for a long while.  I thought that I had screwed things up.  Now Chuck says that his friend (who was a girl and liked him) was taking pictures of me with other guys and was telling him that I was kissing and canoodling these other guys.  So he told his guy friend about it and that he just was never going to call me again.  His friend encouraged him to give me another chance and to just see where things go, not to write me off so quickly.  THANK YOU!  I think if he hadn't of said that I would not be with Chuck today.  Chuck is so strong minded that when he makes up his mind he is pretty set.  It must have been the day after he had that conversation that I was walking on campus and saw him like 3 or 4 times!  I had never seen him on campus till that day, it truly was a sign! Chuck has even said to me how strange it was that we saw each other so many times that day since we never saw each other on campus.  So he asked me on another date, and then from then on we continued to date and get married.  Chuck says that he liked that he felt like he had to chase me, I think that was how I snatched him:) 

So thanks to our parents who had the novel idea of setting us up on a blind date.  It was a great idea:)! Chuck you are my best friend and I love you.  I know we have ups and downs (who doesn't) but without those we wouldn't have something to look back on and laugh.  We have been through living in the dungeon basement apartment, medical school, moving 2 times to different states, having Penny (who is in a challenge in itself:) We love you Penny! ), to now being pregnant, starting residency, and living in a new place. You sacrifice so much for our family and I hope you know how truly grateful I am for everything you help to keep us a float! All the while you have dealt with living with someone who has two left feet and runs into everything, to thinking she has every disease she hears about on the news,  I say we have done pretty good, pretty darn good.  

 

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:)