32 weeks

This week, Baby Sean is weighing close to, or maybe more than, 4 lbs., and measuring about 17-19 inches (depending on what you read!). Pick up a large jicama to get an idea of what his weight is like. I'm supposed to be gaining about a pound a week from here until the due date, and about half of that goes right to him. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least some respectable peach fuzz) and his skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth. His head is down at this point, as it's probably the most comfortable for him as he continues to run out of space, and it's the direction he needs to be in to be delivered normally.

As for Mommy this week, I have all the typical 3rd trimester complaints- my ankles and feet are both swelling like crazy, and unfortunately I never get any full relief from it. My lower back and hips ache constantly, especially when I am sitting or lying down for long periods of time, and I tire very easily when walking or doing anything physical. I am starting to feel pretty useless at this point, and I am not sure what I will do because we still have 8 weeks to go! I was able to get the laundry basket out of the bedroom and I'm working on a second load to wash right now. I've been trying to keep up with the housework- it's easier when Mike is offshore, I try not to make too much of a mess by myself, and I don't feel like I have anyone to impress so the house is allowed to get a little dirty : ) I already told Mike if it bothers him that the house needs to be vacuumed or toilets cleaned that he is more than welcome to do so, but because his son is constantly kicking and pressing against my lungs it's getting to be more difficult for me to do it by myself!

Today I mailed out Christmas cards, went to Babies R Us and bought our stroller/car seat combo, and went to Target for groceries. I was able to spend about $25 less than I had originally anticipated, so that made me super happy- that money goes towards filling up the gas tank! I cannot wait until January 1st- Mike should have a decent paycheck coming in and I won't have to keep stressing about the cash flow in our bank account. We are crossing our fingers that his work stays steady through all of January, that way he can be home with Sean and I after the birth for a month or two (or three if we are lucky!) before he has to go back to work. It's a risky bet to make- his job is so seasonal and winter is usually very slow.

I guess I forgot to mention I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. Everything was pretty good- I told him I was getting a lot of dizziness and shortness of breath. Part of the reason is my lungs and diaphragm are running out of room, so I am literally getting less oxygen to my brain sometimes ; ) He also ran some blood work, and said everything was normal but my blood sugar was a little high. He advised me to eat often, every 2 hours or so, and try to find low carb/high protein snacks so my blood sugar doesn't spike and then drop, which may be what's causing the dizzy spells. I got also my doctor's approval at our appointment on Wednesday to leave my work at 36 weeks, so January 15th will be my last day, woohoo!! That way I can be home resting/nesting until the baby is here, and at that point I will be on a short term disability for 6-8 weeks, with some pay. After that I am allowed up to a year off with leave of absence, no pay. I am not sure when I will schedule to go back to work, or if I will stay for long when I return. Ideally I want to find something where I can work from home, but I guess all of that will fall into place when it needs to.

29 weeks

11 weeks until the due date, 7 weeks until we're full term.... I am ready to be done with this pregnancy!! At 29 weeks, our baby is about 2.5 lbs or so, and longer than 15 inches (about the size of a butternut squash). He is almost at what his birth length will be, but he will at least double, if not triple his weight by the time he is due! His muscles and lungs are developing more and more, and his head is getting larger to make room for his growing brain.

This week mommy has been busy! For Thanksgiving, and we had about 20 people at our house for dinner! It was nice though- all we made was a baked 20 lb maple glazed turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin dessert bars, green bean casserole, apple cider, and stovetop stuffing. Everyone else made everything else! Mashed potatoes, fried turkey, more stuffing and yams, pecan pie, corn casserole, cranberry sauce.... all of it was so yummy! It was nice, because a lot of our friends are recent Louisiana transplants, so for most of them it was their first Thanksgiving away from their families... Mike and I, on the other hand, have celebrated 4 Thanksgivings here now, and are kind of used to the idea of doing it on our own. I am hoping next year we will be able to fly Sean to see some family for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we will see!

Mike also made some shelves to put in Sean's room- for books, toys, etc. They look very nice, I am very happy with them. It was hard to decide where to put them, since we have no furniture yet, but I think they will be fine where they are at, and we have our shower in a week, so hopefully we will have some things to put in his room at that point! I know it is a bit early for me to be "nesting" but I am so anxious to get everything done!! I am pretty sure that is why I am not sleeping well. I always feel like there is something more to do, not just in the nursery, but all over the house. It never feels clean enough, and there is always a project that needs to be finished. I am really trying not to overdo it, because my energy levels literally cannot handle it, but my brain can only take so much lying down!

Here's my 29 week belly shot. It's cold outside, so I feel like the layers make me look fatter than I really am, but oh well.

Baby is getting big now! I can feel his kicks (or punches, I guess) in my hip bones now, but he seems to stay away from my ribs so far. You can tell he is running out of room- when he is moving around a lot, my whole stomach moves like a wave, it's pretty neat looking. I am anxious for this upcoming week. We are doing a birthing basics class at the hospital, along with a tour, on Tuesday. Then on Thursday we have our appointment, where we will have another ultrasound to see if I still have placenta previa. Saturday is Lamaze for most of the day, and then Sunday is our baby shower!

I am hoping the Christmas lights get up on the house by the end of this weekend, and I can't wait to get a tree. Mike still hasn't been to work yet in about 6 weeks, so I am worried we may not be able to afford one, but we will see. Money is super tight now, with my decreased work schedule and waiting for offshore work, and of course baby on the way. I am trying with all of my heart to trust that things will all work out, just like they always do, but sometimes that seems highly unlikely, or even impossible.

That's all for now- next post will include ultrasound pictures, so look out for that!

28 weeks

Welcome to the third trimester!!! We are finally in the last leg of the pregnancy, and it's sure to be a doozy! Mommy is supposed to gain about 11 pounds this trimester (I gained more than that in both the first and second I think, so I am a little worried about the third- fingers crossed I don't gain too much!) and baby will probably gain 3-4 times his current weight by the end of it all!

This week baby is about 2.25-2.5 pounds, and about 15-16 inches long (about the size of a chinese cabbage). He is developing billions of neurons in the brain at this time, and his lungs are still getting stronger as the weeks go by. If I haven't mentioned it by now, his eyes now have eyelashes, and he has recently begun to experience REM, which means he may already be dreaming as he sleeps.

I went for my "28 week" checkup on Thursday, even though my weekly mark is always on Saturdays. I had my glucose screening then, which I assume went fine because I never got a call about my lab work, and no news is usually good news : ) The doc says everything is still great, his heartbeat was about 138, and after poking at my stomach a bit he said he is already moving into "position" which means his head at the bottom and his legs and booty are up top : D We scheduled an appointment for 2 weeks from Thursday (I will be going every two weeks from now until 36 weeks, then I will be going once a week until birth) and at my next appointment we will do another ultrasound! I am excited for that- we were only supposed to have the one routine ultrasound at 20 weeks, but since my placenta was partially covering my cervix at that appointment, they need to check it again and make sure it moves out of the way. Which means I get a few more snapshots of our precious baby boy!

When I posted my blog last week I got a little bit ahead of myself and may have been a bit too cocky- I mentioned how everyone around me (especially Mike) was getting sick and how proud I was that I avoided it.... Sunday night my throat was itchy, and my eyes watering, and my nose stuffy/runny- I ended up calling in sick to work Mon, Tues, and Wed : ( I am feeling much better now, but let me tell you, being sick while being pregnant is no fun at all!

This week my lovable husband finished painting Sean's room, I love it! I cannot wait to get the new carpeting, and get furniture in there, it will feel like a real bedroom! My friend Katie said the other day (she is 5 weeks ahead of me and just had her baby shower) that now that they have everything they need, technically they would be ready for their son to make his appearance any day now! And that just hit me- once we have everything we need to get started, and the bedroom put together, we should be ready for him to get here- all this time spent planning and anticipating, and the day is almost here! I can't quite grasp it yet.... But here are some pics of the room- one before, a few in progress, and then a few of the final product!

This is a pic of when our friend Doug was living in this room-

he was going for a "lounge" theme....

This is with the blue primer on top, and the first coat of the dark color on bottom, with trim still primed but not painted

Here we have all the trim and color complete, but the chair rail is not up yet, and the outlets are not the new ones.

These ones start the final product- Mike's mom and dad sent the picture on the wall, and the sailboat on the windowsill is Mike's, it's his first gift to his son : )

27 weeks

The final week of the second trimester- I can't believe how quickly it has been going by! I was looking through my collection of baby bump pictures, and I remember thinking I was sooo huge at like 10 weeks LOL. Well, I think I am in for a surprise as baby will probably be getting much bigger as the third trimester approaches.

This week, according to my collection of info from babycenter.com, thebump.com, and whattoexpectwhileyoureexpecting.com, our baby has been sleeping and waking at regular intervals, practicing opening and closing his eyes, and developing those lungs by "breathing" the amniotic fluid. At this point (with lots of medical assistance) his lungs are developed enough for life outside the womb. He is about 2 pounds this week, and about 14.5 inches long from head to toe, comparable to a head of cauliflower.

I went back to work this week- the previous week, if you remember, was like a vacation for me : D Back to reality at some point though. They have been offering a lot of "excused unpaid time off" this week at work, and I am already entitled to 10 hours off a week by my doctor, so it has been hard not to gobble it all up when it is offered! I have been so tired and achy, it's nice to be at home with the luxury of a couch, bed, etc. But we need the money right now, especially with Mike being home for the last 4-5 weeks, we need to get this nest egg ready!! This weekend we plan on finishing up the paint job in Sean's room, and then hopefully next month we will be installing the new carpet.

My feet have been swelling again (I knew it was too good to be true when they stopped!) and consistently, every Friday (sometimes the day before or after too) my belly is achy- I think that Friday is his growth spurt day, so my tummy feels stretched and sore. Cold packs have been helping for the swollen feet a little, and I have been trying to avoid salty foods, but it is harder than you think! My biggest accomplishment this week has been avoiding getting sick- Mike caught a cold over the weekend, and was stuck on the couch all day Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday trying to kick it. And all I got was a scratchy throat and cough for a day or two, whoopee! Knock on wood it stays that way!! I think the worst thing I have been experiencing is the lack of sleep, even comparable to insomnia. I seem to fall asleep just fine, sometime between 9:30 and 11 pm usually. But right around 3 am is when I first wake up to go to the bathroom, and it is all downhill from there.... I am lucky if I can stay in bed past 6 am. Tossing, turning, achy hips, legs, feet, back, tummy, arms. Everything feels sore in bed at that point, and pillows don't help any more either. The only two nights I got a decent amount of sleep was after I ran a bath with Johnson and Johnson's bedtime bath bubbles. So I am trying to make a habit of doing that every night before bed.

Side note- remember my post from a month or two ago asking about the fruit in our backyard? Here is a pic of them now that they have ripened. I think they are satsumas, or some kind of tangerine. Whatever they are, they are delicious!!!

22 weeks

Baby is now about 11 inches from head to toe, and weighing at about a pound, Sean is about the size of a spaghetti squash, or a papaya. His eyes are fully formed, and has hair on his head, but both are lacking pigment for a few more weeks to come. His pancreas is steadily developing in his body, and he is starting to "sprout" nipples. His face is fully formed, with everything in its place as it should be. At this point in pregnancy, most babies start to settle into some sort of sleep cycle, sleeping about 12-14 hours at a time. I can tell you that I hardly go 12-14 hours without feeling his gymnastics inside my belly, but maybe he just moves a lot in his sleep!

My feet started swelling again. I was so excited, I made it almost a whole week with no swelling at all! Then I left my birkenstocks in my car one day at work, and the heat melted the glue, and they completely fell apart. I am back to wearing flip flops, until some swelling goes down, then maybe I will switch to sneakers, but for now I don't like having my swollen ankles hanging out over my socks, and I doubt my feet would fit into my sneakers right now anyways.

We have been getting little gifts here and there for our baby boy- Josh bought him his first pair of Vans shoes, which are adorable : ) And a friend at work gave me some cute white and blue sneakers from Gerber that she found on sale. Our good friend Katy from WA sent us some handmade goodies in the mail- some homemade belly butter for me, and some onesies with embroidery on them, some handsewn rattles, and a quilted travel changing pad. I am accumulating the new things in his room right now- no furniture yet, but that's ok because one: we still have plenty of time, and two: even though Doug moved out of that room, it still needs to be painted and re carpeted. He's planning on coming back to help us with that in a week or two. I am hoping that by Christmas time, after the baby shower, I will be able to begin my "nesting" phase. It has actually started for me a bit, in a different way already- I clean a lot more than I used to. Or should I say, I tidy. I pick up after myself, which is not habit I used to have. I was more of a make a mess and clean it up once a week kind of person. Now, I have decided today because my feet are so swollen and I have been so grumpy from not sleeping well, that today I am not going to clean at all. And it is killing me. All I can look at are carpets that need to be vacuumed, and laundry that needs to be washed, and dishes that need to be put away..... But instead, I am off now to enjoy a movie with my hubby with my feet propped up and work on my crocheting- I have too many friends with babies, I need to get working on these baby blankets!!

In Home Daycare

This will be one of my first posts outside of my pregnancy week-by-week updates.... shows what's been on my mind!!

So I have been looking into becoming a stay at home mom. Nothing official yet, mostly because my current job has INCREDIBLE insurance benefits and pays pretty well for being in Louisiana with no college degree. But I am weighing the options of paying more for the insurance through Mike's company and then saving on the money for childcare. Plus I am really against having to put our child into full-time daycare before the age of two. I do want the social interactions, I plan on taking breaks to go out with hubby and do my own thing before then, but honestly if I can be at home for at most of the time for the first two years, I think it is best. Even if I worked part time.

So as most of you know, I used to teach at a Montessori preschool for 5 years before moving to Louisiana. I did after-school during my senior year in high school, then as soon as I graduated I took the Montessori training, and did a full time internship for the next two years. Then I had my own classroom for two years (well, a year and a half, actually- my room was still under construction for the first half of that year, my classroom opened I want to say February?) I absolutely loved teaching, especially the age group. I worked with a classroom of mixed ages 2.5-6. I don't know if I truly knew it was my calling until I stopped doing it. I have been thinking about it ever since. First I shied away from it because I didn't want another full time job, and was worried about taking a part time job as an assistant. Then my excuse was pay- I was making about $15/hr by the time I left WA. I would be lucky to make anything more than minimum wage in LA at any childcare facility. My lastest excuse (aside from pay and benefits) is that I am worried because it would be so different down here that what I am used to back home. I was in a high income, high class neighborhood where people paid approx. $800-$1200/mo for full time childcare, mom and dad worked for Microsoft kind of a thing. Not to mention the Montessori aspect is just plain different- in the South, there are a lot of public Montessori schools, for grades higher than preschool, and it just seems so very different. Honestly I was (and still am) intimidated by it, afraid I would get a job there and hate it.

So this brings me to what my "5 year plan" is.... I am hoping that I can figure out a way to stay at home with my baby, and maybe watch other peoples kids too as a source of income. Nothing huge- I know full time childcare down here tends to run about $4-500/mo, and I can't see myself charging that.

My concerns are few, but important. First, licensing. I called the Division of Early Childhood Development for Louisiana today- the info I have found online says they are in charge of licensing. I asked what do I do to get a license- they said for 6 kids or less in a home, no license is required. I was like, is that it? Yep. Ok then... that seems simple enough.... yet it feels like it complicates things. Nobody is going to make sure that I have a suitable home to watch children in it? I guess that's ok with me- I wasn't planning on advertising to watch strangers' kids, I was going to stick with friends and referrals.

Next question I have is insurance. Do I just get insurance through my homeowners? Are they even going to let me? We have an FHA loan, which is the kind of loan that allows to you put most of your loan into one- rather than say two loans, 20% and 80%, we have like a 97% loan or something like that. Because it is so much in one loan, they are very particular about what the home is being used for- they were very specific in letting us know that we had to live here for one- it's not a renter's policy, and they would drop us if we were to use it as one. So now I am nervous to find out about in home daycare as an add on. But I think it will be as simple as calling as asking... I am just not sure what to do if they say no way.

Last thing is money- Is it just as simple as setting aside a certain percentage towards taxes at the end of the year? Do I need some sort of a business license? How does that all work out?

These are just my ramblings as I prepare for the next chapter in life. Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated.

New Things

So in the last few weeks, we have managed to get a new 42" TV for a steal of a price from a friend, we also found a really nice desk (for free!) by our friends apartment dumpster, we got a puppy from a friend (puppy was free, we're just paying for his new stuff, finishing his shots, etc.), and yesterday we got a new sectional couch from a friend for a steal of a price as well. We also spent some time yesterday with a friend of our from Pine Lake Middle School/Issaquah High school. She lived in New Orleans a few years ago, and comes back to visit often, so she made the drive out to Lafayette yesterday to hang out with us for lunch, and she brought us a quilt for the baby that she made- it is beautiful. Life is good! I hardly recognize our living room anymore with new furniture, couch, 2 dogs playing constantly, etc. So I figured in my excitement I would post some pictures of the goodies that we have gained.....

The sectional couch... it's a bit worn, but it has a recliner on each end, and a hide-a-bed on the longer side. Pardon my messy house....

And the TV we got last week.... a much welcomed improvement to our lovely 20". Our friend wasn't using it, so he sold it to us at a great price.

Here is the quilt that Stephanie made for Baby.....

Beautiful isn't it? It makes me want to pick up quilting. I tried a while back, and I didn't have the patience for any finished projects.

Here are some pics of our doggies...

Meet Jax! He is about 10 weeks and currently 7 lbs, a miniature pinscher/toy rat terrier mix. He is sweet as candy, and loves Mike and I as much as he loves Buddy. He's also very bright, just as most terriers are. He is still a puppy, so he is a bit of a handful, but he is already learning to sit, stay, etc with a lot of Buddy's help : )

Here are Buddy and Jax together in our kitchen.

Here is my sweet boy Buddy, looking all grown up and noble now that he has a puppy to teach.

Jax, being cute. He has something stuck on his nose it looks like....

Me and Jax.... ignore my pregnancy-induced breakout all over my face LOL

A few of Jax being cute playing with his toys, treats, etc.

And my all time favorite.....

A great picture I captured of Buddy and Jax playing rough. Vicious looking, aren't they?

12 weeks

Ok, so I didn't post anything about 11 weeks... to be honest I was pretty grumpy all last week, with our A/C still being out, and physical therapy being more expensive than I had anticipated, among the regular drag of the work week, I honestly didn't feel like blogging.This week however I am in a much better mood- they came and installed our new air conditioner on Thursday- they were here for about 12 hours, can you believe that? Apparently it is an all day job. But it is up and running now, and doing a lovely job of cooling our entire house. Mike and I will be paying for it until our baby becomes a 4 year old, but what other choice did we have? After 2 weeks in a 90+ degree house, we did what we had to. We are trying to see if it is something our insurance will cover, but I am not keeping my hopes up for that.

As for the 11 week marker that I missed, the only things important to know is our baby was more than 1.5 inches, about the size of a fig, and that baby is starting to kick and stretch and hiccup, although it's still much too small for me to feel yet.

For 12 weeks, here is my regular synopsis from babycenter.com....

The most dramatic development this month is reflexes. Baby's fingers will soon be able to open and close, toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and its mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. Intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into the abdominal cavity about now, and the kidneys will begin excreting urine into the bladder. Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. Baby's face now looks unquestionable human: eyes have

moved from the sides of the head to the front, and ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, Baby is just over 2 inches long, about the size of a lime and weighs a half an ounce.

I am feeling pretty good still... A lot of my symptoms are mellowing out. I have more energy that I did before (most of the time!) and I don't notice the sense of smell thingy anymore. I have been going to PT for my lower back/sciatica, and it seems to be helping. I am going to find a good pregnant pilates or yoga DVD this weekend. And I have been trying to take my omega 3 supplement with my prenatals, but it makes me taste bad fish about an hours after I take it, and it doesn't go away for several hours. I am thinking about trying to take it with my last meal of the day, or with a snack before bed, so I am sleeping during the gross-tasting part, but we will see. The only things I have been taking regularly so far have been my prenatals and calcium, but the omega 3/DHA is supposed to be really good for the growing baby's brain and eyes, and I honestly don't eat much fish, so a supplement is one of the only things you can find that in.

Here is my belly at 11 weeks.... a non preggo shirt, so unfortunately it just makes me look chunky

And here I am today, at 12 weeks : D

I had to take this one by myself because Mike went back to work (along with the other 2 divers we live with) and Josh is in WA, so I have the whole house to myself this week! I am kind of enjoying it a little. I miss Mike, of course, but I am making the most out of it- I have been turning my music up loud and not worrying about if I am in my underwear or not, it's kind of freeing : D

Well, it's off to do housework before going to my friend Annie's bridal shower and bachelorette party tonight (I'm DD, isn't that nice?) I cleaned quite a bit last weekend, so I shouldn't have too much to do today except laundry, kitchen, etc. Have a nice weekend!!

Week 10

Update for week 10! We went to the doctor on Thursday for our second appointment, and we got to listen to our baby's heartbeat! How amazing... that little sound brought tears to both of our eyes. Our doctor says it's very strong for 10 weeks, nothing to worry about at this time. And all of my blood work and labs came back normal, so we are good to go for now : D

And to give you an idea of what baby is doing this week, here is my update from babycenter.com....

Though baby is barely the size of a kumquat- a little over an inch crown to bottom- and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical part of its development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissue and organs will rapidly mature.

Baby is swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs- including kidneys, intestines, brain and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac)- are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

Pregnancy is treating me pretty well at 10 weeks- still no morning sickness (yey!), but I am having some pretty bad back pain/sciatica. I told my doctor, so he did refer me to a physical therapist that works with pregnant women. I have to do exercises to strengthen my back everyday, and he has been working to rotate my hips/pelvis to where they belong to relieve some of the pain. Apparently sciatica is very common in pregnancy, due to your pelvis adjusting to make room for a growing uterus- a normal uterus is about the size of a pear, and at 10 weeks it's grown to the size of a grapefruit. So I'd imagine my body is adjusting to that change as well.

Not a whole lot else going on in our lives, aside from the pregnancy updates. Mike and I have both been working hard, and when we are both home on the weekends we have been trying to spruce up our yard a bit. Most of what we want to do will take some more supplies than what we can afford right now, so we have been enjoying (is that the right word?) our new weed-eater and trimming up a lot of the bushes and shrubs around the house. Our little vegetable and herb garden has kind of overgrown a bit, but we will be making it bigger and better when we have a little extra money! Right now, anything extra we have is going towards saving for the baby, and also to replace our A/C- it has acted up on us 4 or 5 times in the last month, and it's getting frustrating. It's much too hot here in Louisiana to be dealing with an unreliable A/C! But they are incredibly expensive to replace, so we are weighing our options at the moment, and trying to keep it running in the meantime.

That's it for now! It's off to the daily grind again for me!

Taxes and this weekend

We finally got our tax return- being a first time home buyer paid off this year- we got the additional homer buyer's stimulus with our tax return! Which is exactly what we needed. At first we were talking about redoing our kitchen with the money, and then we agreed that we have a few debts we need paid off before we go about spending a bunch of money making our dream kitchen. So we sent a bunch of money at bills and other debts. Mike is hoping to get his motorcycle soon- he has been talking and dreaming about it a lot lately. He has been wanting a motorcycle since he was sixteen- well, before that really, but realistically he has been thinking about getting one for a while. We have been talking about babies lately- when are we going to start trying, you know- and we did come to the agreement that he gets a motorcycle before we start trying. As silly as it sounds, it makes sense- he doesn't want to start the parent thing, and then have all these excuses as to why we shouldn't spend the money on a motorcycle for him. Kids are expensive, and we both know we would be putting their needs first, of course, so I am totally ok with letting Mike spend the money on a motorcycle now (as long as we have the money!) so that we don't put it last later on down the line. 

Here is Mike sitting on the one he wants at the Harley shop.

The trick now is getting him back to work- we have the money thing worked out perfec

tly after the tax return- but only if he goes back to work. If not, his bike money we have set aside, unfortunately, will probably need to pay the bills this month. We both have our fingers crossed that he will be going back to work soon- he has been onshore for 7 weeks now, exactly as long as we have had our house. 

We had a good weekend this last weekend. Saturday was spent grocery shopping, watching movies, cleaning... We bought Twilight, even though I have already seen it, I wanted to watch it again. So Mike was sweet and watched it with me. Then I cleaned the house, which was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. It had been almost 2 weeks since I had cleaned. After that Mike and I watched another movie, called Role Models. It was pretty funny. After that we went to meet up with our friend Matt and played some pool. Then we went to meet with some other friends, a girl I work with named Samantha and her boyfriend Neal and played pool with them. It was a fun day. Yesterday we went to the tattoo shop that Josh has been apprenticing at- he finally got to do his first "professional" tattoo at the shop, and Mike got to be his guinea pig. Josh has been drawing a lot and he got to try tattooing on grapefruits, but this was the first time they let him use the tattoo gun on a person : )

Mike got two coi on his calf, together like a pisces symbol. Josh put some shading on it too but I didn't get a good picture of it. 

I also got my tragus pierced while we were there, and bought some rings for the other ear piercing that I have. 

Before we went to the tattoo shop, I mowed the lawn. I wanted to post some pics of our yard, because we have been slowly but steadily making improvements to it. We planted some geraniums in front of the mailbox after the tulips died, and last week when Mike mowed the lawn he put down some southern lawn weed and feed, so our grass is getting a little greener and a little less weedier. 

About a month ago, Mike planted a little garden- tomatoes in the back, and in the front there is mint, rosemary, cilantro, lavender, and basil. We had some gnarly rain last week, and it really helped our little garden grow! Soon I will be cutting some of the herbs and drying them. And hopefully our little tomato plant gives us some fruit : )

So that's about it for now. Figured I'd update and put some pics up. Things are going pretty good, so not much else to say for now : D