Hi, this is Nate again. It has been a long time since I have posted anything to the blog and now that I'm making the effort, I've got writer's block, so this post will be short. There is some sad news this week but also happy news.

I guess I'll relay the sad news first. On Wednesday night, our Meg was put to sleep. Over the past few months, she developed a weird tumor thing that hung from her belly. My dad took her to the vet to see what could be done. They said that if they removed it, she could potentially die from the resulting bleeding. Meg has also had some other health issues affecting her. She was an old dog and according to the vet, she would was the equivalent of being over a hundred years old (dog years for a dog her size). It was decided to put her down so that she wouldn't suffer through the rest of her life. My dad was with her when she passed on. He buried her in a peaceful location with a toy from Heidi and Kaiya. There are many fond memories that we have of Meg and it was a difficult decision to make. We miss Meg and look forward to when we see her again!

The good news: We went to the doctor's office on Thursday and got to hear our baby's heartbeat! It was cool to hear the steady, but quick thumping of the baby's heart. Amy is starting to have problems fitting into her pants.... basically she is starting to show that she is pregnant. :) We are enjoying following the progess of the baby's growth and Amy's pregnancy. Today, she didn't suffer from morning sickness as much so we are hoping that the worst of it is over.

Thursday night we attended ward temple night. We had a decent turnout - 21 people altogether. We ate dinner in the cafeteria and got to sit with President Skeem and his wife (Amy's aunt and uncle). It is always fun to see them in the temple. Dinner was good and the session was wonderful. Both Amy and I came away with new insights. I'll admit that after a long day at work, it was really hard to stay awake for the whole thing. It was peaceful, warm, and the perfect atmosphere for a nap. I was fighting to keep my eyes open for the first part and for the most part succeeded. I was always awake though. It is always nice to be able to escape the cares of the world for a couple hours.

Today, or should I say last night, the snow returned to Washington. We woke up to the ground covered with a quarter inch of snow. Fortunately the roads were clear and we were able to go to church. Tonight we may get some more snow but it shouldn't be that much. I'm just ready for summer already! :)

Christmas and a New Year with New Experiences!

Happy Holidays to all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Ours turned out pretty good this year because our big present was the fact that I'm pregnant! Yay!!! We actually knew about it before Thanksgiving but wanted to wait and tell everyone in Christmas cards. It's actually pretty funny because while we were in Utah with my family, I was asked if I was pregnant yet and I actually had to lie and say I wasn't. :-p (Ben and Christy I hope you're not offended). For those first few weeks of pregnancy I was doing great and felt normal except for mild random cramping, which my doctor later told me was normal. Then in the beginning of December, the morning sickness hit, big time. And I've been sick ever since. I didn't go to work for almost a week when it first started (lots of vomiting and misery). Then, thankfully, I had my first doctor's appointment and was able to get a perscription for anti-nausea medication. It helped a lot and without it I throw up like crazy (as I found out last week when I ran out and didn't get the refill on time). With them I usually only throw up once or not at all and can get to work okay. I'm pretty nauseous all day long and feel like throwing up but haven't yet at work (I refuse to throw up at work!!). I've missed a few days here and there of work since I got the pills and they're being really patient with me. They've changed my start time to 10 am instead of 8:30 so I am able to take it slow in the morning and eat so I can feel better. I usually have to eat/snack all day long or I get really sick. I've tried every trick in the book (including wearing my acupressure bands 24/7) and though some things help temporarily, I'm back to being sick again really quickly. My guess is that it might be this bad because I have always had a weak stomach and am prone to motion sickness. I read in a pregnancy book that people like that are more likely to have worse nausea during pregnancy. Who knows, though. As for Nate, he has been such a trooper dealing with all of this. Poor guy has to deal with my demands for certain foods I feel like I can eat, my complaining, my moaning during the night, my commands for him to hold me and make me feel better, me telling him he stinks or that kissing makes me nauseous, etc. Honestly, it's kind of gotten to him and it's been hard for us both. We're both really hoping I get to feeling better soon, him for his sanity and me, well, so I'm not sick anymore and can feel normal! Needless to say, this sickness thing has taken over our lives and sometimes I have to force myself to think about the reason we're going through this in the first place: our baby! Mom and Dad sent us our first baby gift this past week. It was a pair of newborn baby booties and really helped me put this all in perspective. We are going to have a new little baby! It was really neat to see the baby's heartbeat on our first ultrasound too. It was unbelievable! It's still really hard to imagine my own baby, but I get thrilled when I think about it. Our little blob! (That's our nickname for it now) I've put the booties and the ultrasound picture right next to my bed so I look at it everyday. We already love our little blob, despite the misery we're going through. :)

So besides the pregnancy, we've had fun dealing with the crazy weather here. For a while we had a big snowstorm that made it really tough to get around (in Seattle they have hardly any snowplows, so roads are really bad). Work even closed early so people could venture home through the mess. Christmas was a white one, which for here is very rare. It was beautiful on all of the trees here. Christmas was nice just spending it here with Nate's family. We all got some fun things, nothing big, but lots of little fun things (DVDs, gift cards, clothes, tools, etc.). For New Year's we were housesitting at Nate's aunt and uncle's place so we got to spend it alone together, which was really nice. It's definitely been a holiday season to remember and we're really looking forward to having our baby, which is due on August 1st. That makes me almost 11 weeks along (a little over 1/4 of the way!!). We send our love to everyone and hope that everyone is doing well!!