My mom and sister were here yesterday and today. They painted the mural and I absolutely adore it! Baby Pooh is so adorable and I'm so thrilled. It turned out way better than the picture I showed them and I'm so thankful to them for doing this for us. The second one is my mom and sister by the mural.

Yesterday was my parent's 29th anniversary! I'm so proud of them. They have been through a lot in their many years together, and I am so thankful they have pulled together and let the Lord guide them through all their trials and tribulations. They have set a wonderful example for myself as well as my brother and sister. We couldn't have asked for better parents and I am so grateful that the Lord picked us to be their children. I love each one of them so dearly and it means so much to be able to say they have made it through so many years. I hope and pray that the Lord will help me to be the kind of wife/mom to my husband and children that my mom was/is is to me.

This picture is of last summer (2006), we spent a couple days at some cabins for a family reunion. They are joking around, really they're a couple of dorks lol.


This one is of them at my brother's wedding in Oct.

This was taken on my mom's bday in July of this year. My sister, brother, me, mom & dad.

Well Andrea had her baby and on the 22nd my SIL's sister had her baby, so that means out of all the women I know who were pregnant, I'm the only one left. I can't believe I'm next. I was kinda taking comfort in the fact that I had a little while longer, but when they had their babies it hit me, I DON'T have much time at all. There is so much to get done and hardly any time to do it. Less than two months! In 4 days I can say my baby will be here next month! My mom is coming this Sunday to paint the mural in the baby room, I'll post pictures when she's done. Next Saturday is the baby shower. So close, I'm ready to have the little guy, but I need to get my rear in gear.

My MIL is wacko, seriously. We spent Christmas day with her and they were talking about my baby belly and how in one of the pictures I have it looked bigger than it really is. I said it depends on the time of day as to how far he's sticking out and for some unknown reason she says, "let me help you out," takes one hand puts it on my belly and takes the other hand and starts hitting the hand that's on my stomach. What in the world was she doing?! Nobody knows, but it made me mad and it didn't particularly feel too good either! Why do people feel they can do whatever they want to other's? Hello, boundaries! Boy I wish everyone knew what that word means.

I can't believe that Christmas is only a few days away. I love this time of year. Eric and I went driving around the other night looking at Christmas lights. I love doing that with him. I'm so thankful that we are together this year and that we have a little bundle of joy on the way. I thank God for all that He has done for us and for the families that we have been blessed with. I hope and pray that everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

I took my last final today, I'm done with school for a while. I am now a full time wife and soon-to-be mom again. I had a dr appt on the 11th. Everything went well, the dr said my weight gain is really good and all my tests came back really good. She said we have a wonderful baby and my next appt is my last 4 week one, then it will be every couple of weeks. We're getting close. My sister is planning the baby shower for the 5th of Jan, so that's only 3 weeks away! For Christmas I got Eric tickets to a hockey game on that day so he won't have to suffer through it. He came to the wedding shower, bless his heart, but didn't enjoy himself one bit lol. So I thought I'd spare him this time. I think he'll be very happy about that, hopefully :)

Eric and I went to a dinner for the ROTC. They were commissioning two of the seniors for this semester. I was nervous, but it ended up being alright. I always get nervous when I have to go to those things. Eric was introducing me to people and he kept saying, "This is my wife, Chelle (he never calls me Michelle lol)," then he'd pat my stomach and say, "and this is our little one." lol. After a few times of doing that I kindly asked him to stop lol. I thought it was so cute that he's so excited about our baby, but I'd rather not have people stare and/or try to feel my belly. He's so sweet though, and I love him more with each passing day. I thank God that He put Eric in my life and that we have been able to develop the friendship and marriage that we have.

We have finals this week, starting tomorrow. It rained most of the night and so it's very icy here today. Eric said our tree outside is bent all the way over with the weight of the ice. I'm taking his word for it, it's too cold for me to go check lol. So, we skipped out on class this morning, I hate having to drive or ride when the weather is bad. If they don't cancel class tomorrow, I'll have no choice. Well, I guess there's always the choice of staying home and taking a zero on the test. I'd rather ride in the bad weather. I'm taking time off from school, since the baby will be here next semester, so this is my last week of school for a while. I was looking forward to graduating next to Eric, but being with our baby is much more important than a degree I won't be using for some time anyways. Family is my top priority, always.

Update on little Austin:

They thought he might have pneumonia, but after running some tests everything came back negative. He gets to come home today! Thank you for the prayers, I appreciate it so much.

My friend, Fawn, had a baby boy on Saturday. His name is Austin, and he was born with some sort of infection. I don't know the whole story (she's supposed to call me this afternoon so we can talk), but he's in the hospital and having to be fed through a tube. The drs are wanting his breathing to slow down, but he's making progress. Please keep him and his mom and dad (Jason) in your prayers. I would appreciate it so much!

I didn't realize how much such a little person takes from the mom. I learned the hard way, you shouldn't try to rearrange your bedroom while you're by yourself. I had Eric rearranging the living room the day before and after moving the love seat about five times, I thought I'd give him a break on the bedroom and do it while he was gone. Not wise on my part, I know this now. I paid for it for two days. Eric got perturbed at me and I was sore lol. Oops. So, I know now, that's the main thing right? At least I was able to learn from my mistake.

The baby has also found my ribs, apparently he likes them very much. My sister is planning the baby shower, I guess around the beginning of Jan. She's not telling me many details, the one's I've gotten have been from my mom. She's not supposed to tell me, but I have to make plans to be there, right? We went and registered a couple days ago. That was neat. It just makes it that much more real that the day will be here very soon and it won't just be the two of us anymore. I'm excited, but also a little nervous. I've been around babies my entire life. I know the basics, but I've also never had the experience of the baby actually being mine. I could always send them home. I didn't have to make the big decisions. It's kind of overwhelming, but in a good way. I know God will lead me through, and He will definitely have to, cause I feel like I'm almost clueless.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We had a great one. We went to my parent's house and my brother and his wife came over too. They had three dinners to go to, but lucky for them, her mom had theirs the day before. That's one reason I'm so glad my inlaws don't live in the same town as my parents lol. We had a good time though. My mom and I made the dinner, and it was delicious (if I do say so myself lol). My sister's bf took Eric hunting a couple times while we were down there, he really enjoyed that. Although, they went Friday and Eric came home with a cut on his forehead. Turns out, he learned the hard way not to put a scope so close to your face when you're shooting. I really enjoyed myself, but I was wore out by the time we got home Saturday. I just can't believe that we're fixin to go into the last month of this year. Time is going so fast and I'm having a hard time keeping up. Here's a picture of Eric and me over the weekend.

My great grandma passed away yesterday. Please keep my grandma (it was her mom) in your prayers. It was exactly 5 months, to the day, since we buried my grandpa (her husband). Thank you.

I was talking to my mom this past weekend and we were talking about the baby. She said it's amazing how the circle of life goes. My sister is 17 now, so that means my parent's are almost done with the raising of kids, while I'm just about to begin. My great grandma is not expected to make it very much longer, they put her on hospice and gave her weeks, while a new life is just a few months from beginning. The closing of one chapter and the beginning of another, just another way of seeing God's work in progress. May God take my great grandma in his loving hands as he leads her out of this world, and guide our precious child when it's time for his life to begin on the outside.

Today's one of those days. One where the alarm went off way too early, and time between getting up and having to go to start my day was way too short. I got about 2 mins with Eric between his class and mine and then another 8 mins from me getting home to him having to leave for the afternoon. The end of the semester is nearing, which means every teacher under the sun decides to lay it on thick. We have to go to Eric's mom's house tomorrow, and I'm not to thrilled. I would really just like to stay home this weekend. From his mom's (2 hrs away), we then have drive to my parent's house (another 2 hrs) because part of Eric's birthday present from me was him going to a hunter's saftey course (kinda ironic since he's in the military, if you ask me, but rules are rules...) so he can go hunting with my sister's bf. That starts at 8 Saturday morning and lasts until 5 p.m. Thankfully, my sister's going with him, and I don't have to :)

Little baby is getting bigger every day. He's getting very mobile for sure. It's really neat to see him moving across my stomach, I enjoy that so much. Eric reads to him every night and the baby reacts to Eric's voice, I love that. I can't wait to see him hold our little one for the first time. He's already such a wonderful daddy. I love them both more than words can say.

My MIL drives me crazy! Yesterday was Eric's birthday (thank you all very much for the happy birthday wishes for him), we had a very good time together. We didn't do much, but I baked him a cake and made him a steak for dinner (his favorite). My parents, sister and sister's bf all called to tell him happy birthday. His mom? Never did. It broke my heart. While we were eating dinner he said he thought his mom would call, but she didn't call his brother so why should he be any different. That made me so sad for him and so mad at her! He said he was kidding, but... He ended up calling her around 8:30 last night, cause he needed his sister's phone number (I dropped our cell phone in a cup of water and ruined it and all the info in it lol). It's just so infuriating. Her birthday is next week, and Eric's already said we're going up there for it, and he let her know earlier in the week, and she can't even pick up the phone? It's kinda sickening. I'm so thankful for my family.

My wonderful husband Eric's birthday is today. He's 25. I just wanted to tell him Happy Birthday and I love him so much!

Eric had to go to the field this past weekend and I went and stayed with my family while he was gone. It was the first time he had been gone for more than 24 hrs since he got back from overseas last year. Anyways, my sister and I went to her boyfriends football game on Friday night and then had lunch with our brother on Saturday and we had a pretty good time. We don't get to see much of him, since he works on an oil rig and he works evening towers, 7 days a week. So, getting to spend a couple hrs with him was nice. I also went to church with my mom yesterday before I came back home. She took a picture of me before I left to get a shot of my belly lol. She said it's neat cause you can see it grow almost daily. Hopefully it's all baby and the stuff that comes with it. I'm trying really hard not to indulge too much and still get plenty of exercise so I don't gain too much weight. I definitely don't want to go back to where I started from. I think I'm doing pretty good though. I'll be 6 months tomorrow.

I can't believe it's almost time for Thanksgiving already. This year has flown by. It seems each year gets faster and faster. I remember when I was in grade school, I thought time would never go by and now it seems like I can't keep up with it. It's kind of sad too.

I would like to ask for prayers for my Grandma and Great Grandma. She's the one that just lost my Grandpa in June. Well, her mom (who is 87 or so) is not doing good at all. She lives in WY and the relatives there with her called and told Grandma that she needs to get there asap. So, my uncle is flying in to take her and my aunt there. I guess they're not expecting her to make it much longer. Grandma is trying to prepare herself, but I don't think you can, so if you could keep them in your prayers I would greatly appreciate it.

*Clarification*-
rose_michelle left a comment on what I said and I realized I needed to clarify something. I don't have a problem with a teacher trying to make us think outside the box. I don't have a problem with them trying to make us think objectively. The problem is, this teacher does not do that. He puts HIS point of view out there and to those who agree with him he says, "good point", to those who disagree he says, "you gotta be kidding me". It's not a matter of making each student think objectively about what we are supposed to be doing. It's a matter of him feeding us what he believes, which I think is wrong on many levels. If he challenged everybody, no matter their points of view, I wouldn't have a problem with the way he acted towards me yesterday, but he doesn't. It's only when we disagree with him that he makes a point to make us defend ourselves and our beliefs.

My journalism class frustrates me to no end. Today in class the topic was "what is news?" The teacher brought up health care. Well, call me old fashioned (at the ripe ol' age of 24) but I think you should have to work for what you get in life. Things shouldn't be free. My parents raised me to work hard and earn what I have in life. My dad worked in the oil field for 15-20 years. He worked his butt off up until one faithful evening in July 1991, when he was swinging a sledge hammer and was permanently injured. Here we are, 16 years later, and he's still unable to work. However, he has never said that the government should take care of him or his family. He has never said that it should all be free. He is on social security for disability, but he worked for every cent (as few as they are) that he receives. He paid his dues up until he could no longer physically do so. Even after his injury he tried to get back out there and continue to work. He fought through the pain that he had as much as he could until he could no longer take it. He loathes not being able to work. If you ask him today he would say he would get out there in a heartbeat if he could at all manage to do so. Eric and I were the dd's for everyone at my brother's wedding. At one of the places we went to we ran into a guy that used to work for my dad. My brother says to me, "Watch this." He goes over to the guy and brings up our dad and that guy talked for 10 minutes on the fact that my dad was the hardest worker he has ever known, before or since. Even putting in all those years, pain, sweat and tears, to this day my dad will not say the government owes them anything. He loathes being on social security, if he had a choice he absolutely would do anything else.
So, the teacher talks about how the government should be responsible for giving everybody health care. My response, isn't it the individuals responsibility to help themselves? I'm not saying that those who need the help shouldn't be able to get it. I just think that you should have to give something in return. I brought up the fact that Eric's in the military, he works hard so we get health care. He tries to throw everybody in the pile by saying, "if your husband came back from Iraq without a limb, shouldn't the government have to help him?" Well, excuse me, I don't think that's the same thing as giving EVERYBODY free health care. Of course they should help injured vets, they worked for it. Of course those injured while working in any line of work should get some sort of help, they were WORKING for it. But don't say that ever Tom, Dick & Harry should get free health care just because they are Americans. It makes no sense to me.

Ok, sorry I had to get that out. I swear, if I make it to the end of the semester without high blood pressure I'll be doing good. I never thought taking intro to journalism would be so taxing lol.

Today has been a wonderful day. It's our five year anniversary. I'm so thrilled to get to spend my life with Eric. His love has been such a blessing to me and I'm so thankful that God put us together when He did. He has blessed our marriage and I'm so grateful for everything. Last year we weren't able to spend the day together, since Eric was still overseas, but this past, almost, year that he's been home has been so wonderful. It's amazing how much a year can change things. This time last year I was planning his homecoming, making signs and getting the house ready. In the past year, my husband came home, I've lost both of my grandpa's, gained a sister-in-law, lost a ton of weight and got my dream of being pregnant with our first baby. Not all of the things have been good, but it's so wonderful to know that no matter what I have the Lord, my wonderful husband and a family that I couldn't imagine not having.

We had the ultrasound today, and everything looks good. The baby was very active and wouldn't hold still the whole time. The baby was so adorable and even gave us the thumbs up.
The radiologist said he's not allowed to tell us what the sex of the baby is because apparently somewhere someone was told they were having either a boy/girl and it turned out they had the opposite and so they sued the hospital, and won. They got not only the money for doing the nursery but also pain and suffering. So, he couldn't technically tell us. Instead, he said, "There's the umbilical cord," moved the thing a little and said, "and there's not the umbilical cord." We're having a boy! Eric and I are both thrilled. Of course we would have been no matter what was seen or not seen. The radiologist kept waiting for the baby to tire and quit bouncing around, but even though we were in there for an hour and 15 mins, the baby refused to settle down. The guy said he hopes he's not quite as active when he gets bigger or he's gonna hurt me lol. Everything looks good though, he has all his little fingers and toes, his little heart is working wonderfully and he's measuring exactly (to the day) what he measured in the first ultrasound. So, the expected due date stays the same, Feb 19, 2008. Here's a couple more pictures of the little one, one is of his face and he's got his little finger on his face and the other is of his little feet.

Well, it's official, my brother's a married man now. That's the weirdest thing to say lol. Things went great though, it was a beautiful wedding. The rehearsal was long and a little sketchy, but the wedding went off without a hitch and everything was great. I put a slideshow together for them that they played before the ceremony started, and it went over well. I cried pretty much from the time I got to my place through the whole ceremony. Although my brother told me thanks for not blubbering like he did during my wedding lol. They couldn't get the unity candle lit, but they didn't let it bother them and we got a laugh from that. So, a word to the wise, make sure the wick is actually sticking out of the candle before the wedding lol. When the ceremony was finished, and we were walking out, the groomsman that I walked with said, "well you held it together good." lol... I said, "yeah I did, didn't I?" geez. Anyways, we had cake there at the church and then they had a dance reception at a opera house museum thing. It was beautiful. They had a dj there and they had a mother/son dance and a father/daughter dance. Then they had a $1 dance. I hadn't ever heard of that, but you pay $1 to dance with either the groom or bride. So, we did that and I don't know how much they made in total, but quite a bit. Plus, one of our cousins came in from Montana and was an usher, but he bought my new SIL a camcorder and my brother a guitar! Well that blew our gifts out of the water that we got them, lol. Anyways, I think they did pretty good and we had a good time. My poor baby was kicking me cause the music was so loud lol. I don't think he/she liked that very much. Several of my brother's friends had come down from where he used to go to college, so after the dance they went to the bar. Somehow, Eric and I got roped into being dd for my cousins, brother and SIL. I'm glad they asked though, because I'd much rather do that than them drive and something happen. So, I was exhausted by the end of the night. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a bed. Things went great though and I'm just so thrilled for both Matt & Brandi (my brother and SIL). I wish them a lifetime of happiness together and may God bless their marriage.

This pic is me, my mom, brother, dad, sister

me, brother, sister

brother and new sil

whole wedding party, those in very front were ushers

new sil, I love this pic

brother and sil

mother/son dance

Glo left me a message asking if I was feeling ok since I hadn't been on in a while. I am so appreciative that there are people who care, and I just love all you ladies! You've helped me through a lot, even though I've never met any of you in person.



I felt the baby kick today, which was such a neat feeling. I was so thrilled and can't wait until it's strong enough for Eric to be able to feel it too.



My brother's wedding is Oct 6, and I'm a bride's maid. I'm pretty excited about that too, just because I know that she makes him very happy and that makes me very happy. I wish them a lifetime of happiness together.

Courtney is so sweet. I seen that she gave me my first blog award and I want to thank her very much for that! It means so much to me.

The awards says: "The thing that I love most about blogging is that I learn so much about a person just by reading their blog. I have met MANY wonderful people with wonderful stories to tell,and I am grateful every day for each person that I have the pleasure of crossing paths in life with.I wanted to create something special for ten people who have inspired me through their blogging; the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement.Although there are MANY people I want to give this award to at this very moment, I am going to choose ten bloggers:Please grab your badge and wear it(with a smile) proudly, and pass it on because you inspire and encourage me, thank you.So, now it is my turn to pass it on. "

So, I know that most of these ladies have already received at least one, but they are very special to me and so I'll give it to them again. Thank you all for the support you've shown me. I couldn't have gotten through last year without you!

Courtney (Beside My Soldier)

Michelle (Learning How to Deal)

Charla (Standing By My Man)

Glo (Young At Heart)

Kbug

Andrea (Sgt and Mrs Hub)

Monica (Always My Soldier)

Vanessa (All That I Am)

My little baby sister turns 17 on Friday (21st). It's the last year she's technically still a kid. I'm pretty bummed about all this "growing up" stuff. Seriously, next thing I know it's going to be Eric & my baby that's turning 17. My sister, Meagan, is 7 yrs younger than I am. We're really close. Actually, my whole family is close. We call each other Bisty, and she's so funny. She's really a cool person to hang out with. The night she was born, I was so thrilled. My brother and I were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital by ourselves, the rest of the family hadn't made it there yet, and I was bouncing off the walls (literally). I was so excited to have a baby coming into the family. We didn't know what she was, and when my dad came down the hall with the nurse and told us it was a girl I was beyond thrilled. My brother, on the other hand, was not. He wouldn't even come out in the hall and see her before they took her to the nursery to clean her up. He sat in the waiting room pouting. He wanted a brother. He even called her "It" for a while after she was born. Of course, they are best friends now too though.
Our whole family is super close and I'm so thankful for that. My sister completed the puzzle to that part of our lives and I thank God that she was put into our family. The age difference could have been one that separated us, but I think that it made us closer. I've always had the instinct to protect her first. As my mom has said, I was a very clumsy child, but even when I would be holding her and I would trip and fall (lol) I always made sure to land with her up, so she didn't get hurt. She's not just my sister, but a wonderful friend and I'm proud of the young woman that she's becoming. So, to my beautiful, talented sister, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEAGAN! I love you!

We had another appt yesterday. Everything is going good. The baby was moving alot, so she wasn't able to get a good heartbeat lol. What we did hear, she said was between 140-150 though. My next appt is Oct 17, but we are scheduled for an ultrasound Oct 12 (which just happens to be our 5 year anniversary!). I'm so excited, I can't wait to see our little one again. My brother is getting married Oct 6, so this weekend is their wedding shower. We are going to my parents this weekend so I can go. Eric's not even slightly interested in going (for some odd reason lol) so he's going hunting with my sister's bf. I even let him off the hook of going to our baby shower, he wants to go to an OU game since I did that. I figure I made him suffer through our wedding shower, I'll let him slide on this one. They don't seem to be geared towards the men anyways lol. Who knows when it will be though, my sister is planning it and won't tell me anything. She says it's a surprise. I think I should at least get time to plan when I need to be there lol. Oh well.

In other news, school is going ok. My journalism teacher is one of the most slanted people you will ever meet and his "teaching" leaves a lot to be desired. My economic geography teacher thinks he's teaching 3 yr olds (seriously, he stopped class after myself and another person sneezed back to back and said "I guess everyone has the sniffles huh?" and then he got irritated when a girl asked a question and asked if it would be on the test). I don't think he realizes that if we don't learn what's being taught, it's at our own expense. Oh well, I guess everyone can't be pleasant, otherwise we'd have nothing to complain about lol.

Ok, I'm a little slow, but I finally took the time to take some pictures of our house. I haven't taken any of the outside yet though. I have some of before, but I'm just going to post the one's of now. I love this house, I'm already dreading the thought of having to sell it one day lol. We got some baby stuff the other day. We got the crib, changing table, and dresser. Eric put it together and it is so cute! I'm thrilled. It looks neat having it in the baby's room. We still have to paint and stuff, but I have no clue what color to paint, so that will have to be later.

Here's our cute little kitchen, I love the cupboards! My mom made the curtains for the kitchen. They are so cute!

And the living room

The spare room is a mess still, we have lots of work to do to get this one in order!

Our bedroom

And our cute little baby's room! The dress hanging on the dresser is something I had picked up for a friends baby. Turns out, she's having a boy lol. Oh well, it might come in handy if we have a girl!

I came close to dropping journalism, but after thinking and praying hard about, I decided not to let an arrogant teacher run me off. Besides, I'll know better next semester! lol...



I've had a head cold the past week and I'm so ready to get over it. It makes things more difficult not being able to take medicine. A small price to pay though.



We have tickets to go see OU vs North TX this weekend. I don't want to go, I'm not a big fan of football, but Eric wanted to and my sister and her bf want to too, so I'm going too. We also get to go see my sister's bf play his high school football game Friday. So, as much as I don't like football, that's where I'll be all weekend, YAY!



I miss Hawaii. I want to go there again and just relax and do absolutely nothing but goof off for another week. Sounds so good to me right now! Too bad that takes money, and quite a bit of it. First, we have to fix the air conditioner and then eventually we need things for the baby. Vacation will have to wait. The baby is definitely worth it, and with the heat, the air conditioner is too, but if things weren't so expensive we could have all three and then I could forget school and be relaxing in paradise. Ahh, dreams.

Classes started Monday, I'm taking Economic Geography, Intro to Journalism, Methods in Social Research and Social Statistics. You know which one I dread going to the most Monday, Wednesday and Friday? Intro to Journalism. Would you like to know why? On day one the teacher called us out on our political views. I am not an outgoing person, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't go around spewing my views, but I also won't sit back and let others bad mouth my side either. So, in answer to his question of who we supported, I was the only one to raise my hand. I felt out of place, sure, but also proud of myself for sticking up for what I believe. Then today, another dose of making a point to draw out those who oppose his views. Luckily there happened to be another lady in class today that shared my point of view, and she's a talker :) You know, I would understand the point to this type of teaching if the teacher wasn't so biased. If he drew out both sides to open a discussion for the students to choose their own beliefs, that's one thing. However, It's a completely other thing when the teacher puts his point out there and makes the student feel like they are totally wrong for their beliefs. He flat out said, "I'm anti..." and proceeded to name the things he hates. Isn't the point of teaching to teach all the angles and give the students the information to choose their own path, not to try and make them take the path already chosen by the teacher? Aahh, ok that's enough of a rant for today, and it's only the second day of that class. It may be a very long semester! Sorry if this doesn't make sense.

I don't know why the picture wasn't showing up. I'll try again to post it. Sometimes blogger is frustrating. We had another dr appt today, and we got to hear the heartbeat! It was 156. It was amazing and so neat!

Ok, sorry this took so long, but here's the picture of our baby. The cute little one even had it's tail still lol. I have another appt on the 15, so hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat then. I'm excited! Eric's mom bummed me out when we went and visited her this past weekend. She looked at the picture and just went on talking about her stupid cell phone. We might as well have shown her our big toes for all she seemed to care. Oh well, that's her loss if she's not going to be excited with the rest of us. My family is estatic and Eric and I couldn't be prouder parents already lol.

I know I referred to the baby as he in my post, but that's only because I've always figured I'd have a boy first lol. I always wanted to have the older boy so he could look after his little sister. Kinda like my brother, I guess. Although my brother was such a butthead to me for a long time. When it came down to it, though, he stood up for me and protected me when I was being threatened. My brother's rules were that I was to never look at him, or talk to him in public. The only reason I could talk to him was if something happened to mom, dad or our little sister. He was very adament about this, and in fact he told me if I seen him in school I was to look the other way and act like I didn't see him. I always complied to these rules, and I developed a very bad habit of starring at the floor, and playing with my hands. Anyways, we went to Falls Creek Church Camp one year, and I stayed away from him. Some of the people from our group were going to play in a volleyball tournament, and so the whole group went to watch. Well, one of my friends and I sat up higher and away from the rest of the group. These three guys came up to us, one had a camcorder, and stood in front of us. The other two sat down on either side of us and started putting their hands on us and saying stupid things like, "Hey baby, wanna go with us?" and just being really dumb. Well, we were both taken aback and didn't know what to do. Out of the blue, standing in front of me, my brother appeared. I didn't see him come up, but he was there. (He's always been very stocky for his age, and everyone was always intimidated by him) He was standing there, flexing his muscles and he said, "Michelle, are these guys bothering you?" I told him yes and he said, "Leave her alone!" The guys started stuttering saying, "Hey man, we were just playin around." My brother said, "Leave her alone!" The guys were stumbling all over themselves, and my brother wasn't backing down. Anyways, they left and left us alone. My brother turned to me and asked if I was ok, I told him I was, and he turned and walked back down to his seat. Everyone was talking about it, they said that as soon as he realized that the guys were touching us, he flew up the steps. From that day on I knew my brother loved me and would be there when I needed him. Up to that point, I had no clue, I figured he'd be the first to throw me to the wolves lol. Anyways, I've always wanted a little boy to give his little sister that kind of security. (Minus the whole making a rule where she can't look at him part)
On the other hand, though, my mom and grandma both say it's a little girl lol. It's kind of funny though, because my mom says things like, "They got a picture of her today," to my dad and my dad responds with, "You mean him?" lol. I guess only the Lord knows though, whatever we have, it's our little blessing and I'll be so happy to have him or her.

Things have been hectic around here. We signed for our house last Thursday and our household goods were delivered yesterday. I had Eric deal with the movers since I had dealt with them when they took it lol. Gave me a chance to rest anyways and I even got a little reading done :) My mom and sister came down today and helped us get things unpacked. I was so grateful to them for that too. It made things go so much easier and faster than doing it alone for sure. They are definitely lifesavers. Thank God for good family! I wish they could have stayed longer, but mom said maybe in a couple weeks her, dad and my sister could come and stay the night with us. I hope so. I'll post pictures when I get some taken lol.

I also have to post our baby picture, I haven't forgotten, just haven't had the time.
You know, I never realized how tired a pregnant lady gets lol. Eric, my sister and her bf kept making fun of me for always being so tired. They were trying to get me to do something and I just wanted a nap lol. Eric even told me I could be tired when I was big and pregnant. I know he was playing, but I don't think that was the wisest thing to say lol. Men.

We are finally back in our home state! YAY! We came down yesterday, and in the process stopped by and seen my grandma. She looked so lonely when we told her goodbye. I felt bad for leaving. She seems to be doing good though, but of course still has her good days and bad. We're staying with my parents until we sign for the house on the 2nd! I can't wait. Just over a week and we'll be put for at least two years! I haven't got to say that since we got married. It's so exciting to know that we'll be in one place for two years. Aaahhh, those are sweet words lol.

Ok, well I have a prayer request. One of my old high school friends', she was a year below me, brother died on Saturday. He was in my grade, and was only a year older than I am, so he was only 25. They're not sure what happened to him, they had an autopsy done, but won't know the results for 6-9 weeks. His funeral is Thursday, and I would appreciate it if you would all keep his family in your prayers. They're not taking it well, and I worry about the mom in the family. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this difficult time. Thank you!

Today was my appt. It went really well. I got my physical today, the dr said everything looks good. I was a little disappointed, because I didn't think they were going to do an ultrasound. But after the physical they took me to another room and did an ultrasound. It was so neat! They said the baby is still too little to hear the heartbeat, but we could see it beating in the ultrasound. It was the neatest thing! The little baby isn't even an inch long, but we could see it's little arm moving around. He's so sweet! I love him already. I'm 9 wks and 1 day, according to that ultrasound, which is only a day off from where they had me at the first appt. I'm so excited! We don't have any of our stuff, except the laptop really, so I'll scan the picture when we get to the new place and get set up!

We've been living for a week without our stuff now. I hate it. It really stinks having to sit on lawn furniture and sleeping on an air mattress. They also took our microwave, so I'm having to do the old fashion warm ups lol. Oh, the joy. My mom finds it funny, I'm not in the mood to find it funny. I'm just ready to move, Monday can't here fast enough!

My dr appt is tomorrow at 3. I'm ready for it, although I'm not a fan of physicals lol. It's worth it though for sure.

Eric called me while he was on his way to formation this morning for accountability, at 5:40 a.m. and said he had been rear ended. I guess the guy told him that he had just dropped his kids at daycare and was having a coughing fit and he didn't see him slow down. It took over and hr for everything to get squared away before Eric could leave. He called the cops, and when the cop got there they found out that where they were was not his jurisdiction, it was the forts jurisdiction lol. So they had to wait on an MP to get there. At least the guy has good insurance. I think State Farm does an excellent job when it comes to getting things taken care of. I got rear ended once too and the lady had State Farm and before I even got to my mom's house they had called to tell me what to do. It was awesome. Anyways, they've already called Eric too, and told him to take it wherever he wanted and it would all be taken care of. Awesome customer service. We leave on the 23rd from here, and the packers are coming tomorrow, the movers on Friday, so Eric probably won't be able to take the truck in until Monday. Hopefully the body shop will be able to get it done within the week. He's going to take it today so they can tell him how long it will take to do the job. He can't drop it off until Monday though, because we have to have the truck to put the things we don't want them to take in the move. Oh well, if they can't get it done in time, we can always do it when we get where we're going. At least nobody was hurt!

I can't wait to get out of here. It seems like these last two weeks will never end!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Thank you to all those who have made sacrifices for us to be able to celebrate our freedom today!

I had my first appt today. It was just us talking to an ob nurse. My first real appt is July 19. We told her we were moving next month, so she put us in before we have to leave. She said that she really wants us to get that done before we leave so that they can make sure everything is going good. So that's when I'll have the first ultrasound and what not. She said based on the dates I gave her and everything that I'm about 6 weeks already and that my due date will be around Feb 19. The did my lab work today, and took 5 vials and I had to do a urine test. Fun fun lol. It's still pretty unreal to me at this point, but I'm excited. My sister and her bf stayed the week with us last week, and she bought the baby it's baby book, first piggy bank and a cute little onesie already. She's already spoiling it and it's not even here lol.

We had our house inspection yesterday. I guess there were a few things wrong with it, but nothing major. So, we're requesting they fix a few things and then we'll get the rest. It's just a few things, so I'm excited about that. We also had it appraised and they said the asking value is very reasonable, so that's good too. Our closing date is Aug 1, so just over a month. My mom said she wants to paint the mural for the babies room, and I'm so happy about that. She's such an awesome artist.

Eric should be getting his orders in the next couple of days so he'll be able to start clearing soon. He has 24 hr duty tonight and on the 4th of July, which sucks, but what can ya do? Oh well, no big deal.

Last week was pretty terrible, with my grandpa passing and everything. However, God blessed Eric and me in two huge ways, and I would like to share with you ladies :) We put an offer on a house down in OK Saturday, and found out yesterday that the sellers accepted out offer! YAY!!! So exciting, I love that house! Now, for the best news ever, I found out Sunday (Father's Day!) that Eric and I are going to have a baby! I took two tests and then that afternoon we told my family. They were so excited. I signed Dad's card Eric, Michelle & Baby, and while he was looking puzzled about that Eric laid a baby bib that says, "I love Grandpa" on him. They went nuts, they are so excited. My sister about busted our eardrums with her screaming. We went and told his mom yesterday, she's excited too. Then I went to the hospital today and they drew blood and about 30 mins ago called and told me it is for sure positive. My first appt is the 28th. I am SO EXCITED!!! The best news of all is that the last time I posted about our problems with getting pregnant I said that the dr gave us pills to help, well I took them for two months, but last month I told Eric I didn't want to take them anymore, I felt like the Lord was telling me to just put it totally in His hands and we would be blessed for it. So, I did, and the very next month, I'm pregnant!!! Thank you God! :)

My grandma asked me last Friday morning if we would be able to come down to where my Grandpa was in the hospital and stay with her if she needed us to. I, of course, told her yes. Well she called later that day and said that she was going to stay so if we could come down it would be appreciated. So, when Eric got off work we went down to the hospital. When we got there my grandpa wasn't doing too well. He had to have surgery before we got there, because they had to put a tube in his chest to drain the fluid that was building on his heart. Well, we stayed and talked to him for a while, but when he was getting tired we decided to leave and let him rest. So, we went to a motel for the night. The next morning we got up early and went in to visit him. He was up, but his blood pressure was really low it kept falling to about 55/46. It went up a few times to normal, and towards the afternoon Grandma was tired and asked the nurse if he was stable enough for us to leave, he said yes. Well, we took her back to the motel and went and piddled around town for a while. When we got back, she was up and we sat and talked a while before heading to the hospital again. When we got there they had the curtain in his room pulled and a ton of people were in there working on him. A guy asked if we were the family, and then said that somebody would be out to talk to us soon. Grandma kept asking if something had happened, but he wouldn't answer. Well, a lady did come out and gave Grandma the phone, and the person on the phone told her that Grandpa's heart was trying to give out. So, they had us go to the waiting room so we couldn't hear everything that was going on. A few minutes later the dr came out and said they had one option left, to put in a pace maker and see if that would work. Grandma said to do it and try and give him every chance. Well, they had to put him on a respirator and when tried to put the pace maker in. They didn't even get the pace maker in before his heart gave up. It was so sad being there with Grandma when the dr told her that her husband of 32 years was gone. I'm glad, however, that we were there, because at least we were there with her to give her a little bit of comfort and so she wasn't alone in her time of need. I had the task to make the phone calls to tell everyone he was gone. Grandma asked me to call Grandpa's son. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I don't know the guy and I had never talked to him, and it was so heartbreaking to have to tell him his dad wasn't with us anymore, but at least it took some weight off of Grandma's shoulders. We were with Grandma all week, they let Eric off for the week too. We had Grandpa's funeral yesterday, and it had military honors. Eric got to present the flag to Grandma, which was very special to both of them. I've lost both my grandpa's in a 9 month period. I have one left, my mom's dad, but he has never been in our life and so this Grandpa was my Grandpa. I loved him so much, and he will be missed.

I got a new haircut the other day. It's quite a bit shorter than it was before, but I wanted a change and I'm so glad I did it. It's so much easier to handle and cooler. Yay!
We went to church last Sunday. I'm always nervous trying a new church, but we went to one on post and it was really good. I'm really glad that we went, and we will definitely be going back.

My Grandpa is in the hospital for the second time in two weeks. They're not sure what's wrong with him, his blood pressure keeps dropping extremely low and his blood sugar keeps going high. He has cancer, and being in the hospital is keeping him from his treatments, so hopefully they will get him lined out so he can go back to getting chemo before his cancer spreads. So if you could please keep him in your prayers I would appreciate it.

Eric got accepted into the Green-to-Gold Active Duty program that he put his application in for. I am so very proud of him. That means that he gets to go to the ROTC program in Oklahoma and still be considered active duty Army, so we get to keep the same pay and all the benefits. It was definitely an answer to our prayers. Otherwise it would have been extremely tight for the time he's getting his bachelor's degree. There are only 100 slots for the entire Army so he definitely earned this and I couldn't be more proud of him!!!

Well, we had a very eventful weekend. Eric and I went down to OK on Thursday. We stopped by his mom's work on the way down and gave her the mother's day present we bought for her. We got to my families around 4. My brother proposed to his girlfriend that evening. They don't live in the same town, but he called and told us about it. They are getting married Oct 6 of this year (which happens to be 6 days before our 5th anniversary).


On Friday, my sister had her first prom. She was a sophomore server, and so was her boyfriend. I took her over to get her nails done that morning, and then my mom and I ran her over to get her hair done. She hadn't ever been to the place she went, and the girl who did her hair acted like it was the first time she ever seen hair before. I couldn't believe how slow she was, and in the end she did a not so good job. The curls were cute, but she left big rats in the back by her ponytail. I went over and tried to give Meg the opportunity to say something, but she didn't take it. She couldn't see the back, so she didn't know. Anyways, that cost $40, and in the end when we got home, I had to fix it. Here's the before and after.


Here she is in her servers outfit and then her and her bf, Colter. He got to use his grandma's 66 Mustang to take her to the prom. It was so sweet!


Here they are after they served and got ready for the dance. They are so cute! His mom made her dress for her! The other picture is my dad and sister "waltzing" lol.



Saturday was my birthday. I turned 24. I can't believe I'm 24. It was a good birthday though. My mom and I got up early and went and got my brother and brought him over after he got off work. Eric and I went and seen Shrek 3. It was funny, although I swear the rudest bunch of people I've ever come across where in the theater, sitting right by us. It was packed in there, and this lady comes in, on her cell phone, with 8 kids. They were loud and so rude. Eric had went to get some popcorn, and so I was saving his seat. The lady sat in the seat next to his, and I had to tell them 3 times that someone was sitting in the seat next to me, because she kept letting the kids sit there. Then, she answered her phone 4 times during the movie. Why can't people go 1 1/2 hrs without talking on their phone? I don't get it. One of the kids kept getting out of his seat and coming and standing right in our way, and stepped on my foot 3 times. She got up several times, never saying excuse me. Good grief! Anyways, the movie was funny and I'm glad we went to see it. The rest of the day went really well too, and I'm glad we were there to celebrate my birthday.

Here's my "nephew". My brother bought him for his fiance for her birthday in April. He's a yorkipoo his name, I kid you not, is Ozzie Yorkie Pooholes T-------. Both the Ozzie and the Pooholes part are after names of baseball players I guess, so my brother said.
On Sunday, we had the second fundraiser. It was a lunch, and it went really well. It went from 11-1, and we made $1700. Jon gets out of rehab the 26th. Him and my dad are going to be my brother's best men, and he told my brother he will be walking by then. I hope he keeps that attitude, even if he doesn't end up meeting his goal.

Anyways, that was my weekend, sorry for the long post.

Eric had lasik eye surgery done last Friday. It went really well. He had a little trouble with his eyes the first two days after the surgery, but mostly just with them itching and being a little blurry. Other than that, though, they are healing well, thank God! This is the last picture of him with his glasses, and then the first picture without them.



Since he had surgery, they gave him 7 days convalescent leave, so we're getting to spend the week together. He also is taking four days of leave the 17-20, so we can go down to Oklahoma. We would go sooner, but of course you have to sign out before going on leave, and so we can't. That's ok though. My sister's first prom (she's a sophomore server) is Friday, and she wanted me down there to help her get ready. Then my birthday is Saturday, and the fundraiser is Sunday. We went fishing yesterday and half my body got burnt, I look a little lopsided lol. Oh well, I'm planning to go stand in the sun to get the other side tomorrow lol. Hopefully the sun will cooperate with me. My brother (Matt) texted me yesterday and said he got the ring to propose to his gf (Brandi). I'm happy for him. They've had a long road getting to this point. They dated in high school, I believe they were in the 10th grade when they started dating. They were homecoming king and queen. He was the captain of the football team, she was a cheerleader. He was very much going to make her his wife. When they graduated though, it didn't go that way. She said she needed space and he moved to Nevada. She called him while he was there, but my aunt, who my brother was living with at the time, thought it was doing more harm than good, so she told her not to call her house ever again. When Matt moved back to OK, 2 yrs later, he was angry at Brandi, and wouldn't talk to her. She got engaged to a guy, and before she married him, she came to Matt to try to talk to him. He refused, and she married the guy. Well, long story short, she got a divorce after 2 yrs, and after a total of 7 years, they are back together. I'm not sure when he's going to propose, but I'm hoping while we're down there this weekend :)

It's Official

I'm a college graduate! One degree down, one to go!

My sister got me this shirt for my birthday (May 19th), isn't it pretty?

Well, we are home now. We had a wonderful visit with family and everything when we were down there. Sunday was my dad's birthday, and we all pitched in to buy him a new stereo. It stormed from Saturday night until Monday morning. It flooded where my parents live, and there were 4 tornado's in Oklahoma at one time. There was one that was 15 miles west of my parent's house, and then another that was about 20 miles south of there. It was crazy. The electricity went out for about 3 hrs, so we had to have dad's party in the dark. It was fun though. Mom bought party hats, and blowers and bubbles. My dad has a really hard time just about every birthday. He hates getting older, but this year he was actually in very high spirits and had a wonderful time.

After the party my brother and his gf left because he had to go to work that night. My sister, her bf, Eric and I played hide-and-go-seek in the dark, lol. It was pretty fun. Anyways, I could not believe how bad it rained. When we came home yesterday there was a town in KS that we had to pass through and it was so flooded, I couldn't believe it. I took a couple pictures. There are billboards that are covered with water to the bottom of the sign.
The water was so high it was touching the bottoms of the bridges. It was crazy. The whole town looked like it had been flooded. Thankfully it didn't do that here where we live.

Anyways, Sunday night my brother's gf called me and said that Matt (my brother) had left to go to work and she had gotten a call from a cop saying they were taking him to jail and to come down and get his car or they were going to impound it. So, she had to walk down to get the car. She was so shaken up when she called me, she was asking what to do lol. I had no clue what to do, but told her to find out how much bail was going to be and then we'd see what we could do about getting the money together to get him out. He has NEVER been arrested, and I felt so bad for him. He got pulled over because he had expired tags, they ran his license and found that it has been suspended because of a ticket he didn't pay. So, that was a lesson he learned the hard way. PAY YOUR TICKETS ON TIME! Anyways, his gf said she was going to call my uncle (my brother works for my uncle) and tell him Matt wouldn't be at work that night. So, we decided I should tell my parents so they didn't hear it through the grapevine. Well, I was just telling my mom and she calls me back. He was getting out, they only needed $218, and she was going to get him. He told her not to call our uncle, he was going to work. Anyways, so I told my mom for nothing. Which made me feel bad, because I don't want to be a rat, but I didn't want it getting back to them from my uncle. So, overall it was a very eventful weekend lol. It was a good weekend though, for the most part and a valuable lesson was learned.

I graduate tomorrow, and this is the last week of school for the semester!!!! YAY!!