about time!

Since i haven't posted in forever, i'll try to get caught up on a few things.
Since July 22, we have been a family of four. My pregnancy ended 5 weeks sooner than we expected and we were blessed with a very handsome little boy, Evan Jay. He weighed in at 5lbs, 9oz and 18.5 inches long. Since then, he has grown to a whopping 16+ pounds and 22 inches long. He is just 7 months old now.
Haylee is turning 5 this coming Saturday (march 6). I can't believe she's that old already!!!! she loves to play with Evan and trying to figure out the "words" that he says. She keeps busy following me around as much as she can (when she's with us), reading books, doing gymnastics in the living room and dreaming about American Girl dolls. :) she has been loving the winter this year - sledding, building snowmen and throwing snowballs at the neighbor boys!
Ben is keeping busy with work which is awesome for this winter (do i hear a minivan in the future? :)) I have been busy cleaning for mom and dad and one of their neighbors, taking care of the kiddos and knitting. My latest tool for winding down. :) I'll try to be a little better at updating as the year progresses, but since spring is in the air, I'm not on the computer too much.

Ugly Duckling

Last night Ben came in the house telling me he had something to show me....I cautiously meandered upstairs to find a little baby duck in his hands. It wasn't really ugly, I just had to come up with a title! :) I thought it was really cute, so I held it and brought it downstairs with me to see if we could find a box so we could keep it. I put it down and the little guy just ran right into the storage room....good thing i was watching it, or it would have died in there! So anyway, I asked Ben how he caught this little mallard duckling and he said it was running down the street all alone - it's probably only a couple of days old! Poor little guy! So, we gave it grass and water and it seemed very happy, even at 4:30 in the morning. But, at 8:00 this morning, when I got up, it was a different story. It wasn't dead, but pretty close, it didn't even move when i picked it up, but after it had some water, it seemed to perk up a little, until it didn't take it's head out of the water dish! So anyway, at around 8:45 this morning, our brave, cute little duckling took it's last breath....
I'm a little worried though, if I can't even keep a duck alive one night, how am I supposed to keep a kid alive... Dad always has good advice - " Don't feed it grass or let it swim in it's water dish, at least not until it's a little older...." haha, dad, funny!

poppin' out

I am now 19 weeks pregnant and starting to show it! :) Ben, Haylee and I can't wait to meet this little bugger! I have my 20 week ultrasound next week, and I'm pretty sure we're not going to find out since I can't keep a secret about myself... :) This week I'm trying to be "good" and stay at home and not go for lunch every-other-day and actually keep up on my housework.... it's kinda hard....... Went to the dentist and once again I have an infected tooth, so I suppose it's time for another root canal - yuck! We've been enjoying everyday that it's been nice out - Haylee's outside all the time playing w/ her friends.

Update

Grandpa Haveman's cancer has spread all through his chest, Abdomen, stomach and lymph nodes in the lungs. The doctors have said that he has "months" to live. As far as I know, he has not yet decided if he will be doing chemo or not. On a lighter note, Grandpa and Grandma were at my mom and dad's on Sunday for dinner with the whole family. Grandma has an earpiece that looks like a bluetooth to help her hear more... it's actually pretty cool! :) She had to have it turned down though, because "we sure are a noisy bunch!" We painted the nursery and Haylee's room last week. They look really good! Thanks Brent! (kinda nice having a painter in the family!) The nursery is a bright green and Haylee's room is purple - she LOVES it! We were really glad we could surprise her w/ it done when she came over yesterday. It is also Haylee's birthday on Friday, I can't believe she's going to be 4 already... my goodness does time fly! And Dawn, thanks for let us have MoMo overnight, we sure had fun with her! Oh, and Ben got me slippers for Valentines day, since the ones I had before were from Dawn and Tommy I think for Christmas my Junior year... it was time, they were pretty much shot!

12 Weeks

I'll start out with the good news... I had my 12 week checkup today! We were kind of hoping for an ultrasound, but we still were able to hear the heartbeat!! how exciting... but, thanks to Nicki, I'm a little upset that I forgot to ask what the heartbeat was at.. oh well, next time! :) Haylee went with us, that's why we were hoping for the ultrasound, so that she could see her new little baby brother or sister, but I guess we'll just have to take her to the 20 week, right? Or is that weird? Not really sure, let me know! :) Now the bad news... Grandpa Haveman had stomach cancer last year and I don't know much, just that they went to see the doctor again because he was having problems with his stomach and it looks like the cancer is back. Pray for Grandpa and Grandma as they make a decision on what steps to take next. I also bowled today with Kristin, Leesa and Nicki and it was so fun! Love you girls!! While I was bowling, Ben took Haylee shopping with him to find me a "Valentimes" (that's how Ben says it... what a nerd!) gift, so I'm pretty excited to find out what it is!! Slippers? One of those huge robe/blanket things? I would really love either! :) I'll let you know!

Busy, Busy

This is going to be a busy week. I dropped Haylee off at Ben's parents this morning at 1130, started on my way to the hospital and Kate said she would take Tyler home when he got discharged, so then I had a nice relaxing afternoon until about 300 when my neighbor asked if I could take her to Costco to look at glasses. Then I picked Haylee up from Mom and Dad Bomers, went to Walgreens, got home and Haylee got picked up. At 530, Kristin came with Britney and Brooke so I could watch them while she went to volleyball. It went really good with the two little rascals running around until Britney found a permanent marker... good thing I knew they were up to something when all was quiet!!! Tomorrow it's Maddi and Mo from 830-100 and then I need to pick up Haylee at 300. Bible study on Wednesday, Brit and Brooke after that with Haylee, and Thursday it's bowling! Good thing I have a wonderful husband who works so I can hang out with my nieces! :) oh, and I almost forgot, makeup party at Amanda's tomorrow night... anyone want to come with?

Uncle Ty

So, Haylee and I went to the hospital yesterday to spend the day with Mom and Tyler. As soon as I told Haylee we were going to see them, she got all ready and put her coat and shoes on. I told her we weren't leaving for a little while yet and she told me " I'm just getting ready for when I see Uncle Ty. Could you please do my hair? Uncle Ty has nice hair when I see him." How does she know this?! Anyway, we're at the hospital eating lunch with Mom. Mom had to go back and get some Ranch dressing for Haylee and she pushed all her food to the middle of the table and said, "I need to save this spot for Grandma, so that nobody steals her seat" oh my!! what a little mother we have! :)
We got home and Haylee was a little wound up after spending the whole day with Grandma and Uncle Ty, so she's flying around the living room doing dances and gymnastics. I have a metal chicken figure on a stand in my living room and she almost ran into it. She says "OH NO!!!! MOM!! I almost hatched a chicken!" I couldn't help it... it was soo funny! :)