Nursery

This week Shawn painted Ben's room blue and put together the changing table. I think it looks great. Everything is coming together quickly. The bedding should be in around the middle of January and the rocking chair in February. We are starting to get very excited.

Merry Christmas

Christmas at the Ranch

Christmas in Fort Worth

I've been Tagged Twice

I have been tagged twice in the last month, so I am going to write them over the next two posts.

Tagged: All About Shawn

1. Where did you meet? We met at Johnny Carinos, and then went to Marble Slab for dessert on August 9th, 2005.

2. How long did you date? We dated for almost 7 months and then were engaged for 3 months. I never thought I would get married so quickly!

Our first picture together

3. How long have you been married? Two and a half years

4. What does he say that surprises you? He tells me that I have several different smiles that he absolutely loves. The only problem is he won't tell me which ones they are.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? I love his hugs, so I will say his arms.

6. What is your favorite quality of his? He is a hard worker and always does the best job he can.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? I can't think of any.

8. What is his favorite color? Red

9. What is his favorite food? Probably a good steak

10. What is his favorite sport? Baseball, he played year around all growing up.

11. When and where did you first kiss? On my front porch, a few weeks after we started dating.

12. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Sitting on the couch watching a football game.

13. Do you have any children? One on the way!

14. Does he have a hidden talent? He is a great writer. He has had many articles published.

15. How old is he? He is 34! Nine years older than me!

16. Who said "I love you" first? He did at his apartment after dating for a couple months.

17. What is his favorite type of music? He likes 80's rock and Texas Country music.

18. What do you most admire about him? He is always willing to help others and he never complains about it.

19. Do you think he will read this? He proof reads every post I write.

20. Where did you go on your first date? See number 1. Our first date was the first time for us to meet.

I now tag you Christie C. and Anna.

I am not a Scrooge

Anna tagged me with the Christmas questionnaire. The instructions say to "not be a Scrooge" and complete the survey.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I always thought wrapped gifts were more fun to open when I was little.

2. Real tree or artificial? Right now an artificial tree. You can't beat a prelighted tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? This year right after Thanksgiving, but usually not that early.

4. Do you like eggnog? I like homemade eggnog.

5. Favorite gift received as a child? Cabbage Patch kids.

6. Hardest person to buy for? Our parents

7. Easiest person to buy for? Nieces and nephews under 2.

8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I just got it last year and I love it.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? No Christmas cards, but next year I will for sure!

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of any.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? I love most Christmas movies.

12. When do you start shopping? Usually in November.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can think of.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Party Mix

15. Lights on the tree? Yes

16. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Traveling for now, but we will stay home when Ben is older.

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? It bothers me when the stores start selling Christmas items in October.

22. Favorite ornament, theme or color? Red and Green

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? Baby items for Ben

24. What is your favorite dish at Christmas dinner? Nothing comes to mind.

25. What dish should be left off Christmas dinner? Dressing

26. What's a special Christmas memory? Decorating the Christmas tree when I was younger.



I now tag Lindsey, Rebecca, and Christie C.

Our Snow Pictures from Last Week

Belly Picture at 21 Weeks

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Introducing Benjamin Lee

I love this picture from our ultrasound on Monday. As you can see from the title of this post, we are going to name him Benjamin Lee, but we will call him Ben for short. Lee is Shawn and his dad's middle name. I couldn't believe how well we could see Ben this time. He is measuring about 9 ounces. I go back in a couple weeks for my OB appointment, and they will do another ultrasound because she said his heart wasn't quite big enough for the measurements she needed. A special thanksgiving treat was the first little kicks I felt from Baby Ben on Thursday. We have so much to be thankful for this year!

It's a........

BOY!!!!!!!

Crib

Our baby now has a place to sleep!!! I ordered the crib a couple weeks ago and it was delivered today. I love it, but it looks huge in the nursery. Oh well, I think it will turn out great. The changing table should be delivered in a few weeks. On Monday we find out what we are having. I can't believe how many votes we have received for a girl. We can't wait to find out.

Doctor's Appointment

Today I had my 16 week doctor's appointment. My doctor couldn't find the heart beat with the doppler, so he had to do an ultrasound. It turns out the placenta was in the way. I was relieved to see the baby's legs kicking. The placenta will probably keep me from feeling the baby move for a while, so I am kind of sad about that. But, my next appointment is November 24th. We will get to find out if it is a boy or a girl!!! We are so excited and can't wait to find out. I have a poll set up on the right to vote if you think we are having a boy or a girl.

Picnic Table

Do you remember this project from last fall?

Well it is finally finished!!!

Shawn finished it up a few weekends ago. The picnic table turned out great although it was quite a challenge for him to put together.

Thank You

Shawn and I just wanted to say thank you for all of the sweet comments. We are absolutely thrilled about this impending arrival. It was a long road to get here, and we feel so blessed to add this little addition to our family. As I said before, our baby is due April 26th, and I am 13 weeks along. Fortunately, I did not have morning sickness, although I am having a major food aversion to meat. We would appreciate your prayers for a uneventful pregnancy with a healthy baby in the end. And to the most common question I get, Yes it is just one baby!

We've been keeping a secret!!!

Baby Locke due April 26th!!!

Fun Fall Decorations

Happy Birthday Shawn

Today is Shawn's 34th birthday!!!

This is my attempt at making him a cake. It is legible and it tasted good, so that is all that matters.

Shawn with his birthday present.

Shawn, I hope you had a great birthday, and I hope your 34th year is a wonderful year filled with many blessings!!!

Love, Dana

Shawn's New Toy

Today we got a riding lawn mower for our yard. Shawn has been mowing about an acre for four months now with a push mower. This should make it much easier, plus now he can tackle the other acre in the back that is getting over grown.

Poor Macie

Today Macie had surgery on her ear. She look so sad today. She didn't even want to watch the rabbits and squirrels out the back window. She has to wear the cone on her head for 14 days. I'm not sure how she is going to get through the doggie door with that on.

Pictures

While we were gone, KMC sent a professional photographer over to take some pictures of our kitchen for some advertisement. I finally have finished decorating for the most part the kitchen and living room. The photographer did a great job, I wish our kitchen always looked that good and clean.

Photo by Michael Kellett

Photo by Michael Kellett

A picture I took of our breakfast area

Living Room

And one of our 4th of July decorations

Colorado

Shawn and I just got back from Colorado yesterday. It was nice to get away for a few days and relax, although the trip didn't start out that way. We decided to drive to Colorado this time. Before we left I didn't even think to look at the weather. It hasn't rained here in weeks, so the thought of rain didn't even cross my mind. Our first three hours of driving was spent in the rain. Fortunately it cleared up and was nice. That was until we started driving through the mountains. There were dark clouds all around us and I was just dreading driving up the mountain in the rain, but that didn't end up being the worst part. We ended up getting hailed on for about 15 minutes in the middle of nowhere. I was so scared our windshield was going to get cracked or we'd have horrible hail damage. Luckily the car was fine and we eventually made it safely.

Our car was making a funny noise when we pressed the brakes, so we decided to take it to a Toyota dealership to have it checked out. The closest one was about 40 minutes away. We headed over there and had it looked at (which they said it was ok) and then headed to the airport to meet my parents, Lindsey, and the boys. On the way through Glenwood Canyon the traffic completely stopped. We heard rumors of a wreck ahead of us. We ended up parked on the highway for over 3 hours. Apparently a semi was going to fast and rolled over and lost its load of steel pipes. The pipes had crossed the median into on coming traffic and a car hit one of them, as well as another semi crashing. It looked awful. I hope everyone was ok. If you have to be stuck on a highway for 3 hours, Glenwood Canyon it a great spot. We had beautiful mountains to look at and a river running through it. People were walking and riding bikes up and down the highway to pass the time.

We were so happy the rest of the week ended up being uneventful and relaxing. We got to witness Andrew taking his first steps. It was so exciting and we are so proud of him. He is such a fighter.

Some wind turbines we saw on our drive

A few months ago we bought a Toyota Prius. We love it!!! 50 MPG!!!

Pathology Report

My pathology report from my tonsils came back normal. Yea!!! Unfortunately I have been sick again already. I felt so great for about a week and then last week while in Colorado I started to have the same symptoms and problems that I have been dealing with the past few months. I really hope that the problem was solved when having my tonsils out and this sickness was just a coincidence.

Tonsillectomy Recovery

I am finally starting to feel like myself again. The recovery from having my tonsils out was much harder than I anticipated. It is so strange how painful it is to have your tonsils out. The first three days I was doing just fine. I was in some pain, but it was tolerable. Then over the next five days I got worse each day. I got to the point where I couldn't eat anything. Since I wasn't eating I start having nausea problems from taking pain medicine on an empty stomach. Let me you tell you, throwing up after having your tonsils out is not fun especially at three in the morning. It was a very rough night. Then the next three nights I did not sleep at all. It was too painful when I woke up that it was not worth it. Finally a week after the surgery I went back to the doctor because I was basically at my breaking point. I needed a break from the pain. He said I could either get a steroid shot and a stronger pain medicine or go stay at the hospital for a night or two. I decided to try the steroid shot and new pain medicine. Within an hour of getting the shot I started to feel better. It made such a difference and made the pain much more tolerable. Finally by Monday I started to feel much better. This week I have been so exhausted. I guess my body is trying to recover after not sleeping for so many nights in a row. I am so glad to have it behind me. I still haven't heard anything about the biopsy. I am hoping no news is good news. I have an appointment next week, so hopefully I will know then. Thank you so much for all of your prayers.

Tonsillectomy

On Friday I am going to have my tonsils taken out. About two months ago I got sick with a virus with a very sore throat. My throat never seemed to get better, and I noticed that my right tonsil was quite enlarged. My doctor said I had a right hyper trophic tonsil. He sent me to an ENT about a month ago for a second opinion. The ENT wanted to watch it for about a month to see if it shrunk any. I went back today and it still hadn't shrunk much, so he said it was best to just go ahead and take both tonsils out. He said there is about a 5% chance of it being lymphoma. I am not too worried though because I think it is all due to being sick a couple months ago. I have heard that having your tonsils out as an adult is much tougher than as a child. The doctor said it will take me about one to two weeks to recover. Hopefully it won't be too bad and I will be back to normal quickly.

Our Second Anniversary

Last Tuesday was our second anniversary. I can't believe how fast this last year went by. Shawn got me an edible arrangement. It was so cute with flowers made out of pineapple and cantaloupe. It was very good. That night we went to a new restaurant, Eccell Steakhouse. The steaks were great. I was a little disappointed in the dessert. It was supposed to be similar to a strawberry tart from Cafe Eccell, but they messed it up by adding other kinds of fruit. We had a great anniversary and are looking forward to many more years to come.

Patio Project

This past weekend Shawn and I worked on our back patio. We got some flowers for our pots and purchased some new patio furniture. I absolutely love it. We have spent every evening out there since. It is so quiet and pleasant. A few nights ago we had a deer walk across the back of our lot. It was so neat. We are trying to enjoy it outside as much as possible before it gets unbearably hot and the mosquitos start biting.

Happy Mother's Day to two of the greatest moms!!!

We hope y'all have a very special day.

Love,

Dana and Shawn

Landscaping Pictures

We are loving the new house. It is so quiet and peaceful. One of our favorite things to do is just relax on the back porch. Here are some pictures of the landscaping that they finished a couple weeks ago. I think the landscaping makes the house. I love it.

From the Street

From the Driveway

Macie's Yard

Backyard

Other side of Macie's Yard

The view from the back porch