Been a while....?

Well. I wrote a nice long catch up post earlier and managed to delete the whole thing while trying to add pictures, so I'm going to try again, but it will probably be a lot shorter than the original cause it ticked me off :)
One of the reasons that I have never started a blog is because I knew I would be not very good at keeping it up. I let a week go by and think to myself, "I need to write a post.". Then another week goes by and the same thought runs through my mind. Next thing i know, its been 16 weeks and it feels too overwhelming to even try to catch up and I feel like a slacker for letting it get that far behind!! So this is my attempt at catching up.....
A few big things have happened in the last few months, including holidays! I worked Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving night this year, so my family celebrated Thanksgiving on the Friday after. No big deal for my family. Having grown up with a firefighter for a dad who works 24 on 48 off, we are used to celebrating things on our own schedule. Luckily, my husband is on the same shift as my dad, so that leaves 2 out of 3 days to schedule functions on instead of 1 out of 3!
Christmas has also come and gone. I love the simple traditions in my family. They are nothing extravagant, but they are ours and they make me happy. This year, we went to see H.L.'s family on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We then went to my parents for a little family get together that includes a dirty Santa party. I have never not stayed the night at my parents on Christmas Eve. Luckily, H.L. has roughed it with me on a full sized futon in my old bedroom the past two years so that I can still say that :) Christmas day, we wake up and do the family thing with my parents and brother and sister, then we go to the Box's (my grandparents on my dads side) and have a H.U.G.E. Christmas breakfast and exchange gifts there, and then we go to the Hettwer's (my moms parents) and somehow manage to eat more and exchange gifts there. It makes for a long couple of days (I was in bed by 9pm Christmas day this year), but I wouldn't give it up for nothing!
Another noteworthy happening is that we have added two handsome boys to our circle of kids! Lindsi had Cale on November 18 and Tere had Will on December 25.....talk about a Christmas surprise!
I am now 24 weeks and I don't know how it happened. It seems like the first 12 or so weeks went soooooooooooo slow and since then it has just flown by! Its hard to believe that in about 16 weeks, my world will be rocked! I asked Johnny yesterday as we were working on the nursery what he thought our first night home would be like. His answer? Long :) At least he has realistic expectations!
We has our anatomy scan at the beginning of December and the baby looked great but was so low that they couldn't get all of the shots that they needed. Therefor, we get to have another ultrasound next week...darn the luck ;) We are also having a 3/4D ultrasound that our families are coming to so that they can be included and see the nugget. We are not finding out the gender (*gasp*) so this will be a different way that they can connect with the baby.
Even though we are not finding out the gender, H.L. and I both think it might be a girl. Here is the list of why:
1. The way I'm carrying. My mom and grandma told me I'm carrying high and wide (I'm sure they meant that in the nicest way possible...) and that my mom carried the same way with my sister and I.
2. The ratio of boys to girls in our circle of kids. 2 girls, 7 boys. It has to balance out at some point, right?!?
3. I have noticed, amongst the girls at work at least, that when there are a few pregnant girls all due around the same time, the babies have tended to be the same gender. I have a co-worker and a friend who are both due within a month of me and both are having girls.
4. The ring test. It clearly went in a circle.
5. Karma. This one is all Johnny. He will obviously love the baby the same regardless of the gender, but he is determined that karma will give him a girl first so that he has to worry about boys and dating.
6. Dustin Nolen. He gave this kid the nickname Esther (but pronounced with the "H" very prominent, so more like Essshhthhhher) several weeks ago and it has stuck like glue. Esther is a girl name therefor it is referred to as "she" a lot.
7. Mothers instinct? Although I could be totally off- I have never done this before :)
Clearly none of these are a genetic test or really scientifically backed up, so there is still a 50% chance its a boy! Ha ha.
With the new year in full force, I stole an idea from another blog (that's right....I am a blog stalker, but cant keep up with my own). Instead of having strict resolutions that never seem to happen for me, I am going to have a word that encompasses what I want to accomplish this year. There is wiggle room in that! My One Little Word for 2012 is: balance. There are already things that I need to balance in my life (i.e. more productivity and less couch time) and with a rugrat making an appearance, I'm sure it will become a bigger need. So here is to finding balance in being a good mom, but also being a good friend, wife, daughter, granddaughter, and co-worker. Here is to finding the balance in being busy and being still, living life and loving life, getting things done and doing nothing, and accomplishing big things and enjoying the small things! With that being said I will leave on the statement that I will try (but not promise) the update more frequently. Here are some pics!




14 weeks

17 weeks

 20 weeks

 22 weeks with Tere about 2 days before Will made his debut

 23weeks 4 days- Happy New Year!