Finally!

I think everybody that is really important in our lives, now knows that we are expecting baby number 3. Because of the 3 miscarriages that I've had, I feel like I should be pregnant with number 4... but I am so excited just to be expecting. Number 4 will come in time.


I now realize that the excitement of carrying a baby doesn't get old, no matter how many babies you have. Of course, that excitement is really strong for the first two weeks of pregnancy, and then wanes dramatically as you hold your head over the toilet bowl for the next 12 weeks. After that, the baby love returns with full force.

My friend, and ultra-sound technician, Tiffany, happily and willingly did an ultra sound two weeks ago. I kept my eyes averted from the screen so that I wouldn't know if it was a boy or a girl. She put the results in a sealed envelope and I went home. James and I had originally planned to give the envelope to Dixie (James' mom) over dinner our first night of our cruise.  We had determined that it would be the first and best moment with all of James' family to make the announcement. Only two of his siblings knew that we were pregnant, so it was a surprise for everybody else. Anyway, I say that was the original plan because that's not what happened. We were surprised to have almost everybody in our home the night before we left on the cruise, so we figured that would be as good a time as any. We were happy and excited to find out that baby number three is a girl.

It makes all the difference to know what you're having. I think James was slightly disappointed at first that it wasn't a boy (mostly because he LOVES the boy name we have picked out) but now that he can focus on the fact that we are having a girl, he is very excited. Lizzy has him wrapped around her finger, and he knows it, so the prospect of another little girl to love is exciting to him. James chose the name Siri Juliette. (Siri means, victorious beauty. Cool huh?) I completely gave him the choice because he really resisted the boy name that I had chosen for a while, but I was pretty insistent on the boy name, so he had agreed to it. (Little did I know how much he would fall in love with the boy name to the point that he REALLY wanted a boy so we could use it!)  Anyway, I would have chosen a different girl name, but thought it was only fair to let him decide.

So, there's the news that everybody already knew! We anxiously look forward to this summer, when we will finally be a family of 5!

Stay tuned for a post about our cruise.

"I Speak Chinese"

If any of us could understand Chinese, we might be able to understand Lizzy. 

Lizzy knows a lot of words, but she LOVES to talk, and this is how she talks. She does it the most when she is on the phone with her Daddy. She loves talking to him on the phone. He, of course, loves it.

Good News

Warning! Boring story to follow!

There is no doubt, and we won't deny it, that James is stuck in a dead end job. Installing cable for comcast hardly feels like a real career. Why doesn't he just quit then, you ask?  The money is too good. Even if that weren't an issue, James has no idea what he wants to do. He knows what he can't and won't do, but anything that sounds appealing to him just isn't a career type of job.

We're taking steps to get James away from this job, but if our plans work out, he still has to work there for another 5-10 years, which is fine to some extent. The problem has been that this last year, a lot of changes have been made at his job that has made it worse instead of a better situation. He's had to work mandatory over time for the last 9 months. His only day off is Sunday, except on the occasions that he hasn't had to work overtime, he also gets Monday off. (This is a pain in the neck for a few reasons, but mostly because any time there is service to be done within the church, it takes place on Saturday, a day that James works.) James has had to trade in his nice vehicle for a less nice vehicle. The way that their work is assigned out has changed in such a way that James gets less jobs done = less money, and he is gone for longer hours. Now they have completely changed the way they get paid and so far the result is less money. Overall, the changes made have not been beneficial to us and have had an overall affect of James starting to resent his job.

 For the last 5 years that James has worked for Pioneer, the only cable they have installed is residential. That means he gets to go into 2-5 different houses each day. (People aren't as clean as one would hope. James has put his knees into many a dog's pee and poop pile.) However, Comcast just informed Pioneer that they could choose around 5 of their employees to start installing for businesses. That means, for the technicians chosen: no dog pee or poop. Or smoke, porn, or druggies. No more being yelled at by customers, having neighbors call the cops because he is in their back yard, no more being accused of stealing prescription meds and marijuana, no more awkward feelings of installing cable while the girl who is hitting on him decides to use the bathroom right next to where he is working and purposely leaves the door open while she is doing her business.

James has always been the favorite of his bosses. I know James will be embarrassed that I'm bragging about him right now, but the fact of the matter is that he is the best employee they have, bar none. His bosses know it too, and James has the nickname of "Poster Boy" among the other technicians. I'm proud of him but I'm not surprised either. I married him because he's the best!

So, what's the good news you ask? Because James is the best, he had first dibs on being one of the technicians installing for businesses. He jumped at the chance and honestly can't wait.  The money is supposed to be better, he'll probably get a nicer vehicle again, he won't have to deal with mean, nasty people, and his favorite part of the whole deal: his new schedule will be working Monday through Friday!

He starts training on Tuesday, and it will last for two weeks. The draw back here is that he will only get paid $10 an hour during training. Oh well.  It will be worth it.  I'm so happy to see his spirits up and excited to do something new. He deserves every good thing that comes his way.