yes.. he really is THAT good...AND just for fun!

JJ got my PC back to me after only a FEW hours of having it. It does have to go back to him on Monday but we are back up and running for the weekend... yes... yes... my little baby brother really IS THAT good... (P.S. he does repair, consulting and charges by the hour... just a little plug...)

WE really SHOULD invest in a new one and I'd love to go the whole wireless route especially with Minnie Mouse on her way to not be "trapped" in what is currently the den but will turn INTO the guest room/den... but alas... Husband does need wheels to work first and foremost! :)

So... just a little fun for a FRIDAY....

How far along: 22 Weeks
Net weight gain/loss: up 16lbs at my appt yesterday (YIKES)
Maternity clothes: yes... though funny, I'm not wearing ANY today :) just a stretchy skirt and tanks that are long enough to cover the belly :)
Stretch marks: none that I have seen so far
Belly button: still an innie but turning white at the top from stretching... weird
Sleep: comes and goes...up 2-3 times to p at night and weird dreams keep me tossing and turning
Baby movement: YEP! Def. getting kicked and poked. Husband has felt it a couple of times and Sky got to feel it in church on Sunday :) Loved seeing her eyes get all big :)
Food cravings: Juice and those that know me know that I don't waste insulin on things like JUICE (empty calories) but I could SO go for HUGE glasses of JUICE!!!
Food aversions: Hamburger BLECK...(still)
What I miss: Long DEEP sleep (still), being able to sit comfortably in my work chair
Looking forward to: Starting vacation this afternoon and getting a BUNCH of projects done around the house next week!!!
Best moment this week: Sky feeling Minnie Mouse kick her
Milestones: She's bigger than a Bar bi e doll :)

Well....

could be quiet around here for a bit... I mean... more quiet than it HAS been with the fun of the summer... JJ (say "hi" JJ!)is working on our very very sick home PC and for the time being... it's like living in the dark ages without running water or something at the Mouse House... come to think of it... it's not so bad...:) Hope he takes his time :) Be back soon...

or not??

*image credit

A day later and ALWAYS a dollar short...

But here I am with the weekend (plus Monday) report!! :) It's summer... what can I say!? If I am too busy having FUN all weekend I am TOO exhausted to POST at the end and that is A-OK by me! :)

No pics were taken at FND (Friday Night Dinner) but I think I made up for it on Saturday! :) We had an impromptu hang out with friends and family at L&L's pool! The weather was stella (that's Northern New England talk right they-yah) :) and the food was even BETTER! Right Mama H?? I like that she grabs hold of Sky to try and make it seem like it is SKY who ate all the straight up chocolate sauce but we all know better... wink wink! :) There was also some fun of trying to figure out who had bigger/STRONGER arms!? Mama H or Mama S?

I do believe it was Mama H....hands down... (PUN TOTALLY INTENDED!)

Meanwhile, the baby whisperer was at it again :) Sky wanted to hold "Baby Bit" and I asked what she was going to do when it was Minnie Mouse? Was she going to fight to hold her... she responded yes... I then asked her... what are you going to do when she starts squawking? She responded... "hand her to my Mom!" :) hee hee hee... ME TOO SKY MEEEEE TOOO!!! :)

And the boyz...we all off on the lawn with the HOT PINK volleyball set... they ain't scah-ed! :) uh... but WHAT is my studly, athletic, strong, amazing, 110% boy doing on the GROUND?? hhrrrmm...

While the "big" and "littlest" girl had a photo op!!!

and where 3 of us learned some new information that SHOCKED US!!! Can you TELL!? :) TWO OF US couldn't believe that the other THREE had no idea.... phew. It was an EYE OPENING night! :)

It sure was fun times for everyone... and I mean EVERYONE (enjoying a "Frosty Paw" :)

and just because I thought it was cute... snuggled up on the couch waiting for our table for dinner tonight (Monday)... if my heart melts THIS much with a niece, I do fear it will explode with love for this guy after December...

Just when you thought FF was over??

Husband surprised me last Thursday, July 16th as we were headed OFF the exit to our "big" 20 week U/S..."Do you think we should find out?" he asked. Uh... "no" I replied. I thought this was an ongoing convo we'd had for months...he REALLY didn't want to know (and I REALLY did) but I had come to terms with NOT finding out... and hadn't razzed him about it in about 6 weeks. Apparantly during that time he had been tossing it around and had decided that yes... he WOULD like to find out... and chooses to tell me AS WE ARE SECONDS FROM THE DR'S OFFICE!!! HE IS A STINKER!!!! (and other names and words that Laura Jane likes to use :)

Do you have a guess?? (Do you LOVE the foot above the nose? hee hee hee)
How about NOW? :) Oh yes... BRING ON THE PINK! or rather the funky celery green, bohemian crunchy hippy clothes and dirt under painted finger nails... The house is now "even".... two boys... (Husband and Reebsie) and two girls... (Mama and yet to be named but for the blogs sake...AND THE BLOG SAKE ONLY BECAUSE I'M NOT A DI$NEY FAN...) MINNIE MOUSE!

We could not be MORE thrilled :) She was healthy and measuring right on track...

I am psyched because Husband will be THE BEST Daddy to a little girl (puh-leeze, how much experience with little ladies has he HAD!?) :) and I can't WAIT to get started on HER room. Can you say funky, eclectic and hippy-crunchy? :) Can't WAIT!

Plus... someone is going to have to boss these two around! :) Watch out my little men...you'd better HOPE she is more like your Uncle than your Ant who likes to coordinate and ORGANIZE! :) HEE HEE HEE

Just a fun little comparision...

4 Weeks 1 day...

15 Weeks 2 days...

20 Weeks 2 days...

1/2 way there...

The Weekend (and beyond) Report...

A SUMMER weekend...

Friday night baseball...

Saturday afternoon ice cream...

(not OUR fun but def. something that CountryDad and JJ would TOTALLY think was fun!)

And Sunday in the pool....

with a little of this guy thrown in on a MONDAY night...

NOT a bad SUMMER weekend...not a bad weekend at ALL...:)

A night with Andrew Peterson

GA came for dinner last Wednesday night… I made her favorite “Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad” YUM! And then she invited US to the Andrew Peterson concert…dueling baby bumps... at it again :) Rest assured I will snag a photo of this throughout the rest of the 4 months we have left, just because it is SO fun! :) her Mama is a HUGE HUGE HUGE, like probably his NUMBER ONE fan (at least in the state we live in) She was GIDDY with excitement

and I was just giddy watching HER in HER excitement :) she’s so cute!!!

Laurie was there on a date with her hubby… who looks none too impressed to be talking to Husband… weird? :)

But the BIG highlight of the night was scoring our picture with the celebrity himself… who just HAPPENS to be friends with… oh yes, the one and only… Tracy Michele Unplugged! :)

Good times all around and well worth the wait to see AP write on that paper “I want a sweet roll” :) Hrrrmm… wonder what Tracy will be dropping at his house as soon as he is done with his tour of Northern New England? :) *wink wink* *nudge nudge*

Saturday Silliness...

My boy is going to make the "Chicken Wing" FAMOUS some day... you watch! :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE this kid! :)

*video courtesy of Joyce @ the lake

FF, Part 7, The End of Just the Beginning

If you are new... welcome. You can click HERE to get caught up.

On Friday, March 27th, 2009 I called Pat. I was sad, frustrated and disappointed in my body. She asked what cycle day I was on and I told her... 50. I had not had a period in 50 days...my body had not done what it was "supposed" to each month and what it HAD done med free in both November and December... her response "What are you waiting for?" :) Love her. I told her it was time and she probably needed to call me in an Rx for Prometrium in order to induce AF so we could run another cycle. She told me that to follow protocol I had to take a PG test before I started the meds. (BAH!)

I called Husband and asked him to pick it up so we could start it that night. For those of you that know the family well, you know that more often than not we have "Friday Night Dinner" (FND)at Mother in Love's house. Well, that particular Friday night, SIL L had a Dr's appt at the town next to our house and MIL was going to be in the same town running errands anyway so I suggested that we just have FND at our house and order pizza.

After dinner the family all left and Husband and I had to run out to vote in our town. Begrudgingly I p'd on the stick that I knew would once again pop up negative and ran down the stairs to head to the town hall with Husband. Nope. Did NOT wait for the results. I KNEW what the results would be... I didn't need to wait for them.

We got home about a 1/2 hour later and I dragged myself up the stairs to throw the test away...but something caught my eye... wait. What WAS THAT? Was that TWO lines? NO? Seriously?

I grabbed the test (So much for romantically telling Husband over a candlelight dinner) and RAN BACK DOWNSTAIRS!!! I threw the test in front of his face and screamed "HOW MANY LINES DO YOU SEE!?!?!?!?!?!?" His classic response.... "Two. How many are there supposed to be?" :) I love that man! I seriously and purely and with all my being LOVE that man! :)

Neither of us believed it. I was spinning around the living room and we were trying to figure out how much longer before I could take another test... I drank more water and took another one about 15 min. later. It read the same thing. POSITIVE.

We decided (read: I decided) that I would take another test in the AM and then he was going to Wal*Mart to buy a digital test if the generic one showed up positive because I wanted one of those tests to actually TELL ME I WAS PREGNANT!

And what do you know... it did. :)

I called Pat that AM and had to leave a message on her cell phone (you know you are REALLY into infertility treatments when you have your RN's cell phone) letting her know that I wasn't going to take the meds. She called me back worried that something happened and was wrong and I told her that no... I just didn't NEED to take them because... I WAS PREGNANT!!!! She was BESIDE herself thrilled and got me scheduled right away for bloodwork and an ultrasound that Monday AM to see if we could determine how far along I was. It was still really early so we went again 5 days later... and there... we saw "Rice Baby's" heartbeat for the first time... At which, of course, I SOBBED :) And then... a few weeks after that... sure enough... there was the begining of "Teenie Mouse" :)

And here... on the date that marks 1/2 way through my pregnancy (20 Weeks Today), concludes, Fertility Friday posts... It was not the journey I expected to take, nor the outcome I expected to happen WITH NO MEDS but I'm SO thankful that is OUR story and that we can give ALL THE GLORY TO GOD for this little person set to arrive in Nov/Dec.

Thanks for all of you for being on this journey... now which one of you is with me when this little teenie person comes out and is screaming in the middle of the night for no apparant reason? Hello? Is this thing on? WHICH ONE OF YOU? :)

Sights of Summer 2009

Flowers all from MY garden... pea pods... from Husband's (and they were YUMMY!)

I love how Joyce and I just keep getting darker and darker as the summer progresses! :) hee hee hee

Wordless Wednesday ~ Guess Who?

The Weekend Report SUMMER edition!!!

Grab a coffee, juice, water, cocktail... make sure you potty before you start... this is going to be a big 'un. :) Loads of pics... which I know is what you are all here for anyway... :) Thursday we took off and headed NORTH... have I mentioned how much I love NORTH!? :)I am a little concerned that if we take THIS much stuff when we go away for 2 days...exactly where is Teenie Mouse and all their stuff going to go? :) YIKES!? And it wouldn't be a road trip without Husband's stop for beef jerky. I love this guy :)

Mama H recently posted about how she has a place where she feels she can just take a deep breath and RELAX.... Once we get about 1.5 hours UP I feel that too...

It just makes me HAPPY....

We arrived at our destination in time for dinner with the family we were there to see... CountryDad's Cousin, her hubby, their four kids, 3 daughter in laws, and 3 grandbabies were all staying in the same area...I LOVE these guys... fondly refered to as Aunt C and Uncle M...Aunt C came to stay with CountryMum before our wedding as the CALM in the chaos... I LOVE this lady...

Uncle M is another story... him I'm not so sure about :) But he sure loves HUSBAND so I guess he's ok :) hee hee hee

CountryDad and Mum had been spending the week with the fam. in this little teenie (BAH) cottage...

with this view... not too shabby huh? And as I'm sure you remember... the ocean is CountryMum's favorite place....

This is my cousin's wife (we stayed with them, they are actually locals :) and we snapped a quick photo before returning to their house to...

do some prep work for all these people to show up for dinner... I love, sun, summer, tanks, food and my dog... I'm a pretty happy girl in this pic :)

Once the prep work was done, boys were back from fishing and lunch was had... we took off to the neighboring town to do some shopping, visiting, and hanging out in the park...

"Pretend like you like each other"...

that's better...

someone, not mentioning any names... (HUSBAND) might have filled this little boy's squirt gun that he didn't even know WAS a squirt gun until it had water in it... "Winston" had a BLAST...kid under the table... not.so.much. :)

They were buds from that point on...

after dinner with EVERYONE... we tried to snag a few family photos... here is one of the outtakes...

here are some a little better...

and even better yet...

this one is cute too but I'm missing someone... :(

I do love to get my "crunchy hippy" on when I roll into their town... the hat I'm wearing my cousin gave me... when I showed up... he showed me he'd gone to get another one because let's be honest.. they really are... THE COOLEST :)

As we headed out of town on Saturday we stopped back at my favorite of all places up there (except maybe now The Green Store which was equally as cool) :)

and Husband got HIS "crunchy hippy" on getting us some homemade peanut butter... yum!

As soon as we got home, showered and dressed we headed over to enjoy the deck and the pool at L&L's... surprise surprise... someone is BACK in (or maybe it's STILL) in her "habitat" :)

meanwhile...

and back in the pool...

and this was the ORIGINAL pic when they thought it was fun to be "locked up"...

but you all remember how THAT turned out :)

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at L&L's, then went to grab pizza with them and back to MIL's with EVERYONE for the annual fireworks... a GREAT Saturday indeed!!!

Sunday we showed up at the CountryRents to drop off Rebound and catch a final glimpse of these guys before they jetted back home....

and we headed to perhaps my SECOND favorite place in the world... Husband fearlessly maneuvered the city (and you know we ARE Country folk) and we enjoyed the food, drink and HEAT...

until Preggo couldn't take anymore and we left in the middle of the 8th... I HATE leaving the Red Sox early no matter HOW far ahead they are... but it was too stinkin' HOT... enjoyed stopping and meandering on our way home and it was for sure a GREAT wrap up to a GREAT weekend....This guy makes me laugh like none other and being in a car with him for about 700 miles in 3.5 days was a GOOD time...