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At the ultrasound, the mom goes back first with the technician for the exam part. They have you put the gown on and then go back into a room that has the lights dimmed with an exam table and the ultrasound machine. They squirt a warm gel on your stomach and press a wand with about a three-inch wide base on there to view the baby. The technician is generally very quiet during this phase as she is busy taking measurements, etc and this part isn’t for show. It is really nerve-racking during this because you can see the screen, but aren’t really sure what exactly they are looking at. And, since they are so quiet, you naturally begin worrying that something is wrong.

After my tech was done with the exam, she explained that she would notify the radiologist that we were ready and she would get my family in the meantime. Carissa was able to come with us for this appointment and, when she came into the room, her eyes got really wide when she saw me up on the table with the machines and whatnot. We explained what everything was and to come and stand up on the stool next to me so she could see the screen better.

The tech started with the heart, the head, the spine, the stomach, and was just about to try and get a peak at the gender when the radiologist came in. He introduced himself and got right to work. He was even quieter than the tech! He finally said the words we were waiting for: “Your baby looks just fine. Everything is measuring right on track.” My nerves went away immediately! He congratulated us and left the room.

The tech went back to the ‘show’ and commented on what a busy baby we had. Finally we got a good angle – “There’s a leg, and the other leg… and riiiight there – you can see that it’s a boy!”

Travis and I started grinning, and Carissa said she knew that she was going to have a brother all along. In the car on the way home, we called the grandparents and texted friends. Grammy went out right away and purchased several new outfits, and Carissa now prefers to pick things out for “our new baby” rather than herself (at least in the clothes department!).

Travis is now making me clear out the mountain of girl-clothes in the baby’s room closet. I have only made it through two vacuum-sealed bags, and I admit that I got very emotional when clearing out all the cutesy outfits and little onesies that Carissa used to wear. She was helping me and I would hold up every other thing saying “Did you know you were this small? Isn’t this cute?! Do you remember wearing this hat? Look how little these shoes are!” Carissa has mastered the sigh and eye-roll, and I got it several times during this process. I got through what I could and gave Crystal and Gus a sack full of stuff for Aubrey (due in November). And, it honestly doesn’t even look like I made a dent. Plenty of time, right? *sigh*

Other happenings…. Colton turned three! I still have a hard time not saying “Baby-Colton” when talking about him to Carissa! He is such a cutie-pie. Hunter and Alex both started kindergarten this year. Carissa will start next year, and I know I will be a basket-case! She will go back to her two-day-a-week Pre-K that she enjoys. She also requested that we enroll her in gymnastics again.

She starts both programs when we get back from our CRUISE in a few weeks. We’re all really looking forward to the fun and also the rest and relaxation. My mom and dad and Pat and Odie will be joining us. Our cabins are all right next to each other which will be nice (at least for us – close proximity babysitting!).

We have gotten to do so much this year as far as vacations though – Steamboat, New Orleans, Lake Travis weekend, San Antonio weekend, cruise, and….wait for it… Orlando for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and Harry Potter at Universal!! Woohoo! ]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100810-131330
We left Houston Friday afternoon and made it to San Antonio in time to walk the RiverWalk and have a late dinner. Travis booked us into the Hyatt that is literally ON the RiverWalk so all we had to do was walk out the backdoor and voila! We were there! The weather was fortunately beautiful on Friday night, and we lucked into finding a restaurant that could seat us right away. Travis had a chicken-fried-steak and I had chicken enchiladas. Carissa fell asleep in her Daddy’s lap. After dinner, poor Travis carried Carissa back to the hotel (and she is getting heavy people!).

Saturday, we woke up early to head over to Sea World! Travis and Carissa even got me a year-long season pass for my birthday! We put on our swimsuits as we were planning to do the Lost Lagoon waterpark first thing. We got to the park and made our way over to the Lost Lagoon entrance only to find that they didn’t open that side up for another HOUR. The crazy thing is that people were already queued up to be let in! Travis and I waffled on whether to wait with the crowd or go do a show or something. We settled on waiting because the sign said that they would likely hit capacity and would limit the amount of people allowed inside. So we waited while our eager four-year-old asked “Now how much longer?” at least one hundred and twenty times.

They finally opened the Lagoon, we scoped out some lounge chairs in the shade, put on more sun-screen, and headed into the water. Travis and Carissa did a small slide first and then we headed over to the wave pool. Carissa loved this! They do the waves kind of like Water-World did where it was a pool for about ten minutes and then waves for five. They had a countdown clock and Carissa was watching and counting down with all the rest of the crowd. After the wave pool, we went over to a kiddie area that was like a tree house in a wading area with water guns and whatnot.

Somehow, we then managed to talk Carissa into going on a tube slide with Travis (the expectant mother was not able to go – boooo!). She was really scared and nervous but she did it! And HATED it! She came down the shoot crying and frowning and sniffling and pointing back and forth from Travis and the slide saying “It was DARK and I got water in my FACE and I do NOT want to do THAT AGAIN!” We praised her for at least trying it out, and she and I sat in the shade while Travis rode the other slide. We all decided we needed a break and decided to do the Lazy River. Unfortunately, all the tubes were taken – Grrr…. We swam around it twice and decided it was time for a late lunch.

After lunch, we were already pretty much done with the Lagoon. It definitely seemed to be getting to capacity to us, and we weren’t comfortable going back into the wave pool with Carissa with people literally on top of one another. We decided to go try and see a couple of shows and do the water rides on the Sea World side. This really wasn’t the brightest idea – we had all of gear (change of clothes, towels, etc) and no stroller with us since we really thought we’d spend the whole day at the Lagoon and didn’t see the point in bringing it in. And it was HOT! But, we made it to a Sea Lion show and Carissa got to play at the kids’ section and play area for a little while before we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.

We showered and dressed and headed to the RiverWalk for dinner. The restaurant that we stopped in at happened to be one of the restaurants that offered dinner cruises on the RiverWalk boats and one was leaving in twenty minutes! Score! Carissa enjoyed waving at the boats that passed by as we walked and really wanted to ride one so it worked out great! Travis and I got a full fajita dinner complete with tea or soda, queso, and fried ice cream for dessert. Carissa chose chicken nuggets from her menu. Included in the price was the typical RiverWalk cruise. It was a really nice way to cap off our day. (While on the cruise, a lady mentioned that there were three conferences in town that weekend and there were over 60,000 tourists where they normally have around 20,000! No wonder Sea World was so crowded!)

Sunday (my actual birthday), as if a weekend away and passes to Sea World weren’t enough, Travis and Carissa had some presents for me! Carissa made me some beautiful cards and Travis picked out some new board game expansions for our Catan and Carcassone game sets! Woohoo! We got dressed, packed up, and headed back over to Sea World.

We did Shamu and got splashed, saw the hilarious Cannery Caper Sea Lion show (different from the day before), the shark and fish aquarium, and the dolphins before calling it a day and headed home. I think we were a little disappointed that it was so HOT and crowded, but since we have passes, we already planned to come back for their winter festivities so it wasn’t worth the frustration and being uncomfortable in the heat.

We had Bill Miller BBQ for lunch and headed back to Houston. Carissa and I both snoozed for half of the trip back, but I woke up just in time for a Dairy Queen Blizzard in Schulenburg! Which is about where the traffic started all the way into Houston….

We made it home, started laundry, and I went to pick up some dinner. I had lots of sweet birthday phone calls and lots of Facebook birthday wishes to come home to.

I *heart* my birthday! And I especially *heart* the people that always make it so special!

(BTW – Sea World is very big into saluting the armed forces. Throughout 2010, if you are active duty military, you and up to three dependants can get a single-day admission to any Anheuser-Busch park! This includes Sea World, Busch Gardens, or Sesame Place!)]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100713-080037
• Restaining the front door
• Pressure washing the driveway and sidewalks
• Replacing a broken fence picket
• Coordinating the fixing of our irrigation system
• Sanding, priming, and repainting the mailbox
• Repainting the house numbers
• Weeding the yard
• Fixing our kitchen computer
• Coordinating new car and house insurance for a big chunk of savings

I cleaned up the inside of the house and also cleaned out our closet. This resulted in three bags of trash (primarily hangers and the plastic dry-cleaning covers) and three huge garbage bags (the big ones from Pasadena!) full of clothes, shoes, and purses for donation.

Also on Saturday, we went down to Angleton for dinner with Mike and Veronica. We really haven’t seen much of them lately! We got to see their new carpet and paint job (soooo jealous), new bedroom comforter set and curtains with coordinating master bathroom set, and new set-ups for the office/sewing room and guest bedroom/exercise room. They also cooked us some delicious steaks, baked potatoes, salad, and C-biscuits for dinner. Carissa and Travis braved the mosquitoes and went swimming afterwards.

Nothing is on the calendar yet for this weekend so hopefully we’ll get some stuff done on the list (maybe some of the easier, inside things!) and relax. ]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100708-140201
Sometime that week while Carissa was out partying, Travis and I watched 500 Days of Summer. The movie was ‘eh’, but there was this one scene that had me laughing out loud. I think I even made Travis rewind it to see it again. (The set-up is that the two characters have, um, you know, for the first time and he is just on cloud nine going into work.) The part at about 27 seconds where he checks his appearance in the window and Han Solo winks back is priceless. I always appreciate any Star Wars reference, thankyouverymuch.

Friday, I had the day off and the house all to myself for the entire day! I should have done some laundry and cleaned, but instead I watched a Merlin marathon on ScyFy and finished up the 2008 scrapbook. It rained all day so it was the absolute perfect day to just completely veg-out. Unfortunately, all of the aforementioned rain, caused a vent in our roof to leak yet again so we have another thing to add to our list of things to do.

Friday evening, Travis and I went out to dinner with our friends Chris, Margaret, Dee, Jake, and Chris’s parents for his 30th birthday dinner. Luckily the rain stopped long enough for us to enjoy a nice dinner at the Kemah Aquarium. I got some fried shrimp, oysters, and stuffed crab that I’ve been craving for a week! Afterwards, we went over to Dee and Jake’s for board games and a Nerf-gun battle.

Saturday, Travis and I loaded up and drove up to Livingston to meet up with my parents and Carissa. We swam in the lake, fished for perch off the dock, rode on the waverunners, played cards, and ate and ate and ate some more. Saturday night, the Catanimals came over to the house for a round of Catan

Sunday, was Fourth of July. We got up, not having any plans. Dee texted later that morning asking if we wanted to come over for fajitas and go watch fireworks. Sounded like a great idea to us, so we now had a plan! We ate and then left their house around 7:30 to go scope out a good spot at Independence Park in Pearland. We were not deterred by the signs that read ‘Warning – fallout area!’ and set up our chairs about ten feet away. We were SO CLOSE to the fireworks! They were right on top of us – it was really cool! Carissa… fell asleep in the middle of them!! What?!

Monday, we both had a holiday from work. Woohoo! We spent the morning at the house and Travis and Carissa went over to my parents that afternoon for swimming. I wasn’t feeling up to it so I stayed behind and rested.

Another fun weekend for the books!

**Baby Update** Yes, we’re pregnant and due mid-January. Everything is going just fine – I seem to be just as boring as before which is a great thing! We had the down-syndrome testing a few weeks ago which came back fine and extremely low-risk. They now do an ultrasound for that rather than just the blood-work I had with Carissa so I got a little sneak peak which was really exciting. I am anemic this time around so I have to take iron pills along with my dreaded horse-pill prenatal vitamin. I tried to get away with sticking to my Flintstones vitamins, but that didn’t fly. Drat. The info that I’ve found online says that the anemia strongly contributes to fatigue which makes sense because I am so TIRED all the time. I’m getting into the second trimester so the nausea isn’t as bad as it was. In a nutshell – we’re all doing great! Travis is thrilled and Carissa is excited, but still wants a dog. ]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100628-112533
Carissa borrowed a gorgeous dress from a co-worker’s daughter. She looked so cute. She would never admit this – but I think she kind of liked wearing the dress. She would twirl around in it and it was a dark blue. She danced and danced until she finally gave out, and we headed back. Carissa even ate meatballs and plain pasta at the reception! WOW! We did call them ‘steak-balls’ since steak is now her favorite food, but she ate about three of them! Whatever works…

Father’s Day, we went to San Marcos! I know – not Travis’ choice! We hit up a couple of stores, everyone got a bag of stuff, and we started to make the drive back to Houston early afternoon. One of Travis’ Father’s Day present was at home waiting for him. It was a bag full of screwdrivers that Carissa picked out for him. Travis always complains that the screwdriver he is looking is never in the desk drawer or never in his toolbox. I tell him that if he would put it back where it belonged, he wouldn’t have that problem. Of course, he blames the missing tool on me. Well, he now has his own special set with its own special magnet bar that is hung in the laundry room. No excuses…. As long as I stay away from them!

Flashback a week or so before Fathers’ Day – my dad calls me at work and says. “Carissa told me this morning that her Daddy needs some new screwdrivers for Father’s Day because he never puts them back in the drawer.” Ooops – I sometimes forget that sweetie-pie hears all, and repeats all too!

I think Travis had a nice day all considered. He was really excited about a new toy he got to order for his Father’s Day that should be coming in a couple of days! I’ll wait and let him tell you about that one!

Hope all of you Dads out there also had a great Father’s Day weekend! ]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100615-135048
People always say that they clip coupons and then never use them or buy things they don’t need just because they have a coupon. YES, that was me too! Until I found these blogs that tell you exactly how to use the coupons. (www.moneysavingmom.com is my favorite) It is really so easy to do! You know I wouldn’t do it if it took too much time or effort!

Here are my transactions this week. Note that I am starting with NO extra-care-bucks. (I was sick a few weeks ago and cashed them in all in for a Neti-Pot.)

Transaction 1:

Gilette Body Wash – on sale for $4
Gilette Body Wash – on sale for $4

Used a buy-one-get-one-free coupon (-$4)

Total - $4.33, got $8 ECB bucks back

Transaction 2:

Colgate Pro Clinical Toothpaste – on sale for $3.99
Huggies Jumbo Pack Diapers – on sale for $8.49

Used a $3 diaper coupon; $1 toothpaste coupon; $8 ECB from transaction 1

Total - $0.48, got $4 ECB bucks back

So, for less than $5 cash out of pocket, I got two body washes, toothpaste, and a jumbo pack of diapers – all name brand, no generic – and still have $4 ECB for next time.

Disclaimer – Carissa was with me on this trip so we did leave with three dollars worth of candy too that I didn’t include in the above totals! :)

I plan on using this $4 ECB on a new Shick Hydro 3 razor for Travis – it is on sale for $8.97, I have a $4 off manufacture’s coupon from the paper, plus the $4 ECB from transaction 2 will get me a $9 razor for less than a dollar…. AND the Shick razor is also generating a $4 ECB so the rolling can go on! See how that works?? (The CVS that Carissa and I stopped in at was already sold out of the razors. I’m planning to check the downtown one next to my office soon!)

If you don’t subscribe to the paper, I recommend at least picking up the first Sunday of the months paper (as long as it isn’t a holiday weekend). This paper always has three inserts, including the Proctor and Gamble insert that has really good, high dollar coupons you can always find a sale to pair with.]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100614-112515
One of the first stops Carissa made was the stuffed animal booth. Carissa picked her favorite number – 5 if you’re curious – out of the sixty that were available, and she WON! She surprised us all and picked out a stuffed dog. A few booths down, she tried her hand at the cake booth. Picked her favorite number and WON AGAIN! This time it was a Boston Crème Pie. She was on a roll! I think mom was ready to take her to Delta Downs to rub off some of that luck!

Carissa was then ready for her steak-burger (a hamburger, but don’t tell her that – she doesn’t like hamburgers only steak burgers) so we took a break from the heat to eat. After lunch, we went back out to do the bounce houses and the little tractor-train ride. It was way too hot to do to much more outside so we headed back into the hall for Bingo. We played a few games, but Carissa’s luck had run out.

All said and done, it was a fun way to spend an early Sunday afternoon.]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100528-090920
The limo dropped us off right in front of our Bourbon Street condo. Travis found it on VRBO after a snafu with our original reservations at Harrahs. (They had us booked in Biloxi! Good thing he called them back a few weeks ago!) This isn’t who we booked with, but this is the building where the condo was. That rickety top balcony was ours.

We spent a few minutes deciding on rooms and settling in before venturing out onto the town. We had plans to go to Margaritaville for lunch which was only a couple of blocks away adjacent to the French Market. We were seated right away and ordered our frosty concoction of choice along with a yummy appetizer. We ate, drank, and made merry there and then walked over to the New Orleans French Market. The French Market is basically a huge outdoor flea market that has operated in the same place since 1791. After walking around and shopping for a bit, we headed back to the condo to cool off, play some cards, and get ready for the evening.

Saturday night, we went on a hunt for ghosts with a voodoo priestess named Bloody Mary - no joke. The tour met at one of the oldest buildings in New Orleans – Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. Mary explained that there are all kinds of spirits that hang around there because it has been such a fun place for hundreds of years – they just keep on coming back. She took several pictures and showed us mysterious orbs of light that signified the presence of a spirit. Dee had one that was following her! Spooooooky…

We left the blacksmith shop and Mary stopped by the Voodoo museum to perform a ritual opening of the doors to allow us to view the spirits along with other hoohah. She drew some stuff on the ground, sprinkled it with water, had a voodoo doll and other things, and viola! the doors were opened! We continued on to several different old houses in New Orleans that all had stories of tragic deaths and other terrible things, thus the continuing presence of spirits. I may have even captured a spirit orb! (Or it may have been a reflection of some kind!) One the more interesting stories involved the LaLaurie Mansion that Nicolas Cage bought and was foreclosed on.

The next morning, Travis woke up early and went to get the group fresh beignets at Café Du Monde. YUM! What a treat! We all ate our fair share and then walked over to the Audubon Aquarium. Of course, we stopped off at one of the Tiki Houses for an early morning Octo-Bomb and daiquiris! When arriving at the Aquarium, we decided to do an IMAX show. The guys were really excited to see that they sold beer at this IMAX while Margaret was really excited that they sold hot dogs! We got our snacks, found our seats, and settled in to enjoy the show. We saw Hurricane on the Bayou which was really good. After the show, we went to the Aquarium exhibits which were very nice. They had a rainforest similar to ours at Moody Gardens along with a penguin exhibit and a HUGE aquarium to watch all the sharks, stingrays, and fish.

After the Aquarium, we went over to have a late lunch at the Gordan Biersch Brewery. After some initial problems with our food order (we got there around shift change – at least that was the excuse we were given), they made everything right and we all enjoyed our lunch. Harrahs was conveniently across the street so we stopped in for a little bit. Margaret won some money at blackjack, Jake and Chris broke about even, and Travis and I donated to the cause as usual.

We started making our trek back down Bourbon Street and stopped in at a Beach-Club themed bar that had – wait for it – a mechanical WHALE! Margaret braved the beast and did a respectable ride. After that we spent a good amount of time at Pat O’Brien’s dueling piano bar for a round (or two) of their famous hurricanes! The pianists were excellent and played all the requisite piano bar sing-a-long tunes.

Monday morning, we had an appointment at the New Orleans School of Cooking. What a great time! I would highly recommend this to anyone! Our chef, Kevin, prepared a huge pan of cornbread, a vat of red beans and rice, individual pecan pies, and pecan pralines (pronounced “prah-leen”). We also got to sample biscuits with Steens cane syrup and Abita Amber and their root beer. The whole event was a ton of fun, very entertaining, and the food… omg – the food was delicious!

After the cooking class, we had some time to kill before our limo picked us back up, so we wandered the french quarter a little bit shopping around the antique and other shops. We then returned to the condo for another round of Progressive Rummy and to get our bags packed up. The limo arrived right on time and we were back on our way home.

All said and done, I think everyone had a great time! We did a little something for everyone and still had plenty of downtime. New Orleans is definitely a city that people either love or hate. I think the opinion has a lot to do with the people you go with. The three most recent times I’ve been (once for a bachelorette party, once with Travis for his 30th birthday, and this one), I’ve gone with great, fun people, and we have had an absolute blast each time.]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100511-071208
I wasn’t up for long at all when Travis came out of the bedroom and instructed me to go back to bed. I did so without any complaint. I woke up the second time to Carissa (with lots of help from her Dad) serving me homemade beignets with honey and powdered sugar for breakfast with fresh coffee and blackberries. They then left me alone to eat and watch my Tivo’d soap operas. Ahhhh….

After breakfast, they came back in bearing gifts. They had listened to my carefully dropped hints and procured me a new George Foreman Grill with removable and dish-washer-able grill plates. Travis also bought me two bottles of wine – can’t go wrong there. But, the best gift was Carissa’s little card that she made all on her own. She had already given me what they put together in preschool, but this gift was truly her own doing.

A week or so ago, Travis mentioned to Carissa that he needed to take her shopping for Mother’s Day. She agreed but quickly ran off to her art table in the kitchen and instructed me to stay away because she was busy working on something. She finished up and took it to her Dad, ready to give it for Mother’s Day. He explained that Mother’s Day wasn’t for another week so she needed to find a good place to hide it. Carissa ran up to her room and hid it away.

Fast-forward to Sunday and Travis pulling out wrapping paper for the George Foreman, and Carissa saying “But I already have Momma’s present ready!” She runs back up to get it and sure enough brought it back down. Travis taped it to the wrapped gift.

Carissa had drawn a picture of me with the word MOM written underneath with a heart glued on the paper with it. It was such a sweet little picture and she was so proud of it. It really was the best gift I could have ever wanted.

Later that day, we met up with Grammy and Pawpaw for lunch down at Surfside. Carissa was having a sleepover with Grammy that night because my parents were in Vegas – lucky ducks. We went to a new burger/sandwich place right on the beach. I enjoyed the food, but enjoyed the beach view even more. Carissa was dropped off at the camper and Trav and I headed home. We watched our Netflix movie (District 9 – different, but good in my opinion), had some popcorn and M&M’s, and went to bed.

All said and done – a fabulous Mother’s Day!]]> http://www.travisandjonda.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100422-134922
She can spell and write several simple words on her own like dog (go figure), cat, Pa, Pluto, and Mom. She understands that if C-A-T is cat and you put an M in place of the C, it becomes mat. It is cute to hear her try and sound words out (mmmmmmm-----aaaaa----ttt. Mmm---aa---t…. mm-aa-t. Mat!).

What is killing me is that the English language is extraordinarily complicated! It sounds so easy when you explain how certain letters make certain sounds and when you put them together in a certain way, you make certain words. Not so! Here is the perfect example:

Carissa asked me a few mornings ago, “Momma, how to you spell ‘light’?” Before I could help, she goes into the LLLL-IIII-TTT. “L-I-T! Light! I DID IT MOMMA! I spelled LIGHT all by myself!”

She is so proud of herself, how do you explain that, um, no she didn’t? That this particular word has a G and an H in it. And, yes, a G goes GUH and an H goes HUHH, and when you say ‘light’ you can’t hear the G and H, but I promise they are still there….

She gets a look of confusion and frustration on her face, and I don’t blame her in the least. I know all parents say this, but Carissa is a really smart cookie. I can see her easily excelling in math because it is strict logic with one right answer that makes perfect sense every time. And, history too because it doesn’t change. But spelling with “rules” (imagine my fingertips making the imaginary quotes when I say “rules”) that vary from one thing to the next? I think we might have a problem.

“But…. why is there a G and an H, Mom?” Um… I really don’t know… KNOW! There is another one – what the heck is up with the K? And, don’t get me started on the silent ‘e’ at the end of some words either… Or, that silly “rule” of I before E except after C – not true in science or society or weird or protein.

*Sigh* I respond and try to change the subject… "Oh, look a dog! How do you spell that?"]]>