Painting is done!

Eric is a very patient man! It was easy for me to come up with the plan, but it took a ton of patients, time and measuring to execute it. Thanks honey! I think it turned out great, though!





Now that the hard part is over, I can start picking out furniture and decorating. Yay!

It is so amazing that I am now 6 months pregnant. This April is much better than the last two. April 8th 2007 was when my first loss started and April 15th 2008 is when I lost our 2nd baby. I complain quite a bit about the aches and pains that have come with this pregnancy, but I'm so grateful to be here.



Eric has been busy in Lydia's room this week. The previous owners of this house had painted her room a hideous blue. They got the paint all over the ceiling, too. The ceiling is now white and the walls have been primed in a beautiful shade of purple! Tonight Eric measured and painted the grid for the wall that will have blocks of colors on it. It's coming together! Here's a picture...It's obviously still very much a work in progress, but you get an idea of where we are going with it! The blocks will be purple, pink, green and chocolate brown. I can't wait to see the finished project!






A week from tomorrow I will start doing daycare for a family that has a 6 week old and 2 1/2 year old. I'm excited to get this daycare going! I'd like to have a group of 4 or 5 kids. It feels good to be half way there!

The Price of Children

We're entering that part of the pregnancy when a couple starts buying stuff for the little one. We've all heard kids cost a lot of money. I recently read this on a blog and thought I'd share.

The Price of Children

Something absolutely positive for a change. We have all seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but have you seen the rewards listed this way? It's nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:

*$8,896.66 a year,

*$741.38 a month, or

*$171.08 a week.

*That's a mere $24.24 a day!

*Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is, don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

*Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

*Giggles under the covers every night.

*More love than your heart can hold.

*Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

*Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.

*A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.

*A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites

*Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:

*finger-paint,

*carve pumpkins,

*play hide-and-seek,

*catch lightning bugs, and

*never stop believing in Santa Claus.You have an excuse to:

*keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,

*watching Saturday morning cartoons,

*going to Disney movies, and

*wishing on stars.

*You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

*retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,

*taking the training wheels off a bike,

*removing a splinter,

*filling a wading pool,

*coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream or pizza regardless.

*You get a front row seat to history, to witness the:

*first step,

*first word,

*first bra,

*first date, and

*first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits. So, one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

23 Weeks

Well, I'm 22 1/2 weeks, but who's counting?!? Eric took some shots of the belly today. Wow. It's getting big! Lydia was measuring about a week and a half ahead at my ultrasound. I wonder how far ahead this belly is measuring?!?

I've been feeling great. The hip/back pain I was having is a rare thing these days. I'm so thankful for that!

In other big news....I signed up my first child care family today! I'm so excited. They have a baby who will be 6 weeks old when they start and another child who is 2 1/2 years old. I'll be busy! It's been nice to get things done around the house, but now it's time to get back to work. Can't wait!

A busy Easter weekend!

Easter weekend was a busy one for us this year! Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt in Zimmerman. There were some fun games for Caitlyn to play and of course she got a ton of candy! She even had her face painted like a bunny. Too cute!

After the hunt in Zimmerman, we went to a birthday party for a dog named Twinkie! It was very cute that our friends Alex and Kim threw their dog a 2nd birthday party and invited all of his dog friends. (Even those of us that do not own a dog were invited!)

Now that we know we are having a girl, I've been itching to start the nursery! We stopped at Babies R Us and found some really cute bedding for her room. The colors are going to be light purple, mint green and chocolate brown. I've been surfing the internet for design ideas and have found some really cute ones. I'm hoping Eric will start the painting this weekend!

Easter dinner was at our house this year. Eric and I had fun trying out some new recipes and I think everything turned out great! We grilled two whole chickens on our new grill and they were so delicious. I can't wait to do that again!

The easter bunny hid about 40 eggs in our yard and Grandma Julie hid about 40 more, so Caitlyn got to run around and collect 80 candy and money filled eggs! Lucky little girl!

Caitlyn is in the newspaper!

Caitlyn and the other 5th graders at her school gave a concert on March 26th. When the Zimmerman newspaper arrived on April 1st her picture was in it! I put an arrow above her head. She's playing her recorder in the photo. I was able to attend this concert and it was a fun one to watch! They played instruments and sang some great songs. Congrats to Caitlyn on being a star in the paper!

Here's a short video of her playing another instrument. (She's the kid in the middle that the teacher keeps walking in front of! Grrrr!)

We are having a healthy baby.....

GIRL!!! Lydia Jule is measuring about a week ahead and weighing about 15 ounces. The tech said everything looked great. The doctor will look at the report and give the final word, but the ultrasound tech seemed to think all is well! She was wiggling all over the place. It was fun to see and feel her kick at the same time! I can't wait to get started on the nursery! Thank you to everyone who has kept our baby in their thoughts and prayers. It was such a relief to see a healthy baby in there!




Her feet!
Her smiling face!

This one is our favorite! She is covering part of her face with one hand and pointing at us with the other!