As the World Turns...

So it's been a little over two months since my last blog. Sorry about that...I've been a little busy! With that said, here's a quick pictorial update of the goings on since my last blog:

In June I made a really quick trip home for a graduation, baby shower, visits to my

Grandparents, and catching up with friends. It was so nice to see everyone but there just wasn't enough time to be able to sit and enjoy the catching up. Thanks to all the ladies who made my shower possible. It was so much fun getting to laugh with everyone again. And thanks Uncle Mike for the surprise "Lindley Shower" in Garland!

The rest of the month was spent working at the hospital, delivering babies, and going to my own doctor's appointments. At some point in there I gave up on trying to stick to the recommended 25-35 pound weight gain. After looking at the pictures we had taken today though I've decided it's just best not to take pictures of your pregnant self!

Brian's dad John came up for a few weeks after I got back from Texas. Brian drove down to Colorado to get him and bring his boat back. They got a lot of projects done around the house, including the new fence in our backyard. The girls love being able to go out without leashes and explore everything on their own. Brian and I like it too 'cause we can sit back on our patio furniture and not worry. The boys also got the boat all tuned up and took it out quite a bit. Unfortunately the fishing hasn't been great thus far so no fish fries yet!

After Brian's dad left we started on the nursery. It's still not complete yet but things for the most part have a designated home. We still need to get things up on the wall and I'm waiting until closer to my due date to put the crib together. We painted the walls a pale yellow and the ceiling a pale blue. The plan is to paint a tree on the wall and clouds on the ceiling. I should've taken another picture for the blog but I'll probably wait until it's closer to being done. The realization of the space needed for a kid has hit me pretty hard!

Our niece Aila turned 2 in July and we enjoyed watching her eat her Elmo cake and tear open her presents. Her favorite was a microphone that she refused to let go of and continued to do everything else one-handed. She's quite the little mommy to her babies and even the live kind. We're anticipating lots of laughs after I deliver and Mama Aila takes over!





And finally, some belly shots for those of you requesting. North Dakota makes for such a beautiful backdrop for pictures. We enjoyed driving around today just seeing the rolling hills and the river running through them. If you ever get a chance to make a trip up, definitely come in the summer when everything's green!

Summer Time..the Livin's Easy

It's been a while since I've posted any blogs so I thought I'd throw a few pictures on here with a brief narrative of what's been going on with the Thomassons lately. We've been pretty busy the past few weeks with a visit from my parents and doing some things around our house. Fortunately, we've been able to make a little time for the usual summer activities (as you will see below!).

Here's the infamous belly picture everyone's been asking for. Of course I had to represent with my Maroon Out t-shirt. Not sure how much longer it will fit. I'm almost 22 wks in this picture.

We've finally been able to get around to some landscaping in the front yard. We are renting our house but still want it to look nice. I should've taken "before" pictures but I didn't feel like it ;). Just imagine overgrown bushes and weeds with random landscaping blocks. Brian picked out all the plants with a little input from me. Here are some day lillies, rhodedendron and hydrangea. Still have to put the mulch in but you can picture it I'm sure!

This is closest to the entrance of the house. Brian picked out a few varieties of hostas and some flowering bushes. There's a deep purple bush in the back that will have lighter purple flowers and the green bush in the front will have white. The yellow bush in the background doesn't flower but the leaves turn golden red. Should be pretty once everything kicks in!

Here's a shot of the front of the house. Can't tell much right now since everything is in it's infancy (and the lawnmower is in the shop!). A few of our neighbors have already come by to comment on how much nicer the house looks. We still have a few more touches to complete the look.

Steph and Aila came over yesterday when Brian and I were finishing up in the plant beds. I should've taken some pictures of Aila "helping" spread the dirt around and watering the plants. After a quick bite to eat we went out to a lake for some fishing and sand castle building.

Here's Steph and Aila. Aila enjoyed dumping spoonfuls of sand into her bucket then going over to the water and dumping it out, then throwing her spoon into the water.


One of the many rods Brian has working to catch fish. He caught a Northern, set it free, then it swam down and Stephanie caught it. What an unlucky fish!

Aila is quite the helper these days and was very willing to help Brian pick out the lure that he eventually caught a fish with.


Aila gave Steph and I a few heart attacks when she would randomly stare at the water, then go running into it screaming "ooooh water!" Fortunately she never went too far but she was definitely more entertained by the water than any fish or sand castle.

Here's a video of Aila meeting the first fish of the day. I don't think she was too impressed.....


Well that's it for now. We have a busy first part of the summer planned. I'm going home for a week in June to make the rounds visiting family and friends and having my first baby shower. Brian's driving to Colorado when I get home to pick up his dad and his boat for a few weeks of fun here. Things should slow down after that except for getting things ready for our little girl!

It was an honor just to be nauseated....

Well, not so much. But at least it was a good sign that my newly discovered pregnancy was moving in a healthy direction. That's right! Brian and I are expecting a little miracle in September.

It was hard keeping the secret and of course it leaked out to a few people who were then sworn to secrecy. We wanted to wait for a few appointments before we let the cat out of the bag. Just like with life, nothing is ever promised but at least our chances of miscarriage are decreased after you hear the heartbeat. So now that everything is out in the open, let me catch you up on the past 3 months....

I took a pregnancy test on our anniversary in January. Unfortunately, it wasn't the "clear" positive that one would hope for. So I (very im)patiently waited for a week to go by to retest. This positive was a lot more clear and I was having more pregnancy symptoms by this time. My emotions were up and down with concern and joy. Of course Brian was concerned too but he tries to be the stable one in the emotion department so he didn't let on too much. Once I started getting all day sickness (forget just the mornings!) I felt better about our chances for a healthy pregnancy. However, it wasn't so great for Brian. The only thing that helped my nausea was eating every few hours and only the food I had cravings for. There were many quick trips to the store to pick up cereal and ice cream and hot dogs and graham crackers, etc. Thankfully I was still able to work, which turned out to be a nice distraction from the nausea as long as I had a few PB&J's on hand.

Our first appointment was March 9th. We were both nervous about the first appointment. It was during this appointment the last time we found out we had had a miscarriage. The doctor warned us it would take a few minutes to find the heartbeat because the baby is so small. I think we both closed our eyes and said a little prayer while the doctor was searching. And then there it was, the most beautiful sound of a little tiny heartbeat. We both ended up with tears in our eyes. It was the greatest relief! And then we left the office and proceeded to call everyone who knew to tell them the good news, and then off to McDonald's for some craving relief!

The next few weeks had their ups and downs for me. When I stopped having the nausea, I had nothing reassuring me that everything was okay. So I flipped out a little bit (imagine that!). Fortunately I work on a unit that has baby monitors in every room so I just hooked myself up one day and heard that beautiful sound again. Our second appointment was today and was much more relaxed. I'm 15 weeks by dates but will have an ultrasound next week to make sure.

Brian and I feel so blessed that God has given us this miracle that we and many other people have prayed for. We will find out what the sex is and let all of you know! And as soon as I start showing (real baby, not just extra McDonald's weight) I'll post some pictures.

We hope you are all well and we miss you guys! Stay tuned for more baby news....

Ah, winter.

So we all know by now that the groundhog has predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Well, when you live in the north, that's pretty much a given no matter what sees its shadow. And since I haven't posted in a while, I figured this would be a great time to catch up on what's been happening and express what 6 more weeks of winter means to me.

Work:
Has been very busy. Lots of babies being born; some too early though. We had triplets the other day who were a little too anxious to join this world but they are doing quite well for as little as they are. I'm still in my mom/baby phase for a few more weeks before I start labor & delivery. I told Brian today that when/if we have kids we are destined to have very crabby ones because that seems to be all I take care of. I'm pretty well known at work to have babies that are perfect for the other shifts but don't seem to remember how to sleep or eat once I take over. I have, however, discovered the secret which I refer to as the "magic chair." When I'm trying to chart I grab one of my babies that doesn't seem to want to sleep, put them in this little bouncy recliner and start making it bounce with my foot. Stick a pacifier in their mouth and it doesn't take long before they are fast asleep! Beyond that most everyone at work has been exposed to my interesting personality and have come to expect it. I didn't feel well the other night and one of the girls said, "Katie, are you feeling okay? You're not singing!" "Pants on the ground" has been my latest favorite.

Home:
I spend most of my time at home sleeping lately since I've been working nights. I've picked up an extra shift here and there so even if I have the day off I sleep through most of it. Brian's been a big help with the girls during the day so I can sleep. I always tell myself when I'm working that my days off I'll do something but I generally end up talking myself out of those plans pretty quick. I don't think Brian and I have done much in the way of going out since our anniversary. If I'm not sleeping, I'm going through the 10 minute process of putting on some warm pants, snow boots, jacket, hat, gloves, and leashes to take the girls out for the 5 minute bathroom break. I will be so glad when I don't have to go through the whole routine just to let my dogs out. Otherwise the house is slowly coming together. We have a partially finished basement so Brian was thinking about tackling one of the bedrooms for when people come to visit (hint, hint!).

Brian:
Is still looking for a job. He's been interviewing for a general manager position at Applebee's but isn't completely sold on the idea of going back into management, especially at that level. Plus he'd have to go to Fargo for 10 weeks for training and that's been the biggest drawback. He's also applied for a cook's position with Minerva's. It'd be daytime hours Monday through Friday so even though he wouldn't be making as much, he'd have a much better schedule. He's also joined an archery league which seems to have gotten him back into the swing of bow hunting. It sounds like he's meeting some nice people who have common interests so he looks forward to going each week. I'd like to go watch some night but it's on Wednesdays and that generally falls right in the middle of my work week. Other than that he's been working on making arrows and getting our garage cleaned out for his shop.

The Girls:
They are enjoying the recent snow we got. I wish we could get them out more but the weather hasn't exactly been cooperating lately. They are glad to have carpet in the house again so they can actually get traction and play without slip-sliding everywhere. Ginger has discovered the bed in the spare room upstairs and we always laugh when we come home and hear her jump down and come out of the room. Maggie's just happy with her spot underneath the dining room table, or the doorway. It depends on if she's hot or cold!

I guess that's about all I have to update on. I've been trying for a month to get down to Aberdeen but I seem to always pick the weekend we're having snow storms. I think I might have to give up until the spring but we'll see. I'm looking forward to going home in June and making the rounds to visit everyone. Brian'll stay behind for that visit but we are planning on driving home for Christmas and bringing the dogs with us. Hope all is well with you guys. We miss you!!

Eight Short Years

This Tuesday will mark the day eight years ago that Brian and I were married. In one sense it seems like it's been longer than that. In another, it seems like only yesterday we were committing ourselves to each other in a small church in Bismarck.

This year, Brian wanted to do something besides the usual dinner and a movie. Most years we just order out pizza since that was the first meal we had together as newlyweds. I've been working nights at the hospital so when I have a stretch of 3 shifts back-to-back I don't want to do anything but sleep. So Brian, with the help of his sister, planned a really fun evening for us. There is an old theatre in our neighboring town of Mandan. They host comedy nights and murder mysteries on the weekends along with having a wonderful dinner menu. When Brian mentioned the idea I wasn't sure what it was all about but it was something different so I thought it would be worth the try.


I've been able to save a little money and wanted to get Brian something really nice for our anniversary. I can't remember the last time I got him something more than just a card so when he mentioned a certain brand of kitchen knives he wanted, I somehow managed to store that idea away in my brain. Actually, I had to do a little word association because anyone who knows me knows I cannot for the life of me remember names. So when he said Henckels, to me it sounded like cankles (which every girl knows is calf plus ankles). One day I was waiting to get my hair cut in one of the department stores and noticed these knives were on sale. I debated about getting them but eventually went back a week later and got Brian a brand new set of cooking knives. We also love playing games so I found this really interesting game called "Quelf". It basically has you doing strange things from different categories. We also have a new word to describe what Ginger and Maggie do ;). Anyway, we're going to try the game out tonight when Steph and Jan come over for ribs and chicken!


So we got dressed up for our dinner and comedic hypnotist date at the theatre. Brian got a steak and I tried something new....vegetable linguini. Pretty sure I won't order that again but it wasn't horrible. And then, the show began! The hypnotist had us do a warm up exercise in the audience to get a feel for what it is like to be hypnotised. I was laughing so hard because it was working on me!! I was so afraid he would notice this and ask me to come up on the stage that I really had to talk myself out of the exercise! Fortunately, he didn't force anyone to get on the stage and instead asked people to volunteer. Thank goodness there were some pretty good sports in the theatre. After the hypnosis took place, I didn't stop laughing from beginning to end. At one point I was crying I was laughing so hard. It was definitely a great evening that I can't wait to share with other people. (Brian's a little flash drunk in this pic...sorry!)

Even though the number 8 isn't considered a "milestone" anniversary, I am so thankful that we have weathered the many storms that have come our way only to be stronger and more in love than the day we were married. And because of that, I think every year we are together is another milestone!

2009 - A Year in Review

I wasn't going to post anything for New Year's because Brian and I kept to our tradition of doing nothing and falling asleep early. But the more I thought about it, I came to realize that I should post about the year we've had in an effort to jog my memory. So here goes and if I miss anything you can buy me a Sudoku book to help with the memory effort!

The beginning of the year is the hardest to remember and it seems like nothing really happened although I'm sure that it did. I was still working for the state inspecting nursing homes, and Brian was still out at the aggregate plant. I'm sure he attempted a few times to do some hunting but found it just wasn't like what he grew up with in the Dakotas.

Late winter, early spring was filled with events for the youth at church. I loved working with mom even though we would on occasion get irritated with one another. It was such a blessing to be a part of those kids' lives even if at times I wanted to strangle them. It was also a time of sadness as the month our baby would have been born passed. It was nice to have the support of our church family to lift us up and pray for us.

As spring came we celebrated with Michael and Sharon with wedding showers and wedding planning. I also started a new job on the other side of the fence working in a nursing home. That was a great challenge at first but I miss seeing the residents everyday.

Early summer saw Michael and Sharon get married. What a great time that was! It was a lot of work on everyone's part but Brian and I had so much fun getting to share that day with our family.

Brian's dad, John, came in from Colorado for a week of hanging out and fishing at the coast. We loved having him down and even took him to Pete's Piano Bar on 6th. That was a lot of fun! I know it meant a lot to Brian to have his dad around.

After Mike and Sharon's wedding, it was on to Melissa's. I was glad she let me be a part of the planning even though most of it was being done from the other side of the country! It was nice to have her home even if it was for only a few days at a time.

In August Brian and I made a visit to Bismarck as part of his birthday and to see Taylor. That visit was very pivotal in our decision to move back. I think being involved in the youth department really helped me see how important it was that we were involved in Taylor's life as much as possible. I don't think I could've understood that without the experience those youth gave me. I know it was also hard for Brian because he knew what kind of sacrifice it would be for me to leave my family. But, the right decision was made and now we are starting a life here in Bismarck that will be full of love and great memories.

After the decision was made to move, everything sort of took on a life of it's own. Brian left for Bismarck a few weeks later while I stayed behind to sell the house. I moved in with mom and dad to help get the house sold sooner and to be closer to them before I moved. I also got to spend more time with my grandparents which was very special for me.

Thanks to Lexy, our realtor, our house sold in record time. That was bittersweet being closer to reuniting with Brian but also closer to leaving my family and friends. Fortunately the timing was perfect that I was able to still be in Texas for Melissa's wedding and Brian made the trip down. That was another great night of enjoying our family and friends we had not seen in a while. I feel our family has been blessed by the addition of Sharon and Steve and we are better off for having them in our lives.

Two weeks later I made the move to Bismarck. Adjusting again was hard, but fortunately my parents were as supportive as they could be which made the transition a little easier. The first time I moved away I think I cried for two years. I'm surprised that this move has been easier, but then again I'm quite a few years older!

Brian was working for a construction company when I moved up. He liked it at first but eventually the grunge work of construction got to him. After I accepted my position at the hospital, I encouraged Brian to quit the job he despised and find something he at least liked. We're currently taking baby steps to purchasing some land we can farm hay on and eventually build a house on and make a horse boarding business on.

We have a lot to be thankful for, and are excited to see what this new year brings us. We are hoping for an addition to the family but that is clearly in God's hands and in His timing. Until then, we continue to enjoy being each other's best friends and watching our beautiful niece grow up. Our canine children keep us laughing everyday and we treasure the time we have with our family and friends here.

To everyone we wish you a very blessed 2010!