Good news! We're having a BOY!!!! My ultrasound was yesterday morning and everything was crazy, but we wound up having a great time. My appointment was the first of the day (the nurse told me it was best so if they got behind, I wouldn't have to wait for a long time w/ a full bladder). Unfortunately, the technician got a flat tire on the way into work and was an hour late! I have an iron bladder, but man that was a long time to wait. It really started to hurt there towards the end! Fortunately, once she finished all the initial measurements, she let me go pee and then I could really enjoy the rest of the experience. The baby looks healthy, which is the most important thing, but it was awesome to find out it's a boy. And it's really a boy. We got a great shot of his willy - with the hands right above it - yep, caught my little one already playing with himself! We're still laughing about that.... I guess it gets pretty boring in there. But, he's an active little bugger - jumping all over the place. I'm thrilled about it being a boy - I didn't care what I had, though. Brad nearly stopped breathing he was so happy - he really really wanted a boy. (what guy doesn't?)

My mom was there with us and after Brad went back to work, she and I went shopping. We'd been so good about not buying anything but once we got the notification to buy blue we went a bit nuts. It was really fun. Surprises are nice, but I'm thrilled to know so I can plan the nursery a little easier and Brad and I can just focus on one set of names. Boys clothes aren't quite as much fun as girls clothes, but I'm having fun shopping for them just the same!

The ultrasound machine was really clear, but the pictures aren't. They're better than nothing, though. Here's our little guy:

What a crappy way to wake up.... I just checked my email and my good friend, Brent, sent a very depressing one. Brent and I taught together at the high school in Virginia and sang together in the church choir. His wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor a couple of years ago and they've had a really hard time. They even moved back home to Minnesota this fall when Sarah's prognosis started looking grim, so they could be closer to family. Well, Brent wrote this morning that the doctors expect her pass away some time this week. I don't know exactly how old she is, but it's not more than 26. Brent has been amazingly strong, but this will destroy him. I'm so glad we got to see both of them in March - we had a layover in Minneapolis on our way to London and they came to the airport to see us. She seemed in rough shape but I wouldn't have guessed she'd be ready to die in just a few weeks...

So, a depressing start to the day. I wanted to get this in here, because hopefully, I'll have good news to report on here soon. My ultrasound is in about an hour and a half! I'm crossing my fingers the baby is healthy and we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl.

So cute! Brad is at a conference in Northern Virginia/Maryland this week (I'm so jealous!) and has been staying with his sister and her two little girls. Maya, our 2 year old niece, has been speaking up a storm here lately but apparently has a hard time with the word uncle. So Brad has a new name - he's Knuckle-Brad. Brad thinks it's hilarious. I wish I could hear it in Maya's voice, but I can imagine it. Kids are so cute. Good thing I think so, huh? The girls are wearing Brad out, which is great - he needs a good reality check of what we're in for....

I'm already a bit of a news junkie - cnn.com is my homepage and I usually devote a good portion of my day keeping up with world happenings. However, for the last three days I've been stapled to the news, trying to learn as much as I can about what's happening at Virginia Tech. I was just starting to burn out a bit and was going to stop and then they just released the video the psycho sent to NBC. Nope, more news time for Casey. I was really panicked on Monday since so many of the kids from the high school I taught at in VA went to Tech (we were only 90 miles north of Blacksburg). They still haven't released the names of all the victims, but I've been all over facebook for the last couple of days and if one of the victims was an RC kid, I would have heard by now. I'm much calmer now and am operating under a "no news is good news" policy. Not that it's any less tragic b/c I don't know these people, but I am happy that those I know are safe and okay.

In happier news, I just got back from dinner with a new friend. I've been on a pregnancy message board for the last couple of months and one of the regulars shares my due date and lives here in town with me. I've never gone to meet someone I've met on the internet before so I was a little nervous, but she turned out to be very nice and we have a ton in common. She had her ultrasound today and found out she's having a boy. I can't wait until mine next week!

I just finished prepping my lasagna garden! No, Garfield - don't get too excited. I learned last week from my friend, Tracie, that a lasagna garden is an idiot-proof (well hopefully) way of avoiding tilling, digging and weeding your garden. Here's how it works:

After a Home Depot run, I laid down newspapers on top of the grass in my garden spot. I watered them down with a hose. Then I piled peat moss, manure, and compost on top and covered it with black plastic (like lasagna layers). Over the next several weeks, the stuff on top smothers all the weeds and grass underneath, the newspaper biodegrades and organic material transforms into rich, fertile, and loose soil. It also attracts earthworms, which are yucky, but they till the soil naturally. It's supposed to work like that, anyway. In about 4-6 weeks, I pull back the black plastic and plant my garden and it's supposed to thrive. I've got zero experience with gardening, but I want to have one so bad! I have a small plot to start, with plans to do more next year if this works out. I want to grow both herbs and vegetables. I let you know how it goes! Can't wait!

Oh my gosh. Do I have a story to tell.... So, my morning history class was taking a test today and some kid's cell phone went off about half way through. Just a quick aside, my cell phone policy is really lax - I don't make too big a deal out of one going off in class as long as it isn't habitual - some profs around here deduct points from your grade, throw a fit, etc. So anyway, this kid's phone goes off and he stands up to go outside. I told him he needed to simply turn it off, that he wasn't allowed to answer a call in the middle of an exam (cheating seems to come easiest these days via cell phone). He told me he had to take the call and headed outside. My startled expression spoke volumes to the rest of the class who shared in the shock.

I followed the guy outside and told him again it was the middle of a test and he HAD to hang up the phone. He pointed his finger at me and said "NO, it's an emergency." So I folded my arms and stood right next to him while he spoke. Turns out he did have a very sick family member at home and he finished his call quickly. We had a little chat before going back in (he's very fortunate I didn't give him an automatic F and send him on his way!) about, emergency or no, how he will NEVER speak to me like that again. His response? "This is college." Our little chat continued.... Btw, I don't yell. I get this very calm low voice like I'm talking to a crazy person w/ a gun (lots of practice in public school - yelling doesn't get you anywhere and you can get blamed for harassing a student even if they started it). So, very calmly I discussed the merits of adulthood and respecting the people around you. He proceeded to tell me he's never had a professor treat him as much like a kid as I just did - apparently this school is full of profs who happily let their students answer phone calls in the middle of tests. Yeah, right. He was incensed that I would imply he might be cheating by answering the call. I know it's hard for students to comprehend how much baloney I've seen and heard in my 7 years of teaching and how, deep down, I don't trust a single butt in the seat. I'm thrilled he says he's not a cheater - but I have no way of knowing that.

Ugh. So anyway, that was my morning. I hate these confrontations. I've developed some pretty thick skin over the years and so stuff like this irritates me rather than genuinely upsets me. I'm confident I handled the situation well and I know that some of my other colleagues around here would have just gone bonkers on this kid. I don't like that I have experience with this, but I'm glad that I do. I'm still just reeling from the nerve of this kid! It does make one heck of a story, though. Sorry this was so long. Just thought you'd like a glimpse into my world. :)

It's snowing. SNOWING! Argh! Granted it's just flurries, but still. It's bleeding April! I was so ready for spring. I'm tired of being cold. I want to open my windows, plant flowers and create a vegetable/herb garden. Argh!!!!!!!

Sorry for the whiny rant. You can slap me in August when it's 112 degrees and I'm 8 months pregnant - I can guarantee there will be some serious grumbling going on then....

Alright, the blog is finished! If you look to your left, you'll notice a new link - Our England Adventure. Click there to hear about our trip.

I got to have a lovely lunch yesterday with my friend, Tracie. She and her hubby, Sean, are coming over for Easter. I'm excited b/c I haven't cooked a major meal in a while - we've just been too busy.

In other good news, Brad's dad just proposed to his girlfriend of 2 years. No wedding date has been set yet, but they have no need to wait a long time. I'll keep you posted. Brad and I are really happy for Dave. Judy is great and we like her a lot, even though we've not spent much time with her.

That's about all the major stuff. After beautiful weather last weekend, I was all set to work in the yard, but it's freezing here. Literally - I think it's about 25 right now. Ugh. It's so deceptive b/c everything is green and the sun is shining... Happy Easter everyone!

I'm back! We had an amazing time in England. I didn't take just tons of pictures, though, and just a few of those turned out decently. Oh well. I do plan to do a separate blog - my goal is to have it up and running by no later than the end of the month. Stay tuned.

We got back last weekend, then had a crazy week at work getting caught up. On Friday, my friends, Mendy and Tracy from Texas, came to visit. We are a devilish triumverate and always have a great time together. We saw the sights on post and around town a bit, but mostly just enjoyed spending quality time together. They just left this afternoon and so it's back to crazy preparations for the workweek.

I had another doctor's appointment today. We heard the heartbeat again and scheduled my first ultrasound (which should tell us the baby's sex by then) for the 24th. Just three weeks away! I'm just now starting to show, which is nice. Before, I was just looking like I ate too much for lunch, but now it's mostly obvious I'm a little bit pregnant.

Well, I was right - it was a helluva week. Brad wound up being really sick and I spent the whole week really paranoid I'd get it and we'd have to cancel our trip. Work was really crazy since I agreed to take on a colleague's class while he went to a conference this week. Just a bit nutty. BUT....... We're leaving in the morning!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited! It really just hit this morning that we're actually going and I'm just so pumped. We're in the process of getting packed up, but we're making good progress. Anywho, we'll be back next weekend I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell! I'll probably do another blog with my pics like I did for Korea (only I don't think you'll have to wait as long this time). Have a good week, everyone!

Ugh. I totally hate spring forward day. We went to our friends, Sean and Tracie, house for dinner last night and lost track of time - didn't get home until midnight. Well, make that one a.m. I was scheduled to sing at the 8am service so that was yucky. Needless to say, it was not one of my better efforts. I am so pooped! Our VA friend, Nick, came over for dinner tonight and we had a great time with him, but I'm officially done for the evening. Brad is starting to feel sick (better now than next week!), so he's already in bed. Oiy. It's going to be a hard week. Sorry to be so gloomy. I'll be cheerier when I get some rest!

We have a heartbeat! Brad and I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and it was the magical heartbeat day. Our doc found it right away and it was absolutely amazing to hear! I got all weepy and even Brad was a little emotional. The doc said the heartbeat was strong - 164 beats/minute. My sister-in-law said it would sound like a train - choo-choo-choo, etc, and she was exactly right. The doc is also really pleased that I'm doing so well - all signs point to the baby and me being healthy so far. Good news! This should also be the last week of my first trimester. Time is flying so quickly!

My stupid cat, Shadow, gets into more scrapes than I ever thought an indoor animal could..... There was the sprint towards wherever when we were trying to move, there was the day he spent locked in the basement, and there was last night. This was mostly Brad's fault, but Shadow knows how to really make it fun....

Last night, Brad went out our back door into the backyard. When he returned, he apparently didn't pull the door shut all the way (our doors get kind screwy about that - they look closed, but they're not really), nor did he lock it. When he got up at 4:15 this morning to feed the cats and go for a run, he couldn't find Shadow. What he found was the back door wide open - the wind must have pushed it in!!!!!!!! He woke me up to tell me what happened - there we are, in the middle of the night, in the backyard with flashlights trying to find the curious cat. We found him about 10 minutes later. He'd managed to get out of the fenced backyard (no claws, mind you - he must have crawled underneath) and Brad found him in a neighbor's bushes. The poor guy was terrified - he probably was really excited for the adventure and then got lost, not knowing how to get back inside. We have no idea how long he was out there, but he gobbled down his food and went straight to the litter box. Guess he didn't know he could poop in the grass! As soon as he got calmed down, he went straight to sleep. I imagine he was out there for a while.

I'm just so thankful that a) we found him. b) he didn't get hurt, since he has no claws to defend himself and c) that the only bad thing that happened was the cat got out - no one came in! Brad was absolutely mortified he'd been so careless. He was totally distraught this morning. Needless to say, I didn't exactly jump back to sleep - the adrenaline was pumping pretty hard. So, I've been up since a little before 4:30 and I'm not allowed to have too much caffeine. Ugh.

So anyway, happy ending. The kitty's fine - just pretty wigged out. Another day in the life.... I knew things were far too slow around here. What a week!

Whew! I had a great time with my sister this weekend. We got all caught up, did some shopping and took in some Kansas City sights. So much fun! A friend from Lexington is in town for a conference and so we met up with him after dropping MB off at the airport. He'll be around for the next couple of weeks. Spending the weekend with family and then with a comfy friend from back in VA, we almost forgot we're alone out here in KS.

I think the excitement of last week and this past weekend has finally hit. I'm totally un-functional today. I cannot concentrate on anything for longer than 20 minutes. I think I'm about to give in to the ADD and do what my body wants me to - just chill out. I made a quick trip to the grocery store to get some fresh air - it's 64 and sunny! Coming home, some guy pulled out in front of me on a major road (the speed limit was 40 mph). It was bad enough that I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him! I think the sound of the tires squealing was louder than my horn. Since my windows were down, I could smell the burned rubber from my tires for about 100 yards after that. Getting in an accident would have really been the icing on the cake - especially since it probably would have been nasty. Glad he heard all the rucus and decided to look up in my direction! Might have been a good idea before pulling out onto the road....

Sorry for the ridiculously long time away. Life's been a little ho-hum. However, I am pleased to announce that the Winemans have their grove back! Life has officially returned to the chaotic whirlwind that we're used to dealing with.

My sister is coming to visit this weekend, which is great, but the house is nowhere near ready for a guest. And yes, the house needs to be super clean b/c she's allergic to our kitties. We leave for England in just over two weeks and I haven't really had time to come up with a decent itinerary. We have plane tickets and a place to sleep and that's about it. I installed a water filter on the back of our refrigerator last weekend, but turns out there was a small leak in the hose. Two nights ago, we discovered said leak by seeing water dripping from our family room ceiling down onto a nice bookcase. It had clearly been doing that for a while.... Got it all cleaned up, but we have stains on the ceiling and the top of the bookcase is warped. My mother in law is in the hospital again for passing out in her home. She's been there a couple of days and the doctors are still working on what's wrong with her. AND, when I came home from work last night, Brad escorted me to the basement which had about 2 inches of standing water in it! The sump pump eventually turned on and we spent a good amount of time sweeping the water towards that corner. Most of our stuff is safe, but there were a handful of casualties. The next step is making sure it doesn't all mold and mildew...

So, there you have it. My life in the last 3 days. It's been kind of nuts, but Brad and I both are approaching everything with an eery level of calm. Life is back to normal for us and even though I won't say it's a good thing, at least it's a familiar thing.

Happy Valentine's Day! I don't have much to report, but yesterday afternoon I went outside and took some pictures of our house in the snow. Yesterday's snow wasn't all that deep, but it still looks pretty blanketing the yard and roof. Here's our winter house:

It's snowing again. At least I got a snow day out of it, which is nice. Is it spring yet? I'm so ready for flowers and warm days spent outside in my backyard. Just a few more weeks....

Over the weekend, Brad and I finished putting together a smith machine in our basement. Brad loves to life weights (I do, too) and this was a steal! But it came in a box and took a couple of weekends to finish. Behold the mighty machine - sorry about the picture - the light is very weird in the basement.

It's official! We're going to England! (again....) Hopefully, everything will go smoothly and we won't have to cancel this one, too. My doctor said it was fine to go as long as I don't have any complications between now and then. We leave 18 March and will stay for a week! Yipeee! We've decided to spend most of our time in London since there's so much to see. One of Brad's friends lives in Cambridge and so we'll spend the day up there, but it's only an hour outside London. I'm still working on details, but I'm so excited!!!!

I've got baby fever! A woman I know from church brought me a whole slew of maternity clothes yesterday. It was so nice of her - especially since they are exactly my size and I like the style! Score! I tried on a bunch of stuff yesterday and it was a nice mix of stuff I can wear really soon and stuff that's more for when I really balloon up. Okay, so I tried those on, too - it was fun to imagine myself with a big preggo belly.... :)

I had my first real checkup with my doctor on Friday. Everything's fine but there is one weird thing (I pretty much already knew, but having the doctor confirm was strange). Yeah, given the enormous size of my ass, it's genuinely surprising that I don't have good birthin' hips! I have a fairly narrow pelvis, which he said will make it difficult if I have a big baby. It's not any worse than any of my teeny friends who carry babies, it's just odd for someone my size to have narrow hips. Here's hoping I have a small to medium sized baby...

Pottermania!!!!! The last Harry Potter book's release date has been announced. In case you've been living under a rock today and missed the near-constant news coverage - 21 July is the big day. Even more fun because it's unexpected, what with the latest movie coming out just days before that. July will be a very fun month. Maybe I'll pass a love of Harry Potter through the umbilical cord to my unborn child.... He/she will certainly get an overdose this summer!

Oh, so I had my first pregnant icky day yesterday. I was fine until the evening. I was busy doing lots of things and then Brad and I got chatting and lost track of time. Next thing we knew it was after 8pm and I guess my body decided all of a sudden that was not okay. I started feeling pretty quesy and nothing we had in the house to make for dinner was appetizing (and the stuff that was would take too long to make). And of course, we couldn't order a pizza because the thought of grease made me feel worse. So Brad drove us out in the snow to get a sandwich so I wouldn't get sick. I started feeling a little icky tonight right before dinner, but I made sure we ate earlier and now I'm fine. Guess I've just entered the fun weeks. At least I finally feel pregnant - it was a little disturbing how not-pregnant I was feeling.