Well. There’s no hiding it anymore:

I am most definitely pregnant. 🙂 And today, according to What To Expect (but not necessarily my rudimentary math skills), I’m officially starting my sixth month of pregnancy.

Craziness!

We just got back from a FABULOUS anniversary trip to Durango! We went there for our honeymoon and we were so excited to go back! Only this time we weren’t able to do any snowboarding, snowmobiling or anything else that involved snow, pretty much. 🙂

There was a big snowstorm that hit on Sunday – when we were scheduled to drive up – but my parents gave us an anniversary present of another night in Durango, so we drove up Saturday. Thanks Mom and Dad! 🙂

We had such a wonderful time! We walked around downtown Durango, we did a little bit of shopping, we drove around and saw all the beautiful scenery and mostly, we just relaxed and enjoyed hanging out with each other. It will most likely be the last big vacation we get to take while it’s just the two of us.

I think we were both depressed to come back home. 🙂 I LOVE this picture!

Please be praying for me, if you think of it. I am dealing with yet ANOTHER bought of tonsillitis and the doctor put me on an antibiotic. It’s hard to not worry about how this sickness is affecting our baby. Thank you so much!

I hope you are having a wonderful week!

~~

Here’s the thing about my mother-in-law:

She is a fabulous hair stylist. And not just with women, but she is a fabulous hair stylist for men too (although, I’ve heard rumors that men prefer the person who takes care of their hair cutting needs to be referred to as a barber. Not sure if this is true or not). She worked for many years as a hair stylist and all of her boys – including my father-in-law – were most definitely spoiled because of this.

Here’s the thing about me:

I am not a fabulous hair stylist. Actually, I imagine that whatever the exact opposite adjective of “fabulous” is what I am. The most talent I have with a pair of hair-cutting scissors is trimming up my own bangs. I can’t do anyone else’s. Just mine.

All this to say that Jon grew up in Wonderful Hair World with my mother-in-law, Connie, and then, in what could probably only be called a horrific mistake by the dead protein strand community, he married me.

So, the fact that I cut Jon’s hair this week and it doesn’t look like he had a bad accident involving a switchblade-baring man driving a John Deere is something of a small miracle.

Actually, it looks quite good. If I say so myself.

Granted, I would run the clippers over Jon’s head, squint at his hair, peer into the mirror, declare him done and gorgeous and then he would go back over his head with the clippers himself, just to “make sure you got everything.”

Mm-hmm.

Connie and Greg (my father-in-law) are actually coming out here to visit at the end of next week, so there is a very good question of why we didn’t just wait until she came to try and tame the beast, but the answer is very simple and lies in two words:

Our Anniversary.

Which happens to be at the beginning of next week. And I imagine we will take a few pictures. So, I decided to try to master the Wahl for Jon’s sake.

And since this became a much longer story than it probably is, I’ll leave it at the fact that he has a nice short buzz cut again and once again looks like a fine, upstanding teacher instead of a hapless snowboarder who managed to find some nice shirts and jeans that actually fit in the rear.

This is a side note, but did any of you notice how many of the snowboarders had their snow pants sagging in the Olympics? Really? And in all the documentaries they did on those guys? I didn’t even know girl pants could sag in the rear.

Anyways.

We are on Day Three of clouds, rain, cold, snow, slight depression and major sleepiness. As I discussed in detail with the checkout lady at Wal-Mart today (wow. I do go there almost every day), it’s just sad when you are having to deal with spring time allergies when it still looks like winter outside. If I’m going to be sneezing, I would at least like to see flowers or grass or something so I know why I’m sneezing. The lady agreed and said, “Yeah, or at least bugs.” Which is when I kind of smiled in my “okay, that’s weird” sort of smile, nodded, took my bag of dog food and left and it was only after I was putting the dog food in my car when I realized she probably said buds NOT bugs.

Sometimes I think it’s best for me to not go out amidst the general public.

~~

Okay, I thought it went like this:

If April showers bring May flowers,
what do May flowers bring?

I see nothing in there about March showers and so I’m really not sure what March showers bring to the table. It can’t be to water the grass – and since Jon and I plucked all of the healthy, thriving weeds from the backyard, there is again nothing green out there.

Maybe it is in preparation for the April showers. Regardless, I’m missing the sunshine we have been having. Today is rainy, hailing, windy, cloudy and dark.

Which is why I’m sitting here drinking a hot chocolate as I write this post. Maybe March showers bring Swiss Miss.

Today was a relatively slow day. I made a trip to Wal-Mart (and yes, it seems like I go there everyday. I know the people there think so) because Jon was out of shampoo. And has been out of shampoo for the last week. So, he’s been using my shampoo.

But, he doesn’t use my conditioner too, so now they are uneven. And I’ll have that problem in a few weeks of having miles of conditioner left and zero shampoo. Please tell me that I’m not the only person out there who hates this predicament.

Anyway, I went to get his shampoo and found out that Wal-Mart stopped carrying the new brand he likes. I walked up and down the shampoo aisle for about ten minutes reading every single container there until I finally faced the fact that it was gone. So, he got the old brand he used to use. And while I’m not sure that Jon will even notice the switch, I do and it just irritates me that the moment I get accustomed to one brand, they discontinue carrying it.

Actually, I heard a long time ago that you are supposed to switch up the brand of shampoo you buy every few months so your hair doesn’t get used to it. I’ve tried this. Aside from finding out that Herbal Essences does not do my hair good (sorry HE) and that I have a relatively small portion of the shelf to pick from considering I am that person who grumbles under their breath to see a price sticker for $19.63 under a 8-ounce bottle of designer shampoo, I didn’t think this switching thing worked for me. I’m a Pantene girl. I have been a Pantene girl and I will continue to be a Pantene girl. It’s relatively cheap, it works and Stacy London is their current spokeswoman.

Now that I’ve bored you to tears with my soapbox (um. no pun intended), how many of you watched the Oscars last night? I did and this was my first time watching it beginning to end and not just catching the highlights online. I felt actually rather happy that the Best Picture was something of a surprise and I was quite excited that Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for The Blind Side, which I think was one of the best movies this year. And I had no idea how many awards were given out for things like Best Makeup and Best Sound Mixing and Best Caterer.

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

~~

We officially have LESS than a month before this comes out!! 🙂

I’m a teensy bit excited. 🙂 YAY!

Today is one of those days where I’m not really sure what to post about. I have had a fairly boring last couple of hours. I went to Wal-Mart and the grocery store and I’ve been putting off starting the laundry for about, oh, I’d say around five or so hours now.

I’ve been trying to get a bunch of writing done, but honestly, it is just so hard right now! The sky is bright blue, it’s finally warmer weather and there is none of our usual spring blow-me-over-in-the-parking-lot breezes. It’s gorgeous outside! It makes me want to plant flowers.

But, we all know what happened last year when I attempted that. And I’m pretty sure Jon is against the idea of flowers because of that fateful summer. I might have to invest in some real-looking fake ones. No green thumb needed.

It really is kind of a bummer to sit inside on a gorgeous day and stare at an artificially-lit computer screen. Comfy chair or not.

So, after much sighing and gnashing of teeth over my indoor profession, I finally moved outside. That’s what laptops were created for, right?

Right.

Besides, now I can look around and really get my thinking cap on. Nothing like nature and fresh air to inspire you and give you lots of thought fodder! For example, instead of bemoaning my view outside from the kitchen table, I am now thinking how weird it is that I seem to be able to grow the lushest, healthiest, sturdiest looking weeds and yet my flowers look like this at the peak of summer:

This, sadly, is a pot of gorgeous flowers that I planted last year and set up on our patio. I’m not even sure what killed it. I watered it, I had it in the partial sun spot like it supposedly liked. Maybe I overloved it. Are you supposed to treat gardens with some measure of disdain? I just remember that when I was growing up, we had a vegetable garden that we had to weed and water on a daily basis and me and my siblings hated that garden – mostly due to the weeding and watering. And those veggies grew like Contrary Mary’s garden – abundantly. It’s a thought! (Actually, I think that it was mostly due to my parents’ care of it. Maybe they can come take care of my flowers this year.)

Anyway. Time to get back to the writing. I hope you are having a more productive day than I am! What are you up to?

~~

Friday marked more than halfway through! So crazy… I’ve been looking back at the pictures of me a few weeks ago and while I thought then that I was absolutely huge and couldn’t get bigger, I was wrong:

And I imagine, I’ll look back on this picture at 39 weeks and laugh again that I felt so big! 🙂 I seriously do double-takes every time I pass a mirror – it’s such a weird feeling! I keep worrying that I’m gaining too much weight too quickly, but my doctor seems to think everything is okay. No stretch marks yet! Hope that fact doesn’t change! 🙂

Friday morning was also the first time I saw my stomach move when our little man kicked – so weird, cool, freaky and amazing at the same time! I just saw there with this huge, stupid grin on my face and was like, “Whoa! What just happened?” I’m thinking he was reacting to the Raisin Bran Crunch I had for breakfast. I’m not a fan of raisins at all, but I love Raisin Bran Crunch. So, I just try to pick through and eat everything except the raisins. But for some reason, Kellogg’s is continuing to put that huge scoop of raisins into every box and that morning’s cereal had much more dried-up grapes than normal. I think the little guy noticed it and was complaining as well with a nice hard kick. And I’ve been feeling him more and more every day since!

Ever wish you could complain with a nice, hard kick? One of those hidden “fees” shows up on a bill and you’re just like, “Fine!” and you do one of those ker-chaw! kicks right at the hiding-mean-old-fees-people?

Seriously, I’ve been thinking about this. Babies get away with everything. You want dinner? You scream and cry for it until someone finally gives it to you. No making it, no washing dishes. You just sit there and eat and let everyone else take care of everything for you. You’re mad? You don’t have to fake happiness, you again just scream and cry so that the whole world knows it.

I’d say I want to be like this, but I prefer to not become Lindsay Lohan.

I’ve been very overwhelmed with the whole thought of having a baby around here lately. Especially when Jon and I forgot to feed Kody one night until after 10:30PM. I pretty much broke down that day because I just knew we were going to be the worst parents in the whole history of the world.

Thankfully, God has seen fit to put a bunch of excellent moms in my path (including my mom and mother-in-law!) who have made me feel a little bit better about this huge thing called parenting. Apparently, babies cry when it’s time for them to eat. Kody is one of those weird dogs who isn’t that into food, so some nights I think he even forgets it’s time to eat. Pretty much, as long as he gets his 19+ hour nap, a couple of rawhide bones to toss with Jon and a good massage a day, I think he could care less about everything else.

I’ve been noticing how much I worry over things that haven’t happened: What if I do something wrong and this baby is messed up for life? What if I don’t know what to do to make him happy? What if something happens to me and Jon? What if gaucho pants are back in style this summer? And on and on and on…

I was so completely stressed out and then the other day I just realized, wait a second. God is SO much bigger than me. And He is SO good at handling His plan for my life without any help from me. So, why do I feel the need to shoulder all of these ridiculous fears? Especially when He has proved time and time again that He is taking care of me?

I’ve been taking lots of deep breaths and praying more that God would just give me a reassured heart instead of my little worrying one.

And for those of you who would like news that is a little more fun than me losing my mind, I’m excited to inform you that today is the day that March is finally here with all it’s spring fabulousness. Don’t get me wrong – I love winter and I love snow, but there does come a point where it is time to pull out the flip flops. And on cloudy, cold, snowless days like today, I’m ready for the warm weather and the flip flops.

Have a great Monday!

~~

I’m SO excited for this April!! 🙂 I really can’t wait to introduce you to Maya!

I’ve been busy the last couple of weeks redesigning my website. I really hope you like it! It’s a little more clean – which is nice, considering it’s nearly time for spring cleaning and all. 🙂

And the big news – you can now pre-order an autographed copy of Cool Beans! Just go to my website and click on “The Books” page. I’ll be sure to sign it and put it in the mail on April 1st 2010. Yay! 🙂

Today is a dreary, cloudy morning and not at all what a day nearly into March should look like! I don’t like cold days without snow – seems like just a waste! Plus, by this time I’m so ready for warmer weather. I want to be able to take a walk without my face freezing!

Hope you have all had a wonderful morning so far!

~~

The last few days have been so fun! I can’t help but stop and think every day about that tiny little boy God is growing right now – what a miracle! 🙂

After the ultrasound on Monday, we went and bought the supplies to tell my parents and also got the baby’s first outfits. 🙂 Jon and I kept it a secret all day long and finally told our families that night. We called his parents, brothers and sisters-in-law first. I’d sent a package last week that had two presents in it – they were both frames for a baby, one blue and one pink. We told them to open package number one – and everyone went crazy! 🙂 So fun to hear over the phone! 🙂 We wish we could have told them in person, but this was just as fun!

After that, we headed to my parents’ house for dinner and my mom surprised us with this:

Isn’t it cute??? We had everyone gather around my dad and he got to open the present that would tell them what it was. Here’s a picture of what we got for my family:

We got stir sticks, a little paint roller and a can of baby blue paint. 🙂

First Dad pulled out paint stirrers, then a roller…next the can of paint.

I love their expressions when they find out! 🙂 Poor Dad was the last to see! And we got to keep the blue gift bag from my parents. 🙂 Afterward, we called my grandmother, a few friends and more family – I think everyone was pretty surprised! You have NO idea how many people had told me they thought we were having a girl!

Jon had told the teachers he works with that he would wear either a pink or blue shirt on Tuesday after we found out, so he wore a blue shirt we bought Monday. And Tuesday, Mom, Cayce and I went shopping and Mom is already spoiling our little man:

Poor baby! I don’t think he’ll have a thing to wear! 🙂 We had so much fun shopping all the winter sales that are on right now! Jon came in and was like, “Holy cow, he has more clothes than I do!”

Thursday, Mom and I left very early in the morning for the Christian Writers Guild’s annual conference. This year, it was held in Downtown Denver at the Grand Hyatt hotel. We just got home yesterday, which is why I am SO late in posting! It was such a busy weekend – CWG had us come out and help with the conference. I love the CWG conference – this was our 9th one!! Now, it’s something like a family reunion. 🙂

I wish I’d gotten a few pictures of Mom and I and us with the CWG staff, but I did get one of me and my agent, Steve Laube:

(And yes, I’m wearing the same shirt I’ve worn for a few pictures now – what can I say? I’m still working on getting a variety of maternity clothes – most of the ones I wear are compliments of my mom. 🙂 )

While I was there, though, I experienced one of the famed pregnancy symptoms that I had yet to experience – swollen ankles. I think it was because I was standing and walking around most of the day, but I’ve never seen my ankles look like that before! Weird.

And while we were gone, Jon painted the baby’s room to a nice chocolate brown. Yay! I’ll show pics of the room as we start making progress on it.

Current craving? Anything red meat. 🙂
Current food aversions? Chicken and eggs. This baby boy does not like his poultry, I guess!

Hope all of you had a fabulous week! What were you up to?

~~

Today has been one of the best days of my life – most definitely!!! 🙂

Our appointment was at 8:30 this morning and we spent the longest few minutes in the waiting room, trying to settle the nerves. Finally, the ultrasound tech called us back and we got to go see!

The baby is perfectly healthy – thank you, Lord!! That has been my most fervent prayer these last few months!

And… since these are definitely the cutest baby pictures Jon or I ever seen (not that we are biased or anything!), I thought I’d share them!

Here’s the baby being shy…see both hands covering the eyes?

And now the baby is covering the ears… I started laughing so hard once we got home and really looked at the pictures – all we need is covering the mouth and then we’ve got all three of those monkey “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” poses!

Our sweet little one!! Look at those cheeks!

We got to see the legs, arms, hands, feet and tons of profile pictures of the sweet little face! I had the hugest smile on my face the whole time and then the ultrasound tech told us what we were having and suddenly I was grinning and crying and laughing and Jon teared up too.

It amazes me how much we love this little one already! And we still have 20 weeks to go before we meet this baby in person!

Would you like to know what we’re having??? 🙂

It looks like we’ll have Little League in our future because….

It’s a boy!!!

Thank you SO much for your prayers for our little man! We are ecstatic!!!

~~

I am SO excited to think that at this time tomorrow, we will have known for several hours whether we are having a boy or a girl!

YAY!!! 🙂

We’ve got lots of big plans tomorrow on how we’re going to tell our family and friends, but I will be sure to post here tomorrow night and let all of you know what the verdict is! 🙂

Please be praying for us – we are overwhelmingly excited, nervous, thrilled and terrified at the thought of being parents! I have been praying for God to give us wisdom and grace as we prepare for what is the biggest responsibility that Jon and I have ever handled together.

And…to those of you out there who are still “waiting for your Ryan”, I know Valentine’s Day can be a horrible reminder of how lonely you are – but I’m praying that you feel the huge arms of your heavenly Father today. 🙂 If you are spending tonight with your Valentine, have fun! Don’t take any moment of it for granted! 🙂

Have a wonderful night!!!

~~

If you are looking forward to the weekend, then you might want to skip reading the beginning of this blog post because I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND TO BE OVER!!!

Okay. I’ll try to calm myself down now. I read on my favorite weekly pregnancy info website thing (www.similac.com) that this week I could be experiencing a racing heart or shortness of breath because of the extra blood my body is pumping. So, I guess I will try not to add to the stress that is already on my heart by jumping up and down at how close Monday is.

I had grand plans for today. Today was going to be the day that I became a good steward of our finances by taking Kody to one of those low-cost shot clinics because someone is in need of a rabies shot (and no, it’s not me – the extra saliva I’m producing is also said to be a pregnancy symptom).

The cheapest clinic is, of course, 45 minutes away on the far opposite side of the city and it’s only open every other Friday from 8am to noon. So, I’m thinking practically and with my new-found good-stewardship-ness and decide that it would be better to wait until 9:15 or 9:30 to leave so that I’m not stuck in the middle of rush hour traffic trying to get there and waste a tank of gas.

So, I leave at 9:30. On the dot. Or maybe 15 minutes past the dot because I got distracted when I was finding clothes to wear today and started planning what I would wear to the Christian Writers Guild conference.

Anyway. I get Kody and me and his shot file and my purse and my phone and the Valentines that Jon forgot for his class that he needs by noon and two leashes (because one has a frayed handle and the other is one of those mechanical zippy ones that I don’t like) into my what-seems-to-be-shrinking Mustang and we set off.

Traffic is nearly non-existent and I’m happily high-fiving myself as we drive over because this is all working out exactly as I had intended. I’ll drive over, Kody will get his cheap shots, I’ll drive back to this side of town and give Jon his Valentines and then I will go have a nice lunch of leftovers and perhaps one of those Drumstick ice cream cones that are so addicting.

I pull onto the street for the clinic and here’s what I see: CARS. Lined on both sides of the street, half a mile each way. Miraculously, I find a parking place within a block of the building and me, Kody, the shot file, the mechanical leash (the frayed handle one was stuck in the seat), purse and phone all set off toward the clinic.

There are dogs and people. Everywhere. Sitting on the curb, sitting on the sidewalk, sitting on a few chairs scattered around. I force Kody and myself into the clinic door to get a number and then drag Kody back out of there since a HUGE German Shepherd apparently was mistaking Kody’s confused look for a threat. We’re number 67 and looking around, I’m definitely thinking I see more than 67 dogs already here. It’s already 10:15 and with my 45 minute drive back to our side of town, I can wait an hour before I’m going to need to leave and meet Jon with his Valentines.

So, we found a nice place to stand and wait. And wait and stand. And sit. And wait. There are puppies and people and mean dogs everywhere and Kody is just looking around at everyone like, “Wait, who are you? Where am I? Why have they done this to me?” There’s a dog in the clinic who is baying like a dog-version of Wesley on The Princess Bride in that part when he’s getting tortured to death in the Pit of Despair. Which of course is when Kody looks at me, at the shot record and immediately starts whimpering.

We’ve raised a brave dog.

Right then is when one of the ladies who works there forces her way out the door and nearly steps on a pup whose ears are bigger than it’s head. “Number 17!!!” she yells.

I think that’s when I started questioning the brilliance of this idea. But I decide to wait a bit longer. After all, someone said they seemed to be calling the numbers quickly.

At this point, about seven people standing in close proximity to me light up seven cigarettes. Through the cloud of smoke, a man a few feet away is telling a lady next to him about how he used to breed pit bulls for fighting but now he’s on medication and he’s stopped doing that now. And the dog wailing in the clinic is just getting louder and louder and Kody is just looking sadder and sadder.

Forty-five minutes drag by and then the lady appears yet again. “Number 21!”

Which is when Kody and I left. I text Jon and tell him that I will be there with the Valentines as soon as I can and he calls me. “Actually, I don’t think I need them anymore, but thanks honey.”

I look at Kody, who is lounging in the passenger seat all smiley because he didn’t have to go into the Pit of Despair and decide that he’s been a good boy today. So, Kody and I go to his favorite place. PetsMart. He needed food and he likes checking out there because the checkout ladies always check him out. So, he goes and shows off and sits and acts like he’s not crazy and they always fawn over him and give him doggy treats. He really is a big flirt – particularly when there are treats around.

And then there was nothing else to do except come home and eat one of the Drumstick ice cream cones calling my name in the freezer. Because I’ve been a good girl today too. And I even called around and found another shot clinic that is on Sunday.

I will be a good steward even if it kills me.

~~