Winter Storm, Round 3

Washington D.C. is getting dumped on yet again. It will be snowing for the next 24 hours and we'll probably get another 12 inches. This is total craziness! My mom was very lucky to get a flight out early this morning during a small window that the airport was open. As of this evening, all of the airports in the area are closed again indefinitely. I have my 3rd day in a row off work while still getting paid and not having to use any of my PTO. It's been so fun watching movies, making food, and snuggling!

We loved this time lapse video of the weekend's storm. Look at that tree come down! And we thought that the snow in the foreground looks like a puff pastry baking in the oven. Amazing!

People are going to be talking about this winter for decades to come. We'll be able to tell our grandchildren that we survived the winter of 2009-2010.

Spam Comments

We have been getting a ton of spam comments on our blog lately, so we've been forced to make it so that you have to enter in a word verification when you leave a comment now. Sorry! I've always hated it on other people's blogs when I have to enter in that annoying word verification, but it's more annoying to get automated computer generated spam comments, especially when they are naughty ads.

Snowmaggedon 2010

Another huge snow storm hit DC this weekend. Just like the blizzard in December, the metro area received between 20-30 inches, depending on who's measuring and where exactly they're measuring. We figure we got at least 22 inches at our apartment. It started snowing Friday around noon and didn't let up until Saturday around 5:00 pm.

The grocery store on Friday morning was a scary sight. It seriously looked like a war zone. Many of the shelves were completely empty and the lines snaked around the store. The line at Costco went 3/4 of the way to the back of the store. It was crazy! People around here sure panic when they hear the word snow. The governor of VA declared a snow emergency more than 12 hours before a single flake even fell.

We've spent the weekend snuggled up inside eating ourselves sick with apple pie, Valentine's Day sugar cookies, and hot chocolate. We've loved every minute of it!

And best of all, my mom has been here visiting from St. George, UT! We have absolutely loved having her here and wouldn't want to be stranded with anyone else. She was supposed to leave this morning, but it doesn't look like she's going to get out until Tuesday morning. We certainly don't mind!

We played Monopoly, one of the best games ever invented. I only say that because I won. Check out all of my property and money! If only my success in the game translated to the real world...

Can you find the car?

I feel horrible for the person that has to dig it out!

We took a walk around the neighborhood on Saturday. The headstones in Arlington National Cemetery looked gorgeous covered in all of the snow.

The snow was really heavy and broke huge tree branches. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power after the branches fell on top of power lines. We have been really lucky so far and fortunately still have our heater, hot showers, and capability to make all sorts of yummy food.

I can't get over how beautiful everything looks covered in thick snow. I love, love, love snowstorms and hope we get a few more before spring comes. Especially because I don't have to go into work tomorrow!

Snowpocalypse DC 2.0

Well, here we go again. Looks like we're going to be holed up in our apartment for a while. Lord, bless us with patience as we deal with each other this weekend.

20 Weeks Pregnant

I can’t believe today marks the half-way point of my pregnancy! I’d love to celebrate hump-day, but to be honest, I’d feel a little silly doing so since I don’t feel like I’ve done anything to deserve a celebration. My pregnancy has been laughably, ridiculously, unbelievably easy! Aside from cutting out medications and artificial sweeteners and adding a few more servings of fruit and whole grains to my diet, I’ve just lived like I always have these past 5 months. I don’t know how the whole “being a mother” thing is going to go, but as far as the “being pregnant” thing, I could do it every day! Adam better watch out because if all of my pregnancies are like this one, we might end up with 12 kids!

Last night, Adam and I felt the baby move for the first time! We had just eaten dinner and were sitting on the couch. I felt something that resembled twitches in my stomach, so I grabbed Adam's hands and placed them on by belly. Within a few seconds, we both felt a definite kick that was unmistakably the baby. He kicked a few more times before going back to sleep, but none of them were as hard as the first. I was so happy that Adam was around to experience the first definite kick with me! I’m looking forward to stronger, more frequent movements from our son, but for now, I’m enjoying the fact that I can still sleep at night without being awakened by giant kicks to my ribs.

I’ve been sick with a cold the past few days and it’s been pretty miserable because I haven’t been able to take the “good stuff,” aka Nyquil and Afrin. My doctor has only okayed Tylenol and a nasal saline solution, which really haven’t been cutting it. I’ve been sleeping horribly and feel awful.

Last week, my appetite was positively ravenous (think eating every 20 minutes), but it’s gone back to normal this week. Some of my recent cravings have been roast beef sandwiches on crusty baguette bread, blueberry pancakes, cheeseburgers, rotisserie chicken, mango smoothies, and potato chips.

Adam and I are still on a high from finding out that our baby is a boy and seeing him move around during our ultrasound. Last night, we laid in bed talking about it for over an hour with huge grins on our faces. We couldn’t stop talking about his quick, fluid movements and laughing about his quirky little features. We talked about how we fell instantly in love with him when we saw him and wondered how it’s possible to love someone so intensely that we’ve never even met. We talked about the future and all of the things that we want to do with him and teach him.

We also got down on our knees and thanked our Father in Heaven for blessing us with such a perfect and miraculous blessing. We acknowledge that this came straight from Him. We don’t deserve this, especially when there are so many people out there who struggle for years to have children. But for some reason unknown to us, He has trusted us with this great responsibility. Hopefully we won’t disappoint Him.

It's a Boy!!!

The long-awaited ultrasound was today. I was so excited that I barely slept last night. Those 15 minutes in that dark room were some of the happiest of our lives. It was incredible to finally get to see some of his cute little features and watch him move around. I can't believe how much he's grown since he looked like a little blob at 6 weeks.

Our little guy was moving a mile a minute during the ultrasound. Maybe it had to do with the 70 grams of sugar I consumed on the way to my appointment? Don't judge me- I just wanted to make sure he was active for us, and it worked! The ultrasound tech used the phrase "I'm having to chase him around your uterus." It was fun to see that we have such an active guy. It was crazy to see him moving all of the place on the screen but not be able to feel it at all. It almost felt like it wasn't real, like I was an observer at someone else's ultrasound.

In case you can't tell, this view is as if he's sitting on the lens of the camera. His legs are pointing to the left of the picture and his boy parts are obviously in between.

This guy's going to be a track star like his daddy! Look at that long, strong leg. He seems to be pretty flexible too. He is practically kicking himself in the face!

This is a profile shot, but what we loved even more about this shot is his huge belly. You can tell his mama's been eating more than her share of Taco Bell and Wendy's to fatten him up.

And here we have a perfect shot of his foot. I'm afraid to say it, people, but it's true. Merlin has Doxey Feet. I prayed and prayed that this wouldn't happen, but it looks like it has. Doxey feet are long, narrow, and flat. Not the most attractive feet around. Maybe we'll get some of those gorgeous Alba feet next time?

Unfortunately, this is the best profile shot she could get. He was lying sideways, parallel to the floor, with his face towards my spine, so it was hard for her to get a good look at his face. We did get to see his little mouth and lips moving a lot - apparently practice his sucking - which was the most adorable thing ever. We can't wait to kiss that little mouth!

Merlin had his hand up near his forehead for a good part of the ultrasound. It also looks like he may have Doxey Arms, which are basically long, skinny twigs. I mean, if he straightened that thing, it would extend far above his head, which I hear is pretty abnormal for babies.

Ten points for those of you who guessed Merlin was a boy in our little poll! The majority of you were right; the final score was 35 to 20. Good job!

We couldn't help ourselves . . .

Even though we don't know the sex yet, we just bought our first baby item.

When we saw this little onesie at the Baby Gap this weekend and pictured our little guy with his chubby thighs poking out of it, we ran straight to the register.

We're beyond excited to get a peek at Merlin on Thursday.

I don't know if we'll be able to sleep this week!!!

My husband, the moonwalker

Adam needed a mental break during lunch, so he decided to learn how to moonwalk.

Random, I know. But Adam’s just cool like that.

He found an instruction video on Youtube and went at it.

This was the result he showed me when I got home from work:

Not bad for his first day as a moonwalker!

I was quite impressed actually, especially after I tried to do it myself and looked like a complete idiot.

It’s harder than it looks.

My husband’s got some sweet moves!