Pumpkin Fairy

St. Mary's Fall Fest is just around the corner, and what does that entail? A whole whopper of fun! One thing that I'm contributing this year is a scarecrow. I didn't have much for inspiration, so I "headed" to Savers for a lil' dose. The white foam head was 99 cents - can't go wrong there. Then I went to the Dollar Store and found orange wings. Hmm... how about a Pumpkin Fairy? Pumpkin Fairy it is! So off I went to work on my first ever scarecrow:



SUCCESS! Who could even try to beat that? Ceej thinks it's scary. I think she's beautiful. Hmm ... I wonder what I'll win?

Trachsel Wedding

Ceej and I had the pleasure of attending Brock & Stacy Trachsel's wedding reception last night. It was great! My friend, Nikki, from my OT program came along as my brother's date. They're "texting friends" right now... and she hated me introducing her in that way to people at the wedding... but whatever. I stay with her and another student once or twice per week when I go to Rochester. My class is small - there's 17 of us in Rochester - so we've gotten pretty close over the past year. She came over to my house before the reception so we could get ready together like in the old days (I had 6 roommates at one point. I miss getting ready with girls.). The bride and groom looked wondeful and happy! It was a fun night and so great to see good friends and family :).

13 Weeks: How Peachy!

We've made it to 13 weeks! All I can say is life has been peachy - which is fitting considering our tiny Thurner is the size of a peach this week. I am feeling 100x better, and it never even got THAT bad (or maybe I've just forgotten already). Really, since about 10 weeks it has been getting better and better. In summary, my first trimester consisted of mega fatigue, mega sweating, really hormonal, very significant nausea from weeks 7-9 (with only about 12 pukes - which is really NOT bad!), and being quite impatient with dumb people. NOW, at 13 weeks, I'm still more fatigued than non-pregnant me, but an 8-9 hour night of sleep is now sufficient enough to not require a nap. I have very little -if any- nausea, and only a few aversions (my beloved Polar Ice Gum being one of them - but I'm not complaining because I used to chew 1/2 to 1 pack per day. That can't be healthy. I also still have an aversion to dumb people who make dumb comments.). I'm still working out 5 days a week (running, weight lifting, same ol') and feeling very well overall! I know with pregnancy it can turn a corner at any point, so I'm just really thankful that I've had it so great so far. Oh, also new these days are horrible, scary nightmares. Last night I woke up TERRIFIED from a dream where I was at my cabin and people were coming at me so I was CHOPPING THEM UP WITH AN AX. Blood was flying everywhere and I kept chopping. WHAT?! Ooffta. Glad that one wasn't real.

So, all in all, very good news all around! PLUS we had an appointment with the midwife today and heard our little one's heartbeat! It was the most precious sound I've ever heard. Quite literally. I knew it would be really cool to hear - that was expected, I just really had no idea how amazing it would be to hear that little life in me. I cried hearing it and then I cried talking about it. Tears are no stranger to this girl these days; thankfully this time they were of joy. Oh, and a side note regarding our dumb maternity counselor from last appointment - even my midwife was not impressed by her skills. Going through the family history in chart, the counselor had keyed in a bunch of codes for past illnesses and diseases of our family and got 90% of it very wrong. The midwife went through and to C.J.: "So you and your father have diabetes?" Uh, no. To me: "So both your parents have had strokes?" Uh, no. To me: "Your grandma died of cancer?" NO. Thankfully I will never have to deal with her again - and my charts are now accurate.

And, finally, here's our ultrasound picture! Okay, okay - It's not OUR baby - we aren't allowed an ultrasound until 20 weeks. It is a 13 week old fetus, though - I just don't know who's - someone by the name of Google Image or something.

As a last little note before I sign off - here's a picture of the birthing suites currently being built at my hospital. God sure had this whole thing planned perfectly - they're due to arrive this winter, just in time for our little bundle.

Little Treasures

I just got back from a few days in Rochester for school, doing anything but being productive. I decided to go through one dusty box from my childhood that's been gracing our garage for the past months. WHAT a treat, folks. I felt it was worth sharing.

First, the above picture is a license plate that I bought as a kid from Mall of America. I remember thinking "I'm totally gonna put this on the front of my car instead of a license plate when I turn 16." Good thing I forgot about that little aspiration.

Next, the picture above is of my "wall hanging box of treasures". These were like, the cream of the crop - my most special things. First - take a look at the whole - truly a treasure in itself. Next, I'll break it up for you.

The above includes my homemade whale tail, broken, yet still worthy of the treasure box. Then a few clay dogs and a skunk (I guess I used to like animals - I'm over that now). Clay cookies, a random crib, a Canadian 50 cent piece, a toy car.

Next, a wooden bunny that I colored, a girl made out of a clothes pin, a "1" girl that I probably got for my 1st Birthday & never got any other age in subsequent years, another large coin, a small troll, fake gold, a plastic donkey with a hat, a tiny plastic ornament, and a necklace charm of a girl kissing a boy my mom brought back from Mexico.

And finally, the last two items: a tiny dice next to a tiny dice that I made, and a bear that says "God is Love" - which is also a functioning pencil sharpener. Ah - the joys of childhood.

All I know is that if our child turns out kind of weird, s/he definitely got it from me.