Update

I am getting so bad at posting lately. I just really don't like sitting in front of the computer anymore. And since I haven't taken too many pictures lately, I don't really have any reason to sit down. Oh well, here is our update.


Two weekends ago the guys started work on the shed. In two days they got everything done. Wire ran, walls put up, insulation, and sheeting put on the walls. Still need to finish the electrical rough in, light fixtures up and electrical boxes wired and the panel put up. But no hurry since there isn't any electricity to the building yet. The first picture shows Chris' paint booth. He'll put in a regular garage door and some ventilation in there. His grand plans are to start restoring his tractors and also a place to spray his wood projects. Eventually all the woodworking tools from the shop will be moved out here. Makes more sense to have them at home and free up space for work. Madi loves going out to the shed to play ball and run around and ride her tricycle. So he can't fill it up too much, (haha yeah right!) We did get everything moved out of the garage in time for the nasty weather to come through. Chris was able to park inside at least.







Saturday morning we didn't think that the snow was too bad. Close to the house you could see grass poking through the snow, but the drifts were awful. Chris decided to venture out at about 10:00 and head to town to get the snow blower. He had trouble getting out of the drive. Once he got back home, it took him an hour and a half using the digger to get us dug out. And of course almost all of the snow is gone now. The larger drifts are still melting and his piles he made. But now everything is such a muddy mess. He went out last night with the shovel to make some trenches to help the sitting water move and dry up faster. And we have the lovely Kansas wind back with gusts in the 40's, so it shouldn't be long before the water is dried up also.

Madi was dying to go out Sunday and play in the snow. She was content playing on the driveway and throwing snowballs into the water puddles. Which was fine with me. But last night she insisted on going out where Daddy was, which resulted in a muddy mess. At least she had her rain boots to wear.





Madi is still doing a super job at potty training!! She has decided she likes to wear the pull-ups better than panties but that's okay for now. She still isn't pooping on the potty yet but she tells me every time when she needs to go potty, no accidents! She is becoming a little terror lately, really pushing buttons. But maybe she has cabin fever too. She just gets so ornery and doesn't listen and terrorizes the dog. Then you get both of them making noise and it is just way too loud. This child should have no problem sleeping through loud noises, unlike the big sister!

I am ready for spring now. Enough of the cold, yucky weather. I am tired of being stuck in the house and ready to be able to do some outside activities. I'm starting to feel better. Starting to get rid of the nausea unless I wait too long to eat. But it isn't sticking around all day anymore. So glad for that, and I'm sure everyone around me is glad for that. I've been wearing my maternity clothes again for the last two weeks. I am so much more comfortable but you can really tell I'm pregnant now!

Time for my relaxing time (Madi's down for a nap)!! Have a great week and goodbye to March!!!

Love, Amy

13 weeks!!

I had my second appointment yesterday. Madi went with me this time. She did really well even though we had to wait in the waiting room for soo long. She is shy around people at first but once they say something to her, watch out she will talk your ear off. There was an older lady sitting by us and Madi wasn't too sure about her. But the lady asked her a question and Madi was off and running. She then announced to the whole waiting room that "We're going to hear my baby's heartbeat!" We got oohh's and aahh's and chuckles from everyone.

Once in the room we then played the naming game. Every item in the room she had to touch and say "what is that?" The doctor came in and we listened to the heartbeat. She watched intently as he put the goo on my tummy and started looking for the heartbeat. Once he found it, we both made sure Madi could hear it and told her what it was. Obviously my play up of it was a little disappointing because by then, she didn't care and I don't think she understood what she was listening too. I should have had her listen to her heartbeat first while we were waiting.

But all is well. My blood pressure is good and I had to assure him again that we will not be doing the "blood pressure thing" again this time. I gained too much weight for my comfort. But I should have known. The only thing that is helping me keep the nausea away is eating. So, I jokingly have said I will gain 50 lbs with this kiddo. If I keep going like this, I probably will! He did say the "morning sickness" peaks about 12-13 weeks so hopefully it will start getting better soon. Although it never did with Madi, so lets pray it does with this one soon. I also got some meds for my ever recurring ear infections. This is the first time he has ever seen my ears infected and he was quite shocked. "That looks awful, how can you stand it?" "Eh, it happens at least 3 times a year, can I have some meds now, I'd really like to hear out of my right ear again?"

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Madi is doing so well with potty training. All except the pooping part. But I think I might have that figured out. I know her drinking fluids has dramatically decreased since we started potty training and I think that has a huge part in her troubles. She still won't poop on the potty, but at this point, I don't care. As long as she is pooping regularly, that's all I care about. Saturday afternoon (after 3 days and no poops) I was ready to give up on potty training all together. I put her back in diapers and told her we are done, you can poop and potty in your diaper. She never did want to potty again in her diaper. She spent most of Sunday in a pull up and still pottied every time in the potty.

I've put off looking at preschools, I was just convinced she was never going to potty train, why look if she can't go. So, I need to get busy and get some calling done before they all fill up for the fall. Chris said, "Why send her to preschool, you can teach her what she needs to know." Maybe, but she definitely needs social skills and a break from me. I'm looking forward to her being able to go and getting to play and interact with other kids, I'm excited for her.

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Chris is finally able to start getting some work done outside. We had a ton of rock brought in yesterday put down in front of the new shed. He got a lot of it moved last night, but needs something a little easier to move around in than his big old digger. Him and Quentin (one of our workers) are out there right now working on framing the walls inside the shed. They will all be back out tomorrow to do the electrical install. We have a neighbor who does underground boring and he will be putting in the electrical and plumbing lines to the shed next week. Which will be great because the boring (sp?) is all underground, so we don't have to dig up the yard and have a trench and mound of dirt all the way across the yard and driveway.

So, there is all of our excitement this last week. Oh, we did get a couple of new tractors and I will get some pics and tell you about all the fun with them soon, stay tuned!!!

Love, Amy

So Much to Say...

I'm so sorry for not updating for awhile. I just haven't felt like sitting down and writing.

First of all, the biggest news of the week (I'm so excited!!!) We are now on day 3 of potty training and it is going so good!! I would never have dreamed how good she would be at this.

Day one:
Monday I worked at the shop and she went to Jane's for part of the day. They started training that morning and she did really good. She told her when she needed to go potty. She even took a nap in panties with no accidents. She did have two accidents when we got home Monday afternoon, but Wyatt was here playing and she was a little preoccupied and was not paying attention. Monday night I put her to bed with panties on and she slept all night with no accidents!!! Couldn't believe it. I didn't sleep very good. I was awake a dozen times listening for her, so sure that I was going to have to change sheets and clothes in the middle of the night.

Day Two:
Tuesday we spent most of the morning in the bathroom, jumping between her bathroom and my bathroom. We started giving her a treat each time after she pottied, but the little stinker caught on to that pretty quickly. She would go potty, get her treat and then immediately say "I want more candy, I have to go potty." So we changed the rewards. She can have ice cream in the evening if she doesn't have any accidents during the day. This is working so much better. She did get her ice cream last night, no accidents yesterday!! Put her to bed again with panties and slept all night, no accidents!!

Day Three:
Doing great!! No accidents and still telling me when she needs to potty. We haven't had a bowel movement since Monday morning though. She doesn't want to poop on the potty so far. We will have to do something about that today, she can't go much longer, I'm sure. (Any suggestions, please help.) I don't want to confuse or erase our progress so far by letting her poop in a diaper only, but I don't want her to get sick or hurt either.

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We were road warriors this last week. Thursday afternoon we went to Wichita for Tabatha's baby shower at her school. It was a lot of fun. Mom rode down with us. We went to the mall first so I could do some maternity clothes shopping. I didn't find much but Madi had a ball going up and down the escalators with Mom!! Then went over to the shower. There were a lot of people there and she got some really cool stuff. Tabatha's mom and sister made it also. Afterwards we went back to Jason and Tabatha's house. Madi played and played with Daisy (their Beagle) in the back yard and had a blast. And then we went out for supper and headed back home. It was a long afternoon and Madi skipped her nap, but she did great for not having one.

Saturday was Chris' 30th birthday. We ended up not having a party. I am so bad. I have not felt well enough to get anything done. He was okay with that though, he didn't want a party to begin with. We made our way back to Wichita for the day. There was a big gun show and that's what he wanted to do instead. Madi and I hung out at Jason and Tabatha's house and Jason went with Chris to the gun show. Which worked out great because they were gone for at least 4 hours and there is no way I could have kept her going that long.

We had an interesting ride home. It ended up taking us 2 hours to get home instead of 1. We were just leaving Wichita and my dad calls to see where we are. There is a tornado in Hutchinson and moving east directly in the path of our way home. So we keep going, watching the skies, listening to the radio and getting updates from mom and dad periodically. We get to Newton and just not quite sure what we should do. We get to Hesston and we are right on the edge of the storm and the radio says it is just north of us. We pull into Hesston and going to wait it out there when the radio says that the storm will now be in Hesston in 15 minutes. By now I am totalling freaking out. I don't like storms and I especially don't like tornadoes and it is even worse when I don't have any shelter to rely on. So we turn around and head back to Newton. Just pulling into town and you can hear on the radio that the sirens are going off in Hesston and the storm spotters are sitting on 135 and the Hesston exit seeing funnel clouds dipping out of the clouds. I was a nervous wreck. Everything finally clears about 15 minutes later and we hit the road again. We never got a drop of rain all the way home. By the time we got to Hesston, the sun was shinning and the storm had pretty much broken up to the nothing east of us. It was crazy. Madi was also crazy, she had had enough with sitting in the car.

Sunday we hit the road again. This time we went north to Beloit. My cousin's little girl, Ava, was having her 1st birthday party!! It was a great day and Madi absolutely loves playing with Ella. They ran around and had a ball all afternoon. Madi crashed shortly after leaving town and slept all the way home and then went back to sleep once we got into the house. She was exhausted.

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We have a guy coming to spray foam the ceiling of the shop at the house this week. I think Chris is going to get started on the inside this weekend. He has some sealing to do on the roof and then walls and electrical to put up inside. Hopefully it's a little warmer this weekend than it is now. I know he would like to get started. Work slowed a little bit for him last month, but is picking up again.

My next doctor's appointment is next Thursday. Can't wait to go back and hear the heartbeat. I'm going to take Madi with us this time. Saturday starts the second trimester and I am really hoping that I will get rid of this sickness soon. I never did with Madi, but it sure would be nice to have a break with this one. Today has been really rough. But Madi has been really good and patient which helps out a lot.

I'm going to go take a nap while I can. Have a great rest of the week!! Happy Birthday to Grandma Betty Saturday!!

Love, Amy