snow

today was a fun day. dave and i slept in, and awoke to about an inch or two of snow on the ground. after enjoying a leisurely morning of breakfast, coffee and the paper, i bundled up and headed outside for some good old fashioned snow shoveling. yes, i know, you're probably thinking, are you crazy?? maybe i am. but you see, i have my reasons. at 37 weeks pregnant, i am now considered full-term. that means that the baby is fully developed and it is safe to give birth even though i'm not 40 weeks. by now, we are all ready for baby to come, and i am finally feeling the results of carrying all this extra weight for so long. i'm ready. not that i don't want the best for our child, but to tell the truth, i would like my body back. i'd really like to sleep on my stomach again and roll over without having to do a 3-point turn. not to mention the endless trips to the bathroom, or the water weight that's given me carpal tunnel. so yes, i feel a little selfish, but since it IS safe for the baby to come now, i will do whatever i can to 'help' it along. so i went shoveling. and no, it hasn't helped. all it gave me was a backache. but i will say, it was fun! i really enjoyed being outside in the fresh air! david came out and we shoveled out around the house. and i actually have pictures! we borrowed a camera, so here you go.

4 weeks and counting

well, it is official. i am 9 months pregnant.

at the end of this week, i will be considered full-term, which basically means after that if i have the baby, everything will be ok. up until then, the baby's lungs are still developing. i have a feeling that i'm not going to last all 4 weeks...but i have nothing to base that on, just a hunch. i wouldn't mind having the baby next week! i've been feeling pretty good up to now. the only thing that has really been bothering me lately is the pregnancy swelling. my hands are retaining so much water that i now have carpal tunnel in my right hand. it is getting very frustrating. i'm able to type right now, but writing is almost out. my hand starts getting numb and tingly and is painful. i have 2 braces, one for night and one for day. they help a little, icing it before i sleep is good too. i told dave, i've been able to handle all the aches and pains, all the other little things that have become harder and harder to do, but this is almost too much. it's limiting me tremendously. i had to have dave cut my chicken the other night! i felt like a little kid, "can you cut my meat? please???" all the daily things you do, opening doors, blowing drying your hair, even reading a paper have become painful. so in that sense, i can't wait for the baby to come! it will all go away! i only have to wait 1 more week before baby can come! there is hope!

other than my sob story, things are going well around the house. i do not have pictures yet, but will soon! having david home every day has been a huge blessing! i have been spoiled, but i know it is God's blessing on me to have my husband around 24/7 to help. we have finished the baby's room (hallelujah!!!!). those of you who have been to our house know that that room was the storage/everything room. well, i am proud to say that we have eliminated all the clutter and sorted through many piles and it is now the baby/study. and that is how it will stay! we also were able to finally get a washer and dryer, and God was good to us there as well. we were having trouble finding what we wanted and needed in our price range and a friend from church who works at Home Depot called us one day and told us there was a Maytag washer and dryer on scratch and dent. it was exactly what we were looking for and we got about $200 off! plus we opened a Home Depot credit card and got 10% off with no interest until next february. we can save all year to pay it off all at once. we were able to buy the extended warranty on both of them, so they both have 3 yrs. warranty instead of 1. we have them installed and i have been using them all week! i may be weird, but i love doing laundry! and now it is SO convenient! (for the last 2 yrs, we have been doing laundry every friday night at my parents house, a 1/2 hr. away) they are hooked up in our kitchen and look great! pictures will be coming...stay tuned.

so all in all, we could have the baby tonight and be ready. all the other little things are not necessary before delivery. i think i can finally say, we are ready and prepared for this baby.

Baby Copp

most of you know that david's sister, anna, was also pregnant, about 1 month ahead of me. this past friday, she was scheduled to be induced and give birth to their little girl, Dahlia Renae (i think that's how it's spelled). they had the nursury all ready and all the clothes bought and everything was going well. she had the pitocin (pi-toe-sin) and the epidural and her labor was progressing. then came the biggest surprise...anna gave birth, not to a little girl, but to a little boy!!!! apparently the technician read the ultrasound wrong and for months they were planning for a baby girl. now, while we are all shocked and excited, i (being the practical worrisome one) am wondering how anna and josh must feel with all the mixed emotions. i mean, when you are planning for so long, buying clothes and painting the nursery for a girl, and then to have a boy and not have anything remotely boyish, that has to be somewhat strange. especially with all the post partum hormones and emotions. i know if it was me, i'd be worrying to death about how to deal with all the girl stuff and how we could afford more boy stuff on top of it and dave would be the one to say, "it'll all work out." he says that alot to me. i worry. and my pregnancy hormones drive me crazy sometimes.

so anyway, they named him Jeffery Robert, after both anna and josh's dad's. here are some pictures.

in time...

i must ask that you remain patient with me...i have not been updating as i would've liked, and i'm sure some of you are wondering where i am. david and i have been very busy since we came home from vacation trying to get the house in order as soon as we can for the baby. we are in the midst of finding a washer and dryer to buy asap and just had a few days where our car was broken and we had to borrow my parent's van for that time. i feel as if i have very little time to sit and catch up with all that there is to do. my due date is march 17, which is about 5 weeks away. if i last that long! i really could go into labor at any time, so we are working hard to get everything we need done asap. so...hang on, i will try to really spend some time on here soon. in the meantime, stay warm and have a great week!

random

thought this would be fun to do. it's midnight on saturday and i can't sleep. the baby is moving ALOT. i think she has her days and nights mixed up. usually i love feeling the baby move inside...but when it keeps me from the sleep i desperately need, i have a hard time not getting frustrated.
i'm sorry i haven't posted about our trip yet. i have alot i'd like to share...but now is not the time. i will say that despite the snow on thursday, we did make it home safe. we had to come home a different way than normal because northern ohio and western pa were supposed to be getting 8-12 inches at the same time we were supposed to be driving through. so we rerouted through columbus, oh and then the tip of west virginia and then up through southern pa to rt. 81. normally we take rt. 80 from indiana all the way to rt.81. unfortunately we still hit snow. due to the different route and the weather, our normally 10 hr. trip turned into 15 hrs. we pulled into jermyn about 1 am and it was 2 degrees out!!! brrrr... i can say however, our own bed never felt so wonderful!!!
ok, so here are my names:
1. YOUR REAL NAME: Laura
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle) Lauizzle
3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal) Green Rabbit
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street name) Elizabeth Madison
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name) Sieladou
6. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Pink Cranberry Juice
7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, last letter of your moms middle name) Aezosty
8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mothers middle name) Joy
9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your pets) Black Autumn (we don't have a pet, so i used my parent's cats name)

new year's eve

Happy New Year! this picture isn't from last night, it's actually a few weeks old. we were visiting some friends and dave slapped this toy hat on and was just walking around in it. i've been wanting to put it in a post and even though it is completely random, i like it!

we didn't do anything too exciting last night. yesterday we went out to lunch with some friends and then stopped by the hospital to see jen and colin smith. they had their baby on saturday! he is so adorable! 7 lbs. 3 oz. and his name is Hezekiah James. it was exciting for me to hold a newborn...it will be my turn in about 2 months! then we headed to my parents for a last load of laundry for the week and i fell asleep and dave woke me up at 8 o'clock so we could go home. we decided to get a movie out and just relax, so i picked the lake house. it was so nice. a bit slow, but i was in a mellow mood anyway and the slowness was just right. it's a cute movie, and clean too. then it was almost midnight, but since we don't get any channels on our tv, we were just going to go to bed. but dave found an online live video of times square so we watched that. we watched the countdown and then it was at 0 and we were ready to see the ball drop, but the camera switched to video this couple kissing. and they didn't stop kissing. and the camera didn't move. and i was saying, "where's the ball drop?? we didn't see the ball drop! all we see are these people making out!" and they were. and the camera got all of it. so dave grabbed me and we started kissing. so that was good. but i still wanted to see the ball drop. then we went to bed. today we were hoping for the rain the weather people were prediciting, because the country club still hasn't closed. and yes, they don't close on federal holidays, except for christmas. so dave is at work right now, hoping that no one comes to golf. it would be so much nicer to have him home with me, helping me get ready for our trip to IN this week. we'll be gone for 3 weeks, so there is alot to do. oh, and did i forget to mention he has jury duty tomorrow?? please pray they don't pick him! if they do and it doesn't get settled in one day, he has to go back in every day until it gets resolved. that would reek havoc on our trip thursday. well, i guess it will all work out. that's what dave always says. come friday we will be enjoying our day with his parents.

hope you have a great day!

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.