The Great Find of 2008

Two days ago, I was doing random searches on craigslist for things we may want in the future...like a piano, or a treadmill....I found this little beauty located near our house and advertised for only $100. Richard thought this was a steal and called the guy. It turns out he and his wife are moving tomorrow and needed the piano to be gone by tonight. There were multiple interested parties and it became somewhat of a bidding war. After the price went up, I talked Rick out of it, it's just not something we need to spend money on right now. He gave me a hard time about it, saying it was something he really wanted etc.

A little while later the guy called us back and said, no one can move the piano by tomorrow, so if you can come get it tonight, I'll give it to you for free.

Naturally, Richard could not pass on that deal. So he called a couple of places, rented a trailer, and off he went.

We had $60 cash, so we gave that to the guy, it was too nice to take for free, and the wife had had it since she was four years old.

A friend from church helped him move it into our house. (Thanks Luke, and Happy Birthday!)

Benjamin was in LOVE...so I guess when He's four, it's lesson time!

Oh and if you are curious, it's a 1905 Richmond Piano, made in Richmond, IN. It has all of it's original ebony and ivory keys and the stool is original too. On the feet of the stool there are glass balls. Everything is in really nice shape, the piano needs to be tuned, but it doesn't sound horrible as of right now. And now we have something to go in our empty dining room!

Remind you (mom & family) of anyone?

He wore this hat last night and wanted to wear it for like half of today as well.
He's too cute, I'm going to miss it just being me and him I think.

Overdue.

In my delirious state, induced by extreme fatigue, I will post this gross picture of me at 40 weeks.

Benjamin's Worst Nightmare

This is the Jack in the Box restaurant guy.

I've noticed Ben whining from time to time if a commercial comes on for Jack in the box, but never really thought too much of it....until tonight.

A JitB commercial came on and Benjamin ran over to me, all wide eyed with a look of absolute terror on his face and buried his little face in my shirt. I've never seen him so scared. In fact, it was so pitiful, I almost cried myself.

Thanks Jack in the Box....

40 weeks

I have been pregnant for 40 weeks.
I am full term.

I cannot believe this baby is not here yet.
Never in a million years did I think I would be pregnant still today.

My little ticker is over at the bottom of the page.
I'm sure I'm carrying around at LEAST an 8 pound baby.

I'm a little miserable now.
I can't even sit up and get out of bed...I have to roll. :-/

Sorry Folks, Still no Baby.

The Day After Christmas

Today was uneventful in the world of pregnancy and baby related things.

We attempted a trip to the mall, but traffic was terrible, so we ended up passing it by. We did go into Target, well I did. And I ended up with a few 50% off Christmas items..but not the one I wanted. I was really hoping to get one of those wrapping paper storage containers, but of course they were all out.

Also, in the 10-15 minutes I was in the store, I was so annoyed by the people that I almost couldn't wait to get out of there. Some lady had 3 shopping carts, like 8 children, and she kept blocking every single thing I wanted to look at and sighing heavily when I didn't "keep on moving."

Anyway, after that we went to Toys R Us. Benjamin had some Christmas money and he picked out a train to go on his train table. Thank you Great Grandma H. :)

After that we met some friends for bowling. It was a good time and a chance to get to know another couple a little bit better outside of a group setting. It was fun.

I hoped it would help move labor along, but no such luck. Bummer.

(The picture is from bowling, there are few more that I put in the Christmas album, so just click the link from my Christmas day post and you should be able to see them. )

Merry Christmas!

You'll have to click to see the whole picture I guess. You can view our other Christmas pictures HERE.

This morning we woke up at 7:30am, headed downstairs and had our breakfast. It was a nice quiet morning.

After breakfast we opened our presents. Benjamin got a train table and a train set. Richard and I spent about a half hour putting it together and setting it up last night. Totally worth it. He was very excited.

I got a sweater, an Olive Garden gift card, and a beautiful diamond necklace. :) It's the one I wanted probably since we got married. I will take a picture of it later. But it's a journey style (not the curvy one) and it has 5 diamonds. It's on a shorter chain and it's simple and elegant. I love it!

Richard got a GPS navigator and a watch. He's been tinkering with the GPS on and off all day.

After presents we played with Benjamin, called our families, and then decided to take a nap. It was great. :)

It's been a fun day, but I have to say Christmas is a little bit boring when you have no extended family to spend it with.

We really miss you all! Hope you had a grrreat Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Today was party day at our house. Sadly I didn't take a single picture. But we had a good time anyway. We had 13 or 14 adults and 7 kids. It was kind of chaotic, but it was still pretty fun. We played TriBond. It's a game where there are 3 things on a card and you have to say how they relate, i.e. a phone number, a hand, and a foot...they all have digits. Some were hard, some were easy, there was much laughter and it was just a fun day.

Again, we are so, SO thankful to have found a church where the people are awesome and a place where we just feel so at home. God has truly blessed us this year.

After the party, we cleaned up a bit and let Benjamin open his presents from us. We got him a magna doodle and some new cars.

A few days ago we opened our stockings, Richard got some underwear and I got milk duds. The day before that we gave Ben his gift from Grandma and Grandpa. I actually didn't take any pictures of him opening it because I took all videos. But since we got the new camera, the videos are too big to post! So...I'm sorry Grandma and Grandpa, you'll have to wait to see them until we come home. He really likes it though. It's a 6 car jumbo tonka car carrier. He carries all his cars on it though, and really likes to push the truck part around the house.

Anyway, after the presents, we went to church. It was a really nice candle light service. It started at 7pm and it was over a little after 8pm. We hung around and chatted, made potential plans for Friday (assuming no baby shows up) and then we went home. On the way we found 3 people who needed to be pulled out of the snow. So we stopped to help, and by the time we got home, Ben was asleep and we were starving! So we made ourselves a smorgasbord of left overs and enjoyed a movie together.

It was a great day. :) I will post the pictures tomorrow!

It's Christmas Eve Eve!

It's been a day.

We are having people over from church tomorrow for a Christmas Eve lunch and to play games/hang out. It was originally going to be us and two other couples but now the number has gone up and we will potentially have 4 couples, 6 more children, and 3 singles. I think it will be fun, but it would really be so nice if we had our new furniture.

Nothing seems to be arriving on time this year. Ha!

Today I got up at 5am for work. Benjamin woke up at 8:30, I got him breakfast and went to work cleaning the kitchen. Richard woke up at 10:40 (I'm a pretty nice wife....) and he went to work putting up a curtain rod, and doing some stuff in the garage. He also entertained Ben while I cleaned, which was nice.

I missed out on my nap, taking advantage of Ben's sleeping to really get to work. I scrubbed floors and toilets, vacuumed , got on my hands and knees, was up, was down, did some dusting, about 8 loads of laundry (still working on that), organized cupboards, and cleaned out the fridge (apparently I am my mother's daughter). I don't think our house has EVER been this clean!

I am tired, I worked my butt off today...and even after all of that, STILL no baby. No nothing actually. No contraction to be had. Can it really be that comfortable in there? From what I can tell it's pretty cramped...So come on out little one, we're ready.

Emily, I didn't even shower this morning thinking that might do the trick. LoL. (I told Em, I've been showering and doing my hair/makeup every morning to make sure I don't look like crap when I go into labor. She said, it would happen on the day I don't do any of those things...guess not!)

Anyway...I do have some new pictures to post, but the camera is in my purse, which is downstairs....and I'm up here, sitting on the couch...and I'm comfortable....you get the idea.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! :)

Let it Snow!

It snowed all day, the roads are still covered, no plows or salt trucks here, it's grrrrrreat!

We frosted all of our cookies today, it took FOREVER, but we had a good time!

Here it is...the 39 week belly! Richard decided we would have a photo shoot, since we don't know how much longer we have with the belly....

We went outside briefly, and Richard made a snowball.

Cutest picture of the day...Benjamin spent the the entire day in front of the window, some would say he was "transfixed" by the snow. haha

Little Precious. :)

39 Weeks

Never in a million years did I think I would STILL be pregnant today!

What we did today....

Allow Me to Clarify.

Hello all... I realize I may be sounding a little desperate these days.

I suppose I am to some degree. But, I am actually not too uncomfortable, or antsy, or sick of being pregnant.

My main reasons for wanting to evict this poor, nameless child are:

1. I don't want her to have to share her birthday with Christmas

2. I want to go to Rick's brother's wedding and NOT look like I just had a baby

3. I want to be healthy and strong for traveling (and I want the baby to be ok to travel too...i.e. big enough, without jaundice...etc.)

Sadly, I think that's all I've got.

Am I ready to be done with pregnancy for awhile? Sure. I'd like to pretend that I own my body...but in reality, I've been pregnant or breastfeeding since October of 2006!

So...I'll keep praying for an early/safe/.healthy delivery and if that's not what happens, I will try not to be too disappointed in knowing that God just had other plans. :)

Someone just HAD to go into labor today (obviously not me) and they rescheduled my appointment for MONDAY!

Still no Baby...

Ben was completely fascinated by the falling snow

We got a lot of snow today. Richard even got a snow day from work! We didn't do much anyway, put another coat of paint in the upstairs bathroom (I helped the first time, but sat this one out). Re-arranged some bedroom furniture, and I cleaned downstairs.

Overall I'd say it was a pretty uneventful day, but we did go outside and play for a little bit!

He kept touching the snow, looking at his hand and then brushing it off.

Here is our lovely snowman family. Richard, Pregnant Ashley, and Baby Benjamin

Oh...and Benjamin has been really into oatmeal these past few days, he just can't seem to get enough......

38 and 3

If this was Benjamin, I'd be in labor. Argh!

I am so nervous that she won't come early and I won't be able to go home.

I keep saying that little prayer every day. Someone told me to talk to her to coax her out. haha. I don't know about that.

If it wasn't so cold and I didn't already have a small child to care for, I'd get outside and walk...in the mean time I go up and down our steps as many times a day as I can....but nothing seems to be working.

Going to the Dr. tomorrow and hoping for some progress.

Anyway...it's a winter wonderland here and I am loving the gorgeous snow. Apparently, it's not normal for our area.

What precious little baby wouldn't like to be welcomed into the world during the holdiay season with snow? Coooome on!

In other news, we still don't have a name for her....perhaps if we picked a name and stuck with it, she'd want to come out?

In the meantime....pleeease keep praying that she decides to come early and without complication. :)

Mystery Gifts and Pictures from Sunday

Today we got a package in the mail, there was no return address, no card, and we didn't recognize the handwriting. All we know for certain is that it was mailed from Zeeland, MI. Our guess is one of Richard's sisters, but she doesn't get on the computer much, so I'm guessing she wouldn't see this post. The package had little hearts drawn on it too, so it's someone with a child or someone who isn't so good at drawing hearts. ;) Either way, Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness! Benjamin enjoys wearing his hat in the house. Don't you like his sweater Noni?

Richard insisted I post this picture. He says, "oh yeah baby, this is what a hot pregnant person looks like" haha. :-D I said, "why is that? because you can't see the giant belly?" He had no further comment.

Benjamin does a pretty great fake cry. I'm sad to say I am the one who taught him how to do it.

Here you can see our mac n cheese covered child dipping a mac n cheese covered apple into KETCHUP....he actually ate it too. Disgusting.

I've been really slacking on my picture taking lately...I used to do at least ONE photo shoot with Ben/our family a month... it's usually something fun for me to do, but I just haven't been up to it lately. I'm sure the recent rainy weather hasn't helped matters, but we do get some nice natural light in the house...I'll get around to it sooner or later.

It's SNOWING!

Our first snow in WA and the first time snow has ever touched our house (Rick's observation).

Also...I got my first paycheck today! Sweeeeeeeeet!

38 Weeks

First, we rearranged the loft. You can sift back through my old posts for the tour if you don't remember what it looked like before...this is SO much better!

Here I am looking a bit awkward, but 38 weeks (tomorrow). My belly grew 1cm from last week.

Richard told me to post this one, it was his favorite.

Hopefully these are some of the last belly pictures I'll take of this pregnancy...I'm SO ready!

So...Papa is a little bit bigger, and maybe has bigger ears, but I think that picture of Benjamin looks alot like the one of my dad. I had to hotlink these from facebook, for whatever reason blogger will not let me upload any pictures. Oh...and the above picture was taken with our new Canon. I even used the flash and I think the colors and Ben's skin/eyes still look great. And, no red eye!

Happy Anniversary

Mom & Dad

Thank you both for being a loving example of what a Christian marriage looks like.

Happy 26!

Can't wait to see you!

PowerShot

In the market for a new camera? I am loving this new Canon Powershot (SD1100). We got the blue one, but I love all the colors. If you are looking for a new camera, I recommend doing some research and reading reviews first though. ;)

I wanted to show you some pictures I took with it, but blogger won't let me upload any right now...and neither will facebook. Something funny is going on with my internet lately...I'll try again later!

Go Ahead...Make My Day

Today was kind of a crappy day for me.

First of all my server was down for work again and I woke up early only to wait for an hour and half to get started. I didn't get finished until 9:20am and play group started at 10am. Once I finished work, I ran around trying to get Benjamin breakfast (He woke up at 9 this morning), and tried to get myself ready, quickly realizing I didn't have time to take a shower. I took one last night, but night showers leave my hair looking pretty crappy.

Soo...we made it to play group and we had a good time, but we were a half hour late. I really don't like being late, it just leaves me feeling stressed and frazzled, even though I'm pretty sure no one cared at all. We got lost on the way there, so that didn't help me feel any calmer.

After play group we had a quick lunch at McDonald's. It wasn't that good and neither of us really ate anything at all. Probably better that way.

Then we went to Wal-Mart to get stuff for a breakfast casserole I'm making for my bible study brunch tomorrow. I got everything I needed....so I thought.

Ben and I came home and went straight down for a nap.

When we woke up, I got Ben some dinner and started on my casserole. Only to find out I only had 6 eggs when I needed 12.

So...back to Wal-Mart we went. I didn't mind, it helped to pass some time...I always feel a little "off" when Rick isn't around.

I finished pre-making my casserole and shortly after the doorbell rang. I was hoping it was Rick coming home early, but I know better.

It was the UPS man with not 1, but 2 packages! The first one was a big box of goodies from my cousin in Florida. A whole bunch of cute girly clothes and my favorite, Reese Trees! It was so nice because I've been wanting some chocolate...I picked up a snickers bar at walmart, but I felt bad and put it back. So, now I have some delicious chocolate. Thank You!! Ben loved everything in the box, especially the little shoes and hats. He took everything out and made me look at each thing. It was pretty entertaining.

The other package was Richard's Christmas present. I really like it and I hope he will too.

Anyway...this was a totally boring post, I apologize for the play by play of our boring day. I don't even have a picture for you....Well..actually, yesterday our new camera came in the mail. I did take a few pictures with it, but it's downstairs and I don't feel like going to get it. We got the Canon Powershot SD1100. I love it already. It's a really nice camera and we got it on Amazon.com for $148.00. Deal!

Alright..that's all I've got....pretty boring!

James & Emily


Happy Anniversary!

Christmas Lights

Some people have inquired about our Christmas lights. We went with some blue and white lights this year...I guess for photographic purposes I should have turned off the lights inside the house, but oh well!


See that nice silver car in the drive way? Merry Christmas to me!
I'm no longer trapped at home, play group, bible study, grocery store, the post office, dr.'s appointments, the possibilities are endless!!!! LoL. (it's a used 2007 Chrysler Sebring, not exactly a car I had my eye on, but it's a really nice car, and we really like it so far)

Oh, and you'll have to click the picture to see the whole thing, blogger is anti photos at this time, so I had to hot link it from facebook!