Misc. pictures

Here are some misc. pictures of the kids doing various cute and mischievous things...





I also found this mess one day after I came back inside from helping Daddy off to work:

Needless to say, Mommy was NOT happy, it was a huge mess and a horrible waste of ink refills. They didn't get a snack after naptime that day. Thankfully, most of the ink came off, but it took a while to clean.

Stairs Redo

Daddy had some time off during the Christmas and New Year's holidays, so we decided to use the time to redo the stairs in our house, which were so loud and creaky the kids would wake up if we tried to go up or down when they were sleeping.

Here are a couple before and after pictures as well as a couple of pictures of the kids "helping".

Under the stairs, before any work.

The old stairs after ripping up the old carpet.

You can just see Benjamin's little face peaking over the gate at the bottom of what used to be the stairs. Daddy is standing on the basement steps.

Here's Anna with Daddy at the top of the basement steps. This picture was taken at what was the bottom of the steps going upstairs.

Here are the new steps going upstairs. They are SO nice and quiet, even without new carpet!

Here is the underside of the new steps going down to the basement, we put in insulation (our house has none) and drywall to replace the old plaster & lath we tore out.

That was quite a project! We were hoping to have it done in one day, but it didn't work out that way, so we had to spend the night downstairs (our bedrooms are upstairs). We dug out the little tent we had for the kids to sleep in and they had a blast!

Christmas 2008

I know it's a bit late for posting about Christmas, but I finally got around to downloading & resizing all the pictures from Christmas break. There were a LOT of pictures (which included the process of the total stair replacement for our house) so I'd been putting it off. Here are some highlights of the kids' Christmas, 2008.

On Christmas Eve, their Grandpa Orange came for a visit. He gave them bedding (twin size so they can use it in the future also when they outgrow their toddler beds). Benjamin got Spiderman and Anna got Cinderella (Dinsey Princesses). They also got matching trash cans for their rooms as well as lightsabers (so they don't fight over Mommy's anymore!).




Christmas morning was our little family celebration. We couldn't afford much, but the kids enjoyed their presents, particularly the "main" presents. Benjamin got a shopping cart and Anna got a toy cat. The cat seems to be the best gift so far, Anna still LOVES that cat and she sleeps with it every naptime (if she actually naps!) and bedtime.



We also had a dollar store gift in each child's stocking.




Later on Christmas day, we went to a family get-together with Mommy's side of the family. They had lots of fun with all their cousins, which I think they enjoyed more than the presents, actually!



Here are all the cousins for a silly photo. Benjamin and Anna are in the back, and can't be seen that well for all the antlers.

Kiddos

Yesterday, I was taking progress pictures of a costume I'm working on and Benjamin wanted me to take his picture. So, I decided I should take one of Anna too. Here they are:

Benjamin, less than a month from being 4 years old.

Anna, 2½ years old.

OB Appointment

My 2nd OB appointment was January 6th, 2009.

For my 2nd appointment, since we couldn't hear it the first appointment, I was praying that we'd be able to hear the heartbeat nice and strong, healthy and normal. First, a med student tried, but I knew he wouldn't find it because he wasn't doing it right (I felt like saying something, but thought that might be rude!). Then, my doctor tried, but no heartbeat except mine. Though, my doctor pointed out every time we heard a little "whoop" sound that it was the baby kicking. As my doctor kept trying to find the heartbeat, the baby kept kicking. It was so cute hearing the kicks coming through the doppler "whoop"..."whoop", and he/she did it a lot! But, my doctor still couldn't find the baby's heartbeat, so she had the med student go get another doctor. It took him a while, but that doctor eventually was able to find the baby's heartbeat and it WAS nice and strong, healthy and normal. Jason said the baby must be a boy (I've been feeling like it's a boy for some reason) because he's being stubborn like his brother!

Our ultrasound to find out if we can see the gender is scheduled for February 2nd, and I'm very excited! :)

New Ultrasound

Monday, December 8th I had my first official OB visit. When my doctor came in, she brought a supervisor (standard procedure when a pelvic is done). My doctor had me lay down and put gel on my tummy so she could use the doppler to try and listen for the baby's heartbeat. After several attempts, nothing but my heartbeat was coming across, so she asked the other doctor if she'd like to give it a try. The second doctor gave it a try, but after several attempts, nothing but my heartbeat was coming across yet again. My doctor decided she'd go ahead with the pelvic exam and possibly that would jostle the baby up to the top so they could hear him or her. After the pelvic, my doctor gave it one more try, but still after several attempts, nothing but my heartbeat was coming across.

I was very disappointed, because I wanted to definitely hear the strong heartbeat to put my fears to rest. When both doctors couldn't find the heartbeat, my fears started rearing their ugly heads again. I knew it was quite common this early NOT to hear the heartbeat, and as one of the doctors put it, it's like trying to find a tiny fish in a big ocean. However, I was still starting to worry.

Near the end of the appointment, my doctor came back in the room with our paperwork and said since they couldn't find the heartbeat we were entitled to another ultrasound or another appointment to try the doppler again in a week or two. We decided on the ultrasound. When we went to schedule the ultrasound and my next OB appointment, the woman said the hospital (where the ultrasounds are done) could get me in as early as the next day at noon. I jumped at the chance, because I just wanted to know one way or the other and not wonder for a week or two.

So, my ultrasound was set for Tuesday December 9th at 12:00. When we went back to the ultrasound room, the woman who was going to do the ultrasound for me asked "Why are you here today?". I explained to her that my doctor couldn't find the heartbeat and wanted to be sure everything was alright since I had had a miscarriage in November of 2007. She said "Ahhh, that's why you're here!" The first thing she did after putting the gel on my tummy was turn the monitor so I could see and pointed out our baby's tiny heart beating away. It was so very reassuring and nice to see that. The ultrasound tech was very understanding and very nice. Plus, we got two more pictures of our beautiful little miracle!

Ultrasound at 11 weeks.

News!!

We have news to share! We're expecting again! The baby is due around June 28th, 2009. We are asking our friends and family to pray for us, especially for our baby "Jelly Bean", that our baby will grow nice and strong and healthy.

We had an ultrasound today, at 10-weeks, to make sure things are going well. The ultrasound tech said that the baby is the perfect size for the age, the heart is beating nice and strong, the baby is moving around nicely, and everything looks good. :) It was so neat to see our little baby moving and squirming around.

Here is our baby's first picture: