How About a Baby Update

Enough about the cat updates, what about our baby. We had our second doctor's appointment today. We were able to actually hear the baby's heart beat. It was so cool because the doctor first found my heart beat which was really slow and then he moved it over to the left a little bit and we heard the baby's. It was going about 150 beats per minute. It was super cute and made me want to cry. I am definately getting way more excited. We won't find out the gender for another 8 weeks, but are really anxious to know. J wants a boy and I kind of wanted a girl, but now I am thinking that would be really cute to have a boy.

I still feel pretty good. I am extremely happy that I've been able to keep up my daily exercise routine. I also havn't had to cancel on one client since being pregnant. Anyway we will keep you posted.

12 weeks

Do I look pregnant yet?

Cat--Update

The cat had her babies!

We don't know where they are but we have a general idea...I stalked her the other day after she got done eating.

A few days ago she was sitting on our back door mat, as usual in the morning. I gave her food and she just gave it a quick smell, turned, and walked away very limber and slow. I knew she was about to burst as she left without eating. She didn't return to our back door for a couple of days and I really started to get worried.

Finally, on Saturday, she came back. She had obviously had her litter. She was much thinner and practically inhaling the food I gave her. After she ate, she didn't stick around as she normally had. She left...and I followed.

I stalked her two properties over until she spotted me. Then she sat under a bush and just watched me. She was not about to reveal where her babies were. I didn't stay long because I didn't want to make her nervous. She only comes in the morning now to eat, most likely to not leave her babies alone at night.

I'd like to find then before something happens to them. Last night, I saw a raccoon wondering around, which made me nervous. Hopefully the kittens are OK.

I'll keep you posted if anything changes.

Major Dilemma...Need Your Help!

There is a current situation that I need some serious help with. I hope all our readers will comment and give me some advice.

First, I need to take a minute and explain where I'm coming from. I am, and always have been, a major animal lover. I love their company and unconditional love. I find the suffering of animals to be so sad and cannot bear it. You could say animals have a large soft spot in my heart. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. A few years back I was watching a horse race on TV and one of the horses broke it's leg during the race and there would have been no way to save the leg so they put the horse down to relieve it's suffering. It broke my heart and I had to turn the TV off.

Now the current issue. A cat showed up on our back porch a few weeks back and she looked starving. I gave her some milk and turkey in hopes to give her a little sustenance. To make a long story short, she has showed up every night since and is now starting to come during the day as well. To make my anxiety worse, she is unmistakeably pregnant. Now I'm taking care of two pregnant women! Since she's been coming I have noticed her fattening up a little and her coat of fur looks much better. She was first super skittish, running away every time I opened the sliding door. Now, I'll sit outside and she allows me to pet her. She's adorable and I wish I could keep her but our apartment has a 'no pet' policy. T thinks we should call the Humane Society. I think we should keep feeding her and hope she has the litter outside our apartment, then we'll move to another apartment and keep her and her babies.

My anxiety is getting worse by the day as I see her getting further along in her pregnancy.

What should I do?

Here's some cute pictures of her to help you devise your advice.

It's Time to Let the Cat out of the Bag

So, we have been keeping this a secret for a while now, but really it's because neither one of us have had the time to do any blogging lately. We are having a baby. When we found out I was definitely scared and started crying, but having a husband that is super excited has helped. I had my first doctors visit on July 2nd and I was 9 weeks along. My due date is February 7. J has decided to call the baby Peanut because the doctor told us it looked like a peanut in the ultrasound. I'm sure the doctor tells everyone the baby looks like a peanut at the beginning, but J insists. I guess it's kind of cute. I asked the doctor when morning sickness was going to kick in, but he said if I haven't felt anything I may not. I am now about 11 weeks along and almost out of my first trimester and still haven't felt a thing. I have still been doing my daily exercise routine without a problem. I know some of you mothers are cursing me right now. We are both very excited and we'll keep you updated along the way.

Good Times, Better Friends

An old roommate from BYU-Idaho and his wife visited us from Idaho this last week. I'll refer to them as A and S (just in case they want to remain private with their names). A and I became roommates during my 3rd year at BYU and at first we butted heads a bit. We had a few things in common but not much more than that. As time went on we became really close and our personalities started to mesh really well.

When A met S I was there every step of the way; getting the details, giving advice and watching their relationship grow. When T and I went on our first date we were actually with A and S.

At our wedding, A and S were right there to celebrate with us and encourage us as we started our life together. They continued to date and A and I kept in touch, though it was different not chatting every night and playing "Would you Rather" until the wee hours of the morning (he knows what I'm talking about).

Eventually, A and S took the plunge and got married. T and I were there to do as they had done for us and we couldn't have been happier for them. Watching them get sealed together was a blessing for us as much as it was for them. The the best part of all was they moved in right next door to us. Many a boring nights, for T and I, were livened up by going next door unannounced and hanging out with them. T took extra advantage of them by going over and asking for movies to borrow, music to download, and candy to eat...often interrupting their private life (if you know what I mean).

They were the last people we saw before we left Idaho for good and since we left we have been begging them to come and visit us (along with other friends, you know who you are).

That's just a taste of how close A and I became while we were roommates.

Finally our wish came true and they visited for a few days. We wanted them to stay longer but A had to get back home for a FBI interview. While they were here T and I tried to show them as much of beautiful Oregon as we could in hopes to persuade them to move here when S is done with dental hygiene school.

T and I are honored that they came. It is a long, long, long drive from their house to ours and for them to come all that way just for a few days really shows how much they care about us.

We love you guys and wish you well until the next time we hang out.

PS- We didn't take a single picture of them while they were here...we're idiots. But I did take this picture and it is awesome. So here you go.

Chef Validation

I know I shouldn't brag but I need to validate T's blog about me cooking. This last Friday a club on campus sponsored a chili, corn bread, and cobbler cook off. I decided to enter into all three categories. I got out of school early Friday, so I slaved away making chili, corn bread, and blackberry cobbler.

My corn bread didn't place, the cobbler came in second (the first place was given to an apple crisp...not even a cobbler...oh well), and the chili came in first. I actually thought that the cobbler had the best chance of winning, and the chili was hit or miss. It was a lot of fun and I'm super excited to actually have taken home a prize for my home cookin'. With both prizes I got $70 to spend at our bookstore.

Winner, Winner, Chili Dinner

Second Place Cobbler

What a Weekend...

...and I mean that in a good way! It was a well needed break for both of us!

I know I'm a weekend late but that's just how it's going to be while I'm in school. I should be studying for a neuro anatomy exam but I really couldn't be bothered right now.

About the weekend. It started last Friday when T and I attended the Portland Beaver's games with some other students from my school. The Beavers are a Triple A baseball farm team for the San Diego Padres. It was fun, not because they are good because they're not, but because we got seats in the box suites. Along with a great view we got a ton of food and food makes every experience better. T and I did what most poor students do with free food...we pounded it down like it was going out of style. The Beaver's were going to get beat but they ended up tying it up late in the game so it went into extra innings. T is not a big baseball fan so we didn't stay to witness the outcome. The trip home that night was interesting as well. We parked outside of downtown and took the light rail train, the MAX, to the stadium. I'm going to post a separate blog to describe our trip home on the MAX so stay tuned.

Saturday, I played in a school Golf Tournament while T took a trip to the beach with her sister. Golf is my new addiction so I play with every dollar I get and any time I can. It was a 4 man best ball tourney, which means all four members hit their own ball then you choose the best stroke. Then all 4 members hit again from the chosen spot and continue until the ball is in the hole. It's a really fun way to play golf because you work together as a team and it's easy to shoot low scores, which makes you feel your golf game is better than it is. I played in the Fall tourney my school had and I wasn't very good. My team still tied for second though. Since than I've gotten my new clubs and have played a lot and in my opinion have improved remarkably. This time I was with a slightly different team and I played my best golf yet. We used a bunch of my shots and I came in 3rd in the long drive competition. In the end my team tied with two other teams for first. The tie breaker was determined by which team played the hardest hole of the course the best or in the least amount of strokes. The chosen hole was a par 5 and thanks to two amazing shots and a good putt by one of my team members, we eagled the hole, meaning we made it in three shots. SO, WE WON! A group of professors from my school have won the tourney for many years and to see the look on their faces when they realized they got beat by a bunch of underclassmen was priceless. Here's a picture of the final postings.



At the beach, T and her sister's family enjoyed a day at the Tillamook cheese factory and climbing Cape Kiwanda at Pacific City. Cape Kiwanda is a huge sand dune that is tough to climb but awesome to run down. She had to carry her 2 year-old nephew all the way to the top. Luckily she's a personal trainer because I wouldn't have been able to do that.

Sunday, after church, we went with T's same sister and her family and climbed Multnomah Falls. It's the tallest free falling water fall in the United States at over 600 feet. The climb is straight up but only a mile so it doesn't take long. This time T and I switched off carrying her 10 month old niece up the trail. It was a little taste of what it will be like when we have our own kids. Here's a picture of Multnomah Falls.

On Monday, we took the opportunity to go on another hike to one of the most beautiful places in all of Oregon, Silver Falls state park. It's a park with 10 different waterfalls and if you go at this time of year they're the biggest due to the snow melt. Plus all the trees and flowers are in bloom so it's amazing. We did the longest hike which is about 8.5 miles and you see all 10 waterfalls. I didn't take pictures of all the falls but quite a few of them. One of the pictures is from behind the falls because the trail takes you behind three of them or so. After the hike I decided Silver Creek Falls is my favorite place in Oregon. By the way all these photos were taken with my cell phone, not bad for a phone huh?