4 Month OB Appointment

Yesterday was our second (4 month) OB appointment. I don't think I've mentioned it before but we had to switch OB's from Dr. Essig to Dr. Christie because Dr. Essig decided to get out of OB and only practice family medicine about 6 months after Linkan was born...and I didn't find out about it until I called and scheduled my first OB appointment. I was disappointed because we both love Essig...however, she didn't deliver Linkan (Dr. Robertson did - she was awesome) so I don't know why it would bother me. :) Anyway, I had seen Dr. Christie before and liked her. After seeing her multiple times now, I totally love her. She stayed until 7:00pm two Fridays ago when I came in with a viral bug and severe dehydration. She stayed late to hook me up with an IV and it made all the difference in the world for me! When I was there yesterday, I thanked her again for staying late...she said "Well, it was the right thing to do. You would have ended up at an ER later that night needing an IV and it would have been a nightmare because it would have taken forever." Like I said, I totally love her. This is a bit of a bunny trail but I absolutely LOVE Broomfield Family Practice. Everyone that works there is so amazing. I feel so fortunate to have found such an awesome practice. Avista, the hospital where Linkan was born, was also equally amazing. Did you know that they are the ONLY LDR (Labor, Deliver, Recovery) facility in Colorado? ...Which means that once I arrived at the hospital and checked into a room, I never left that room...and the rooms are fabulous and "homey" and very accommodating to dads. I love love love Avista.

Anyway, back to my appointment! Pretty uneventful but need to record it for history purposes. :) I'm 115 - a few more pounds than last time! ha - but I had a horrible 1st trimester this time (nauseous ALL THE stinkin' TIME and heartburn) so I had to eat whatever sounded good (crazy strong food aversions)...and that usually meant that it wasn't good for me....I'm not kidding...I basically carb-loaded for 6 weeks straight. ;) haha. I'm well into my second trimester now and have been feeling like my "normal" self for a few weeks so I've been eating much healthier and started my normal gym routine back up about 3 weeks ago. Baby's heart beat sounded great - 150 bpm. I do have group strep B (didn't have it during my first pregnancy) but no biggie...they will just be sure to dope me up with antibiotics as I'm delivering my second sweet lil baby. Another ultrasound in a few weeks (at 20 weeks)....wooohoo! Can't wait to see our cutie again...and no, we won't be finding out the sex even though we would be able to tell at 20 weeks

I completely forgot to get 1 and 2 month belly pics...poor baby! But I did take some for 3 months. I'm about as big at 3 months now...as I was at 4 months with Linkan. Have been wearing maternity clothes since 11 weeks!

3 Months

Doggie Kisses

Linkan has been readily doling out the kisses for about a month now. Cutest thing ever. She likes giving the doggies kisses too. I didn't think to have her say it but she can say "stella"...it's adorable. :) Pretty sure Stella was more interested in the yogurt all over Linkan's mouth than the actual kiss...

Valentine's Day in Winter Park

We planned a fun 3-day weekend in Winter Park with friends, Nate and Heather, and Dixie and Sean. Highway 40 into right before the Winter Park resort came to a dead stop for us for at least 30-45 minutes. We observed some clues that it was a mountain rescue, not a car accident. Sadly, we found out later that a snowboarder that was riding outside of the resort boundaries had fallen into a tree well and passed away. :(

Ben got up on Saturday morning to help out with Avalanche training on Berthoud Pass. He works with the "Friends of Berthoud Pass". He got back around 9ish and then everyone left for a day of skiing/snowboarding at Winter Park. Linkan and I stayed back at the house and enjoyed a beautiful day up in the mountains. I picked Ben up early from the resort because he wasn't feeling well. Unfortunately, the flu bug or whatever it was...hit him hard so our plans changed a bit for the rest of the weekend but we still had a good time hanging out with each other. Even though we agreed to only get cards for each other on V-day, Ben got me a Belgian waffle maker and made me "made-from-scratch" waffles on Monday morning. Yum! I had mentioned that I wanted a waffle maker a while back and he listened! :) :)

Linkan & Aunt H at the Winter Park Resort




Linkan & Uncle Nate




Cuddle time with sick daddy

Sammy's Album

I started Sam's album not long after he died in 2006. After finishing a few pages, it proved to be too much for my battered heart so I put it aside for at least a year. I am able to get a few pages done here and there, now and then. One of the biggest motivations for doing the album was so that my children would know who their Uncle Sammy was. I found Linkan Samantha (named after her Uncle) on the floor a few weeks ago, looking through the pages of his album. We leafed through them together and I told her all about him. Yea... There were a few tears...

I still think of him every single day and wish we were together. Love you, bro. Linkan does too.


Looking at our last family photo together in May 2006.


Looking at precious pictures of MoMo and big brother together.


Looking at pictures of Sam and his friends, Brandon and Tiffany.


Pointing at the beautiful concrete cross with a permanent solar light that was erected by his coworkers at the place where Sam passed away in Florida.

Like Father Like Daughter