Glucose Test

I just drank the orange sugar drink. I will update when I find out how
good I process!

5 year Anniversary Trip

We took the A&M passenger train ride from Springdale to Van Buren for our 5 year anniversary. I surprised Nate with the idea and he had to convince me it would be ok to spend the money to ride first class. I think he was right. It was nice to have all the room I needed to spread out when Clara wanted to stretch. Especially cause we had lunch later and I ate a lot after walking around for a while. I was wearing my new sweater I got a Walmart it is just two sizes larger than I normally wear and I felt great in it. Thanks to Annie for suggesting that I don't have to have maternity shirts especially on the cheap.



This was the car we rode in. Its name is Explorer. Nate had a great time taking pictures of the scenery and got to stand between the cars when we went over the bridges. That was neat. I was not up for it cause in any other time in my life I have never had great balance, this was not the time to test it now.




I had a great day. Nate even managed to fit in a haircut during the stop when we walked out of the depot and saw a barber shop. Nate has a busy week and we were worried about finding time for it. So far he has managed work and school very well and deserved a day of relaxing.

5 years. Wow. And Clara will be joining us soon and Jackson is almost 4 years old. Time flies.

Clara's movements explained

Maybe Clara moves around so much cause she wants to be a part of the stuff I am doing. I know that has no scientific or researchable background, but it makes me happy to think about. I also know that it will be a completely different thing when she is here and I have to incorporate her into all the things I am doing. And I doubt she will always be so excited for Roadway Design as she is now. That's all very reasonable.
Maybe she moves so much when I am at dinner with friends cause she would like to meet them and hang out and have fun like I am doing. And she moves a lot when I eat chocolate cause, really I eat it for her. I don't really like chocolate normally. And she really calms down when her daddy holds her in my tummy. He does the same for me when I get all rilled up he calms me down and makes me feel safe when he holds me. I hope that works when she is crying in the night and I run out of things to try and soothe her.

What I feel like today

I think my mood about pregnancy changes almost daily. Today I feel large and unkempt. I have never (I repeat NEVER) wanted to go clothes shopping this bad. I would like to look like a woman who is carrying a child. I feel like a circus tent. I know there are better options out there and I will have to make up my mind that this is important to me, not a waste of time and energy, and let go of the money it takes to have clothes that fit me. I didn’t feel this urge when I dieted and lost 10 pounds. It was even part of the diet to lift your spirits and show yourself how great you look and feel to buy some new clothes that fit the new body. I flat refused. I am just cheap and clothes have never been a priority. Today, it is a priority. I am even considering a foray into internet shopping *gasp* something else I have never had an urge for. I don’t think I would do it but the physical stores in this area have reduced or eliminated their maternity sections to the point that it is a waste of time to go and check Target just to see if they have a maternity section this week.

I also feel like I can’t wait until I am not preggers anymore and I want to see the baby and what she is like. I get very excited thinking of holding her and watching her and learning about her. But then I realize when she gets here I will officially be a PARENT! That is getting a little scary. So, I am torn between hurry up and get here and maybe I could wait a little longer.

I think I will focus on how short a time this pregnancy really is and how I do not plan to have this happen very often in my life. Surely, I will not even spend a great amount of time looking like a circus tent. Maybe that’s what I should be for Halloween?

Jackson and his mew-mew

This is Jackson's stuffed cat Mew-Mew. We thought it was a goner as soon as we gave it to him. He is mostly lab but apparently a mild chewer. He really chews on bones but just slobbers on the cat. Well, he shakes it to break it's neck and sometimes tosses it in the air.

Clara's Tree

I planted Clara's tree on Sunday. It was given to us by a friend who grew it from a local tree acorn. When Clara comes and the tree greens out in the spring we will start taking her picture to watch both of them grow. By the way I am at 24 weeks in this picture.

Walking home for lunch

I love my neighborhood for many reasons. One is that I have the good fortune to walk home in good weather and see things like this. It does a soul good. I also have walked home in not-so-good weather, but it was a better option than no car=no lunch. I won't be able to walk from work to the baby's daycare to feed her at lunch, just because of time constraints. We picked the center on the other side of our house from work instead of the one downhill from the office. It may take 7 mins to get there because of two left turns on/off of the main drag. I bet it is faster going back when those turn into right hand turns. Nate said he would like to trade with me to sometimes feed the baby at lunch. I think that is just great. More pumping for me, but awesome quality time for him.

Jackson and his likeness at the VW show

I just HAD to have a picture of these two. Never thought I would see another dog like Jackson.

20 Weeks Pregnant

Beautiful Way to Drive/Walk Home

Look at the bakyard!

Ok, we have been really busy and taken a little time to do yard work again, so I think it is a good time to update our backyard pictures. Here's the view out of our back door. It seems like I usually start with these two so I am keeping with the layout. The extra grass is gone (to a Jobe-ier place) and I think the new size of the flowerbed is just right for me. The two trees give lots of good shade to my *new* hammock stand! YEA! No more holes in trees. You can also see that the stumps have been ground and we used the grindings to fill in the holes left from relocating the monkey grass.

Here you can see how we got creative with the 7' x 10' free standing dog kennel to make it a 10' x 10' pen next to the house. Jackson will get the benefit of being outside without us having to walk across the yard in the rain to get him there. You can see we (Nathan with Jackson and I helping) laid some paitio pavers to keep the mud to a minimum and give Jackson a place to laydown out of the sun. We plan to get some 2x4's and plastic corregated roofing over the pavers by the window for more shade in the summer when the sun is further to the south. He will also have plenty of grass for daytime relief. He already likes it and sometimes sunbathes in there or digs for a mole. We had to use it before the pavers were in when he had a case of the runs for about a week. i felt so much better with him out there "just in case" instead of in his much smaller kennel. Of course, he would have rather been in the AC!

And, before I show you the BIG change, here's another pic to the smaller side of our yard. Back by the flowerbed where the tree stump was (on the right of this picture) I want a fire pit. I may steal the Jobe's design, just on a smaller scale. And I want to eventually get some pavers to extend the patio area along the side of the house (left on this picture) to put a 6-8 seater table with an umbrella. It is just kinda hard to cram under the roof when we have company over, although I just love it when I go home for lunch or when it rains in the evening.

The following pictures show the biggest change so far, in length, height, and shear weight of change. All but one of the pine trees are gone. I talked Nathan into leaving the one because it wasn't damaged or the scrawniest and I started feeling bad that we were cutting down so many trees. Thanks to my Dad for cutting them down and hauling them to the curb. You can see we have raked and removed about half of the pine leavings and the other piles should go to the curb weekly.

Backyard Flowerbed

WOW that is almost a panoramic view. : ) just wanted to show my dad and Annie how much work Nathan and I have been doing in the backyard. see all the mulch? that was free from a guy cutting down trees. he dropped his trailer off, we scooped the mulch all out, and he came back for the empty trailer. we still have a lot more in a pile and we still have a lot of flowerbeds to go.

Annie, you see the gap on the left and the extra grass? that has your name all over it. i expect a similar thing to happen on the right (when it is not raining!) and the leftovers will be yours too. then there is the flowerbed under the window i was looking at and we will be getting rid of all of that grass. YUCK! it is hard to dig up, just ask Nathan.

you can't see them yet but i tried really hard to not demolish the hostas chillin out there from last year. there are several now outside of the grass on the left and i want to move them to the right of the oak tree. then there are several ferns that will be outside of the grass on the right and i want to move them back in. we will see if they servive the move, but if not they will not survive the weed killer i will apply to all those stinky weeds! then ground the stumps and BINGO! one flowerbed down, 4 to go. they won't be as bad as this one though. only one to take out, and one to half way take out but they are smaller.

Here's Jackson being a good boy

Jackson is being a much deprived, unexercised, turd of a dog this evening. He got into the bathroom trash, and I caught him and yelled at him. Now he is outside likely digging holes in the yard and getting dirty. I decided to let him get it out of his system without getting trash all over the floor and post some pictures of him being a good dog instead.












here he has torn up a string ball. that is ok because it is his toy and not trash. he got the toy for Christmas and i am surprised it lasted until august.














Here Jackson is being quiet and laying down with me. it was after opening presents and he must have had a good time.













here he is sleeping on the way back from little rock or something. obviously he was worn out then too. see a trend? the dog needs to be exercised. i shouldn't be so lazy in the morning.














this is me holding him so he doesn't get up and wonder around while the power was out and we were all sleeping on the hide-a-bed by the gas logs. he is being good and not licking my face or squirming to get up.













Jackson was a good boy by helping us with our "new" tv and "new" tv table. too bad he couldn't do something about that wall paper - YUCK!!!













and here we went to Beaver, Arkansas where this one lane bridge is. i have video of driving over it too. Jackson was not impressed, but his engineering owners marveled at it.

Happy Birthday Jackson!!

Jackson turned 3 years old today. What a good boy! We are skipping the Barkday Pawty like we had last year because it was unlucky for some of our friends. But, know that he was not denied a soup bone this year. He also got some chicken in his food this morning. Yummy!!

After the Storm

I didn't think to take similar pictures "after" like the "before" or "during" pictures. So maybe, if you are not familiar to our home you would not be able to follow any of this. My apologies for that.









These two pictures show the view out of our back door now, the pole and tiki torch are the same. I didn't trust the guys that showed up at our door saying they would chop down trees with the ones near our house. I figured I could get other trees out of the way and then hire someone reputable or help chop the others down myself. they did a decent job at these two and the one by the shed so I had them do the leaning tree, too. It cost a lot of money, but I had already saved to get the trees down because I could tell they would need it. God decided to give me just the push I needed to let go of the money. We are definitely keeping what I think is a willow oak to the right and eventually will have to get rid of the pear on the left. I just want to see more green this year and it is not unstable so i will leave it for a while. and i forgot that the one tree on the far right was holding up one end of my hammock, so I will have to figure out how to get it back up in the spring.









When we picked a spot for our shed, we thought it was tucked away in the back corner of the yard. you can see for yourself in the before picture. this is after the leaning tree was cut and the broken branches cleared out. What has happened with this poor row of pine trees is that they were planted too close and lost/didn't grow limbs between themselves. Now that the big lower limbs growing out in the yard are gone there is not much left until you get 20' up the tree. Two of them are split and i wonder how they made it through the ice. i think we are going to keep one of them until we get another tree established in that area.









The three stumps represent the two left trees that ended up leaning towards my neighbor's house and the one on the left that started leaning towards our house. We went ahead and had those taken down because at least one of them would have gone over in the thaw or another wet time. The other picture is my dogwood. the poor thing lost two big branches to leave a gap in the shape, but I was so glad to see it stand back up when the ice was gone. if the buds are ok, it will make a magnificent show in the spring.









These are our renegade limb piles. They are more than 4' high and not cut into 4' lengths. the one on the left covers bushes and a sewer manhole and is very close to our mailbox. the one right is out in the street and on top of a water meter. But where are we supposed to put them? in our driveway? we don't have any other yard for crying out loud!! some people in rentals down the street put their limbs in the circle thing in the middle of the cul-de-sac where the light pole is. surely the paper will announce that is bad form, too. so this weekend we will try to clear out the manhole and meter by taking limbs to the drop-off.
This is what things look like now. The big tree in the neighbor's front yard is gone, and so are a lot of the pines between our houses. you can see how the one pile dwarfs our full sized truck in the driveway. Again, I am so thankful trees were all we lost. I think everyday of the people without a roof, running water, electricity, or vehicles because of the trees. I am also thankful for the neighbors we have who shared in our worry and our clean-up efforts.

During the Storm

The neighbor's tree leaned over to rest on our roof, this is about mid way through the rain. The pine tree in the background is leaning at our bedroom. The trunk of the tree is on one side of our shed and the top was leaning over the shed.

the forked tree in the middle of the picture is the one that rested on our roof to the right. amazingly the tree didn't break (much) and stood upright when the ice melted.

it stinks that this picture is blurry, but it was still raining at the time. Our shed is under several big limbs at this point and you can see that the tree is one of the taller ones in the row and it is leaning towards our house. a lot of the sagging branches (compare to before pictures) snapped off by Wednesday and were either hanging broken or lying on the ground.

Wednesday morning the top had come out of our front tree and you can barely see it but the neighbors super bendy tree is lying on our roof and actually hanging down in front of our bedroom windows. some branches broken on our back yard oak and the top to the pine tree that was leaning to our bedroom is gone.

our neighbors big beautiful tree broke in half. it wasn't going to make it through that. you can also see their bendy tree half on their roof too.
our clothesline
dogwood
the top snapped off (not onto our house) and landed on the opposite side of the shed. wow. but then the next tree to the left was leaning. lots of limbs down and it got worse.
these three were on our walk from checking the locks at work walking back home. more limbs and trees came down that morning in the wind and later in the thaw.

Before the Storm

Our side of the cul-de-sac

coming into our backyard

around the corner to the hammock

The shed and pine trees at the back of the lot