Baby BOYd

It's me! :) I know it's been a long time. :) I don't have any house updates, but I do have a baby update. I had an ultrasound done this past Monday where the tech comes in and measures all kinds of parts of the baby while in utero! Totally amazing to me still, even though this is the 4th one!! :) My OB/GYN has a new ultrasound machine in his office. One that does even 3D and 4D images!! We don't plan to have those done because I still want some element of surprise when the baby is born. Although, the tech did change to 3D when looking at the face.

The point of my blog entry is to announce that we are finally having a BOY!!!!! I am not going to post the picture to prove it, but I am a believer!! My OB/GYN has said so since I was 14 1/2 weeks along, but I could never see what he saw in the ultrasounds. It was VERY OBVIOUS this last time--NO DENYING IT NOW!! So, it will be fun to welcome baby Andrew into our mostly girl home towards the end of June.

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day!

The weather never ceases to amaze me!! Last Sunday was so nice that I decided to do my lesson plans in the unfinished part of our house. The girls had Valentine cards to fill out so we just had one big work time at a card table in what will some day be our kitchen! Of course today the weather was too cold to spend anytime out there, but Andy did manage to get some more things done in that part of the house.

Ice Storm '09

I realize, as usual, this is a late post. I thought I would show a little (and I do mean little) glimpse of the effect of the ice and snow in our area a couple of weeks ago. There was a lot of major damage in our area, but thankfully not specifically to us. We had more ice than snow, and it wreaked a lot of havoc. We were out of school Tuesday through Friday that week!! We are extremely thankful that no damage was done to our house. We were without power for two days, but we stayed at my parents' house. They never lost power. Some places in the rural areas are just now getting power once again.

My brother, Justin, works as a lineman for one of the electric companies in the area. They were working like crazy to get everyone up and running again.

I was not an English major in college so my description will never do the results of the storm justice. There are piles of broken limbs everywhere you go in our area. We went to Springdale/Fayetteville this past Saturday, and it was just amazing to see how much more tree damage they incurred.

I'm very thankful for God's protection.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired!!!!

It all started before Christmas break. The girls came down with stomach viruses which of course got passed on to me, and then onto my parents in time for Christmas since we were staying with them at the time. We finally got through that, but recently the girls had strep throat. Last week Naomi was diagnosed with strep, an ear infection, and pneumonia in her right lung. The nurses and I had to hold her down for a shot in her rear, and then she received antibiotics for the ear infection. Anne was diagnosed a couple of days later with strep, and had the priviledge of taking some "nasty" medicine. Just this week Anne was crying of an ear ache. When Andy took her to the clinic the ear infection was so severe that they let him look at it. He described it as looking burnt with white blisters on it. So now Anne is on an antibiotic for that, but I guess it's not as "nasty." Melanie has been coughing off and on. She was diagnosed before Thanksgiving with RSV so we figure the coughing is a continuation of that. Otherwise she's her jolly self. Now I've got a head cold, and hopefully that's as far as it goes.

All that to say, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!!!" I'm praying we all have immune systems of steel after this school year!!!!

I Need to Explain Something

In my effort to be effecient I saved a lot of picture posts as drafts thinking that I would just type on them later and post to my blog. Well, since I drafted them all last night they are going to post under Saturday, Jan. 3. I guess it doesn't matter when you actually post them. It only matters when you drafted them in the first place. So, I guess my post for Saturday, Jan. 3, is going to get pretty long even though I'm actually posting them days later. I really don't want to go through the hassle of deleting them and reposting them, so please bear with me. :) If none of this made sense, I'm sorry. :)

From Beginning to Almost End!

I find it fun to look at before and during pictures from time to time. So here is where we were to where we are so far. The last picture shows an unfinished siding, and of course it's finished now. Maybe I'll get out today and take pictures of the finished outside. :)

2nd Floor Pictures!

Some people have been asking to see pictures of the inside of the house. So here is an idea of what the second floor looks like. The first picture is of the loft area that overlooks the living room downstairs. I took the picture from the doorway of the "media" room.

The second picture is a view of the "media" room from the south wall, and the third picture is a view from the north wall of the "media" room. Pictures really don't do it justice--especially since I'm the one taking them. :)