12 Weeks and then some

So last week was my 12 week visit to the doc. Did a sonogram and everything looks good. This kid is a mover. All you saw were arms and legs flailing everywhere. It was hard to get a good picture for measurements. But comforting to know there actually is something in there. I keep calling it my little tape worm because I'm always hungry. And my little tape worm loves cheetos. I keep trying to substitute carrot sticks but we have a smart one too who knows carrot sticks suck! I put on 8 pounds last month. YIKES!!!!! I feel like a big, huge, cow and know it will only get worse.
I did get some really good pics of the little one so here they all are. Oh and they tested for downs syndrome and some other birth defect I can't remember and told me the chances are not very likely that my little one has that. Good news.



I also decided that my hair was kind of boring last week so I added a little bit to jazz it up. Kind of fun and funky. My girlfriend who does my hair also added a bit to her daughters hair so church on Sunday was kind of funny with everyone checking out our hair. But I like it. At least for a while.
I'm making this face at James because he is making fun of me for trying to be too hip. He is just old and jealous and can't admit it. :-)
Work this past week was not so much fun. Our suppliers are deciding to change everything up on us and it is going to make my job a whole lot harder and possibly cause me to lose accounts. Not my favorite part of the week. Hopefully we can get it all squared away this week and things will be ok.
4th of July was spent at home this year. And it was nice to just have a weekend with nothing to do. We enjoyed both being off Friday. James in his way - the garage and sweating his butt off, but his car is getting closer to done. Me in my way - air conditioning and doing as little to make the 108 degree weather any worse. Mostly we just caught up on all the things not done during the week. And on Saturday we had a bbq with the Claridge family and the Hubers. Del braved the heat on the patio by the grill to make burgers and hot dogs for the rest of us - we were really grateful for that. And then I made homemade ice cream which is always a hit. I think it is the only reason the Claridge family invites me anymore. The kids request it everytime I walk in the door. And we watched fireworks in the miserable 95 degree heat and humidity. Happy Birthday America!!!
On a more serious note - we are very grateful that we have the wonderful country that we are able to live in and worship how we please, work where we please, have the rights that we have, have safety and security much more than other countries. We are so blessed and we take it for granted. We need to remember the reason that we have all of the freedoms and blessings that we do is because people were willing to sacrifice everything that they had to ensure those liberties. And as soon as we forget that, they will be taken away. I still get a tear in my eye every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner played because it represents everything that this great country is about. I am so grateful to the men and women in uniform who fight to keep our country free, and are willing to be away from their families and friends to ensure I'm able to speak as I wish. God Bless America!!
My girls at church are getting ready for camp this week and it just brings back the memories of when I used to go to camp. Now I try and avoid anything more remote and desolate than a Budget Inn. Not sure exactly when I decided that roughing it really wasn't for me so much but I also look at the camp these girls go to now and think they have no idea. When I first went to camp, we had an outhouse, outdoor showers (Which were really cold by the way in the middle of the New Mexico mountains), cooking over dutch ovens and camp fires - and the cooking was done by the girls, and we all slept in tents.
These girls get cabins, electricity, camp cooks, swimming pools - granted it isn't as cold here as it was in New Mexico but still....things sure have changed with camp since I was there. Oh and their hikes don't get them lost in the mountains with Bob Carr and Terry Glover. And rainstorms. Memories....little more bittersweet than sweet it appears. :-)
I'm off to clean the house. It looks like a tornado has come through here and is in need of some serious work. One of these days I'm going to take those Young Women up on their offer to clean my house!

6 Years and Counting

Today is Flag Day and our 6 year anniversary. I can't believe it is already 6 years. It has flown by and doesn't seem like I'm old enough to be having my 6th anniversary but here we are. A couple of pics from the wedding too.

James and I in the greeting line.

Me and the cutest little flower girl - my cousin Janie's daughter Alexandra. This kid loved the camera. She kept turning and posing anytime her name would get called.


And what kind of post would it be without a car? So here we are leaving in the '57 Ford Retractable Skyliner.

So in honor of that I have a top ten list of why I love my husband. And these aren't in order like David Letterman but they are just listed. :-)

10. He will try to fix anything. My car, his car, the house. Usually his car and then the house of course.
9. He always tells me I'm pretty. Even when I feel like a big cow like right now.
8. He takes great care of me and I know he'll be a great dad too.
7. He keeps things in order because I'm not always so organized.
6. He is always goofing off and makes me laugh. Most of the time. :-)
5. He is always willing to help someone else. (Mostly with car related problems.)
4. He loves his family and is a great son, brother, etc. He even remembers to call his grandparents on their birthdays.
3. He puts up with me and all of my craziness and loves me in spite of it.
2. He is always trying to be a better person. And helps keep me doing the same.
1. He is great with my family too. He has been the teasing older brother to all my sisters. Well, at least the first now that we have 2 others.

I'm really lucky I found him. And I'm really grateful that we have grown individually and together over the last 6 years and that we have many more to go. I love you tons honey!!

And then the other quick update. 10 weeks now. So the baby is now the size of a prune. Moving through the fruit section here. And here is the pic of my tummy and how I'm getting too fat for all my clothes. :-( Not looking prego but looking like I downed a dozen donuts.
Still no sickness - I do have to eat pretty much constantly or I get really killer headaches and nausea. But not the all day kind of thing.
Can't sleep through the night without waking up at least once and usually twice. And then I can't sleep past about 6:45 or 7 because my tummy will be so hungry it wakes me up. And boy if I don't get something in it right away, I really regret it. :-)
Ok well that is my quick update. We go in next Thursday the 25th for our 12 week appt. and the downs syndrome test. We have opted to not do the amnio since it is so much more invasive and will just have them measure and then if we get a really high likelihood we'll consider the amnio. Think that is it.
Here is the pic.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting for....

So for those of you that don't know.....James and I are expecting a baby. Yikes!! I'm still getting used to the idea and trying not to spaz out a bit. Working up towards the excited and will eventually get there. So my sisters are of course all over me to keep this updated since they can't be here to go through all the fun?? I'm not so sure that is the term I want to use for this but work with me here.

We went in on Thursday and I was 7 weeks and 5 days so I am due January 9th they are telling me. Here is a pic of Baby Fleischman...the book says it is the size of a blueberry during week 7.


We are anxiously (and not so patiently) awaiting the 20 week mark when they'll tell us what we are having. James is convinced that due to my family's lack of testosterone that it will be a girl. I'm not so sure. In one book it said if I am eating all the time statistically it is a boy. I am eating so much it is ridiculous. No real morning sickness yet....only nausea if I don't eat, and so far no strange cravings. Not exactly sure when all that starts since I'm kind of new at this. So I'm doing lots of snacking and hoping I don't end this thing 80 pounds heavier than when I started.

So I haven't posted much lately but we did go to AZ to see my family and have a Lund reunion before Kalli and Steve moved off to the middle of nowhere.....Boston. We had a great time and got to spend time with Dad who was recovering from surgery. Not so fun for him. Good food, good fun and really warm Phoenix weather. Here is our pic from Mother's Day with all the girls dressed up.
And a pic of the Galapagos turtle we saw at the Phoenix zoo. Not a bad zoo if it isn't hotter than heck out there.

Meanwhile all of James' family got together to celebrate Mother's Day and my mother in law Marlene's 60th birthday. We were sad to miss out on that but they all had a lot of fun at the canyon. Happy Birthay Marlene!

And my nephew Branson also turned 9. I can't believe it has gone by that quickly. When James and I started dating he wasn't even a year old yet. Time sure flies and he isn't even my kid!!! Sorry Susan it must be that much quicker for you.

Then last weekend James and I spent Memorial Day in Lubbock. I saw the in laws, went to the lake, saw my best friend Ash who I don't get to see nearly enough and got to see my cousin Tirey who I haven't seen in a really long time. It was a really nice weekend. Here are a couple of fun pics from the bbq at the lake with Grandpa and Macy dancing and Dan and Macy dancing - I borrowed these from you Susan so they might look a bit familiar. :-)



And James was able to get his car mostly finished but that is a whole different story. I'll be glad to see it done. Here are a few pics of the progress so far.


So that is it for the Fleischman home right now. I'll be posting some periodic updates for the sisters so if they bore you I'll try to give you advance notice and you can skip over that post. :-)

8 Things

I was tagged by my friend Keri http://thecrazyjacksons.blogspot.com/ to do this post.

8 Things I look forward to:
1)5 pm
2) Vacations of any sort
3) Saturday
4) Bunco
5) October through December - I love all of the fall holidays!
6) time with James
7) James being done with the '57
8) Owning land and building our dream house

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1) worked
2) went to bunco
3) overslept through my alarm
4) slept
5) made corn dip for bunco
6) wore my super cute purple heels :-)
7) emptied the dishwasher
8) went to lunch with the girls at the office

8 Things I wish I could do:
1) Go to Europe
2) Get a new car
3) Vacation
4) Lose 20 lbs.
5) Play an instrument
6) Own my own cafe
7) Go back to school and get a degree in Interior Design or architecture
8) speak a different language

8 Shows I watch:
1) Bones
2) The Office (best show on TV.)
3) Burn Notice
4) CSI
5) CSI New York
6) CSI Miami (I have a problem)
7) NCIS
8) One Tree Hill - totally a teeny bopper show I know

8 Bloggers Tagged:
1) BrieAnn http://jakeandbrieann.blogspot.com/
2) Kalli http://steveandkalli.blogspot.com/
3) Kiersty http://skloughness.blogspot.com/
4) Brittany http://lundlife.blogspot.com/
5) Rushelle http://megerlefam.blogspot.com/
6) Larae http://merrittmemories.blogspot.com/
7) Teresa http://treeabbott.blogspot.com/
8) Susan http://macyinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

One Heart Umbrella Campaign

Ok I'm stealing this from my friend Leslie's blog. It is a great cause and if any of you or anyone you know might be interested and able to help, their family would really appreciate it. This is her post below and here is the website: http://www.oneheartumbrellacampaign.org/

So I know that most of you know about my nieces, but for those of you who don't know let me fill you in. I have 2 year old conjoined nieces. They are attached at the breastbone to the belly button. They each have two arms and two legs. They are very precious. ok, the reason for this little dialogue is for this: I was reminded today about a fund raiser taking place right now that I think is SOOO COOL!!! It is OneHeart Umbrella Campaign. The Chair of this campaign is the one and only Debbie Reynolds!!! How they got her to do it is beyond me. But this is the deal, they have recruited celebrities from all over the place (movies, tv, sports, and theater) to help out. Such celebs as : Jessica Alba, Kevin Bacon, Sean Astin, James Brown, Joah Groban, ASU Suns Basketball Team, The Phoenix Suns, Alice Cooper, HUGH JACKMAN, Michael Phepls, Cast of the Today show, the cast of: The Phantom, Singin in the Rain, Chicago and sooooo many more!!!!! When I read through all 75 participants I was amazed!!!. And what they have one is signed and decorated umbrellas. Now the purpose of all those umbrellas is this, they are being auctioned off on ebay!!! Is that not just the coolest thing ever!!! I am amazed at the generosity of others. It reminds me that there are good people out there. If any one is interested you can look them up on ebay or via google. Just google "oneheart campaign". And you can bid online through ebay. This really is an amazing thing to be part of.

Pinks All Out

A little education first - Pinks all out is a show on Speed TV where cars drag race for cash. My little sis thought it was a track meet for breast cancer. So the original name came from the fact that guys would race their cars for the pink slips -ownership of the vehicle. Now they race in this tv show for $10,000 cash and a tool chest.
It starts out with about 400 cars and they run usually 2-3 qualifying runs to get their time slot and eliminate those that don't win. Then Rich - the host - chooses the most common time slot where there are at least 16 cars within a couple hundreths of a second - and those are the ones that race in the Sweet Sixteen. These guys race in the finals that night and try to win the money. Here is Rich, the host, ranting about racers with antifreeze in their cars. It takes forever to clean up the track after a spill so we had 2 back to back and Rich threatened a lifetime ban from any of his shows if you violated this.
So my father in law - Ralph - took his 1958 Edsel that he has completely rebuilt and likes to race. It has a 514 engine and nitrous so it is pretty stinkin' fast considering how heavy of a car it is.
James and I drove up from Austin to the Texas Motorplex in Ennis. We didn't get to stay for everything because James had to work on Sunday at 8 am, but we got there around 9 am Saturday morning and left around 9:30 pm.
Here are the Fleischman boys with the Edsel.



Above is Ralph gearing up to race and burning the tires.
We spent the day at the track watching Ralph race as well as a lot of other cars. We also got to spend the day with Dan and Susan and the kids and then Mark and Lori were kind enough to let us hang out at their RV to watch the races. That was way more comfortable than the metal stands in the sun. Thanks Mark and Lori! Uncle Merlin and Cousin Scott both drove up early on Saturday morning to see all the excitement and races. It was fun to spend time with them. Dan and Scott were catching up while waiting on the food.
Here is a picture of Pat helping guide Ralph on to the dragstrip.

The Fleischman boys were all so excited to see the Edsel do a wheelie on the strip.

And he is off down the quarter mile.
There were luckily only minor issues that had to be fixed. Here is Pat hard at work.
The boys pushing the Edsel into the lane for his elimination round.

Rich liked the Edsel a lot too. I think it is just very different from the cars that are normally on the show. It was even a featured car which means that Ralph got interviewed and hopefully will be shown on the show this summer.

Lane didn't like being left out so he is showing what a great crew chief he can be.


Ralph won the race for qualifying runs and wasn't eliminated.
They finally announced who the racers would be for the final 16 and Ralph missed it just barely. We were so hopeful that he would get in. Dan and Susan had a friend who made it into the final 16 and then one of their friends from the Mustang club in Amarillo also made it. Here is Casey - one of the friends racing. His brother raced in San Antonio last year and actually won. Unfortunately both of the friends were eliminated pretty early but there is always Houston!

Bathroom Remodel

I haven’t blogged much lately. Not a whole lot of exciting stuff happening. But James and I did spend Saturday remodeling our guest room. I got a great deal on the stone at one of the “yard sales” at work. I also have stone for my master bathroom but that will be a bit further down the road and then I hope to do my kitchen someday. But for now my guest bathroom is done. So it is almost done exactly as the vision in my head looked.

First off, I love, love, love my new sink - also a great bargain at the yard sale - normally it is a $175 sink which I got for $30 because it had a small scratch. I dare any of you to find the scratch by the way. It is so awesome.

I convinced James that I had to tear out the old stuff, and he helped me do that and then install the new countertop. But of course once I had done that, then the paint looked terrible, so I spent Saturday night until midnight masking off and repainting the walls in the guest bathroom. Then none of my bathroom accessories – shower curtain, floor rug, trash can, toothbrush holder, etc. or my towels matched. So I found a great deal on the towels and rug at Walmart and then it was time for the shower curtain.

I really had it in my mind what I wanted but I was not able to find exactly what the picture in my mind was. I did finally find one yesterday that although is not what was in my head, works perfectly. I really wanted a fabric one with the sage green background and the pattern to be a red swirly pattern. I know it was really specific. But instead I found a gold colored one that I am going to iron ribbon onto. Since I do not sew I figured ironing it on would work. So today it is off to Hobby Lobby to find a matching red ribbon and a green ribbon that is just a bit darker. Then the whole bathroom will be tied in together because I also found this great picture at Hobby Lobby on clearance that was $22. I love the 66% off aisle. They have some great bargains.

I still have a few things in there I want to replace but I’m pretty satisfied with everything for now and new fixtures are a ways down the road. So enjoy my little project and James’ handy plumbing work. All in all I felt like I was quite capable. For a day. Next time my faucet breaks and James is out of town again I’ll go back to feeling helpless, and have to call Brent to come save me from the overflowing tub. But for a day I felt like I was pretty handy around the house.