Baby Bentz is 9 weeks now. Not much else to report on that front right now...

We went to Wadsworth this weekend. I hadn't seen the family since Christmas and Diana enticed me up with promises of home made sushi... We made a few different kinds (no raw for us) but I was very impressed! It was delicious! We went over to her house- we cooked and played with the kids while the boys put together Ryan's pool table.
On Sunday morning, we went to Firestone park to feed the birds again. The birds were really hungry and we got tons of them to land on our hands!

I'm PREGGO!

December 24th: Suspect the pregnancy... Bill drops me off at the store to get chips and milk. I get back in the car with chips, milk, and a pregnancy test. I show him. He almost drives off the road. Decide I'll wait a few days to take it.

December 25th: wake up at 5 am... can't stop thinking about test. I take it, get a plus sign, think about Bill's reaction the day before and go sit on the couch for an hour. Decide I better tell him. Stand up. Decide not to rush it. Sit down, watch an episode of Pawn Stars... Repeat a couple times. Finally crawl back into bed with Bill and wake him up. "Sooooo, what would you say if I took a preggo test..." "And???" "And it's positive"

The guy coulnd't have had a better reaction!

December 27th: Wake up with the worst hangover I've ever had, and I didn't drink a thing the night before... The sisters have sprung into action- giving me a big stack of baby books, changing table, clothes... This is what my night stand looks like:

December 29th: Discover baby loves asian food (specifically spicy scallop roll, and tofu dynamite roll- both cooked, don't worry)... or maybe it's me that loves asian food.

Jan 1st: Wake up with the most intense craving for fried rice ever. Teach myself how to make fried rice. Eat about 3 pounds of it. Are these really from baby or in my head?

Jan 15th ish: start feeling car sick constantly. Not so bad, just uncomfortable. Constantly craving salty stuff. Need to find a healthier replacement for dill pickles and green olives... On another note, bill has been good about bringing dinner home once in a while. The only problem is, I want something, get it, take three bites and want something else.

Jan 20th: First doctor's appointment! Love the doctor, got to see the baby and the heart beat- am loving every second of it! So amazing!!! Due date is Sept 2nd!

So anyway, I'm only 8 weeks along. I know this is early, but with the picture, I had to show people and spilled the beans here and there. I'm still feeling car sick and feel bad if I eat too much or not enough or the wrong thing and am having headaches, but not bad! Bill's a trooper. He says he wants a boy eventually but doesn't really care. I don't care, but want to know for sure asap. Anyway, I'm going home this weekend and will probably tell grandparents and aunts and uncles... This'll be my mom and dad's 8th grandchild and my grandparents 14th (I think) great grandchild!

There won't be belly pictures for a loooong time because, let's face it, it'll just be a beer belly for quite a while longer :-)

banana strawberry smoothie

I broke out the blender to try to start eating heathier breakfasts. I cut bananas up and froze them over night. I put them in a blender with frozen strawberries and milk and I love it!

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French onion soup

I made French onion soup and if was delicious!

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so warm...

Brin got biffer's old coat. Also a little tight. More walks, maybe?

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bundled up

I put this hoodie on palmer. It's a little tight. "fat dog in a little coat"

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yum!

Sharon and I met nicole and mariah (and cora) at akai hana. it was so delicious- I got a spicy scallop roll and a tofu dynamite roll... it was basically heaven.

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making gingerbread

Sharon, annika and I made gingerbread. Annika was so cute 'helping' with everything and talk-talk-talking the entire time. We had so much fun.

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bff

Brin is so patient with zander and loves him so much! When they first saw eachother when we got home is was like they hadn't seen eachother in years with lots of hugs and big kisses. He's one of the few people that love my dogs as much as I do. Love him!

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Firestone Park

While I was home, we went to Firestone park to feed the birds. Usually when we go, we only get chickadees to land on our hands. This time, we got nut hatches and tit mice (yep, it's a kind of bird). It was super freezing cold, but so much fun!

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deep sea diver Brin

If you remember, Brin fell into the lake and I had to save her a couple months ago. Mom got her a submarine outfit for Christmas. Love it!

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crazy ears palmer

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testing

So I got a Droid and want to see if I can blog from it. If I can you'll probably be sick of all the posts soon :-)

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The dogs, howling and being cute :-)

Lexie's baptism was a couple weeks ago. It was so nice seeing everyone and of course, Lexie was adorable. She's so smiley and sweet.

Lexie and Boo (great grandpa)

Lexie and Papaw- She already has the guys wrapped around her little finger!
Look at this sweet face!

Lexie and her mama

Isn't my dad the cutest???

Bill's dad got season tickets for the Jackets and split them up between him and his sisters. We've had so much fun going to games!

this guy is at every game, wearing his lucky dangly blue jackets earring...

There hasn't been nearly enough fights so far at the games we've been at.
Stinger

What the rip am I going to do about Christmas cards this year???
I haven't even THOUGHT about them yet. The choices are: buying a few boxes (eh...), taking a cute picture of the dogs (like the "hope your Christmas doesn't stink" with Brin in a skunk costume, or "have a super Christmas" with Brin in a super girl costume- like I did a few years ago), or crafting them (like last year). I'd really rather not just get a box, but time is ticking. If I could think of another cute saying for a picture with the dogs, I'd like to do that... but my brain hates being creative at the moment. That would be fast, and crafting cards always gets so involved and takes so long. Bleh... Any cute ideas? Is another dog Christmas card going to make me the crazy dog lady???

I decided I needed to learn how to crochet, so I watched a few youtube tutorials and jumped to it... This was my first project:

He's not perfect, however, he taught me all sorts of good stuff. First of all, my ADD may be too strong to crochet something that's turns out the way it's supposed to- my ability to count and keep track of where I am in a pattern/row/increasing/decreasing isn't quite what it should be. The tentacles aren't exactly the same size as a result, this octopus isn't an octopus; it's a septapus. I could only fit 7/8 tentacles on... I was also trying to make him smirk, which didn't work out too well- that's his third mouth. I was also unsure of how to attach the tentacles. The directions said "attach tentacles". I think for my first project, he's not too bad.

Gluten sensitivity...

That's apparently what Bill's stomach problems have been all about... he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis a few years back and has been having stomach problems for a long time. His meds stopped working, so we started trying eliminating certain stuff from his diet, and getting rid of gluten is doing the job so far. I'm certainly glad we've found something that helps him, but it sure makes cooking more difficult as gluten is in every convenience food ever created. It's also hard figuring out about cross-contamination. Even if wheat or any other form of gluten isn't in the ingredients, I still get online to check if it's officially gluten free. The way I cook has been drastically changed. The baking kick I was on has come to an abrupt halt. Sadness.

On a good note, though, this diet does encourage mostly natural foods, which is better for both of us. Here's what we've been basically living on: Salads, chili, veggie soup, rice, chicken, omelets, popcorn and a few other things. There are still a lot of good things we can eat, it's just time consuming checking all of that. We've also both lost some weight, so that's good too!

I'm going to start experimenting with different kinds of flour, hoping I can still make bread, cake, and all the other yummy stuff. Thing that stinks is that these ingredients are hard to find if you don't live close to a Raisin Rack or Trader Joe's... and they're expensive... more sadness.

Anyone else out there gluten free? Any tips?