Marlene is 14!

Marlene is here to visit for six weeks. She arrived the night before her 14th birthday. We had planned for the family to come over and have a BBQ and celebrate her birthday. We all had a great time. She got lots of art supplies, a Twilight bag, gift cards, and contacts. What more could a girl ask for?? Now we just get to enjoy the next six weeks. I think it will be a busy summer. Only one more week until we find out what we are having!!

Exciting News!

First, I want to start off and say that I am soooo happy I was finally able to figure out how to get the auto music to stop playing on that slideshow. I love Green Day as much as the next guy, but man it was annoying! So, I apologize for that. Second, I am attempting AGAIN to start contributing to my blog regularly. If for no one else, I need to do this for myself. It is a journal or sorts and there are many things that happen that I want to remember. And now for the excuse....the last 6 months of my life have been all consuming. Which leads me to our exciting news...

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

Yes, can you believe it?!? Dennis and I are very excited. Our new arrival is due November 12, 2010. We will find out July 1st if it is a boy or a girl. I have a gut feeling, so we will see if Mother does always know best.

The first trimester was rough. I was very nauseous and vomited regularly. I have now started gaining weight, which is good. The other rough part is the utter exhaustion that you feel 24 hours a day. I would come home at lunch and eat really quickly just so I could take a 10 min nap. Then there were the headaches. Those would have been bearable if I was allowed to take something other than this sugar pill some people call Tylenol. But all of the bad stuff aside, I am feeling better every day. And I would not trade it for the world. Because the result is so worth it.

Now for the fun stuff. Although we have not had our 20 week ultrasound yet, we do have some pictures of our little one. I am really excited for the new one because it is the first ultrasound where our baby will look more like a baby.

Here is Lil' Cluff at 5 days. You may notice that there are two. Well, I don't actually know which one is "the one". So take your pick. Does it amaze anyone else that a human being starts from this?!



Here is Lil' Cluff at Week 6. This was the first time we heard the heartbeat on ultrasound which in the pregnancy world is a huge deal. Once you hear heartbeat on ultrasound it lowers your chance of miscarriage to less than 5%.



And last, this is Lil' Cluff at 8 + 5 which is code for 8 Weeks + 5 Days. This was a well being check due to a little issue. But all was well.



Well, that is it for now! I really am going to try harder.