Why can't I post a pic in the sidebar?

It won't let me do it. I wanted to just do a link from Photobucket, but whenever I put the URL in, it says that the image has been removed from Photobucket in the preview. What am I doing wrong?

Whatnots and such

It's snowing snowing and snowing some more right now. So far, I bet we have about 3-4 ft of snow, and we're getting more! We usually get this much snow, but not all of it within a week. Usually by then end of February, we have this much. So it'll be interesting to see how much more we get. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here looking out the window and enjoying the beautiful snowflakes plummeting to the earth. Nope, it's not a gentle snow, it's coming down pretty good.

We all had a great Christmas. Spent time with family, ate a ton of good food and enjoyed ourselves. My aunt was down from Alaska, and it was wonderful getting to spend time with her before I don't see her again for who knows how many years. Hopefully only one or two because Leonard and I want to make it up there after the baby is born to visit and to hunt. We didn't go to overboard with Matt this year, since he's still little and has no idea that it's Christmas and all that. So he only got a few things. Some books and a few movies from us (Finding Nemo, Open Season, and A Chipmunk Adventure). He received clothes and toys from the rest of our families. My sister did get him this great Mickey Mouse bean bag chair. He loves it! He'll sit on it and read a book or bang on his new toy drum that he got. He'll even recline back into it to drink his milk. He's such a doll.

I also had my 16 week Dr. appt last Wednesday. My Dr was delivering a baby (how great to have a Christmas Eve baby!) So I got to see a man Dr who was very nice and also very young! He graduated high school a mere 9 yrs before I did. I've only put on 3 pounds of the 4 that I've lost since the beginning, so I'm still at -1 for weight gain. I measured at 17 weeks, so a week ahead, and we finally got to hear the heartbeat. Having a tilted uterus, I don't get to hear the heartbeat until a bit further on. I couldn't find my little hand held voice recorder thing, so I didn't get a recording of it. I'll have to look for it before my next appointment. I also got my big u/s scheduled. It's not until Jan 26th. It's seems so far away! I'm a bit bummed, since I'll be 21 weeks when I get it done. A full two weeks later than when I got my u/s with Matt. Darn! Maybe I'll call the u/s clinic and reschedule for sooner? I wonder if they do that? Maybe I'll just buck up and wait it out until the end of the month. I'm sad because Leonard won't be able to go this time. He's bummed too. Starting Jan 5th, he'll be working in Vancouver, Washington, and will only be home on the weekends. This will go on for a few months. I'm bummed for Matt, since he loves his daddy, and follows him around everywhere at home, and I'm bummed that he'll miss out on a good chunk of this pregnancy. Not that he'll mind. He's not a fan of pregnant women and their beautiful bellies. Speaking of bellies, I have a belly pic! I'll get it posted up after I'm done with this post.

A trainer here at the gym I work at just had a baby in the second week of December, and I haven't gotten to see her or her new baby yet. Well, she came in and I got to see him! He's so adorable, and makes me so excited to be able to meet my new baby and have a tiny newborn to care for and carry around.

Well, I'm going to go and post a belly pic up, and fold towels while I enjoy watching the snow.

MIA a bit.

I've been MIA because, well, there just isn't anything to really say. I lead a pretty boring life. I don't do anything exciting except for take care of a crazy kid and work once a week. And since this is pregnancy #2, it's exciting, it's just not something I want to talk about all the time. I just want to keep it all to myself for some reason and try and enjoy it as much as I can in private. I do need to get a belly pic up though, since I'm showing quite a bit already. I look like what I did at about 20-22 weeks pregnant, and I'm only 14 weeks. I have also been feeling the babe kick and move around in there. It's great! I was definitely not expecting to feel him/her so much so early. But, I'm not complaining.

I'll also be a single parent for awhile. Leonard works for the railroad, and while he won't lose his job, he could be laid off over the winter, or he could choose to work and work out of state. He chose to work out of state. If we could have lived off of his unemployment, he would have stayed home. But, since we're on one income, he had to leave. He left on Sunday to Kenniwick, WA for a week, and then who knows where he'll end up. We're hoping he'll be able to bid a job in a town that's only like 1 1/2 hrs away from home, or somewhere in the state. We'll see. I'm just worried about him traveling home on the weekends through the mountain passes on the crappy roads late at night. I'm praying that he'll be ok and that God will take care of him. I'm not ready to lose my husband yet.

My aunt is in town from Alaska. She's my moms older sister, and is totally awesome. It's funny how much she and my mom are alike. She's got a great sense of humor, and is so easy and fun to be around. It's great! We don't get to see her very much, because well, if you live in Alaska, you're either poor, or you're pretty well off. There's not really any in betweens. Her and my uncle fall into the poor category. They only just recently got running water in their house, and I think they still use their outhouse quite a bit. It doesn't really help either that they live in a pretty remote area. But who doesn't in Alaksa? Unless you live in Fairbanks or Anchorage. Anyways, she's here because my cousin, her daugter was taking classes at our college and living with our grandma. I guess she wants to go home, so my aunt came down, and they are going to drive my cousins car to Seattle and put it on a ferry and fly back to AK from there. I'll miss them!

Ok, I'll try and find more to post more often. But, probably not.

12 week Dr. Appt

I had my 12 weeker on last Wednesday. It was a good appointment. I lost 4 lbs (yay!) and got another u/s. My Dr. couldn't find the heartbeat, which was totally expected as I didn't get to hear Matt's until I was 15 weeks due to tilted uterus. So, she busted out the u/s machine, and there was my little munchkin! S/he must have been sleeping, because there was no movement, except for the flicker of the heart of course. Just beautiful. I didn't get a pic though, since the machine didn't have any film in it. Boo. Oh well, the sight is engrained in my heart and mind! Oh, and the baby had super long legs! Maybe baby is taking after daddy? We'll see I guess!

Head cold

I have a horrible horrible head cold. I bet I sneezed a hundred times today, my nose is plugged up and running at the same time, a massive headache just came on, and I have a bit of a cough. I only hope that Matt baby doesn't get it. Then life will be very miserable with two of us sick. Thankfully Leonard is gone for the weekend, so hopefully he won't catch my cold.

Since Leonard is gone, I'm going to spend the weekend at my parents house. I'm actually pretty excited! My mom and dad are just awesome, and I don't see them as much as I'd like to. So this is a perfect opportunity for me to spend a ton of time with them. While I'm there, I am going to walk next-door to see my grandma, who I also don't get to see enough. Yay! Then I'll probably go to church with my mom on Sunday. I don't go as often as I should/want to, so it'll be nice to hear the Word of God and sing Him praises!

Not being able to go to church as often as I'd like/should comes from marrying someone of a different faith than you. L was born into a very predominant LDS family. He now doesn't believe in the religion itself, but does thankfully still believe in the Holy Spirit. I'm a non-denominational Christian. My way of faith is so different from his, that he shuns it. Not my faith, just the practice of it. Make sense? It's confusing. He thinks it's weird to hold your hands up in the air to God and to sing and dance for Him. Hopefully he'll come around before it's too late. I love him dearly, but Lord help him.

On to lighter subjects,

I work at a gym. I just sit on my tush in the office and do a bit of cleaning and towel folding. There is this old guy that just grates my grits and everybody else's when he comes in. There is a tv in the lobby that is for the use of kids whose parents are working out, but they aren't members or are too young to be in the weight room. The weight room and lobby are connected. This old guy comes in, turns the tv onto CNN, and turns the volume up full blast. He then heads over to the XM and turns it off whether anyone is working out or not. The rule of the gym is you are only allowed to change the music channel, or turn it off if other members are ok with it. This guy doesn't care at all. If there's a room full of people working out? Screw them he thinks, and he saunters over and turns it off. There was an incident last year when this dude did this at a very busy time of the night. Off went the music and on went the tv. A guy came into my office and complained about it, so I had to of course go say something to Mr. Rude. This was during a time when I was pregnant with Matt, and I just came off of bedrest for some blood pressure issues. So I go and talk to Mr. Rude, and he starts to yell at me. I could feel my bp just going up and up. I told him that the tv was for kids, and if he wanted to watch tv, he could go into the cardio room where there is no music and just tv's to watch. He said that he had every right as a member to listen to the tv while in the weight room. I was so so mad. I decided he wasn't worth my time or my baby's health, so I gave up. I told the complainer that I tried, and to duke it out with him if he wanted to. Whenever this guy comes in, I remember the incident and I get mad all over again.

Another little work story, I was organizing the magazines, and I was throwing away some old ones. I look in the garbage, and I see that someone has throwing the new issue of People away that has Obama on the cover. Ha ha! Funny stuff. Being the good employee that I am, I retrieved it and put it back with the other mags.

The lovely Elana gave me an award! Answer the following questions with single word responses. Then pass on the award to 7 other bloggers:

1. Where is your cell phone? Left
2. Where is your significant other? Hunting
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Home
5. Your father? Work
6. Your favorite thing? Chocolate
7. Your dream last night? Lost
8. Your dream/goal? Mommyhood
9. The room you’re in? Office
10. Your hobby? Reading
11. Your fear? Death
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Somewhere
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you’re not? Angry
15. One of your wish list items? Girl
16. Where you grew up? Columbia Falls
17. The last thing you did? Eat
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your T.V.? Off
20. Your pet? Dogs
21. Your computer? Lovely
22. Your mood? Sick
23. Missing someone? Family
24. Your car? Works!
25. Something you’re not wearing? Jewelry
26. Favorite store? Costco
27. Your Summer? Boating!!
28. Love someone? Absolutely
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday


Too bad I suck and don't know 7 bloggers! So I'm not going to pass it on.

You were a good boy, Max.

My parents Great Dane died yestarday. He lived to the ripe old age of 9. That's not too bad for a GD! Anyways, I got to my parents house to spend some time with my mom and her birthday. I let all of the dogs out, and I noticed that Max wasn't looking like he felt very well. He didn't greet me or try and get my dogs to play with him. I didn't think too much of it so I went inside. About 45 minutes later, my mom got home, and was crying when she came in the house. She said that Max was bloated and he was lying by the bushes.

Bloat is a very serious health risk for many dogs, yet many dog owners know very little about it. According to the links below, it is the second leading killer of dogs, after cancer. It is frequently reported that deep-chested dogs, such as German Shepherds, Great Danes, and Dobermans are particularly at risk. The technical name for bloat is "Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus" ("GDV"). Bloating of the stomach is often related to swallowed air (although food and fluid can also be present). It usually happens when there's an abnormal accumulation of air, fluid, and/or foam in the stomach ("gastric dilatation"). Stress can be a significant contributing factor also. Bloat can occur with or without "volvulus" (twisting). As the stomach swells, it may rotate 90° to 360°, twisting between its fixed attachments at the esophagus (food tube) and at the duodenum (the upper intestine). The twisting stomach traps air, food, and water in the stomach. The bloated stomach obstructs veins in the abdomen, leading to low blood pressure, shock, and damage to internal organs. The combined effect can quickly kill a dog.

Bloat also took my parents other two Great Danes. Duchess and Izzy. Duchess was Max's and Izzy's mom.

By the time that we got to him, there was no way that we could get him to the vet in time, and there was no way possible that we could have gotten the 200 lb dog into my parents pick-up to get him to the vet. We did manage to get him into the house by me practically dragging him inside so he didn't have to be cold and alone while he passed. We got him in the house and next to the fire so he could be warm, and onto his favorite dog bed. Within 1/2 hr, he was gone. Thankfully he wasn't in hardly any pain. I remember Izzy was crying and yipping she was in so much pain. If he was in pain, there would be no way that I could have put him down myself. So thankfully he wasn't in any pain, and he could go on his own. Anyways, Max, you were a great dog, although a little doppy at times. You'll be missed big guy!

Mmmm....Steamed Chai with soy is so yummy!

My sister brought one of these over to our parents house and I had a try. It is so good! I've had a really bad aversion to coffee since this pregnancy started. I can't even smell it without getting sick. So this is a great alternative for me. It's perfect on a chilly cold day and warms me right up.

On other pregnancy news, I know this is crazy and can't be possible, but I swear I can feel the baby move and kick around. It just can't be possible.(*Yes, I do know it's a boy! Well, my instinct is telling me anyways. We'll know for sure in about 10 weeks)
I didn't feel Matt until I was 14 weeks. I'm not the only one either. There was a gal on a message board I'm on say she can feel the baby move. Maybe I'm not crazy after all. Then again, ever since I delivered Matt, I've felt phantom baby kicks from time to time, so maybe I am crazy.

Dr Appt, U/S

I had my first OB appt on Wednesday the 29th. Everything went all fine and dandy. They drew some blood, I got a pap, and blood pressure taken. My family history was taken, again. My Dr. tried to find the baby's heartbeat on the doppler, but she couldn't. I wasn't surprised since I didn't get to hear Matt's until I was 15 weeks. I asked if she could do an u/s really quick just to be sure things were ok. So, she pulled out her u/s machine, and tried to find the baby, and she couldn't. She said that we could probably see the baby on a vaginal u/s, but she wasn't very good at doing them. I was never really worried, I just wanted to make sure that they baby was ok, so I asked if she could make an appt for me at the hospital to get one done there. Before she did that, she checked my uterus from the inside, and found that that I have a retroverted (introverted) uterus. Who would have thought? I had no idea, and am surprised that it wasn't found during my pregnancy with Matt. Anyways, so she goes ahead and makes the u/s appointment for me.

I get to the hospital the next morning, and the tech tried to find the baby via abdominal u/s. Couldn't really see anything, although I could see the gestational sac, just no baby. So, he did a vaginal u/s. That's what I needed! We could see the baby very clearly with a gorgeous heartbeat going at 167 bpm. The baby measured a bit ahead, so the tech said that by measurements, baby was due 6/9. The Dr had me at 6/10, so very close. I thought I was due 6/12, but I'll go with the 9th. Anywho, baby measured 3/4" long, and looked a little alien like still, but beautiful.

Beautiful

99 Balloons

This is a video montage of a beautiful little miracle named Eliot who despite having Trisomy 18, defied all odds and lived 99 days.

You're in Gods arms now, little Eliot.