To Make a Room

I've decided that in most cases, to clean a mess, sometimes you have to create one first. In my case, Chadwick and I are starting the process of creating a room for the baby. In order to do so, the office must be dismantled, moved downstairs, set up again, and the baby room started. Our closet in the office is typical - a hiding spot for things that I don't know what to do with, a spot for old yearbooks, journals, toys from college (i.e. my WSU Barbie cheerleader given to me by a good friend), and more pages of notes from vet school than I care to count. Plus some other miscellaneous items. This is turning into something of a process, but it is a needed "purging." I am grateful for recycling....makes us feel less guilty about getting rid of so much paper. And what to do with all of our textbooks??

I am excited to be starting the process of making a nursery! Tomorrow, Oct. 13, we go in for our 19 week ultrasound.....more on that at a later date. =)

Happy Birthday, Julie Schmoolie

Twenty-nine years ago yesterday, I was born in Albuquerque, NM in the midst of the balloon fiesta. Mom said she could see the balloons from her hospital window....

My morning started out with a fabulous scrambled eggs, potatoes, and toast breakfast, made special by my wonderful husband. Work was super hectic; three of the six doctors were out of town for a mini-conference in Sun Valley, ID, leaving two of us in the clinic and one running around taking care of cut and sick horses. We were also short-staffed! Usually, our morning appointments end around 12:15.....yesterday we finally caught up with the morning at 1:00 pm. That left little time to eat, finish some things, and prepare for the afternoon appointments! But, as Dr. Kayla says, "We'll get it done." And we did, with most of our hair intact and not pulled out. We have a great staff! The pumpkin pie we had in the clinic for my birthday gave us some necessary sugar to power us through the day as well.

The flowers pictured above were a delivery gift from Chadwick - I love flowers! However, I hate the nickname "Julie Schmoolie," which is what was written on the card attached to said flowers. Chadwick came up with the nickname early in our relationship when we were coming up with pet names for one another. Luckily, I don't hear it very often! =)

After work, we went out to the Cheesecake Factory with my in-laws for dinner. Lots of garlic in that food! We rolled out of there with leftovers in our hands. Overall, not a bad day. And I got lots of phone calls from family and friends. I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life!!

Life Updates

These last several weeks have been busy! Not so much with work, but life.

After much debate, thought, and conversation, Chadwick decided that he was no longer going to pursue veterinary specialty and instead learn the art of being a general practitioner. Now we're able to focus on a new direction....where ever that may lead! We can go anywhere and do anything at this point, so we're tossing around some ideas. We'll keep ya posted.

Second, my mom and step-dad Mark came up to Boise last weekend for a visit. Mark has never seen our house or clinics, and mom wanted to know what her pregnant daughter looked like. (Side note: once you get pregnant, fewer people are concerned about your welfare, only that of the child. I think this will continue to get worse after the baby is born. Huh.) We went up to the Hunt family cabin Friday night and the boys went fishing on the Middle Fork of the Payette Saturday for a few hours. They were successful, though Chadwick kept only one fish.
During this time, Mom and I walked, talked, and relaxed. The weather was great and the bugs minimal, so we had a good time. Saturday evening, we attended "A Tuna Christmas" which was put on by the Idaho Shakespeare Festival - it's an outdoor theater with lawn seating and an amazing venue! You can bring your own picnic dinner and drinks....we didn't know that food and photos were okay until we got there. I'll take a picture next time. Sunday was relaxing and dinner with the Hunts. All-in-all, a great time.

I am officially in the 'tweener stage of pregnancy - my regular jeans no longer fit in the mid-section (though thankfully my rear end still fits fine) and my maternity jeans Mom bought left me with a saggy bottom all day at work because they are a smidge too large. Give it a week and they'll fit better. This is me at 17-18 weeks:

To end, my thoughts are with the Pullman crew with whom we shared many between-Conference session meals - Ryan, Holly, Hayley, Milo, Chad, Jessica, Todd, Hannah, Mike, Jen, Anne, and Liz. I miss you guys!

Working Toward a Tank

Since his birthday almost 2 weeks ago, Chadwick has been diligently working to build the M1A1 tank model. First, the paint, then pain-stakingly removing each piece from its plastic home to glue it into place. It looks pretty good! I think there is still more to come....
When I went home in August for my Nana's birthday, waiting for me in my room was a craft Mom had bought for me to put together for the baby. I've had said craft for, what, at least a month. Here is how far I've gotten:
Yeah, still in the wrapper. Sorry, Mom. It's kind of a running joke that our crafts (mine and Mom's) might be done by the second or third child. I guess we're relying on other people to complete a craft for the first one. Ha!

The Big 3-0

Last Wednesday, 9-9-09, pushed Chadwick (and thus his twin, Stephen) out of the 20's and into the 30's. According the card sent him by my Nana, he only has 10 good years left. Yikes! I guess we'd better make the most out of those years then, eh?

Unfortunately, we didn't do anything extra special for him. Leftovers Wednesday night, dinner with his parents Thursday night, and out to eat at McGrath's Fish House Friday night. He opened several presents and had pretty much a normal week. This is him with his Dairy Queen blizzard oogling over parts to the M1A2 Abrams tank model I bought him for his birthday. He used to drive the M1A1 version, which they didn't have in the hobby shop, but you can make the earlier version of the tank with this model set. Projects!


An update from his fishing trip in Yellowstone - great weather, beautiful country, good company, not so great fishing. They weren't biting well, but the boys had a great time despite the fact.

14 Weeks Down....

And this is me at 14 weeks! I wasn't showing at all until about week 12, and I swear the belly popped out overnight. Hello?! One of my co-workers is convinced that I'm having twins because she thinks it's a little early to be showing so much. Where else is everything going to go?? I'm wearing a poofy shirt, which I pulled up to "show off" my stomach.

And can someone explain why people feel the need to touch the belly? It's weird to have women I don't know well reaching out to touch my abdomen....

As a side note, my husband spent this Labor Day weekend with his dad and brother, James, fly fishing in Yellowstone. Rough life! He spent an evening or two tying flies for the venture. He showed me all of them and asked if I knew what kind of fly they where - "Uh, a bug?" was all I could reply. He'll have some good stories to tell upon his return.

New Branch on the Family Tree

Yes!! We are expecting an addition to our little family - my due date is March 4, 2010. Which puts me at 11 weeks and almost through the first "tri-semester," as Chadwick calls it. We've known for a while but I haven't mustered the energy to sit at the computer and update our blog. This will be the first grandchild on my side of the family and number 12 on his side. One of my
sisters-in-law is due in January, so there will be two new little Hunt additions next year!

In other news, Chadwick enjoyed his time at the veterinary school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is learning the ropes of general medicine at his dad's practice. I have been "kicked" out of the large animal side of things and am now a small animal veterinarian for the remainder of my pregnancy....which will be great as the size of my abdomen continues to expand.

We drove to Idaho Falls at the end of July to attend the wedding of a close friend, Alexis, who of course was a beautiful bride. I also made the trip to Albuquerque for a 4-day visit with my family. My Nana celebrated her 75th birthday and I had to be home for that event! Nana, Mom, and I went to the opera Friday night for the world-premeire of "The Letter," which was quite the cultural experience.
And yes, there are 75 candles on that coffee cake!

I got together with three high school buddies while there - Betsy just had a baby girl in May, and Laurie and I are expecting in February and March! Needless to say, the topic at lunch was pregnancy and babies. =)