Christmas 2008

The Christmas celebrations with our families have come and gone for this year and we had a great time at both! We enjoyed good food, good company and games along with the gift openings. Christmas Eve was spent with the Gervings in Glen Ullin and Mike & Sandy's house was packed to the brim with family and fun. We also stopped by to see Grandma Schaff at the nursing home on Christmas Eve and I think she enjoyed our company. Christmas morning we got up, had some breakfast and went to Christmas Day Mass in Glen Ullin as well. Here are some pictures from the Gerving celebration:

Jay & Landon working on the Rubik's cube:

Let's get started on those gifts, right kids?

The 4-year-olds:

Lexie dancing around:

There was a dancing/singing Santa at the nursing home that Payton & Sydney enjoyed. Syd even danced with him. Here's a pic of the girls with Santa and Grandma Great:

What Grandmas will do with/for their grandchildren! :)

A couple other pictures of the gift opening at the Gervings:

Mason & Jay with the gift Mason got for his Godfather - a Denver Broncos football mouse which was promptly attached to our laptop here at home once we got back!

After Mass in GU on Christmas morning it was back to Bismarck for the Gerhardt Christmas celebration. Here are some pictures from our day there:

A few years back Jay got the idea to buy what my parents call their "half beagle" - which is a plastic rear end of a beagle that if you put it in the garden looks like a beagle has dug a hole in the ground. My parents are forever asking when they will get the other half of the beagle. My parents decided this year they would "get back" at Jay with a gag gift of their own - a "deluxe" snowball maker!! Jay looks elated at the thoughtfulness of this gift, doesn't he? (I believe a new tradition of gag gifts has officially begun!)

Gift opening began!

Jay & my Dad

Candace & Grandma Vivian:

More gift opening:

After gift opening we enjoyed some great food and then played the game called "I Think" which Tom & Candace got me and Jay for a Christmas gift this year. Lots of laughs were shared during that game. I also got into an intense game of "Sorry" with Gabe, Micaela and Riley (until I got a bloody nose, so then Jay took over for me). I believe Gabe ended up winning. It's pretty cut-throat - haha!!

We got some very nice gifts which of course we are grateful for - but the best part of the holidays is that we live close enough to both of our families that we are able to spend time with both during the holidays. Jay & I talked about that after getting home - how great it is we are able to be so close to our families not only during the holidays but all the time! This will be especially important when Baby Gerving (and any other children we are blessed with) arrives.

Not surprisingly, not only did the beagles get a few gifts for Christmas but so did Baby Gerving! Jay is especially happy with the tiny Elway Broncos jersey that Mike & Carrie gave us back this year for Baby to wear. Jay had bought it for Michaela when she was a baby and Carrie said all three kids wore it when they were little! (It shows some wear and tear and that makes Jay really happy that it got worn so much!) I'm sure he'll have it on Baby every chance he gets!

Baby is approximately 4.5 to up to 6 inches long now - at 16 weeks along. He/she also weighs about 4 ounces and is about the size of an apple, according to one site. In the last week or so I have really noticed some changes in my belly - mainly that it's really started expanding! Despite one night of being sick last week I continue to feel well overall and am happy that the baby appears to keep growing each day!

Besides the gifts we are working our way through leftovers and Christmas goodies. It's a tough job but we, with the help of the beagles, will manage, I'm sure!

Yesterday was Taylor's 8th birthday and we hope she had a wonderful day!

Yesterday I got to spend time with Aimee, my friend from law school who lives in Denver, CO. We did some shopping, went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's for supper (yum!) and watched a movie at our house last night. Always good to catch up with friends we rarely get to see!

Jay is off ice fishing with our friend Travis today so it's just me and the beagles at home right now. It's a picture perfect winter day - ABOVE zero for once, the sun is shining and no wind! We did get some fresh new snow last night, so Jay had the joy of snowblowing yet again bright & early this morning before going ice fishing! So far, the beagles and I have worked on making birthday cards, address return labels and some other odds and ends around the house. We plan on going through a bunch of boxes to put more stuff away in the house today - I started that process yesterday and got on a roll so I'm hoping the same for today.

I'm sad that tomorrow is my last day off before going back to work next week but I will try to continue to enjoy the time off from work that I get over the holidays! Jay is off of work until Jan. 5th - so I'm a bit jealous!

I plan on going cross country skiing tomorrow morning with my parents which I have not been able to do in MANY years. This is the first winter in a long time in Bismarck that has had enough snow to do so! Tomorrow night is also the big game between the Broncos and Chargers which determines which team will go on to the playoffs this year. The Broncos flag will be flying high outside and I'm sure we'll be dressed up in all our Broncos gear by tomorrow evening! Go Broncos!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season this year! Until next week.....signing off!

Tis the Season...

Yet another Friday afternoon at work almost over! I needed a break again!!

Some of the highlights over the last couple of weeks....

1. Making and decorating cookies with my parents, Tom, Micaela, Gabe and Riley. We did this not last Sunday but the Sunday before and it was so much fun! We spent pretty much the entire afternoon and into the evening a bit making gingerbread men, a gingerbread house, and a variety of other goodies. Everyone agreed that it is fun to make them and even more fun to sample them! Everyone has their own favorites too!!

2. Jerz is feeling better!! Jerz has pretty much fully recuperated from her slipped disc injury from Thanksgiving weekend. We continue to monitor her as much as possible to keep her from reinjuring it, but there have been no other problems so far - knock on wood! We are trying to keep little Bailey from doing the same thing but she is a little more wiley than Jerz and harder to catch and stop from jumping onto and off of furniture! Jay and his buddies constructed some steps for the dogs that should help too...

3. Baby Gerving seems to be doing well! No emergency doctor visits since the one almost two weeks ago and we are so thankful for that! We want to make it to our next doctor appointment which is scheduled for Jan. 5 with no other complications or problems! Baby will be 15 weeks along this weekend. Once we hit that 20-week mark I think it will really sink in how fast it all goes! I have been feeling much better and can now stay up past 8:00 pm I am proud to say! (Well, OK, Wednesday evening I may have accidentally fallen asleep watching TV around 8:00pm or so....)

Oh yes - and for the baby size/food comparison of the week:
How Big is the Baby at 15 Weeks Pregnant? Your baby is a about the size of an orange by pregnancy week 15, between 4 and 4 and ½ inches long and weighing more than 1 ½ ounces!

4. Christmas shopping will end for me/us today!! After work, I'm braving the cold and the crowds to finalize my Christmas shopping for the 2008 season! Hope to get those gifts wrapped by tomorrow morning! Next year I have a feeling there may be just a BIT more shopping involved for the little one!! ;)

5. House Guests. We had Julie and Scott over last Friday evening (before the horrible weather hit us) for pizza, French Silk Pie (thanks to Julie) and to visit. They stayed for quite awhile and we got to catch up with them. It was a nice evening! Plus we got a Denver Broncos gnome out of the deal! (The gnome story is sort of an inside thing...suffice it to say, it was the "perfect" gift from Julie). Who doesn't love a gnome for their new home?

6. A new tradition is born! The sisters-in-law from the Gerving side have traditionally exchanged names for gifts each year. This year we decided to just meet - the 5 of us - to go out to eat and spend a girls' evening together instead. We did that last night - and, though there was a one-hour wait at the Olive Garden, it was well worth it. Good food and good company! I left at around 9:30pm or so (I think?) and Carrie did too to head back to GU. Lynds, Val and Julie stayed until 11:30 I heard, even though the Olive Garden is supposedly only open until 10:00! Wonder how they pulled that one off??

That's all that is coming to mind that was of note over the last week and a half or so....Last weekend was spent (by me) entirely at home. Jay went to Prairie Knights on Saturday for his work Christmas party (I wasn't feeling the greatest that day so I didn't go with) and I'm pretty glad I didn't go. Not only did they have a LONG bus ride home from the casino (due to the weather they went about 20 mph and had to stop several times), but about an hour after Jay got home, he started throwing up. Apparently he wasn't the only one to suffer such a fate - there were others that also got sick. Jay had a rought few days after that but started feeling better yesterday finally.

Other than that, we are looking forward to the weekend and of course next week's family holiday festivities! We're heading to GU for Christmas Eve and then will spend Christmas Day in Bismarck. Jay is taking some vacation after that through the end of the year. I'll continue to "slave away" at work but will enjoy my time off for the holidays as well!

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend (stay warm if you can!) and of course a very Merry Christmas! Looks like we're in for some more cold and snowy weather!

Baby's First Pictures

Well I had to go get an issue checked out at the doctor yesterday and they did an ultrasound to check things out and to make sure the baby was doing well. Fortunately, the baby is absolutely doing just fine and they figured out what was going on with me, which was a relief! We are so happy that the baby is doing well and, while we would prefer to have gotten ultrasound pictures under a little less worrisome circumstances, we are happy to have pictures of the little one! Enjoy the pictures! It will be interesting to see how much he/she changes and develops in the next 7-8 weeks until the next ultrasound!

The ultrasound tech said the baby appeared to be developed to 13 weeks, 1 day as of yesterday which gives us a more "concrete" estimated due date of June 14th. Six months to go!

We have a heartbeat!

Today we went in for an appointment where we got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was a good strong heartbeat in the 150s! We also found out we're apparently having a little wiggle-worm, as we could hear the baby moving around a lot as well. So, that must explain why I've been so exhausted - the little wiggle-worm is using up all my energy!! (On a side note, I need to make a correction from my preiovus post - my bedtime isn't really 9:00 or 9:30 it's more like 8:00!) Other than that, everything else checked out good and no complications - so far so good! (We're around 12 weeks along at this point).

Today is also our friend Raumi's birthday! So happy birthday wishes go out to her today!

The last couple weeks have been interesting to say the least. We were able to spend Thanksgiving Day in Glen Ullin which was a lot of fun! I even gave Lexie a new nickname to call her Auntie Lyndsey - oops! Guess she's at the age where she catches onto and repeats what us adults say! :) It was a cute nickname...will have to ask Lyndsey (or Lexie) what it is though...

When we got back to pick up the dogs at my parents' house on Thansgiving evening though things started to not go so well for us. My parents had noticed that Jerz was not herself - wouldn't jump up on them or any furniture as she usually does and then she had started shaking shortly before we got there. Long story short, I took Jerz to the vet the following morning and he diagnosed her with a slipped disc in her back. She had to get a shot for pain along with pain meds for us to give her for a couple weeks and orders for us to keep her from jumping onto or off of anything and to basically keep her from doing much of anything. Easier said than done. She is somewhat self-limiting in that she won't jump up onto things but she is becoming more daring. Our biggest concern is that if dogs re-injure or injure it worse, sometimes it causes paralysis, etc. So, we've been babying her (even more than usual) and she seems to be improving. She still shows some signs of pain form time to time but moves around well for the most part.

We also had a little unwanted house guest starting Thursday evening - a mouse in our house!! Yuck! Jay first heard him inside the walls on Thursday and then Friday morning (at about 5 am after he let the dogs out) the mouse scurried out of the pantry and into a hole that leads to underneath our cupboards, where it stayed until the following morning. So, bright and early Friday morning, there were Jay and I, going through everything in the pantry to wash or throw away!! Jay did get some Black Friday shopping in - he was at Tractor Supply Co. to get the sticky mouse traps at about 7:00am that morning! By Saturday morning, the mouse returned to the pantry and got caught in a trap. We hope that is all the mice we end up having in the house! We are now more prepared with mouse traps downstairs and in the pantry!

The rest of the weekend, one of us basically had to stay home with Jerz (except for the couple of hours on Friday evening when we went to my parents' house for the Thanksgiving dinner with them. I missed out on going to Ryan and Raumi's house on Saturday evening unfortunately, but had to stay home to make sure Jerz would not do anything to hurt herself!

Other than the holiday weekend and all the "exitement" that went with it, it's been mostly just work and the usual for us. The last big push at work before Christmas is upon us!

It's such a relief to know that the baby's heartbeat is strong and that he/she is doing well - we feel very blessed! No better Christmas present that we could ever ask for!! :)

Have a great rest of the week and weekend everyone!