major changes...

My mom and dad were here for the last 8 days...
Needless to say there was a lot of laughter, a lot of lattes (decaf for me, except for a few times...I know I know I am a horrible pregnant person) a lot of speed scrabble, and a lot of construction!

My dad and mom wanted to really help us out to get ready for the baby to be comfortable (or for me to stay sane once the baby is here!

Here is a sneak peak at some of the LIFE ALTERING strides they made...

I no longer am deemed "dishwasher" for something else in my house has this job...

The laundry room door is no longer the only way out back...

I am no longer going to be walking up a broken, 1/2 tar cement chunk 1/2 dirt driveway.

MOM AND DAD!!! I ADORE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!

It's kinda quiet around here with just me and Kuma...

17 weeks...

As promised, I will start posting belly pictures...
My computer is broken but working well enough to at least do that.
Anybody want to buy this girl a new computer? (JOKE!!)
Here is a picture I took in secret when I first found out I was pregnant.I didn't tell Dave for 2 weeks so I could surprise him for father's day.

5 weeks pregnant...baby C was the size of an apple seed.


17 weeks: baby Benby is the size of an onion.
We had an ultrasound yesterday but the little booger did not want us to know if we are having a son our a daughter so we must continue to wait.


This fun picture is from a week ago after the football scrimmage.
Yes, that is sweat. It was almost 100 degrees. Ritha was handing me a continuous stream of water bottles and we hung out in the bathroom a lot dousing ourselves with water.

My mom and dad are in town changing my life through projects at the house to prepare for the baby. More pictures to come when my kitchen isn't torn to pieces.

Catch Up

Its been a little while since I updated and shared our big news...
Since then I finally have some energy back and its a pretty good thing I do because I have had the busiest month...
Here are some of the highlights...
CHEER CAMP

I have the BEST team this year!!!! They are a lot of fun as you can see from this spontaneous dance party...

They are talented too..back tuck basket toss mid air..

This is just some of the fun stuff we put together at camp. We went to UCSB this year which was beautiful and very productive

This is my pretty 2009-2010 team!
I literally unpacked for about 6 hours, then repacked and headed up to Cannon Beach for our annual girls trip. This year the first 4 days were stormy which I LOVED!!! Its been so so so hot in Southern California

Haystack from our front porch in the rain

The clouds made for some beautiful sunsets!

The newest addition to our family... Jonah Michael, my cousin Valerie's beautiful new boy! Next year at the beach their will be 2 little ones!

The whole family at Sleepy Monk, our favorite coffee place! Andrew is an honorary girl since he is the only male cousin so he is allowed at the girls only trip...though he doesn't usually stay the whole time. I wonder why?...

This has been what most of my summer has looked like. Me and my puppy. Or me and my sister. Especially since Dave has officially started his first season of football as a Trojan.

This was after Salute to Troy which is basically a glorified college pep rally. It was fun and nice to have dinner with my husband (he usually gets home around 12 now...)

Amy came into town for a sister weekend. Here is Katie surround by a 24 week and 15 week pregnancy sandwich! Amy is due December 12th and I am due February 12th! Sisters and new cousins... and you can see the very beginnings of my little bump.
Although I can relate to the feeling of feeling much more like a sausage than a pretty pregnant person...

So that is the update. MOM and DAD are coming for a visit next week and we are going to work on the house and start working on the babies room...and we have an ultrasound that may let us know if it is a Benjamin or an Ashby in my tummy!

FEBRUARY 12....

WERE HAVING A BABY!!!!!

Today I am 12 weeks, 3 days pregnant.

DAVE AND I ARE BEYOND OVERJOYED!!!!

I am finally feeling like a normal person... sort of anyway. I was sick for about 7 weeks (nausea and general complete loathing for food all together which stinks when you know you are trying to grow a baby)

I CANNOT BELIEVE A HALF ME HALF DAVE PERSON IS GROWING INSIDE OF ME!!!!

I am due right after the football season finally winds down so daddy is going to be able to be around!

DID I MENTION WE ARE SO SO SO HAPPY?!!!!

So here is our big news! To everyone that is finding out this way, thank you for wanting to know about our lives enough to check our blog. To those of you who already know, thank you for keeping our secret... you are free to tell anyone you want!

MANY MANY MANY MORE UPDATES TO COME!!!

PS. The family has affectionately named the baby BENBY (combination of our choice of names be it boy or girl!) We plan to find out, which will be in September sometime. And I plan on belly pictures so stay tuned!

SISTER COUSINS

These women are some of my most favorite in the entire world. I am truly blessed to have family that I also love and want to be around for extended periods of time...like all the time. And in two weeks (less than that) I will be with them for 8 days on the Oregon Coast. For the 24th year in a row.

We coined a term a while back. We call it sister-cousins because we are more like sisters than cousins. Haley and I have adapted that even further to say SCBF (Sister-cousin-best-friend)

GIN YER HEART BE CAULD A CANNA WARM YE!

Honest

Sometimes I feel like the only thing I ever do is clean up, do laundry, and do dishes.

Seriously. I know I don't have kids and I have nothing to complain about, but SERIOUSLY!

Plus my house is an oven (Thank you Jesus for my house!) so it makes it even more annoying at times.

Just being honest.

Going slow...

It is really funny. I have so little going on right now, but I feel like I don't know how to handle all of this free time. I have the summer off!!! Yes. Thankfully I am not teaching summer school this year because with all of the budget cuts, there simply wasn't a job for me. I finished my Master's in Education on the 30th (which hasn't really sunk in yet apparently) and literally have cheer practice 3 days a week and that is it. It is really crazy. All of a sudden I am just free. I have housework, I have a dog to walk, and I have a lot of great books I need to catch up on, but otherwise I am FREE.

Time out: the meth addict that lives in my neighborhood just walked by. FYI. His name is Miggie. He is so far gone he really poses no threat, but I can always bet I will see him walk by at some point on a serious mission (sometimes at 10 pm in shorts and a tank top!) Yep, I live in LA.

Anyway, I have so many pictures to put up, so many updates, but I will just make a list for now.

1. I am done with Grad school. I never want to go back (but I probably will at some point)

2. I have no job for the summer except relaxing and cheer :)

3. Katie is living with Dave and I for the summer and it is really fun to have her.

4. I have a new niece named Ella Louis Henderson. She is TOO CUTE!

5. My sister Amy is almost half way through her second pregnancy so I will be an auntie yet again (# 7 if you count Dave's side and mine) in December.

6. I bought a fancy camera as a graduation present for myself. A Nikon D60. Once I get my computer fixed I will upload some new photos.

7. I also bought a new lounge chair for my backyard (another present to myself) on sale at Target for 48$ (down from 200$!!) Love the clearance section at my FAVORITE store.

8. Dave is off work this month everyday around 3 (sometimes earlier!) so I get to hang out with him before August when football starts (and I probably wont see him until January ish....)

Well, somewhat boring. But that is the latest news. Off to make the bed, change the laundry, drink some lemonade, and walk the pup.