Baby Updates

I have been informed that I need to update my blog about baby more.....so here is the latest!

I am now 12 weeks along, and I wore a bellaband for the first time today! That is kind of exciting, but at the same time, means these pants wouldn't button this morning. This afternoon I am going to my first prenatal water aerobics class. I am excited to meet some other pregnant ladies ....even though I do have 2 pregnant sisters and several pregnant friends.

Baby French is the size of a medium shrimp, which is funny because at an open house for work, all these people were eating shrimp and I could not look at the shrimp or breathe, because if I were to smell them, I would have gagged! This is the end of my first trimester! I am starting to feel a bit better, but am struggling with headaches. I guess its common if you are already prone to migraines (Me!) to get a lot of headaches. I have a cute "belly book" journal, where I am journaling all about my pregnancy. Peanut butter has been a big craving, PB on ritz, bread or toast. Or apples. Chicken nuggets has been the other one. Poor Ryan, he will do anything for me, including eating chicken nuggets 3 nights in a row for dinner. He laughs everytime I eat them. I don't normally eat chicken nuggets, so it mystifies me as to why I want them all the time! The last week hot dogs have been high on my list. I can't eat hot dogs from just anywhere, because they have to be cooked superwell when you are preggo, but my Dad BBQ'd me one last weekend, and Ryan and I had turkey dogs for dinner last night. Maybe tonight too...

I have lots of baby books, many of which are quite terrifying, and some which nicely explain away all my worries and weird symptoms. Night time has been really hard, because my mouth is so dry, I drink all night and then I have to get up every hour, and I am usually way too hot, and I don't get much sleep. This worries me because it seems like it will only get worse! And here we had finally gotten all the animals to sleep through the night....I know I know, I will be ready for a baby that is up all night!

My Mom and I looked at all of these old wives tales about how to tell gender....most point to a girl. And I consulted the Chinese lunar test (which guarantees 50% accuracy, lol) and it says girl. Ryan and i are certainly happy with either! We find out towards the end of July, when Ryan returns from the police academy. Then we can start decorating a baby room!

That is all I can think of for now!!

Memorial Day Weekend

We started Memorial Day Weekend out with some agility Friday night! One of the club members sent us some great shots of our dogs. We were praticing jumping sequences....it's tricky to get your crosses the right way and tell your dog what to do and stay out of their way....

Josh is such a funny dog, look at his crazy hair flying.....and he cleared that jump by a mile! Josh will compete jumping at 24'', but we just practice at 16'' because he and McKenzie are just 18 months old.

He is very good at watching Ryan....if I jumped while looking in another direction I would land on my face. I might land on my face jumping and watching where I am going.....

We can't wait to start competing!

McKenzie is so fast and so driven....she absolutely loves to work and have a job....typical aussie. She also amazes me with her reasoning abilities. She really thinks things through. She did a sequence of jump, jump, jump, pause table and the first time, she slid off the end of the table...I think she thought it was going to be a jump. We tried again and she slowed down and delicately jumped and sat on the table, you could totally see her calculating her way onto it. She hasn't missed the table since!

On Sunday morning we also went to an agility and rally practice with my parents and brother and sister. We got to do a whole agility course with the dogs, and practice rally.

Saturday Ryand took Dustin paintballing and my Mom, Jenna and I went garage saling and shopping! My Mom took me to Motherhood Maternity and bought me some maternity clothes....thanks Mom! That afternoon we went to our gym and went swimming. I am so excited that our gym has a huge outdoor pool that we can use all summer. We went back to our house and BBQ'd steak and corn. Yum. We also made a campfire and smores!

Sunday after dog training Ryan took Jenna for a ride on Bonnie, and took Dustin on Dakota, for a ride out in the desert. Then we went back to the KOA and played ladderball. I would like to point out that I won! We celebrated with Dairy Queen. Monday Ryan had to work, so I headed out to the campgrounds for a final breakfast before the family headed back home. It was a great weekend!!

Ultrasound!

Ryan and i went to Doctor yesterday for our first official appointment! We spent an hour with the nurse who went over medical history and all that, had us watch a DVD on what NOT to do (You'd think they would have had me watch this much earlier....), and gave us some free stuff. Then we met with a PA, who listened for the heartbeat on a doppler. She said baby was being stubborn and couldn't find it. Since I first heard a heartbeat at 5 weeks 5 days, she said I might be farther along, and that should get me an ultrasound. Who am I to argue! So a Dr. came in with an ultrasound machine and we got to look! I am measuring 10 weeks, 1 day, but they are leaving my due date at Dec 10th. We could see the head, arms, feet and a heartbeat! Absolutely amazing! I loved watching Ryan react to the ultrasound, he is just so excited....this makes it so much more real for him to actually get to see!

The Doctor also cleared me to do the 3 day breast cancer walk! I was sure they would, but have to have a letter from them to be allowed to walk. Done! I am also going to start the prenatal water aerobics at my gym, so they signed a waiver for me. Yay!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommys! A huge Happy Mother's Day to my Mom. As many of you know, my Mom had brain surgery in November, to remove a fist- sized tumor. I can't possibly describe how scary this was for my family, but my Mom is strong and has an unwavering faith in God that has brought her through this challenge. I love my Mom so much, and am so glad she will a part of my life for many many years! I could not have asked for a more loving, supportive Mom who has always been there for me, and is my biggest cheerleader in life.

As many of you now know....Ryan and I are expecting our first child December 10th! We are so excited for this new chapter in our life. Ryan is so sweet, I woke up to a dozen roses, a card from all my fur-children, a card from my baby, and a card from him. I also got a willow tree angel of an expecting Mom. He also made me breakfast....what can I say, he is the best husband ever!

Today we did a fundraiser for our 3 day walk at Yokes in West Richland. We sold bracelets and pink duckies to raise money...West Richland is so very generous! We raised over $200 in just a few hours! It was great to tak to so many people who were survivors of breast cancer, or have been affected by breast cancer. It was a beautiful day, 76 degrees and sunny! I am a little burned, but totally worth it. We met the owners of the Sandberg Event Center and Gathering Place Bistro in West Richland, who generously donated the proceeds of their breast cancer benefit dinner. Be sure to check out the Bistro, where you can eat out on the deck with waterfalls.

After our fundraiser, we went swimming at the racquet club and out to dinner at Sterlings. A perfect day.

So this first trimester has been a little rough on the training, especially because I have been so exhausted....building a baby is super hard work! I am just about 10 weeks, and we were able to hear a strong heartbeat! I have had lots of queasiness, heartburn and exhaustion, but not too awful...I try to remind myself it just means all these hormones are building a strong baby! It felt really good to swim today, so I hope we can get back on track with our walking.

One really exciting part of being pregnant, is that my sister, Shauna is 6 months pregnant, and my sister in law, Kelly is also 6 months pregnant, so we will have 3 babies between August and December, not to mention the many friends who are also expecting! My Mom and Dad are so excited for 3 more grandbabies! Ryan's parents are also super excited.

Life is exciting and Ryan and I truly know how blessed we are. Thanks you all for your love and support!

Almost May

Wow does time go by fast! I am eagerly planning baby showers for Kelly and Shauna, who are due with my nephews in August! I love reading their blogs and seeing how their pregnancy is going, and how the rooms are coming along....and of course to see my beautiful redheaded nephew Cooper, he is getting so big!

Ryan and I are busy with dog classes, we just finished another obedience class, and will be doing rally classes for the next month. We also have agility classes....aussies are naturals, they love it. The tri-cities recently created a dog park, so we like to take McKenzie and Josh to play there. McKenzie is such a little police officer, she is in everyones business! Josh balances his time playing and making sure no dogs come near his Mom. Tobie celebrated his 13th birthday last week! I love my old boy so much, and I am so lucky to have had him for so long. He is so spoiled, and sleeps on our bed. He can't hear or see anymore, but he is still the sassy, naughty boy he has always been. He is so smart, and regularly outsmarts Ryan and I.

Ryan's parents visited last weekend, and Roxie and Erick were here for the weekend also. We all went to the spring barrel wine tasting, since I am not from out of town, I DD'd for the troops. The wineries around here are gorgeous. We have 150 within an hour from our house. We actually have a ton just down the street from us! It is always fun to see Roxie and catch up....we seem to have very parallel lives, even if we live in different states. I also love to hear from Erick, who is a canine police officer, about the bad guys he and his dog have gotten. I have gotten to ride along with Erick a few times when visiting Bend.

Fundraising and training are going well, we are so busy all the time....we need longer days for sure. I have reached $655 and Ryan $230. Yes, I am winning....
We have recieved donations from a few local businesses, our favorite- Ranch and Home; and the outstanding DJ from our wedding, Sight and Sound (Bob Kreidel). We are doing a mothers day fundraiser, I'll let you know how that goes. To help Ryan catch up with me, or to help me stay ahead, click any of our page links to donate. Thank you everyone for your support!

Vegas= Training!

Ryan and I spent April 9-12th in Las Vegas! I had never been, and Ryan was last there when he was 15....so we had a lot to see. There is so much to see....it's not possible to see it all in a weekend.

Walking Vegas was great training for the 60 mile walk! On Friday we walked from noon to 10:30pm, exploring a section of the strip. I thought my feet were going to fall off. On Saturday, we did the same thing. Sunday we just had a half day before the plane took off, so there was less walking. I wish I had a pedometer with me, because I would love to know how many miles we walked!

We had so much fun....but I am still exhausted! I will post some pictures on facebook soon.

Thanks to all those who have helped with our fundraising! We are still at it, that is for sure! The links to our pages are on this page....don't be shy!

Training, fundraising, VEGAS!

Ryan and I went for a 5.5 mile hike on Saturday. It felt pretty good. Mckenzie, our aussie, wasn't even tired! I had also walked 3 miles the day before. We are also swimming a lot....we love our gym! We are following our virtual trainer and training schedule. The weather has been great, and we even got a little burned on Saturday! Well, Ryan got a little fried....but with his red hair and whitey white complexion...he has now broken out the sunscreen!

We are also working hard on fundraising. We have been working on getting sponsorships from local businesses. I sold some old books back for $115! Good quick fundraiser! I am also currently selling flip-flops, coffee tumblers and totes...ask me if you are interested! We also have the breast cancer bracelets for $5, and will soon have adoptable pink rubber duckies. We are setting up a booth at a community garage sale, and are going to have a booth at some local stores on some weekends. And as always....follow the links on our blog and you can make a donation on either of our pages. Especially Ryan's....his is a little sad...he needs a donation!

Ryan and I are incredible excited that we are leaving Thursday for VEGAS! I have never been, and Ryan went when he was 12. I can't wait.