fourteen

Baby is the size of a lemon!

We had another doctors appointment today.  We heard the heartbeat for the first time, which was crazy.  We didn't hear it for too long because the little one moved and the doctor couldn't find it again.  But he found it really quickly at first, and it was pretty strong.

We might be able to find out what the baby is by the end of April, but it make not be until sometime in May.  Hopefully in April, though, because I really want to know!

The Cone of Shame

Yesterday we took Andy to get neutered.  Poor puppy didn't know what was coming.

We dropped him off around 7:30.  After they took him back, we finished filling out the paperwork.  As we were doing that a lady came in with 2 cats - Mad Hatter, and Alice.  Well, they took Mad Hatter out of the kennel to weigh him and he freaked.  I have never seen a cat freak out like that.  One of the tech's had to lock the door just in case, because the cat was all over the place, knocking things off the counter, climbing the walls (literally).  The poor cat was terrified.  Finally he stayed in one place and the tech put on some really big, heavy duty gloves, pulled the cat down, and put him into a cage.  The place was a mess afterwards because the cat knocked practically everything off the counter.  Connor and I thought it was appropriate that the name of the crazy cat was Mad Hatter.

Anyway, we picked Andy up around 10:30.  I guess he was the first one that they did, so he was done fast.  He was really groggy, but excited to see us.  He didn't have a cone on because they said that he wasn't licking so they didn't think he'd need it.  Well, after we were home for about an hour he started to lick at it, so we drove back to the vet and got him fitted for a cone.  The Cone of Shame, as they say in 'Up.'

He's doing better today.  He's more playful, although we are supposed to keep him from jumping up, which he likes to do.

He's a very sweet little puppy.  Hopefully neutering him will make him a bit calmer, though.  That'd be nice.  :)

Memorial Wreath

When Connor, Eric, and I went out to Colorado last September after Ryan died, one of the Colorado Highway Patrol employees, Betzy, told us that the people who work on E 470 (the road that Ryan was on) would put a memorial wreath up in honor of Ryan.  Connor and I knew we would be going out to Colorado again in the spring, so they offered to put the wreath up while we were there.

Betzy was so kind and coordinated with me the time that we could go to put the wreath up.  I don't think they normally do those things on Saturday mornings, but they did for us.

So this morning we met some people from E 470, and they drove us out to the site where the wreath had already been placed.  Connor and I were there, obviously.  My mom flew out from VA, Ryan's friend Michelle (who he was with the night before he died - and who had graciously let us stay at her house that week) and her roommate were there, as well as Julie and Jay, some friends of Ryan's who live in the area.

We arrived at the site a little after 8 am.  They had placed the wreath at the spot where Ryan was when they found him.  Then they moved it to where it would stay permanently.  The wreath will stay there for a year from today.

The wreath at the place where Ryan was laying.  Do you see that orange mark on the ground?  They marked in the grass where his body was lying.  They marked the bottom of his feet and the top of his head.  I think that orange was from the original marking.  Maybe, maybe not.

This Trooper was on the scene the morning that Ryan died.  You can see in the background some indents in the hill.  That's where Ryan's truck ended up.  So you can see where his body was, compared with where his truck ended up.

This is most of us at the site.  And my belly.

This is the final location of the wreath.  

They moved it in front of a highway sign, and on the other side of a guard rail so that it won't get covered in snow and be a little more protected.

These next 2 photos are kind of interesting.  The first was taken last September.  You can clearly see the indent in the grass from the truck (some of the wheels had come off in the accident).  Then in the second picture, you can see that it's still there.  I thought that was kind of fitting.  The earth is still healing, just as we are.

September

March

We are really appreciative to Betzy, and everyone at E 470 who helped organize this.  It was really nice of them to do this for us.

Connor's Labs

In case you were wondering, this is what Connor did in his labs.

For the last month or so, he has been working on molding a wax head.  On our kitchen table.  The first 2 photos are while he was working on it at home.

On Monday Connor worked on finishing his project.  These last 2 photos are his finished head.  Looks pretty good, I think!

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday he had embalming labs (yuck).  

On Friday he worked on cosmetics.  He did the cosmetics on this head (different from the wax head that he created before).

Colorado

This week we were in Colorado.  Connor had his school labs all week.  So, we drove out on Sunday.  When we were about 1 hour from home, Connor's car started to make a weird noise.  We thought, "oh, great!" but we just kept going.  While it was obnoxious, we made it to Colorado without a problem.  We were so grateful that Ryan's friend, Michelle (who is now our friend) let us stay at her house.  That really was a life saver for us.

On Monday, Connor had school.  During his lunch break he took the car to a mechanic nearby and they thought it was something involving one of the belts.  They said to bring it back the next day and they could fix it.  The problem was, Connor wasn't going back there for school the next day.  So we decided he would just take it on Friday when he was back at the same place.

Well, Monday night we were driving around and the noise started to get worse.  We knew that was a bad sign.  We felt that we should rent a car.  Unfortunately, it was about 8pm and the only place that had a car rental available at that time of night was at the airport.  So, we drove out to the airport and picked up a car.  It was a brand new Toyota Camry.  Such a nice car.  I wouldn't mind buying a car like that next....when we decide to buy a new car.

Anyway, we got the car and we were driving back.  We decided to just drop Connor's car off at the mechanic, leave the key in the drop box, and then the mechanic could work on it on Tuesday.  I was driving the Camry, and Connor was in his car.  Remember my post about Car Karma?  Well, Connor called me and said that his car was acting just as it had the last time when it broke down.  Great.  I was following behind him, and we were about 5 minutes from the mechanic.  Well, about 3 miles away, his car was done.  It wouldn't accelerate anymore, and it was in the process of dying, so we pulled over and called our insurance company (yay State Farm!) and they sent a tow truck.  It arrived about 40 mins later.  We got back to Michelle's house around 11:30 and were exhausted.

The next day the mechanic was looking at the car.  Connor had called them in the morning on the way to his labs and explained what happened.  They discovered that a bracket that was holding the alternator to the motor was cracked, which was causing the car to break down.  Does this sound familiar?  First a bolt, then a bracket.  Ugh.  So they replaced the bracket.  We ended up spending about $200 total for the repair, rental, gas etc.  So it wasn't too bad.

Wednesday, and Thursday were pretty uneventful.  This whole week I had almost nothing to do.  I read, watched TV, and napped.  Michelle and her roommate must have thought I was really lazy.  But, they know I'm pregnant, so I have a good excuse.  :)

Friday night was a lot of fun.  We went and saw The Hunger Games.  It was SO SO good.  I really enjoyed it, and Connor did too.  He didn't know much about the books, aside from what I had told him.  We had a really good time.

Saturday we had a memorial wreath placement for Ryan at the site where he died.  I will blog about that later.  Then we drove home.  Now we are exhausted, and ready to sleep in our own bed.

thirteen

Baby is the size of a peach!

Busy Day

Today we ventured down to Provo.  Connor had a dentist appointment (yes, our dentist is in Provo).  When we got there we had to wait for about 20 mins.  They told us later there was some type of emergency.  The took Connor back, and the filling took 20 mins from start to finish.  So fast!

Here he is post filling.

 Then we decided to go visit the cemetery.

 My mom bought a new headstone that should be installed some time this spring.

A cute bunny at the cemetery.

Every time we go to Provo we either go to Coney's or J Dawgs. Today we went to J Dawgs.  It was soooo good.  It's really good that both those places are far away, otherwise we would be eating there way too often.

When we got home we took Andy to get his last set of shots.  He did really well.  

Now, I'm exhausted.

twelve

Baby's the size of a plum!

A First

Today I got my first piece of maternity wear.  My mom bought me this maxi dress.  It's very cute.

I'm going to have to do some maternity shopping soon, but I still fit just fine in my clothes, though things are getting tight.  :)

This has nothing to do with that but, the other day when I was about to take Andy outside, I saw a HUGE spider in our door.  It was between the sliding glass door, and the screen.  After it wandered far away from the opening of the door I took Andy out.  Then I came back inside and vacuumed the spider up, along with all these little white nests that I noticed were around our door.  I'm pretty sure that this spider had been living and laying eggs in our sliding glass door frame, and I had just noticed.  So. Gross.  Now every time I go outside I'm afraid of what I might find.  Especially now that the weather is warming up and bugs are starting to emerge.  Yuck.

Speaking of bugs, our patio is covered by rollie pollies (potato bugs) at night.  I think Andy tried to eat one.

eleven weeks

Baby's now the size of a lime!

My bratty puppy

Car Karma

On Saturday morning Connor was driving to work when his car broke down.  On the highway.  He called me and was really upset (obviously).  We thought, "How much is this going to cost us?"  We're not exactly rolling in the dough with a new mortgage payment, and a baby on the way.

When the tow truck driver picked Connor up, he took a look under the hood of the car.  He said that it looked like a bolt that was in the alternator, holding it in place, had cracked, and fallen out.  Oops.  Interestingly enough, Connor had just had the alternator replaced not too long ago.  They towed the car to the repair shop (where a friend of Connor's works). 

Since it was Saturday, they didn't look at it until today.  We ended up paying about $26 for the repair, and that was only because there was a belt that needed replaced too.  That was wonderful!  When does it ever cost only $26 to get your car repaired?

And that's not all.

Tonight we went to Arby's for dinner (I haven't felt much like cooking lately, and we had a coupon).  While we were sitting in the drive thru waiting for our food, my car suddenly lurched forward several inches.  We thought "What was that?"  I thought Connor had accidentally done something (he was driving - and he thought that too).  However, he was as confused as I was.  We realized that the car behind us had rear ended us.  

Fabulous.

We got out and surveyed the damage.  There was none!  It looks like my license plate got scratched a bit, but that was all.  Thank goodness.  Apparently the lady behind us had been searching for change and had accidentally taken her foot off the brake.  She apologized, and we went on our merry way.

Please let this good karma keep heading our way.  We could really use it.

It's a....

Baby!

We are excited to announce that we're expecting our first baby at the end of September.

7 Week Ultrasound

10 Week Ultrasound

10 Week Baby Bump/Bloat