Family Visits!

We enjoy visits from friends and family and recently we have had a couple. Mom and Dad came for a couple days and then Tony and Cali came in for a weekend visit. Here are a few pictures from these special occasions.

Nords cookies and Sunergos hot coco and coffee. Yum.

Hiking at Hemlock Falls... but with all the lack of rain the falls weren't there and the stream was pretty dry, but that made for easier looking for stream creatures. That made Eli pretty happy.

Fossil Hunting!!! I found one! It was really fun to hunt for a while. I don't think I have been fossil hunting since before Eli was born. I look forward to doing this more once the kids get older. We had to take turns watching Otto who was sleeping in the van, but that worked out well since the hunting site was pretty steep at many points.

We spent Saturday out on the boat. It was a beautiful day! The water is starting to get a little chilly now, but we still got in for a bit.

Eli caught a damselfly.

We've all had a bug...

Ohhh the joys of sickness. Oh my. It is really one of those times for me when I have a stomach bug that causes me somehow to be soooo thankful for being healthy most of the time. I think the Lord reminds me of how fragile and at the mercy of His amazing hands we are when I am feeling so weak and completely helpless.

The first day a good friend Aleasha took Eli and Otto for me and the second day I started with a list for Brian to do in the am (to prepare for the day) and then just let the kids be savages the rest of the day (at least that is how I felt). Brian was great though. He came home each evening and did it all- cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids and he even did some laundry. Wow.

Well as bugs go Eli and Otto and Brian all came down with it five days later. Thankfully I had all my energy back in time to care for all of them. Praise God! Eli did ask me if he could give me my virus back because he said he didn't want it anymore. Too bad it doesn't work that way.

The part that makes me so sad though is Mom and Grandma Gerrie were supposed to come visit this week and we had to cancel that - didn't want to send anything home to DC with them.

Two praises - we went to the doctor to hear the heart beat on Thursday and everything was good and strong and okay after two days of sickness. I was very thankful because I was concerned for the baby during such an intense illness and I know a lot of you were praying for me and the baby - thank you!!!!

I also didn't have coffee for four days so I have decided to stay off the caffeine the rest of this pregnancy - I already went through the headaches of withdrawal so I figured that I might as well just keep away till the end.

Yes, my little Eli likes to snap pictures of everything these days so he got a few good ones of me in my state of sickness. I thought I would share. And then it was only fair that I got one of him too. :)

Baby Belly

I can hardly believe that I am 15 weeks along already this week! My due date is April 3rd and all of us are so excited. Eli took this picture of me. We were in the kitchen and Eli asked if he could take a picture of the baby belly. Both Eli and Otto are very excited about starting to see my belly grow as this little one grows. Otto seems to find it really funny (especially my belly button). He will push on my belly button and practically fall over from the giggles.

The second picture is just a more official one that I had Brian snap... since the one Eli took is missing my head. It really is me!

My second appointment is this week and we are all going along to hear the heartbeat! Next month is the ultrasound - we are so excited to see this little baby and find out if we are having a boy or girl!