Sonogram

Okay, so this might not look very exciting, but it is the picture we got after my first sonogram was taken at week 7. The baby is the thing between the two stars at the bottom. It was soooooooo exciting to hear the heartbeat then, and to hear it at my last appointment as well. And it was just reassuring to see that I was really pregnant. As if all the morning sickness wasn't enough proof or something. :)

Of course things are really different in there now, but I won't have another sonogram until the beginning of February. Probably the most common question I've been asked is, "Are you going to find out the gender?" YES, definitely. I couldn't stand not knowing when I could; I don't know how other people do it. For now, I can rest assured that everything is as normal as we can tell.

Yep, that's positive!

There it is people, the positive pregnancy test! Pretty crazy, huh? So after two years of trying to get pregnant, we finally gave up and decided to adopt. Lo and behold...I got pregnant! Yes, I've been told about that "relaxing and letting go" thing a million times, but I guess it really works! Now I am 13 weeks a long and due June 26!

Fuzzy animals

We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast in NF, and they had a silky chicken in the backyard that was quite tame and used to attention.

I hadn't seen a fuzzy caterpiller for years! Finally, a bug that isn't scary (yes people, even butterflies have their scary moments)!

Foliage

We went at a wonderful time of year - the foliage was gorgeous! I hope for a new autumn tradition - ditch the Texas heat for some pretty trees!

Maid of the Mist

Why are we wearing these funny blue ponchos, you might ask. Well, the best thing we did in NF was to take a tour on the Maid of the Mist, a boat that takes you out along the base of the American Falls and then into the middle of the Horseshoe Falls (well, as far as you can get). No really, you get absolutely soaked (and it was cold...Canada in October)!

And, here is where we had to put the camera away because 1. it was getting wet, and 2. I was afraid I would drop it over the edge of the boat. No wonder Niagara Falls is one of the great natural wonders!

Okay people, enough already!

Okay, so I've heard enough times and from enough people that I need to blog more! It hasn't been a great couple months, you'll see why soon. But first, here are some pictures from our trip to Cananda back in the middle of October. Doug has a conference in Toronto, and I took advantage of this to go with him. We had a really fun time, especially at Niagara Falls! Above is Doug with both the Horseshoe and American Falls behind him.

When I saw the American Falls, I thought that was it. They are truly beautiful, but they can't even compare to the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls.

We weren't at a good spot to take pictures of the Horseshoe Falls, so you can't tell how big they are or even that they wrap around from this picture. But all that white stuff coming up from the middle? That's the mist from the churning at the bottom. It's incredible!

The worst attempt at plagarism EVER

A couple days ago I assigned a poem to my students. They could follow a certain example format if they wished, they had to have similes and metaphors, etc. It's due tomorrow. The main thing is they are writing an extended metaphor comparing themselves to something else ("I am a mountain", "I am a shark", etc.).

I had a kid writing about a tiger. Great, except he tried to turn in "Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright" by William Blake today as his poem. My initial unsaid reaction was, "Do you think I'm STUPID?" We had to deal with it as a team, and he'll have three days of silent lunch with me over it and a lot of credit marked off his final project. Poor little 11-year-old kid was so upset when we talked to him as a team about it, but it got the point across.

Hopefully nothing like this will happen again. Well, of course it *will*, but hopefully nothing this obvious and terrible.

It's pretty hilarious now, and I hope you got a laugh out of it!

More office pictures

Here are some more pictures from the office:
1. The traction table thingy
2. An example of a half-walled treatment room
3. The mural

And some dogs

Okay, so this, as well as any other silly thing done to the dogs, was Doug's idea. No other comment necessary.
And the babies.

"Before"

Ug. So I started MediFast two weeks ago to lose weight. Here is my official "before" picture - 190.4 lbs. on July 27, 2008. I'm already down about 11 lbs., and my goal is 50 by Thanksgiving. Wish me luck!
And Maggie is jumping because she's crazy.

New template

Isn't my new template the coolest? I LOVE it! I don't feel like we have the most boring blog ever anymore.

It's Heeeerrrrre!

Here we go people! Doug opened Live Oak Chiropractic last Tuesday. We appreciate all your prayers and patient referrals. :) Here are some pictures of how things turned out:

1. Our large iron-wrought branches, the hallway, and the treatment area (with a little of the mural)

2. The 8'x6.5' mural that *I* picked out (gorgeous, huh?) on the main wall (**I had to take this picture out because Doug was stressed that it was crooked, and now blogger doesn't want to let me upload any more pictures. I'll try again tomorrow.**)

3. The watermark vinyl tree on the outside (ignore the messiness inside) - the design from the business cards for those who have seen it (Thanks again to Aaron Canaday for designing the stuff.)

4. The painted mural in the kid's area, done by a local artist. It's a reprsentation of the TX Hill Country (beautiful place that it is) with bluebonnets, animals, hills, and the very cool barbed-wire fence

5. The waiting room as it looks now (we still need to get some end tables put in) - chairs and the rug

6. The sign lit up at night

It's a work in process, so there will be more in the future. But, it's clean, organized, with equipment and such, and ready to roll!

Stuff for the office

Here is a close-up of the carpet that is in Doug's office.
Here is a close-up of the laminate that will go on the reception desk in the front.
Here are the chairs that will go in the waiting area. We bought them unfinished, and Doug stained them this beautiful spiced walnut color. There will be six of them.
This is one of our large wall pieces (the other is the 6 1/2' x 8' photographic mural). It is from a company called Uttermost that specializes in wrought iron decorative pieces. If you can't tell what it is exactly, it is a series of branches. It looks strange in person, but it's absolutely gorgeous.
Here is the rug that will go in the waiting area. We picked it because it had those natural, tree-ish themes, and its colors are accents to the cream, green, and brown wall colors. It is 5'x7' (I think).

San Antonio temple

I have a new favorite temple! I love the San Antonio temple. It is about a two-hour drive away from us in Leander, and you have to make an appointment because it's a small temple, but it is well worth it. It is absolutely gorgeous inside.
The stained-glass widows are magnificent! Most of them depict scenes from the Texas Hill Country, and I could have stared for hours at the intricacies of color and shape in them.

San Gabriel River

We took another trip out to the river a few weeks ago. We weren't out for a long time (it was hot), but we had some fun letting the dogs run a little wild. The trees were green this time, which is vastly different from the last time we went in February!
Sherman loves the water! He always goes straight for it, and he is the one who likes to swim the most. He makes a point to walk through the water every chance he gets. And that's great because he's the hardest one to keep dry!
There were all these tiny little frogs, too!

Corpus Christi - Texas State Aquarium

One morning, we went to the Texas State Aquarium. It was a fun way to pass some time (especially because our innkeeper has a corporate pass that got us in for FREE), and we had a good time. Here are some of the highlights of the animals we saw there.Porcupine - huge! And, quills aside, very sweet-looking.

Some giant snake - I believe a python? Pretty gross.

The underside of some kind of ray when he swam up against the glass. There was also a touch pool where you could feel them as they swam by. Kinda slimy.

The dolphin show - more educational and showy, but very cute.

SEAHORSES!

Jellyfish - where you want to see them (enclosed in a glass case, not swimming next to you in the ocean).

We saw a very entertaining bird and wildlife show. The gal leading it was very funny, and it had a particularly funny part involving a child volunteer. She had someone come down who was "very brave", and then talked up the next animal like it had done some serious damage to the last volunteer. The kid, wearing big leather falconer gloves, goggle, and a construction helmet, was getting more and more worried the longer she talked. Finally, he threw done his gear and ran back to his seat. It was just a sloth! Very funny.

We saw right underneath the perch (precarious for Doug and the camera), and this hawk flew right above us!

Look at that! Two whales! :)