christmas tree

well, i finally got around to posting a picture of our christmas tree. just as christmas is over...sorry about that. i had to give the digital camera back to my dad, and just was able to get this picture off of it. i had the idea of drying orange slices in a food dehydrator and making them into ornaments. they turned out great! i love them! david and i agree on one thing...christmas trees HAVE to be real! none of this fake plastic stuff (sorry to all those who like fake trees!). we want the real live thing. and it smells so good! this year we went to roba's tree farm and picked out a concolor fir. they smell amazing! when you break off a few needles and rub them in your hands, it has a wonderful citrus orange smell! and the needles are long and soft, so you're not pricking your hands all the time.

anyway, i hope you all had a great time with family and friends, we did and still are. tomorrow (thursday) we are headed up to my grandparent's house on my mom's side for that family christmas. that's just a day trip, but we'll get home late. and next thursday we head out to indiana for 3 weeks! we'll be spending lots of time with dave's family and with joe and ash wittmer. we are so excited! i'll write more about that later. for now it's getting late and david's already in bed. i'm pretty tired, so have a good night!

2 year anniversary

today was our 2 year anniversary! i thought that i would post some pictures from our wedding since some of you weren't there.

just after the ceremony

at the reception in front of our huge christmas tree

man i was skinny!! i forgot what i looked like with a flat stomach!

our red velvet cake

on the way out. i had a cape and muff to keep me warm!

picture

i am sorry for the delay in my next picture. like i said last time, we don't have a digital camera, so we have to borrow one. anyway, this was taken on thursday. i am 6 1/2 months along now.

our baby is a very active one! david says it is either a boy practicing his soccer kicks or a girl who will have no trouble defending herself! it is fun to be able to feel him almost all the time. so far it hasn't interrupted my sleep at night. he does have an active time right around 10:30 though, as i'm going to bed, but it's not hard enough to bother me. just hard enough to know she is alive and well! other than that, i have been having more aches and pains than before. all my ligaments and joints are loosening up for the big day, and that includes ALL of them. i've been dealing ok with a couple of tylenol here or there so far. bending over is getting VERY difficult now, so if i drop something (which is all the time because even the joints in my fingers are looser causing alot of clumsiness) i usually kick it over to dave and ask him to pick it up or i leave it for when he's around. if i really need, i'm grunting all the way. very ladylike of me. dave thinks it's cute. anyway, this past wednesday was my last day of work at the cafe. a bittersweet leaving. i needed to stop. it was getting so difficult on the days i worked. i'd have to recoup the next day because i was so exhausted. in that way, i am VERY glad i am done! but on the other hand, this was my life for the last 5 1/2 years! i helped create the cafe with my dad and brothers. so much of what's there has my influence. i will miss it. but it's easier to leave now since i have something to fill that void. and it is clamoring for my priority and attention. and i'd rather give all of me to my family than to a job. it was a necessary and easy decision. i will be around though, i may even pick up a shift here or there when they are short-handed. so i'm not out of the loop totally. well, that is the low-down on my life. i will try to take more pictures and post them before we give the camera back. have a great weekend!

video

ok, so there's this funny video called "you're on hold" that i was going to put on my blog, but i can't download it from stupidvideos, so you'll just have to click on this link to watch it.
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/just_plain_stupid/Youre_on_Hold/

Things you CAN'T do when you're NOT in a pool

very funny!

new nephew

i'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the family, sam and ashley's new little boy... josiah michael damiani.

he was born at 1 am on tuesday weighing in at 8 lbs. and 1 oz.

my mom will be flying down to housten tomorrow to stay for a week with them. wish i could go! here are some

pictures of the family.

here is the happy family!

i had a slight accident tuesday night...had to go to the ER. dave blogged about it, so you can read it there. i'm having a hard time typing. http://www.davidasiegrist.blogspot.com/ i'm ok though, don't worry too much!

pictures

we went over to our good friends house the other evening. mike and jess festa made dinner for us and we had a lovely evening just hanging out, enjoying the conversation. and i asked if they by chance had a digital camera, which they did, and were gracious enough to take some pictures of us and email them so i could post them for you all to see. so, here i am, 5 months pregnant, and really starting to show!

and here is david, making fun of me. he's really not that fat. only when he sticks it out.

and here we are together. the most updated picture yet! i think we look cute!

Ultrasound

dave and i went for my first ultrasound yesterday. it was amazing! i wanted to stay all day and watch him move around. you could see the little feet moving and kicking...it was so cute! we told the technician that we didn't want to know what the sex was, so she stayed away from 'that part'. dave asked her later if she had seen and knew. she said yes. thankfully we didn't catch it! i am more excited about waiting to find out. she took measurements of the head and the arms and legs and said that everything is normal. he is 9 oz., just the right size for how far along i am. she looked at his kidneys and heart. that was very cool! you could see all 4 chambers in the heart beating. i should've asked for a picture of the heart. i was in awe! next time i will. anyway, here are some of the pictures...

this is his/her profile, you can see the little nose and lips

here is the little hand, you can see all of the fingers

here is the foot. it's a little hard to see the toes though

and here is a thumbs up, letting us know all is well in there!

our morning

this morning has been relaxing so far. friday mornings are like our weekend. david works friday night and all day saturday, so friday mornings are our time to spend together. we slept in a bit and awoke to the sun streaming in the windows. it got very cold last night, so dave got up and turned on the heat. we had a space heater in our room, so it was nice and cozy in bed! i didn't want to get out. but we did and dave made french toast for our breakfast and now we are sitting in the living room, i am typing and drinking a cup of coffee (i finally don't mind the taste again!) and dave is fiddling around with his guitar, playing and singing...i love to hear him sing. as i sit, i can feel the baby kicking a bit. it feels like someone is poking my stomach! it is a beautiful day! i love to relax and enjoy quality time with my husband.

fall and lost

tonight was laundry night. dave works at the country club and i go to my parents to do our weekly mountain of laundry. it is a nice time during the week to spend some time with my family. it is so beautiful out here now...fall is in full swing now! complete with sweater weather and visions of pumpkins and apples.

i had my 4 month dr. appt. yesterday. i heard the heartbeat again and he said that everything is going fine. i have gained 5 lbs. in the last month (probably the ones you lost ash!) which is actually pretty good. the next 2 months they say i should gain 1-2 lbs. a week. yikes! i'm still in the in between stage. just starting to show, but if you don't know i'm pregnant, you just think i'm fat. all my clothes are stretched to the limit, but maternity clothes are still too big. some days i feel fat and ugly. but i have to remember it's normal! the good news is that i started feeling the baby move this past week! sometimes i lay on my back with my hand on my stomach and every once in a while, i feel a little kick! like someone's poking me from inside. but what i feel most often is him or her moving. like they are flipping over or turning around. sometimes it's a big bulge sticking out and then goes back in. it feels weird! but i love it! i can't wait until i feel him more often, without having to lie still. it's subtle. but i know it's there. in 2 weeks, i have my first ultrasound! i am very excited! dave can come with me, but we have firmly decided that we will wait until he is born to find out if it is a girl or boy! i go back and forth calling it 'him' and 'her'. whatever comes out at the moment.

as for the first episode of LOST...dave didn't really like it, but i think it was very good. i have been going on some message boards and reading other people's thoughts on the show and some of what i've read has made quite alot of sense. stuff like, after the earthquake, all of the others ran out and looked around and then ben (henry) came out and looked immediately to the sky, BEFORE they heard the plane. he knew something had happened. there is speculation that the island is in a dome, like in the truman show, or just protected by a shield so that no one in the outside world can see it. when desmond didn't put the numbers in back in season 2, it lowered the shield momentarily, just enough for the plane to crash through. and when the key was turned, the shield once again was lowered again so that the outside world could get a glimpse, hence, penelope's 2 guys in the artic were able to locate either, a locater on desmond's boat, or the electromagnetic field. i'm not sure which one. as for the polar bears, we now know where they came from, the old zoo that sawyer and kate are being held in. that explains the horse kate saw too. those are my thoughts thus far...we'll have to discuss this as the show goes on. i'd love to hear what anyone has to offer!

pier 1

i was in Pier 1 yesterday, doing some shopping for the cafe. and as i walked in, i looked around, and my heart sank. has anyone been there lately? it's a completely different store! it looks nothing like the Pier 1 that i so loved. the more i walked around, the more disheartening it became. the stuff they have is close to hideous. it's so modernly wierd and most of it is all black and white. no more warm wooden earth tones with a rustic flare. no more beautiful dishes or mirrors that you coveted for your house. i don't know what their goal is, but i know that i'm no longer buying from them. they don't even carry the basic of all basic dishes that they had for years and years. i registered for them when we got married because they were neutral and since they've always carried them, i knew they'd always be available. not so. i found a few mugs and bowls stashed away in a corner with clearance tags on them. i never got around to really build up my collection, and now i never will. it's sad. i used to love to walk in and browse around. it was so relaxing to get ideas for your house or pick up something small once in a while. i wrote them and complained. i told them how disappointed i was and why, and that until they changed back, they've lost a faithful customer. we'll see what they say. i'm bummed out. if you haven't been there lately, check out their website. www.pier1.com if you've always loved the store, prepare yourself. you might be just as sad as i am.

birthday and adventure

today is david's birthday! he is 24 now. unfortunately he had to work tonight, but he had the morning off with me. we made french toast for breakfast and watched more LOST season 2 episodes! it is fun to watch them again...we're picking up on things that we didn't the first time around. then his present came by way of UPS (to see what it was, visit his blog, he posted about it) and by that time he had to get ready to leave for work. i made a carrot cake for him yesterday and put the cream cheese icing on tonight. we're going to eat it when he comes home! yum yum. can't wait!

yesterday was a bit of an adventure. since i could make it a really long story, i'll do my best to make it short. the car broke down. now it's fixed. the end. ok not really. well, i mean it broke, but i really won't make the story that short. i had to work yesterday, and dave worked at 2. that meant i had to leave work with enough time to get to wegmans to buy the ingrediants i needed for the cake and get home so dave could leave. well...i got to wegmans, and as i was just pulling into the parking lot, i heard a loud snap and then very loud flapping noises. i thought the tire had blown and the rubber was hitting the ground. which would stink b/c we just got new tires! but it wasn't. so i called dave in a panic. he was home with no way to get to me and i was at wegmans with no way to go anywhere!! well, my mom was in the area so she went and picked dave up from our house and they both came to meet me. meanwhile, dave called our mechanic, who was too busy to look at it until next week, but he set us up with another place. then he called a tow truck and we waited. got the tow, they said it'd be a while to look at it, so we hung out at a donut place and started calling rental car places. we thought for sure that was our only option. well, about a 1/2 hr. later, the car place called back and said our car was fixed! apparently, it had blown a spark plug. dave started laughing and asked them if by chance it was the back left one. it was. you see, 2 yrs. ago, dave was replacing the spark plugs and it was taking too long and this one was too hard, so he shoved it in there. well, it cross-threaded and impossible to get out, so he left it. our car has been running on 5 spark plugs instead of 6 for 2 yrs!!! and it finally blew. so now we have all 6 working and the car is running better than ever! except for the transmission that slips on first gear, but it still runs better! so dave got to work 2 hrs. late, i finally got home to make the cake and my mom was the hero of the day! (we would've really been in a jam without her chauffering!!)

so our life continues on with one adventure after another. i hope the next adventure includes something for free. i don't like all this unexpected expenses. oh well. dave's almost home and i want cake! have a good night!

our crazy week

i suppose it's time to let you in on our week. this past week was one we were looking forward to. dave's parents were going to drive out from IN to visit us so that we could save $ since we usually drive out there 3 or 4 times a year. we were very excited and had our itinerary all planned out. what meals we were gonna have, when dave would take bob golfing and when i'd take sandy out to all the garden stores and antique shops. then, we got a phone call around 6:30am monday morning, just before we left for work. dave's grandma had died the night before. it was bob's mom, and the last grandparent to go. everything changed. the viewing was wednesday and the funeral thursday. bob and sandy wouldn't come out, and instead, dave was going to drive to MI to be with the family. since he already had wednesday and friday off, he was able to arrange to take thursday off too. right away we both knew it would be better if i didn't go. you see, being pregnant has its disadvantages. like, having to pee every 15 min. or having to eat every hour. the trip was long enough, i would just make it longer. it would be faster and cheaper for dave to go alone. which meant we would be facing the first time we have been apart since being married. now, i know to some of you think this is no big deal. you probably think i should've just sucked it up and dealt with it. but i have always dreaded the day we'd have to be apart. i love my husband! why would i want to spend a night away? and this would be 2 nights and 3 days. so, our plans changed. we needed new tires for the car so this just made dave make time to go get them. 4 new tires are not cheap. then he needed to get a haircut. if any of you have seen dave lately, you know what i mean when i say he was getting wings. his hair kinda fans out behind his ears and they look like wings. not very sexy. so he bought tires and got a hair cut. and then he called me to tell me they cut it a bit shorter then he thought. how short? i asked. i dislike short hair on dave very much. he knows this. he likes it longer anyway. he said it was really really short. that i would probably not like it, no, i definately wouldn't like it. great. i have to say goodbye to my husband for the first time and if he crashed and died, i'd have to bury him with super short hair that i don't like. and remember, i'm pregnant. i have pregnancy hormones dictating my every emotion. so when he walked in the door, i didn't even recognize him. i was shocked. it was almost buzzed. (sorry no picture yet). and then...i cried. i cried because his hair was too short and i cried because he was leaving for 3 days and i cried because bob and sandy couldn't come in, and just because i'm pregnant. and then i felt better! and the time away wasn't so bad after all. i stayed with my parents so i wouldn't go insane at home alone with no car and no husband. he got home safely on friday night. there was another tournament at the country club so he was supposed to work all day yesterday and today. thankfully he was able to find someone to come in at 4 yesterday so he came home and rested. but today he is exhausted. he's been at work since 6 am and will not be done until after9 tonight. my poor husband is worn out! good news is that even though dave's grandma died, they were expecting it. and she was saved. she knew where she was going. she died with a smile on her face.

well today was a big event...sort of. i had my 3 month dr. appt. and i got to hear the baby's heartbeat! it was somewhat disappointing though. i was all psyched up for it, thinking it would an emotional event. i wasn't even that amazed. it just sounded like mine. it was beating just as fast as mine and almost with mine. i was thinking "maybe it's really not a baby's heart, maybe it's just mine i hear." i was disappointed. i wanted to be emotional, to be blown away by it. i feel bad that it didn't make me feel more maternal or more pregnant. oh well. i guess i will have to wait until i get an ultrasound. maybe then i'll be excited. i hope so. anyway...nothing else exciting to report. dave's working, i'm doing laundry at my parents and life is good.

LOST

i must admit, david and i are hopeless LOST junkies. the second season was released this week, and like good fans, we bought it. you have to get it when it just comes out, you can save like $25. you see...it all started before we were married...

it was about 2 months before our wedding day, and i had seen previews for this new show coming out. dave and i needed something to destress us in the midst of school, work, moving to our apt. and planning the wedding. so we started watching. we were hooked after the first night. but of course, all that extra stuff we were trying to get away from crept up and we missed a few weeks and that was that. you can't catch up once you've missed an episode. so we waited out the year and when the first season was released, we used some of dave's birthday money (his b-day is september 19 by the way) and we bought it and watched the whole thing in, oh, maybe a week. so when season 2 started we were ready. since we don't have cable, my mom taped it for us every week. and of course, she got hooked! my mom!! anyway, so we bought this season so we could refresh our memories (and pass it around to all our friends who we have successfully hooked) and now, as i type, we're watching episode 5. season 3 starts in just a few weeks, so if you are at all interested, go to your local blockbuster or library and start watching! but i must warn you, if you have a family, they most likely will get neglected until you are caught up. if you are in school and have tests coming up, you'll probably fail. you'll be tired at work and tired in class...but it's worth it!! everyone has to have something to get them away from reality once in a while!

food, food and more food

today's fare has a much better appeal than my last post. i have discovered that once again, i like Chef Boyardee. and surprisingly, it's actually pretty good for you! so on the days that i just don't know what to eat for lunch, i pop this in the microwave and presto! a decent meal. i'm satisfied. as long as most of what's in it has the nutrients i need, i will eat it. it has been somewhat difficult lately in the food arena. in the past few weeks, i have found that my appetite is growing, and growing, and growing. i have started joking with dave that i must be carrying a boy, because i am hungry all the time. i mean, ALL THE TIME. i eat, go do stuff, then all of the sudden my stomach is growling again. so i eat something. and it just keeps going around and around. i can't believe how hungry i am! unfortunately, there is a catch. there's always a catch. i still get kinda queasy with a lot of food, so while i'm hungry, i feel like i just can't eat. it's weird. before i was pregnant, anytime i was hungry, everything looked good! anything could satisfy me. not anymore. everytime i get hungry, i think "again!?? i don't want food! i don't want to eat! why am i hungry again! i just ate!" i am finding that there is not much food that i stock my cupboards with that i can actually throw together and eat. it's rather very frustrating. and since dave takes the car to work most days, i can't just run out to the store and buy whatever i feel like eating. i have resorted to munching on alot of grapes, apples and yogurt. and occasionally a p.b. & j. sandwich. but the jelly is too sweet for me now. that's another thing, i'd rather have salty than sweet. good for the pounds, but not so much when you have more sweet things than salty things. SO...here's the thing...i would love to know what you're favorite snacking food is. i have run out of creative ideas so let me know. but the rules first: nothing mint, nothing with cucumbers, nothing with chocolate or coffee. those are the foods i can't do now. i hate even writing them...yuck! makes my stomach turn. oh, and no carrots. i have always hated carrots. ok, so fire away, let me know!!!

split pea and ham soup

i thought that i would sit down and write something...but it did not know what to say. i am staring into a bowl of split-pea with ham soup, trying to muster up the courage to try it. i would show you a picture, but it might gross you out. it's all green and mushy...kindof like what i'll be finding in my baby's diapers come next year. but...i know i need to eat it. you see, today is one of those days where you don't know what to do, can't go anywhere (since dave has the car at work) and have to make due with whatever ingredients you can scrounge up to make a decent meal. it's cool and rainy out, dark clouds pressing down. it's rather comforting in a way. it makes you want to stay inside curled up with a blanket and a good book. which is what i've done for about 2 hours this afternoon. then i realized i hadn't eaten anything except a yogurt this morning, and if i don't eat something soon, the nausea is going to hit hard. i need to be eating more protein and so i searched the labels of everything i had in the cupboards. what i really wanted was french toast. but it's 3 pm and i need to give this baby some nutrition. there was the split pea and ham soup, complete with a whopping 12 grams of protein. great. why did i buy it in the first place? i could've chosen to eat the chef boyardee's ravioli, but that only had 8 grams, and i've been lacking in the protein area a bit. it's all for the baby! i keep telling myself. i'm eating now, and it's not really as bad as it looks. thank goodness! maybe writing about it is giving me the stomach to take it.

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anyway, david is working again today. this is his 3rd day of working open to close. he's getting tired. i can't really complain about how lonely it is here alone all day with just my book to keep me comfort. he's been working so hard this week. his schedule has been like this. every morning since thursday, he has woken up at about 4 am. he sits at the kitchen table with his breakfast, bible and journal. he prays every night that the short hours would be redeemed by starting his day out in the Word. he tells me it has kept him going. then he gets ready for work, comes in and wakes me up around 6:15 to say goodbye and leaves. he works all day, all afternoon and all evening until around 9pm when he can finally lock up and leave. then he comes home, sits for a while to unwind, takes a shower, we talk in bed about the day and fall asleep around 10:30. and he wakes up again to face the next day. tomorrow he gets a short break and is able to go to church, but then he has to go back to work sometime in the afternoon to finish out the day. monday starts a new week with normal hours hopefully. pray that he finds new guys to hire to fill out the schedule so he doesn't have to do these insane hours. i do love my husband...he is a hard working man that doesn't complain about his responsibilities. he will be a good father. i look forward to how our children will learn and grow from his influence.

i hope that everyone's weekend is relaxing and enjoyable!

today

our little vacation was great! much needed. way too short. we went to the ocean both days and enjoyed the waves and the fresh air. there was alot of time for just plain old rest and relaxation. i could go to the beach every day and never get tired. today was a nice day as well. dave had off, which a rarity for tuesdays, so we slept in and dave made french toast for us for breakfast!! sooo good! then we went out to do some shopping and spent alot more than we expected, but it was worth it. we needed to get some closet shelves for our hall closet because it was in desperate need of reorganization. but we needed a drill to put them in. we've needed a drill alot. we'll need it in the future. so...we looked at the choices and decided that we'd spend the $80 plus the $17 for the drill bits and just get it. i'm so glad!!! dave put up all the shelves tonight and now it's time to reorganize! i love the feeling of making something clean and organized. anyway, so we had 3 full meals together today. when does that ever happen?! we enjoyed being together, especially since dave is going to have to work open-close thurs., fri. and sat. that's about 14 hrs. a day. pray for him! he's going to be exhausted. he works so hard. he makes me proud! well, it is time to go fill my new shelves! have a great night!

beach

david and i are going to the beach!

tomorrow after work, we are packing up the car and heading to mantoloking, nj, near point pleasant, to spend a few days with my family at my uncle's beach house. i can't wait! we both need some time away, and i love nothing better than laying out in the sun with the salt air and the seagulls calling and the sound of waves in my ears. i find that to be one of the most peaceful places on earth. we'll be back friday night since dave has to work saturday morning. i'm not sure if there is internet access at the house, so i may not be available for a couple of days. but then again, that's what vacation is all about! i'll take lots of pictures!