LOVE Carlton!

I love how Carlton dances... I must admit that I'm pretty sure there would be a lot of very similar videos of me if we had hidden cameras in our house... Except I don't stop when Jared walks in...I pick it up a notch!! OH the things Jared puts up with...

Who am I kidding, 80% of the time Jared jumps right in dancing along with me :0) I love him.

Preach it!

I love this. This is how I feel about religion and "rules" and "church people" too.

It's a GIRL!!!

Yes, today we found out that we are having a little girl - Tenley Marie Vermeulen. Jared is hoping that she has out of control frizzy curls like I did when I was a child - haha. I have to admit that would be cute to look at. We had the ultrasound at 10:15 this morning. The nurse said it was a girl and I asked 3 times how sure she was: I figure with a boy you see something so that's harder to mess up, but with a girl - what if it's just small or hiding....she said she was 95% sure so we'll go with that. I must admit I am a little nervous about having a girl because of ... "girl things" and what people will buy us! haha. Don't get me wrong I am thankful for anything that people think to give us and any help we receive, but we have a particular taste and I don't think it is in line with most people's vision of a "little girl".

1. We hate dolls! They freak both of us out and we will not be giving them to our daughter. Now if she falls in love with one or something I am sure that we would make exceptions, but we will not be introducing them to her. I never had dolls - just stuffed animals and that was great!

2. We really don't like pastel colors or pastel pink, I do love me some HOT Pink though :)

3. We do NOT like self-proclaiming shirts, one's that say "Adorable, Precious, Everyone Loves Me, I'm A Princess" - these are fine for other kids but not ours - we strongly do not like these!

4. I was more a tomboy growing up and I plan on introducing our daughter to cars, snowmobiles, sports, playing outside, building forts, and all of those things as well.

Mind you whatever she shows interest in we will definitely support, but that is further down the line, for now I'm just saying I am worried "little girl" stuff is going to overwhelm me...but I'm sure I will learn how to deal with it.

I think it is strange that as soon as we knew we were having a girl Jared instantly felt more protective and I felt more like he was the MAN. haha. One of the first things I said to him was "Now you really have to take care of your Girls!" He was already thinking that and one of the firs things he said was "Now I have to get ready to beat up all the little boys, good thing I have muscles!" haha. I thought it was funny that we both had the same initial thought.

Anyways, we couldn't be more excited. I took a poll to see what people thought we were having the final count was: 21 Boy, 13 Girl. I finally made myself make a guess and decided I thought deep down it was a Girl. Glad to see our parenting instincts are right so far as we both said it would be a girl.

No ultrasound pics...sorry - they weren't very clear.

20 Weeks - just starting to show, I can still wear my normal jeans.

Half Way!

That's right people we are half way to having a live human in our care! HAHA That cracks me up, poor thing. But yes we are half way, we have the room 90% done and Wednesday we find out what we are having HOORAY and then we can finish registering and things. We have almost completed the Baby Wise books and are about to start another. Nothing really interesting is happening though, my belly is finally starting to pop out just a little. I can still wear my regular jeans though. At night the belly looks pretty big and then I think I squish it back down at night while I sleep - fine with me. We got our chair for the kids room and so I have been trying to break it in cause it's not as comfy as the one in the store...I'm told if I sit in it more then it will be, so Duke and I sit in it - we're all doing our part.

So yeah WEDNESDAY we find out what it is and then go from there. I still have no feeling either way. I REALLY wish that I did cause I want to see if I am right. (I like being right).

Well, I'll let you know what happens on Wednesday.

The Future Jared and Michelle

Umm I LOVE the Sienna Family! I see Jared and I being something like this as parents... haha

I thought this was hilarious...Jared said it's not as funny as I think it is...You can decide for yourself.

Puppy Mills

Hey Everyone -

I just wanted to let everyone know that Puppy Mills is something that I am passionate about stopping! These dogs live in aweful conditions adn many of them have never been out of the small wire cages they are kept in - most have never touched grass. We can all help by getting the word out to adopt dogs, not buy them from pet stores, and make sure that breeders are THOUROGHLY checked out. Many breeders will come across as legit, but in actuallity are running puppy mills. You can follow this link and send a message to your state representatives about ending puppy mills: http://capwiz.com/bestfriends/issues/alert/?alertid=55864516

I got the link from Best Friends Society which is a group based in Utah but works nation and worldwide to help animals of all kinds.

Here is little movie about Puppy Mills if you aren't familiar with them:

Here is a happy video about some doggies that were rescued!! IT'S AWESOME!!

http://www.godvine.com/Beagles-See-Sun-and-Grass-for-the-First-Time-After-a-Life-in-a-Laboratory-861.html

Please follow the link above it seriously takes 10 seconds to help.

Thanks!!

Food is back!

Well I have not been minding the fact that I haven't had crazy cravings or MUST HAVES as I have seen so many other pregnant women have, but I have thought I maybe was missing out on something. Well I have found my weakness! Sour Punch Bites! Apple Flavor! They are amazing, I liked them before, but now I get a bag and I have to eat the whole thing, there is no stopping me. They are particularly hard to find too. I went to 6 stores over 3 days to try to find them, and today I did!!! They were amazing! I also have really been liking Ding Dongs, food in general has been sounding better too, so that's good. I have gained a few more pounds and in the last 2 weeks my belly has started to grow. Well since I just downed a bag of my sour treats, I think I am going to dethaw the chicken for dinner and put a Ding Dong in the fridge...they are better when they are just a little bit cold. MMMMM. I'm glad I like food again!