A first for us...

I thought I had gotten used to the crazy weather here in Texas, but last night was a first for us. At 4 am, Betsy woke us up barking hysterically at the thunder. This isn't that uncommon, since Betsy often barks at the thunder in the middle of the night. We woke up, ready to shush her and go back to sleep, but realized how bad the weather sounded outside. I turned on the TV to see a HUGE line of thunderstorms, stretching from Tulsa all the way down to Waco, with the dark red line, with rotation markers, right over McKinney. Great. They were saying that we were in a tornado warning with reports of 70-80 mph winds, and at that moment the severe weather sirens started sounding. Quickly I grabbed my contacts (so if our house blew away, I wouldn't be blind!), our wedding rings, a change of clothes, and Betsy. We climbed into our under-the-stairs closet, throwing out the vacuum cleaner, and hunkered down. Pretty scary for this California girl...



We sat for about 15 minutes, listening to the rain and the weather channel in the background, watching the radar on Justin's phone. Betsy was an angel, just laying on my lap quietly. I think dogs really must have a sense for things like this--amazing! Thankfully, this was a very fast moving storm and the tornado warning was cancelled by 4:15. We went back to bed after making sure the worst was passed us, but I didn't really sleep too well the rest of the night. I pretty much laid awake with my stomach in knots, thinking about how unprepared we really are if something worse was to happen. Goal for the weekend: create an emergency kit--something we should have done when we first came to Tornado Alley!!


Enjoy the pictures of our middle of the night "oasis"!!

You wouldn't even know we were behind the coats!

Betsy re-enacting her time in the closest

Thankfully, we didn't have any damage, but the news reports all day showed so much damage, and even tornado touch-down reports from all over the area. It really is scary at times to live with this kind of weather, but I know that God is protecting us. As long as I have Justin, Betsy, and our baby, we will be okay!!

The GREAT News

We are pregnant!!! Finally--after three years of struggling, we are 7 weeks, 1 day pregnant. Here are some pictures of our little baby as it looks like at the moment. I think a good description right now is a "blob", but Justin doesn't like me to call it that. So I'll have to come up with a new name soon. =) I can't wait until we can finally find out what it is!! I don't understand how people could be patient enough to wait the full nine months!

I'll be updating all our info as we go along.... Here are the 7 week stats:

Baby Stats:

-Length: 11mm (about a centimeter--about the size of a bean)

-Heart rate: 148 beats per minute

This picture shows the baby (small, gray, fuzzy looking blob in the black

shape. The head is at the top. Doesn't look too much like a baby yet, but it looks WONDERFUL to us!!!This picture is measuring the heartbeat. The lines along the bottom are actually the heartbeats. We wanted to videotape it so you could see the flickering, but they wouldn't let us--legal something or other--bummer.

Mommy Stats:

-No real weight gain (yet!)

-Amazingly enough, I've hardly had any morning sickness! I'm not naive enough to think that I made it without any, but I'm hoping maybe I lucked out!!

-I've taken pictures of my belly since week 4, so we can look back and see the changes, but I won't be posting any of those. I'd rather show a belly that actually looks pregnant, not one that just looks chubby! Sorry! =)

I have my first real OBGYN appointment on Monday afternoon, so maybe we'll have more info to post then!

We really debated with telling our great news this early, since we've had 3 early miscarriages in the past. Even though it would be really hard if something bad happened with this one, I'd rather have the love, support and prayers of all our family and friends. But I know that nothing is going to happen with this pregnancy! The baby looks great and his/her heartbeat is strong--so we are just going to believe that every detail will be fine and we will get to hold and love our baby come November 25th!! We appreciate all your prayers during this pregnancy!

Keep coming back for more updates!

Family Visits!

What a wonderful month of family visits! I've decided that March 2008 is going to be known as "The Month that Family came to Texas! Early in the month, Justin's mom, Aunt Coleen, and Grandma "Honey" came to our house for a long weekend. We felt so special, since neither his aunt or grandma had been to our home! What fun we had taking them around, showing them our works, places we like to go, and our church.




On Friday, we went to the Dallas Arboretum. A close family friend, Connie, and her sister Carol, have a season pass, and so nicely made it possible for all of us to go down for the day. I can't believe that I've lived in the Dallas area almost 5 years and have never been there! I will definitely be headed back to see what it is like during the different seasons! It was so beautiful--we went just at the beginning of spring, when all the tulips, daffodils, and many other types of flowers were in full bloom! Below are just a few of the pictures that I took that day!




The ladies at the Arboretum: (front) Carol, Kathy, Connie, (back) me, Coleen, Honey. Justin was the amazing photographer!




I loved these flowers!! I actually put this one on as my screen saver!

They had a scale model of Anne Hathaway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife), and I just couldn't resist a picture!

Justin and I in front of White Rock lake near downtown Dallas

This star topiary was actually just starting to bloom with red, white, and blue flowers (picture the Texas flag). I wish I could see it in full bloom!

This was an adorable little girl that we saw near the front when we came in. She went around smelling all of the flowers, and I just couldn't resist a picture!!

Aww!

At the end of the day, we took a ride in a horse-drawn wagon around the grounds! It was so fun! What a fun day at the Arboretum!

Friday night we grilled out at our house--yum! It was actually the first time we have grilled this spring and was a perfect day for it!

Saturday, Gene came down to join us, and had a good cuddle session with Betsy! =)

Everyone left on Sunday, and it was sad to see them go. We had such a great time with them.

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A couple weeks later, another of Justin's relatives came to Dallas to visit us! Helen Katherine, is Justin's second cousin. She stayed with us all day Wednesday, and then we took her to the airport on Thursday. She has been making cross-country trips to visit friends and family, and we were so lucky to be included!

Here we are (awkwardly holding Betsy) with Helen Katherine.

Helen Katherine is a dog lover, and Betsy loved her! Betsy was worn out! =)

We had such a wonderful time with her. Helen Katherine is only the second person on Justin's dad's side of the family I have met (terrible after being married for 5 years!) and I was so excited!! We had so much fun talking about that side of the family, learning about the history of the family, and really getting to know Helen Katherine! She even gave us an envelope full of pictures of Justin's ancestors--some that are almost 100 years old! What a gift!

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Whew! What a month of fun! I am so thankful to these wonderful family members who took their time to come and spend time with us!!