Still amazed by my latest 4D Sonogram

On Sunday I went into Anchorage with Ron & Danny for my Dr. appointment, shopping, and a little R&R (rest and relaxation--not whiskey :) ). I think we managed to get all of those things accomplished. We stayed at a hotel this time so Danny would have a pool to swim in. Ronnie's cousin Taylor stayed with us all three nights and her and Danny went swimming just about every morning and night. On Sunday evening we had a bbq over at Aunt Sam & Uncle Neco's house. The weather was perfect, and Neco's parents from Turkey are here visiting for the summer. They are super nice, and it was good to meet them. Monday we spent some time shopping, and got a new washer and dryer. We brought the kids to Chuck.E.Cheese, and a movie. Danny was so excited for the movie, and made it through all the previews, but then only lasted for about 5 minutes of the movie before he fell asleep! Tuesday was the highlight of the trip. Ron, Danny and I went to my sonogram appointment. It was so neat to see our little boy. They recorded the whole thing on DVD, and you could see the little guy yawning, smiling, opening his eyes, and even making a cute little frowny face. Here are some pictures from the sonogram:







Danny was very happy to see his little brother, and of course so were daddy and I :)
After the sonogram the Dr. checked me out, and said everything was looking good...baby's heartbeat was around 145, and I was measuring right at about 30 weeks (at 29 weeks 4 days). She said that it seemed like most likely I would deliver earlier than my due date of August 7th, but we'll see. My next appointment is just over 2 weeks away. Well that's all for now. As soon as I get a chance I'll take some pictures of the baby furniture and put them on here.

Pictures!

We finally moved out of the B&B this weekend. Here are a couple pictures from our last week living there... Danny having too much fun in the bath

Looking Cute in his airplane pj's

Danny & Daddy


Taking a nap with Dewey

Although we still have some work to do, Ronnie finished putting all the new flooring down, and painting too. Here are some pics of our room ...

The new floor looks really nice!


can't complain about the 42'' flat screen in the bedroom

close up of the new rug, floor, and curtains

Danny's race car room is finally finished too, here are the latest pics:

He loves his Race car bed!

He picked out the rug himself

Lightning Mcqueen TV, and Ramone DVD player

Cars Toy Box

Gotta have the Cars easy chair

Baby's room is still in the works. The new furniture is here, but we still need to put it together. I will post pictures when we get it done. This is my last official week of work! Can't wait for a little time off :)

The week in a nutshelll

This will be a quick post, as I don't have time to add pictures now...but will make sure to put up some pictures over the weekend.

The week started out with Mother's day on Sunday. It was a nice and relaxing day. Ronnie's mom cooked us yummy sourdough pancakes (my favorite) for breakfast, and she also cooked us dinner that night too. I started my walking training by taking Danny on a walk in our new stroller (a super cool hand-me down from our neighbors!) from our house to Ronnie's parents house on the other side of town. It was a good workout---think I'm going to have to do something similar this weekend. I've also been walking to and from work every day because we've had beautiful sunny weather for a couple weeks now.

The beginning of the week was rather uneventful, but on Wednesday I had the privilege of being the commencement speaker at graduation in Chuathbaluk. 2 of my students were graduating (Charlotte & Onna), and they asked me to speak so I did. I was kinda nervous giving a speech, especially with the Superintendent and Board members there, but it all went just fine, and I was told the speech was very good!

Also this week Ronnie has been putting in a lot of hours at our place. He finished putting in the floor in our bedroom, and some other odds and ends. It's starting to look really nice. We are officially moving in this weekend so I will definitely get pictures taken and posted by Sunday.

I'm 28 weeks pregnant today, and feeling pretty good! My stomach looks huge, especially from my angle, but I still love feeling the baby move and kick--and he is getting stronger all the time. Can't wait to see him during my appointment on the 26th! Well, that's all for now...Check back soon and I will be updating with pictures!!

Aniak Flooding & Danny's Birthday Party

Every year around this time the rivers in Alaska "break-up" and the ice starts to move down river out to the ocean. This year we had A LOT of snow and ice. The Kuskokwim river was super thick with ice. The last week of April the temperature really warmed up in our area. By Saturday, May 2nd we had temps reaching nearly 70 degrees. The heat wave caused the ice to start moving fast...some villages upriver from us flooded, including Red Devil, where Ronnie's aunt, uncle and cousins live. On May 3rd, Sunday evening around 8:30 pm the ice in Aniak started to move. We were standing on the dike watching, when all of a sudden huge 4 ft thick ice chunks were thrust onto the bank. It was only a matter of hours before the water from the river started coming up into the town. To make a long story short...we experienced a couple days of flooding here in Aniak, and luckily I live on the higher side of town, so we didn't lose anything to the flood. I have lots of pictures, and for some reason I can't get some of them to upload, but here are a few anyway...

Water going over the main road to the firestation, high school and housing

This is looking down one of the main roads in town where the store is, the phone company, light and power, post office, and my office----people were canoeing and boating on this road.

One of the side roads, completely under water

This is at the end of the road that goes around the runway...so much ice came up that it completely blocked the road so you couldn't get to the other side of town.

This is at the other end of the airport, lots of water around the runway. A couple of boats even ended up on the runway.

Since Danny was in Bethel for his actual birthday (April 28th) we finally had a party for him on Tuesday, May 5th. His Grandma Grace got all the party supplies and birthday cake---just what Danny wanted a "Cars" birthday party! The party was at Grandma's house with mostly family and a few of Danny's little friends. Of course baby Alana was there, and Ricky & Jenny brought over their little 5 month old girl Skylar too. Danny's 2 year old cousin Landon came too, and he had fun helping Danny play with his new toys! A day before the party, when Danny was at the airport with his Grandma he found where she was hiding his birthday presents in the back. When he came across the big helicopter teeter totter for the backyard he said "Gramma we should buy this!" He also found his Cars TV from his Auntie Rhiannon, and his Cars toy box from his Uppa and Grandma. Auntie Rhiannon also got Danny a new Cars bike! Here are some pics from the party:

Opening presents, sitting in his Cars chair

Miss Alana

Danny's Cake


Ricky & Skylar


Blowing out the candles!

As for my pregnancy---things are going well. I am 27 weeks today, and this little baby can't stay still very long. I've decided to join Ronnie's mom, aunts, and sister in the women's breast cancer run in Anchorage on June 13th, so I've just started getting out and walking---I'm going to have to do a lot more before I'll be ready for 5k!

Ronnie and I have been remodeling his house (with the help of his parents). So far we have Danny's "Cars" room done, and are almost finished with the baby's airplane nursery. Next we will work on our bedroom, and odds and ends around the house. I will post some pictures sometime soon. Only 2 weeks left of school here, and then I will be off for summer vacation (except for the 12 days I'm going to teach summer school in June).

Well, it's a beautiful sunny day in Aniak---hope everyone is well---TGIF!

26 weeks & 4 days pregnant

Since it's getting harder to keep up with sending out pictures to everyone I want to, I thought it was time to start my own personal blog to keep my friends and family updated with the happenings of our lives up here in Aniak, Alaska. A lot has happened in the first few months of 2009--

In March I went to Hawaii, and got engaged to Ronnie Vanderpool.


We plan to get married next summer in Alaska, but for now I already feel like I am a part of his family and he is a part of mine. He has a 3 year old son named Danny, and I love every minute we get to spend with him. He is super smart, and very adorable!



Ronnie's younger sister Rhiannon had a baby on February 2nd, her name is Alana Jade Kelila.


My younger sister Laura had a baby on April 29th, her name is Ella Joy McMahon.



We are expecting our first little baby boy this year on August 7th. We are planning to name him Ryder Robert Vanderpool (Robert after my father, Ronnie's Grandfather, and Ronnie's uncle). We are excited about being parents to Danny and Ryder, and Aunt & Uncle to Alana and Ella (who we still need to meet!)

As I write this blog today I am 26 weeks and 4 days pregnant. My stomach is getting huge, and this baby boy likes to kick a lot!



Well, this is enough for my very first entry...more next time!