Easter and other things...

Happy belated Easter! We have had a lot going on the past few weeks, some good, some very difficult. We had a nice Easter weekend, low key which is nice. Last Friday, Bill and I took Connor to see "Horton Hears A Who" which was SO good! He really loved it. Now he is always looking out for "talking specks". Saturday we dyed Easter eggs and Sunday he had an Easter Egg hunt, indoors of course due to the inch of snow that fell the night before- ahh spring in Colorado- it's 70 degrees today! Then that afternoon we went up to my Mom and Dad's for Easter Lunch. Both my brothers, Christopher and Dave were there along with Dave's fiancee, Kristen. And my sister, Emily and her husband Bryce and my nephew Declan and of course my Grandma as well. We had a great time, the boys played and played. We also celebrated my Dad's birthday with his ever favorite gift of Rockies season tickets! Then that evening after Connor begged us to let him go and play whatever "war" game his Uncles were playing on their XBox, we dragged up from the basement my old Nintendo (circa 1996) and he has spent the last 3 days perfecting Mario Cart.

Our difficult news came with the passing of Bill's older brother, Jim Howard. Bill and Jim were very close and Jim contributed greatly to the wonderful man I married. Jim had been battling colon cancer for several years. Bill had been planning to go out and visit on March 14th and his niece Amy called on the 12th to let him know that Jim would be in home hospice care that day. So he left for Chicago the next day and was there when Jim passed away on March 13th. Connor and I were not able to go, but Bill told us how much love filled the room as Jim's spirit passed on. I had only known him for 8 years, but he made a huge impact on my life and I know he was greatly loved by many, many people. We will miss our beloved Uncle Jimmy....

I had my 21 week ultrasound on Monday and they could see parts of the heart they couldn't see previously and we are still having a little girl and she is measuring perfectly. My c-section surgery has been scheduled for July 28th and 7:15am, which means we have to be there at 5:15am! Fortunately I am delivering at the hospital down the road from our home, Connor was delivered all the way downtown and this way I might let Bill go home and get some sleep in a real bed. We have decided on a name, Regan Jamie-Marie, Marie is my middle name and Bill's late brother was named James. It will be an incredible honor for our daughter to share his name.

And the last bit of news in this roller coaster blog is GREAT! My sister Emily is pregnant with her second child!!! She is 7 weeks so far and unlike with her son, could not wait to tell everyone. She and Bryce had almost the same fertility issues that we have had this second time around, so this is fabulous news for our whole family! I am not sure my Mother will know what to do with two grandchildren born 3 1/2 months apart. Of course it will be a little easier than Em & I getting married 2 months apart!

Hope your spring is as warm and happy!

Melinda, Bill, Connor & Regan-to-be

and of course Chase & Abby

Connor's 4th Tooth!

Connor lost his fourth and first top tooth last night! Now he officially looks like an elementary school student. The tooth fairy is losing money on this kid. Probably because I have a "thing" with loose teeth. As a kid I literally pulled my teeth out as soon as they even had a hint of wiggling. Not because I wanted the cash, although it was nice, I just had to pull them! But fortunately Connor is wise to steer clear of me and my fingers. I do end up pulling them for him, but only when he is ready and only when they are hanging on by a thread!

I figure by the time the baby is born that I will have two kids with no teeth!

See ya,
Melinda

New Goal

Ok, so here's my new goal inspired by Molly and Brandy who are so great about updating their blogs, I am going to update and add pictures on a regular basis. I love hearing about their lives and seeing pictures of their beautiful kids, so I figure maybe I'd better get to it.

I just heard from my OB, I had the quad screen blood tests done last week and got the results today. They were completely normal. The blood tests were to determine a chance of abnormalities in the baby. I think they can tell up to 80%, but I think this last ultrasound we had done by the high-risk office is the last test of these types. But I can never be sure.

So things are going along well. Except that the mechanic has had my Durango for 2 days after my brothers looked at it and NO ONE can seem to hear the very loud clanging noise I heard. So I guess as of now, there is nothing wrong, until of course I pick it up and drive it home, I give it a half mile before I hear it again.

Talk to you soon,
Melinda

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Yep, we found out today that we are definitely having a girl! Since I have been having more ultrasounds that probably 10 women and since I am ALMOST of "advanced maternal age" we found out at 18 weeks that all my hunches (and everyone else's) were right!!!!

I have been seeing a high-risk OB due to my "almost" old age along with my regular OB and I went in today to have an ultrasound done so they could make sure SHE was doing ok. And she is! I am officially 18 weeks and 0 days and the baby is measuring along perfectly. All the anatomy looks good, although it took them a bit longer to see the mouth since she likes to hide and play games! Fortunately Bill was able to come with me, as was Connor since he was off from school today, which was so GREAT to have them both there when they told us. And I did know someone who was told she was having a girl and ended up having a boy, but both techs were positive and used the word "definitely" several times. Even though I was pretty sure it was a girl, I was still overjoyed when they told us!! SO GREAT!!!!

So now we will begin the task of ridding our basement and Connor's closet of 6 years worth of boy clothes! Seriously if anyone needs or wants some boy clothes from birth to 6 years- we've got them!! I did not throw anything away- yet! And since we are living in a house now instead of an apartment like when Connor was born, we get to paint our nursery!

It has been a WONDERFUL day! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!

Love to you all,
Melinda, Bill and Connor the BIG brother!