Lil' Peanut Update

Lil' Peanut is doing well. Today was Vanessa's doctor appointment and the doctor had ordered a sonogram to make sure Peanut was growing properly. Because Vanessa has such a long torso she's carrying Peanut almost sideways. Vanessa kept saying she was getting broader!

Lil Peanut weighs around 3 to 3 1/2 lbs. Dr. Gardner says she is right on target and everything looks good.

It was a little easier to actually see a baby this time but features are still difficult to make out. We did get a glimpse of some hair on her head!

We are going Saturday for a 4D sonogram. Dr. Gardner said it is a wonderful experience if we could do it. Vanessa had done some research of places and the one she had picked the Dr. gave approval. It's called Stork Vision. They are not a medical facility but just a place that conducts the sonogram having rooms large enough to accommodate families who would like to see "baby" before arrival. The price includes a dvd and pics (I think). Vanessa is far enough along that after today her appointments will be every two weeks.

Ok, looks like we already have a drama queen. This is a side view of her head and she has the back of her hand on her forehead like "oh, dear me"! She had it there through the entire sonogram! It cracked us all up including the technician! Even the doctor had a good laugh!

After the appointment we did some shopping. Vanessa wanted to try to find some more jeans. One of the stores we went to had an adorable little onesie and bib I just HAD to buy!On the left sleve it says "here a neigh" the right sleeve says "there a neigh" and around the neck "everywhere a neigh neigh".

Here's the back! There is a tail under the neigh! How cute is that! Any grand daughter of mine should be a horse lover! We'll see! I'll give it a good college try!

Vanessa at 7 months. You can probably tell her poor little belly button has turned into an "outy".

Vanessa found this t-shrit today and wore it home from the store she liked it so well. Pretty much says it all don't you think?!

I took the dogs to my friends west of town yesterday. I hadn't been out there in a couple of months. The trees are beginning to change colors although we don't have the brilliant colors you folks north and east of us have. There is still a lot of green with the recent rains we've received and more rain is on the way! Thank You Lord! Of course with the dogs no adventure is complete without a romp in the water and yesterday was not exception!

Kajen and Kaidence playing.

Mercy getting a drink. This is as far in the water as she will get!

While the other three dogs love to get wet all over. Here is Zorro and Kaidence.

These beautiful brilliant yellow flowers have popped up EVERYWHERE since we have finally gotten some rain. They are gorgeous! These are intertwined with some briers and barbed wire fence.

Also saw some dragonflies.

There were tons of these!

Can't get enough of these flowers. Neither can this little bee.

This guy was really hard to shoot. His wings would glisten when the sun hit them just right. You can sort of see that in the blue coloring in his wing.

More dragonflies!

Walking in the woods we came across a delightful surprise......

yes! Butterflies! Gorgeous butterfiles!

I just happen to catch these two as they fluttered by.

One of them did land long enough for me to take his picture.

Isn't the coloring just beautiful?!

No these pumpkins were not where I was. I took these recently as a "photo challenge" on Facebook. Nothing says fall more than a load of pumpkins!

Happy fall ya'll!

Have a good one!

An Unexpected Treat 092509

That's what Monday was for me. I had my plans, my agenda, my schedule planned. After taking Vanessa back to work from lunch I was going to do my grocery shopping. I had put it off to the point I had to drop by the store to pick up just enough items to fix the next meal! I usually go the day of or a few after payday but last week I worked at the store Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I didn't feel like shopping afterwards.
I drop Vanessa off and head to my first stop, Walgreens. When I finished there I planned to go to Walmart. As I got in the truck I realized I didn't make the church's bank deposit when I dropped off Vanessa. So I went back to the bank. While there Doyle called me. Back to the story in a minute.....

Doyle went back to work Sept 1st. but because he had been off work due to injury he was unable to take any vacation. His anniversary date is October. He had to take two weeks or lose it so after working a couple of weeks he was off for two weeks! During this time we had friends who own a lakehouse on PK Lake. They are going to build a new one. Before demolition we were able to go through and take out anything we could use in the Peanut Palace. That was very helpful to us. Doyle has been removing cabinets and fixtures the last several days. On Monday he had got to the lake without a tool he needed. That's where the story picks back up. Doyle, told me he didn't have to have it but if I was were I could bring it to him it would help. He said I could walk the new trail at the lake if I wanted. I gave it some thought and weighed my options. I decided the groceries could wait. The store is open 24 hrs right?! I went home to get the tool he needed. While there I made the decision to take Kaidence with me. I wanted to take all the dogs but I wasn't sure that I wanted to try to keep up with all four on an unfamiliar trail.

Here Kaidence and I stand at the entrance to the trailhead. The irony of this is 2 years ago when Doyle & I stayed here for a mini retreat I hiked this same area but at that time there was no trail. I remember commenting to Doyle there should be a trail. In some ways reflecting back to that time I think I was “prophetically” hiking the new trail! I was truly excited. It is a wonderful trail….although there is no water for man or beast along the route and it was 90 on Monday. I had water with me that I shared with Kaidence.

The trail winds around through mesquite, oak and cedar trees in and around cactus. The trails have very sandy soil.

Some of the last of summer's flowers.

I was so excited to get this photo! So beautiful!

I thought it was taking too long to get to the end of the trail so I did a “no-no” and went off trail to make way to the lake. This photo is taken where I left the designated trail. I just love how you can see the rays of sunlight against the dark clouds.

Blazing my own trail to the lake I hear rumbles of thunder. When I finally got to a clearing enough to see the sky I saw dark clouds. I watched long enough to think that the storm was going to stay west and south of me when a big gust of wind nearly blew me over! I was definitely too far to go back where we came from so I pushed on toward the lake knowing I could find shelter there if it began to rain. So from here we blaze some more trail. This time it was much heavier woods and was all rocks!

Kaidence on a dirt trail we found leading us closer to our destination.

Kaidence didn't seem to be too sure I knew what I was doing! It was pretty rough walking. I really should have had boots on! I'm really surprised I didn't stir up a rattlesnake!

Lake is finally in view!

Sun rays being interrupted by rain clouds. See the "spot of sun" on the water?

Monday, 31 August 2009

Refreshed, Renewed, Rejuvenated

That’s just a few of the words I would used to describe my time at the scrapbook retreat.

I tried all week to decide what I would take and leave behind. As it tends to happen I got overwhelmed and ended up taking nearly everything I own! There wasn’t a store near by that I could run to for last minute items so I had to be prepared! I really need to take the time to match cardstock to patterned paper and the paper to pics so that when I want to go to a crop it’s not a major ordeal! I’ve been putting it off because I know it’s going to take a lot of time!

Wednesday Vanessa had her monthly check up. She is doing fine. She’s 128 lbs. The next visit the doctor will do a glucose test to check blood sugar levels. This is standard at this stage of the pregnancy. On our way home from the appointment I get a call from the lady who had invited me to the retreat saying she had a last minute cancellation and did I know of anyone who would want to go on this short notice. I told her “yes, I did!” I called my buddy Teresa. I had told her about my experience the last time I went and she said she would like to go if there was ever an opportunity. I called Teresa and said “do you remember that retreat I went to that you wanted to go if there was ever an opportunity? Well, now’s your opportunity!” She was shocked and told me "I think I can do this. Let me check my calendar, talk to my family and get back with you." It didn’t take her long and she was calling me back to say she could go! We were both like giddy school girls!

We made plans for her to meet me at my house and we would drive there in my vehicle. Doyle told me I could take his which was nice. My old truck runs pretty good but things are beginning to quit working. Like the other day I went to set the emergency break and it broke! That may not be a major deal for most people but when one is driving a manual transmission it is a must! Then the day before I left for the retreat I was going to the post office to pick up the church’s mail and my spare tire fell off!

I packed my stuff in the car Wednesday night. Teresa makes it to the house and we load the car. It is full! We couldn’t have taken anyone else with us! It was about 2 ½ hours to our destination. We get there about 5:30PM. We unload and wait for the others to arrive. When they get there we got into Canton to eat at Ochoa’s Mexican Food. It is an awesome place to eat and they have the VERY BEST PIES I’ve ever eaten! Teresa & I got a piece of Banana Cream. We were going to share it but it was so good I ate it all!

Food at the retreat was good too! I watched several movies, got 22 pages completed, took a couple of walks and had a great time during our devotional when we encouraged and prayed for one another.

Vicki the owner of the retreat mentioned that she discovered a little scrapbook store out in the middle of “nowhere” close to Mabank. She offered to take me there. My curiosity got the better of me and I told her I’d like to go so we went. I’m not sure I would have ever found it! There were no signs, you just had to know where it was! I’ll have to admit I was skeptical but when we arrived and I went inside I was amazed! She had a lot of inventory for the size building she had.  She had some of the new products too like the Tim Holtz alcohol inks, Graphic 45 paper, Stickles glitter glue and more! When I go to a place like this I am always looking for things our local store doesn’t carry. I did find some unique ribbon that reminded me of one of my scrapbooking buddies and bought some for her. I can’t wait to show her either! This place is called Country Scents & More. It is operated by a mother and daughter. They don’t keep regular hours. You must call first before you go because they are not always there. Interesting setup I must admit but considering she is in the “heart” of scrapbook retreat centers it works. There are two close by (Heavenly Acres & Heritage House) and the one I was at (Ragles Retreat) is about 15 minutes away. It’s really nice if you’re in a pinch as there is no other place to shop.

Our group. Back row (L to R) Teresa Montalvo, Andrea Taylor, me. Front row (L to R) Denis McConnell, Marci Purtell and Carol Vickers. (Marci is the one who organized the reatreat.

We had a great time!

Have a good one!

Losing Track of Time

I don't know if any of the rest of you are losing track of time but I just can't seem to stay on top of things. Before I can blink an eye a week has passed. When I try to think of what has happened or what I did, I go blank! Has my life become that monotonous? I haven't gone anywhere (much) or done much because of the heat. We finally did get a little reprieve the end of last week. Temps were in the upper 90's instead of mid 100's! We did get a bit of rain (about 3/10ths) which is kind of like taking a bucket of water out of the lake! You can't tell.
Thursday I worked at the store. It was the last day of Kid's Kamp. So I won't be working on Thursdays the rest of the summer. I signed up for a card class. The kit had paper and embellishments to make 12 cards for $24. That's $2 a card! Can't beat that and it is out of the two new paper lines from Basic Grey (one of my favorite company's!) "Lemonade" and "June Bug".

Friday was the church's Men's Retreat. Doyle left for that about the same time I went to work. After I got off from the office I went by Cathy's store. She was having a 50% off sale and I had a gift card from my birthday I was wanting to spend. I didn't take time to shop when I worked. While shopping the store was pretty busy. Ray & Cathy were both there but Cathy was meeting with a product rep so I helped Ray for a bit. One lady wanted to look at some of the albums we had that required me to get a step ladder and get down for her. I didn't mind at all. I also answered some questions for her. I had already been at the store for 2 hours when I realized what time it was and needed to leave as I had a dat with my friend Suzan again with her grandkids at the pool. As I was checking out I told the lady I was leaving but that Ray would help her check out. She started apologizing for bothering me. I assured her I wouldn't have asked if she needed any help if I didn't intend on helping her!

I made it home long enough to change clothes and headed to the pool. My other friend Kelly joined us with her daughter Kathryn. It was a nice way of cooling off and I figure it's good practice to get me ready to care for a baby again! It's been a really long time!
That evening after Vanessa got off work we went to visit my friend Teresa whose husband fell of the roof two weeks ago. I had not been out since he came home and figured she could use the company. We took pizza to help ease the load of cooking. We enjoyed our time together so much (as we always do) that it was 1AM before I got Vanessa home. Wasn't very smart as we both had to work Saturday morning! Jose is doing okay.
Saturday was a crop at the store and we were full! There were 20 ladies cropping! It was fun though. I was on my feet nearly the entire day! The store was busy on top of that with several customers that had not been before. That is always encouraging to have people come in who've not been before. I left around 1PM to come home to let the dogs out. I went by and picked up Vanessa. She wanted to use the internet and watch some TV. Plus it gave Kajen someone to play with. Because we were full I didn't stay and crop as I will do sometimes. Instead I came home and decided it was cool enough to take the dogs somewhere. Vanessa had gone to a friends for a little while and she left Kajen. So I took all 4 dogs to Dobbs Valley. There is still water in the tanks but they are really low. See how dry and short the grass in the pasture is. Of course there were cows in this pasture last time we went so it's been grazed. Here is Zorro swimming in the tank I call "frog pond". There weren't very many frogs. You can see how low the tank is.

I thought this was peaceful looking.

Kajen at "frog pond".

The other tank across the road from the church. It's really low too. Mercy walking along the water.

I just love this angle of the country church through the trees.

Sunset at Dobbs Valley

The gang ready to go home. Kajen (white), Kaidence next then Zorro (blk) and Mercy. You can see the cemetary in the background. The church is just to the left of the photo on the other side of the fence.

Update on Lil' Peanut: Vanessa wanted me to start recording her weight and measure her middle and take a picture. Last belly pic (last week- 15 weeks)I took she was at 30 inches and weighed 117. She was 115 the first doctors visit. This week (16 weeks) her waist is 33 inches and she weighs 120. This is the side view. She asked me to take on from the front.

She thinks she looks bigger in this view! It won't be long her belly button is going to be an "outy".

I woke up to a pleasant surprise this morning. Thunder! Yep, and not long after it rained. It rained all morning but not heavy. I was disappointed to only find 2.5 tenths in the rain gauge. I was dancing and singing at the office while it was raining. I am still thankful for what we received. It stayed cool too. It was still in the 70's by 11AM. When the cloud cover broke it warmed right up. We do have another shot at some rain.

Ya'll have a good one!