Color us pink!

We had our first ultrasound today and are still in a little bit of shock...we are having a girl! I asked Chase yesterday what we were going to have and he guessed it right. He's usually right - or at least adamant that he's right!

Gary comes from a family of three brothers and there are three grandsons so we weren't expecting the XX chromosome to win! And in all honesty, we really didn't have a preference one way or the other. We are prepared mentally and financially for a boy but a little girl would be nice to balance out some of the testosterone at family gatherings!

I'll go back in next month and have another ultrasound just to confirm the gender. She wasn't too cooperative, but the technician was pretty sure it's a girl. With Chase there was no doubt that he was a boy. Since this one was a little more modest I'm guessing it is a girl!

Bowling

Here is Chase's first experience bowling. He was so excited to wear his bowling shoes that he put them on right away. They really only look cute on a three year old.

Happy Birthday, Bro!

Happy Birthday, Todd! It was great to see you this weekend. I asked Chase what his favorite thing was about the weekend and he didn't hesitate to mention seeing the sharks with you at the Underwater Adventures.

We are exhausted from our drive back so I'm going to go to bed. There were about a dozen cars in the ditch from Minneapolis to Bismarck. I'm guessing they were all Minnesota cars.

It is nice to know that you are now also 3 years older than me and not just two. Enjoy being 36!

Boom Boom Song (AKA - Solsbury Hill)

The song above is one of Chase's favorite songs. You can click on the picture above to watch a live performance by the artist Peter Gabriel. Chase loves to put it in our CD player and sing along to the lyrics. He calls it the Boom Boom song due to the refrain, "My heart going boom, boom, boom..."

It is great to know that he really likes the song because this was one of Gary and my favorite songs before Chase was born. And those that know us well, know that we put this song on a CD we created to take with us to the hospital when he was born. The CD compilation was called the "Cleatus Collection" since we called him Cleatus the Fetus. We're strange, I know.

I also think of this song when we brought Chase home for the first time. I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital and to our new life as a family. The line, "Grab your things I've come to take you home" reminds me of holding him in our kitchen and sobbing because he was finally home. Yes, I was highly hormonal at the time. I don't think I've been the same since!

Enjoy. It's a great song.

Prayers and reflections

I received an email this morning from my friend Gwen about an email (called prayers and reflections) she receives weekly at work. She said, "I usually read it and delete it, but the first quote on the list reminded me of Chase, so I had to send it to you. Maybe Chase was a disciple in a past life?"

The quote was:

Jesus promised his disciples three things-that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.

- G.K.Chesterton

She's got him pegged.

Snow Angels

North Dakota has reclaimed its record of the most snow angels made at the same time! The unofficial count is 8,911. We were three (.5) of those angels. It was so much fun! It was great to see the community come out for a little friendly competition.

An article in today's Bismarck Tribune said, "Bismarck established the snow angel record in the Guinness Book of Records in 2002, when 1,791 people showed up to take part. The record survived a few attempts by residents in Syracuse, N.Y., but finally fell last year when 3,784 angels showed up in Houghton, Mich...".

The weather was beautiful (about the 30s) with freshly fallen snow. It has been so cold here lately that it was nice to get outside. What a difference from the minus 29 I woke up to on Thursday morning.

We are looking forward to heading to Minneapolis on Friday to help my brother celebrate his birthday. Chase has a present (think Pez) for him so he is very excited to see his Uncle Todd.

In other news, Chase and I headed to Devils Lake last weekend to get out of the house. We picked up some Vanish toilet tablets yesterday as a result of that trip. Apparently we needed blue toilet water like Grandma!

New obsession - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I stick to our budget better when Chase is not shopping with me.

The Brenden Family

My dear friend, Owen, recently lost his wife, Norma, unexpectedly. She was a very sweet and kind person and my heart breaks for the Brenden family.

Owen was my boss at FEMA - yikes - 10 years ago. He is, by far, one of the hardest working people I have ever met. Since he was retired from the Air Force I asked him why he worked for an organization that took him away from his family every week (he went home to Minot on the weekends - if he was lucky enough to get away). His answer was that his family may not spend quantity time together, but when they were together it was quality time. The stories and photos he brought back from his many trips with his family were proof that the time they had together was quality time.

His dedication to his wife and family have always been an inspiration to me. I know that their strong faith and love for one another will get them through this tough time. www.caringbridge.org/visit/normabrenden

Yo, ho, ho. A pirate's life for Chase.

Chase got a tattoo this weekend. Don't worry, it was gone by this morning. He is still fascinated with anything pirates. Too bad we are land locked. I think he'd enjoy the open water, too. Those of you familiar with KitchenAid mixers will notice that his hook is actually my dough attachment! He commandeered it shortly after I received the mixer as a Christmas gift.

Chase does have a softer side. This morning he helped me make pancakes. His future wife will thank me.

Chase's cousin, Connor, came over for a few hours this week. They had fun re-arranging my furniture, including dinning room chairs, so that Chase's tunnel could be up in the air. I took the opportunity to vacuum under my dinning room table while they played. I may just have to invite Connor back so that I can get some more rooms cleaned!

Lately we are just trying to stay warm. We are getting a lot of use out of our fire place. One night Gary and I were able to enjoy a fire, a whole Dave Mathews Band CD, some reading, and a couple of Sudukos. Chase was watching a movie in the other room at the time. I kept anticipating Chase to come out and swap out my CD for something that had a refrain of "Ei, ei, ei, o". I'm enjoying his independence but I still haven't been able to let my guard down and just relax!