It's a Boy!!

Exciting news. We went yesterday afternoon for our 20 week ultrasound (finally) and found out first of all that the baby appears healthy head to toe and that we are expecting a little boy!! So baby K's due date as of now is still April 27th. We are super excited and the family is too. I have to share with you something that my husbands grandma said when we told her. Of course she was crying and very excited but first to let you know my husbands cousin is having a baby girl this week and I don't know if you all remember my previous posts this summer but my husband lost both his mother and his uncle. His grandmother lost both of children her son and her daughter 4 days apart in June. Well last night she said "God works in amazing ways, he took my son and daughter away but is giving me a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter to replace them." Could you just cry. Oh we were all crying hard after this last night. She is right God is amazing. The news of these 2 great-grand babies has really helped my husbands 90 year old grandmother get through this most difficult year and for that I am so thankful.

Hope you all are having a great week. Now I am off soon to tell everyone at work who have been dying to know if it is a boy or girl.

Linda

Christmas Shows

I have to admit I am a Christmas show freak. I LOVE this time of the year because the Hallmark channel starts playing all their Christmas specials. I am burning up the Tivo over here. I have seen many of them multiple times but I still love them. My 3 favorites are The Christmas Card, A boyfriend for Christmas and A Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott). Have any of you seen them? My husband says I have watched all of them at least 12 times. He isn't exaggerating. I have come across a few new ones though this year. My husband always puts them to DVD for me and I have a nice collection of Christmas shows that I can pull out each year just in case they don't show up on TV. What are your favorite Christmas shows?

Oh by the way the hubs and I just got done watching Angels and Demons tonight. The hubs was needing a break from all the Christmas shows I have been watching :-) He rented it yesterday but I fell asleep so we finished it tonight. We both thought is was very good. We have been to Rome so it was fun to watch because many of the places in the movie we have actually been to including down in the tomb of St. Peter. It was fun to reminisce.

Hope you are all having a great week.

Linda

Happy Thanksgiving

I would like to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are off to Michigan for the weekend. Will check in with you all when we return.

Linda

The cat is out of the bag now

Happy Tuesday all. Well I finally told my boss the news today. Only 2 of my co-workers knew the news this whole time. So now the rest of the staff knows. It was so funny today because I hardly got any work done because there was a continuous stream of people coming to my office to congratulate me once the news kept on spreading. Everyone was so sweet. I appreciate it so much. Then at 3:30 today I got a call from my doctors nurse that FINALLY the H1N1 shots came in. My doctor has been waiting for them forever. He said last week he was starting to get mad. With pregnant women being on the top of the list along with children I've been a bit worried especially since I work in health care myself and am surrounded by germs. So I hurried right over after work and got my before they run out.

Still been sick and had a really bad weekend but today I was feeling much better. Sorry I have been MIA but I haven't had anything to blog about lately. I did run in to Target last night and of course had to swing by all the Christmas stuff. Very cute!! I love this time of year. I got the Christmas list from my nieces and nephews so I got those done. I wanted to beat the crowds and avoid the germs and it was perfect last night hardly anyone their. Have any of you heard of Zhu Zhu pets. Well one of my nieces wants the hamster one. They are sold out EVERYWHERE!! They are saying no one realized how popular they would be. I couldn't even find them online so I had to go with her other choices. I am not up on all these toys but I guess I will soon be finding out about all these things :-)



Linda

First I wanted to thank you all so much for your kind words. We are super excited and can't hardly wait to find out what we are having. The doctor says not until week 20 and today I am only at 16 weeks. The waiting is killing me. Sorry I haven't been blogging much. Still sick and haven't had any thing to blog about lately. I am feeling a bit better than the 1st 3 months but still throwing up. It is crazy. I thought by now this would be getting better. Since I haven't gotten out much except to go to and from work I ordered something on line. Check out this cute little snowman lamp.

It just arrived yesterday and I love it!! I thought it would be cute under the cabinets in the kitchen as a little night light. It only holds a 25 w bulb so not much light. I just love it though. To me it just looked like one of those things that kids would say someday "mom don't forget to put out the snowman lamp" I know kinda funny but I think about things like that. That is something I would have said to my mom about this cute thing.

Hope you are all having a great week.

Linda

Happy Halloween and a little surprise.......

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Halloween. I also want to share some news with you. Drum roll please.......... I am pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 14 weeks and so far everything is looking good. I can't even begin to tell you all what my husband and I have been through in the last 5 years trying to get pregnant. 4 years of every fertility treatment known to man multiple times seriously including our last resort which was a donor egg and through all of that not even one positive pregnancy test. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with either one of us but just said we were in that 20% of unexplained infertility. So after we had tried everything and there was nothing else to try we continued to try on our own. Last year we got pregnant for the first time on our own and couldn't believe how excited we were until my 12 week appointment when the doctor said there was no heartbeat. I think you could imagine the devastation we felt. Well we didn't give up and we got pregnant again and things this time are looking really good. These last 3 months I have been so sick I can't believe it. It got so bad the doctor had to give me some medication. But if we get our baby in the end all that sickness is well worth it. This week I have started to feel better. So now that the cat is out of the bag this is why I haven't been blogging very much. I didn't feel like doing much that is for sure. I hope to blog more now that slowly but surely I am feeling better. Please keep us in your prayers. I don't think I will relax until I am holding our baby in our arms.

Happy Halloween :-)

Linda

Home again

Hi all,

We are back. Hope you all haven't forgotten about me. We did have lots to do around the house this trip but we did manage to have some fun and headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for a few days. Here is the view from our room as we walked in. We were on the 10th floor it was heaven.


The view from the balcony.

Just 2 of the many pools the hotel has.

O.K. this hotel was for you Nautical by Nature. Look at the carpet in the hallways. My husband was wondering why I was taking pictures of the carpet and I told him I have to show Nautical by Nature (tee-hee).

Oh and you would love the lobby and all the anchor furniture.

Don't ya just love that anchor fabric. I so wanted to take it all home with me.

A morning sunrise that we caught.

A picture of the hotel from the beach.

We also stopped and had lunch at Margaritaville!! This is at an outdoor shopping area called Broadway at the Beach. It was super yummy.

While I was hitting a few shops at Barefoot Landing (another shopping area) this is what hubs found. It is huge. We couldn't believe it.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I have more news to tell you but I will save it for my next post. I hope you all are enjoying October. Sorry I have been MIA. I really hope to be better going forward.

Linda

Off for a little R & R

Hi all,

Thank heavens I thought today would never get here. We are off for a little vacation and are leaving today. The hubs and I have been so busy with work we both need a little break away. Off to check on the house in NC and hopefully can squeeze in a little beach trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. Have a great weekend all. I hope to be a better blogger when I return.

Linda

Off to Michigan

We are off to Michigan tomorrow to celebrate my parents 60th wedding anniversary!! Yes 60th. I am so proud of them. I am the youngest of 5 and my parents were in their 40's by the time my sister and I came along. Kinda crazy back then but pretty common today. My sister and I are always telling them having us last 2 kids so late is what has kept them so young :-) Funny but they actually agree with us. My parents are the two best parents anyone could ever ask for. They have always been such great roll models my whole life and such wonderful roll models on how a marriage should work. Happy 60th Mom & Dad we love you both so much!!

Have a great weekend all :-)

Linda

Game Day Recipe

Spicy Bean Salsa (A.K.A Cowboy Caviar)


1 (15 ounce) can Black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can Black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cup Chopped onion

1/2 cup Chopped green bell pepper

1 (4 ounce) can Diced jalapeno peppers (I don't add this)

1 (14.5 ounce) can Diced tomatoes, drained (I use one can of Ro-tel with green chilies)

1 cup Italian style salad dressing (I use zesty Italian dressing)

1/2 teaspoon Garlic salt

I also add some chopped fresh cilantro and the juice of one lime. It just adds a great fresh taste.

In a medium bowl, combine black-eyed peas,black beans, corn, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. Season with Italian dressing and garlic salt, mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight to blend flavors.

I like to serve this with Tostitos Scoop chips. They are perfect. This recipe sounded so like something I would not like. I mean corn and beans it wasn't for me until a co-worker brought this to work a few years ago. Oh my gosh it is so good. When I make this I am not kidding when I say people just hover around the bowl. I usually have to make a double batch. Oh and my vegetarian friends and family go nuts for this. I can't even tell you how many copies of this recipe I have shared. And the men we serve it to just love it too that is why it is a good snack on game day. Hope you like it. Have a great weekend.

Linda