Happy Birthday Grandpa Lee

October 1, Grandpa Lee Jensen would be 74 years young.

He passed away in January of 1998 2 weeks after an accident. He was riding his doonbuggy :) out on the lake (like we had been doing all Christmas weekend) when he hit a soft spot on the ice and went under. Thankfully, the tires kept the buggy floating for him to get out. Two weeks later, he collapsed outside of his restaurant while talking to a friend. They think he had had a MI when he hit the ice and then it weakend his heart muscle and threw off the electrical part of it and he went into a lethal rhythm and died.

He was an AMAZING man who loved the Lord with his heart, mind and life. He was an incredible example of what it means to be a servant to others. He cared for people and everyone in Storm Lake knew Lee Jensen. He was so fun to be around and always created some sort of adventure for us (like taking the doonbuggy on the ice and pulling the sleds).

He loved us all so much and it's bittersweet still. He's with the Lord worshipping our God, but at the same time we selfishly want him here with us.

I miss him as much now as I did when he first passed away and not a week goes by where I don't think about him.

So Happy Birthday, Grandpa. I love you.

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6 months down. 4 months to go.

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up and down. over and around. this way and that...SERIOUSLY

People joke about pregnancy, hormones and emotions. I completely get it now. I cry at the silliest things. I cry over commercials for pete's sake. I get upset over things that really aren't a big deal, but at the time they are all that matter and I can't think about anything else until it's fixed or resolved. It's totally not me, but I CAN'T HELP IT!
The other evening, I was getting ready to go to work. I had woken up super excited to eat my Honey Nut Cheerios for supper. I got up and went downstairs all super excited to eat....there was no milk. Now, normally I wouldn't have cared.....I would have found something else to eat. However, this was the end of the world. I couldn't help myself. I wanted Cheerios so bad it was all I could think about. Why didn't you eat them dry you ask? They didn't taste as good. I. Wanted. Milk. With. My. Cheerios. Why didn't you just go to the store you ask? Good question. I didn't want to. I hadn't showered yet. I had my time frame figured out before I had to leave for work and going to the store would cut into it. In comes my hero husband. He comes upstairs and immediately knows I'm in the middle of a "hormonal whirlwind". I was so irritated by this point that I was just ready to go upstairs and shower. Forget eating. Even though I was so hungry, I was boycotting for my Cheerios. He eventually talks it out of me and says "Are you going to eat if you don't get your cereal with milk". "No", I reply. Without another word he grabs his keys and walks out the door. Minutes later he is back with milk and saves the day.
Now, the whole time this is going on, I know I'm being ridiculous but I cannot help it. Like this other person is taking over.
I have lots of stories like these. Like tonight. I came home and the only thing I wanted to wear was his blue sweatpants. I can wear my own lounge pants fine, but his are so huge and roomy that I've sort of taken them over.....I come home.....go upstairs to change. I can't find the pants. "Nick, where are your sweatpants?" By this point he knows exactly which ones I am talking about. "I'm wearing them" He says. "what? take them off. switch me", I say. "Are you kidding me?". "No". "Fine, bring me down another pair". I bring down his Adidas pants and he switches me. "I should get husband of the year award", he says. "I know you should", I say.

I'm so thankful for a husband who has been so patient with me through these ridiculous moments. I know it's not easy for him, but he has been so wonderful. He doesn't let me get away with it when I'm being super ridiculous....but he's good at picking his battles too. At the same time, he LOVINGLY reminds me to sit, breathe and relax when I start getting weepy or silly things. I really appreciate him and I'm thankful that God has given him the strength and patience to put up with me when I'm know I'm being difficult. (But I seriously cannot seem to stop it sometimes!)
I know this makes me sound like a constant emotional wreck.....thankfully it's not as often as one would think......but I'm ready for these emotional times to be over with. I'm tired of literally crying over empty milk jugs.

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woops

So the last 2 weeks have been the first time that people who don't know I'm pregnant are asking me "when are you due?" or "how far along are you?"...it's only took just under 6 months...but still, I'm excited that people are FINALLY noticing...
I was talking with some coworkers about it last night and the whole conversation turned into talking about moments where people weren't sure if someone was pregnant or not, so they didn't want to say anything...the whole conversation got me thinking of probably my most awful "foot in my mouth" moment. Let me share...
When I was still in nursing school, I was working as a tech on a telemetry floor at Lutheran Hospital. One night, I was filling in as secretary and was just sitting chatting with the nurses after they were done passing report to the next shift. One of the nurses asked another nurse, Carrie, how much longer she had. She said, "too long". Now, Carrie is a very tall, large boned woman. I looked at her and asked "are you pregnant?". She looked at me like I was insane and said "yes". I said "how far along are you". She replies "8 MONTHS".
I about died. I felt so bad. I didn't even know what to say. Thankfully, she turned right back around the the conversation she was previously involved in. The other nurses laughed and were like "nice job, Abby". From then on they never let me forget it.
Since then, I don't ask unless I am 100% sure.....OR I just don't comment at all. :)

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um...why?

So Nick and I decided before we even got pregnant that were not going to do a nursery in our spare room. We like having room for guests...we don't want to spend the money...and seriously, the kid won't know the difference! We are just going to get rid of the "office" side of the room and put a nice pack-n-play and glider in there...then when she's outgrown the crib, she can have the guest bed and we'll put those cool rail thingies on there so she doesn't fall out of the bed...
Apparently Nick's co-workers are not keen on this idea and have told him it's "dumb" and "weird". He even told them it was his idea and not mine (which I did bring it up) so they would think he's the weirdo and not me. :)
But seriously, why do they care? We're saving money--I mean, I just finished decorating the guest room before our little surprise came along--and saving time.
I don't know why this is bothering me so much (hormones and lack of sleep perhaps?)...I just wanted to toss my "why" out there...

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Congratulations Nate and Natalie!

We are so excited for Nate and Natalie Klauser! They adopted a BEAUTIFUL baby girl, Elyse Irene. She was born September 8, 2008 in California. They have been through so much and this little girl is such a blessing and answer to prayer! We are so happy for them.....what awesome parents they are going to be! Congratulations, Nate and Natalie. The blog posts of her are so fun...thank you for sharing such amazing moments. :)

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a real moment...

This morning at church, I noticed that Nick was irritated with me. I went through events of the morning and for the life of me I could not figure out what was bothering him. I asked him what was wrong. He replied "I'm frustrated with you". I asked why. He said to me "you are a different person at church. It's like you're trying to be religious or something".
I was shocked. I had no idea what he was talking about. The only thing I had done was said hi to people and walked in to find my seat. Needless to say, this hurt so bad I spent the rest of the service crying (and trying to hide it from everyone around us). The entire time I was trying to figure out what I had did that would make him say something like that.
When church was over, we went straight for the door and went home. I was still trying to stop crying (hormones were part of it, I think)...by this point I was so hurt I was angry. The last 2 years had been a struggle for me to come out of my shell and meet people...I feel I had made some great strides the last few months...I have met some amazing women and am finally excited about where we are at in our relationship to our church...his saying those words crushed that and I could feel myself crawling backwards into my shell.
We didn't talk for a few hours after we were home....he was doing some work in the garage and I fell asleep on the couch. I don't think either of us knew where to start. About 2:30pm I was reading a book and he comes into the room and sits down next to me and says "I'm sorry". I really appreciated it, but I wanted to know what I had done for him to say those words to me. He said that he didn't know. He was just frustrated and said the first thing that had come to his mind....there was no basis for what he said and he was sorry.
After a bit more talking we reconciled and I felt a little better. The whole "religious" comment bothered me b/c that is the last thing I want to portray at church. I don't want to walk into church with a smile on my face and say words that will impress people and let them think I'm doing okay when I'm not. I don't think I do that....I think that we do a pretty good job of letting people see how we really are...but I know that there are times too when I've been in a horrible mood and have covered it up when we are around other people...more so so I don't embarass my husband with my crabby mood.... :)
Anyway...I feel like I'm starting to ramble now...but I really want to stress that I want to be real. I think it's good for people to see other believers having a hard day....or in a bad mood... because everyone has their moments and it's nice to feel like you are not the only one.
As for right now...Nick's words were hurtful, but we both came away from it with some thoughts and we were able to learn together. It's through days like today that our marriage has been strengthened and I know by the grace of God it will continue to be that way. I'm thankfujl that we are able to share what we learn (and how we learned it) with other people so that they can see the grace of God in our life...

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baby stuff

Yesterday evening we went and registered for baby at Babies R Us. The experience was quite fun. Nick manned the scanner and I kept track of the checklist we had....

Anyway...it was fun looking at pack and plays (since we're not doing an actual crib). Those things have definitely changed over the years! Now they have vibrating mattresses, soothing music, changing tables, removable bassinet layer, and a mobile....all in one! Our most favorite find of the evening was the stroller. We didn't want one of the Graco bulky things. Nick asked another couple who were nearby what stroller they liked...the woman said she had been researching strollers and she recommended a Combi. So we went just to check them out.....they are pretty neat. They are super light, but not flimsy or cheap...and they fold into nothing! Anyway, it's a pretty cool stroller and we're excited to use it.

We got all of the basics covered and decided to look at clothes...unfortunately the girls clothing wasn't very cute...they were all butteryflies, lambs, bugs.....seriously not that great...kind of a bummer, but not a huge deal I guess.

When we left we were talking about how we felt it was a "successful" trip. We decided that registering for baby was way more fun than registering for a wedding. We didn't argue one bit this time and we didn't have much of a problem agreeing on items this time. :)

Now we just have to tackle Target. Hopefully they will have some cute clothes. :)

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what a week...

So the last 2 days I have been home sick with cold. All of this free time has been spent thinking about the events of this week. It has just been so surreal.

Let's start from the top.

We are officially 5 months pregnant. 20 weeks. HALFWAY THERE. We had our second ultrasound Tuesday morning to see how baby is growing and developing. So far so good. We also had the ultrasound tech write down baby's gender and seal it in an envelope. Our plan was to go out to dinner that evening and open the envelope then. I--of all persons--was surprisingly calm. The afternoon of waiting flew by for me. I found stuff to do at the house to keep my mind off of the creeping hours. Nick, however, was at work with the envelope. Given my track record he didn't trust me not to peek. He and a co worker tried to peek through the envelope. He said he wanted to open the envelope at work so bad, but the only thing that kept him from doing it was knowing how upset I would be at him! (rightfully so :) )

When he got home, we got ready to leave and were off. We spent the time talking about what we thought it would be, what our reaction would be, and how surreal the whole situation was. We were going to find out the gender of our baby. OUR BABY. Us. A baby. I mean, we knew we wanted to start a family, but we were wanting to wait a while longer....obviously God had another idea and surprised us a year early. SURPRISE! You're pregnant. I was convinced we were having a boy. I loved the idea of a little version of Nicholas running around. Nick wanted a daddy's girl from the beginning.

Fast forward to the unveiling...I opened the envelope first. I look at the card and saw "GIRL". I sat a minute until it registered. I laughed...then started crying (happy tears, by the way). I passed the card to Nick b/c he didn't want me to tell him. He took a minute, then it clicked. He laughed and grinned and said "No way". We spent the rest of the time talking about how surreal the whole thing was. We had to keep looking at the card just to make sure we weren't dreaming.

Even now, I don't think it has really sunk in. Knowing the gender has solidified the fact (in our minds) that we are having a baby girl. Due January 22. Ready or not.

What a miracle our baby girl is. These last 2 days I've seen how our mindsets have changed. This isn't just a baby. It's our baby girl. Our daughter. Nick talks to my belly more...which I love. I talk to her more...she can hear us...which is amazing.

These last 2 weeks she has been moving and shaking like it's going out of style. Even now while I'm typing she is doing some sort of acrobatics in there. It feels so weird...to have this person content in their watery world inside my belly. It's neat to watch my stomach move....our little alien. :)

In the meantime, we are so excited and so scared. We know our life is changing and will be different when our new little one joins us. By God's grace and the support of our family and friends we will be okay.

For now, I'm just thankful that God gives us 40 weeks to prepare.

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we have arrived...

For the longest time people have been asking if we had a blog or were going to start one. I always said the day Nick joins in on the idea (which would be never), then we'd start one. After we found out we were pregnant, the question seemed amplified...people wanting a way to get updates on the baby and how we were doing...etc...
Today I am home with a nasty cold and decided to just do it. Why not start a blog. If people check it out, great...if not...I'll never know the difference.
So here is our--more like my--attempt to create this webpage about our life, thoughts and happenings. I have no creative titles or sayings....so bear with me.
I think Nick will agree to giving his 2 cents every once in a while....eventually.

In the meantime. Enjoy.

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