Catching Up August-January 9, 2011

Let's see...where to start...?



AUGUST

Well, August was the month after we moved into our house. Things were pretty nice once we started to get settled and comfortable. We had a few little things to fix, and the yard clean-up was ridiculous, but overall it was a lot of fun to finally be in a house! We spent a lot of time that month just getting set up and adjusting to everything. A quiet month really.



SEPTEMBER

September was a really exciting month. We'd gotten the yard cleaned and grass was planted and had started growing. Not an easy thing to do in hard-pan, by the way! It took us a lot of hard work getting grass in the yard. Chad made me a promise to have the yard looking nice by Dakota's birthday, and he kept it! We had a decent lawn (we mowed it the day before her birthday party), and Chad went and got gravel and woodchips and got the walkway and planters all set up before the party started. It looked so pretty! I was really grateful for the fantastic husband that Chad is and all the hard work he does for us.

Dakota officially turned 2, and had a lot of fun with all the family and friends around. She got a whole My Little Pony collection from Aunt Courtney and Aunt Chelsea, she loved that! She got to brush their hair, dress them up, and she even got one that she can take a bath with! I loved My Little Pony as a kid, I have to remember to find all my ponies and give them to her soon.

We also found out in September that we were pregnant! Of course, Chad knew before I did, it took me awhile to want to take a pregnancy test.



OCTOBER

Halloween was the big excitement this month! We had a busy holiday for Halloween too. We were invited to go to a birthday party on Halloween for our friends' son, and then the kids would go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Dakota had so much fun, and it was so cute hearing her say "Trick-or-Treat!" She got to dress up as Tinkerbell, and she was absolutely adorable. Everybody loved how cute she looked. Chad and I went to our traditional party the weekend before Halloween. It's always a lot of fun. Our friend, Debbie, has a huge party (last year 300+ people went) out at her house, with a haunted house, decorations everywhere, and good food and drinks. No worries! No alcohol for me this year, but we had a good time still. It was cold so I decided that rather than go as a fairy, I would go as a nurse and just wore my scrubs and thermals. It was so much better than freezing half the night. With my pregnant brain, I can't remember what Chad wore. :) I know we had a good time though, we always do.



NOVEMBER

I really wanted to do Thanksgiving with my family this year, so we did. We went up to my Aunt Serelle's in Modesto, and ate some of the most delicious food it's making me hungry right now just to think about it. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce, cooked carrots, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, fresh rolls, salads, and veggie trays. Yummy! Then we had pumpkin pie, chocolate mousse pie, apple pie, and fruit/custard trifle. Oh, that was the best part. I was so full by the time I was done, but it all tasted soo good! From there, we drove up to Sacramento and stayed at my Grandparents' house. We went up with everybody to cut Christmas trees at our traditional tree farm in Placerville that weekend, and hit the market they have up there. We love their apple cider and other yummy things. Chad and I did a little wine tasting (I'm allowed!) while we were there, and it was delicious. They had a sparkling apple wine that we really liked, it was really sweet and light, something that we love in wines. It was also great to see all my cousins who had come to visit. They go to school either in Utah or Idaho, and it's closer to come see us for Thanksgiving, so it's always fun when they come.



DECEMBER

Last month was extremely hectic. We did a lot. We had been doing a lot of fighting with our landlord, the original agreement had been that we were going to do a rent-to-own deal. He was going to carry the deed for us for 5 years, so we could save up and get our credit in a better place, then we would buy the house from him for $225,000. He'd had an appraiser out, and that's what they had told him the house was worth. Problem was, we'd never been able to get him to put it on paper. He always said, "We'll take care of that when the time comes." We really should have pushed for it. We had also agreed that we'd be working with him and doing work around the house/property to work off some of our $1300 rent each month. We were never able to get that in writing either. Long story short, we ended up moving overnight on December 15th. The stress of everything was just getting to be too much on us (especially me) and so we decided it was best to move out before we lost the baby due to all the stress. We got all moved in and mostly settled though just in time for Christmas. That was my one condition, I wanted things to be comfortable for Christmas. But we got our tree all set up, decorated, stockings out, and gifts wrapped, just in time. It was rushed and everything, but we had a good Christmas anyway.



JANUARY
This month has so far been very nice. We love our apartment, and plan on being here until the baby is born in June. We don't have the dogs here, but they are doing very well at my father-in-law's house. Lucy is gorgeous and sweet as ever, and Sierra is growing so much it's amazing. She's going to be a truly beautiful dog, and once I'm done with her training, she'll be a great dog, just like her mommy. She's my girl, and I love it!
My birthday was ok. We went to a New Year's Eve party and had a quiet and relaxing time. It was actually kinda nice, not too big and crazy. I got pretty tired soon after midnight, so it was really nice to be able to just come home and fall asleep. Then, my dad took us out for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on my birthday. It was really yummy. I had the tiramisu for dessert, and it was delicious. We ate so much, it hurt by the time we were ready to get up and leave.
Right now we're just waiting until the 18th, when we can find out what the sex of our baby is. We're pretty sure we're having a boy, so I'm going to laugh really hard if this baby is a girl too. I have to admit though, I'm gonna be really disappointed if it's a girl. I really want this baby to be a boy. I've always wanted a boy, and since this is going to be our last...it'd be really great if I got my boy. We haven't been able to settle on a name yet, which is a little frustrating. I thought we'd agreed on Logan Blaine, but Chad doesn't want to use it now because it brings up bad memories of a girl he can't stand. Her son is named Logan. It's just been a lot harder to come up with a boy's name. For a girl we like Kenna Marie/Nicole, or I also like Mikayla Nicole, Chad really wants Nicole for a middle name. He wants to honor me in some way I guess. So, now I'm 16 weeks and 5 days along, and just trying to hang in there. I hurt everywhere, the cold is getting to me really bad. Tylenol isn't helping either, but I try my best to just stay warm and be patient until it starts to warm up again. I cannot wait though to have this next ultrasound. I want to know so badly what we're having.

Anyway, that's about all we're up to right now. Until next time! I'm gonna go eat! :)