37 weeks and counting

A big thank you to Kreg's brother, Kent, for getting our computer temporarily up and running! Now I have no excuses for not posting pictures so here we go......

I think I promised a prego picture a while back:

The baby is quite active. We are pretty much ready for her now, which means she will more than likely take her time and be here late :)

Here are a couple of pictures I took of Aiden this morning. I couldn't resist because of the fantastic bed head. He is in the middle of his second bowl of cheerios and just yesterday he figured out he is supposed to say "cheese" when we take a picture of him, thus the "cheesy" smile.



At the beginning of December we got a couple inches of snow so Aiden got to go out and play for the first time.

Exciting Times

Well I have much to be excited about this week. Let me just list off some of those items for you.
1. Tomorrow (after 8 years) I am getting a new car! That's right! I can hardly believe it. I'm joining the ranks of "mini van moms." And I'm absolutely delighted about it. Kreg's grandpa has decided to get a new van before they head to Florida for the winter so they are selling their 2006 Chrysler to us at a really good price! Woooooohoooooooooo! My 95 Mazda has been a great car and its always gotten me where I want to go but I was not excited about trying to fit two carseats in the backseat of that thing. My car is our "family car" i.e. Kreg's truck is really nice but it may often have a piggy smell and its a pain to change the carseat back and forth so we always just leave it in mine. Anyway, with the infant seat in the car the front passenger would have had to sit with their knees practically touching the dashboard. Yikes! But now I get my very own van with lots of room, a huge space for my double stroller and my groceries, and a car with doors that open at a touch of a button on my key!
2. Aiden has been sick for almost 2 weeks and I think we are officially over it. It started out as a cold over Thanksgiving and then lead to two bad ear infections. And he has been teething. And the antibiotic he was on gave him horrible "runs." And I mean horrible! But yesterday we actually had a good diaper and he sneezed a few times with no snot rockets! I know disgusting but I'm really excited. And he was happy and played like my normal little boy again.
3. The pacifier is offically gone. I'm so glad that transition is over with and he did so much better then I thought he would. I thought we would have long hours of screaming but we didn't. We had a week of transition. He knew something was missing but wasn't sure what and he would cling to me when we put him to bed and try and throw his legs over the side of the crib. This is not normal for him. He use to just lay down, roll over, and go to sleep without a peep. But its been getting better and last night he layed down with no tears and went to sleep! Woooohoooooo and we didn't hear him all night. When we first took it away he would wake up and cry for a few minutes in the middle of the night.
4. The new baby room is starting to take shape. Last night Kreg put together my new changing table. I can't wait to get it all decorated. Only 6 more weeks til baby day (January 20th).
5. It's Christmas! And I love presents. I love giving presents and I love receiving presents. And I love all the sitting around with family.
6. Friday I am going to my mom's to hang out with my mom, my sister-in-law, and one of my best friends (Cari) to bake Christmas Cookies! And I get to drive my new van down there.
7. Ok so after I bake cookies I get to leave Aiden at my mom's house for the weekend. Kreg and I get a whole weekend for ourselves. And Kreg doesn't have to work in the barns this weekend. We can actually sleep in if we want Saturday and still have time to read and study our Bible's without being interrupted by a little one. I may even get breakfast out at Bob Evan's! I LOVE their multi-grain cinnamon pancakes.

So as you can see lots to be excited about this week. I just thought I would share so anyone who reads this could be excited with me.

Florida

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone. We have so much to be thankful for in this country and I am so glad we have a day in which to sit back and ponder such things.

Kreg and I spent Thanksgiving Day with my parents and family so I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity and post some pictures of our recent Florida trip. Our computer is still not working properly so posting pictures has been difficult but I'm on my mom's computer so I'll just steal some of her pics! Last week we were in Orlando and have a fabulous week away from the hustle and bustle of normal life.


Aiden playing on the beach at our resort. There is something wrong when you have to wear a sweatshirt in Florida!

Luke and Aiden played tractors together pretty much all week. Aiden calls Luke "ook." They are pretty good buds these days.

Look at that belly! Baby girl will be here in just about 7 1/2 weeks!

Disney World!

Little Update for my loyal Readers

Well we are still in the mixt of our computer woes but I atleast figured I could write a bit of an update on here for all you loyal readers of mine (sorry still no pictures). Harvest officially finished at 2:10 pm Monday afternoon....wooohoooo! And God is good....it was a successful year. It has been nice to have Kreg around more this week. Overall I enjoyed harvest. The last few weeks got a bit long and I was very much ready for some more help with Aiden (I've had quite a bit of back pain recently with this pregnancy) but it was fun to ride on the tractors and take Aiden to ride with daddy while I ran errands or relaxed in the car and read a book. Yes that was quite enjoyable. And pretty much the only toys Aiden will play with now are his tractors. We're thinking he may need a few more for Christmas. It's very cute but I'm tellin ya playing tractors is hard work! shhheeewwwweeee.....crawling around pushing a tractor is definitely killer on the back (and the knees on the wood floor in the kitchen). If anyone would like to come play tractors with my son you are more than welcome anytime!

Pregnancy update: I am now just over 29 weeks and its hard to believe baby girl is going to be here soon. Yikes! Like I said, I am feeling great except for my very annoying lower back pain that comes and goes depending on the day (and the amount of tractor playing done that day).

Aiden was a monkey for halloween this year and a very cute monkey I might add. It suited him well :) He didn't mind the costume at all but got a little annoyed when he couldn't get the banana out of his pocket....it was sewn in. haha...oops.

We are looking forward to our upcoming vacation as well. One week from today we will be headed to sunny Orlando, Florida and I can not wait! Maybe after that we will be able to get a different computer and I can be 100% up and running agian.

Computer Woes

Well I just wanted to post a quick note that neither one of our computers is currently working so there may not be too many posts for a while. The good thing is we foresaw this coming and backed up all our files and pictures. Our desktop made really weird noises for a week or so and now it just flashes a blue screen and lots of numbers. Seeing that my husband is in the middle of harvest we probably won't have time to shop for a computer for a few weeks. So if you need to get a hold of me just give me a ring, you know, the old fashion way. :)
And I promise many wonderful posts once we are up and running again.

Rejoice with us!

Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice! For the past 8 months we have been the proud home owners of two homes. Yes two you read that correctly. And Just under two weeks ago God saw fit to sell our house in Indy and we closed on it today!! Hip hip hooray! Thank you Lord for this blessing. With the economy, housing market, etc. the way it is we know it is only by His hand and almighty grace that we are not buckling down for the winter with two mortgages. I don't think it has quite hit us yet but I would say it will when it comes time to pay bills next month! Wow I can't believe it is finally sold. Below is a picture of our home with the very proud Sold Sign displayed in front. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting us during this adventure and praying along with us for this sale! We are forever grateful.


And while Kreg and I were at the closing, Aiden got to play with grandma. He apparently had a lot of business to conduct on the phone today. He was very talkative and had to multitask to get all his calls made i.e. push his shopping cart while talking on the phone and ride on his car while talking on the phone. Enjoy the pics! And rejoice with us for God is the Great Provider.

Weekend Away

This past weekend while Kreg continued to work hard in the fields, Aiden and I each had a little time away. On Friday I took Aiden down to Indy and handed him off to my mom so I could go to Chicago and have fun with my college roommate, Ms. Heather Dunbar. We had a great time catching up and hanging out. Friday night she took me to Naperville (where she works) and we did some shopping, hung out with another college friend (Ms. Gabe Henderson) and ate dinner at a restaurant called Cosi, where we got to roast marsh mellows right at our table. So fun! And since I was "child free" we even lived it up and went to a movie. We saw Get Smart....very funny by the way.

The marsh mellow presentation!

Roasting over the fire....splendid!
Saturday we ventured downtown and shopped most of the day. I had my first fruit drink from Jamba Juice...yum yum yummyy...and was in the biggest Macy's store I have ever seen. We met my brother-in-law, Kent, for dinner at Gino's East (amazing Chicago pizza) and upon much searching ended the night at a unique yogurt shop, in which I can not remember the name (pregnancy brain)....but it was really good and had all kinds of unique toppings. Sorry I did not really take any pictures of Saturday...guess I was having too much fun to remember to do so.

Aiden had a great time with grandma and grandpa. My dad had Aiden all by himself Saturday morning (I'm very proud of him). I talked to dad later that day in which he proceeded to tell me my son is quite a handful and he could get nothing done while he was awake. Oh how this made me smile. I responded with a resounding oh yes, yes he is. I am glad to now have some sympathy from my dad on the matter. haha....of course every moment of getting nothing else done is worth it because I know he will only be little for so long. Mom kindly sent me some pictures of their weekend...looks like he didn't miss me too much.

Just look at that smile.

Torturing his grandpa.

Playing with cousin Luke.

And I am happy to report harvest is continuing to go well. Kreg was happy to call and tell me Saturday night that they had all the beans harvested! hip hip hooray! Just a few more weeks to go. Hopefully the good weather will continue.

My lil Jr. Farmer

And the award for cutest little farmer goes to......Aiden Michael (aka...Kreg Jr.)

Look mom a Tractor!


Ya I know I'm really cute....aw stop now you're embarrassing me.


oops I fell down...or maybe we should just pretend I posed like this. ya that will work.


Wow...check out this tractor wheel!

Harvest

Well harvest is well underway now and Aiden is in tractor heaven. He LOVES tractors! It was my turn to take dinner to the fields last night and feed the men so Aiden and I went early and fed them so we could take some tractor rides. And just a little bit ago we got back from riding again today. Aiden loves it...so I love it.

Aiden and Kreg riding with Kreg's Uncle Pat in the Combine. Isn't it huge? Even I am amazed.

Away they go! (picking beans)

My beautiful dinner spread. We had hot zesty beef sandwiches, green beans, salad, chips, and cookies off the back of one of the pick-ups.

Today Aiden rode with Kreg's dad in the combine. He LOVED it! He had his very own seat...complete with tray, snacks, and sippy cup. I even heard rumor he fell asleep for a little bit. I think he rode for close to two hours...picking corn. I think the first thing Aiden said to me this morning was "tractor!" yes yes Aiden in a little bit.

And here they are dumping the grain into one of the semi's. Kreg then drove the semi to the grain bins and put the corn in the dryer. I rode along and I was quite impressed with my husband's manly semi driving skills. (Not sure exactly why it has to be dried but it does.)

Caden Joelle Chastain

Caden Joelle Chastain you will be greatly missed sweet baby girl. Last Monday one of my dearest and best friends lost her 8 month old baby girl. I could not do another blog without first saying a few words about Caden. She was such a joy to everyone who met her. And not to mention absolutely beautiful. She had the cutest little cheeks and the sweetest smile. She was a blessing to everyone and we are so thankful to Cari and Andy for sharing their little blessing with us while she was here. Please be in prayer for Cari and Andy Chastain in the coming weeks and months as they adjust to the path the LORD God Almight has chosen for them. They are pillars of faith and a strong testimony to all of God's sovereignty, and the joy and peace that can be had no matter the circumstances through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If you would like to leave them a message or just let them know you are praying please visit their blog. www.andyandcari.blogspot.com

We may never know why God has chosen to take Caden home to be with him but we know she is safe in the arms of Jesus and we know that God is faithful to his promises, especially Romans 8:28. Caden's life served great purpose and will continue to serve great purpose and God will be glorified and has already been glorified, especially through the testimony and strength seen in Cari and Andy. One of the songs Cari chose to sing at her daughter's funeral was Blessed Be Thy Name "you give and you take away, you give and you take away, but blessed be thy name." We are praying to see miracles through the loss of Caden. Please join us in this prayer. Life is short and it is my personal believe Christ will be returning soon. Don't hesitate to share of God's great love for us. God too knows what it is like to loose a child, a son, and he died that we may have life, and have it abundantly.

Update on Life

No we have not fallen off the face of the earth. We are still here. I've been a bit lazy lately or maybe just a bit busier, which is a good thing. Wednesday night Awana has started up (my first time doing Awana. I'm helping with the 5 and 6 year olds....very cute) and the women's Bible Studies have started up too. My Thursday morning group is going through a Beth Moore study. And Kreg has now officially started harvesting. We have also been having some computer issues (our PC has decided to make really weird clicking noises and not work sometimes) but thats just a lame excuse because I could have been using my laptop all along to update the blog(I don't know how to upload pictures onto my mac so I just kept putting it off....help please Cari...).

Baby girl Salsbery is kicking away. I can defnitely tell she is growing. I will try and have Kreg take a picture of me here soon. I don't know why but seeing pictures of myself pregnant is not my favorite thing. I am very proud of the little girl within, don't get me wrong, and I'm glad she is growing but well as I told Kreg the other week "I just feel large and in charge." haha. So I will work on a picture. I am just about 23 weeks and can hardly believe fall officially starts tomorrow. Wow...where did summer go!

Harvest is an exciting time around here and I enjoy seeing my husband excited about his work but I am dreading the coming weeks of lonlienss. We live a good 7 or 8 miles from the farm so it is not easy for Kreg to come home during the day when they are out in the fields so we don't get to see him much and I get quite tired these days chasing Aiden and carrying baby girl. We will probably go see daddy some this week so there should be some combine/aiden pics later this week. He LOVES tractors and trucks. and I mean LOVES them. He is quite a big helper these days.

The funniest Aiden story I have for late is as follows: One day he asked for a snack (by pointing to the pantry and then at his mouth and saying please....its very cute) but I told him it was almost dinner so no snack he had to wait. So I turned my back to continue with dinner preparations and I turn back around to find that he had lifted the chair pad up from his highchair and was eating the left over stale food that mommy had been neglecting to clean out from his chair! AAAAHHH! Aiden yucky.....haha. It cracked me up. How in the world did he know there was food under there? It is not visible. I am still amazed. Was it an accident. Does he drop his food down the cracks of the chair padding on purpose? And how old were those cheerioes....I am just not really sure. So I am trying to do a better job of cleaning his chair and feeding my poor starving boy.

When I figure out this picture nonsense I will have some new pics for your viewing pleasure. My husband is unfortunately only a PC expert and I am no expert at all when it comes to such things.

It's a......

drum roll please.......




GIRL
That's right.....I had my ultrasound today. I'm over half way there. Baby girl Salsbery weighs 11 oz and seems to be doing well. They said everything looked great and she is due January 20th. We can hardly believe we are having a girl. Actually we are both a bit nervous...any advice from those of you raising girls? I must say though I am very excited to decorate for a girl! Kreg and Aiden are going to have to stick together.

Spaghetti and Meatball Night

Spaghetti night....need I say more?

Well I am sad to report that Aiden did not win the baby contest but I send a big thank you out to all those who voted with me! I much appreciate it. I may be a bit biased but of course I think he should have won.

So lets see here....not sure what all has been going on since I've last written. Life continues on and the summer continues to fly by. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks for your enjoyment.

A few days ago Kreg hung up a baby swing from the tree in our backyard. Aiden loves it. And please don't miss the "too cool for school" sunglasses Aiden is wearing. I know its hard to see but there's a little on them, right between his eyes. Way cool huh?!

And the cool guy swinging away with his serious expression on.

Hard to believe but sweet corn season has already come and gone. But we enjoyed every minute of it while it lasted, especially Aiden. He love, love, loves corn on the cob, as you can see here.
And this is Aiden after a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen....otherwise known right now as Mamaw and PaPa. All tuckered out.

My Last Plea!

Ok this is my last plea....I think. The baby contest I entered Aiden in ends on Friday. So please please please help me by voting for him. It just takes a few seconds. Please send an e-mail to contest@wwki.com with 1003 in the subject line of the e-mail. And your name, address, phone number in the body of the e-mail. That's it....that is all you have to do. And write yourself a note to do it everyday BECAUSE YOU CAN VOTE ONCE A DAY EVERYDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. And if more than one person in your house has an e-mail address then you all can do it! Please help me. We are behind some in the votes and I would love to win this baby furniture for our new baby!

AND it doesn't matter where you are from. So even if you are a faithful reader from out of state (i.e. my beautiful family in Washington or Oregon :) vote away! and have your friends vote too or post it on your blog and see if you can get more people to help me.

Below is the picture I entered of him so all your friends can see who they are voting for...hint hint pass it on! Isn't he so cute! Definitely worth the 20 seconds a day it takes to vote. Yes I am laying it on thick :) I wish I could promise something in return but all I can promise is good feelings for you, knowing that you helped me out. And I promise if your kids are ever in a baby contest then I will be a faithful voter for you too! thank you so much to those who have been voting and to those who will! I much appreciate it!

Colorado

Sheeweee I have so much I could update on here. Sorry it has been a while to all you faithful readers. This past week we were in Colorado with Kreg's family. We were a bit crazy...we drove 3 vehicles out to haul all the people and stuff and had 3 babies with us. Ok well it was 2 Toddlers and 1 baby. But to my delightful surprise Aiden did great in the car. I have to admit I pretty much just stuck him in front of a DVD player the entire way out but I didn't care as long as it entertained him for the 21 hours it took to get there (and 21 hours back again). He absolutely loves Baby Einstein so he was quite thrilled with this plan.

This is in Kansas City at the hotel we stayed in. Yes the truck definitely came in handy but no that is not all our stuff! Aiden is keeping guard with his Uncle Kent.

We stayed in an absolutely beautiful cabin near Salina, Co. (west of Colorado Springs). I had never been to this area before but it was really pretty. The first day we took a little hike to a waterfall in which Aiden got all tuckered out and fell asleep on Kreg (very cute picture below).

How Aiden fell asleep in that thing I have no idea but he was totally out. Kreg pretended to keep walking while we took pictures so Aiden wouldn't wake up, wish you all could have seen that!

Then the great flu epidemic began. Yes you read correctly.....Monday night I am awakened in the night by a very sick and upset Aiden. And then I was sick Wednesday and Kreg on Thursday. And Aiden was still having problems on Friday (and the ride home). Kreg and I both agree this was the worst flu we have ever had to endure. And sadly many others came down with it too while we were there. So that definitely put a damper on the week but the family tried hard to stay in high spirits and still enjoy the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately though with it effecting Aiden, Kreg, and me we didn't get to do a lot more while we were out there. I was extra thankful the cabin was so very nice with all the time we spent there. And it was nice to spend time with family and have everyone together, even if it wasn't the best of circumstances.

This picture is a little hard to see. Sorry, I'm not a photographer. I was outside checking out the sunset and thought I'd try to get a picture of the cabin too. But you can see the outline...very picturesque. And to the right is the beautiful sunset I was working so hard to capture.

So I don't have a lot of pictures because who wants to take pictures when you're sick but I will try to get more from my father-in-law. And I am posting the ones I do have.

I Need Your Help!!!

Ok I need everyone's help. Even if you live out of town, I need your help. I entered Aiden in a baby contest here in town with the local country radio station. Its a baby idol contest so people vote for the cutest baby. And of course I think Aiden should win! The winner of the competetion gets a brand new designer baby nursery! So please please please help me by voting!! I would love that new nursery for our new baby. We have been using my baby furniture (26 yrs old now) for Aiden which has worked great for us but it would sure be fun to have a new nursery.

So here's how to vote. Go to www.wwki.com and click on baby idol. (its really quite self explanatory). Aiden's picture is the big one off to the side of the page of pictures. He is in his diaper on our bed. To vote you have to type in his number which is 1003. And it says to enter your cell phone but if you don't want to get a text message just enter your home phone number.

And the best part is YOU CAN VOTE EVERYDAY, ONCE A DAY until August 8th! So please please please help me by voting all you can for my cute little guy. And I would love to hear from you if you've decided to help us...its fun to know who is voting.

And as far as I know it doesn't matter where you live...I think anyone can vote. Thank you in advance!

This and That

Well I apologize that its been a while but things have been a bit busy around here the past week or so and its been nice. I'll see if I can do some recapping for you.
For starters I never officially welcome home Ms. Heather Dunbar (my amazingly wonderful college roommate) on here. Aiden and I had the privilege of welcoming her home a few weeks ago.

It is so nice to have Heather home and I can't wait for her to come visit me week after next! I'm sure I'll be posting pictures of that week.
That same weekend my nephew Luke turned 1! Happy Birthday Luke! He's such a cutie. I loved watching him tear open his birthday presents.

This one was his favorite because it had cars and trucks on the wrapping paper.
Then we had my birthday (June 25th!) and I had a great evening out with Kreg and a great weekend down in Indy celebrating. I am not currently posting pictures because I seem to have misplaced them in the wrong file so I'll work on that. But Kreg got me a beautiful necklace that I just love and was not expecting at all! Kreg's parents got me some sweet colts gear that i will probably have to wait to fit into until next year. And my parents really surprised me also with a new kitchen sink and faucet. Does it mean I'm getting old when I get excited about new sinks and faucets?
And this last weekend was filled with family and fun as we celebrated the 4th and also Kreg's birthday. His birthday was officially yesterday but I had a party for him Sunday evening. He got an old fashion ice cream maker which he has been wanting for quite some time. So we got to make ice cream Sunday night and it was actually very delicious. We are thinking this is going to be a birthday tradition for our home. The following is an action shot of Kreg, Aiden, and Kreg's dad Tim working on the ice cream.

Aiden loves to be the big helper. He was putting the ice cubes in for them.
And while Aiden was hard at work, Luke was relaxing in the hammock with his daddy (my brother Mark).

And one last picture for this post that is completely random but I had to share is of Aiden sitting in the refrigerator. I know its strange and I have no idea how it started but he LOVES to sit in the refrigerator. I think its safe to say its his favorite place to take a moment and relax. And he doesn't care who's refrigerator it is so if you invite us over, I'm sorry but my son will probably sit in your refrigerator.

Farmer Kreg

That my friends is a sprayer. It's hard to see him but Kreg's in there driving it. I got to ride with him yesterdsay (my first time in the sprayer) and let me say I was very impressed. He drives it with a steering wheel, a joystick, and a GPS system. The corn is pretty tall so its hard to see the rows and he would be completely lost without the GPS system telling him where to go. And you can't exactly drive it slow either because you only want so much roundup per acre so needless to say I was very impressed with my husband's abilities. I would have never been able to drive that thing straight.

The boom is 90 feet across so you have to be pretty good at learning your boundaries so you don't run in to anthing.....i.e. telephone poles, fences, etc...

And while I rode with Kreg, Aiden got to play on the trampoline with Uncle Kyle....I don't think he cared one bit that I was riding and he wasn't.