Our First Anniversary

Last weekend, Trina and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. This is how it went.

On Saturday we decided to go to Table for One and get massages. I've never had a professional massage before. Trina wasn't sure I would like it. I don't really like people to touch me. Trina on the other hand loves them. Trina came home from a massage once and told me that massages are her new hobby. She tried to compare getting a massage to me playing softball on Monday nights. Let me know if you think she's crazy too.

We then went to Starbucks to get a free cookie and small hot chocolate. The coupon queen found a one day only special. After the hot drink we went to the movies. We decided to see Couple's Retreat after a referral from my parents. We both really enjoyed it.

Following the movie, we exchanged gifts and went out for dinner at Cibo Fusion. Trina and I went there for our rehearsal dinner one year earlier. It was fun to think about the hours leading up to our big day. Trina and I both tried something different. We've been watching the cooking shows a lot recently and I had no clue what scallops were. It was on the menu so I tried it. Alone they aren't anything special. However, with the noodles and sauce that was on the plate, I could have swore I was eating gold. It was terrific. Trina had a similar experience. She ordered the rib eye. That wasn't the best part of the meal. In fact, I would say that both sides were better than her steak. The menu said "white truffledmac & cheese, eloté, and sweet ancho horseradish sauce." Basically it was the best noodles and cheese ever. The other side was a very fancy version of and ear of corn. It was cooked in a special sauce and rolled in all sorts of spices. I didn't know vegetables could be so good! As I tried to leave, Trina suggested that we try a desert. We ended up with flaming fondue that featured strawberries, bananas, nuts, marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate and carmel sauce.

This is a picture of Trina after she finished eating (insert joke here).
The next day we went to Central City to Pinicon Ridge State Park. This is the exact tree that we got married under a year prior. We took a walk with the dogs and talked about how the day progressed. The colors of the trees weren't as crisp as they were last year. Yet the park was still a beautiful place visit. I hope that returning to the park becomes a tradition for us.

Since Bud had to read all of the sappy stuff, I am leaving the last two pictures for him. Both the deer and the elk are fenced in at the park. This is the biggest rack I've ever seen in person (on a deer). I've also never been this close to an elk. It was really cool to see both of these beautiful animals standing feet apart.

Overall, this was a great weekend. I couldn't have had a better year with my beautiful wife.

Half way there!

As of yesterday we are 21 weeks pregnant. That means I'm about half way there! The past week or so has had some ups and downs concerning the pregnancy/baby. Last week we had our ultrasound and doctor appointment, which Tanner shared about. It was so exciting to see our little baby actually moving around and being a little human. As Tanner reported, we found out I have placenta previa. The way they made it sound (and therefore the way Tanner described it in our blog) it wasn't a big deal, and simply meant I would likely need a c-section. We lived with that reality for only a day, until the doctor called me the next day to review the ultrasound results. She was a bit more alarmed about this condition and put me on "pelvic rest" which is exactly what it sounds like. I'm not allowed to do any lifting "generally around 15 pounds or anything that uses your pelvic muscles" is how she described it. To put it in perspective, I can't pick up my dogs at the same time. It also means no sex. The concern is that the placenta would detach, which would obviously be fatal. I will continue with these precautions until early/mid December when we will have a second ultrasound to determine if I still have the condition. After that, we may find out it fixed itself and then the risk factors basically go away. If we find out I still have it and/or it's gotten worse, many more risks/concerns come in to play.

I also reported to my doctor last week that my heart rate has been generally very high (my blood pressure is perfect). She recommended I greatly increase the iron in my food for a few days. After choking down a bunch of red meat last week, it didn't help. So on Friday I was sent in for a holtar monitor. Basically they stuck 5 patches to me and hooked them up to a portable monitor for 24 hours. I was to log my activity during those hours. We are now waiting on those results. It's difficult and concerning because I'm not supposed to let my heart rate get above 140 even if I'm exercising. But even this morning, I was just standing in the bathroom, blow drying my hair (like I do every morning) and my heart rate went up to 145. Hopefully we'll find out what's going on soon!

Besides all of this concerning news, we had a glimmer of exciting last night. When laying in bed, I put Tanner's hand on my belly and we waited. We're pretty sure he could feel the baby move a couple of times! He said it wasn't what he expected, much lighter and didn't feel like a body part. Tonight I'm going to have some caffeine and we'll try again. Last night I also brought home from YPN some fetal models. They are silicon (i think) forms of a fetus at various stages of pregnancy, 10, 15, 20 & 30 weeks, representing the actual size and weight. It was so cool to hold the 20 week model and imagining it being comparable to our little baby! We realized that the 8x10 ultrasound picture we had in our living room was the exact same size as the 20 weeks fetus.

We got another dog!

Yep, we did it. We got another dog! I can here you now. Most of you are want to know why we would want a third dog right before Trina has the baby. Others of you (Trilby) want to know who is going to be taking care of these dogs when we go away for the weekend? Well, I don't have all the answers yet. We will figure these things out when they become a problem.

So you're not as gullible as I thought you might be. This is actually a project that Trina was asked to do for Big Brother's, Big Sister's. The entire staff was given a bowling pin and asked to decorate it. After the bowling pin sat in our house for close to a month, we decided to turn it into something fun.Ten easy steps

Step one, spray paint the bowling pin white before talking to Trina

Step two, spray paint the bowling pin black because Marley isn't white

Step three, drill holes and insert dowels for legs and tail

Step four, cut dowels to the correct size

Step five, cut out ears and a tongue from leftover fabric around the house

Step six, hot glue synthetic grass to the bowling pin

Step seven, spray paint the grass

Step eight, spray paint white spot on the chest

Step nine, create collar with bell

Step ten, teach the new dog how to drink from a water bowl I think we did a pretty great job. Marley approves. Max does not.This is the other project that we've been working on. Trina and I created this for our baby room. It is our version of Eric Carle's, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We tried to create the images from his book similar to the way he created them. We didn't have the same supplies, so we used tissue paper and crayons for shading. I think he used tissue paper and paint. The middle is a modified version of Eric Carle's book. We left out a few things, but it gets the point across. Trina did the majority of the work. I'm really proud to have this on our baby's wall.

20 Week Ultrasound

We had our 20 week doctor's appointment and our first ultrasound today. Trina and I have been waiting for this day for what seems like forever. We first heard our baby's heart beat 8 weeks ago. Today we not only heard the heart beat, we saw all four chambers of the heart working properly. We took a little video footage of it at the appointment. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

This was our favorite picture of the baby from the ultrasound. I printed an 8 x 10 for our living room. It was my way of feeling closer to the baby. Trina can feel our little active guy/girl (we didn't find out) flipping and kicking all day long. I will probably have to wait until week 25-28 before I can start feeling the kicking. That's going to be another special day for me. I'm really jealous of Trina right now. In this picture you can see a profile of the baby with it's leg(s) up by it's head. That's the position it was in the entire time today.This is a picture that we took of the monitor. In this picture we could see red and blue blobs that sometimes connected. It turns out that that was the blood moving throughout baby.Here is a picture of our baby's face. It has one arm up by his/her head. Trina decided that it has my big nose. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure she is right.

This is a close-up of our baby's foot. One is clearly visible while the other is almost out of sight. it's upside down and of the side.

Here is a picture of Trina shortly after she saw our baby for the first time. I don't know if this picture accurately shows how happy she looked. Her smile at that moment will stick in my memory forever. She's going to be such a great mommy.

Today we found out a couple of important things about Trina too. Currently the placenta is over the cervix. This is pretty common, especially early on. Basically this means is that we are getting another ultrasound (usually they only do one) later in the pregnancy. At that time, if the placenta hasn't moved, then it's likely she'll need a c-section.

Also, during the doctor appointment, Trina mentioned to her doctor that her heart rate has been high even when resting (easily between 110-140 doing nothing). For the next 3 days, Trina is supposed to increase her iron intake and drink more fluids. If by Friday the heart rates hasn't slowed, she'll be put on a heart rate monitor for 24 hours. The doctor thought maybe it's iron deficiency anemia. Chances are, if that is what is wrong, she'll just need to take an iron supplement.

When we put the baby's picture in our living room, we had a conversation with Max and Marley to prepare them for the new arrival. As expected, Marley was calm, and Max didn't even pay attention. :)

It's been a while

We haven't blogged in a while. This is what we've been up to...

Last SaturdayWe went to Payton and Cael's soccer games. Both teams played really hard. It was fun to see them running around and kicking the ball.

Wednesday

I borrowed Reed's truck to drop some of our old stuff of at Stuff Etc. It was hard to part with the desk that I brought in. Randy made it as his senior year project in high school. It was in great shape. I offered it to him many times over the past three or four years, but he didn't want it back.

We also went to US Cellular to pick out new phones. Trina's old phone would turn off while she was talking to people. She didn't like that very much. Her new phone is really cool. One of the options allows her to play music from her phone through a radio frequency. It's basically an Ipod. I know most of you don't care what it's called, but I know Erik is going to ask if I don't tell you. It's a LG Rhythm.

My phone didn't display who was calling anymore. As it turned out, my phone had been exposed to moisture. When we tried to transfer numbers, my phone didn't work. My new phone is pretty average but it meets my needs. I wanted something that was small enough to not make a huge bulge in my pocket. I also wanted a phone that didn't have buttons that were exposed. My phone was the penny phone! It is called the LG Helix.

Thursday

Trina and I went to Des Monies after work and saw the traveling production of Wicked. We absolutely loved it. If you haven't seen it, we both highly recommend it. However, if you do choose to go on a school night, be aware that you might not get back home until 1:30 in the morning.

Friday

Trina and I cleared out more stuff and took a trunk full of things to Goodwill.

Saturday

Alexa came over in the morning and stayed the night with us. Tyler, Taya and Paige went to Wicked and stayed the night with Taya's parents and sister's family.

Sunday We woke up to a tree that decided to shed all of it's leaves. IN ONE DAY!

We also gave Marley a hair cut. He had so much hair!

We also framed some of the artwork that we created for our baby room. When we finish it I will put up a photo.

Alexandria, Minnesota

I caught fifteen fish in Alexandria last weekend. This was one of the three that fought like crazy to stay in the lake. We measured him at 26 inches. Well below the largest northern pike caught this weekend. I also caught the second and third longest bass of the weekend. One weighted in at 4.5 pounds. From left to right: Charlie, Ben, Brad, Randy, Rick, Tanner, Tony, Tyler, Reed, Greg, Erik. As a group we caught 231 fish (equal to the number of beers that were drank). We should thank Rick, Greg and Ben for catching about half of those fish.

The Windjammer is the place where our family has been staying for about twenty-five years. Wayne continues to reserve a couple of cabins for us each Fall.

If you notice the bottom of the Windjammer sign, you will see they advertise a beach on the property.This is the beach. Seriously.

We didn't play as many games of poker this year as we had in the past. The Iowa at Penn State college football game took priority Saturday night.

This is the newest addition to the Dutch Mafia. We had too many people to fit on two boats this year. Let's just say this boat was not intended to hold big people. Is that a G or a 6 on the motor?

Rick brought his trusty boat again this year. More fish are landed on his 40 horse boat than anything else we fish from.

This might be why we don't catch many fish on the pontoon. Overall, it was a great weekend. I can't wait until next year!

Excitement all around!

Last weekend was fun for Tanner, but not quite as fun for me. I stayed home to attend Chance's baptism on Sunday. That meant I would be alone from Thursday night until Sunday night. It sounds weird, but I was nervous being home alone! It's been a full year since I've been alone at home and I wasn't quite sure if the buggy man was coming to get me or not. I did get some things done that I had planned. I organized 3 closets and our baby storage stuff. I was/am so happy to have Tanner back in the house!

I don't really have anything to say about the past week in terms of pregnancy. It's been normal and no new developments to share. However, there are still exciting things ahead!

On Monday we are touring St. Luke's hospital and will hopefully be making our decision about which hospital we will deliver at. That will really make things feel near.

Today we were offered 2 tickets to Wicked in Des Moines next week. I've never seen Wicked, and am thrilled that I finally get to go. We had tried to get tickets for our anniversary, but because all the shows are sold out, the cheapest ticket would be about $140 each! A group of my co-workers purchased tickets, then 2 of them ended up not being able to go. Now we are getting 2 tickets for less than what one would have cost. Works out great for us! It's going to be like an early anniversary celebration. We're going to eat at Spaghetti Works before hand, which is very near the Civic Center. I've only been there one time and that was in high school. I remember how much I loved it and enjoyed the Italian sodas. It might possibly be the first time eating out since June that I will actually enjoy (I hope anyway).

And I can't go without mentioning, again, that our ultrasound is October 13, less than 2 weeks away. We're so excited for that!!! We had a weak moment when discussing whether or not to find out if we are having a boy or girl (as we've/I've always been against finding out). So we made a pro/con list including scores for each thing on the list. After totalling up the scores...we still won't be finding out. That's the final decision. Even though most of you, according to our poll results, think we should find out, we decided not to. It will be exciting enough to see a picture of our baby!

This week our baby is the size of a sweet potato: