I have to make this quick!

My husband looks at me this morning as I am on my computer, " I thought you were getting ready!?" Whoops. I was caught in the blogging act. I had big  big plans yesterday. I was going to post zoo pics, belly pics, and say farewell to you all. Not to mention clean the house, do laundry, pack clothes for Brody and I, however, I got sick yesterday and could hardly get through the day. I am feeling better today and am very thankful. We are heading off for a long weekend. Tonight we are staying in the Dells. I think Don is the most excited. :) Then we are spending the weekend with some friends. I am excited to see them. We saw them recently but we typically don't get very much time with them so it should be fun. 

I need to post a quick update!! A very good update. Yesterday Brody had an appt. with the Dr. to have his ears checked. She said that they looked great. They did a test to check the levels of sound waves in his ears and he still has fluid. The last time we did it he had a flat line which isn't good this time there was movement. So his ears are getting better. :) YEAH! We had surgery scheduled for Monday to get tubes put in and for now we get to cancel it. In a month we will got back and do another sound waves test and if it continues to improve we won't need tubes. Please continue to pray. We so want for Brody's ears to get better on their own. Thank you so much. 

Well I really got to run so that we can get out of town this morning. You will have pictures to look forward to next week from the zoo, the water park, AND TWO belly pics. They are coming I promise. Gotta GO!!

A marriage retreat and a family retreat.

Last weekend was such a fun busy weekend. I am going to skip Friday because that was awful but the rest of the weekend was great! hahaha... 

Saturday morning my parents got up before their was a ray of sunshine peaking out of the darkness. 5:30am they woke up and hit the road early! They were on their way here to spend the day with Brody and the weekend with us. Don and I went to a one day marriage retreat through our church. It was really fun. Different then any other retreat I have been to. That was definately part of the fun. We started off the morning meeting at the bowling alley and playing a game. My poor hubby had rolled his ankle a couple of weeks ago, and then a couple of days before the retreat fell on it again. So bowling was not easy for him. He made a good attempt. About half way through he had a score of 13. :) I think by the end though he figured out he could bowl with his left hand. I could be wrong but he might have broke 50, I don't remember. 

Anyway as we went on with our day we headed off with another couple for a service project. We when and visited some elderly women in our church who our shutin. We just sat and visited with them. It was a very social event. That was part of what made it so fun was getting to know people so much better from the church. We then headed off for lunch. Two older couples in the church split the couples at the marriage retreat into two groups and we had lunch at their houses. So Don and I were with two other couples from the retreat and then with the couple who was serving us lunch. It was really fun. We went around the table and talked about how we met. We had such a great time teasing each other and reminiscing. :) 

Then we were off yet again. This time we headed to North Western College and there we got to sit and listen to a couple talk to us about marriage, the differences between men and women and yet again LAUGH! They were great speakers. They had been married 47 years. One analogy they had was that a man's brain is like a waffle and a woman's is like spaghetti. I have heard similar things but not this exact one. I really like this one though because they were talking about how the waffle has all those little boxes. Those boxes represent a man's ability to only focus on one thing at a time. When he is inside one box he can't focus on another box. It was such a beautiful day outside. So when the speakers were done we got to go for a walk outside around NWC and take a break before we gathered together. 

It ended with them explaining the day like this. It was a progressive retreat. We served people in the church, we were served by others in the church and we ended with serving one another. The day ended with us washing one another's feet. Then we prayed together. 

Since my parents were with Brody we got to go on a date after the retreat ended. So we went out for supper that night, then to a movie, and then we ended at Border's books to do a little shopping and play a game of scrabble. I really enjoyed having so much quality time with Don. We were together from 9:30 am until 11pm. :) Heheheehee... we don't get dates that often and boy it was well needed.

Sunday we finally got to see my parents. :) They had a great day with Brody and he warmed up to them very quickly. He is really social. So even though he doesn't see them that often I figured he would warm up to them. They played hide and seek, played outside in the puddles, and ate  lots of food. I guess Brody had four helpings of roast beef Saturday  night.  What a guy. Sunday morning we got up had breakfast together, and then my Dad, Brody, and Don went off to the sportsman show. Diane and I went over to my sister's house for lunch, my other sister Jen was there with her family and we all headed off to the zoo. It was great having so much time with my family. We don't get together and do things like this very regularly but it seems to be happening more lately which we all have really enjoyed. I have some pictures from the day at the zoo and I will have to post them later. We ended the day at the Olive Garden for supper!! YUMMY! Needless to say we were all tuckered out Sunday night and everyone seemed to sleep pretty good. We are looking forward to getting together again in May for Brody's birthday. We are going to the MN Zoo!! I guess there is something with my family and the zoo. Maybe we feel like we fit in!! Hahahaha... JK. Anyway, I think there will be more of us able to come which will be even more fun. 

I hate my blog.

It's seriously so ugly. It really needs a new look. Just throwing that out there. 

"That's when you used to be skinny"

Last Sunday at church was fun. :) I volunteer in the nursery. I love listening to the pastor's sermon so don't get me wrong. However, it was a fun break with other girls. Basically we had one infant and two women in the nursery. The mom of the infant wanted to stay in the room because her son was sad. It was really sweet. However, it made being in there totally relaxing as you can imagine a ratio of 3 adults to one child! Hahaha... I am sure some of you wish you had that ratio at home. :) So we are having fun visiting when two other church members stopped by to join the conversation. There was a man and a woman. The conversation went something like this....

Man to Me: " I was looking at an old church directory and just now found out your maiden name, Ashling." 

Me: smiling "yep, that was me."

Woman to me: (here it comes, are you ready??) "That's when you used to be skinny."

Me to woman: smiling and chuckling " Are you say I am not skinny anymore."

Woman: "Oh, I mean just around the middle."

You'd think there would be a point where you just give up!!

Blogging is something that is in the back of my mind frequently but I can't seem to keep up with it. As far as my standards go. I would love to tell more stories, post more pictures, and impress you all with my hilarious sense of humor but it all just gets stuck in my head and never seems to make it to the computer. 

Anyway, this is coming up because back in January!! Yes, January. I went away for a girls weekend! Do you remember that, I am pretty sure I posted about it. It was my first weekend away from Brody and I needed it like a baby needs milk. So anyway..... I gave up on Christmas, never got all those pictures posted but I do have the pictures from girls weekend. I have to say though it's a little pathetic when you have two professional photographers and they both bring their camera's for the weekend and at the very end of the trip before you are leaving you take the first pictures all weekend!! Oh well. I am happy even to have these few. So here are my pics from the girls weekend with my two wonderful friends. Seriously I have the greatest friends a girl could ever ask for and these are just two of them. :) 

They totally look like professional pictures don't they?? ;)

Here's the scoop, now you decide??

Everyone has opinions about what they think someone is having! Is it a boy, is it a girl??? Well I thought that I would give you an inside look into my pregnancy and you can vote on my poll. What does your gut tell you?? Is it a boy or is it a girl?? 

Well we heard the heartbeat at 10 weeks 2 days. 170 beats per minute. What a cruiser. I crave protein a lot with this pregnancy, not much nausea but I am hungry ALL THE TIME. I have broken out more with this pregnancy then with Brody. And well as far as emotions go I am on a roll coaster what feels like minute to minute. Seriously, probably the biggest is struggling with being irritable everyday. VERY Sensitive... Again now with Brody I was emotional but I was more sad not really angry. Nice huh?? Also I am certain I wasn't as emotional as I have been this time around. What else can I tell you?? Well currently I am just over 11 weeks, slowly approaching the end of first TRI!!! WAHOOO!! Around mid-may is when I imagine we will have the ultrasound and if this baby cooperates we will most cerainly find out the sex. I can't stand the suspense. So many people I know what to know the sex of this baby but no body wants to know more then Don and I. We are soooooo excited. If we have a little girl, well, that thought makes my heart melt and the thought of a boy gets me soooo excited for Brody to have a brother. In a matter of 2 months (roughly 8 weeks) we will hopefully have uncrossed sprawled legs and I will get to let you all in on the secret. Hehehe.... 

In the meantime I hope you will vote. :) At the very top.. tell me what you think. Don't be shy. As time goes I will post more information and some belly pics. Scary...

Hello!

So I just wanted to update. Someday I might actually get back into a regular blogging routine, we will see. It might be a year or so but it will happen. I had my second appt. yesterday. I am in my 10th week and the excitement of being almost to the end of the first tri is uncontainable!!!!! :) Hehe... 

I had a great appointment. I got to hear the amazing heartbeat of my darling baby. I have had some spotting that has been really light and sporadic. No matter how common it's still nerve wracking. I have been praying ton for peace and trying not to worry but I wasn't very successful. However, the sound of that heart beating truly does fill me with peace. 170 beats per minute. So that is about it for now.