Puppy Update & Other News

So we have now experienced three nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep! Other than the one potty time a night which was standard at our other house too. It appears that the heated dog bed, fluffy rug and sweater have done the trick! We are very thankful that Asher is more settled here now, as it was a bit stressful at first, but it looks like we have our happy puppy back. :-)

In other news, I am now officially in my third trimester!!! In some ways, it seems crazy to think that we only have roughly 3 more months until she's here, and then in other ways it's hard to believe it's taken this long. But we're both very excited, and things are progressing very nicely. She's DEFINITELY getting bigger as her movements are much more noticeable... especially at night when she tries to do somersaults. :-) It's funny how God designed it for women (or at least me I suppose who used to be known for sleeping through an earthquake I used to sleep so soundly) to begin to sleep MUCH less soundly in the third trimester. Between multiple potty breaks, hearing every little sound that exists in and around a house at night, Annabella's evening acrobatics, and having to roll over a lot, I'm just not sleeping all that well any more. At least, this time around I get to take naps as needed. :-) Probably won't be so fortunate for kiddo number 2 and on.

The house is almost completely unpacked. Nathan was sick this weekend, still is with a nasty cold, but was REALLY sick and lethargic over the weekend, so he didn't get anything done on "his" pile (the things that I have deemed as his to deal with at least :-)), but we might... just might, be totally unpacked by the end of this coming weekend... we shall see! Then it's on to figuring out what all we need to fit Annabella's things when she comes and as we begin to accumulate things. Rubbermaids are great inventions! :-)

Pupsicle

So I *never* thought in a million years that I would be one of those people who puts sweaters and coats on their little dog. I believe now though, that God in his truly infinite wisdom and some times interesting sense of humor has found yet another way of both humbling me and keeping my judgmental side in check.

Our year and a half year old miniature schnauzer, Asher, who has slept in his own bed since the day we brought him home from the Humane Society at 4 months old, has now, since moving, digressed to jumping up into our bed and not curling up at the foot of the bed mind you... no. Curling up right in the between Nathan and I, and taking all of my blankets with him. Now, if he were doing this just to be cute or something, I would quickly kick him off the bed... but softy me can't bring myself to kick him out of bed when he curls up between us while shivering to the point of practically convulsing. I mean, he shakes the entire bed with his shivers. So I know, he's just trying to get warm.

The house we just moved from was all carpeted and our bedroom was on the top floor, so even when we turned the furnace way down for the night, our room still stayed fairly warm, so we never had a problem with him being cold. Occasionally, when we'd have those arctic blasts of negative degree weather he would get cold, but he would just wake Nathan up, he'd see that Asher was shivering, and we'd tuck a towel in his bed and that seemed to be enough to warm him up. But here... he shivers constantly! We have no carpet, and the bedroom at our cottage is downstairs and made up entirely of stone tile. Beautiful stone tile mind you, but if I were a scrawny little miniature schnauzer with barely any hair (just had him groomed), I don't think I'd want to sleep on that floor either.

So... as I eat my humble pie and begin to look differently at some of the little dogs with sweaters walking around (as long as they're not wearing sunglasses and boas too), I too shall succumb to buying a sweater for our pupsicle, at least for the night, and will continue to hope and pray that between the sweater, the heated dog bed I ordered for him, the rug we're getting for our bedroom, and potentially the use of a hot waterbottle for him to snuggle with... he will once again be warm and cozy and I will be able to sleep without fighting for the covers with a shivering schnauzer.

Who'da thunk that a German dog would need a sweater... oh well. Wish me luck!

Beautiful Mornings

One of these days I'm going to take a picture from our deck of the view we have of Pikes Peak. It's gorgeous! In fact, if I leave the blinds open on one of the windows in our bedroom (and I wake up after daylight) I can see the peak of the mountain from my bed! Too, too cool. Manitou is a very cool town. One of the things I love is driving down the hill and seeing a guy with thick dreads sitting on his porch playing his guitar and stopping long enough to wave to us! Maybe I'll bring my guitar out on the deck and join in the neighborhood melody. :-) Just minus the dreads.

On another less exciting note. We're getting a washer and dryer installed tomorrow and I'm actually EXCITED to do laundry. I'm sure that will last all of two *maybe* three loads... but hey, I'll take the motivation while I can. :-)

We have our first prenatal appointment with our midwife tonight! We're looking forward to it. We always like getting to hear our little girl's heartbeat and learning more about how she's doing in there.

And one final thought... I am amazed at how much my husband knows about things. Is random knowledge about all sorts of things stereotypically "man" related just embedded in certain guy's genetic make-up? My dad was the same way, so maybe it's just something in our family, but man... Nathan just continues to astound me every day. Yesterday, he installed a dryer vent, and knew exactly what to ask for at Home Depot, knew how to run it and even anchor it to the ceiling. He changed out an outlet in preparation for the new washer and dryer (something I knew he knew how to do being an electrician and all), and he's done a whole slew of other things around the house too. But beyond that... he know things about new cars we see on the road though he doesn't read car magazines, and he knows what teams are playing for seemingly any given sport event on nearly any given weekend... I just don't get it, because we don't get tv reception where we're living now, he's RARELY on the computer, and we don't get sports OR car magazines.... my dad was totally the same way. Their food tastes are even the same... Nathan's favorite meals are stir-fry (my dad's recipe) and breakfast burritos (my dad's recipe) and his favorite hot sauce is Tapatio (my dad's discovery and favorite). They both put it on everything that can/could.

While we were moving, Nathan found a briefcase hidden in our garage of a BUNCH of tools my mom gave him as they were my dad's and most hadn't even been opened. He'd forgotten about them, and I tell you when he opened that thing it was like a kid in a candy store!!!! He was in tool heaven. :-) Needless to say it's in a place where it's readily accessible and I believe several of the tools have already been used. When I saw his reaction to the tools, I just laughed and said... "One of these days you and my dad are going to have a very long conversation full of lots of laughs and guffawing in heaven." It's fun to watch. And I truly am the most blessed woman in the world. Nathan never ceases to amaze me.... can't wait to see him hold Bella.

Trying Again

So our first blog attempt was not that successful, but now that much has occurred in our little lives we thought we'd try again. We recently moved out of our 3 bedroom 2.5 bath town home on the far north side of town into a little 1 bedroom 1 bath cottage on the far west side of town, and are loving it! It's small, especially considering our newest addition coming around mid-May, but we actually like it a lot better than our other place. We are much more well suited to smaller homes, I think. Asher is taking some time to adjust to not having a yard he can run around in without a leash, but he is enjoying the deck and being able to see and bark at all the MANY dogs in the neighborhood, so perhaps that will satiate him for a bit. :-)

Also, just before moving into our new home (we're not settled by any means yet, but little by little we're getting there), Nathan got a wonderful job just 20 minutes from our new home! It's been such a blessing, and Nathan LOVES going to work everyday now... something he hasn't had in a long time. So, we're very thankful for that. If all goes well (as it appears to be going), he'll be given a company truck at the end of his 30 day probationary period (ending around mid-February), and be considered a "supervisor" in the company. It truly has been a God-send and the job that Nathan has wanted for a long time. So we are so blessed!

Just as I came up on my six month mark with our pregnancy, we spent a lot of time praying about and thinking about where and how we both want to have our little Annabella. After MUCH research, conversation with others, prayer and thought we have happily decided to commit to having a home birth! Yep... in our little mountain cottage. We're VERY pleased with and encouraged by the midwife we chose and have been loving our natural childbirth class. We HIGHLY recommend the Bradley Method to anyone considering a birthing class in the near future. We will be putting together a "prayer team" to cover the remainder of our pregnancy and especially the birth very soon, so if you're interested in being a part of that do let us know. We'd be happy to add you. We're looking forward to getting to tell the story of Bella's entrance into this world and are faithfully trusting in God as He has so clearly guided us to this decision. We're pretty stoked!

I am currently directing a musical with a children's theater company out here in Colorado. www.aoct.net if you'd like to check it out. :-) It's a LOT of fun, but a lot of work too. I'm really pumped though after each rehearsal because all of the kids are working very hard, and it should end up being a VERY quality show. If you're in the area when it opens in April, please do come. It may be performed by kids (ages 6-18) but it's not by any means childish! These kids are totally coming at it as professionals and are working their butts off, and the show itself is very high quality, and a ton of fun. Honk Jr! Contact me for more info, but I'm sure you'll hear me mention it again. I'm directing, choreographing, and musically directing the whole thing, so it's my biggest project thus far in my creative career!

Other than all of THAT... we're just trying to get settled into our little cottage. Nathan is loving making little repairs here and there (boy, I'm sure glad he's loving doing that :-)... hope it lasts a while ;-)) getting familiar with our new neighborhood (the neighbors are great!), and just trying to prepare ourselves as best we can for our upcoming adventures.... birth and parenting! :-)

That's all for now... but as things come up, I'm sure there will be more. Thanks for listening to our babble (or mine rather :-)), and we'll post some ultrasound pictures of our little girl soon. And in a few months........ the real thing!!!