and the verdict is.....

Yesterday we went to the doctor's appointment and found out what we are having! With Susie we waited until she was born to find out and so this was a new experience for us parents. They are both fun but just for the record I am pretty sure that next time we will wait to find out. You see, I HAVE MY GIRL AND now JIM HAS HIS BOY!

Yes, that is what you think it is. What a beautiful sight. We are so excited to be having a little boy. We are pretty sure that we will be calling him Vincent; Vince or little Vinny for short. Just 20 more weeks until we meet the little guy.

Here is another look at the little guy. He is a very healthy, active boy. I have been feeling his kicks for the last 4 weeks. The sonographer kept telling us when she was doing the sonogram that this baby is very active. I think he just can't wait to play with his big sister. I am sure Sue won't have a problem showing him everything she knows. His due date is around August 15th. Another pregnant texas summer for me...joy!

Our little Italian Stallion...what do you think of "Rocky" as a middle name, eh?

2 kids under the age of 2...wish us luck!

Classic...

Here is the classic bath picture of Susie. I can't believe how much hair she has now.

ode to the CRV - written by jim

Last night we let my beloved CRV go. We traded her in for, of all things, a new mini-van.

Having been through the process of buying a new car a few times, there were few suprizes. After a few weeks of shopping we got the price and interest rate we wanted, signed the papers, dropped the down payment, and we were ready to roll out with a new pimpin minivan. My last item of business to be taken care of was to look through the CRV one more time to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind. As I peered through the nooks and cranies of that green machine for the last time I was suprized with how sad I felt. I felt silly for feeling so attached to a bunch of metal and plastic, but I couldn't help but reminice of all the good times I had in that car. The first thing I thought of were the trips to California. These trips were accompanied with great friends, drama, and good times. Some of the most notable California memories are the streeker on the bridge, Joe and Nancy drama, Hungington Beach, traffic from Vegas to LA, China Town, Robb and he knows what, and seemingly never being fully reimbursed for gas. All that said, we always had a great time.

I first learned to fix my brakes on the CRV with a little help from my bud Penfield. I removed the cassette player and installed a CD player that, no doubt, played more DMB music than any other CD player known to mankind. She was present for many first dates as well as many last dates. She was my only companion for several long, and tiresome trips between Orem and Houston.

When I packed my bags for college, I loaded them up in the CRV and drove 1600 miles without knowing where I would live.

Over the past 10 years she has taken good care of me and I have tried to do the same. I never got in a wreck with her, but she was involved in a hit and run while she was parked. However, with the assistance of a couple of good Samaritans, I was able to track him down and avenge her.
I got too many tickets and "DTRs" within her doors and she always seemed to play Rage just a little louder afterwards...Vogel understands.

There is no doubt she has been good to me and she was hard to let go. Over the past 10 years she has been the one constant thing in my life. Wherever I was, she was always close by. So as I raise this glass of Martinelle, as a tribute to her, I say, "this new mini-van is way nicer than I expected."

my daughter the "trek-ke"

Friday morning Jim was getting ready for work as usual, and Susie was trying to help him in anyway possible as usual, but the unusual thing about this particular morning's ritual was the accident that happened. Susie loves her daddy. She would choose Jim over me 100 times to 1. (I had to put the "1" in there to make me feel better). What can I say other than my daughter is a daddy's girl through and through. She is Jim's shadow.

This particular morning she was back in our bedroom helping daddy by picking up his size 12 shoes by the shoelaces and waddling over to him to give it him. We were both watching her closely as she insisted on bring the shoe to him and NOT wanting any help. Miss independent lately. Out of the blue she started running towards daddy and tripped over the shoe that she was carrying. The fall to the floor wouldn't have been so bad if there wasn't a bed post that all of her weight, and forehead was heading for first. Yikes. It was a slow motion moment for both Jim and myself as we saw it happening and weren't able to react fast enough to stop her headbutt into the corner of the bedpost.

There was screaming, crocodile tears, checking for blood, checking for all of her teeth. We both thought as a held her that she had hit her nose and that it was broken. After a few moments of frantic checking our daughter out and screaming, lots of tears and screams, we saw it. The monster of bumps, the "trek" scar.

After the fall our daughter looked a lot like this lady...

Luckily no permanent damage. Now all that remains is a greenish type bump on her forehead. We were so lucky that nothing major happened.

Here is a picture of her a couple of hours after the accident. Pictures never do accidents and "ouchies" like this justice. Anyway, we are just glad that our Susie-sue is okay and healthy.

how to get a 16 month old out of a locked car

Yes, my friend Jamie said it best after I told her the story of what happened this past Thursday morning, "You are officially a mom now!"

Susie loves to back out the car in the mornings with Jim. She jumps to the music on the radio. She also turns on the lights, windshield wipers, air conditioner, and anything else that will move or turn.





Well this morning was a little bit different from our normal routine. This particular morning included an ambulance. Not to worry, read on.

So Jim had to leave in a rush thursday morning and so Susie didn't get to back out the car with daddy. She just waved goodbye and then started crying now knowing that daddy was driving away without her help. So I told Susie as we started walking into the garage that she could back out our other car that was parked in the garage. As soon as I opened up the driver side door and let her stand in the front seat she was totally content with the situation. Any thoughts of her missing her daddy had vanished for the moment.

We were sitting in the unstarted, parked car for about 15 minutes when I knew I needed a drink of something...so I closed the door to the passenger side, where I was sitting, and told Susie I would be right back. I ran inside and within 20 seconds was back out in the garage. Susie was having a great time. As I tried to open the driver side door to get Susie out my heart sank and started beating really fast. She had LOCKED herself in the car. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't accidently left the keys on the floor of the passenger side and that we didn't have any spare keys to this car. YIKES!



So...as Susie kept playing in the driver side seat I called the local police NON-emergency line, emphasis on NON-emergency, and told them of the situation. I specifically told the dispatcher that we were both fine and that my daughter was fine in the car for awhile longer. To pass the time I decided to sweep the garage out while watching Susie in the front seat. After about 3 minutes I hear a siren nearby. The siren noise keeps getting closer and closer. I prayed in my heart that the siren wasn't headed for MY house. Well it was. A minute or two later an AMBULANCE showed up. Man, I thought I had told them it was a non-emergency. Oh well. Not just one, not just two, but three police officers stepped out of the ambulance.



Needless to say, they were able to open the car within a minute and Susie-sue was sad to leave her "fun" spot in the car.

"swish-swish"

Well, I finally decided on a doctor for our new little one...I know what you are thinking...you are what 15 weeks (3 months) along and haven't seen a doctor! Now that is not the case. This past Friday we took Susie to get her 15 month immunizations and then Jim and I went over to my OB's doctor's office for the first listen of our baby's heartbeat. The baby is about the size of an apple right now and had a very strong "swish, swish" heartbeat. We will be finding out in about 4-5 weeks what the sex of the baby is. This time we are finding out if it is a boy or a girl. I want to know what it feels like to "find out". Here is a little video that was taken of Susie at my 12 week ultrasound when I was pregnant with her. I can't believe that my baby is already this big and this developed plus 3 weeks older than what Susie was at the time of the video.

just shake your head and smile

Even as young parents we have found or seen many things that our kids have done and our only reply is to shake our head in disbelief. Like the time my nice Seiko watch was put into the silverware rack in our dishwasher by Susie. But even though it had gone through a whole dishwasher cycle (water/soap/HEAT) when I found the watch amazingly it still worked. Also the time when I found a whole bunch of animal crackers stashed away underneath our bathroom sinks (where Susie likes to play).

Here is a very funny story about a Mrs. Smith that could only do but one thing about her daughter's homework assignment...shake her head and smile.

(Here's the reply the teacher received the day after the homework came back home)


Dear Mrs. Jones,
I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit... I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

we made a "susie-wich"

I think we are all about the same age? Who is who? Sue is a little bit of Jim and a little bit of Lex maybe, you decide.

Jim's "Better than S.. cake"

I made Jim's most favorite thing in the WHOLE world for his birthday! Mama's Charlotte Russe. I still haven't decided if he loves me or the cake more. It is a old family recipe that I have been able to practice and I think gotten down pretty well. (Pat on the back) It is for sure a labor of LOVE but worth every step it takes to make in order to then EAT IT. You will find the recipe on my recipe blog http://youarethemenu.blogspot.com/search/label/dessert.

Funny story: When we first got married and Jim told me about how much he loved Charlotte Russe, what was in it, and again just how much he loved it, I thought to myself as I heard the ingredients being read off...okay that sounds pretty good but it basically is just an angel food cake with lots and lots of whipped cream. I shouldn't have voiced what I was thinking because you would have thought by Jim face in response to what I had said that he had just been stabbed in the heart and was about to die. I am so sorry hunny but at that time I didn't know just how good life could be with Charlotte Russe in it.

I have since learned more than just how to make Charlotte Russe, but I have learned that boys including my husband, used to and still do, take the can of whipped cream from the refrigerator and spray big swirly things of whipped cream into their mouths. My response to that little habit was, "?People really do that?"

everything's amazing, nobody's happy

I normally don't put links on here but this is really worth watching. It is of an interview that Conan O'Brian (have to love him) does with a comedian named Louis CK. This interview will make you laugh as well as reflect on all the amazing things we have in our world that we should say "WOW" at. You won't regret watching this interview.
Louis CK "Everything's amazing, nobody's happy"