It's A Boy!!

A couple of weeks ago Tristan and I finally got to find out what we were having when I got my second ultrasound!  We were so excited.  After a warning from several friends, I drank some apple juice before the appointment so he would have energy and not be sleeping and uncooperative.  Well, I might have overdone it by drinking two tall glasses of super-sweet apple juice, but I just wanted to be sure.  Let me just tell you--if our child is anything like he was on the ultrasound when he is born, are we ever going to have our hands full!  He was wild--bucking, rolling, punching and kicking, somersaulting and moving all around.  Poor guy, mom sugared him up good!  Well, the tech didn't even have to tell me it was a boy.  It was pretty obvious!  We are so excited to welcome our little boy to our family in August!

Here he is with his hand up at his face, which is the position he favored for most of the ultrasound.  Maybe he was hungry or something....isn't that what putting hands in their mouths mean?

These are a couple of profile shots of our sweet little guy.  As you can see, he is facing different directions--proof that I'm not exaggerating!  He was all over the place.

I'm not 100% sure on this one, but I'm pretty sure it's a side view with him looking at the camera.  It's amazing how clear some pictures are and how others leave me clueless.  I guess it's a good thing I didn't become an ultrasound tech!!

Here on the left you can see his little leg and on the right is a partial profile with his hand up to his mouth. See... he already loves his hands...we couldn't get him to keep his arms and hands away from his face during the ultra sound!!

Mardi Gras 2009 and Doctor Suess Celebration

Well, here we are at 17--almost 18 weeks!  Only 2 more weeks until we find out if it's a boy or girl...we're thinking girl, but we'll see!!  I have been feeling a lot better.  No more nausea (unless I try to lay on my back to sleep or go too long without eating or drinking) and my energy level has been better.  More energy means we actually have been able to go do some fun things lately, so I finally have something to post!  We have also been busy researching and hunting for things to put in our nursery, as well as cleaning out the second bedroom to be transformed!  We have definitely been busy the last month or so!

This week our school celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday.  The week was full of fun events for the kids and on Friday we had a costume day for the teachers.  We dressed up as book characters, and you know I had to be Horton!  Any chance to be an elephant can't be passed up!

A few weeks ago Tristan and I attended our first Mardi Gras parade.  We went to the South Downs parade in Baton Rouge, which is only about 20 minutes away.  We figured we have lived here for 2 years now and we really had no good excuse for not having attended one yet!  We actually had a lot of fun and are so glad that we did it!

This was a small family-oriented parade, so the floats aren't what you would see in some of the larger parades around the state, but here are a few that we saw.

This is just a taste of all the beads that we caught.  Tristan had a lot of luck catching toys and food, too!

Tristan found a street reflector and decided that it might add some more "bling" to his beads...he's so silly!  He was convinced that the backwards cap would help him catch more beads, too...my little gangsta'...

This is Tristan and our friend, Eric, showing off some of their loot from the parade.  We had two shopping bags full on top of this!  Now we have to figure out what we're going to do with all of that stuff!!

Baby Bernard

Well, it's official!!  We have to grow up--a little bit.  Baby Bernard will be making it's debut on August 11 (give or take a few days).  Tristan and I are thrilled and are so thankful to have the support of friends and family.  We couldn't be more excited to welcome the first of our children to our family.  Our family were the first to know--we told them on Christmas day and they, of course, are ecstatic.  My dad even cried (my mom was too busy screaming!).  Tristan's mom is also very excited to add more grandchildren to her family.  We are so glad that everything turned out well with the breast biopsy that I underwent in December.  That is actually how we found out I was pregnant.  As part of my pre-admission process they took a blood test to make sure they could put me under and it turned out I was pregnant.  Fortunately it all worked out I was able to be out for the surgery.  The lump came back as being nothing to worry about--an abnormal fibroid, but NOT cancer.  Which was a double blessing, since Baby Bernard was already baking in the oven!!  We had our first appointment about 2 weeks ago and got to check him/her out...it even did a little dancing around for us while we were watching.  No wonder that heart rate was up so high.  Thankfully I am feeling much better.  After being super sick over the holidays it feels good to eat normally again.  Check out baby's first pictures!!

Snow Days!!!

I couldn't sleep on Wednesday night, so I got up about 3:30 and decided to just get up for the day.  I was on the couch reading scriptures a few hours later when I started hearing some shrieking outside.  When I looked out the window I couldn't believe my eyes!!  SNOW!!  From what we heard, it has never snowed like this in Louisiana.  About 3-4 inches accumulated in some areas, forcing many bridges to shut down because they didn't have the equipment handy to de-ice the bridges.  The city of Baton Rouge was really paralyzed by the storm.  School was cancelled for 2 days because there were so many power outages...it was so fun to get some unexpected time off to play, especially since Tristan was home!

I haven't gotten to make and throw a snowball in a couple of years...so much fun!

It was so fun to be out playing in the snow together!  It was the perfect snow for building a snowman!

Here we are getting ready to go run some errands.  We aren't even used to having to scrape ice off of our windshields, let alone snow!

Winter scenery around Baton Rouge.

Fall is in the air--even in Louisiana!!

With fall comes Halloween and what else?  Football!!  Tristan and I decided we couldn't live in Louisiana and never have attended an LSU game.  Here we are all decked out in our LSU garb with our pumpkins (mine is the elephant, of course!!)  Don't worry, we aren't being completely disloyal to our Washington Huskies--at least it's the same colors!!  Besides, if you don't wear LSU colors, they assume you're with the other guys, which can be dangerous.
We made it!!  It was so crazy to see how seriously people take tailgating around here.  There were tents, t.v.s, couches and alcohol set up outside all over the campus where people had made camp to prep for the game. I guess people rent a spot for tailgating!! We even got to watch them try to load up their mascot (a live tiger) from his habitat on campus--must have been too cold for him, too.  Or maybe he had a feeling how bad the game was going to be!!  Our seats are behind us at the very top of the addition to the stadium.
Don't even think this is the craziest of the fans...the big story down here after a game the week before was that a man shot his friend and his friend's wife over a dispute over LSU tickets...they take their football seriously down here!
For awhile there we though half-time was going to be the highlight of the game!!  It was so amazing to watch all of the formations.  LSU's band is truly amazing.  They did a tribute to Aerosmith, so the music was upbeat and fun!!
I can't remember the last time I was this cold!!  I think I had on like 4 layers and two blankets and I was still freezing.  It definitely felt like home that night.  Here Becky and I try to help each other out with body heat.  Rio and Eric do the same.  Oh by the way, that is the very top of the stadium in case you were wondering...not the best seats, but it was still fun.
It wasn't pretty, but the Tigers scored 33 points in the 4th quarter to win it!!  I'm so glad we didn't sit through that freezing cold game for a loss!!

Becky using our camp stove to cook spaghetti.  Yum! Thanks for the stove Sean and Brenna!!

All ready for the hurricane to arrive.

Tristan and I making the best of the situation and enjoying a candle-lit meal.

Surviving Gustav

Well, I guess that a week without power makes one appreciate the modern technologies available to us.  To celebrate, I decided I better start our blog like I've been promising everyone!!  Just bear with me, I'm not that technologically savvy!!  That's Tristan's job.  One week after Hurricane Gustav hit our home of Denham Springs, Louisiana, we finally have power restored.  We managed to survive our first hurricane very well.  I was so thankful that Tristan made it in from flying and evacuating workers in the Gulf to ride out the storm with me.  Fortunately, our friends are living in Canada right now and allowed us, along with some buddies to camp out at their home (we weren't sure how our little apartment would fare...).  I have to say that we have very little to complain about.  After all, we ate very well out of our freezer (steaks, shrimp, pizza, chicken stir-fry) and had many fun, late nights playing Mexican Train, our latest addiction in the board game world.  Our friend, Becky, had power restored to her apartment on Tuesday evening, so she has been so gracious in letting us shower, sleep and do laundry in her home.  After seeing the massive damage in the surrounding neighborhoods and numerous houses with trees through them, we are thankful that we had no damage to our home or cars.  The biggest inconvenience has been trying to keep our refrigerated foods cold with the shortages on ice at the few stores that have been open.  Tristan and I finally ventured out on Wednesday and had to wait in line just to get into Wal-Mart.  Then we had to get ice vouchers and drive around to the back of the store for them to load the ice into our car...we fully realize all of the things we take for granted!  Pictures to be posted soon!!