April Showers

April is pretty much...gone! Wow! I can't believe how quickly time is flying through this year, and this pregnancy. April has been a month of ups and downs. Here's my list...
UPS:
Ross turned 27! It's kind of nuts for me to realize that when I first met him, he was only 21! My how things have changed. Here is the first picture taken of Ross and I in about February? of 2005

He looks so young! :) I think we had stayed up all night talking and were going on like less than an hour of sleep. Ah to be young and be able to do that again! 

This was Ross' 22nd birthday. We went to an improv show!

Man, I miss those younger days sometimes: buying whatever clothes I wanted because they were cute, spending money on getting my hair colored and having extra time to plan a surprise birthday celebration for Ross. Luckily, he stuck with me anyway :)

UP #2: I got to see all of our family last weekend. My sister came in to town and we got to meet her boyfriend. We stayed at my friends house which was lovely. We visited both sets (or really all sets) of parents and it was great to see everyone!

UP #3: It rained a TON last weekend and when we woke up the next morning, everything was green and it was so great! I'm so enjoying the scenery now that it's green and luscious versus brown and drab. April showers bring May flowers!

UP #4: We had a doctors appointment this week. Everything was great...Baby O's heart beat was 154 BPM and I measured "perfectly". I don't know what that means or how I measured, but that's what the doc said and I will believe good news like that. Baby O moves like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes it shakes my whole body! According to my reading material, he is nearly 2 lbs. and 9 ish inches from crown to rump. He's definitely growing! Here's a pic to prove it. 25 weeks, 4 days:

DOWN #1: Our lease is up on May 31st and we have to be out of our house by that day. Unfortunately, we still do not know where we're moving. Hopefully we'll know before the flowers start to bloom.

Long Weekend

Oh, to have a long weekend. This has been great! Ross' birthday was on Friday and he got out of work early. That day, we finally got his truck back - 3 weeks in waiting but the truck is fixed and it's such a load off to have it working correctly. He spent the afternoon washing the truck and the motorcycle. The bike we're actually selling, so if you know anyone who is interested...

We also went to dinner at a place nearby called the Miners Claim. It was a great, great dinner! I'm sad that we waited until almost a year after we'd moved out here to try it out. It was a great birthday dinner and a nice little date.

Saturday we went to the Colorado National Monument and went hiking. We took a self-guided, learning tour on one of the trails. It was silly, but a ton of fun to read about some interesting facts about the area, the animals, plants and soil. It was a beautiful day! It was so nice to finally get some sun after such a long winter!

Then I went shopping and had to buy more maternity clothes. Here's my issue with that: a) I have a hard time justifying spending the money but I need clothes to wear on a regular basis, particularly for work and the only thing I've had so far are winter items, b) they're so expensive, c) they gauge you on the prices because they know you're going to buy them even though you're not going to wear them more than a few months! It's ridiculous! I have a great friend who gave me a huge bag of maternity clothes. At the time, I was so glad I wouldn't have to buy a bunch. However, we are built so differently, as I get to the point to be able to wear them, they don't fit. So, alas, I had to buy more! 

Monday we walked into town and went to the bank and sent a FedEx and then went to the last place in Rifle that we hadn't been to have lunch. We've now officially eaten at every restaurant in Rifle. Wow! 

And today was a lazy day.

I've slept like crazy this long weekend because...well...I think Baby O is g-r-o-w-i-n-g!!!! Check out the latest baby bump pic. This is 23 weeks, 6 days: Seems like a huge difference between the last pic. Oh boy, this baby is gonna get HUGE!

This week my brother is having a movie premier, my sister is in town, and we get to see all of my and Ross' family. I can't wait! :)

Happy Easter!

First of all, Happy Easter. Though my Easter celebrations were rather minimal this year, the holiday means a lot to me. I am reminded of my childhood Sunday School lesson..."HE is alive, He is ALIVE, He IS alive." We chanted this ditty over and over and talked about the resurrection of Christ. What a wonderful occasion to celebrate and even though I didn't do very much external celebrating, my internal celebrations were busting!

When I was young, I recall getting some Easter baskets from the Easter Bunny, but my childhood memories are few and far between. I don't remember Easter Egg Hunts...well, at least participating in them. I remember watching little kids get to do them. I do remember coloring pictures of Jesus' empty tomb and a rather puzzled looking Mary, while we sat through "big church". I remember getting a new dress and my Mom always taking the annual Easter picture with me, my brother and sister, and us all having to pretend that we didn't get in some huge fight a few minutes before (yes we did fight on a regular basis - sorry Mom). I think I also recall getting some Easter candy, but our dog Mira eating it all before we had the go-ahead.

While my childhood Easter memories are few, I can't help but get be thrilled about the new excitement holidays like Easter will have once this little man joins our family. We can be the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, etc. I don't of course, plan to dress as these characters...don't worry. But I will get to shop for Easter baskets and their contents, plan Easter egg hunts, cook big meals, and buy cute new clothes, etc. All of this for the sake of the kid! How exciting! It's as though I'll get to relive my childhood through my kid. Now don't worry, I'm not thinking along the lines of Theater Moms or Beauty Pageant Moms, just doing my best to make the holiday(s) as exciting for the child as possible. His excitement = my excitement. What fun it will be to watch my son take part in an Easter egg hunt and see him feel proud at his accomplishment and enjoy the ride!

I can't wait to experience all of these, and more, wonderful moments to come! Here's the belly bulge of the week: 22 weeks, 4 days.

On another note, Ross' birthday is this coming Friday, April 9th! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSS! We will hopefully enjoy a nice dinner out in Aspen and some home-made yellow cake with chocolate frosting.