17 Weeks and Counting

I’m now 17 weeks along in the pregnancy process and thought it was time to start taking pictures of my growing belly now that there’s something to see. I realized yesterday that I can no longer comfortably wear my old clothes, which was so hard for me. I never knew that I would feel so yucky because I’d gained some weight. I know it’s all for a great purpose and would never deprive my child for fashions sake, but it’s hard to have a stomach that sticks out and know that it won’t be going away for a while. Any advice from you already mom’s out there or understanding woman, please leave me a comment. I could use some encouragement about this as I continue to grow outward.

Our backyard

These are just some fun pictures that I took of our back yard. It’s so pretty here right now. The sun shines and sparkles on the pond. The deer get their evening snack off of the apples trees. And the black squirrels run here and there, climbing trees and hopping through the green grass. I wish this weather could last forever.

At the park

My husband and I went to Cascade Park one evening to see the beautiful waterfall. I didn’t know what to expect. The only thing I knew about it was that there were going to be different color lights on the falls. When we got there I soon realized that this was a waterfall like no other. It is the largest manmade waterfall in North America. And they’re very proud of that. At 10pm they announce that the show is about to start. The music comes on and the lights start flashing (slightly offbeat). Soon my husband and I realize that there is no rhyme or reason to the songs that they play. It goes from country western to rock and roll to the Little Mermaid. We made up a game to see who could guess the next song. (We never came close.) It was definitely a new experience in the neighboring town of Jackson, MI. And we thought DC had entertainment!

Our New Dog

We just inherited a new to us dog this week. His name is Rome. Don't be deceived by how small he looks on the screen (he's huge!). He is by far the biggest dog I've ever had (90lbs), but I'm already in love. He's six years old, fully trained and addicted to tennis balls. He will even flip the ball with his paw and chase after it. The only issue we've come up against is that he is used to sleeping on the bed, and we don't want him to. Every night and every morning he first puts his front paws up (look at the size of them)



then discretely tries to hop up. So far the score is Rome-1, Parents-4. We'll see who wins tonight.

We made it!

We made it to Michigan on Saturday evening. What an exhausting trip! After a mishap of locking the keys in the Penske, we finally got on the road for our 10 and a half hour trip. We made it without incident and the boys unloaded the truck on Sunday morning before church. I must say that most of the boxes are just where they left them. We can't find anything!
As I try to be upbeat about the whole move, I must say that I am sad about leaving my family and friends. It's hard to be a half a country away from everything familiar. I miss all of you very much.