Names

I am SO glad I'm only 18 weeks along! Bryan and I still have so much to get done before this baby gets here! I have the room cleaned out and ready for new baby furniture, but no furniture to put into it! I also have all of Michelle's old clothes saved and stored so I can reuse them. However, I didn't organize them very well, so the clothes I'm going to need first are in the back and on the bottom of the boxes that we have stored. To be honest though I'm not really stressed about any of that stuff right now. I know I have a ton of time to get all of that ready. My main worry?? The name! Bryan and I had Michelle's name picked out and decided on within weeks of finding out we were having a baby. We knew a definite girls name (Michelle Lynne- obviously) and a definite boys name (we're still saving this name for our first boy). This time, however... *sigh* girls names are hard. lol! I REALLY want to keep the names as family names. And I would love it if one name came from my side and one name came from his side. I know a lot of people have told me that this is a silly way to pick a name and that I'm limiting myself too much, but I just really love the idea of having the name be 1/2 me and 1/2 Bryan, just like our baby will be! Bryan doesn't feel as strongly about this though... So the names we've cycled through and through again are:

Tina- My aunt who I love and can't wait to see again in heaven some day!

Jennifer- Bryan's cousin who we both adore!

Megan- Bryan swears he has a cousin named Megan somewhere... we were obviously getting desperate for options.

Rachel- Not family at all, but my two best friends growing up were both named Rachel.

Kaylen or Kahlen- A name we liked, but had no relation to other then the fact that the second spelling was the name of a character out of one of Bryan's books.

Alexis- ... just a name we liked... mainly so we could call her Alex.

Kristen- again, just a name we liked.

So we go back and forth through these names trying to add second names to them- which is a whole other issue! And then occasionally add a name or take one off the list. And by "occasionally" I mean at least once a day. The way we are going I honestly don't think we'll have a name picked out before she gets here! lol! OH, and that's the other thing. As of 12 weeks the sonographer said my baby looked like a girl, but we really don't even know for sure yet! If it turns out to be a boy then this whole name issue is instantly solved! "Yeah!" But it starts a whole new issue of- Everything we have is pink! lol! We'll just have to wait and see what our big issue is going to be! I find out for sure on May 31! I CAN NOT WAIT!

Working Together

One project down and only fifty-thousand more to go! lol! Well, we bought an official desk. We threw away our old apartment desk when we moved. For a long time were have been using a folding table as a desk, and quickly decided that we needed to upgrade! So Bryan and I did a little looking around, found a desk we liked about brought it home! Like a champ Bryan got started putting it together right away! And this time he had a little help:

After careful inspection Michelle was ready to jump in and help in any way she could!

Michelle went back and tightened all of the screws that daddy forgot to tighten!

She's such a hard worker!

She even helped read the instructions! If you look closely you'll see she is a very talented reader! She can read upside-down!

She was a great assistant! It took a few tries, but eventually she handed Bryan the tool he needed! ;)

After that it was pretty much just play time!

Gold Stars all around! Good work team!

Obama Speech

This is his speech, addressing America, about Osama bin Laden's death. A lot of people have been commenting on Obama's remarks here. I have read countless comments about Obama taking credit for Osama's death. Let me first be VERY clear- I'm not an Obama fan. He was definitely not my first choice as president. However, I'm having a hard time seeing what everyone is talking about. I didn't hear the part where he says "I did it! It was me! Yeah me!" lol! While he does use the word "I" a lot at the beginning, he is the commander in chief. He did do all the things he says he did. I don't think that was him trying to take undue credit, it was just the process that always happens. No matter who the president is. And, personally, I think he credits our military advisors and service men very well. Do I think this is an "Obama victory"? No, and he says, in this very speech, that it's more then that and even more then an American one. Maybe I'm way off base here... what do you think?

Why I Love Her

So I was sitting down watching a movie (American Tale) with Michelle while she ate popcorn and drank apple Juice- I know, it's a snack of the gods. So I'm sitting there watching all these little popcorn pieces fall to the floor when I notice how very dirty my floor really is. I turned to Michelle and our conversation went very much like this:

Me: "Michelle, I really need to vacuum today."

Michelle: "Yeah."

Me: "I don't really want to though."
Michelle: "It's messy mess!"

Me: "I know. Do you think I should get up and vacuum now?"

Michelle: *thoughtful look and long pause* "No."

Me: "Okay good. I'll do it later."

Michelle: "Yeah."

I love my baby girl!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!

This year for Easter Michelle got a blue bunny (that she picked out herself), a Winnie the Pooh coloring book, new Jammies, and Mini M&M's! The Easter Bunny knew that her grandparents had gotten her stuff for Easter as well so he didn't want to overdue it at home!

Michelle did a great job on her first ever Easter Egg Hunt!

After looking through her basket, hunting for eggs and eating some breakfast we got dressed and headed out to church!

Of course her new bunny had to come too!

Now we're home from church, eating a small lunch and getting ready to go see Nana and Grandpa Tom, and then Graw and Pa! Hope everyone is having as great an Easter as we are!

Camping! ...sorta

This month was Bryan's turn to be in charge of Date Night. Honestly, I totally underestimated him! I expected a last minute, "I totally forgot", dinner and a movie, kinda date. I was so wrong! He called me Monday afternoon and let me know that he might have to work overtime that Friday. I was bummed because Fridays are usually the only days we get to relax and spend a decent amount of time together. However, he works hard and tries his best to provide for us, so I didn't complain. I did what I usually do when Bryan's not available... I called Jess! So it was all arranged that Michelle and I would hang out at Jessica's house till around 6 and then meet Bryan back at our house after he was off work on Friday. He reminded me once or twice though the week that he wouldn't be home and that he was sorry it had to happen on Friday. So Friday came and while I was at Jessica's I got a call from Bryan saying that he was off work early and would meet me at home as soon as I could get there. Michelle and I packed up and when we got home- SURPRISE! There was a HUGE tent popped up in my living room. (It was crazy windy outside (50mph winds) and was supposed to be storming that night- thus the indoor setup.) And I mean it was HUGE! It literally took up my whole living room. Bryan had even set up a little mini bedroom for us at the back of the tent. Here's a few pics to give you an idea of how big this thing was:

(I was standing in the entry of the tent to get this pic.)Michelle LOVED it! She did NOT love being spied on through the window of the tent though! Lol!

It was so much fun! We ate hot dogs, played a few games, jumped on the air bed (Michelle only, of course), and planned a future outdoor camping trip! I can't wait!

On a different note- Michelle has started to notice that "Mommy's tummy getting big!" She took the bubble wrap out of an old shipping box and stuffed it up her shirt so she could look like Mommy too!

Silly little girl!

A Hard Day

It was a hard day at Grandma's house on Sunday. Well, it was a hard day for Michelle.

You can't see it very well from these pictures, but Michelle got beat up! The sad part is that she beat herself up. The whole left side of her face was a shade of blue, red, or purple by the time we left!

She started the day out by slamming her eye against the corner of my parents center table in the living room. Thus the black eye, and bloody mark in the corner of her eye. She then proceeded to smash her fingers in the silverware drawer. I have to admit she had a little help with this one though. I was getting a spoon and didn't see her standing under me trying to keep the drawer open, so when I pushed it shut her fingers were still holding onto the inside of the drawer. Sorry baby girl! After that she tripped over herself and fell in the corner of the wall. Causing a long, straight, bruise right down the middle of her cheek. Poor kid!

At this point Bryan and I decided that enough was enough and that we should call it a day and head home. Grandpa, however, was smart enough to take Michelle outside to calm her down and distract her from all of her owies. Once we got outside she had a great time! She went on a walk with Clayton...

(This picture was taken and edited by Jessica Renea. Pretty amazing huh? I love it!)

Found lady bugs, and air planes, and generally had an awesome time.

This is Michelle's "I'm excited" pose. (I'll have to see if Jess can edit this pic too so it's not so grainy.)We ended the day on a great note and since then Michelle keeps asking to go back to "Graw's house". She has obviously forgotten about her hard day!