Dr. appointment

We had another baby check-up today, and everything checked out healthy. We decided to not do the triple screen, simply because in the event that something came back abnormal, then I'd just be worried the rest of the pregnancy (and the fact that I HATE needles played a little bit of a role). She said that the only thing that it could detect that they might be able to help is spina bifida, but if it was severe enough to warrant "fixing" then it should be picked up on the ultrasound next month anyway. The heartbeat was strong and regular and the doctor commented on how much it was wiggling around (probably the effects of the cup of coffee I'd had a couple hours earlier). Now, I can't be certain, because it's still awful early to be feeling any movement (it being my first pregnancy and all), but yesterday on 2 seperate occasions, I THINK I may have felt a wee bit of movement. One of those times I'm almost positive that it was VERY light kick that I felt because it caught me so off guard. I'm sure I'll become all too familiar with the feeling over the next couple of weeks!

Merry Christmas!

It's not looking good for me getting Christmas cards out this year. Although I have everything perpared on the computer, finding time to get them printed has been another story. So I decided it would be better to send an online Christmas card to everyone than for me to send none at all. So below is the letter that was to be sent with our Christmas cards along with the picture. I'm also going to throw in an extra picture at the end.

Merry Christmas from the Hamblen Family! This was the best family picture we got this year (actually it was the only one the cats stuck around long enough to have even a portion of their bodies in the picture), but it actually is a pretty good representation of life as usual in our home.
We hope this Christmas finds you doing well and not getting too caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I don’t really have a good way to describe the year for us other than absolutely crazy. We’ve had quite a series of unexpected events over the past year.
Gary had surgery to mend a broken bone in his wrist about this time last year. It went smoothly, and the recovery time was 3-4 months, as expected; but in those months (and the months following), Gary’s family was hit exceptionally hard with losses, I don’t think there was a full month that went by without a loss until September.
In late July, Gary had an unfortunate run-in with a copperhead. He was almost completely out of commission for a week and partially down for another. It was almost September when he didn’t have a daily reminder of the bite, and he still has occasional pains from time-to-time.
Of course the family events and snake-bite incident occurred right in the middle of us trying to replace the carpet in the main living areas in our house with hardwood. Fortunately it didn’t pose any obstacle that we weren’t able to overcome.
Things finally slowed down around late September; the floor project wrapped up, Gary’s foot was fully healed, and families seemed to be healthy…..then, in October, SURPRISE! We’re expecting our first child (due June 19th)!
God has been good to us this year. He’s seen us and our families through very physically and emotionally trying times, helped Gary and I somehow maintain our sanity while our house was torn apart for the flooring (although I’m pretty certain it was hanging by a thread at times); he protected Gary during the snakebite incident, in that it wasn’t any worse than it was, and he seemed to have used all the trials of the year to bring us closer together.
We hope that God blesses you in the coming year,
and wish you all a Merry Christmas!

From Gary, Kellye, Binx and Nala

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the LORD,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”

First Baby Pictures

We went to the dr. today and they did a quick ultrasound and everything looked great. Here's the pictures that they gave us. Gary and I saw that there is indeed only ONE baby in there, we saw it's little heart pounding away, and we even saw it squirming around in there. In all honesty, if I had interpreted the ultrasound pictures myself, I would have said that the wrong end was the head....but the dr. tells me that the left side of the baby is the head, and the right is the body. You can see it's little arms next to it's body and it's feet and legs are curled up in front of it, so you can't see them at all (but trust me, they're there, we saw them wiggling around). It's still way to early to tell if it's a boy or a girl, and we haven't decided whether or not we're going to find out.

Amy tagged me with this. I'm supposed to list 7 random things about myself. Here are the rules:Link to the person that tagged you. Share 7 random or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 people with their links at the end of the post, and then scout them out to let them know they've been tagged. (I may or may not do this step - so if you reading this and I tagged you - surprise!)Here goes:

1. Gary was my very first crush. When I was in the first grade I prayed that I would marry him when I grew up. We actually started dating when I was 14 and here we are....12 years later!

2. My family has taken several fishing trips to northern Ontario. We took float planes to lakes that could only be reached by airplane. The biggest fish I ever caught in Canada was actually on my crappiest day fishing. I had finally had it with casting and reeling, and I tied a minnow lure on my pole, threw the line out the back of the boat, got comfy on some cushins, and put my hat over my head. After about 20 minutes I got snagged on a log, so Daddy turned the boat around while I tried to wiggle the lure loose. I was reeling the line in as we went toward the location of the snag, then all of a sudden my drag took off. HOLY COW, THE "LOG" WAS MOVING! I waited for the fish to wear itself out, but after a few minute of the drag constantly wining I began to worry I was going to run out of line. So we took off after the fish in the boat and chased it around the lake. After about a 10-15 minute fight, the fish finally surfaced....did a dolphin jump in the air, and managed to wiggle the lure from his mouth. So while I never actually got him in the boat, Daddy, Gary and I all agreed it was probably around a 40 inch Northern!

3. I like all different types of music. I listen to some country, instrumental, new age, oldies, classic rock, rock, etc. As long as it's in English and not rap or opera, I probably listen to a little of it. Gary and I mostly listen to Jack Johnson, James Taylor, Norah Jones and Paul Simon.

4. I love watching Christmas movies all year round. I can watch A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Charlie Brown's Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, etc. any time of the year!

5. It's a small world! For those of you who don't know, my Dad grew up in Elkins on a chicken farm. He was best friends with one of the boys who lived on the neighboring farm. After Gary and I started dating, and I began to get aquanited with his family, it became known that my Dad's boyhood best friend was Gary's uncle!

6. Here's an odd coincidence for you: Gary and his cousin were born on the same day, 5 years apart. His cousin's wife's birthday is June 19th, which is our baby's due date...if our baby is born on it's due date (highly unlikely) and THEY someday have a kid on MY birthday, then I'll start to wonder if there's actually something to this.

7. Here's one that I'll probably never live down, but I believe in ghosts. Here's my reasoning: I believe in the Holy Ghost, so doesn't that mean I must believe in ghosts? I don't believe they can hurt anyone or do anything...but I simply believe that they exist.

Okay, I can't think of 7 people with blogs to tag with this that haven't already been tagged. So if you would like to do this, then TAG!

First Appointment (nothing big)

All they really did at my appointment today was ask us a bunch of questions, take our insurance info, and do some lab work. I do NOT like having blood drawn, and I don't really understand how they could have possibly missed my vein...but somehow they managed and had to wiggle it around in there a lot. So I wasn't very happy about that. But I got them back because I'm not the most skilled at peeing in a cup that is no more than and inch-and-a-half, at most, in diameter....enough said. So I really didn't learn much, but they didn't seem to be too concerned. My next appointment is in 2 weeks, and hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat then.

Gary and I are both doing well. Neither of us can believe that Thanksgiving is next week ALREADY! Anyway, we hope everyone out there is doing equally well (or better). Hopefully we'll see most of you over the upcoming holidays!

Job Status Update

For those of you who have been keeping up with the news, you know that Tyson laid off a bunch of people yesterday. Gary, thankfully, did not get laid off, but several people we know did. So, while we're grateful that we didn't get directly affected, it's pretty tough to see people you know and care about losing their jobs. Please keep them in your prayers. As for the status of my job (for those of you who read the newspaper), I feel pretty confident that my position will remain open if job cuts become the solution to balancing the budget....but you never know. However, next year is a mayoral election year, so everything's up in the air then. I'm really not worried, God hasn't let us down yet, even in times that it didn't seem like he was anywhere to be found it has always turned out he was there all along.

Neither of us really want to talk about jobs and/or politics when we get together with family and friends. We'd rather just enjoy your company and discuss the usual bs that we're accustom to. So we'd appreciate it if you'd please not ask us a million questions about it. We'll keep you posted if any new information comes up.

Aversions kicked in

While I haven't actually gotten sick, nor been constantly nauseated, food aversions have definately kicked in. I cannot stand to even think about plain meat (grilled chicken breast, steak, fish fillet, etc.) or raw veggies. I can eat meat in a casserole or something, and veggies as long as they're cooked, but I literally have to choke them down otherwise. I suppose I still ought to be thankful that it isn't worse. I haven't had any cravings yet, unless you can count dill pickles, which I've been addicted to for as long as I can remember.

Anywho, all-in-all things are going really well. Gary's still doing some work on the house, but I think that will come to almost a halt after this weekend when the time changes. It'll be dark when we get home until about mid-Feburary. I'm contemplating getting my Christmas stuff out this weekend. I'll just have to see how the weekend pans out.

Still doing well....for the most part....

Well, I'm still feeling fine, on the whole. I've had moments with the weeist bit of nausa, but nothing that has halted life....yet. I am tired, but I'm able to get through the day (albeit, a bit grumbly), but I attribute that to my continuously inturrupted sleep due to frequent bathroom visits and really strange dreams. I've also been quite a bit more emotional; this morning I started crying when I couldn't button my pants (this particular pair was always a bit snug anyway, but I've never NOT been able to button them!!!), and I've come close to crying over various, random things. Gary has been very supportive and patient with me, so I'm really thankful for that.

We had a very busy weekend full of events. Saturday night we went to a bonfire with our Sunday School class (combined with another class). Sunday we had a birthday party for Gary's aunt after church, followed by a Halloween party at a good friend's house, Erik and Evey. Needless to say, after a fun, eventful weekend, I wasn't ready for Monday to roll around. At least the day has gone by fast because all the clocks on our computers set themselves back an hour, so the whole day I've been thinking it was an hour earlier than it actually was. Thank goodness it wasn't the other way around!!!

Still doing fine....so far....

Well, so far so good. I still feel fine. In fact, I'm having trouble remembering that I'm pregnant due to the lack of symptoms thus far, but I still have plenty of time for things to sink in. Anywho, I don't want this to turn into a pregnancy blog, so I'll just give you tidbits of info on an as-needed basis.

We got our sheet vinyl flooring laid over the weekend. It looks really good. It is a bit "busy" when expanded over the entire floor, but I think it will calm down once we move the refrigerator back and get the new bar/buffet built. It goes with the wood floors wonderfully and it doesn't shown dirt!!!!! Woohoo!!! Here's a picture of the flooring:

In regards to home improvement, I think we're about to call it quits for the winter. We're both ready for a slow down. We may do some small cosmetic stuff, but probably nothing that anyone but Gary or I would ever notice.

One last detour and I'll shut up. Can you believe it's only 4 WEEKS TO THANKSGIVING??? For that matter, in our house, anytime after Nov. 1st is fair game for me to pull out the Christmas stuff....THAT'S NEXT WEEK!!!!

Word is out......

Well, we got some news that we weren't expecting........WE'RE EXPECTING!!! It's still really early, I'm only 5 weeks, but so far, no signs or symptoms...I feel completely normal. I guess God just decided it was time. Of course I'm nervous of all the things that can go wrong, so your prayers will be greatly appreciated. We're both excited, but I don't think its quite sunk in for either of us yet. The due date should be around June 16th. We'll keep you posted if that date changes any (and of course we'll update everyone on dr. visits, etc.).

Couple of New Pictures!

I'm FINALLY getting a couple of pictures of our finished work. Right now the hall and entryway are the only clean areas that I'm not ashamed to get a picture of. So here you go!

Hall Before:

Hall After:

Entryway Before: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4108/1854/1600/Entryway.jpg

Entryway After:

TGIF.....almost

Thank goodness the weekend is right around the corner. We've been working our butts off on the house. I think we've gotten at least a years worth of work done over the last couple of weeks! I say "we," but in reality, I've done some, and Gary's done A LOT. I'm not really sure what's driving his motivation, but whatever it is, I think it's on speed.

In other news, we've been bombarded by these huge spiders that build webs the size of me (no kidding!) in between our trees. So when I go strolling through the yard, I get caught in a [censored] spider web about every 5 feet or so. Generally, my policy with spiders is if they're not poisonous and are in the great outdoors, then live and let live. HOWEVER, I've had to go against my own policy recently. I conducted a mass genocide of these spiders the other night, and I think I'm going to have to do another tonight. I really feel quite terrible while doing it....then I run into another spider web and don't feel so bad anymore.

Other than the ongoing cosmetic improvements, we're just getting the house ready for fall and winter approaching; trying to get a new coat of paint on the shed before the weather turns cool, making sure the roof doesn't leak anymore, and getting the yard ready to lie dormant for 5 months (thank goodness!).

I still can't get to the computer and other items I need to post pictures, but really there isn't much to see right now because everything's a mess.

More pictureless ramblings

I'm about to give up on pictures altogether. Our desktop computer has become buried in all of the home improvement projects that we have underway. We finished laying all of the wood flooring, and we lack doing the t-moulding around the kitchen and in the doorways in the hall. Gary decided as of yesterday that he would be replacing all of the doors down the hall (except our bedroom, which we replaced right after we moved in). There's nothing wrong with the doors, except they don't match the trim. So we have to stain them a different color. Gary has done a phenomenal job with the baseboards and quarter-round. We're also about to get new linoleum in the kitchen. I found some that really looks like real tile. I'm not a big fan of tile because I drop a lot of stuff on the floor, and I'm too lazy to clean the grout. So I prefer the cheap stuff that saves my dishes and I can thoroughly clean without scrubbing with a toothbrush. Well, enough ramblings. I promise I'll post some pictures as soon as I find the camera, USB cable, and computer all at the same time! Oh, Gary is all but completely healed! He still feels a little irritation in his leg, but you can't tell to look at him.

No pics, but another update

I know I'm overdue for some pictures. Sorry. But I'll go ahead and update everyone without photo evidence at this time. Gary's recovery was extremely slow going, up until about Sunday evening, when he began improving by leaps and bounds (somewhat literally). He decided he wanted to get started laying the wood floor in the entertainment room regardless of whether he could walk or not, and before we called it quits for the night he was walking quite well...without the crutches!!! We got the entire entryway complete, and we're about halfway done with the entertainment room!

Update on Gary

I don't have any pictures to post at this time, but I thought everyone might like a quick update on Gary. The swelling really started going down over the weekend. He's going to try to return to work sometime this week. He's getting around a lot better on the crutches, and as long as he doesn't stay standing too long, then it doesn't hurt him too bad. He said it now feels more like a bad sprain (as opposed to someone having taken a sledge hammer to his foot and leg, as it did last week). He still can't put any weight at all on his foot, but hopefully by the end of the week he'll be able to with assistance from the crutches. Thank you for all your prayers, e-mails and calls of concern. We can't thank you enough.

Made a mistake, got kissed by a snake

Well, yet another disaster has come upon Gary. On Friday, we were at my sister's house and Gary and my brother-in-law were walking on the concrete from the house to the garage. While bs-ing and laughing about something, neither noticed the huge copperhead slithering across the sidewalk until it was too late. Gary, wearing flip flops, stepped right on the thing and it bit him in the top of the foot. So off Gary and I went to the ER, where they did absolutely nothing for him but charge us and arm and a leg for a couple shots of morophine. Anyway, here's a picture of the bite. But of course mother nature can't quit there....yesterday, Nala decided that she'd taste a few yellow jackets. She let out a cry like I've never heard, and next thing I know her head matched Gary's foot. It was quite a sight. I'll have to post a picture of that later, because I haven't got them off the camera yet.

Wood Floor

Well, our wood floor project has been a nightmare. We had some serious settling issues with our foundation, so we had some major work to do before we could actually start laying the boards. Here's a picture of Nala helping Gary lay the floor (notice she has a blue leg from rolling in the chalk line), and the living room after we got the floor done. Also, there is a good shot of the doors that Gary built (note the cat door). He sure surprised me with his carpentry abilities.

New York, New York

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I'll try to start where I left off. We went to NY at the end of May. We got to see our friend from high school, Barrett, and we had a blast. Our hotel was right on Time Square. We went to see a broadway show, the Putnam County Spelling Bee, and it was hilarious. I loved it. We also went to see the Yankees/Red Sox game and of course did all the "touristy" stuff.


In the picture with the turtle, I thought the turtle looked way too happy since he was dead and all, so I was imitating it and Gary took a picture.

New Blog

How is everyone doing? Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Gary formatted his harddrive and I lost my password info. The e-mail address that was on file was an old e-mail address that is no longer valid, and I couldn't figure out how to get them to change my e-mail address. So I finally gave up and decided I'd just start a new blog. For those of you who don't know, we're in the process of laying wood flooring! We have the living room complete and the hallway. Gary is presently working on the entertainment room. I'll post pictures as soon as we get it complete!