OUR LITTLE LUCKY CHARM

Dental work over the years to maintain those big smiles: $5000

Digital camera to record the moment: $250

Pregnancy test: $10

Knowing there are really THREE people in this photo: PRICELESS

However, waiting 2 weeks to tell our family and friends was extremely difficult! We found out on July 16th, but wanted to wait until we had our first doctor appointment and ultrasound on July 30th before we shared our good news.

Here is Baby Lindsay at 8 weeks 3 days!

Our little lucky charm is due on March 8, 2009

It was absolutely incredible to see the heart beating (174 bpm) and hear how strong it was already! We cried and laughed through the whole thing, and I think Jay was glad when I finally stopped squeezing his hand like a vice grip (I had been anxiously awaiting that little flicker!) Then came the REALLY fun part - FINALLY telling our parents! The next day we sent overnight packages with a framed ultrasound photo (engraved with "Love Grows Here") and a card that said "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in the baby carriage!" Next, we sent cards to our brothers, then to some of my other family members and a few close friends shortly after. It wasn't long before we started receiving daily phone calls as people started receiving the news! (Sorry that you had to wait Waddell family, but we just couldn't resist telling you all in the same place at the same time at our annual get-together in September!) And if anyone ever doubted Jean's ability to keep a secret, I can tell you that she is a star! Can you imagine having to wait 2 whole months before telling ANYONE in your family that you're going to be a grandma?

So, what kind of reactions did we get?

Jay's mom started out by fussing at the delivery man that her kids would spend so much money on overnight postage just to send her a book (that's what she thought it was at first)! When she got inside and opened the package, she was still confused (we'd addressed the card to "Grandma") and wondered why we had sent Grandmother's birthday gift to her house when we were planning to attend the annual party ourselves. Then, she noticed the wrapping paper... little baby feet stamped in various colors with the words "pitter patter" interspersed. She finally understood and started jumping up and down, barely able to get the paper off. She smiled and laughed at the card, then sat down with the ultrasound and cried. THEN, she called us!

My parents were out to dinner with my grandparents when their package arrived, so they all got to open it together. My mom knew what the card and wrapping paper meant as soon as she saw it! My grandpa said that he had already suspected I was pregnant when I was home 2 weeks before, so he wasn't even surprised! I ended up having to call them (when I couldn't wait any longer) to hear their reactions. They were all just so happy and thankful and overwhelmed!

It took another 3 days for our brothers to find out! The cards had probably arrived on Saturday, but Jamie rarely checks his mail (we finally had to call and ask him to), and David & Taryn had left their mail in the car over the weekend! It was worth the wait though - we must have been on the phone for 2 hours or more talking and making plans for the next 7 months. For anyone who doesn't know by now, I think it's plenty safe for me to say that Taryn & David are also expecting a baby, due on April 2nd! They had found out on July 20th and told most of their families and friends by the following weekend, still a week before we were willing to spill the beans (and let me tell you, it was really hard not to with that news going around)! Needless to say, my mom is in heaven!

That same night, our best friends Robyn & Stephen and John & Betsy found out the news. Betsy called us right away with congratulations! Robyn and Stephen's reaction was pretty funny and unique... They sent me a text message asking me to check my email, and this is what I found waiting in my Inbox:

Robyn told me that as soon as I had pulled out of their driveway after my visit with them 2 weeks earlier, Stephen told her that he thought I was pregnant! She didn't think so though...

Later that week, we talked to my cousin Jamie, my aunt Margie, and our friends Ryan & Amber, and Jenny. Then I told my high school friends Nicole, Michelle, and Jenn. I found out that when my uncle Daryl had returned to Idaho, he told my aunt Margie right away that I was pregnant (remember, I saw a LOT of folks on my trip to California and Oregon, so I had to hold my news in the whole week, and it was HARD)! So, it seems that although I was able to fool all the ladies I visited, 3 of the men figured it out - even though they couldn't convince their wives that it was true! Too funny... and we women think that men aren't intuitive!!

At the end of August and after our 12 week appointment and ultrasound, we spread the news at work (I had already told my boss at the 11 week mark while we were in the field). Sorry some of our other friends had to wait to find out until this point, but we didn't want to risk the news leaking at work before we were ready! Anwyay, we made cupcakes with yellow frosting and green sprinkles for the occasion (we tried to make them in the shape of 4-leaf clovers, in honor of the March due date, but that didn't work out so well), and placed them in holders with little baby feet on them. It was really fun telling everyone why we had baked cupcakes in August (not prime baking season around our office)!

Our 12 week ultrasound was just as a magical as the first. I had been feeling anxious (again) and couldn't wait for the comfort of hearing that strong heartbeat. This time around, it was 167bpm (heart rates start to slow after they peak around weeks 9-10). We watched our little lucky charm do a flip and wave it's hands (both at the same time - one hand waving at mommy and the other waving at daddy, or so we like to think)! Baby Lindsay measured right on schedule, at 12 weeks 3 days. In addition to the regular sonogram, we had a 4D sonogram done (due to potential cysts spotted on the umbilical cord and placenta at the first ultrasound), and we could see how cute Baby Lindsay already is (can you believe how well-defined the baby is by 12 weeks? Amazing!):

In the middle of September, we FINALLY told the rest of Jay's family! We showed up at his grandmother's 93rd birthday weekend wearing our "share the news" shirts. Mine was a tank top that simply said "Due in March" and had a little clover on it. I made Jay a custom shirt with the Lindsay Clan crest and the words "2009 Addition Due in March", and we bought Jean a shirt that said "Grandma to Bee" with a little bumble bee on it. It was so much fun! Here are the 3 of us with our shirts and smiles:

Well, that's our GREAT BIG news! And now EVERYONE knows (everyone who ventures into our blogging world, anyway)!

Please keep Baby Lindsay in your prayers, and we promise to keep you updated with our progress!

END OF FIELD SEASON

This month marked the end of my field season at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. It was sad to see it end, but great that I was able to take Jay with me to help with the pollinator and genetic sampling. Knowing that we were in for very long days in the field and many miles of hiking, I treated him to a nice dinner at the Copper Queen in Bisbee, Arizona on our first night. Here he is outside the mining museum:

The next morning we went up into Garden Canyon bright and early. We were surprised to see so much water flowing in the stream. We even came across this waterfall:
Our first mission was to collect genetic samples from the two species of agave on base. Here is Jay snipping agave leaf tips off the canyon species, Parry's agave:
In search of more Parry's, we went into Huachuca Canyon, but we had to go way off trail to find them:
On Sunday we taught Jay how to collect pollinators with the infamous bug vacs:

There were lots of butterflies out and about:

And quite a few Sphinx Moths during the day:

Jay found this couple in one of the Palmer's agaves we were sampling:

And just like last month, the grasshoppers were EVERYWHERE!

We went to Scheelite Canyon to collect genetic samples from a cliff-dwelling Erigeron species. Jay was agile on the cliff face, but it still made me nervous. Don't worry, I didn't let him climb too high!

We didn't see the Spotted Owls in Scheelite (either day that we hiked up there), but we did come across the dreaded Vinegaroon in the middle of the trail (that's the tip of Jay's shoe for a size comparison):

On the way to the airport on our last morning we stopped by Saguaro National Park. They didn't open until 7am, so Jay didn't get to see the sea of Saguaros, but we did have fun exploring the park boundary. He got some amazing photos of a very friendly Cactus Wren. This is one that I took through my binoculars (his are much better, of course):

And finally, we couldn't visit the park without getting our picture taken in front of some Saguaros:

Adios Arizona, I'll miss you!

FISTS FULL OF SNAKES

Well, our 4th generation of snakes has hatched...

Fiona (now 5-years-old) laid 17 eggs over the 4th of July, 10 of which hatched. Most are your standard corn snake color, a few have only the black and white coloring, and two are albino:

Our two-year-old albino pair laid 7 eggs that same weekend, 6 of which hatched:

A few of those have the pretty motley pattern:

They're already growing and some have had their first shed. They'll be ready for their first meal sometime this week!

So, if you're in the market for a snake or two, or three, just let us know. Free to a good home!

THE TOMATO PLACE

After church and grocery shopping today, we decided to stop at The Tomato Place. It's on the way home, there are always cars there (which to us is always a good indication of an establishment's appeal to locals), and we'd never stopped before (in the whole 1.5 years we've lived here), so today was the day! We thought it was just a farmer's market, but it turns out you can get lunch, homemade ice cream, fresh-squeezed lemonade, handmade birdhouses and rocking chairs, and more canned novelties than we've ever seen in one little shop. We enjoyed BLT's with huge slices of tomatoes (of course) and homemade peach cobbler and ice cream for desert. Oh yeah, and some banana pudding. Delicious! We plan to stop there during the week now and then, since it's so close to the office - finally, another restaurant option in Vicksburg! If you enjoy mom-and-pop shops and their associated eccentricities, you'll love The Tomato Place as much as we did. Happy Sunday!

CARLSBAD CAVERNS FLASHBACK

Back in 2001-2002, Jay and I lived at Carlsbad Caverns National Park for 8 months while working a seasonal position on an exotic plant removal team. I always recommend this park to my friends and family as a must-see because it is so unique and special. During certain times of the year, you can see ocotillo and other cacti blooming on the surface. You can see pretty desert birds and lots of interesting wildlife, like the ringtail and tarantula. As seasonal employees, we were able to live in the employee housing at the park, seen in this photo above the big parking lot next to the cave entrance. I had a corner apartment, the one on the far left (I had the BEST sunset views, out over the Guadalupe Mountains), and Jay's was right next door. The best thing though, was being able to sit on my porch and watch the nightly outflight of Mexican free-tailed bats during those first couple of months.

As employees, we were given opportunities to take some the paid (and the behind-the-sceens) tours for free. In one, we went out to Slaughter Canyon Cave, where we saw CLIFFS of historic bat guano, and in another we went down to Lower Cave, where we saw lots of water features and cool formations. I know it looks tiny in this photo, but this is the Great Wall of China:

This one is called the Indian:

Here is a bat skull:

And a bat skeleton:

These are cave pearls:

And here is my favorite photo from the Big Room:

And yes, Jay took some of these photos (I'm sure you can tell which ones!)

OUR IMPRESSIONS OF GUSTAV

On our way home from Kentucky on Sunday night we passed a huge convoy of tree-trimmers. There must have been over 2 dozen of them, all heading south towards Gustav. We were pretty impressed to see such a showing!

Gustav started affecting Vicksburg Monday morning, with constant rain, and tornado and flash-flood warnings. We lost some tree limbs and our neighbor's pond is fuller than we've even seen it, but other than that we didn't think there was anything exciting going on at our house. We saw some trees down on the way to work this morning though, and when we got home this afternoon, we found a big tree down at our neighbor's house (the same house with the pond). It managed to take down 4 other small trees in it's path! We went over to the neighbor's house to offer our assistance (well, mostly Jay's assistance, since it's his chainsaw) and found out that it went down at 2:30am last night (she was up feeding her newborn baby girl, so she noted the loud boom) - we must have missed it this morning when it was still sort-of dark on the way to the office...

BYE-BYE BABIES

We'll miss you! We never named the baby kittens because we didn't want to get too attached to them... and it sort-of worked. The kittens went to a great new home today and we couldn't be happier that the brothers get to stay together, but we do miss them already. Maxine seems a little sad, so we've been trying to give her extra attention tonight. We're sure she'll be fine soon though (and we'll be taking her in to get fixed at the soonest possible appointment!)

Thank you Fiona (and family) for adopting our little cuties!

MAMMOTH WEEKEND!

We had a great (and somewhat shortened) weekend up at Mammoth Cave National Park with our friend Jen, a fellow SCA alumni. We camped out and took a couple cave tours, then had to split a day early to beat Hurricane Gustav to Mississippi!

We saw so many deer we lost count!

The one above-ground hike we did was down to River Styx Springs:
Later that day, we did the 2 mile/2.5 hour River Styx cave tour. The highlights were long, wide passages and big rooms, along with some history and 3 underground "rivers" (more like lakes). "Fat Man's Misery" was an interesting passage too... The next morning, we did the 4 mile/4.5 hour Grand Avenue cave tour, where Boone Avenue was our favorite series of passages (it was like walking through a canyon). Here is the Carmichael Entrance:
And this is one small section of Boone Avenue:

This was our tour guide's "highlight" of the Grand Avenue tour, the "Frozen Niagara" (and if we hadn't lived at Carlsbad Caverns for 8 months, we probably would have been more impressed!) All the formations we saw we in the last 1/8th mile of the tour. 80% of all formations in the currently explored 365 miles of Mammoth Cave are located in this area (Mammoth is much drier than Carlsbad).

Thanks for the great visit Jen!

WELCOME JAGGER

Nicole and Rob welcomed Jagger James into the world on August 13th (almost 5 weeks early) and he was finally able to go home yesterday. He's doing great and I'm so happy that he is home with his mommy and daddy! In honor of his homecoming, I thought I'd post a couple of the photos Nicole has sent me (hopefully she won't mind!) He is such a handsome baby (and his parents are looking good - and blissful - too!)

THE GREENING OF ARIZONA

This is the 8th wettest monsoon in recorded Arizona history, and it's showing on the hillsides. Everything is green and there are more flowers in bloom than I've seen on any other trip (most of them are small and low to the ground, under the grass, but they're there). Even with all the rain we got on our July sampling trip, it's like night and day from then and now. There is so much green it's shocking!

The hummingbirds are out in force in our sample plots. Anywhere there is an agave blooming, there are at least 2 hummingbirds fighting over the nectar. I can't tell the species from my photo, but here is a female hummingbird pollinating a Palmer's agave. The only bad thing about all the new growth we're seeing is the pollen, and the resulting allergic reactions we're all having. I'm not allergic to ANYTHING, or so I thought... apparently, I am highly allergic to the invasive Lehmann lovegrass (from Africa). As we wade through our plots that have a high density of the lovegrass, we just watch as the pollen blows up into our faces (the many many many grasshoppers that are out now are not helping, every time they jump they knock more pollen into the air). Claritin seems to be helping a little. Our helpers from NAU have taken to wearing face masks to try and block some of the pollen...

KITTY CRUNCH

The kittens were eating solid food this morning...

Our little babies all grows up!