And We're Going To Be Parents???

This weekend has been pretty relaxing and uneventful especially with both church services cancelled today.
Last night as we were leaving the house to go run errands, our garage door opener wouldn't work to put the door down. I ran back in the garage, shut the garage door, then locked and shut the side door on my way out. I ran back to the truck (it was cold!) and made sure to ask Joe if he had a key to get back in. He said that he did. We also figured that the garage door opener would be working when we returned since we could buy a battery while we were out. While we were out it started to snow. By the time we drove home it was very snowy and really hard to see anything. I had a headache, had to pee and was starting to feel nauseous, so I was very anxious to get home. While we were running errands Joe had realized that he didn't have a house key on his truck key ring. As we pulled in the driveway, we both thought, how are we going to get in?? So then we thought, well, we'll have to find the battery in one of the grocery bags in the back of the truck. So there we were, freezing, searching through Meijer bags in the blowy snow to find the garage door opener battery. We finally found the battery, got back in the truck and replaced the batteries. The garage door still wouldn't open!! Apparently it wasn't a battery issue (which we probably could have figured out since the little red light was working the whole time). That afternoon I had taken a spare key (that our realtor had given back to us when we took our house off the market last week) out of my purse. Who would've thought we would have needed it that night! We then remembered that Joe's parents had a key to our house while we were gone at Christmas and that we had never gotten it back from them (Joe must have given them the one off of his key chain). Thankfully we called them and they were home and they were able to find our key (which was a miracle in itself since they can't always find their own keys:) )! Joe's dad met us part way between our houses which saved us some time. I was so relieved to finally be home and in our house as my headache had gotten worse and I had gotten more nauseous from looking into the snow (and I was getting hungry and probably partially from being pregnant). Then to add to our stupidity of the evening, we had also discovered when we got home that we had left a candle burning. Oops! And we're going to be parents??? Scary thought, I know:).
Today's weather was even worse than last night. We only went to Joe's parents house, but there were times on the way there when we couldn't see anything. All we could see was our vehicle surronded by white clouds of snow. It was especially scary trying to cross an intersection surrounded by open fields. At one point during the drive we spun side ways and came within a couple of feet of plowing into a mailbox. We definitely would have been stuck had it not been for the four-wheel drive!! Don't worry, we won't be driving out in weather like that when we have the baby:)

It's A...

I wish I could say girl for sure, but we obviously have no way of knowing yet (and we won't even know for another 6 months)! Last night when talking with friends I was talking about how I have it in my head that I'm having a girl, so I better get that out of my head so that I'm not disappointed if it's a boy. The heartbeat was somewhat high and I took the Chinese Baby Predictor and it said it's a girl. How can I not believe that? :) (It does say on the website that it is believed to be 99% accurate! I bet!) Plus awhile ago I dreamt I had a girl and you know how reliable dreams are! However, last night I dreamt that I was having an u/s (which the nurse lady used a hand mixer to do the u/s with) and the baby had clothes on! The nurse then said that she couldn't tell what it was because the clothes were covering its "area", but the clothes were blue so I figured it had to be a boy. I must have been thinking of ultrasounds since Lindsey had a 3-D one yesterday and it's amazing (and a little creepy, sorry Linds) how much of the baby you can see. I'm so anxious to know what me and my friends are having. It's going to kill me to wait until August to find out, but I know the surprise will be fun too!!
O, and Lindsey, I swear I didn't mean to steal your title! After I wrote it, I thought, hmm, that sounds familiar:)

Wasn't Sure What to Expect While Expecting

Only 3 months along and I already have noticed so many signs of pregnancy. It is just amazing what pregnancy does to your body (good and bad)...and men don't have to deal with any of the bad affects...although that also means they don't get to experience any of the good affects of it either (which probably won't be until I feel the baby move and then the delivery the baby--yep, can't think of any other good things). My nose was bleeding last week at work (which I've never had before) and I thought to myself, how could this be baby related? I doubt it is. Then while reading "What to Expect While You're Expecting" I came across a Q and A regarding nose bleeds occuring during pregnancy. Who knew!?! Not me! I've also been having the craziest dreams. The other night I had a dream that I was snow mobiling with one of Joe's friends when he rolled backward down a hill and went into a coma. I knew that the right thing to do to save him was to cut off his head. I then put his head in my trunk in a bag and forgot about it for awhile. Then remembered, told Joe, and we then brought it to a nurse that I know at Zeeland Hospital and the nurse said that he'd be just fine. His body would come back as soon as his head came out of the coma! I've also dreamt about getting chased by an eel as he bit off my fingers, having someone throw biting lizards at me, and having the doctor make us a clay replica of our baby (deformed none the less). Between the crazy dreams, backaches, vomiting, nose bleeds, memory loss, heartburn, and acne this pregnancy isn't quite as fun as I had imagined. The baby better be worth it!! Only kidding, I know it will be:)

O, Baby!

Well, I can finally post about being pregnant! Many times in the past few months when I want to write about what's on my mind I can't because it involves being pregnant. Now that we are almost 14 weeks, I can write about it and not care if anyone sees it. The past few months have been rougher than I ever expected pregnancy to be. I feel like a big baby when I complain, but I have really just never felt so sick for such an extended period of time in my whole life. I've been feeling MUCH better lately, so that has been a relief.
It's just so strange for me to picture my life a year from now. I know that I never know what my future holds, but with the baby coming and with friends' babies on the way too, this year just seems to hold even bigger changes than I'm used to. It is the start of a new phase in our life and I can't wait!

Winter Wonderland

We thought we'd take advantage of the beautiful snowy weather on Saturday and go for a walk. It sure was cold, but we still had fun. Elvis looks absolutely freezing on the pics, but he was keeping warm from the adrenaline he had from bouncing through the snow. It's funny how at home when we put him out to go potty he won't walk through deep snow--he'll only walk on the path that Joe so nicely snowblows for him in our yard--but out in the woods he loves running through the snow! On Sunday we showed the pics to my family and they thought about turning us in for doggie abuse--I swear he was having a good time! The snowballs that stuck to his fur melted quickly once we were back in the truck. The seats were still wet the next day from him, but that doesn't bother me as long as he had a good time:) Here are some of the pics. All the pics are posted on my Facebook. It's a shame the running pic with his ears up turned out blurry--he looks so funny in motion!

Another "Blog" Post

I'm not sure if you've heard of this website, but there is actually a blog committed to posting misuses of quotation marks. You can check it out at http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/. It is maintained by a girl from Holland Christian. I happened to check it out after reading about it I think in the Sentinel. Looks like she's also made a name for herself in some other publications. Anyway, when buying some wine stoppers for a Christmas gift (from Meijer, Lindsey), Joe and I both laughed when we read the back of the box. My guess is that either a person in a foreign country typed the label or Lindsey with her pregnant brain typed it (only kidding Lin:) ). Aside from the bad grammar, I noticed that it was also in quotes, so Isent it to Bethany to post on her site. She must not have liked it enough to post on her site, but I think it's funny so I decided to post it!

Donkeys and Elephants and Brad...Oh, My

Ok, so right off the bat you can probably guess from my title that I'm talking about politics...and Brad (as if we haven't heard enough about politics in the news lately!). And right off the bat it might sound as if I'm throwing Brad under the bus. I'm really not. The title popped into my head when I was thinking about the MANY political emails that were circulating today among our friends. It normally is, and today was no different, that it is Brad against "us" ("us" meaning everyone else). So that is why Brad is the lucky one that gets his name put into the title. Ok, so maybe "against" wasn't the right word. It is just that Brad tends to offer a different perspective to the rest of us (that may or may not be stuck in our ways).

I can get so tired of hearing about politics, yet it's such an important part of our lives that how could I ignore what's going on and still call myself a concerned American? I think that the reason our friends (be sure to note that I am including Joe and me in that group as well) argue over politics is because we all see the importance of politics and feel passionately about our views. It's not that we're trying make others look stupid or trying to upset our friends. I guess it's good to argue/discuss if it either opens your mind to new ideas or if it affirms what you already believe.