Guns

The day Tom and I were leaving to drive to Utah for Thanksgiving, he got a call from a local sporting goods store to say that his gun was in. Of course he wanted to pick it up so I was like, "no problem, 5 extra minutes." Wrong. Having never purchased a gun, I was unaware that the government was involved, and whenever the government gets envolved, things go slow.

Twenty minutes after Tom went in, I called, frustrated. Then thirty minutes, then thirty five... It kept going like that until he was finally done fifty minutes later. Luckily I'm a very patient person (tisk, tisk).

The day after Thanksgiving was the first day he got to use it. We went to a place outside of Lynndyl with my dad, brothers, and sister-in-law. A couple of hours later they were all pretty accurate shooters. Good job guys!

17 Weeks

Wow, a lot has happened since the last time I blogged.

First things first... I'm now 17 weeks pregnant and we find out the gender in two weeks!

Here is a blurry picture of how I look at 17 weeks.

Okay, I didn't think I was showing that much until I saw this picture. Yay!

I've still been listening to the heart beat at least twice a day. I took the Belly Beats to my parents house over Thanksgiving and I think one of my young cousins broke it while they were sneaking in my room. It isn't a functional break but I can't fix it. Grrr. $450.

Belly Beats

I want to thank my good friend Tasha for providing me with peace of mind.

Before I was pregnant I didn't realize how much I would worry. Seriously, I worry about the baby a lot. Sometimes there are days when I don't feel it moving so I worry if it's okay or even if it's still alive.

At my last doctor's appointment Dr. West said I could come in and listen to the baby's heart beat anytime I wanted... without an appointment! (He's super cool)

One day at work I had planned on going to the gym to get some exercise during lunch but then I started freaking myself out and decided to drive downtown to the hospital and listen to the heartbeat. It's not that inconvenient but it takes a little more than a lunch hour so I can't do it all the time -- which, knowing me, I would want to do.

I was voicing my concern to Tasha (who is also pregnant, yay!) and she said she had rented and been using a fetal doppler to listen to her baby's heartbeat.

She is a little further along that I am and can feel the baby more so she offered to let me use the doppler because she was going to send it back.

Of course I took her up on that! I can now listen to the baby anytime I want. It has brought a lot of peace to this mama-to-be.

Thanks again Tash! And Belly Beats for the great product.

Poll Results... So Far

Alright. Thanks to everyone that has voted so far. There are 24 total votes as of right now. I will leave it up so more can vote and I'll give another update later.

Here are the mid poll results...

Which name do you prefer?

38% Madison Kennedy
29% Isabella Claire
21% Sophie
13% Madison Isabella
0% Cameron Isabella

If you haven't voted yet, go to http://www.babycenter.com/403_baby-girl-names_8771772_165380263709.bc.

I'll explain why I chose some of the names.

Madison, Kennedy, and Isabella are names that I have loved for a while.

My grandma's name is Clara Belle so I chose to put Isabella and Claire together to kind of reverse her name. Besides, I think it's super cute.

Dr. Cameron is one of the female characters on the show, House, and I liked the name Cameron. My other grandma's name is Camille so I thought that the "Cam" part was close enough. Then I put Cameron and Isabella together to be named after both of my grandmas.

I decided I liked Sophie sometime during one of the 3 times I saw Mama Mia in the theater. I don't know which name would be put as the middle name.

The problem with picking a name is that I want all of them.

Tom was bummed that I only did a poll for the girl name. I asked him if he wants me to do a boy poll. He said yes. I can't understand why. He has made it quite clear that Alexander is his name of choice. However, to humor him I will let you know the boy names I like (besides Lex).

Collin (but that's Carly's name), Liam, Harrison (but would never call a kid Harry, it would have to be the whole thing), Noah, Jack, and Aidan.

Notice of Default

So, Tom ran out and grabbed the mail last night when we got home. He was standing in the kitchen examining one of the letters. It wasn't addressed to us but he could see through it to the letter inside. It was addressed to the owner of the place we're renting right now. He had me go over by him to take a look. When he pressed the envelope so I could see though I saw the big phrase, "Notice of Default." Quality!

I couldn't say I was surprised. A couple of months ago Tom was standing outside and a man from the bank came up to him and asked if he was the owner. Of course he didn't tell Tom anything but it is kind of obvious why he was there (I work for a finance company and we do the same thing).

It's nice to be aware that we might be getting kicked out of the house that we are renting. By the way, we are always on time paying rent so it's not like the owner isn't getting our money.

Luckily, earlier in the day we went with a realtor to look at houses. We found one that we really like and made an offer.

It is 5,200 sq ft, 7 bed, 4 bath. It is bank owned and an absolute steal of a deal! We definitely don't need a house that big but it is the price of a house half the size. We really love that it has a basement. Most houses in the Boise area don't.

Hopefully our offer is accepted but if it isn't, we'll find another great deal.

I love this economy!

Halloween

We had fun this halloween. When I got home from work I made a pumpkin casserole for Tom and we watched a scary movie. He was going to take me to the movies but I was so tired. But, he's a trooper. He stayed home with me. We had 4 trick-or-treaters (a 100% increase from last year)!

I dressed up as a vampire for work. My boss, Cathy, was one too. Then she made her boss dress up. I gave her the Twilight series to read and she loved it so we decided we were the Volturi. Sure we were a little more Bram Stroker than Stephenie Meyer but hey, we're living in the times.This is all of us. Drew was a cartoon character but I don't know from which cartoon. Then me, Cathy, Chelsea (the doctor), Tangermann, and Mary (a black fairy).

The night before halloween Tom and I carved a pumpkin. We didn't have a kit to make it look cool so I just did the quickest thing I could think of. Poor thing is a huge head with a little tiny face.

Poll

I've been reading a lot at babycenter.com and found a way to make a poll.

Tom and I have picked a name for a boy (Alexander Thomas, Lex for short) but we can't decide on a name for a girl. We have a long way to go and I might totally and completely change my mind but for now, I did a poll.

Go to http://www.babycenter.com/403_baby-girl-names_8771772_165380263709.bc to vote for the name that you like best.

Thanks!