News

Today Jenette and Chris should find out whether they are having a boy or a girl. :) I'm excited. Then in about 2 months Jayme can tell us too!

Christmas was good. We spent some great time with Rhonda, Michelle, Jenette, Chris, Gary, Dave, Grandma Fuller, Steve, Margo, Adam, Morgan, Brooke, Judah, Tate, Caleb, Jaxon, Boaz, Tara, Dan, Bobbie, Jeff, Brendan, Trevor, Macy, Grant, Marsha, and Kevin (that's a lot of people, and by next Christmas the list will have at least 3 more names). We played games, ate good food, went to church, opened gifts, drove home, saw my mom, saw Newgen and Andrea. All sorts of goodness!

The only part of the drive home that was hard was in Oklahoma. Yes, KS has basically no snow, but OK had a good deal. The construction on I-35 sucked. The only partly plowed the road so we went 40 through the construction and still slid a bit. Then in Tulsa it was even worse! Again only part of the roads were cleared, the rest were icy and lumpy. Shannon drove well and we got to our house only to fail at driving up our driveway into the garage. So, at 2am Shannon shoveled and salted the whole driveway while I slowly unpacked the car parked on the street. Then he drove it in and we went to bed. Guess what was clear the next morning... our driveway.

Geepers! If they would plow and salt they wouldn't have the problems. Or even just plow. Or even just salt! But no. We don't have those luxuries here. If you recall, this was an issue last year as well... post 1 or post 2 or post 3

Christmas in Garden City

Shannon and I are spending this Christmas in Garden City. We left work early on Tuesday (which was 1.5 days before we planned too) because of probable bad weather on the drive. Luckily, we missed basically all of it. Shannon said there was only one slick spot near Garden. The rest of the drive was pretty good. There was some freezing fog, but the roads were okay.

We will be here until Sunday. I'll post some pictures later.

Then next weekend (New Years) we will go to Wichita to spend Christmas with my mom and family. :) I'm looking forward to the two Christmas' with family. I miss them and am glad they all work together so well, pretty much all the time. It makes life easier.

In other news, we got an adorable e-card from Julia, Pickle, and Autumn. Not only is she wearing a hat I made her, but she's giving a thumbs up! How awesome!

Registering For Baby

I truly understand the concept of a registry. You are going to have a baby, people will likely buy you things. Tell them what things you'd like. Got it.

Here's a problem... There's a good deal of things I'd like from Etsy, but you can't make a registry with Etsy. You can add items to your favorites, then they are there forever and when they sell out you are linking to a gone object. Not great.

But there are things Shannon and I like. So, I will just post them here. If no one buys us them, fine. I may get them for myself. Also, there is no way to check for doubles...so...that. But really, I'm sure this isn't going to be a list for everyone. Just a select few who read my blog and want to buy our baby something.

Here goes:

• T-Rex Grasp and Teether toy by Little Sapling Toys : I think this toy is wonderful. Enough said.
• Prime Number Counting Chart by Tiffany Ard: She sells out of this often, but relists it. I pretty much like her whole shop, but this is my favorite item she has. It's wonderful! This one is 18x24. They also have an 8x10. I'm not sure which one I'd prefer. I'll let you decide.
• Nerdy Baby Dino Art Print by Tiffany Ard: This is my second favorite (possible Shannon's first). It' dino-riffic and nerdy. How wonderful!

Creepy Baby Pictures

We had a level II ultrasound on Friday. We left feeling better about the health of our daughter and with 12 new creepy photos. Here is (hopefully) a slideshow of all the pictures. You can go to flickr to see them full size.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Nerves

Today Shannon and I are going to an ultrasound together. Shannon hasn't been to one yet. :) He'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat and see her!

I'm pretty nervous though. I don't know what the doctor is going to say. Hopefully that everything is good and the baby is actually due later than May 9th.

**Update**

It's all good. Nothing looks wrong. She weighs about 10 oz. and 05/09/10 is still a good guess for the due date.

Brain Power

I actually was asked to use my brain today at work. Twice actually. Once by a customer and once by Shannon. Quite nice. However, I did have a mild head ache about 30 minutes ago. Hmm...

Growing Up

I've been married for 8 years and 3 months. We are going to have our first baby. I've graduated college with my masters. I've had multiple "real" jobs. I haven't grown any taller in the last 10 years. I'm pretty grown up. But, there are still a lot of things to do.

Now I can mark one off the list, meeting a health insurance deductible, and scaring myself at the same time. How so you ask?

Yesterday at my doctor's appointment (which went fine), I paid for my pregnancy and all bills in full. That met my deductible. Then I got home and was like, "oh crap. I just paid 1000$ and met my deductible 1 day before it resets. genius." Needless to say, I was rather bummed and wishing the doctors office was still open so I could call and cancel the payment.

But it was after 5:30. No go. So all I could do was think. I thought, "hmm... maybe the deductible resets on January 1st, not December 15th. That would be good (but not great still, only 15 days left). I'll ask work in the morning." But that still gave me time to think. So I thought some more, "Maybe the payment won't go to this years deductible, but next year since that's when the service will actually be performed." Bah, still had to wait. Really hope I didn't just waste 1000$!

So today I talked to work and our deductible resets January 1st (which now I know is pretty normal). I also talked to the doctors office and they don't charge until the service is actually performed (which is also pretty normal). So good. No wasting of 1000$! :)

AND, I know more about insurance and deductibles then I have the past -> Growing up!

Trans Siberian Orchestra

This past Friday, Shannon and I, joined by some friends and family, went to watch Trans Siberian Orchestra at the BOk Center!
We've been the past two years, but in Wichita. This time we didn't have to travel (but other's had to go further). It was fun. The show was pretty much the same, but still entertaining. The lights and lasers are fabulous as is the music. They played a lot from their new album after the Christmas show part. That was fun.


Andy, Jenette, Chris, Michelle, and Coleman all came down Friday evening to watch with us. That was nice, so see friends and family again! Michelle and Coleman had to leave early on Saturday for Michelle's going away party (she's studying in Europe next semester!!).


The remainder of us watched Zombieland at the dollar (fifty) theater. I really enjoyed the movie. It was just entertaining. Not trying to be all realistic and stupid funny and love-story based. Although there were glimpses of all three, the movie wasn't driven by any of them. Just fun. Shannon and I would definitely like to own that movie. Good zombie fun.

Andy left after that and dinner at Cafe Ted's. So, the four of us (Jenette, Chris, Shannon, and me) went to Old Navy (who has no maternity clothes... half the point for going) and Barnes and Noble. We bought Cranium Party Playoff. It was entertaining, but not fabulous. It was also only 25$, which is cheap for a game.


However, we also played Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game. That was more fun (also more game-like, less party-like). Chris and Jenette played the heros and won on the very last turn. :) Good times.

Monday was basically just fooding and then saying bye to Nette and Chris. Shannon and I (some together, some not) cleaned, sewed, trimmed hedges (and cut the extension cord...I'm too careless), put up outdoor Christmas lights, and hung out. A nice weekend at home.

On the Burn

A week and a half ago, when I went in for a follow-up visit, the doctor recommended me to a surgeon to talk about a skin graft. I don't need one and don't want one, so I canceled my appointment.


My burn is healing very well. The peeling phase is over and now it's just kind of "immature" skin. It's usually white-pink. But when I get cold it turns red-purple. But even that is getting less common. Only 2.5 weeks after I burnt it and it looks so good! It doesn't hurt. But it will probably scar. Which is fine. I can deal with that.

Slide Show

I added a slideshow to the top of my side bar on the left. I'm no html-wiz. But I just scaled down the slideshow that photobucket makes. The pictures are a little blurry, but if you click on them you can see them bigger.

Also, I only have 5 weeks worth of pictures. I just don't have the rest with me right now. I'll get them later.

My New Look

Instead of looking pregnant, I just look fat. I don't have much of a bump. I have just a large belly. It's quite annoying. My clothes all still fit and I think that is part of the problem. I jut keep wearing my normal clothes, so I don't look like I'm wearing maternity outfits (cause I'm not). But I just look like a slightly fatter person wearing my normal stuff.

It's a rather awkward state.

Winter Dance

We went to Manhattan on Saturday to watch Michelle perform in K-State's Winter Dance. It was entertaining. But that was only part of the weekends mentionables. Also in the list:

• Getting to see Gary and Linda. They flew in from CO earlier in the week and we got to see them Saturday and Sunday. That was nice. We saw Gary in March (?), but I haven't seen Linda since May of 08. Jeepers!
• Really slow, some-what crappy service from Houlihan's. That isn't normal. That place is usually really good. Also, my chicken was super-dry and practically rosemary-free (it was Grilled Rosemary Chicken).
• The roads were REALLY icy from Salina and about 20 miles south. I was driving and could feel it getting bad, so we slowed down from 70 mph to about 50 mph. But then we saw a wreck (a big one, like 5 cars) and slowed down some more, maybe about 40 mph. Then we went over an overpass, which was super-slick. I almost lost control of the car, but luckily I didn't nor did I hit anyone. So, I slowed down to about 30 mph. And drove between 30-45 for about 45 minutes. It was crazy. I could feel the car slide on each overpass, which I just coasted over. We saw another wreck, a pick-up rolled onto it's side, about a mile after the first. It was pretty nasty.
• We have our car back!
  

We got home around 7:30. That is really early for us. We planned to stop in Wichita and see family/friends. But we didn't want to get stuck in the weather, so we just kept on driving. At home we put lights on our tree (no ornaments yet) and ordered some pizza. This was the first time in the past four months it didn't feel gross to eat it. Maybe we won't toss an entire pizza in a week.

Zebra Spots

That is what I keep thinking. Then I actually think about it and realize I mean giraffe spots. Zebra's have stripes, silly.

But that is what my burn reminds me of now. It is peeling a lot and due to the cracking and dark top skin, it looks like giraffe spots.

No infection or real pain still. :) Which is good.

Also, we started to put up Christmas decorations. :D Yay holidays!

Keeping Busy

My burn is doing better. The skin is peeling and the new stuff underneath is quite red.


There is more peeling today, but I don't have my camera with. That pic is from yesterday morning.

I also have been busy like crazy with Etsy! I have about 5 custom orders to do. I finished two last night and should be able to do two more tonight. It's pretty fun. I just with I had more in stock in my store! I'm down to pretty much nothing (save for cross-stitch patterns, people should buy those more :))

~Side note~ it looks dumb to put a smiley in parentheses, like above. I run into this a lot.

We also took our Christmas decorations out of the attic last night. We put a few up around the house, but mostly just opened a lot of boxes. :) About 40% of the houses in our neighborhood have Christmas lights up already. We are not one of them, but hopefully can help soon. On our cul-de-sac of 5 houses, everyone but us has lights up!

Thanksgiving

I don't actually have many pictures of our Thanksgiving, mostly of making gingerbread houses. But I'll still share.

Rhonda and Michelle got in on Tuesday. I taught class that night and Shannon when with them to buy some more food. Then we did some prepping for Wednesday and Thursday.


Wednesday evening everyone else came in. Jenette and Chris (with their new Kia Rondo) came down and we ate at Asahi. It's a sushi place that is close to our house and usually really great to eat at. Friendly service, good food, good prices. But it sucked on Wednesday night! They never took Chris' order. Then they came out about 5 minutes after we ordered and told us the kitchen was closed (it was just about 9:15 and they close at 10:00) so all we could order was sushi. Well, not everyone was eating or would eat sushi.

After our sushi came we started to eat and around 9:40, they actually started to shut off lights and get ready to go. Service just got worse the later it got. She stopped asking if we needed things and didn't hear when you asked for stuff. It was crappy. By the time we left, right around 10:00, I think all of the cooks and most of the other staff had their jackets on and bags on their shoulders and were waiting by the back table for us to leave, so they could leave. Yeah, that sucked.

Besides that... Mom, Maria, Jayme, Charles, Nikki, and Hendrix came in later Wednesday night. We finished up some cooking/cleaning and headed to bed.

Thursday we had some soup for lunch. Everyone but Mom and I went to Hunter park and played for over an hour. They had fun. At one point I called Shannon and asked what he was doing "Putting out a fire." I was rather surprised and asked him about it. It turns out he and Nikki were playing. No real fire.

After soup lunch, we had an assortment of appetizers, cheese, fruit, crackers, home-made Chex mix, spinach-artichoke dip, garlic cheese ball, raspberry cheese ring, and some other random things.

Then we eventually finished the actual dinner and at around 7:30. Everything was tasty! We have so many left overs (still). But it was a good time. After dinner and desserts, we just hung out. Maria decorated Hendrix's hair, too.


Then Friday came, there was more food to be eaten, some Garden Ridge shopping, but no other Black Friday shopping adventures. The main event on Friday was making gingerbread houses. Shannon and I baked all the pieces earlier in the week and then we assembled and decorated them on Friday.


And the houses...

Shannon's: Red and green and lots of it!


Nicole's: I stuck with red and green and basic.


Maria's: Its about the accessories. A dog, snow angel, snowman, and Jeep.


Michelle's: She has a very cute snowman.


Jayme and Nikki's: They worked together to make it all! Chimney and dog with the head that fell of a few times.


Charles': He made a sled with Santa and a jolly man actually inside the building.


Mom's: Lots of color and cuteness!


Jenette's: She made a deck and the window on the backside looks into the house showing the Christmas tree.


Chris': Nice thatched roof and friendly little man in the door.


Rhonda's: Covered in candy! No gingerbread showing.

More on the Baby Front

Now that we've finally told work, I can freely talk about my own pregnancy!

Shannon and I are going to have a baby too! We are about 17 weeks along, due May 9th. I've been feeling pretty fine (especially compared to Jenette).
This picture is from October 19th. It's my favorite because you can see little fingers. :) I have more recent ones, but not available for posting where I am.

So far everything has been fine. We are pretty happy and it's even more fun because so many of us are having babies around the same time! Julia just had her's last Friday, Tara (Shannon's cousin) and Dan should have their adopted baby within a month or two, Carrie (Jayme's sister-in-law) is due May 4th, I am due May 9th, Jenette is due May 11th, and Jayme is due in July! Next holiday season is going to be completely different than this yea.

New Baby!

Julia and Pickle had their baby!

She was born on Friday the 27th at about 1:00pm. :) They named her Autumn. Oh, I'm so happy for them!