Samye's Space

Finally!

2008-07-13T16:52:00.009-05:00

Hi everyone. It has been 8 long months since I last posted any pictures. That's way too long, but I really have a good excuse...no high speed internet! That part really sucks. So, I have to make time specifically to post and until this weekend, it seemed like it was never the right time. So needless to say there are a LOT of pictures here. I tried to just pick and choose some highlights from the past few months (Halloween, Kaleb's 1st birthday, Christmas, Spring and Summer).

Life is good here with us, no huge changes. For those of you who don't know I switched locations of my job. I'm now working in Lubbock at a rehab facility - The Plaza. I'm still working in speech therapy with adults and geriatrics. We're really slow right now so work isn't so much fun, but hopefully we'll get going again soon. Casey is still working with Primerica. He has cut down on tree trimming to focus on the financial, which is nice for him (tree trimming in the summer here is not fun -especially this summer -HOT-!). Kaleb has been staying with his Nano and Grandma Marlene a lot this summer to allow Casey some time to work. We'll probably put him in a Parent's Day Out 2x/wk this fall, which we're looking forward to, but nervous about also. Kaleb is really good, finally cutting a lot of teeth. He's all over the place, jumping, running, climbing. Saying quite a few words and signing also.

I'll stop writing so you can get to the pictures. Let me know what's new with you! Love you all!

Here's the pictures in chronological order:

1st Halloween - Li'l Pumpkin!

November - in Pa's cotton field

Walking in the cotton

Kaleb's 1st birthday - with Granny

Whoa, that's a big present!

The start of the cake....

And the finish! He loved it!

Our Christmas card picture

January - visit to Colorado

Kaleb's 1st meeting with cousin Weston

The proud Grandma's

1st meeting with his other cousin George,

they didn't know what to think of each other!

Grandma Carol (Rick's mom) with Casey, Rick and Kaleb

Easter at Pa's house!

Daddy helping find Easter eggs

Kaleb loved the pond more than the eggs!

May - Kaleb's 1st trip to the beach (Rockport)

Daddy helping in the water

Kaleb wasn't too sure about getting in

He loved the sand

This summer, Kaleb playing in his pool at home

Kaleb jetskiing with Daddy!

On the way to the fireworks! - 4th of July

Playing with Daddy,

waiting for the fireworks to start

Tickling the fish at Buffalo's fireworks show (July 5th)

That's all I have for now!
Thanks for taking time to check in with us. Hope to hear from you soon.

11 months

2007-10-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

Hi all - So sorry it has been sooo long since an update. I've been trying to find time, and then when you finally do, something else becomes more important. I'll try and do better. I know I keep saying that but I think one of these days I might actually do better (maybe if I keep telling myself that!).

Kaleb is 11 months old now! (almost, minus 3 days). The time has flown by so fast. He has changed so much. He's taken some steps, about 3 that we've seen at one time, but still would rather crawl right now. He's pretty fast, at times hard to keep up with! He knows when he's somewhere he's not supposed to be and will crawl away as fast as he can with a silly smile on his face. He loves standing and pulling things off of shelves and tables. That's made our lives much easier. :) He has recently learned the "throw things over the side and see how many times mom will pick it up for me" game. My limit is at 3.

He is getting more vocal everyday, which is great (I have to say that as an slp!). No but it really is fun to hear all the different sounds he comes up with. He's getting better at mimicing our sounds and he's great at sound effects, but no real words yet. He will say "dada" and "moma" but he says both to Casey and me and grandma and the people at church, etc. More of a babble than anything else right now. As always he's very active, he won't sit still unless he's napping. He's up to a whopping 16.5 pounds! Which I think is average for a 6 month old?, But he is always moving! He works off the calories faster than we can put it down him. The dr's not worried. He's moving up and that's what's important. He loves solid food and would really like to eat people food. He's not a fan of his bottle much anymore so we are trying to transition to a cup, but it's been a slow process. No teeth yet. It seems like every baby we know younger or older than Kaleb has teeth but him. There's a four month old with four teeth even! He'really chewing, but nothing so far.

I can't believe he's almost a year old, and Christmas is right around the corner. I've got to start thinking about a birthday party, which is fun but a little stressful too. Not sure what we want to do yet for that.

Casey and I are well. Allergies are terrible here this year, so I'm just trying to get through this warm weather (78 at the end of October?). We are ready for fall already! I think we may skip fall weather and go from summer to winter. That's alright with me, I'm tired of sneezing all the time.

Here are some pictures of Kaleb from August through the present.

Kaleb check's this pig out everytime he visit's Casey's mom and dad

First Tech game!

He was really good at the game, didn't fuss very much at all

Having a biscuit

Always moving!

Very cute of him, not so much of me!

There's that sly smile - I'm up to something!

Almost stepping

He's obsessed with stairs unfortunately!

He won't sit still so this is how feedings usually look!

His Halloween picture - sorry for the quality. I had to scan it in! He was not happy to be in that pumpkin outfit.

Thanks for checking up on us. I hope to see or visit with you soon!

Wow...

2007-07-29T17:23:00.001-05:00

When I went to my blog to finally post an update, I couldn't believe it has been 4 months since I last posted! I was blown away. It doesn't seem like that long ago, and yet so much has been going on since that time.

Summer is already almost over, which is sad, however it really hasn't flown by for me. I think to working people summer doesn't "fly by" like it did when we were kids. It's just another time of year. This year has been nice since it's been a pretty mild summer. No really hot sweaty days. We've had a pretty boring one really up to now. No big trips, working as usual. Although we had 2 family reunions, one in Ruidoso and one in Glen Rose. Those were really fun. It's nice getting to see people you haven't seen in awhile. Most of those people I only see once a year, so I enjoy getting together and getting updates.

Here are a few pics from the reunion in Glen Rose

With cousin Cathy

Meeting new friends

Making funny faces

Sittin' with Pa and GG

Kaleb is crawling! He just started about 2 weeks ago and now he is going everywhere. He cracks me up how fast he took to it. He's always been very active, and man he hates to be held now when he could be on the floor exploring! He will be 8 months old on Wednesday and that is very hard to grasp. He is beginning to pull up onto his knees and his feet (with help). It hits home that he will be walking very soon and that is crazy to think about. I miss the days where he would stay put!

Here are a couple pictures from 6 months when we finally went to a studio and had his picture taken. I scanned them in so they are a little fuzzy.

It looks like he's sitting up on his own, but what you don't see is his mom sitting just inches outside the picture with hands up waiting to catch him from falling backwards! He still hasn't mastered sitting up completely. He just doesn't have a lot of mass to help him balance.

Here are a couple of pics in his favorite toy, his bouncer! These were taken in May, at 5 months

We had a good 4th of July. We didn't go to the parade or anything. We went and visited some relatives Kaleb hadn't seen since Christmas, and then went to see the fireworks that night. We thought Kaleb might be scared of the fireworks booms, but he slept right through it!

This is my great aunt Mary with Kaleb on the 4th

Kaleb's flashing his favorite finger!

Having fun with Nano

He's becoming quite a drooler if you can't tell

It's getting dark, the fireworks are going to start soon!

A few days ago we had a church fellowship at the catfish farm. I think we (as a church) caught over 150 lbs of catfish. We had a fish fry this Sunday. Here are a few pics of us fishing.

Casey hooked it, I reeled it in!

Kaleb thought Grandpa's hat was a lot better than his own, he kept trying to steal it!

This past weekend was my mom's big 5 0. She wasn't super excited, but we did have to celebrate. We figured that at her next 50th birthday, I'd be 76 and Kaleb would be 50!

The birthday girl

Aunt Edie

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from July I thought I'd add. The one in his bouncer is a month older than the previous pics in his bouncer. I think there's an obvious difference in just a month!

He's beginning to love bathtime!

Kaleb loves his Sadie girl. He can chew too!

Everyone - thanks for being patient with me and my forgetfulness. I promise to update more often. Sorry this post was so long, but I was trying to add pictures and thoughts to cover 4 months! (May kinda got left out, I don't remember anything interesting then anyway!). I hope everyone is well. Have a great rest of the summer!

Easter Fun

2007-04-08T18:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter everyone! This year Easter happened to fall on Casey's birthday (or Casey's birthday fell on Easter!). So after church we went down to his mom and dad's for turkey and dressing. It snowed this Easter! We got about 2 inches of snow over a couple of days. I thought all of that was behind us. It was almost 90 degrees on Monday, then it snowed on Friday! Crazy weather. It's supposed to get warm again by Tuesday. Go figure. Maybe that'll be our last freeze (hopefully). It's too hard having a baby in cold weather. I had to post some pics of Kaleb in his Easter outfit. He was stylin'!

Kaleb in his snowsuit. He didn't get to wear it much this year so we wanted to get it out one last time! These were taken Saturday afternoon.

Kaleb and Daddy on his 26th Birthday

Kaleb loves his new Bumbo chair!

Some tired boys

I Love It!

2007-04-08T18:38:00.000-05:00

Lost is getting so good! I am loving all these new episodes. Casey gets mad though at what he calls "filler" episodes. Like the one about Claire trying to catch a bird, and the recent one about the two that were buried alive. He thinks if we don't learn a lot of new interesting info, then it's a filler. I would have to partially agree. I think for those types of episodes it's good to really watch the flashbacks carefully to get any new info from them, if what we are seeing on the island isn't very interesting or revealing. I am very interested to find out what's going on with Locke! He is acting crazy to leave his friends and go with the others to a different spot. I bet it has something to do with his dad being there (btw what is up with that?!). I think they found out what happened to him and went and got his dad to entice Locke to switch sides. This is easier to believe now that we know they have (or had) a way to get off the island. It's just been a really great season. I can't wait for the next episode. Very exciting stuff!

March Happenings

2007-03-25T14:28:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, thought I would update since it's been about a month since my last one. We went to the coast for Spring Break and had a really great time. We went with Casey's family and some friends from church. I went deep sea fishing one day. It was suppoed to be a 12 hour trip, but one of our engines broke down on the way out so we really only got to fish for 2 hours, then it took almost 4 hours to get back! It was not the most exciting trip, but we caught a lot of fish in 2 hours. We also went to the beach one day, and to the greyhound races. Casey went on a guided trip and caught a trophy red drum, which he wants to get mounted I'm sorry to say :) . We had a wonderful trip - It was so nice to get out of town for a few days.

Everything else is going well. Casey is still enjoying his job and is getting quite a bit of tree work also, which is helping. He really enjoys that as well. My job is going well, we are staying busy which is always a good thing. I am enjoying being only 10 minutes from home, and being able to get home by 2:30-3 everyday. It's so nice.

Kaleb is getting so big! He will be 4 months old April 1st, and has doubled his weight. Once we started him on formula he started gaining like crazy! He's now actually a little chubby. He is vocalizing so much more. He recently began shrieking and it's so cute. He's on the verge of giggling, but hasn't got there quite yet. He almost rolled over a couple days ago. He sort of fell over on his side, and then rolled the rest of the way. It won't be long I'm sure. He's had a persistent ear infection recently that we are trying to get him over. I think it's about gone now, but he had a pretty nasty one, it was fighting the antibiotic. We had to eventually get shots and that was traumatic, to say the least! I actually think we were more upset about it then Kaleb was!

Here are some pics of our trip, as well as of Kaleb during his 3rd month.

Casey and our friend Tanyan with their trophy fish

Casey's was 42 inches long! Definitely a keeper.

Kaleb wasn't sure what to think about those big fish!

Kaleb likes taking cat naps anywhere, anytime!

We're hangin at the beach house, watching t.v. (it rained quite a bit while we were there)

Kaleb at 3 months

Kaleb looks so big in these pictures (above and below)! I think it's because he looks like he's sitting up pretty independently, but he's a long way from that yet.

Uncle Kelly and his girlfriend Kelcey having fun playing!

This is a picture Marlene took to send in for a sweepstakes showing mom's performing their favorite "mom jobs". I hope I win, I could use some free formula!

Chillin in my car seat, I love my fish key toy

Kaleb with his great-granny!

An update....Finally!

2007-02-17T13:27:00.000-06:00

Hello All! I finally have found some time to update my blog! I'm sure you all know that my baby boy, Kaleb Hunter was born December 1st. He weighed 5lbs 8oz. Just a little guy. He is the light of our life and we can't even remember life without him! It's amazing how much your life changes, your priorities change.

We just had our 2 month checkup this past Thursday. We found out that he is on track in length, but not gaining enough weight. We think either I'm not producing enough breast milk or it's not rich enough. So we have started Kaleb on formula every other feeding. We have a return appointment next week to see if the formula will have made an impact. If so, then we know it was a breast issue. If not, then we might have to see a specialist. Hopefully that won't be necessary. I'm pretty sure the problem lies with my milk. He has been a lot happier these past few days we started on formula. He wasn't super grumpy before, and he always seemed satisfied after feedings, but in between he has been much more content now.

He reached his 1st milestone right on time, the social smile. He smiles all the time now. It's so contagious, you can't help but smile back! He's also cooing and vocalizing quite a bit. It's so neat to actually have "conversations" with your child!

I've started back to work and it was very hard! We were very busy when I first started back so I was having to work a little more than I wanted, but now we are slowing down so that's nice. Casey is having a reality check staying at home with Kaleb. He is doing a great job, but I think he is realizing how tough it can be. It has changed his perspective a little bit.

Here are some recent pics of Kaleb. The first two are at 8 weeks. The last one is at 11 weeks.

I've decided to just update this blog once every few months, mostly because I don't have a lot of access to the internet. Casey has the computer all the time, and when I am at home there are plenty of other thngs to occupy my time! I will send out an email letting you know when I update, so you don't have to keep checking back all the time. If you are reading this and you didn't get an email from me letting you know I updated and you want me to add you to the list, just send me an email I will add you. Thanks for all your love and support! I will try to keep it updated!

Pregnancy Update

2006-11-28T09:57:00.000-06:00

Well, things are getting sort of interesting around here for those who are interested. I had a dr's appointment yesterday. But let me start earlier than that. I got a voicemail yesterday afternoon before my dr's appointment from Covenant saying that I need to register since i'm scheduled to have my baby 11/28! What?! That was a big surprise and the first I'd heard about it. So i called them back to basically tell them I had no idea what they were talking about and as far as i know I am NOT scheduled to have my baby on the 28th. They said the dr's office is who scheduled the appointment. So I told them I would get it straightened out, seeing as how I have a dr's appointment late that afternoon. So needless to say I was a little bit anxious and freaked out about it and proceeded to tell the nurse girl tht while she was taking my blood pressure. No one ever said why we had the mix-up so I guess we'll never know what happened. But it was probably not the best state of mind to be in while your blood pressure is being taken. It came out pretty high. I've also had quite a bit of swelling, so the doctor was a little concerned. He said "I went ahead and changed your induction date to the 8th, but after looking at your blood pressure, I was ready to check you into the hospital tonight and take the baby tomorrow." Wow - I was blown away. So he thinks I may be preeclamptic, which is characterized by three major signs: high blood pressure, swelling and protein in the urine. He wanted to check my urine, only problem this time I accidentally emptied my bladder without using a cup. I just wasn't thinking, even though EVERY appointment they want me to pee in a cup. So I had to drink some water and wait a little bit. In the mean time he took my blood pressure 2 more times and it had gone down considerably, and usually with preeclampsia it stays high. So that was a good sign, but my urine came back positive for protein. He said my urine has had a little protein in it this whole pregnancy, but now with the other signs it's better to be safe than sorry.

So, what did all of this mean? I have to stay home for two days and rest (which sucks!) I really want to work some more this week and next week so my check will have something on it for beginning of December! Oh well. I have another dr's appointment on Thursday morning so they are going to look at me again then. Meanwhile, I have to pee in a jug for 24 hours (fun fun) and today go in for a biophysical profile of the baby (I think it is a fancy type of ultrasound). Which I am kind of excited about because it has been a long time since we've had a sonogram, but a little nervous too. I think the baby's fine though. He/She keeps moving around so that's always a good sign.

As you can tell I'm very bored being at home with nothing to do! I hope to get some nursery pics taken and posted. I should be able to, there's nothing else to do around here! I will try and keep everyone posted after Thursday's appointment. We may be having our baby sooner than we thought! If everything goes well though hopefully the doctor will say I can return to work. I plan on working until the 6th, then taking the 7th off and getting induced the 8th! It seems way too soon, but also like we've been waiting forever! Thanks for all your love and support. We'll see what happens. Love to you all

A couple more

2006-11-19T16:39:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more pics from the shower.
If you haven't seen the other pictures, look at those first.

My mother-in-law Marlene (soon-to-be Grandma)

You can see how swollen my ankles are in this picture!

By the way...
I COULD NOT get these to upload on my other post! I was pulling my hair out practically. It said the pictures had uploaded, but they would never appear on my screen. I finally was able to get them up on a new post. Other bloggers out there, have you had problems like this? If so how did you fix it?

That's it for me! It is exactly 3 weeks till my due date from today. We don't have a dr's appt this week due to Thanksgiving. Our next appt is Nov 27th. Then we will have one more the week after that. I'm hoping at that appt we can pick a day to induce if everything is still going well. If so I was thinking about Dec 8th, since it is a Friday, right before the weekend. I think that would be good for everyone. We will see! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and if I don't talk to you, a great Christmas! I am going to try and get pics up of the nursery this week sometime, but I'm not making any promises! Love you all!

Baby Shower

2006-11-14T18:15:00.000-06:00

Wow, I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since my last post. It does not seem that long! I'm not doing a very good job of keeping up with this! It's getting crazy at work right now and I'm really tired whenever I finally get home. I didn't get home until 6:30 the other night. And I got to work at 8:15. That was a long day! Anyway, everything is going great other than the being tired and the backaches. I'm having a hard time sleeping right now and my hands nd feet are so swollen! Oh I hate that! But all this means is that the time is getting close so it's really all a very good thing. I haven't really had time to be nervous yet. There is still so much to do! I hope to get a lot accomplished this weekend (in the nursery). I want to at least have about a week or two to just relax and wait for the baby.

Here are some pictures from the shower. We had such a good time! It was so fun. We got a lot of really practical gifts, which was great. Not a lot of clothes, I think because neutral clothes aren't as cute as gender-specific clothes. That was fine with me though. It will be really fun shopping for clothes after the baby is here! I already have quite a bit.

My big ol' belly!

Not sure what we were talking about here! Jenelle looked so cute in her maternity clothes. She's getting a pooch!

Me and my granny (soon to be great-granny!)

A side view

All the wonderful gifts!

Me and my mom (she hasn't picked out a grandma name yet)

This is the stroller and car seat the hostesses gave us. I love the purple!

Here is the pack n play my Granny gave us. We will probably use this bassinet as the baby's bed at first so we can keep him/her with us in our room!

All the yummy goodies!

It looked so pretty!

Feels like Forever!

2006-10-25T17:56:00.000-05:00

It feels like it has been a long time since I posted! I'm just not around a computer as much anymore so I'm not checking my email very often. Then when I do get a chance to use the computer, I just check email and forget about everything else!

Everything is well with us. We had a dr's appointment this past Tuesday and everything's going really well. We are at 33 weeks. I've gained 18 pounds so far (I'm ok to admit that) :)

The dr. told us that he would be willing to induce at or around our due date if the baby is ready at that time. That was good to hear because I was a little worried he might be the type of dr. that would let me go late. I just wanted to make sure the baby would be here by Christmas (hopefully before!) He made it sound like the baby would definitely be here by Christmas.

He also told us that the baby is definitely head down and wouldn't be likely to change positions at this point so that's a good thing.

We're really excited at this point. The nursery is coming together - we got our bedding in this week and love it! It looks nice I think. I will post a pic as soon as the nursery is finished (which may be at least a couple more weeks, we still have a few more projects).

My shower is Nov. 11th so I'm looking forward to that and just happy that we're getting closer and closer!

We just got back from Infant CPR - it was a little cheesy Here's a line from the video "When a piece of food or an object becomes lodged in the throat, we call that choking" REALLY - how profound! It was good though - we learned some stuff!

That's it from me right now - I'll try and keep up with this better now that thing's are kind of picking up there will probably be more to write about! Hope everyone reading this is well and hope to hear from you soon

Here is a picture of me in front of our registry table at the baby store in KK's. You can't see my belly very well in scrubs but believe me it's sticking out there!

Exciting News!

2006-09-15T20:40:00.000-05:00

I was sooo excited to find out recently that a very good friend of mine is pregnant! Yeah Jenelle and Dubba! I am so happy and really excited that they are expecting, but even more excited that our babies will be so close in age. That will be so fun. Here is a pic Jenelle sent of her little guy (or girl? hmmm) at 8 weeks.

Before she knows it Christmas will be here and she'll be almost 6 months (about where I am right now) and those last months are going to fly by. My first 3-4 months seemed to go by so slow! Nothing really exciting happens, and you kind of just live dr's appt to dr's appt. We are excited because our next appointment is Sept 26, and then we will start going every two weeks, so I think that will help the fall go by quickly!

We are right in the middle of nursery remodel right now, painting and trying to decide on border around the middle of the room, or maybe just a wooden rail around the middle to give a different look. Hopefully it will be finished soon I will post pictures of it here when we finish.

That's all I know for now. Congrats Jenelle and Dubba- ya'll will be awesome parents and I can't wait for more updates! Jenelle - start a pregnancy blog - just for me since I can't see your pics on myspace! :) Love ya

Wow - that picture turned out really weird - Not sure why it has all that white on the sides - oh well?

New beginnings

2006-08-24T11:37:00.000-05:00

Wow - I never thought I would get my blog back! It's taken me so long to fix it, so I'm glad to have that over with (Thank you Lynsey for your help!)

Well, it's new beginnings for Casey and I right now. I am starting a new job on the 28th. I'll be doing the same thing as before (speeching to old people!) but in a different place and for a new company. I'll be working in Slaton primarily and in Lubbock off and on as they need me. I am very excited to be so close to home! But I Hate (with a capital H) changing jobs. I think that's one of the hardest things in life (for me anyway). Getting oriented to a new place and new people drives me crazy! I feel really comfortable where I'm at and I don't enjoy being knocked out of that comfort zone. It'll be a good thing though, I'm pretty confident of that.

Casey is in the process of switching jobs also. He really wants to do Primerica full-time and I think he could be really good at it. The problem is it isn't steady income at first, you have to build your business and clientele (sp?) I guess you could say. So I really hope it works for him because I haven't seen him this excited about anything (except the baby of course) in a long time. I would be lying if I said it didn't make me a little nervous, I enjoy being secure, and with the baby on the way I'm a little more anxious and scared about it than I would've been a year ago. But we're giving it a go this fall, and hopefully by Christmas he'll have it going really well.

I'm 5 1/2 months now, getting bigger everyday and feeling terrific. I have bad times every now and then, but not very often at all. It's a great time. We've started setting up the nursery, and have our crib and changing table in there, even though we still have to paint (I guess we'll paint around them!). Here's a picture of the crib. I couldn't find one for the changing table but it matches the crib.

We went with cherry finish even though EVERYTHING in our house is cherry! It just had a nice look about it. I think it will be nice.

That's it from me right now! Hope everyone's well - leave me comments, I would love to hear from you!

Good Times

2006-08-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

This is a really delayed post! I've been working on this one for like a week and a half. I could not get my pictures to upload! I've been very frustrated, almost considered quitting the whole blogger thing altogether, but finally got it to work (sort of). If this page looks weird sorry it's the best I could do! Here's the post

A couple weekends ago my good friend Jenelle came in from out of town to visit. It was so good to see her (it had definitely been awhile). We ended up going out to eat Friday night with a group of friends from high school, some of which I hadn't seen since Jenelle's wedding 2 years ago. We had a lot of fun catching up. Here's the rundown on these girls:

Sarah is getting ready to move to San Angelo. She found a rocker boydfriend who wears eyeliner (sometimes) but she thinks it's sexy. Sarah, I don't know of you read this but if you do, sorry I had to throw that part in! But I am very excited for her and the new change in scenery. I hope she loves it and has a great time. This is the best time to move, when she's still young and free.

Joann is the proud mother of a two-year-old (I think about two, is that right?) and has a job with a financial company in Lubbock. It sounded like a really great job and I am very happy she's found something she really enjoys.

Deborah is living in Abilene and is a personal trainer, considering going to ACU this fall to work on her Master's degree. I am so proud of her - I could not imagine trying to work go to grad school while you work. I had it easy! She says she loves it in Abilene and that its weird coming back to Lubbock because its seems like such a big town now. I think that's funny because it seems like the same old town to me. It is getting bigger though I will admit.

Jenelle and her husband Dubba (I feel weird calling him that because it feels like personal nickname and I really don't know him all that well, however, calling him Carl would feel weird too so anyway) they live in Midland. He is a banker, she is an accountant. They've started going to a church that they love that has a young married adults class (I'm a little jealous) that they've gotten really involved with. I am so happy they have a found a church home there and love it. I'm very excited about seeing them more now that Tech football is starting (if you didn't know, Dubba loves football like Casey loves hunting - Can anyone say obsessed? :) j/k).

So there's my quick update on everyone. I hope you guys didn't mind me talking about you. I had a great time catching up with everyone and hope we can stay in touch better!

Here are some pics from that weekend:

2006-08-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

Sonogram

2006-07-30T22:22:00.000-05:00

They're here! I finally scanned these pictures in. Our appointment was July 25th and it went really well. The sonogram lady was very nice and helpful, willing to show us everything we wanted to see. She was very careful to point out everything we saw on the screen and to let us know that everything looked normal and seemed to be functioning well. She stated our baby has "excellent aortic anatomy". I have to brag about that! The baby was kicking and squirming the entire time, and it was really neat to feel the baby move and see it move at the same time on the screen. We decided to be surprised by the baby's sex, so we told the lady as soon as we went in that we didn't want her to say. She seemed surprised (it must be a rare thing NOT to find out nowadays) and said no problem. After we finished she said (jokingly) that we'd better not come crying to her later when we want to know what the baby is because she didn't look. So I asked her if she really didn't know and she said no. So we are permanantly stuck with our decision! That's ok because we are happy with it. These pictures are all head shots so we can't even speculate as to what the baby might be! So we will all be surprised in December.

Here are the 1st two pictures. The baby's head is on the left side (of your screen) and in the first one the hand is up by the head. In the second one, the baby's hands are behind the head and you can see the elbows at the side.

These three all pretty much look the same. The head is on the right side for these pictures and you can see the knees if you look very hard on the left side, though they are sort of transparent.

Thank you so much for looking at our 1st baby pictures. We are very proud already and are so anxious for December to get here so we can finally see he/she in person!

Love to all

Colorado

2006-07-26T20:36:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks for us. We went camping in Colorado last week (Wed though Sunday). We had a lot of fun. It was very hot, even in the mountains. The difference is that when it gets cloudy up there it gets cold really fast. It's also very cold at night still up there. But when the suns out it gets really hot! I got sunburned on the top of my hands which is a new experience that sucks. We caught a lot of fish (rainbow trout) and overall had a very relaxing time. Here are some pictures from the trip. I am being very generous for sharing these because you know how when you are camping you don't care how you look (until you get home and look at the pictures and say "We can't put any of these in our album. I look terrible!") Anyway, here you go.

You can really see my pooch in this picture!

Fun times waiting for the fish to bite

This is a picture of the lake we fished from the top of a hill that Casey and I 4-wheeled up

We caught our limit in two hours!

Here's a nice belly shot! I've got to buy some maternity t-shirts. Mine just aren't long enough!

To those who were wondering, I did have my Dr's appointment Tuesday and I do have pictures! I just need to get them scanned in so it may take a few days. Keep checking back.

Love ya

Just for you Jenelle!

2006-07-10T18:11:00.000-05:00

To those who have been asking me to update, sorry it's taken so long! There is a good reason, I'm finally busy at work! My friend Ke'Ren (who is also an slp) who worked for the same company I did recently took a job in Lubbock, which means I now have to travel between Littlefield and Levelland everyday. So I don't get as much time to sit in front of my computer. Believe me I don't mind being busy in the slightest! I would've updated at home (Casey and I just bought a new laptop) but we are having problems finding high-speed internet out at the lake, so for now I'll have to stick with my work computer (although I am writing this from my mom's).

So it has been like, 2 weeks since I SAID I would update (the time of my last Dr.'s appointment). So how did it go you may ask? Rather well actually. The baby's heartbeat is 140 beats/minute (within the normal range). The big issue this appointment was whether we wanted prenatal testing done. We decided to pass on that. If the test came back with a high risk for Down syndrome, they could do a level II sonogram but that still wouldn't tell us for sure that our baby's ok. The only way to know 100% is an amniocentesis, which we are not willing to do. I'm so happy our Dr. was not pushing the tests at all. He basically said "So do ya'll want do these prenatal tests or what?" (Ok maybe not like that, but you get my drift). I wonder if we had a history of genetic disease or syndromes in either of our families if he would've pushed it more (I didn't think to ask). So we are happy with our decision.

Now I am looking forward to the end of July (the 25th to be exact!). We have our sonogram that day. Even though we aren't going to find out the sex, I am still so excited to see him/her. Hopefully he/she will cooperate and we'll some good picures! I promise to post them afterward. I need to get some poochy shots of me on here too. Maybe I can get Casey to take some. You can't really tell anything in my scrubs, but I definitely am showing in everything else!

I am also excited about the end of July because I get to take Casey to Babies R Us!! Yeah! Hopefully we will decide on a crib set and get that ordered. I can't wait to start setting up the nursery. I've already volunteered Casey to paint over the purple walls my mom and I worked so hard on last summer! Oh well we got to enjoy them for a little while at least.

Well I best be gettin' home. Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th and hopefully will hear from you soon! (by the way, in case you were wondering,the baby is now the length of a large sweet potato!)

Been awhile...

2006-06-20T15:30:00.000-05:00

Yes it's been quite awhile since I updated. Truth is I've been a little busy, a little lazy, and a little tired recently! I can't remember what I even did last week. It must not have been that important. Last weekend I went to a family reunion with my mom in Grapevine which was actually semi-enjoyable. Sometimes family reunions can be a beating but I did enjoy this one (for the most part). (BTW, "for the most part" is a very weird phrase I just realized that. Is it even grammatically correct? Anyway)

The best thing about this trip was...................................................

Yes Yes the Ultimate in baby stores. I had the best time in there! I am so so jealous of anyone living close to a big city that has one! People who live in big cities (and you know who you are) please don't take it for granted that you have a babies r us. It truly is a gift! They have a bajillion cribs set up so you can actually look and feel and touch (not just look at a picture) and that was the biggest thing to me. I can't wait to just make a decision so I can start setting up the nursery! yeah how exciting.

Casey and I will be going there while we are in the Dallas area for another reunion in July. I have already made that decision. Family reunions will come and go but Babies R Us trips last forever!

I've been feeling much much better, the nausea is down except when I eat really late in the evening. So we are tring to eat early around 6, 6:30 and I think I'll get through it! My next Dr's appointment is June 29th (16 weeks), so I will probably update this again after that.

That's about it for me other than to say I've had a crummy day at work, that's why I'm looking at baby stuff to make me happy. I know it's not good to talk about your work on blogs. I've heard about people getting fired for that but let me just say this.. Is it wrong to ask to make a little more money when you are asked to begin taking on more responsibility and stress? I'm just throwing that out there. That may not make sense to some of you but I really just had to get it off my chest, without going into details. Anyway, I'll sure I will live through this experience and be the better for it!

Love to all

Crazy Fun Wild Hectic (But Too Short) Weekend AND Week!

2006-06-02T13:40:00.000-05:00

I decided I needed to update for this past week and weekend. It's been pretty crazy around here! This past weekend was Scottie's graduation so Casey's family came in from Colorado. It was fun just visiting and hanging out with some fresh faces. Casey's cousin Teddy was married last year and we hadn't had the chance to visit with his wife at the time (she was a little busy getting married). So we were really glad to get to know her better this past weekend. We had fun jet-skiing, fishing, watching movies and just doing nothing! It was so nice.

Casey and I went to see X-men 3 at the theater Monday. I thought it was great. I had seen the other two and wasn't disappointed by this one. The only problem I think with the X-men movies is that there are so many characters, it's difficult to actually let the audience get to know each one in depth. Of course there are the main characters which we know more about, but they introduced a boy with wings (I think his nickname is Angel) this movie, made it seem like he was going to be in the movie quite a bit and then we only saw a couple more times. I think he had like 4 lines. Weird stuff like that. Other than that it was great.

Well we had our 12 week appointment at the Dr's office this Tuesday. We were very excited going into it but it was all very anticlimactic. It lasted all of 30 minutes. We got to hear the heartbeat (which was very cool), then the Dr came in and felt on my stomach, said everything looked good and that was about it! He told us we need to decide about prenatal testing because if we want it done it will be at our next appointment. Do we want it done? We don't know yet. There is a huge rate of false positives with those tests, which can get you all worried and scared for no reason. Casey has pretty much decided he doesn't think we should have tests but I haven't made up my mind completely. I want to give it some more thought. I think it deserves some serious thought.

I should be getting my car back this afternoon! Finally. It's been exactly one month today since my wreck and still no car! I just hope that it looks and drives the same way. That's what worries me the most!

And to close (finally) my mom and I are going tomorrow to look at a garage sale for baby furniture. I've decided that since this whole thing is going to cost way more than we were thinking, we'd better be a little frugal. I mean if we can find a NICE crib that's used (as long as it's in good overall condition and looks good) why not? The problem will be finding one I like! I think I may be pretty picky. That's the good thing about starting early, more time to look! Better get going. Take care to the one or two people who actually read this!

2006-05-18T11:07:00.000-05:00

I had a really weird thing happen to me early this morning and I don't know if it was pregnancy related. I woke up with a really (really) (I'm not kidding) bad shooting pain in my right side, right below my ribs and towards my back a little. It hurt so bad I teared up. I don't think I've ever been in that much pain. Every little movement made it hurt worse, even breathing. I think it was a basically a muscle cramp. I couldn't really tell at the time. I would try and relax and the minute it would start to feel better I could feel it constricting again. It was the weirdest thing. Poor Casey is like "what can I do to help" and I had to say "I don't know!". It was frustrating. It finally eased off on its own after it seemed like FOREVER (probably about 5 minutes). I just know it hurt. If childbirth is anything that painful I'm in real trouble. (Like my picture of pain?)

On a brighter note, I though Lost was fabulous last night. Jack was making me mad, he's so dense! Sayid is awesome - he saw right through Michael's lies! Sawyer made me laugh so hard when he called Hurley "Grape Ape" Not that that's really hilarious but he's just has great delivery. Good comedic timing. If that episode was suppose to make us sympathize with Michael they're gonna have to do better than that. I feel bad for Walt (who's like grown 2 feet since we saw him last, supposedly in only a few weeks). I though Ms. Klugh (Clue?) was interesting. When she said her name I thought Oh! that must be code for people who are playing the game that she'll reveal some kind of clue! Yeah not so much. Oh well.

And to end on a sad note my dad's dachshund Lucy was put to sleep last week. She was such a sweet little thing. She had some back problems all of a sudden and everything shut down in her bottom half. She had no neural activity. It's sad because her brain and everything was probably still ok, but she couldn't control her bowel/bladder and who knows how much pain she was in. So I'm kinda bummed this week (I just found out Sunday). Last October my dad's other dachshund Gracie escaped never to be found. We think she knew it was her time to die and tried to get away. She was really old. She dug under the fence which she had never done before. I'm still trying to get over that one. I loved that cranky girl.

I really need to get some pictures scanned in so I don't have to find random pictures on the internet to post here. Someday I'll get around to that! That's it for now!

La Settimana Dieci

2006-05-15T12:27:00.000-05:00

This is week 10 and I'm feeling really good! I was not doing so well last week and the week before. I think I caught a cold and that made everything ten times worse. Other than feeling just plain tired, I feel great. I can't wait until my next Dr.'s Appt (5/30). We will hear the baby's heartbeat, hopefully if it has moved forward enough in my belly. I feel like my belly is getting bigger, although I think maybe I'm just gaining weight. There is definitely a pronounced pooch. I can still fit into my jeans though!

I learned this morning from Babycenter.com that my baby is as big as a lime! That's better than a grape! I think it was a grape last week. So he/she is growing that's for sure.

I had a great surprise this weekend. My mom, dad, aunt/uncle and hubby each bought me a Happy Mother-to be Day cards! I didn't even know they made such a thing! My mom also bought this really cute maternity outfit. That's two maternity outfits she's bought for me so far, I think she's looking forward to me getting round! And thank you Lynsey for the sweet email. It's kind if strange being included with the moms! It's hard to think of myself like that yet.

I was a little sad this morning thinking of vacations Casey and I may not get to take for a long while (Italy being at the top of the list). I love the language and history of that country. I know it will potentially be many (many) years until that trip is possible, and it kind of hits me as a pang of regret for a half second. Then I have to remind myself that Italy will always be there and will hopefully always be as beautiful as it is right now. Unless some freak earthquake hits Rome and knocks down the Coliseum (highly unlikely) it will be there for many years to come. We'll get there one day! That's it for now! Arrivederci! Dio Benedice!

Has Michael gone Crazy?

2006-05-10T14:45:00.000-05:00

FYI: If you're not a Lost fan don't bother reading, you won't know what I'm talking about!

What's going on with Michael? I don't think he's brainwashed. I think he did what he believed he had to to get his son back. Maybe they told him to free Henry Gale. Although shooting Ana-Lucia was a bit much, but how else would Gale go free? I was completely shocked by last week's turn of events. Usually I'll have read something that gives me an idea of what's coming but that was a huge surprise. I can't say I'm really upset though. I think her time had come. Her story wrapped up pretty nicely, I can't think of any loose ends in her flashbacks. I wonder if Libby is really dead - I have a feeling no, that she's just injured. My mom and I were upset at first when we thought she might be dead because there are definitely loose ends to her story, starting with: why in the world was she in the mental institution with Hurley? Does she recognize him from those days? Hopefully that will come to light soon. I love this show because it keeps me on my toes, keep me guessing and always gives a little bit right when I begin to get upset about it not giving up any secrets. Sorry for the Lost rant, I just couldn't help myself. Can't wait till tonight!

Sad Sad Scion

2006-05-08T14:59:00.000-05:00

My poor car! For those who don't know I was in a car wreck last Monday afternoon. Completely my fault. I ended up getting t-boned and the back door on the driver's side is all smashed, the roof's bent, the glass shattered, it was a big mess. I'm completely fine thank goodness! That's why we got to have an early sonogram, which was cool although the lady didn't print the pictures out for me :( . It wouldn't been very hard to see a baby. It just looked like a very small dark thing on the screen. No definition at all (sigh). It was a neat experience anyway (the sonogram not the wreck). Only about 6500 dollars to fix (not out of our pocket thank goodness). Thank the lord for full coverage insurance. Though I'm scared what my monthly premium will begin to look like! Here are some pictures of my poor, pitiful car.

First One

2006-05-05T14:07:00.000-05:00

I must seriously have some free time at work to get wrapped up in this! (just kidding serious blogger people) Actually I've decided to keep this as a sort of pregnancy journal, for myself as much as anyone else. I also have great friends who don't live nearby who might like some details.. So I will be trying to keep this as updated as possible, with pictures (hopefully).. I may decide to rant about things I'm obsessed about as well, since I'm sure Casey get's very tired of listening to my Lost theories, who should go next on Survivor, what day movies will be out and how many stars they received from People magazine, etc...

So... Hmmm...What can I say about today? Today has to be the worst day (so far) of my 7 wk pregnancy. Yes I said 7 weeks! We thought it was 8 until the sonogram lady gave us the bad news. We aren't as far along as we thought AND our due date is pushed back to Dec. 16th! I'm so sorry baby! We promise to give you a special birthday every summer!
ANyway - I am feeling very yucky, could hardly eat lunch and could fall asleep right now if I closed my eyes. It's also very rainy and misty today, which doesn't help!

We also got weird news yesterday from Dr's Office. I have been having some weird fluttering feelings in my chest (just starting this week). Was pretty worried so I called the doctor, his nurse said I'm most likely having PVC's. Ok? So what the? They're called premature ventrical contractions. Not competely uncommon to have during pregnancy, and as long as they're not accompanied with dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, it's not a big deal. But when your heart is beating funny it kinda feels like a big deal! I'm just hoping if I really watch what I eat they will go away. I think that's all the news for now. I'm dying to talk about Lost but I think my comments would take up a whole page so I'll spare anyone who is wondering when this never ending blog will....finally....come...to..an..end. Now!