Catching up with Baby Mills

Pregnancy...what can I say...I certainly do see how some people only have one child. And we aren't even to the end of this thing (or should I say just the beginning). HOWEVER, the morning sickness, nausea, heartburn, pounding headaches...all of that pain goes away the minute you hear the baby's heartbeat just pitter pattering away. The miracle of life is certainly that...miraculous!

We had our very first sonogram in late November just to make sure everything was going good. Our mid-pregnancy sono is next Tuesday which is when we will find out if we are having a little girl or boy. I was sure that it was a girl while Justin feels certain it is a boy. I was feeling quite confident until Rhonda (a gal I work with) went in for her sono and found out she is having a girl. I swear that we are having the opposite because she has had such a great pregnancy and mine...well it's been a little rocky to say the least. Now I guess we'll just have to wait and see on Tuesday. The suspense is killing me!

Right now I am in my 18th week. According to the Bump.com, Baby Mills is about the size of a sweet potato and next week will be a mango. We still are battling on baby names. We have a few ideas for boy names but the girl names are where we run into trouble. Justin seems to a) think it's not going to be a girl so we don't even need to think of them and b) put every name that I come up with into the sentence "Welcome to the stage ______________" (insert baby name here) just to make sure it doesn't sound like a stripper name. What I'm wondering is how does he know that all my names sound like stripper names if he hasn't been to a strip club??? He's rooting for Sue, Ethel and Bertha if it's a girl. He's certain they would never get a date with that name.

Stay tuned because next Tuesday is the big day! Let's just hope that he/she isn't too bashful and bares it all for us!

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!"

By far, Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. It took all I had not to put the tree up BEFORE Thanksgiving this year but I held off and waited until the week after, well and Justin standing in my way put it off a little bit too.

Christmas 2009 was pretty different for us but still a great Christmas. As we watched the weather all week, it became more and more clear to me that a trip to Iowa was not in our future. After sending Mark Bogner an email with a request for a personalized forecast for our direct route, we knew we could make it but would we get back home was the big question. After much deliberation, we made the (smart) decision to stay home and celebrate Christmas in Kansas this year. Good thing because Iowa ended up getting 20.9" of snow! Holy Cow!

Thursday we spent Christmas Eve day with Justin's mom and dad, opening Christmas gifts. We were so excited to have them open the gift from us because we KNEW we had the best gift for them in all the years we had been buying gifts: 2 tickets to the Jeff Dunham show in March. They were SURPRISED! My favorite gift...well, two favorite gifts: The Christmas Story movie from Justin's mom and my new purse/wallet from Justin. Friday we went up to see Justin's great uncle in the nursing home in Russell. It was so nice to see Ervin. We ate Christmas lunch with him and then made our way back home. Our Christmas was quiet but relaxing! Saturday my brother came over and we played Super Mario Brothers on Wii all night. Justin and Zach stayed up until 3:30 a.m. playing. (Well worth it) And now we are looking forward to Christmas with my mom this weekend.

Looking back, as it's time to take down the tree, put away the decorations and take down the lights, Christmas is really what you make it. I was heartbroken when we couldn't make the trip to Iowa but it truly is not about what day you spend with your family, it's just being with the ones you love no matter if it's Christmas day or 2 weeks from now. I am so blessed to have someone by my side that reminds me of that every day.

Hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a Happy and Safe New Year!

Lacey

Welcome to the World of Blogging...Now Keep Up!

I'm sure that Justin will probably frown upon my new undertaking...starting a family blog. According to him this is way too "liberal" (a word that he uses for anything he dislikes these days) but now that we are going to have a little one roaming the house soon, this seems to be the best, easiest, most fun way to share big and little moments with friends and family.

The first order of business is getting all of you caught up. It's hard to believe a little over a year ago we were loading up a moving truck and making the 1800 mile trip back home from Maine. We knew we were going to miss it but underestimated just how much. After the New Year last year, I started a position with a company called Ag 1 Source and will be celebrating my one year anniversary with them January 5th. Justin went back working for Enterprise Products, the company he was working for before we left for Maine. The good news is that he has been working close to home for the most part instead of traveling for weeks at a time. Cross your fingers this stays the same in 2010.

After months of searching, decision making and offers made and retracted, we finally bought a house in the little town of Sedgwick which is just North of Wichita. We pretty much have everything you need in Sedgwick; a gas station, a restaurant, a liquor store, car wash, vet and body shop. What more do you need??? Don't worry ladies, I can make it to New Market Square in 20 minutes flat for some good shopping, 18 if I hurry.

In early September we found out that we are being blessed with a new addition to our little family and this time it is not a four legged, furry creature. Baby Mills is due June 4th. What an amazing journey it has been. We have been trying for almost a year to have a baby and it's funny how God works. For those of you that know me and know me well, I am not a big Summer fan. I just think the world would be great if it was 67 degrees year round. And secondly, we've always joked that we were on the 5 year plan for having kids. Well...we are due June 4th which is just 14 days shy of our 5 year anniversary and hopefully I won't have to be pregnant in weather above 85 degrees.

So you want to know what to expect from this blog. Well, plan on lots of baby updates, family information, fun and quirky stories with the occasional venting episodes. And after June 4th expect LOTS of pictures and baby stories. We are so excited to be parents and want to share our excitement with each of you.

Lots of Love,
Justin and Lacey