Do you have your belly button pierced?

Yes, After being asked this several times on several different days I decided that it was time to take the ring out. Apparantly, the bump is now large enough to reveal my secret, and I suppose after 9 years, the time has come to part ways!

Well, we are 15 weeks and counting! Today was another doctor's appointment and all went well. The heartbeat is strong and both of us check out healthy. The tech did say, "Well, this lil one is definitely moving" as she tried to get it to stop long enough to monitor the heart rate :) And I am finally gaining some weight! This is good news as the nausea is more and more under control each day. I'm really looking forward to the time when I can truly enjoy being pregnant! Hope you enjoy the new belly pics and also, below, you'll find a video of one of our many walks with Daisy. She loves running through the wheat fields behind our house and the wheat is tall enough now, well... you'll have to check it out for yourself!

USS Cole

Shaye had a great opportunity to go see the USS Cole yesterday. He went with the Navy Chief he works with here and got a tour of the ship as well as the luxury of dinning in the Chief Mess Hall (but the food left nothing to brag about). He said it was slow around there because they were at port and most people take this opportunity to be out and about and off the boat! He also got a coin from the Chief who was giving them the tour - very cool! Hope you enjoy some pics from his exciting day out...

The ship and Chief peekin out for a pic.

Lookin off the front of the ship and a 5 inch diameter gun (there is a British aircraft carrier ship in the background).

Shaye was quite happy he opted out of the Navy after seeing these luxury accommodations. There were cozy in this hall with 12 beds stacked from the floor up... watch your head!

Shaye driving the ship ;-)

The stars are a memorial for the fallen sailors from the bombing on Oct. 12, 2000.

Happy Memorial Day!!

HELLO!

We had the privilege of helping place flags at Madingley National American Cemetery on Friday to get ready for today's Memorial celebration. It is in Cambridge, about 40 minutes from us and Shaye's shop volunteers for it every year. We had just as beautiful weather this year as last, and it was a real group effort!

In other news... Everything is going pretty well here. The weather decided to go back to rain and wind the last two days and it looks as though it will continue for the week. Guess we wouldn't be living in England without the rain! We sold our Mini today! This is good news, if you hadn't heard we bought a Land Rover (and we really didn't need 3 cars!). Shaye was a little hesitant, but we decided the Land Rover was much more family friendly and we are already enjoying having it. Even Daisy likes all the room!! :)

Shaye has started a regular running regiment and has been running 5 days a week for the last 2 weeks straight. He used to run all the time and is happy to be back at it (for the first time since his surgery this fall). Personally, I think it is just plain crazy to run 5 miles at once, but that is why he does it, not me!!

I am doing good, but am still sick :( It is "under control" for the most part, but I'm still looking forward to the day when it all "levels out", as I've been promised, and I can truly enjoy being pregnant. I'll update some more pics soon (Jess seems to think once a month is not near enough). We also got some entertaining video of a walk with Daisy the other day and if I can figure it out, I'll get it posted in the next couple of days for your enjoyment.

Until next time... all our love!

OH BABY!

Okay, it has been a REALLY long time since my last post... lots to tell... so here it goes!


Biggest news first...
We are very excited to share our news that we are expecting (for those that haven't already heard)! We just returned from an adventurous trip back home where we got to share the news with all our family in person. Everyone seems really excited and now I can keep you updated as events unfold.


Today was our 12 week appointment and we got to see the baby again! It was AMAZING!! It was jumping around so much that even the doctor was laughing because she was having a hard time getting it to stop for a photo. She said, "I can't wait till you get bigger and can feel this, you are gonna have an active one!" Still not sure if that is good or not :)... but I'm excited for the day I feel it move - kinda weird all that is going on and I'm virtually unaware of it! The appointment went well, strong heartbeat and limited weight gain (only a pound). They say that will catch up when the nausea stops... we are still hoping for that to happnen any day. She gave me some stuff to help combat it and told me to "hang in there" and continues to assure me that it will get better!

The printer wasn't working very well/ and you get a scanned image to boot so I hope you can get a little of an idea with the ultrasound below: The baby is laying face down with the head to left side, the spine on the top and you can see one leg to the right - Good luck :)

Okay Jess, here's the belly shots you've been begging for :) Shaye insisted on the the shirt up!












In other news...


My job is going Really well. I love working with the kids, meeting all the new staff, and just beein a speechie again. The principal is very optimistic that the job will be there next year and looks forward to having me back!

Our trip home was really good, well, all of it but the flying part. We were able to spend time with family in Hot Springs, Shaye's parents in Gillette, and even friends in Rapid. We even made it home in tme for my Great Grandpa Gillis's 101st birthday! We definitely didn't have enough time for everyone, but enjoyed it all! We even got to shop!! Now, maybe not such a big deal to some, but when you live in England and pay pounds... Shopping in dollars is heaven!

The "big" event at home was my lil bro's wedding! He is all grown up wth a wifey now ;) It was a beautiful ceremony with an exciting reception. Loads of family made it home, we were even able to see some great aunts and uncles!

The Bride and Groom!

Jake, Me, Jess, & Chad

Four Generations!!

Cousins (and 3 spouses)

While we were home we also were blessed with SD weather and found ourselves in a blizzard!! In true midwest style, the storm lasted a day and melted quickly over the next two days. Snow in May... not something we are likely to see here in England.

Daisy did fine with her stint in the kennel. She was VERY excited to see us and lost quite a bit of weight while we were gone (she gets a little anxious in new places and doesn't eat), but is easily settled back into her routine now that we are home.

Hope you are all well and I will update as new and exciting stuff happens... should be more frequently wth my growing belly :)

Until next time...