And Baby Girl Makes Four

According to ultrasound tech Nancy - this family is growing by a factor of one baby GIRL come December!

Both BJ and I were thinking BOY all along, so the news was a surprise to us both and has me feeling a new level of anticipation. Suddenly this pregnancy feels different, more tender.

I was amazed by what an ultrasound could show in addition to the sex of the baby - four separate pumping heart chambers revealed themselves to be working in perfect harmony. The umbilical cord showed it was carrying oxygenated blood to our daughter and de-oxygenated blood away from her (back into me...to turn red again...)

Her hands - complete with five fingers at the end of each one - were moving up to her face and down to her legs during the exam. Her sweet feet are the size of one of my fingernails, but perfectly formed with five toes at the end of each and all the teeny tiny bones (tarsals?? metatarsals?) in place.

A close examination of her lips show that our baby does not have a cleft palate. Images of her nasal bone mean it's unlikely that our baby girl has Down's Syndrome.

All of this in just 20 weeks! What have you done in the last 20 weeks? : )

This morning I am in awe that I have a daughter.

You created her inmost being;

You knit her together in my womb.

Her frame was not hidden from you when she was made in the secret place.

When she was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw her unformed body.

All the days ordained for her are written in your book before one of them comes to be.

Paraphrase of Psalm 139: 13, 15 & 16

Pink or Blue?

This morning we're off to the OB/GYN to catch a glimpse of #2 in action and to find out whether the Squirt will have a little sister or a little brother!

What do you think? Pink or Blue?! I'll let you know tomorrow...

Why the Radio Silence

Last week was a long and frustrating week for us all here at Casa Leipprandt - hence the lack of posting.

A combination of pregnancy hormones, a 14 month old's sudden penchant for crying and evening arrival times of 7:30 for B Daddy (8:45 on Friday night!) had me in tears by the end of each long day on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday and Saturday.

On top of all that - no eggs from the girls. Seriously. Two weeks in to the Great Chicken Experiment and these moochers have not laid a single egg.

AND... to add insult to injury - on Saturday morning I was feeling extremely Betty Crockeresque (in spite of my fragile emotional state!) and decided to make blueberry pancakes for the men in the house. Upon searching the refrigerator I realized I had one measly Store Bought Egg left...and of course two were required for my recipe. If looks could kill we'd have had a nice roast chicken for dinner Saturday night.

So after several discussions on how to make our daily lives run more smoothly during this hectic time (B Daddy and I now have our very own chore charts!) I'm going into this week with a decidedly optimistic outlook.

If you don't hear from me for the rest of the week, send up a prayer or two. The chickens and I will be needing them. 

A Song for all Mommies

If there's a more hilariously nerdy tribute to moms out there - please let me know.

Say Hello to our Girls

We finally finished the coop and went out and found some chickens to take up residence!

They are most definitely not chicks - that was the original plan. But chicks are born in the springtime and well...it's the middle of summer. So we hit up Craigslist and managed to find a crazy chicken owner not too far from us whose husband was making her give up some of her animals. As she put it, "we don't really even eat the eggs, I just love the birds." And I'll admit, I thought that was totally nutty. Who loves chickens? They're weird, right?

So we took advantage of her situation and picked up two admittedly beautiful birds. They were transported home in nothing other than a diaper box. How apropos.

B Daddy was in charge of releasing them

...I actually haven't touched them yet.

Big Brown is LOVING the new additions.

Aren't they beautiful?!

We're working on names...I'll keep you posted. Kitchen progress also coming soon!

I'm Sorry Dave

The Leipprandts have gotten a bit off track when it comes to the 'ole Dave Ramsey plan. Not that we've jumped ship...we're still debt-free and credit card-free - but that whole envelope with dollar bills inside of it thing? Ummmm...I don't exactly remember the last month we did that. January perhaps?

It started when the 1st of the month would sneak up on me - catching me unawares and without having taken cash out for the month. Then 2 or 3 days would go by and I would re-calculate how many purchases we had made via debit card, do the math and steadfastly resolve to get to the bank before 5pm. But life with the Squirt is often unpredictable and I found myself many a time unable to get to the bank by 5pm. Before I knew it, it would be the 15th of the month and I would console myself, saying, "surely next month I'll be more disciplined!"

Well next month turned into June apparently. We're at the point in our Dave plan where we have started to contribute to E's college account and that money is pretty hit or miss. Some months we have it, some months we're short. The thing is...we'd definitely have it most months if we were following a disciplined envelope budget. But as it is I think B Daddy and I have either eaten or painted away about 4 months worth of collegiate contributions.

So July we begin anew. A budget has been created and the cash we need to pull out has been calculated. I hereby resolve not to spend grocery money on Starbucks and not to spend home improvement money on new maternity clothes. - Sigh -

Keep me honest.

Kitchen Renovation: Homestretch

We're starting to see the finish line in the kitchen! The countertops went in last week, along with additional lighting (over the sink and in the pantry) and the tile went up Monday.

B Daddy, who has the patience of a saint and the work ethic to match, spent Friday night, Saturday morning and then Sunday afternoon getting our new dishwasher installed. Note to future DIYers: install your dishwasher BEFORE installing your immovable granite countertops. Getting the old dishwasher out of this tight spot and the new one in left almost no room for manipulating the wires and water line.

We also brought in the new refrigerator (a Craiglist find...about 60% of the normal retail price and still brand new) thanks to the help of 4 wonderful friends. It's always a good idea to invite people over for dinner on an evening when you need to transport a 250 lb fridge from the back of your pick-up to your kitchen.

We were bummed that our fancy counter-depth fridge wasn't sitting flush with the counters as intended...due to the copper water line that comes up through the floor being about 3 inches out from the wall. Monday evening found B Daddy under our house (nasty icky crawlspace) and myself (in the air-conditioned kitchen of course) shouting at each other through the floor as B drilled a hole up through the subflooring and into the baseboard in the kitchen. A few hours of that and voila! our counter-depth fridge now sits counter-deep.

As I write this our floating shelf is being installed and the bat guy is here cleaning guano out of our attic.

We're getting there! Hopefully a finished product will emerge within the week.