TWINS?!?!?!?!?!

Ha ha. Just kidding.

We had the big ultrasound today, and without further adieu...we're having a girl! We are very excited and love that we no longer have to call her 'it'. Everything from my blood work was normal, and everything they checked on the ultrasound was good as well. That was such a relief, because it's really scary thinking about all the things that could happen. I often found myself praying and giving over these fears to God. And He is so faithful to give peace.

So here's a semi-blurry profile shot. She seemed to be facing my spine, so they couldn't get any straight on shots, and she kept putting her hands and arms in front of her face. She apparently didn't want to be bothered, but she's going to have to get used to having her photo taken in this family. :) It's crazy how fast these ultrasound techs wiz around measuring everything. He kept pointing out things and Jon and I would just cock our heads to one side and say, "Sure..." I don't understand how they see what they see.

Baby Foot

So thanks everyone for your prayers this past week, but you can obviously keep them up for this little one. :) She'll take all she can get. She! It's so great knowing. (Yes, I understand there's a chance they were wrong, but we'll go with girl for now.) We also have a name picked out, but I don't really feel comfortable posting it online knowing soon they'll be ACTUAL photos of her and all. Better safe than sorry. So just call me or drop me a line and we'll let you know. Oh! And as for the winner, I'll draw a name and post on Monday. I'm outta town this weekend and need to relax! Have a great weekend yourselves!

Babe Stuff...

It's true, this post will mainly be about the babe. So if that's not your cup of tea, don't worry, I won't be offended, just skip to the end for the survey (a fun one at that, too!) and be on your way. For the rest of you brave souls...enter in...

Okay, I'm at 19 weeks, and that means that the baby is currently the size of a mango. Ahem. I know this isn't that big, especially compared to how big it's going to get (don't remind me...), but still, this fact freaks me out. A MANGO. Seriously? Oh my...

In other news, I felt the babe move for the first time on Sunday! Yeah! I wasn't quite sure that's what it was, but honestly, this little fluttering felt like nothing I've ever felt before. It's like someone gently brushing your arm...that feeling, except inside your, well, belly. It's pretty weird, but in a good way. I was describing it to Britt and Hannah and Kris said, "Yeah, that's it! Fluttering is exactly what it is." Kris having been pregnant 7 times, I'll take her word. :) So that's pretty exciting. I haven't felt a full on kick or anything, and except for what I assume was a little somersault the other night, the babe's been laying low.

In non-related baby news, I made these cookies today. These are, no exaggeration, the best cookies in the entire universe. Cara blogged about them last year, and they've been a favorite around here ever since. It being fall (well...), it was time to bust them out. You know they're good because the icing calls for 1 1/4 sticks of butter and 4 cups of powdered sugar, among other things. Oh my...

And finally, on to the survey! A week from today (hooray!) we have our big ultrasound and find out the sex of the babe! I'm so excited, oh man, oh man, oh man. Or, oh baby, oh baby, oh baby. Here's where you guys come in. What do you think we're having? Go ahead and leave a comment on this post. We'll of course post once we find out. And one lucky winner who guesses correctly will win a prize! Good luck!

A few things...

Fall is the season of many things, but one is certainly knitting. And while I've been trying to keep up with it during the summer, it's just so much more fun now. So here's some of the projects I've been working on.

First of all, there's this.
My Aunt Jane made all of these, and I decided they needed to be put together into a wonderful blanket I can cuddle up under this winter. Well, "winter" here, but you know. :) I'll post more when I finish it, but for now you just get this little tease.

And to go along with the warm theme, a lovely scarf. Don't be fooled by the coloring, it's not orangish at all, but this really nice pink. I hate all the names of pink that go along with this color...'Desert Rose', 'Blushing Bride', 'Dusty Pink'...they all suck. I think we should call it 'Babies Bottom'. I mean, that's cheesy too, but it kinda makes me laugh, so that's good.
Also, I've been making soup because I love it, and it's fall. Those things seem to go together in my mind. So, here's this soup, quite yum-o Mrs. Ray. I added some carrots, changed the chicken broth for vegetable, and nixed the dill. Because really, who likes dill? (Okay, plenty of people, but certainly not me.) Enjoy. And enjoy your week!
P.S. Okay, I'm sorry for all my Heroes obsession, but I'm watching it right now and future Sylar, married to who?!?!? Why the heck is Mrs. Muggles in the house? BAH!!!!

Date Day

Okay, as much as I may complain about living here, it really is gorgeous. And Jon and I were able to take advantage of the lovliness the other day. My wonderful husband took me on a fall date day to some of our favorite places. Care to join us?

We started off with a trip to the amazing AG Farmer's Market. If you guys haven't been to this one, you're missing out. It's my fav, by far. They always have music and food and tons of people, but it's not as insane as SLO. And the produce is quite lovely.

I wanted to eat every one of these.

God loves us so much He gave us more than one type of basil. I'm seriously thankful for this.

Okay, even I would like these tomatoes.

Then, we stopped at that amazing little French Pastry Shop across fromt he Market for some goodies. Note to everyone: this place has the best eclairs ever. I was apparently so distracted by them that I forgot to take a picture. Harumph.

Then on to world famous Splash. I hadn't had Clam Chowder in ages and it was totally sounding good. And whatever sounds good to a preggo lady, they eat. So we chowed down and headed out to watch the surfers.

We're happy to be hanging out. And eating.

After that we took the lovely See Canyon Road...

to our favorite apple farm, Gopher Glen. We grabbed ridiculous amounts of apples (one of my particularly favorite cravings), sampled apples until there were none left to sample, and picked up a stash of their wonderful fresh pressed Cider and their homemade Apple Butter Ice Cream. Yeah, you heard me right. APPLE.BUTTER.ICE.CREAM. I kid you not, it's transcendental.

I'm happy to be here. But not happy about the dorky picture.

After that, lazily wandered home on back roads, took in the amazing view, and relaxed. And may have gotten a pie from Marie Callendars. Isn't that what fall is all about?

Claire, that's disgusting.

I have to say, I laughed so hard when Sylar said that. So, Heroes Chapter 3 analysis? Here we go...don't read if you haven't watched the episode yet, or haven't seen Heroes period. (Ruth, I'm talking to you.)

Thanks, NBC.

THINGS I LOVE:
- The episode as a whole. Well done, NBC.
- Mr. Bennett. Oh, my favorite, how I adore thee.
- Peter shot Nathan. What the heck?!?!? I don't love that it happened, just the twist.
- "The word Biblically comes to mind." Oh, Nathan. You're so funny.
- That we FINALLY know what Mrs. Petrelli's power is. And um, it's scary.
- I know this is weird, but...Sylar! He usually scares the living daylight out of me, but he just made me laugh in this episode.

THINGS I HATE:
- Future (scary) Peter.
- I also hate the new Mohinder. It kinda makes me hate Maya, too, for being so stupid. Come on, first Sylar, now this new creep? LEARN.A.LESSON. But seriously, this whole new plot line for Mohinder came out of nowhere. Not very good, either.
- Sylar's eyebrows.
- "But Gabriel, I am your mother." Seriously? If that's true, I may stop watching this show. Okay, probably not, but still. It's a little too Star Wars for me.

THINGS I DON'T UNDERSTAND:
- Linderman, where the heck did you come from? And um, invisible?
- How did Niki survive the fire? And why is she now Tracy? And what's with the Ice Man skills?
- Ando. Really Ando, or Peter or Sylar?
-Who the heck released Adam? Note to this person, I hate you.
- Um, for the up-teenth time, WHERE DID THE SCAR COME FROM?????????

SO, ALL IN ALL, VERY EXCITED. I hate to be addicted to a tv show, but...oh, who am I kidding. I love this show.

Beginnings....

Doesn't this post title sound like something out of Heroes? Anyway, you can see where my minds at...Save the Cheerleader, Save the World.

Moving on. So much has been happening. Those that live close by probably know of what I speak, those farther away may not have that privilege. That's the glory and loveliness of blogs.... distance means nothing. So without further adieu, let me introduce the newest member of our family...

Baby Coulter says hello. And also, get out of my space.

We're super excited, and still a little shocked. To say the least, we weren't expecting this little bundle anytime soon. But we know God's plans are far superior to ours...and the more we think about it, it really is good timing. So, everyone finally got their wish. I'm having a babe. For those of you that don't know, I'm at almost 17 weeks, and yes, we'll being finding out the sex of the baby. And yes, we'll tell everyone. But looking at the above picture and the little scowl on the face, I have a feeling this child may inherit some of it's mom's independance (aka stubborness) and not reveal it's secrets. :) I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Thanks everyone for all your blessings and prayers and good wishes. I've been so overcome with all the love in the past few months, and you have no idea how much all those little thanks and blessings have meant. I truly do have the best friends on the planet.