100 Days Pregnant!

We are excited to announce that we have been pregnant for 100 days! Yay! At 14 weeks I am in my second trimester. I'm due February 20th. :) 

Our little bean's debut during my 7th week (about the size of a blueberry) on July 8th. This was so amazing! We could hear the baby's heartbeat which was going really fast. (You'll notice on the ultrasound pic there is a dark spot, about the size of the baby, which is a fluid sac... Dr. Gregory said that more times then not this should just go away but women who have these are more prone to a miscarriage. Gregory scheduled another ultrasound 4 weeks later so she could keep an eye on the fluid sac. Thank God this did go away and a perk was that we got an extra ultrasound to see the baby again!)

On August 2 during my 11th week (size of a lime) our prayers were answered, no sac! This is a pic of baby looking like she is sucking her thumb. :)

Our sweet ultrasound person (not sure of the technical name) turned on the 4D and took a pic. The entire time we watched baby she was kicking her feet and waving her arms... she'll either be a dancer or a cheerleader! If by some chance she is a he... he'll be a very rowdy golfer! :) Her heartbeat is still strong and she is measuring 3 days bigger than her due date.


Mommy News

Cravings:

• Nonprego I hate milk, the taste is just disgusting to me but now I love it and can't get enough.
• Most days I ACHE for McDonald's, my sis calls the baby "Mcbaby" (Grey's fans will like that... like, McDreamy and McSteamy).

I'm starting to show! I have always liked baby doll or empire waisted tops and dresses so a lot of my clothes already look maternity-ish but all my work pants are quite snug!

I have had some true crying time devoted to the fact that I cannot ride horses for another 180 days plus recovery time... sigh. :( I am having major with drawls and we have a Sawgrass trip planned this weekend! I haven't fallen off a horse in years but because there is a strong possibility my doctor said it was not a good idea... my planning to still ride but just walk the horses was quickly squashed when Jared more emphatically said I'm not allowed to chance it. So, this blog will be full of news of our life after the PLUS sign the next 26ish weeks instead of fun horse stories... I may have to tell some old stories from back in the day to keep it interesting. :)

A book the hospital gave us also says I can't play tennis because it is considered a very "jarring" sport. These type sports could possibly detach the baby from the placenta. So, no more posts on my tennis progress... if you could call it that. :)

Please help us pray for baby Woodward's progress and our soon to be parenting skills! :)

Cisco's Push Plus Miami and Meow

Just thought these were just silly enough to post! Enjoy!:)

So Cisco got a little camera shy b/c he was pushing me a lot more before we hit action. :)

While reading the Deathly Hollows for the 7th + time Miami and Meow distracted me.

Dads, Mr. No Shoulders and a Dunk

Leah and my weekend at Sawgrass with our dads was a hit!

Pulling up to Sawgrass Friday in the early evening we found Leah’s Dad, Herb, and Papa rockin’ on the front porch getting to know each other for the first time. They looked at us with puzzled expressions similar to the horses that met us at the gate… we were singing Glee’s “Bust Your Windows” at the top of our lungs and just realized our windows were rolled down! :)

After unloading our weekend groceries we went straight to work on our dinner plans (hamburgers, freedom fries, hot pepper corn and buffalo chicken dip). While the Glee singing concert continued in the kitchen the dads interrupted my solo of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” to work outside on the tractor and then to watch sports. Dinner was a big hit and we stayed up swapping horse stories until late with plans to sleep late the next morning.

Herb had coffee ready Saturday morning and then helped Papa with a yummy Sawgrass breakfast: homemade biscuits, sausage, eggs, and grits. It was perfect! Papa planned to watch Clint’s football practice so he headed out shortly after breakfast, leaving us with a full gorgeous Saturday of riding horses!

Leah and Comet

Me and Cisco

Herb riding Red and Leah riding Comet

The second ride of the day we started out on the East side of the property. Cisco was being quite a problem child so I had to remind him a few times who was on him! While riding through thick brush in an open field I saw a LONG black snake slither at the edge of Cisco’s hoof. Luckily Cisco didn’t see it but Mr. No Shoulders was on my mind for the rest of the trip!

Herb and Leah on the east side of the property.

Leah was getting a feel for how to get Comet in a Saddle Gait so we rode the horses pretty hard all day! Since it was so hot and the horses were good and foamy we decided to let them drink some water. We took a short cut to the back side of the Big Bass Lake and let them drink… I’m rarely this adventurous but I had told some stories about how I use to swim with the horses I grew up with so, along with the heat, I was inspired to find some shallow water and swim to the other side of a wall of trees. The shallow water was short lived because I was calf deep in water and I didn’t want my saddle to get soaking wet! So as Leah and I were guiding our horses back Herb was sinking… He hopped off Red and we were all a little panicky because it happened in such slow motion! Can there be quick sand in a lake?? When Red put his head to the side to blow bubbles out his nose I realized he was lying down!!! We had a good laugh and Herb rocked him until he stood up and walked him back to shore. Guess Red was really hot!

Herb and Red after his DUNK! :)

We finished our ride untacked the horses, washed them down and while Leah and I started dinner (hotdogs, chicken, freedom fries, and green beans), Herb went to the lake to fish. After our fabulous dinner we watched Young Guns and went to bed.

Sunday after Herb made us a yummy breakfast (biscuits, eggs, and grits) we were too sore to ride horses so we gassed up the Sidekick and went for a quick mud ride in the rain then off to Taco Casa to complete a fabulous weekend at Sawgrass!


Quotes of the weekend:
Mr. No Shoulders who is under the employment of Big Red!
I’m not that far from panic myself.
I just tell them that it’s Rachel’s fault I like country music!
Ride camel, ride…
You have to think… What is beyond me? Tennessee!
You can bid the mob good day!
It’s all fun and games until someone hits a tree!
It all tastes the same to me.
Summoning Grey with Wicked.
Too much information… Filter, filter, filter!
For such a rustic boyish weekend your dad had to listen to a whole lot of Wicked!

Black Jack Dies

I've been working with this stubborn horse for a little over a year and he died last week.

Papa got Black Jack with Red about two years ago. Black Jack had a great disposition except that he spooked easily and balked occasionally, which is why no one but me enjoyed riding him. I loved working on his gait!! The last time I rode him was 2 months ago and he could go from a saddle gait to a lope back to a saddle gait like changing gears in a car, fabulous! I'm really going to miss him! :'(

Jared riding Cisco and Me on Black Jack

Ed's First Sawgrass Adventure

It was a cold February night when Ed agreed to attend our randomly, last minute, Sawgrass venture... After a quick Taco Casa run (mild combination burrito with sour cream, a small messy nachos and a large Dew) we arrive at Sawgrass around late thirty.

The game room was freezing so after several attempts we got a roaring fire.

Sweet success!

Jared and I challenged Ed and Codie to a game of Rook... we played until extremely late forty five and slept late the next morning.

Ed and Jared freezing playing cards...oops, I got a peek of Ed's cards (shhhh)

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Ed did so well on his first ride... we went pretty fast the majority of the time!

Ed riding Cisco, Codie riding Gray and Jared riding Comet (I'm taking the pic riding BlackJack)

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Pics of us riding:

Cisco rubbing on Ed telling him to take his bridle off! :)

What a fun relaxing trip! Can't wait for the next one!!

Leah's Last Ride Before Her Big Trip

The weekend before Leah left on her big trip to Australia we spent a short day at Sawgrass! It was beautiful and a great send off!

Leah riding Cisco

Jared riding Gray

I rode BlackJack... we gave them a great workout! :)

SawGrass 2009 - SaturDAY

Saturday morning we had our breakfast casseroles, played games and snacked until it got good and hot outside to ride horses and lay out in the sun. :)

The guys went fishing. Here's Hal modeling his waders, what a country boy!

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Jared helped us saddle up for our ride!

Cisco was being impatient!

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Sarah and Paul watching us tack the horses. (Paul will have to ride next time.)

John and Lori getting friendly with BlackJack... he was messing with Whiskey while he was being saddled up.
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Pictures of our ride.

Sarah riding Comet

Lori riding Whiskey and Whitney riding Cisco

Me talking while I'm riding Gray

Cisco kept eating on the go

The monument The groups reaction to the monument, (see past post, Until...)

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pretty pic

Lori riding Whiskey
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You know the expression "Pee like a race horse"?

Well, moments before we were back at the lodge Whiskey decides to do his "business" and poor Sarah didn't know what he was doing... this is her reaction after I told her. :)

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Comet giving Cisco some love.

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The guys took the new SideKick and Mike and Jessa's car out fishing and skeet shooting...

... a little muddy. :)

Maghan, Jessa and Ashley laid out in the sun while we rode horses.

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SawGrass 2009 - SaturNIGHT next. :)

Down Came the Rain and Washed the Ticks Out

The rain didn't slow up the rest of our Saturday at SawGrass so Papa put us to work.

WARNING: If you have a weak stomach please do not continue reading.

Me and Calli Jean going to catch some horses in the pouring rain.

Calli feeding Buddy some sugar cubes.

Papa, Daniel and Jared assembling the trailer hitch... guess what? they were able to salvage the ball from the roasted four-wheeler ! :)

Cisco showing me some love... if only he knew what was coming...

Calli, Codie, Leah, Teresa, and Mom watching the rain.

Teresa and Mom looking over house plans.

While I was putting Cisco's bridle on Saturday morning before our ride I noticed his ears were even more sensitive then normal and that they were bleeding... :( So, we sedated him a bit, put the twist on him to razor his ears and see what's the cause.

After we buzzed his ears we found that he had many ticks that were having a picnic in/on his ears... yuck!
After his scrub and with the medicine in his ears.
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While we were at it we cleaned and cut his hooves.

Calli, Leah and Codie the three nurses. :)

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Since we had a fabulous system going on and the rain was not letting up we moved on to all the horses.

Comet loving on Jared.

Me, Jared, Codie and Daniel cleaning Buddy's ears... his were pretty bad too!

This is what a 22 year old horse's teeth look like! Doesn't that make you want to go to the dentist?

Cisco, Comet and Whiskey recovering from the cleaning. :)

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Most all of the horses had ticks in their ears which has become the norm for summer time. As gross as it was this ended up being a fun day at the farm. The next time we'll be at SawGrass will be with our Core Group from church so I now have confidence that the horses are going to be healthy which means they will ride much better! Yay!