vacation photos

Our Prodigy

re*group

Hello all, I'm back from vacation! Nick, Benji, and I went down to Medford for Memorial Day weekend, but only Nick came back up so he could start his new job. Benji and I stayed down there for 2 whole weeks! I had tons of help while my body started recovering from morning sickness and got some sleep! Benjamin had a rough time too - we had to wean because I had no more milk, he got a cold, and he started teething too. Poor guy! Even though he was not feeling his best he was spoiled spoiled spoiled by his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and anyone else that came over to play! So, I'd say he had a blast!

While we were down there Benji had his first birthday! I can hardly believe it! The week of his birthday I could remember vividly that very week a year earlier and all the emotions of anticipation. The experience (pain - contractions, relief - the epidural, scared - C-section, complete joy - holding Benjamin) was always on my mind the whole day before his birthday and the day of. What a crazy week it was! I can't believe he's grown so much. He's still so tiny, but his personality is huge! He is one crazy kid! I'm so excited to see him get even older and I don't like it all at the same time! I miss my tiny baby boy! Oh well! I am excited that there's another one on the way! My morning sickness is pretty much under control, the only time I struggle is at night when I start becoming tired.

who me?

A - Age: 24 years, 8 months.

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: laundry!! Arg!

D - Dessert you love: ice cream – dryer’s nestle toll house cookie dough ice cream with cookie bits, chocolate pieces, and sWiRlS of cookie dough!!

E - Essential start your day item: shoes on my feet and moisturizer for my face

F - Favorite actor(s): the cast of Best In Show – pure genius!

G - Gold or Silver: Silver!

H - Height: 5' 7”

I - Instruments you play: The piano, clarinet, and for a few months the cello.

J - Job title: Wife, Mama, Student

K - Kid(s): one and another on the way

L - Living arrangements: 2 bed 2 bath apt in Oregon

M- Favorite month: September (my birthday – duh!) I love spring and fall months.

N - Nicknames: Shelly, Shell Bell, hey you, and I’m not going to repeat my lame childhood ones!

O - Overnight hospital stay other than giving birth: none
P - Phobia: the Phone! I have to coach my way through phone calls! Snakes and worms! I hate worms more than snakes!
Q - Quote(s): She designed a life she loved.

R - Right or left handed: RightS - Siblings: two brothers, and a whole bunch of step siblings.

T - Tattoo(s): Nope

U - Unique talent: anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you! Jk.

V - Vegetable you hate: squash, asparagus, mushroom, olive, okra, soggy spinach, beet, radish, broccoli, and others equally nasty

W - Worst habit: eating everything in front of me (that’s not on the bad list)

X- If you were told to Xerox a part of your body what would you agree to: elbow

Y - Yummy food you make: everything I make is divine. :)

Z- Zodiac Sign: virgo.

re*fresh

Happy thursday! This week has gone by quickly, and I'm happy about that! I'm doing a little better in regards to morning sickness - yay. Benji is teething like a fiend, he's got his bottom two and top two teeth slooooooooowly pushing their way out. They couldn't go any slower, but they're there and they make themselves known every hour of the day and night! Arg. As you can tell the blog's appearance has changed, and I'm very excited about it! I plugged away at it for a bit and there's some more things to add, but I don't have the time to do it all in one day, unless I lock Benj in a closet (not likely). I'd at least have to turn the music up real loud! I've got a new link list titled "barlow's bites" - as you know I love to cook and love food. I put only 4 good recipes out there for ya. I didn't come up with them, unfortunately, but I am a pro at enjoying them. The cowboy spaghetti is particularly one of my favs! I almost put more up there, but I thought - hey, let's keep 'em guessing - they'll never know when I'll change them or add more. Plus, I'm still wanting to be selfish about my favorite ones. We certainly can't have everyone cooking my favorite recipes, there'd be no need for me! Well, I think I'll dink around and do some more maintenance!

Gonna Be A Brother

He's chewed on his shirt a bit, but hopefully you can get the idea.

Ok, I lied...

I lied when I said nothing was going on in our neck of the woods! Last tuesday I was thinking to myself, "gee I don't feel so hot," but I just thought it was from all the traveling we'd been doing. I was very tired and could never catch up on sleep. Then I started feeling worse that morning (tuesday) and tossed my cookies. Then I started thinking, when was my last "moon cycle"??? I couldn't remember, but I thought hey, that was at the first of March! So I went to the store and took a test, and sure enough... we're pregnant! I did a dance and Benji giggled (b/c I looked crazy I'm sure). I made a shirt for Benji that said "I'm gonna be a big brother" and put it on him for when Nick came home. Nick walked in the door and I told him, "go get benji so we can eat dinner" he did and totally missed his shirt (it was very obvious). Then I asked him if he noticed anything. He said, "you cooked dinner and did Benji's hair?" I always cook dinner and I always do Benji's hair! "Look at his shirt!" He looked, but he didn't read it. "Read it Nick!" He read it and then I saw the wheels turning, "really!?" That's that. How funny, Nick is usually observant, but I'm not sure what happened to him that day!

The morning sickness has come full force and I'm doing everything I can to keep my food down. I'm feeling very weak, but at least this time some foods do sound good to me. Most of them sounded good to me last night (sunday) when I couldn't go to any store and do anything about it! Lame! You bet your boots that I'll be getting some of it today though! I'm going to have to postpone school until July, when my morning sickness should be pretty much gone. If not, then I'll go after the babe is born.

No we don't have any idea or hope if it'll be a boy or girl or twins even. I asked Benji through a series of tests and his conclusion is one baby boy. We'll see. If he gets it right, then we may have a second income coming our way - psychic readings.

Fun huh!