reading and such

Growing up I loved books. One of my favorite past times was reading. As I got older and life got a little more busy I didn't find as much time for pleasure reading. Now that I'm expecting I look forward spending time reading to her. I had my mom gets some of my old books down from their attic. I was excited to dig through the box and search out my favorites. The one I was most excited about was "Mr. Bell's Fixit Shop". I had searched for it online only to find out it was of course out of print. I found it on a few websites for $20-$30 but that seemed a tad steep for a children's book. The book was in the box from the attic. Sadly it has seen better days. The front cover is tattered and the back cover is missing, but all of the pages are there. I have been reading "Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go!" to Lucy. People may think I'm crazy but she starts moving when I'm reading. My aunt who works with an early childhood program, said that they give that book to all the expecting moms. One lady said that when she read it to her baby after it was born it responded. How cool is that. Sure it could be a coincidence but research shows that babies do hear in the womb so maybe there is something to it? Whatever the case may be, I am enjoying bonding with her through reading.

In other news I had my monthly Dr.'s appointment on Wednesday. They did another ultrasound to take a look at her heart and face since they didn't get a good look last time. She appears to be perfect. I asked my mom and grandma to go along since Tommy went last time and we really can't afford for him to take off work. We had a good time and did a little shopping after the appointment. It hit me that there were 4 generations on that little trip. One of them was in my belly, but she was there. I look forward to many more days like that.

*Blogger is being contrary right now and is not letting me move my pictures, so I guess they will both have to stay at the top of the page. Annoying.

i'm the "big" sister

Tonight I went to my parents for a visit. Tommy is working afternoons and I just didn't want to be alone. My mom and I took a walk down the road, as is tradition after supper in the Armbruster household. It was a nice evening. I had my camera with me so I took a few shots along the way. After our walk, I wandered around her yard taking random pictures. I love taking pictures of pretty much anything. I'm not very good at it, but it just makes me happy. I did get up close and personal with some Japanese beetles which was pretty cool.

Being out in the yard brought back so many good childhood memories. My brothers and I used to have so much fun out there. We had the tree house, the sandbox, our bikes, our imaginations and so much more. Oh to be young again. Now we are all grown up with adult responsibilities. My brothers and I do not talk much anymore. We see one another on a pretty regular basis, but we just don't seem to connect much. I just hope that they know how proud I am of both of them and how much I love them. I would do anything for them. Hopefully as we grow older and have children (or more kids in Luke's case) we will grow close once again. No, we may not play "kick the can" or "toaster" anymore but they are still my little brothers and they mean the world to me. Seriously.

Well, this post did not go where I thought it would at all. Apparently my mind is going a million different ways. Perhaps it is time for bed?

I found this picture of us at Disney World. It was the early 90's. Yes, I'm wearing spandex bike shorts. This was pretty much my absolute favorite outfit that summer. I am also latched onto what might have been my first camera. It was a purple Minnie Mouse 110. Look how little Tony is! If I remember right it was his birthday the day we were there.

unexpected visitors: some good, some bad

This weekend I had an unexpected phone call from a friend I had not seen in a really long time. My friend Michelle called and said that she and her husband were going to be in town and would like to stop by. I met Michelle at Eastern when we were in grad school together. We had a lot of good times. It was nice to visit with her and Jestun. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit very long because Tommy and I had plans for the evening. Hopefully we can get together again soon.

It is always nice to reconnect in person. Emails and phone calls are nice, but seeing one another is so much better. I have not been very good about staying in contact with my friends near and far lately. I always think that I'm going to "be better about it" but that just does not happen. Honestly I think I have become somewhat of a hermit lately. Since I lost the baby I find myself just wanting to stay close to home. I guess I just want to feel sorry for myself and mope. I was pretty down this weekend (I had another unexpected/unwanted visitor on Saturday.) It was a good thing that I had plans for both Friday and Saturday nights. This prevented me from just sitting around the house crying. Apparently my body is still not ready. I guess I just have to be okay with that and be patient. Yeah, like I have much of that. I find myself in a much better mood after I get out and do something, anything. I suppose I just need to get my butt out of the house more. I can't change the past and dwelling on it is not doing me any good. I'm really looking forward to seeing Kimberly and Sondra in a few weekends! Hopefully that is enough to get me through the next few weeks.

warm weather and nothingness

I ran across this picture of a much younger me sporting my strawberry 'kini. Ah, those were the days...

It's been too long since my last blog. I wish I could say that I have been off on some amazing vacation but that would be a lie. My life has not been much different lately. I go to work, come home, eat supper and go to sleep. That's pretty much it. Emotionally I have been better. I think about my little one every day and ache because of him/her. At least it is not consuming my every thought anymore.


Tommy and I are "trying" again. I was just so sure that we would get it on the first try but that didn't happen. I ended up going through an entire box of pregnancy tests a few weeks ago. I tested very early because I could not stand it. Tommy kept telling me to wait until day 18 post ovulation to see if my temperature was still high but I couldn't do that, impatient much?. It was disappointing to keep seeing only one line. I was just so sure that it would happen. Alas, here I sit anxiously waiting to start the whole pregnancy thing over again. I don't look forward to the morning sickness but it is all so worth it.

My garden is doing well. The unexpected pumpkin vine is ginormous. Seriously. I have never grown one before so I have no idea what to expect. Tommy has been busy fixing up our boat. It is the boat that my parents got when I was little. I have so many fond memeories of family outings on that boat. My grandpa used it for several years and then it has been resting at my brothers. Tommy got it a few weeks ago and has been working on getting it water ready at a friend's house. I'm somewhat excited to see the finished product. It will be fun for us to have a little boat to go out on and go fishing. Summer is finally here and that makes me happy. I'm looking forward to the 4th of July weekend and a day off. We don't have any plans as of right now other than a little block party with some of my neighbors tomorrow night. I hope that everyone has a safe and fun-filled 4th!

pomp and circumstance

(Amy, Casey, Amanda, Me)

Tonight is graduation night in my town. My mom and I are going to see my brother's girlfriend walk across the stage. It is hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that I was in the same position, getting ready to head out into the big scary "adult" world. Oh, how things have changed. I had a great group of friends in High School. We always had a great time and never really did much of anything. We just had fun being together. Only a few of my HS friends live near me now and I miss them dearly. Our lives have taken us across several states. I hope to see some of them this year at our reunion. There are a few others that were in the year ahead of me. I don't know when I will see them again. For tonight I'll try to hold back the tears as the HS band plays "pomp and circumstance". For some reason I always tear up when I hear it. Congratulations to all you grads out there, HS or otherwise!