18 weeks and counting

UPdate:

*The belly is growing everyday. Jake likes to put his head down by "the baby" and talk to "it" and listen or feel for anything...he's so sweet and encouraging.
(i took a few pics last night, i'll try to get it up sometime this week.)

*We finished Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 1 last night...some of those episodes are SCAREY!! Or i'm incredibly easily freaked out....we really like the show and are looking forward to starting season 2 soon.

*We have also started packing up some books and dvds...cataloging everything on computer...so that in the future when people want to borrow anything...we can remember who has it and when they got it...just for our records...we like to lend things out...but sometimes when i go to watch something and it isn't on the shelf...I think...now where did that go....now, i'll just beable to look at the comp and VOILA...(we're kind of nerds i guess..cause we're having fun with this.)

*We watched Valkyrie last night...I liked it...it's interesting...Knowing the reality of history, and that Hitler killed himself....I so wanted the plan from the movie to succeed....anyhoo..i liked Tom Cruise's performance...and the other myriad of famous actors in it were fun to recognize too.

*We're suppposed to close on our house on Sept 15...LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AWAY!!! very exciting..Jake can hardly wait...
.a neat thing that happened/will be happening...we bought plane tickets to visit my sister (jakes sister) in Indiana Sept 22...
so really we'll have time to move in...go to Indiana...then when we fly back home, we'll be flying home....to our HOME....it'll be like we're flying home to a new happy life...in a house!

*We have a lot of things to buy....eventually....furniture/house stuff, not to mention baby stuff....but i'm excited about practicing PATIENCE...we're doing something different with our finances....only buying things when we have the money for it. This may sound OBVIOUS for some of you wonderful people, but in the past, I've been comfortable with putting a little something on credit and then paying it off ..either when the bill comes in..or a few months later....HOWEVER...i recently paid off all of my credit card debt (celebrate good times come on!) and so ...point being we will be very patient with getting whatever couches, gliders, fun whatevers we see that we'd like to acquire...I'm looking forward to this new adventure.

*Work has been really wonderful for me..I just hit my one year mark! They gave me a cool fleece and blanket..and i think i'll be getting a plaque too.

*Our arts group at church had a "chalk the walk" activity this past Tuesday, as part of our Arts in Worship sequence we've been doing. Thus far we've done drawing, water color painting, clay, acrylic painting, photography, and chalk...i think that's everything.
some days we had live worship music, other times just cds playing. it's been a really nice time allowing God to use us through the arts to express the talents and gifts that He has given us...and it's been a great way to use those things to express worship back to Him.
*For this past activity, only a few people showed up...but we had a great time..I'll post pics of that soon...(need to get them from the person that brought the camera.)

*I didn't think I had too much to update on, but now looking at what i've just written...I hope you enjoyed and didn't get too bored!

The Bump

It may be small, but it's what I got. I have a cool silhouette picture, but this took me like an hour to load from my camera to my comp, so this is what you get. The belly seems to be growing everyday..and we heard the heart beat on Sat. I wish we had a pic of jake and I's face when we heard it...I dont' think either of us knew what to expect, and it was so pronounced and fast...it was awesome. 16 and a half weeks and counting...almost 1/2 way...can you believe it!!! WOW.

update...birthday bliss

so the house we were under contract with...fell through, slight disappointment, but really excited about finding something else!!!

We looked at 7 houses in 2.5 hours....I literally still have a headache from it. We found one that we liked ...and are in process of putting in an offer.

TONIGHT: we are having GAME night for a pre-jake's birthday (or as I prefer to type Berfday....name that movie?) celebration....I love having berfday weeks...it's much better than just a lame 24 hours to focus on celebrating life for oneself...not that you shouldn't celebrate life EVERYDAY!! but, I think it's extra fun...and everyone needs extra fun...anyhoo...

that's the update...sorry didn't upload the photo yet....it's been a really really busy couple of weeks...i'm feeling body pain from the pregnancy..nothing major...mostly the hips.

We have our first appt with Jes on Sat...to hear the heart beat! I know I'm going to cry...I have NO idea what to expect from the visit....that makes it even better..

keep you posted!

The gender of the baby...

is undisclosed until the baby is born....

We aren't going to find out, UNLESS our midwife thinks we need an ultrasound at any point.

I'm not sure when or why we decided this, but we did, and we're sticking to it.

I've just noticed this is the most frequented question that we get about the pregnancy...DON"T GET ME WRONG: I don't mind the question, I just figured I'd put this out there for the general but small public that visit this site.

We're doing green and orange/yellow for baby colors...(no, not camo.)

We also liked the idea of not being "stuck" with tons of pink/bule stuff for sake that the second child we have will the other opposite gender, then need to get other stuff...we liked the idea of neutrailty ...GO SWITZERLAND!

Otherwise, mom (me) is doing great, I have a bit of a bump going on..I'll post a pic soon..PROMISE...15 weeks this coming thursday, and my midwife (aka, good friend Jessica Lableu is coming home TOMORROW!!!)--so excited about that, if you didn't notice.

We're under contract to buy a house, inspection went well, signing the repair addendums ...then the appraisal...closing set up for the 1st of Sept...(keep that in your prayers please.)

A lot of transitions going on, we're stoked, and praising God the whole way through..and very very thankful to the massive amounts of friends and family we have. Thanks all!

and as always, thanks for reading.

Zucchini Soup

2 tbls. finely copped green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. young zucchini, sliced THIN
2 tbls. butter
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp.salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 2/4 cups chicken broth

1. In tightly covered pan simmer green onion, garlic and zucchini in the butter for about 10 minutes, until barely tender. Shake the pan occasionally to prevent the vegetables from burnin.
2. Place mixture and remaining ingredients in blender for 1/2 minute.
3. Serve hot or cold.
4. Freezes well but IF FROZEN omit the cream until serving time
(serves 6.)

You can double/or x4 or whatever, this is sooo amazing...you can skin the zucc if you want, but we don't.
This was a friends recipe that I got when I was 15....I still can't get enough of it. Enjoy and let me know how yours turns out! Jake and I have used it for a main dish, or a side! It has a TINY kick to it...but...ohhhh soo good!

One year of blogging

I was looking through some old posts to see if I had any pics of my twin brother on here. (the only one was the recent pic from St. Louis.)

As I went back, I realized that it's been just over a year since I have been blogging. I am so happy that I started this. Really for myself more than for anyone else. I need to print out my postings or something just so I have them....anyhoo....I'm glad I have something written down to mark this past year..and the pics along with it are nice..a.t leaset when I have pics posted..(keep on me jeannine.)

As always thanks for reading..and stay posted for more.

Alias

Jake and I just finished watching all 5 seasons of Alias.

It was good.

We won't have Sydney Bristow and Micheal Vaughn to keep us company any longer.

I think the next series we'll be watching on DVD is Buffy.

I've heard good things. We'll see.

Other seasons we've watched recently (past few years...)

West Wing
Firefly
House (up to season 4)
Boy Meets World. (at least the seasons that they've released DVDs for.)
Alias

...I think that's it..