To Car or Not to Car...

I bought the TT back in 2006 and double paid my car payments. I had it paid off in about 2 ½ years. For a while I was car payment free.

When I took my job in Terre Haute, we purchased a Mazda3 and Kyle started driving the Audi; and the car payments started again. A few weeks ago, we sold the Audi, paid off the Mazda3 and eliminated our car payment. My parents have been lending us the Miata until we buy our next car.

Quick storyline: I bought the Miata when I first graduated college, I then flipped it into a swamp and State Farm totaled the vehicle. My dad bought the car off of State Farm for a reduced rate, fixed it up, and got it running again. Mom and Dad said we can borrow the Miata for as long as we want... (My parents are totally cool!)

We sold the Audi so we could purchase a  "family car". You know, one of those super nice, 4WD, all leather, luxury SUVs with the never used headlights on the top. We’ve had our eyes on this:

 

A brand new Nissan Xterra. Yet, Kyle's still driving the Miata. Why? Because every time I think we're ready to go take on another huge car loan, I watch this video: 

Here's a direct link to the video: http://www.daveramsey.com/media/flash/elearning/drive-free/player.html

Every time I watch that video,  I keep thinking, "maybe we could get by without the fancy schmancy SUV for just a few more months"

It's a ...

This Thanksgiving we got to share the wonderful news of Ringlet with Kyle’s family. We’ve been slowly leaking the news as we saw friends and family over the last few weeks. We decided telling people in person would be more sentimental than via email, mass text message, or social networks. And it was… I just wish we had the opportunity to tell everyone in person.

The Kelly-family Thanksgiving is similar to many family Thanksgivings, except at a much larger magnitude. Everyone takes their seat at an incredibly long table, and prior to carving the 3 or 4 turkeys, we go around the table saying what we are each thankful for. This year Kyle and I went last. He said that he was thankful for the expected addition to our family and I said that I was thankful for mother-daughter relationships.

That’s correct, little Ringlet is a GIRL! We can now start using words like “she” and “her”. We had an ultrasound appointment right before Thanksgiving, and brought my mom with us. She didn't know about the appointment, or that we were finding out the gender.

We had planned to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family on Saturday; however the whole family was sick, so we decided not go over to my parent’s house. Instead Kyle and I cleared out our office, and started transforming it into Ringlet’s room. After four trips to the paint store and numerous samples of purple and greens, I think that we’ve picked out the perfect paint colors. Kyle started to paint the ceiling and trim. Next up will be painting the walls five different colors and hanging chair rail (which also needs to be painted). After that he plans to hang new blinds and install hardwood floors. Have I told you how talented my husband is?

On Sunday my friend Jim and his wife Kristin met us out for lunch in Terre Haute. They were heading back to Chicago from Columbus and made a detour to hang out. It was nice catching up and hearing about their honeymoon and discussing life with dogs and babies :)

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving weekend.

P.S. For anyone who's keeping tabs, Ringlet's now the size of an onion.

Arizona...

I phones take awesome photos, especially when the weather is gorgeous!

Kyle and I are back from Arizona. We had such a great time with my best friend, Draves and her fiance, Mark. It's the first time since being pregnant that I've had a ton of fun and didn't even notice that I couldn’t have a glass of wine (that speaks magnitudes of how fun these two are). They are adorable together and I think they really bring out the best in each other. It's such a good feeling to see someone you love this happy. 

On Saturday morning, Draves and I went wedding dress shopping in Scottsdale. For a girl who’s not much of a shopper, I surprisingly enjoy wedding dress shopping. I felt like we were on an episode of “say yes to the dress” (minus the overwhelming entourage, crying, and five digit price tags). While the boutique girls were clipping dress after dress, the boys were out on a “man-date”. Somehow in just a few hours, they stopped at a festival, went on a brewery tour, watched Wisconsin beat Illinois, had a beer at an ASU pub, and even browsed some trinkets. During their excursion, Kyle was shocked to be flashed the Arizona State pitchfork by a seven year old. By the time Draves and I met back up with them, they knew as much about each other as I know about Draves. Kyle's already hoping to go back for the Cub's spring training. Though he may be going solo, since at 8 months pregnant, I won't be able to fly.

Only three days of work this week. I hope it goes by fast!

16 weeks for Ringlet

Today Ringlet is 16 weeks. Did anyone guess it'd be the size of a yummy avocado?? (Oh, and I will challenge that an avocado is a vegetable, not a fruit. Similar to tomatoes, you find avocados in vegetable salads, not fruit salads).

16 weeks. That means another 24 weeks to go. Kyle has volunteered to paint the ceiling, walls, and install hardwood floors in the baby's room. I have a feeling he's going to need all 168 of the days we have left.

I haven't felt any baby kicks or hiccups yet. However, my belly keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It's starting to look more like a pregnancy belly rather than looking like I ate a few too many doughnuts. I was catching up with my friend Jim on the phone last night, and he asked if my belly was looking like a basketball... I'd say it's more like a partially deflated football. Not quite the perfect round bump that you see on TV.

Tonight we're flying out to Phoenix for the weekend. Then just three more days until Thanksgiving!

Ringlet's locks...

So far I've been able to avoid all bad pregnancy symptoms. No nausea or food aversions. No cravings for pickles or morning sickness. However, this week I've started experiencing very mild amount of heartburn. Although my sister (a doctor) tells me not to trust any old-wives tales, this one I really believe to be true... 

Heartburn during pregnancy = a hairy baby. 

I'm not sure if the heartburn is convincing me that our little Ringlet will be born with a full head of hair or if it's mine and Kyle's hospital birth photos... (And yes, Kyle's mom promises that photo on the left really is Kyle)

15 weeks tomorrow...

I decided to do tomorrow's post today. Especially since tomorrow's veteran's day and in celebration, I plan to not do anything productive.


Last weekend we took the niece and nephew to Indy. The weekend before we went to one of my best friend's weddings in Chicago. It was nice catching up with some of the guys that I spent so much time with my freshman and sophomore years of college (photo).

My friend Angela was suppose to come visit us in Terre Haute this weekend, and I was really bummed when she cancelled. However, yesterday Kyle sent me an evite asking me on a date on Saturday (insert "awww" here). A prenatal massage and dinner at the Melting Pot. He knows how to cheer me up.

Next weekend, Kyle and I are flying out to Phoenix. I get to go wedding dress browsing with Draves! It's been a while since I've last seen her, so it'll be great to girl chat and catch up.

And, the weekend after that is Thanksgiving! I don't think I've ever looked forward to Thanksgiving as much as I do this year. This year Kyle and I have a lot to be thankful for, and Thanksgiving dinner also marks the end of our silence about Ringlet.

Ringlet's fruit of the week is an orange. What a perfect fruit, since all I ever want lately is more orange juice. Kyle and I even started buying the gallon sized jugs, so we can cut back on our trips to the grocery.


I'm a bit nervous; at week 16 we move up from fruits to vegetables. Stay tuned to find out what healthy green we move up to next...

Fruit of the week...

A Sad Breakup and a New Relationship...

Today Kyle and I went through a very sad breakup. We parted ways with the Audi TT. A guy from Cincinnati came and purchased it just an hour ago. I even considered putting together a video tribute of all the good times we spent together. We will miss you Audi TT. Tear.

A note on our new relationship: The Terre Haute Q'doba opened today. I have a feeling that we will be frequenting the new establishment on a minimum of a weekly basis. Maybe I'll pick some up on the way home. I'm sure Kyle will think that it will help as we mourn the TT.

A few months back I sent Kyle a link that there would be a new Q'doba opening in Terre Haute. 

Kyle's response: "My prayers worked!! (Hmmm, maybe I should have been praying for something more important.)"

Zoo

Kyle here, first-time poster.  Yesterday, we decided to take advantage of a beautiful early November Saturday.  We picked up Franny and Yoshi and went to Indy.  After stopping to look at some wood flooring for the future baby's room, we went to the zoo.  Franny liked the giraffes and the rhinos.  Yoshi liked the lions and the babboons (especially the "monkey butts").

After the zoo, we met my parents and Kelly and Jason for a fun dinner before heading back home.  A good way to spend a Saturday. 

The First Day of the Second Trimester

Well, today's the day that most pregnant women finally start to breathe. We are officially in the second trimester, and as of today our chance of someday meeting Ringlet is 98%. Inhale deeply, and Exhale. Phew.

Yesterday's appointment went well. It's hard to go from seeing the little heartbeat each week to just once a month. The ultrasound tech had difficulties getting pictures, since Ringlet couldn't stay still. Here are the one's she did capture:

She said not to worry, the baby doesn't have a deformed face. It just kept moving while she was trying to take it's picture, so the face is a blur. She estimated it to be about 3oz and about 2 days larger than expected.