20 weeks!

Where does time go, really? I'm halfway through my pregnancy already! We're also creeping up on our four year anniversary! Time has flown by for us. Sometimes I wish it would slow down. Here we are at 20w2d.



One more week people! One more week! I'm ready to know what this baby is besides a baby. I'm also ready to see that he/she is growing on schedule. It's going to be great to see the little face. We've been saying for so long we want to see what our kids will look like. We are beyond thrilled about our little one!

I got an update from BabyCenter for 20 weeks. The baby is 10 inches from head to heel! Craziness when you think back to 4 weeks and it was the size of a poppy seed.

A one night getaway

A few months ago, Marty heard about a fishing tournament, Take a Soldier Fishing. He signed up with a quickness. If anyone has the opportunity to particpate in an event like this, do it! There are a few things at the top of my husband's list of priorities: God, family, and fishing. Oh, and we can't forget about motorcycles. He hasn't had much free time lately, so the tournament was just what he needed.

We drove the 2+ hours east to the lake Friday afternoon. We get to the room we reserved and let's just say, even Marty was a little skeeved out by it. We were running late for his check-in. We head to the marina, and I stopped by the motel right by the check-in to see if they happened to have any rooms. No rooms. I think the lady saw the desparation in my eyes and mentioned she knew a lady that had an apartment added on above her garage. So she calls the nice lady and she says we can stay there. I was going to be in tears if I couldn't find another room. I wish I would have taken pictures of the skeevy "resort" room. The room above the nice lady's garage ended up perfect. Even if it had twin beds.

I'm so glad I decided to go with Marty. It was touching to see how generous people can be to the military community. I don't know how many "soldiers" (my husband is a Marine, not a soldier, haha) were there, but there were plenty. They had a fish fry, imagine that, Friday night. Kevin, Marty's boater (sponsor) came in Saturday morning instead of Friday because he was on a business trip. I was even excited to meet the man! How cool of them to offer their time, and GAS, to take these men and women out on the lake.

His boater (sponsor), Kevin, has been fishing on Lake Fork for years. Turns out, he's originally from Louisiana! How awesome is that? Kevin told Marty he would be able to find him in the crowd because he would be wearing an LSU hat. He went to the little diner to meet him for breakfast. I followed soon after. Then, they were off. I was left behind to finish my breakfast. I missed seeing them off, but I shot a couple of pictures of some guys fishing. I have no clue who these people are, but it ended up being a nice shot.



I headed back to the "room" and slept for another two hours. Come to find out, Marty had only slept about three hours. Being on night crew screwed him up for this weekend!

Kevin told me how great the pie at the diner is, so I woke up and headed there for lunch and pie. Their sign out on the highway even says "My Oh My The Pie" and they are so dead on. That was some GOOD pie. Good enough that I went back to sleep! After my siesta I went back down to the marina to meet up with Marty for the weigh-in.







Some of the prizes in the tournament went to the biggest bass, along with second and third biggest. Well, they also had a smallest bass prize. The last picture is when Marty was up for his weigh-in. He had everyone laughing when he said they were shooting for winning the smallest bass prize. Goofball. Their 5 fish weighed less than the biggest bass! We couldn't help but laugh about that.

Quite a few military men and women participated in the tournament. They're hoping for an even bigger crowd next year. I believe this was the first year this bass club had sponsored this event. I'm so glad Marty was part of it.





Marty and Kevin:


We met a friendly fellow while we were there. This cutie was left behind by Hurricane Ike. Marty gave me a stern NO when he saw the look on my face when I heard that. I hope he finds a home soon!



Oh, and no trip would be complete without something going on with the dogs. They cost us an extra $400 last month between Molly having an emergency clinic visit and Rayleigh having a cyst on her paw. They came back from our trip with fleas! Yes, those disgusting little creatures that jump and bite. Disgusting. They NEVER have fleas. I blame myself for not keeping them treated with Frontline. It's like that saying "Why fix what's not broken?" That's how I felt about Frontline before this. From now on, they will be treated every other month for fleas to prevent this from happening again! I was so upset about my poor babies itching I sat and cried about it. I immediately gave them their Frontline treatment and started on laundry. I've been taking them outside a few times with the Furminator to comb out any nastiness. Poor kids.

Let's hope this works!

I changed the settings, so hopefully you can post comments now! I had to post another entry to check the settings.

Doesn't it look great?

The blog got a makeover! If you're interested in having a blog custom designed, scroll down and look to the right. Click the link for Penny Lane. As you can see, she does amazing work!

19 Weeks!

I can't believe how fast I've reached 19 weeks! Only 2 more weeks until we find out if that's a boy or girl in there.



The wound is from me having a battle with the wall. I lost. I actually tripped over a laundry basket in the hallway and caught myself against the wall. Those textured walls hurt, just a warning from me to you.

Answer to the poll

I've gained a whopping 4 lbs as of last week! I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Movin' and Groovin'

Little Baby C has been a wiggle worm this evening! The movements are getting much more distinct by the day. I've been feeling the little guy/gal for close to a week. The first movements were questionable, but there is no doubt baby is growing and getting stronger! I LOVE being able to feel our baby. I am so blessed with a wonderful husband and soon...a child!

Sorry about the static midway through. I did say this baby is moving around a lot today! The dogs are growling at each other in the background too. Oh well!



We also purchased another baby item over the weekend. We can't help ourselves when we come across a great deal!



It plays really cool music and even has a heartbeat sound!

Not-so-lazy day

We knew we would be getting rain from Ike, so we wanted to stay in the house today. It was the perfect day to make muscadine jelly. We brought back three gallons of them from Marty's dad. If the winds got bad enough to out our electricity, we have a gas stove. If you've ever made jelly, you know it's fairly simple, but it can take hours. There are so many steps involved. My least favorite part is juicing.



The jelly-making and filling of the jars part only takes about 10-15 minutes once you have your juice.

Marty was more than willing to help me out. He even got the camera out to document it.





Carla, Marty's sister, gave me lots of tips the first time I made jam. You NEED the towel. There will be some spills!





Jealous???



After all of our hard work, we let the dogs out to play in the rain.









They have been huge spazzes today! Unbelievable amount of energy from them both. I'm sure it's partly because of the weather and that they were in their kennels for most of the day yesterday. They've been "chasing" the birds around the backyard every time they go out.

Baby talk! Here are some pictures to compare.

14 weeks:


18 weeks:

The hurricane evacuees

We made it back home from LA on Thursday and spent a few days lounging around the house trying to recover from "vacation." We knew Gustav was on his way. We were prepared to host my parents for the weekend. We headed to the grocery store to stock up on food and snacks since Daren and Katelyn would be coming too.

They arrived Sunday afternoon with Rudy, the dog. They were worried how he would handle the drive and being in the house since he is an outside dog. He's an ornery old dog too. He did excellent! Even chilling in the middle of the living room.




He was just happy to be here!

Katelyn helped bake a cake for us all to enjoy. Fudgy chocolate cake with strawberries and ganache.



Daren played the Wii and watched some shows.



Mom and I took the kids to the toy store. Then we headed to Babies R Us. Mom wanted to see the stroller we picked out. I played with it again, like I do every time I see it. We looked at the bedding and Mom spied some bedding I might like and called me over. I checked it out, it looked like what I had been picturing in my head. Neutral and with animals. She bought it as a gift. She's awesome. We each got a booklet of coupons, well, I got them both.

Dad and Marty repaired the picnic table Marty built. It was getting to be a bit too wobbly for comfort. It's perfect and under the patio now! His (Dad's) next project is to install the timer for our water heater. Marty could figure it out, but he likes a little help from someone with experience.

Marty left Tuesday for work. He had to go to Las Vegas. The family left Wednesday for Louisiana with no damage when they returned. Thank you! I sat around the house, sad they were all gone. Marty returned Thursday as expected. I love that man.

It looks the parents may return though, thanks to Ike. We have a bed ready for them! I hope it doesn't hit them. I would love to see them again, but the don't need to go through another hurricane. However, we need that timer installed! I kid.

Our visit home to DeRidder, LA

It's been a while! This might be long, so you've been warned. Our trip home was great. That is very unusual considering it's normally full of things to do and always stressful. Strange enough, we were home for a week! We went home for Marty's mom and dad's 40th anniversary party. It also happened to be my niece Katelyn's 5th birthday. We arrived Thursday, August 21st. Her birthday was the following day. My mom had mentioned she was going to take cupcakes to her class and asked if I wanted to go with her. Why did she even feel the need to ask? Of course I wanted to go! We found the perfect cupcakes, since we call her Katie Bug. I thought it was a pretty darn cool cake!



Marty and I found the birthday crown and flashing Birthday Princess pin. I insisted she wear it, she was game. The kids all loved the sugary goodness that was the cupcake. Katelyn even decided she needed to lick the frosting off the board they came on.



Her birthday was celebrated again at mom's house so the family could participate in the festivities.



I promise, her hair was pulled back and she did not catch fire. She did get a cool 3D movie from her mom and modeled the glasses for us.



So begins the teeny bit of stressed we experienced the entire trip. The cake for the in-law's party. Marty's sister decided she wanted to try and make the cake. None of us had any experience. The cake tasted excellent when all was done, but it was not the prettiest of things. The guests of honor were happy, as usual.



Marty has a rather large family compared to mine. The Wyatt family filled up the fellowship hall in minutes. He has so many cousins around the same age, there were 3 babies born in the same month a couple of years ago! I believe there is only one other cousin that is expecting a baby besides me. I could be wrong. The party was a big success. The cake was great, there were lots of compliments about how delicious it was. We were beat though. I was too busy mingling and serving cake and punch to get any pictures. Boo.

I went with my mom to pick the kids up after school every day we were there. How awesome is that? One day, I hope to still be a SAHM and I can pick our kids up from school. I helped with homework. The kids are too smart for their own good. Daren even sang for us. Pardon the talking in the background, I didn't want him to know I was recording for fear of him not continuing with his awesomeness.



While we were there, the electric company sent work crews to clean up anything and everything that was below the powerlines that risked growing and downing the powerlines. It was likely in preparation for the hurricanes that were sure to come. The powerline to my parents house runs directly over the fence. They just came through and chopped everything down at fence level. Nice. Not so much, it was ugly. They even cut down my mom's volunteer magnolia tree! Eh, I'm sure it would have enventually posed a problem with the powerlines. Marty decided to finish the job. It was hot out as you can tell...



I spent most of the day time with my mom. We went to a local cross-stitch shop and dug through tons of patterns. She found a pattern for the baby. She rocks with the cross-stitching. She taught me when I was 8. I always have a project going now. I'll post pictures of that later. This entry is already getting way too long! We met up with Jessica, my sister, for lunch most days.





The goodbyes came too soon. I wanted to make sure and say bye to my sister and her kids before we left.



I even had some terrible stomach pains come over me and we got a late start home. It was overall, a wonderful trip to Louisiana. Makes me miss it there, sometimes a little, but this time, a lot. The fun was not over though! We got back to Fort Worth late. We let the dogs out one last time at 10:00 before heading to bed. I called them to come inside, no dogs running toward me like they normally do. They finally came barrelling in. Only Molly was coughing and swatting at her mouth. Crap, what did she get into now? I grab her and spray her mouth in the sink. Still hacking. Marty goes outside to see what they had gotten themselves into. He finds a toad. Great. Then Molly starts throwing up. Nice. I get in panic mode after I get a picture of the toad and look online to see if it's poisonous. It looked exactly like the Cane toad, which could kill our little dog within an hour!



We head to the emergency clinic with the nasty toad. Molly had already thrown up at least 15 times. I had it all over me by the time we arrived, with me still in a panic thinking my puppy is going to die from licking a toad. She was a pitiful sight too. The vet checks her out, her vitals look great and that's a sign the toad was not toxic. They give her a shot and it kicks in within 10 minutes. All she wanted to do was curl up inside her blanket and go to sleep. They came back in and told us it was NOT toxic. Thank goodness! We head home around 12:30, $145 less to our names. Molly was going to be okay, that's all that mattered. It was such a long day. That darn toad-licker.