Heersink Happenings

Hopefully I have satisfied in recent days the picture quota for this blog. While I have been up to a lot lately, most of it does not include blogging. I can do a little here and there, but in general, have kept busy with other things.

So, I thought I would give a brief (or not) update of what we have been up to. If you are on Facebook than you already know the ins and outs of my life, but some of my two readers are not.

Patrick continues to use new words. This week we have heard tree and pipe. He got a St. Patrick's Day Santa ornament that has a pipe. He is thrilled to point it out daily. We also heard Mama which just warms my heart. Patrick has never called me Mommy, instead referring to all his loved ones as Daddy. He continues to use it today, so that's a great sign. He is a complete ham and has quite a sense of humor. I think we enjoy him more every day (except on those days when we don't - and all parents know about those days).

I have been up to my usual Mom stuff. Nothing too exciting there, and we have added in Christmas activities. Last week we enjoyed an evening out seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert, with Natalie Cole, and author, David McCullough. We were invited by my sister and her hubby who received tickets from neighbors. It was a fun evening and a beautiful concert, even if we froze to near death getting there and getting back to our car. Grams and Gramps took Patrick for the evening and had fun shopping with him. We have also been doing lots of Christmas shopping - lots and lots and lots of shopping...

We will be heading out to the frozen midwest for Christmas. We are looking forward to spending time with the Heersink side of the family. As I have mentioned in a few previous posts, we are notorious for having junker cars. They are what we can afford and what keep us out of monthly car payments. Our current junker we fear, will not get us to the land of the Dutch (aka Pella, Iowa) without a few breakdowns and we have had our fair share of breakdowns on the way to Iowa, or anywhere else for that matter. One year it was a clutch going out about half an hour into our trip. One year we got stuck on a mountain road with no cell phone four over four hours (maybe that was a trip to Utah), one year our alternator went out on the way to Iowa and we had the car checked with a good report back only to have it go out again somewhere near Omaha on the way home. We spent a harrowing 14 hours on the road stopping at every rest stop to hit the alternator with a tire iron, which got it running for a little while, at least enough to keep the car going from rest stop to rest stop, we even filled up the car while it was running for fear of having it not start again. We are very familiar with every rest stop traveling west in Nebraska. One year our car was out of coolant, which we discovered in Laramie, Wyoming at ten at night in negative temperatures. Brandon had a tune-up on the car, including filling all the fluids - obviously something was overlooked...we have experienced many a flat tire, once we had to have the entire tire replaced and lost about three hours at a Firestone in some podunk town somewhere in the midwest. So, needless to say (even though I did) we don't have a good track record, and our latest car is no exception. It leaks and burns oil when driving any distance further than a few miles. Not only is that bad for the car, it is terrible on our noses. So,what is the solution? We will borrow a car from my parents, who know and understand our amazing track record. This year is quite different because we have Patrick. All of the previous stuff happened prior to having children. When I asked my parents about borrowing a car to take their grandchild a thousand miles across the country in the dead of winter, they said they already discussed it long ago and that we would be borrowing a more reliable (and much more clean) car. THANKS MOM AND DAD!!!

Before our time of departure, I have lots to do, and very little time to get it done it. This includes about six months worth of dirty laundry (okay, I exaggerate...a little), baking, cleaning, packing, wrapping, and more shopping. Wish me luck.

The pregnancy seems to be going well, we will find out the sex in about three weeks. I am convinced it is a boy, Brandon thinks its a girl - we will be happy with either, but a girl sure would be nice. After having a month free of complications and bleeding, I began to bleed again last Thursday. This is frustrating and scary and irritating. We had an early appointment and an ultrasound this week to confirm that everything is okay, and it is. The baby looked amazing! I was told to continue taking it easy with no lifting or carrying. I asked about the possible cause, the midwife said it could be an edge of the placenta lifting, which is common and usually okay. There was no evidence of this on the ultrasound, so if this is the case it is minor and should heal itself. We will get more clear and confirmed results at the twenty week ultrasound. Until then, it sure puts a cramp in my plans. I need Brandon to do a lot for me, including help with carrying the laundry up and down the stairs, doing dishes, and cleaning. We have found all these activities have correlated with the bleeding. Not so sad for me, but pretty sad for my hubby who already works two jobs. The midwife said that is typical, lots of standing, walking, being on your feet, lifting, and carrying can all cause bleeding, especially if there is an underlying issue. Brandon has been great about it, but 16 weeks into this, I am pretty sick of having to rely on him to do very little thing for me. This doesn't work so well with my plans of shopping, baking, cleaning, and laundry, but if we take it a little bit at a time, I am sure it can all be accomplished. By the way, I LOVE MY MIDWIFE!!! If anyone is looking for great pregancy care in Salt Lake, let me know.

Well, that should wrap it up, this is LOOOOONG enough. Thanks for sticking with it, my two faithful readers!