Week 24

Gertie is still doing great and is still growing. I believe my belly has really grown in this last week - or maybe I just think that because it is starting to itch more. S/he is also becoming more and more active each day. Doug finally did feel a quick kick Tuesday evening...which was pretty exciting.

Here is the weekly belly pic...on my 27th birthday!
Grow baby, grow!

Until next time...

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 27th birthday, and I'm sitting home by myself:

• Doug is working long hours this week - the weather has finally warmed up enough to make the corn tassel and pollinate.
• Dallas is still hanging with the grandparents in Indiana.

Needless to say, it is pretty quiet around here.

Enough of that...on to the present(s). I treated myself to a brand new pressure cooker!

It is a Presto 16 qt cooker/canner, and I have already given it a test run. I put up 8 dozen ears of corn yesterday, which made about 18 pints. All but 2 of them sealed...so I think that's a good success rate for the first time canning! I think Doug and I are going to pick more corn tonight so I can do it all again tomorrow.

With the purchase of my new pressure canner, I received a canning kit! The Kitchen Collection Outlet Store was running a special...buy a new canner - get a canning kit free {a $15 value}. Happy Birthday to me!

Until next time...

Congratulations!

To my long time friend Melissa and her husband, Chris. They welcomed their first child, Zachary Christopher, into the world on Sunday morning. The little...correction...big boy weighed in at 8 lb 10.7 oz and is 22 in long! Check out her blog for pictures of the new cutie.

Congratulations again!

Until next time...

Family Meeting

Dallas is currently in Indiana spending lots of time with his grandparents. He has been staying with my parents since the weekend, and will spend the second half of his week with Doug's parents.

In addition to Dallas being in the Hoosier state, his cousin - technically second cousin - is also visiting! This was the first time Dallas and Sariah have met. Luckily, Granny - also known as GG - captured some pictures and sent them my way. I do believe they had a wonderful lunch.

**Oh, yeah...my mom was there, along with Sariah's mom (Stacia - my cousin), dad (Adrian), grandma and grandpa (my aunt Patti and Uncle Steve), and an aunt and uncle of ours!

Enjoy the pictures...
My son (16 months) looks huge sitting next to Sariah (7 months)!

I'm thinking it was impossible to get everyone to look at the same time!

Until next time...

Dallas and his Dogs

Dallas loves it when the dogs come in to play. His favorite thing is to chase after them and pet them. Here is a small clip of him doing such a thing.

Until next time...

Rural Water on Its Way!

The other day, Dallas and I watched from the porch as the water company worked on laying the pipes for the rural water* that is soon to make its way to our home.
Of course, Dallas loved watching the tractors and other equipment at work. I think it was the longest he has sat still in a good 6 months!

This picture is actually a few days old. This was when they actually brought the pipe.

The trencher (behind the truck) digging

(sorry, I was not at the top of my picture-taking that day)

The excavator followed the trencher covering the newly laid pipe from one side.

And, finally, came this guy to push the dirt from the other side of the trench.

I was quite surprised at how quickly they worked! If all continues to go well, the water company should dig the meter pit in our yard in the next couple weeks, and then water should be flowing to the house in October.

One last picture of Dallas enjoying the show...

Until next time...

*What is Rural Water?

~Out here in our neck of the country, wells are not a good source of water. One must dig some 600 ft before hitting water. It is very, very rusty water even with the constant use of softener salt. The water also contains high levels of nitrate (which isn't good for infants and small children). At our other house, we had rural water and loved it. We are excited about getting water at this house. With the new water, we will no longer need to use our water softener because the water will already be softened! In addition, we won't need to buy bottle water for drinking! We will be keeping our well for use outside (i.e. water the garden, water the flowers, wash vehicles, etc.)

Week 23

I apologize to any of you who have repeatedly checked the blog today for my weekly preggo update. I didn't shower this morning {go ahead and insert "gross" here} because I knew I was going to mow the yard this afternoon, and I would be showering after that. So...long story...long. Here is the weekly belly pic -
Baby Gertie is weighing in at about a 1 pound now and is around 8 inches long. S/he is quite the mover these days; although, Doug still hasn't felt the baby move. I would think he should be able to any day.

I'm still feeling great...even if it did get "hot" today. We finally hit a high of 80 degrees! I go in two weeks for my next check-up.

Until next time...

Dallas' Day

A few pictures from Dallas' adventures yesterday.

Who needs new toys when you have one of these?
Dallas is trying harder each day to put on his own socks and shoes. Maybe Daddy's socks will be easier to get on than his own!

We are getting closer each day to having rural water! The water company has been keeping their equipment across the road from us. Dallas spent a good portion of the afternoon watching out the window as the equipment moved about.

Until next time...

Tractors, Antiques, and Horses...Oh My!

We had a very fun-filled weekend! I'm going to try and keep my words short and stick to the pictures...notice I said "try".

Saturday morning Doug had to work. After he got home and Dallas woke up from his nap, we went to check out the Iowa County Tractor Ride! We were able to see the tractors make their way into Conroy (the last stop of the ride), and then walked among them and talked with different drivers. We even met a few of our neighbors!

I'm not sure how many tractors participated, but the weather was perfect...about 66 degrees...for the ride. Here are the tractors parked in Conroy.
It's a little hard to tell, but there were many Olivers in the group!

When we got home, Dallas played outside while Doug and I worked in the garden. The boy sure can find the dirt!

Sunday morning before church, Doug and I heard the news anchors talking about Pioneer Days not too far from where we live. We looked it up and the Internet and thought it sounded like a fun time. So...after church we headed up to Central City to check it out!

The farm is called the Historic Brown Farm. You can find more info about it here.

This guy loved collecting antiques of all kinds. Here's an Oliver pull-type combine!

Dallas thought the pigs were pretty funny.

There was also square dancing going on...but the dancers were riding on lawn mowers! Check out this video.

There was a small petting zoo (two goats, a couple chickens, a duck, and a rabbit.) Dallas wasn't so sure about the goats at first.

The goat tried to eat my camera case!

What are you looking at?
Finally, they became friends.

Enjoying a hay ride out to the fields where they had horses plowing and discing, as well as tractors plowing and a threshing demonstration.

Petting one of the horses used for plowing.

One of the teams of horses plowing.

This was funny (or at least I thought so). This guy is suppose to be representing farming in the 19th century...and he's using a cell phone!

How do you drive this thing?
Dallas loved sitting on this crawler and moving the levers...he was one very unhappy boy when we pulled him off.

To end the day, we watched the greased pig catching. Those kiddos were too cute chasing after the pigs. Maybe Dallas will be big enough for it next year.

To finish off the weekend, Doug and I made coleslaw with the cabbage, carrots and green peppers from our garden! Let's hope it turns out yummy.

Until next time...

Week 22

...and feeling great! The weather has been awesome for this preggo. In fact, the low temp for tomorrow is 49!!! Can you believe that? And, we are half way through July.

Here's the belly pic for this week.
Gertie has been quite the dancer this last week or so. Doug keeps trying to feel the little one move, but the baby always stops as soon as Doug puts his hands on my tummy. Dallas still loves to pat my tummy, and he has even given Gertie a couple kisses. Other than that...things are normal around here.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend.

Until next time...

I Can Do This - How About You?

Always the little helper!

We just had to get this picture...the largest lady bug we've ever seen!

*Excuse my appearance - apparently, my hair and make-up artist are on strike*

Until next time...

Let's Go Racin'

This past weekend, we were able to get away and spend some time with Katie! Doug and I enjoy going to see the dirt track races in Algona, IA (near where Katie lives). We weren't able to make it up last summer, but we made it this year and had a great time. Thanks again for having us Katie!

I, of course, forgot my camera! Luckily, Katie came to the rescue.

One of the first things we saw when we got to our seats was this car that had hit the tire barrier. The tire became stuck under the front end of his car!
Dallas just sat on the bleacher (well for the first couple heats) and watched the cars go round and round! He looked more like a toddler than the baby I still refer to him as!

Watching the races with Mommy.

Then, he had to change seats and watch with Daddy.

When the feature races begin, the crowd stands and waves at their favorite drivers...Dallas joined in as well!

Starting to get sleepy, but still loving the races!

The last wreck of the evening...

Dallas stayed awake until 11:30 that evening! He only took an hour and a half nap on the way to Katie's house Saturday afternoon. He did sleep another 45 minutes on our way to the races.

Sunday morning, we went out for breakfast and then Katie showed us where a bald eagle has made a nest just south of her house!

After bird watching for a while, we made our way back to Katie's house. I think Dallas was ready to mow her lawn. Too bad she did that chore Saturday morning!

Until next time...

"Meet" Baby Gertie

Doug, Dallas, and I went to see baby Gertie today! We had a great tech that was very friendly and answered any questions we had. Again...we still don't know what the gender is of baby Gertie. But...Here are the pictures we came home with.

Face
Heart Rate (141 today)

Arms

Legs

Feet

I have a few videos from the ultrasound session. In these videos the head is on the right side of the clip. The big round thing in the middle is baby Gertie's tummy!

This video has a good shot of baby Gertie's feet, legs and arms moving about.

There is an excellent shot of the bottom of Gertie's foot near the end of this clip. You will also notice the knees in this video.

In this final video...it is a good view of the profile of Gertie stretching out and then "curling" back up.

Until next time...