Saturday Morning

This and That

We're still plugging away in our little corner of the world. With the exception of the everyday little drama, things are going pretty well.
Thankfully, I'm starting to feel much better with the morning sickness. I was beginning to think only birth would alleviate the daily puking and constant nausea. But, no. It only took a week-long struggle with our health insurance to cover a super-expensive anti-nausea medicine to fix the problem. All they had to do was approve it, and POOF, no more sickness! Go figure...
Our most recent OB appointment went really well. The doctor was very happy to see that I've stopped losing weight and even managed to put a few pounds back on in the past four weeks. In retrospect, I think the severe morning sickness I had was my body's way of putting me in better shape physically to handle the rest of the pregnancy. But it still sucked... All the tests we've had over the past couple of months came back with glowing results. The tests for potential birth defects and genetic abnormalities came back perfect. All of the ratios were at the top of scale showing no problems. Our 20 week ultrasound looked great too. The baby was moving around like crazy (I could have told you that) and even showed a few tricks, like swallowing and playing with the umbilical cord. As far as the ultrasound screening, everything also looked wonderful. No detectable abnormalities and the placenta was attached at the the back of the womb (instead of near the cervix). This is really good news because we will be trying for a VBAC (vaginal delivery after cesarean) and everything in our favor will help. All in all, things are looking very well at this point. We're past the halfway point and I'm actually starting to feel like a pregnant lady now. My belly is starting to pop so that I actually look pregnant instead of bloated. I already feel bigger than I did with Abigael at this point, so it'll be interesting to see how I end up.
Abigael is just as wild as ever and continues to entertain us everyday. As amazing as her sense of humor is, her stubborn independence is just as "challenging." We remind ourselves that we've raised her that way, and she'll be better off for it, but, oh my, the battles we've set ourselves up for. It's hard to believe that in less than a month we'll have a three year old in the house. As difficult as she can be, everyday that comes feels like the best age ever.
Brandon is just a busy as ever. The man just doesn't know how to take it easy. He's plugging away at school and almost finished with his nursing school pre-requisites. When those are done, it'll be almost time for the baby to arrive, so he'll probably take the next year off to stay home with the kids (wow, I just said kidS, as in more than one). His leg continues to slowly but surely heal. Unfortunately, almost two years of recovery has taken a toil on his poor body. While the bone continues to do what only it can do, he's still got a long road to get everything else back into shape. But, of course, it doesn't slow him down any. The itch to ride his bikes is too strong to resist and he's back in the saddle. Sunday morning mountain bike rides and the call of the velodrome keep him motivated and constantly tweaking his bikes.
That's about it for one post. I'll leave you with a rare find indeed. A family picture.

The Reason for the Sneezin'

Estimated Time of Arrival - August 22, 2007

Friends?

Don't let the crusty, old furball tell you any differently...I think he actually likes her.

I Do!

On this day 10 years ago, Brandon and I exchanged vows before family and friends, beginning our new life as husband and wife. Happy Anniversary! Through good times and bad, richer and poorer, sickness and health, we're still going strong. We're even still wearing the same wedding bands that we bought for less than $200 (combined). Over these years, our 20's have faded into memories and, by the standards we had as kids, we're OLD now. Thankfully it doesn't feel like it. We've had many adventures and a lot of mundane, just-getting-by days. We've shared laughs, tears, anger, and joy. We've made good and bad decisions, living with each equally. Everything a marriage is supposed to be. And by a miracle, we've been blessed with another member to our family. Someone to fill in the piece we didn't even know we were missing.


For your viewing pleasure and amusement, courtesy of the scanner, it's off to the Way Back Machine...

Day 28!

Whew! Only a couple more days and NaBloPoMo will be over! The feeling seems mutual among the participants that have made it this far. The pressure of coming up with an idea every day is exhausting! I have a much bigger respect for those bloggers that manage to do this everyday just because they enjoy it. But you know what, I did it. I stuck with something and feel like a much better person for it. It was actually very liberating to let my guard down a little, even if it was just to come up with new material. I still feel inspired, but I think I'll do better if I slow down the posts a bit.
Because I'm pretty much spent on writing for tonight, here's something from my other pseudo hobby that I want to get more involved in again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The cold, rainy weather we've been having has finally paid off. It's snowing! It started with flurries mixed with rain about 3 o'clock this afternoon. By 4:30, it had totally changed over and the flakes just kept getting bigger. Right now there's a good half an inch on the ground and the road in front of the house is lightly covered. I think we lucked out living at a slightly higher elevation than most of Seattle. It'll probably be gone by morning, but it was really fun tonight.
I took Abigael out into our parking lot to show her the falling snow and she loved it! I finally managed to get her back to our patio, but she refused to come inside. We ended up playing outside for at least another hour. The only times she came inside was to either get the dog or stick her hands under some warm water. We caught snow flakes on our tongues and threw snowballs for Zak to catch in his mouth. She had a blast. I think we'll definitely have to take her up to the mountains this winter for some real snow.







(You can see a few more photos here.)

Happy Turkey Day!

It's a quiet Thanksgiving Day in the Lockwood home (except, of course, for the cranky two year old.) All of our family is out of town and our local friends are with their's. That's OK, we've been looking forward to a nice, easy day for a while now. The weather is perfect for being lazy (rain, wind and cold), so there's no guilt about sitting in front of the TV all day, watching football. I wasn't going to go through the work of making a big, traditional meal for just the three of us, but things got a little out of control at the grocery store last night. Needless to say there's now a 7 1/2 pound turkey breast in the oven and a bag of my folks' North Carolina pecans waiting to be turned into a pie.

In the spirit of the Holiday, a few things that I am thankful for (or at least are pretty cool):
-Brandon. My husband, my best friend, my PIA, my motivator, the love of my life.
-Abigael. The best thing that every happened to me.
-The continued reasonably good health of all of us. Despite the hardships of this past year with Brandon's leg, it could have easily been much, much worse.
-Both of our parents. You couldn't ask for more loving, giving people. People who are there through good and bad, always there with a helping hand, an encouraging word, or a just a hug.
-Our home. Although we are still living in an apartment, it's a roof over our head that we pay for ourselves. It's not the lap of luxury, but it's warm, dry and full of love.
-The ability to have the little things in life. Those amenities in life, that while aren't necessary, definitely make our day-to-day life easier, more entertaining, and sometimes more complicated.
-The USA. It may sound corny, but living in a country where all of the above things are possible and attainable. It's not perfect by a long shot, but it's a lot better than some of the alternatives out there.
-The Future. It's never too late to make changes, learn new things, or reach for new goals.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Hug someone you love!


***LATE EDIT***

MMMMMMM...Thanksgiving Dinner!

Contraband

I'm borrowing the idea for today's post from Rob. He wrote about having the instinct to take advantage of those opportunities that don't come along everyday. Even for those of us that are adamant about following the rules, sometimes you just gotta break 'em. It may not sound like much to some, but taking a picture in a "forbidden" place can be pretty exciting.
Rob issued a challenge to own up if we had ever taken any pictures in the Biltmore house . Well, unfortunately I was never able to make it there, but I'll up you one. Here's my entry:
In the spring of 2003, I traveled to London to fulfill a lifelong dream of visiting Europe. While there, I visited Westminster Abbey. Walking under the great cathedral ceiling and among effigies of those long dead, where kings and queens had been crowned, was like a dream come true for me. Against all the rules, I snapped a few pictures on the sly. A great memento to remind me of that place in time.