Hello 2009!

...and good riddance to you 2008! Don't get me wrong, I know that 2008 gave me a path that I was obviously supposed to travel but that doesn't mean this has been my favorite year as a whole, that's for sure. WOW! I have so much to catch up on. It's been a busy week so hang with me while I try to recap.

First, Happy Birthday to my baby girl who turned 5 today! We spent her birthday with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend. We went to see The Tales of Despereaux, out to a very yummy lunch and then came home for presents, cake and ice cream. I felt a little bad since I didn't plan much in advance at all. In fact, I didn't even know what I was going to do for her cake until I thought to ask her while we were driving through Spokane on our way to Montana. I usually have everything planned out at least a month in advance but I was pleased with how everything did come together and she says she had a great day! It's so hard to grasp how fast the time flies. She wasn't in the mood for pics today so I wasn't going to fight it, but here are a few:

And Karleigh 5 years ago...

Now, back to where I left off. We got to enjoy the first white Christmas in 13 years in Billings. That seems hard to believe doesn't it? But there was plenty of snow for the kids to enjoy and for me to be cold. It's funny with the snow there, you just have to take they meteorologists word for it when they tell you how much snow there is because the wind blows so much and it drifts in all sorts of various depths. The temperature finally got up to about 20 on the day after Christmas so the kids were able to get out and enjoy the snow without fear of instant frost bite!

Obviously, we made it home from Montana in one piece. The trip home felt very long too but not as bad as the trip going. Let's see, first we left the Billings area and the sun was shining, it was beautiful with a nice clear day and roads not too bad, ahead of us.

At Livingston, the freeway was closed due to extreme high wind conditions leading to a ground blizzard. If you look closely at the pic below, you can see where someone ran smack into the road block with their windshield. We saw a car with a destroyed windshield parked in front of the emergency vehicles. It wasn't until we looked at our pictures that we noticed that the arm was broken and were able to put two and two together.

At this point in the trip it started snowing again, hard. And, it was big, heavy, fast accumulating flakes since it was 26 degrees. We got back to Jim's aunt and uncle's house for a very relaxing evening.

Leaving Missoula we hit the road at about 9 am mountain time. We thought we were doing well until we actually got into Missoula and stopped at McD's for the WORST service we have ever had anywhere and that alone (in the drive through) set us back about 25 minutes. The roads were wet and sloppy and it had turned to Washington snow, slush and ice. We saw more vehicles spun out in the median in the 100 miles to the Idaho border than we saw the entire rest of the trip. Nice. Now, I'll just get to the point. It should take 2 hours to get to Idaho. It took over 4. For one very simple reason. Truckers who didn't feel the need to take precautions and chain up while going over Lookout Pass. I'm sure it's a cold inconvenience for them but it's their job to try to keep them and everyone else safe. Needless to say, the roads were very slippery and once a few trucks got stopped or slowed down too much, they were stuck. Then when you have two lanes of stuck trucks, no body goes any where. We were stopped next to one trucker (who had passed us quite recklessly) and every time he moved mere inches and put his brakes on, he slid back further than he had gone forward. We spent an extra 2 hours on the pass, barely moving at all and at other times Jim just had the van in park... on the interstate. On the upside, by the time we got home, Rylan was still talking about how he got to pee in a bottle! Ah, the joys of being a boy. We had stopped at the rest stop before hitting the pass, thankfully, but it was just too long and I had no idea how much longer he would have to hold it. Anyway, once the truckers got chained up in the middle of the freeway, the traffic was able to start moving again. Once we hit the Idaho border, the roads were basically bare and wet the rest of the way. Unfortunately, Montana couldn't plow the west bound lanes um, yah, because it was jammed up with traffic!!! Catch 22 I suppose. On the bright side, the rest of the trip home was beautiful. Well, until we tried to get into our driveway but I won't get into that. I'll just say we still had a ton of snow here at the house and the snow plow pile blocking our driveway was quite large.

Looking at that sky, we knew we were in for something interesting!

The wait on the freeway was so long that someone ahead of us made the most of their time and hopped out to make a few families of snow "people" along the way!

Phew! Are you still with me? We arrived home on Sunday night so I had Monday to try to get laundry done and find a place for all the new stuff that the kids got. Tuesday afternoon my parents came down to the house. We had asked them to come a little early since we had our NT scan on Wednesday morning and of course Jim wanted to be there too, so they came to watch the kids for us and let us get our last minute birthday and New Year's Eve stuff done.

The NT scan was pretty cool. It was not offered when I was pregnant with Rylan and when I was pregnant with Eli, our insurance denied coverage for it so we didn't elect to do it. Interestingly enough, this time the insurance covered it no problem. I can't help but wonder what Eli's results would have been - if he would have appeared to be at an increased risk for a chromosomal abnormality. I won't know though. What I do know was that this baby was very cooperative and slept through most of it. Of course, we had to start all with all sorts of measurements of the cysts (yes, plural now) on my ovaries. The ultrasound tech at the Maternal Fetal Medicine office votes that the larger of the cysts is on my right ovary like the first tech reported. Good news is that they are starting to slowly decrease in size which is what they did when I was pregnant with Karleigh too. I'm not worried about them and they're not causing any pain which is a blessing. Apparently the MFM specialist asked Jim - after he sent me to the bathroom upon seeing the size of my bladder! - if I was having any pain or discomfort from them so I am very thankful that I am not.

Anyway, the scan was great. Baby totally cooperated by sleeping for the first part while she took crown to rump measurements which confirmed our original due date of July 11th, a number of nuchal measurements all ranging from 1.1mm to 1.5mm (normal being 2.5mm and below). We were also able to see the nasal bone very clearly and a heart rate of 175. After she got the measurements she did some more looking around at legs, feet, the brain, both little hands, bladder and even a perfect "money" shot. We all saw it and when I asked her if she could see she said "yes, without a doubt" and I said "and???". We saw what we thought we saw and it appears that we are having a baby boy! I am so shocked that they can even tell this early but they can and I'm really glad. We aren't buying anything until our next level II ultrasound in several weeks but I'm glad to know now. There are so many different emotions that I wasn't really expecting, that I need to work through. I am finding out that they are totally normal and that I would probably have a whole different yet equally strange set of emotions had we found out it was a girl. There's always room for him to "change" into a her (though the shot was very convincing) and we're happy either way.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,

all the creatures were still stirring, probably even a mouse.

The children were (almost) nestled all snug in their beds!

Wearing new jammies after washing their heads...

Day Two...

Day two of our travels took us from Missoula, MT to Billings, MT (basically). The morning started with a little bit of pamper time for me - hair cut and color from Jim's cousin. That is always the fastest two hours when we can just chat and not worry about any one listening since she opened the salon just for us!

When I got back to the house we said our goodbyes and loaded into the van and hit the road! There's a bison farm along the way but it was snowing so hard it was tough to get a good pic.

Rylan, once again, was thrilled with the train tracks on his side of the car.
There were SO many bald eagles through about a 5 mile stretch. It was still snowing hard so I think that pushed them down into the trees, this one was working on a fresh catch from the river.

These were just two, of the five in this tree.

Once we got a couple hours east, the snow stopped and it was easier to see.

More trains for the little guy.

Continental Divide, getting closer!

One of the neat old buildings west of Bozeman, took this one while I was chatting with my mom on the phone... multitasking!

One last shot on the east side of Bozeman Pass. Not too much later, the sun was down and we were driving in the dark again.

This leg of the trip is usually 5 hours. And wouldn't you know it... we pulled out of Missoula at exactly 1 pm and hit the Laurel exit at 6 pm! It was so nice to be able to, safely, travel along at 75-77 mph for the majority of the trip.

Grandma has had some fun things planned for the kids. They've been baking, to Build A Bear, Chuck E Cheese, out to lunch, eye exams (and yah, it was of course mommy who need the new Rx... again, their vision is great!), Zoo Lights and right now they are out delivering plates of the goodies that they made and cards that Karleigh drew to the neighbors! They're having a great time and are very excited for tomorrow!

14 hours!!!

Our trip to Montana started out sketchy. This is the view out our front porch the day before we left and it continued to snow all night long. This may not be a shocking sight to most but in the Pacific Northwest, this equals a lot of snow. We can only imagine how much is at the house now since it was dark when we left and this was before the "big" storm!

Since we left our home at 5:52 am (yawn!) it was a bit nerve-wracking. We needed chains on the van just to get out of the driveway and down the hill. Jim was able to take them off about 6 miles from the house and just take it slow the rest of the way. We got to Gresham, OR - only about 25 miles from our house and the wind started to howl. We also saw the big rigs lined up and chaining up on the side of the road under the first warning sign about hazardous travel. At that, we decided to stop in Troutdale, grab a back-up pair of chains (you can never be too prepared) and wait for it to get a bit lighter before we hit the restricted travel areas... that was a smart choice.

Multnomah Falls was flowing but slowly and all the other falls around it, through the gorge, were frozen.

Hummm, thanks for the warning... ICE.

This is what I-84 looked like just outside Cascade Locks... 30 mph was pretty much the top speed.

The kids thought the frozen waterfalls through the gorge were super cool.

Look! The sun did try to come out. If you've never seen the size of these wind turbines, each of the blades is longer than an extra-long tractor trailer!
Some mule deer on the side of the freeway.
Rylan was pleased as punch to see all the trains through the gorge but sadly, he wouldn't sleep for fear of missing some.

... and then it turned into a game where I had to take a picture of the trains we saw.
Ummm, burrr. This was mid-day in eastern Washington... with the sun shining!

The colors as we approached Spokane were really cool.
Shortly after Spokane, the sun went down. For those of you who know this route... remember we left the house at 5:52 am. We arrived in Missoula, MT at a little after 9:00 pm their time. That adds up to 14 hours in the car. The trip usually takes us 8 hours!

Needless to say, once we got there we had a very tired Jim and a very happy Carson. (Jim's cousins' 8 1/2 year old son)

This is the re-cap of our first leg of our trip. It was a nervous trip but the kids did great when they needed to. We tried to keep away from the crazy drivers and were very thankful to make it in one piece especially since we came up on 3 vehicles that had slammed guard-rails and spun across the road mere minutes before we drove by. Though it was a cold, snowy trip, the places that we were most nervous about weren't nearly that big a deal. It's funny, once you get on the other side of the Cascades, the snow issue is a whole different ball game. When we were driving around Missoula we didn't even hardly think about the fact that the streets weren't plowed!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Yes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. This is the scene that we awoke to this morning, and frankly a lighter version of what we went to sleep to! If you notice, it's the winter version of Eli's garden! It snowed all day and it's dumping on us again. Jim has never taken a sick day from work but he does take the occasional weather day, and today was one of those days. He did take the van for a test drive and had to chain up to get home so, that's where he stayed thankfully. Oh, and I didn't end up going to my OB appointment either but I checked on the little one and he/she is still alive with a heart rate of about 173 bpm this morning.

Not only is it beginning to look like Christmas outside, but inside as well. Only, it's not that decked halls, cookies baking in the kitchen look. It's the gifts boxed up, emergency kit assembled, clean laundry and half packed suitcases all over. Nice. I cannot leave the house a mess so any time that we leave for a little while, I'm like a crazy person. This year however, I just haven't felt good from the nasty virus that I am still trying to kick and I've had a headache (feels like a stress headache) for the last two or three days which makes it hard to do much... which stresses me out even more. Speaking of stressing out, I thought I was going to lose my mind when I thought about packing for a week. I can still wear one pair of my jeans (eeep) but they don't feel good at all. I had just done some clothes shopping the week before Eli's heart stopped so I knew that I had an outfit upstairs in my drawer but it was like my own little mini jack pot when I opened the drawer. I actually have three pair of pants that fit now and I can just continue to wear some of my looser fitting shirts. Sure, it's not enough to get me through a week but I can do laundry.

Speaking of Eli... one of my girlfriends sent us a Christmas card today and in it was the most perfect little silver angel ornament. I've wanted to get one for Eli but haven't been able to make myself do it. What a wonderful gift! Jim hung it right near the top of our tree right out front and the crystal on it catches the light just perfectly!

We'll be heading out e.a.r.l.y. Saturday morning and heading towards Montana via the Columbia Gorge. We are hoping to get out in front of the next nasty snow/ice (yay!) storm that they are predicting for this area later that day and into Sunday. We'll be going as far as Missoula and staying with Jim's aunt and uncle which is such a warm and relaxing stop. Then Sunday morning I have my own personal "beauty" appointment set up. Karleigh may join me and Jessie may trim her hair while mine sits and then we'll be on to Billings. Hopefully we'll get to grab some national championship Griz gear while we're there... the game is tomorrow in Chattanooga (Mel!) so GO GRIZ! And please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a safe trip. Jim has put his mad Eagle Scout skillz to use and has all sorts of emergency preparedness stuff for us so hopefully we won't need any of it! Hopefully I'll get a chance to check in again but until then, Merry almost Christmas!