Christmas Gifts

When you're on a tight budget one has to get creative with their gifts. This year for all my friends and family I made wood block Christmas decorations. Most of them said Noel, but some said Wish or Joy. This was such a fun project and I felt really proud of myself that the total cost was under $10 and I made almost 20 of them.


I also had enough to make a friend a set that wasn't Christmas-ish for a wedding gift. I thought they turned out pretty well. I hope she liked them.

Winter Wonderland

This past week we've had real wintery weather. Thursday I was even lucky enough for work to call a "snow day" and was able stay home and hang out with Luke. Friday I did venture to work, but they let us off early so we could travel home in the daylight.
It's now Sunday, church was canceled and it started snowing last night and has continued. They're saying we could get another 6" - 8". Crazy! I haven't seen weather like this since I was in elementary. Thankfully, I have all of my Christmas shopping done except for a few small things that aren't high priority. Now I just need to work on baking my goodies. I'm hoping I get a snow day tomorrow. That would be great.

Camera Shy

We've been working on family photos for Christmas and we couldn't get Luke to smile. I think it takes a pretty talented person to make him smile for the camera. My sister, Christina, somehow can do it. Sadly, she was working the day we wanted to take photos. At least he's not crying.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday, Chris and I took Luke to Craven Farms in Snohomish to get his first pumpkin. I think he secretly loved it even though he didn't smile in any of our photos. Then again, a 6 month old doesn't exactly smile on que. He's cute anyway. When Luke hits two or three I think it will be a lot more fun for him since he'll be able to walk and interact more with everything around him. The trip was really for me. I wanted to get the memorable pictures of Luke's first Halloween adventures. I loved Luke in the wheelbarrow. He would just sit there and watch everyone go by. After we picked out our pumpkins that were nearly as big as him he put his arm on one like he owned it. I think that particular farm will be the one we go to every year. Not only did it have a patch of large pumpkins, it had a small patch too. Also, there was a corn maze, a food stand, a small animal farm, face painting, a store that sold crafty things, and lots more. I went there when I was in kindergarden so it's been around a long, long time. All in all, it was a fun outing for our little family.

My love-hate relationship

Does everyone have one of those? I do and it's called The South Beach Diet. I love it and at the same time I hate it. You would think a person wouldn't love a diet at all. But, how can you not love something that gives results in a short amount of time?

For the past two weeks my husband and I have been on this diet. We cut out all sugars which include the fructose kind found in fruit. I know! How crazy is that? A diet where you can't eat fruit for two weeks. We also eliminated starches found in potatoes, corn and rice. Also, no eating grains so bread is out. What did we eat, you ask? Lots of vegetables, chicken, meat and cheese. Sugar-free jell-o and pudding are a staple to this diet. I've come to find that everything you eat during this time is a wet food. This is the part I hate.

The part I love is I've lost 10 pounds! I didn't even do a single sit-up. How is that for results? The thing you need the most is will-power to resist all temptation. I think that is the hardest thing for me. We have a cookie jar at work and you don't want to know how many times I pass it during the day. At least I found out that those cookies do disappear even without my participation so I'm not the only one who eats them.

Another good thing is there is an end in sight. After the two weeks are up you can add fruit back to your diet. You can also eat wheat pasta, wheat bread, and brown rice and limit yourself to goodies occasionally. If you stick to this "lifestyle change" you should continue to shed more pounds...just not as quickly as before.

My goal is 20 pounds so I'm half-way there. Hooray for me! Let's hope that the next 10 go just as easy. This time I am going to start working out.

September Wedding

My husbands mom, my mother-in-law, was just re-married on September 6th. We travelled down to Umatilla, Oregon for the big event. It is only a 4 hour drive, but with a baby it would most likely be longer.  So, I suggested we leave later in the evening around 8pm. By then, Luke was asleep and he didn't wake up until we got there. What a good little traveller!

His cousins (only a few pictured) were so excited to meet him.  They loved to talk to him.  Colby, who's 3, felt Luke was hungry and pulled his bottle from his diaper bag and started to feed him.  The only place we have a picture of that is on Chris's phone.  I bought Luke little sunglasses since we'd be spending a lot of time outside.  

The wedding was "Cowboy" themed with wranglers, boots, and hats.  I was in charge of  the bride's hair and it was a good thing she wanted a frenchbraid. It was pretty hot so I don't think curls would have stayed nice with all the sweating we were doing.  Her daughter, Jodi, and a friend from work were bridesmaids, two granddaughters were flower girls, and a grandson was a ring bearer. Everyone looked great.   There was more to the "wedding party", but no one was together at the same time so I got what I could.

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Don Ranne!

Immediately following the ceremony was a BBQ.  Those were some good eats.  Someone in her ward made the cake  and it looked very beautiful.  

We'll be back to visit in November for Thanksgiving.  See you soon!

My, how he's grown.

How the time flies!  Luke is 5 months old and is getting so big.  At his 4 month appointment he was already 17 1/2 pounds.  He's not a chunky kid either....he's just long.  He measured in at 27 inches which is the 99 percentile for height at his age.  Kids do grow like weeds.  

Here are the things Luke's been doing.   He is now sitting up on his own.  He wobbles a little, but for he's getting pretty steady.  

Luke is also starting to eat solid foods.  Well, cereal isn't super solid, but it's not formula.   I think he's ready for baby food since he watches us eat and grabs for it if we're holding him.  Chris is more than willing to share with that baby boy.  One day I came home from work and Luke's shirt was red and wet all down the front.  When I asked Chris what he gave Luke he told me they shared a popsicle.  Way to go on getting our child addicted to sugar already, Dad.  

Luke loves to have books read to him.  I even get to read it instead of only pointing at the pictures.   I think he'll be a reader like his Momma.  Luke also loves kisses.  He is such a lovey and cuddley baby.  He hasn't become scared of new people yet, but maybe he won't ever be which is s a good and bad thing.  Good for family that he doesn't see all the time.  Bad because strangers aren't always good.  

It's mine

Sometimes when my husband goes to the store he bring me home a treat. Like my favorite candy bar or something really yummy just for me. And sometimes, I don't want to eat it right away so I save it for when I'm really in the mood for my yummy treat. And sometimes, I forget about that yummy treat. But then I remember and when I go to eat that yummy treat of mine it's gone and I think, "where did it go?" So then, I ask my husband and he says, "Oh, sorry, I ate it...I'll buy you another one." But, I don't want another one. I want the one I had.

Look who's talking!

Luke is starting to get very vocal and will tell me all about his day when I get home from work. At first he'd only talk a little and then our conversations started getting a little longer. It's so cute I had to get a video of it.

Happy Father's Day

The first Father's Day at the Walchli house. It was pretty exciting. Luke and I made Chris breakfast in bed. Luke woke up around 6am and after I fed him I thought, "Let's make your dad breakfast". Of course, I wasn't too nice since we didn't let him sleep in very long. We brought him his hearty meal at 7:15 am...pancakes, hash browns and sausage. It was delicious!

After church we went to my sister's house for a barbecue to celebrate the Dad's. It was a lot of fun since it was another weekend where my whole family was together (Erica's graduation was the other). We're usually missing someone because of something or other. I hope my dad realizes how much he is appreciated by Chris and me. Currently, he and my mom are watching Luke Thursday's and Friday's while I'm at work. I'm grateful my parents are willing to do that for us. What a wonderful relationship they will have. Luke already loves his Grandpa as you can see.

The Graduate - Erica Miller

We attended Sultan High School's graduation a few weekends ago to witness my niece, Erica, receive her diploma. I couldn't believe it was outside, but the class of '08 was small enough to fit under tents and all of Sultan's friends and family sat in the grandstand. There were 117 graduates, the biggest class in the history of Sultan High. It is the tradition of the school to walk with whomever you want instead of alphabetical order. Erica chose her boyfriend, Jason. I would have liked that, but my high school made us go in alphabetical order and boy-girl-boy-girl since the girls were in white gowns and the boys were in red. I was 5 people away from my twin sister. She had 32 family members to root for her when she walked across the stage to get her diploma. I think she had the loudest yelling section out of everyone. We are so proud of her and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

Here are some of the family in attendance. I couldn't get everyone.

Back to the old grind....

I've started back to work this week. It's sad...I know. I didn't cry once Monday when I dropped Luke off with my sister or during that first day. We have had our separate time so I've already adjusted. There were those days apart while I was in the hospital, the many doctor visits and the dentist appointments where I went without Luke. Chris even let me go to Target while he watched him so I could pick up a few things. Of course, many of these times weren't longer than an hour (and he didn't really know me right after he was born so I'm not going to count that time). But, I still miss him during the day and want to hold and kiss him. I call to check on him and he seems to be doing fine without me. I hope Luke doesn't forget who I am since I'll only be spending 3 waking hours with him a night. My main fear is missing something while I'm away. I hover over him with a camera so I can catch all the cute things he does. Okay, it's not that bad. He is already starting to try and laugh out loud...right now it sounds like a cough, but I hope I am there the first time it sounds like an actual laugh or him rolling over for the first time, too. I'm not sure how those career mom's do it...the ones that actually want to go back to work. Or, those who hire nannies because their lives are so important to have kids in them. Does Angelina Jolie really play with all those kids she has? Don't women want to watch their children grow and learn instead of depending on someone else to do it? I know I do and hope that it isn't too much longer before I can stay home to do it.

Luke's Blessing

I have come to discover that I try to please people too much. I like to make people happy, but I can't do it all of the time. We set the date for Luke's blessing and it kept changing because this family member or friend couldn't make it on that date or that one couldn't make it on another. Then I thought...you know what?...this is our day and if we wait until everyone could make it, Luke would be three. So with some loved ones missing, we went ahead with June 1st and it turned out just fine. Chris gave a beautiful blessing. He told me he wasn't nervous, but I know I would have been. He is such a good man and I love him so much.

This is our first family photo!

Out with the old....

Do you ever get tired of the same old thing? I know I do, so I've decided to change the look of my blog. I know it's changed a couple of times already...sorry if you didn't recognize me right away.

Got to throw in a picture of Luke. He's just so darn cute!

Smile

Luke is now six weeks old. He's starting to smile at me and it's so cute! I can't get enough of this little guy. My sister, JaNeanne, captured some good pictures while I made faces at him. Everytime I get my camera out, he's done with the smiles. Thanks for being ready, sis!

Family Time

Luke (5 weeks)
Who could not love that adorable face?

Things are going well at the Walchli household. We are adjusting to parenthood pretty good, though I'm still finding it hard to get up in the middle of the night. I'm hoping he'll sleep through soon...especially when I go back to work.

Chris had some family come into town the weekend before last.

Colby (age 3)

Rachel (age 10) - our happy helper

Sidney (age 1) - too young to hold baby

We did take an afternoon trip to see the tulips. There was still some still in bloom. They are so beautiful.

Hospital Food

After staying a week in the hospital, I've come to enjoy hospital food. It really isn't as bad as everyone says it is. Some meals were a bit bland, but not anything a little salt couldn't fix. I even had a choice of two different dishes so I wasn't just brought whatever and expected to eat it. I thought it was great.

Not only am I going to tell everyone the events that took place the day Luke was born, it will also serve as a journal entry for me to remember down the road.

Chris and I checked into the hospital so I could be induced Sunday night, the 6Th, around 8:30pm. After waiting all weekend to get in, we were pretty excited to finally be there. After settling into my delivery suite, which was really nice, I was given medication to soften my cervix before they would start the petocin. Lucky for me, I started contracting on my own around 5:00am so I didn't even need it. With less then an hour of pushing, Luke was born at 5:01pm. I was only in labor 12 hours. I was so glad it wasn't longer than that. That was the part that I was scared the most about and it didn't turn out as horrible as I imagined.

That's the first part. Everything went pretty smoothly until Luke's little shoulders were out....that's when I tore. The doctor who delivered him spent the next 2 1/2 hours stitching me up. I got to hold Luke for a little bit and then Chris took him out to show our waiting family. Plus, Chris couldn't stay in the room with all the bleeding that my parts were doing so Christina came in and talked to me while I sat with my bottom half uncovered for the world to see. The doctor didn't talk much, but I did notice that she shook her head a lot. That was not a good sign. She did finally say that every time she put a stitch in I'd bleed more and that was not good. The main concern was to get me to stop bleeding and stitched up. Once the doctor was finished and she felt she had the bleeding under control is when she learned about my blood problem, pancytopenia. She seemed pretty upset that she wasn't told before, but now realized why I was bleeding so bad and was worried with the amount of blood I had lost. I guess I never thought it was that serious.....boy, was I wrong.

By Wednesday morning I was doing good. I wasn't bleeding anymore and my stitches were looking still holding up. Even though I wasn't on any epidural medication, I still had the IV line in my back and they wanted to take out. I was glad I couldn't feel it. They gave me a transfusion of platelets before the anesthesiologists removed the IV line. He made it sound very scary so I was really freaked out. He talked about having to go into emergency surgery if I ended up having a clot in my spine or something like that. Luckily, I could still feel my legs by the end of the day so it all went well.

Just when I thought I was getting better everything changed Wednesday afternoon. My heart rate went up and I started getting a fever. By the end of the day it was to 103. I started getting my blood every 6 hours to see what was going on and to see what my blood levels were doing. It wasn't looking very good and my arms were starting to look like I was a drug user. Sadly, my white blood cells were decreasing and that was a main concern with the on-call doctor. That night, Luke was discharged from the hospital into Chris's care, but they could stay in the hospital with me. Thursday morning, my OB came in and told me they were transferring me to another hospital and to the ICU. Even though the doctors at the Pacific campus were doing everything they could, they felt I needed to be placed in special care with doctors who dealt with this kind of thing every day. I cried since I would be separated from Luke and I already felt like we had not yet bonded. I felt so helpless, but Chris was doing a great job with the mom duties during our hospital stay together.

First thing that happened when I arrived at the Colby campus of Providence was a blood transfusion. I received two units of blood to see if that would help me. I spent all day Thursday and part of Friday in the ICU. I still had blood draws, but they were only once a day and at 4:30 in the morning. Who does that? Shouldn't patients be sleeping at the time? I was being pumped full of antibiotics so it wasn't that bad since the machine beeped when the bag was empty so I didn't sleep the whole night through anyway. Finally, the doctors had a verdict of what was wrong with me and had discovered I had somehow contracted a bacteria in my blood. They had some theories of how it came about, but nothing to important to mention. My mom brought me a receiving blanket that smelled of Luke and some pictures of him. I cried a lot not being with my baby, but I knew he was in good hands with his dad, Chris, and my family.

Before I was moved from the ICU on Friday I finally got to take a shower. I had gone way too many days without washing my hair. Boy, did I look terrible when I hit the bathroom and took a look in the mirror. Why didn't any of my family mention that to me? I hadn't walked anywhere since Sunday night so taking the walk to the bathroom wore me out. That afternoon I was moved to a regular floor and I was lucky enough to get my own room. I must be loved...I even had my own bathroom with a shower. That day my temperature was steadily dropping. I was at 99 degrees all day and by Saturday my temp was normal. A new doctor had come in to tell me that they are taking cultures of the bacteria to find out what antibiotics would cure me. Still I wasn't told I could go home yet. Saturday I was getting up and around more and feeling good, but by that night I was tuckered out. Chris came and brought a game for us to play, but I kept falling a sleep during his turn so I finally called it quits. I didn't like that hospital room much because I thought it gave me bad dreams. I had to sleep with the light on the night before and didn't want Chris to go home that night either. It was probably from all the stuff they were pumping me full of. I was getting an antibiotic every 6 hours and a different one every 8 hours. Plus I was getting doses of iron every morning.

Sunday morning my doctor came in and told me the bacteria was sensitive to a certain antibiotic and asked me if I was ready to go home. Heck yes I was. He did tell me that I would have to take the antibiotic intravenously for a few days and then it would be a pill. So I was going home finally. I called Chris since he hadn't gotten to the hospital yet. He was so excited and so was I. I cried again since I would finally be able to hold my little baby boy and do all the mommy things I hadn't gotten to do yet.

There you have it. I'm now a seasoned mother of two weeks and loving it. Luke is such a good baby. He doesn't cry unless he is hungry, has a dirty diaper or a bubble in his tummy. I am so lucky he is that good. I think I'd be more exhausted if he weren't. Chris and I are adjusting to baby life and I'm thinking my maternity leave is getting eaten up too quickly. Before I know it, I'll be back to work and it makes me sad to think I won't get to be with him all day any more. I've got to soak it up while I can.

He is so adorable!!

Luke William Walchli

Born April 7, 2008 at 5:01pm - 7lbs. 10oz. - 19 inches long
I will have more pictures and the story of what happened after the birth of our beautiful baby soon. I'm still in recovery at my parents house.

Where's Luke?

Today is my first day of maternity leave at work. It sure was nice not having to get up and drive an hour to Kirkland this morning. I still woke up at my normal time, though. I still had a few things to do today and I don't know when I would get another chance to do them. Who knows...I could go into labor tomorrow.

I finally feel like the nursery is ready. My mom and I went out to get the last things on my list. This was the first time she and I went baby shopping together. While working I only had Saturdays free and that day she has church duties which take up the whole day. It was really nice going together.

I've decided to go back to my original due date: April 3rd, but I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday at which point we will find out when this baby wants to come out and play.

Showers!

It's getting down to crunch time. A little over two weeks to go and I am not quite ready. My co-workers threw a surprise shower for me and I also had one with my family and friends. This baby sure has been spoiled! Chris and I are have been so blessed to know such great people. Thank you everyone!

One of our biggest gifts we received was the travel system that my work bought. I've got it assembled and practiced pushing around the stroller to get the feel of it. Being tall I wanted to make sure I didn't have to lean over any to push it. (Don't laugh). Now I just need to figure out the base and the carrier and how to strap it into my car. I wasn't old enough to drive when my nieces and nephews were babies so I don't have experience in that department. Something I did notice the stroller is super heavy. I don't know how mothers lift this thing in and out of their cars.

Other shower photos:

Nearing week 35 and counting...

A friend suggested I take another prego picture and post it for all to see. Don't I look great? Lucky me gets to renew my license next month so I'll have a head shot of this for the next few years. I think I'll fib a little and stick with the weight I already have on it instead of what I currently am at. I might get there again sometime soon (unfortunately, I wasn't there pre-pregnancy...I'm so terrible!)

I've been tagged

I'm kind of excited since I haven't tagged been before. I should be working on my talk for Sunday, but instead I'm spending my friday evening catching up on my friends lives via blog. Chris and I already had our date.....spent time at BabysRUs registering .

How long have you been together? Married 3 years in July.
How long did you date? 10 months - engaged for 5 of them.
How old is he? 31...I told him he could never call me his "Old lady" since he's older than me.
Who eats more? Chris, definately. My family calls him "Beefcake".
Who said "I love you" first? He did and then he said I didn't need to say it back. I did, but it was weird since I wasn't sure at the time.
Who is taller? Chris is by an inch or two. If I'm wearing shoes and he's not, I swear I'm taller.
Who sings better? I sing better. When I met him, he was in this band (as the singer) but it was the yelling kind. He doesn't sing much anymore.
Who is smarter? We are both smart in different things. His knowledge is in the random and weird.
Who does the laundry? We both do it although he's shrunk a lot of my stuff. He's now learned that some of my things don't go in the dryer.
Who does the dishes? If I make dinner, Chris does dishes. If he makes dinner, I do dishes. He usually does the dishes more and I'm thankful. I would rather clean toilets than do dishes...seriously.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I sleep on the right side. He switched for a bit, but I didn't like it.
Who pays the bills? Lucky me!
Who mows the lawn? We don't have a lawn to mow, but I'd make him do it. I mowed the lawn too many times in my youth.
Who cooks dinner? Most of the time I do it.
Who is more stubborn? Probably me.
Who kissed who first? Chris went in for the kill first. I hadn't kissed anyone for a long time so I was totally scared. I'm glad he was brave.
Who asked who out? We were kind of hanging out with friends at first and then he asked me to see a movie and go to dinner.
Who proposed? Chris did. The day was a suprise, but I knew it was coming.
Who is more sensitive? I am more sensitive. And that's not just because I'm preggers right now.
Who has more friends? Girls usually have more friends.
Who has more siblings? We each have the same amount (3 sisters and 2 brothers)
Who wears the pants in the relationship? Sometimes I think I do since he makes me be in charge of some things, but it's his duty as the man of the house.
Who are you tagging? If anyone reads this who hasn't been tagged..."You're It!"

Some of you know I work at an elevator company. It has it's ups and downs...hehe. Going through some of my old emails from co-workers I ran into this and I wanted to share. Even those at ThyssenKrupp (my company) know how to have a sense of humor about their job.

1) When there's only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't you.

2) Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.

3) Ask if you can push the button for other people, but push the wrong ones.

4) Drop a pen and wait until someone reaches to help pick it up, then scream, "That's mine!"

5) Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.

6) Move your desk into the elevator and whenever someone gets on, ask if they have an appointment.

7) Lay down a Twister mat and ask people if they'd like to play.

8) Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets on ask them if they hear something ticking.

9) Ask, "Did you feel that?"

10) Stand really close to someone, sniffing them occasionally.

11) When the doors close, announce to the others, "It's okay. Don't panic, they open up again."

12) Swat at flies that don't exist.

13) Call out, "group hug!" then enforce it.

14) Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"

15) Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"

16) Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

17) Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce in horror, "You're one of THEM" and back away slowly.

18) Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers.

19) Listen to the elevator walls with your stethoscope.

20) Stare, grinning at another passenger for a while, and then announce, "I have new socks on."

21) Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers, "This is my personal space."

22) Make race car noises when anyone gets on or off.

23) Whistle the first seven notes of "It's a Small World" incessantly.

24) When arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to yank the doors open, then act embarrassed when they open by themselves.

25) Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral.

26)On the highest floor, hold the door open and demand that it stay open until you hear the penny you dropped down the shaft go "plink" at the bottom.

27) When at least 8 people have boarded, moan from the back: "Oh, not now, dang motion sickness!"

28) Meow occasionally.

29) Bet the other passengers you can fit a quarter in your nose.

30) Frown and mutter "gotta go, gotta go" then sigh and say "uh-oh!"

Getting crafty...

A gal in our ward had a "block party" and I decided to take advantage to make something cute for the baby's room. I thought it turned out so cute I wanted to share it.
As you can see we've already picked out a name and the colors for his room. It's really sad that the picture is so dark so you can't see the color of the wall behind the blocks since we've painted the room a light green. I haven't picked a theme such as airplanes or dinosaurs....just the colors of light green and light blue.
Recently, I've been looking at baby bedding and I've decided I could just make a baby quilt myself instead of buying something expensive. Since we're going to have to purchase other items that are costly why not cut a corner somewhere? Chris got me a sewing machine for Christmas so why not make something special to warm my little one?
I'm reading more about baby stuff from the books my doctor gave me and I'm starting to get nervous. I hope I'm ready for the pain of labor. I think I have a high tolerance for pain, but sometimes I don't think I do. Chris thinks I'll turn into one of those nightmare ladies who yell at their husbands like they show on t.v., but I highly doubt that. At my check-up today my doctor told me he doesn't start making predictions yet, but he thinks I should deliver a 7 1/2 to 8 pounder. That's not too bad, I guess. I just don't want to push out a 10 pound baby. Yikes!

The Passing of our Prophet

Sunday evening our beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away. Chris and I were hanging out with our neighbors when they received a phone call call from their parents. We then passed the news to our family. We all took a moment to let it sink in and they we shared a combined family prayer to let our Heavenly Father now how grateful we were to have had such a wonderful Prophet and to bless his family with comfort.
President Hinckley has been the Prophet I've known best. Probably because I've been old enough to understand who he is and what his role is in the church. He has done many great things...the biggest was building more Temples. Since 1995, he has dedicated 76 temples while 12 are currently under construction. How amazing is that?
I will miss that great man, but know he has earned the phrase, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

A new year

Christmas and New Year's have come and gone and I have no pictures to post. I forgot my camera while we were on our way to my parents house Christmas eve and none of my siblings have sent me pictures even though I've asked. My dad, the guy who still uses a camera with film, was happily snapping photos and he's got them developed already. All I need is a scanner, but that's at the bottom of a long list of things I really don't need right now. Christmas day I was sick and I didn't want pictures of me taken. Chris told me I looked like death. I don't think I need a picture memory of that.

A new year has begun and the Walchli Life will be changing quite drastically come the end of March. Are we ready for it? Heck, no! But, we're excited to become parents and start our family. We've picked his name: Luke William Walchli. I've always like the name Luke and I'm glad Chris liked it, too. We didn't argue back and forth about that. I wanted to use Christopher as a middle name, but Chris didn't like that. Then, we decided on William. Not only is it a family name on my side, but it also is for Chris (plus it's his middle name as well).

We're currently working on putting together our baby's room. We've picked the colors (light green and light blue), but not a "theme". I'm not sure if I will, which I think is alright. One of my sisters did tell me it's not as easy to buy things for the baby's room if you don't have a theme. I want to make my shopping easy. Finding things in a color, plus a theme would make things harder. I guess I will find out once I get out there and start buying things. I think my reasoning makes sense anyway and Chris doesn't seem to mind.

Be thankful your husband isn't into video games. Chris has bought himself a new game called "Rockband". He played it at a friends house and after that he had to have it. It comes with an actual size guitar (it's electronic so it doesn't have strings, but it does have a strum thing so feels like you're playing), a drum set with drumsticks, and a microphone. You hook all this stuff up to your gaming system and pop in the game, choose a song on a scale of easy, medium or hard, and play along. The game tells you when to play by it's streaming color codes. If you've ever seen the game dance dance revolution with the arrows, it's like that. The game rates how well you do and at the end of the song it will give you a percentage. You also can play with three people or pick an instrument and do it solo. What the actual object of the game is I have yet to discover, but I do know if you want to feel neglected buy this game for your husband. It's a good thing we don't have a baby or I'd be really mad. I may hide the game soon, though.