20 Weeks!

Today is officially my 1/2 way point in the pregnancy. I'm at 20 weeks today. 20 weeks to go! I have been so thankful that I have felt great. I haven't had morning sickness or other maladies that pregnant women tend to get. I think I was the most tired between weeks 7 through 9, but have felt really good. I'm hoping to feel the baby move in the next couple of weeks. So far I haven't felt anything except for some muscles stretching in my abdomen and my tummy itching.

I bought a coupon book a few weeks back and have used 2 massage coupons in it. My second massage was yesterday. I wish I could get an hour massage every day.

Vince & I attended a fun Halloween party on Saturday night. I dressed up as a pregnant prostitute and Vince went dressed up as a pimp. It was a cold night, but we stayed close to the outdoor heaters and I brought my heated vest. It was a great benefit for the Girls' Home.

I made cake pops for the center pieces and some mini cupcakes for the food table.

It was so fun to see all the other costumes. We're attending another Halloween party this Friday night. I can't wait!

Dad's Foot Infection

So this past week has been quite a set back for dad. Rachel noticed at the beginning of last week that his wound on the right foot was a little red and had some yellow stuff oozing out of it. The nurse came to the house that day and sent him to see the foot doctor. The doctor gave him antibiotics and a betadine stick to swab on it. Only two days later, it was worse.

They admitted him to the hospital on Thursday. The top part of his foot was turning red with a rash and later that night it started to develop a blister. They put him on antibiotics through an I.V.

By Friday, it was worse, so his foot doctor scheduled surgery at 9am on Saturday to open up the wound, clean it out to the bone, and see if the bones were healing. Here's how his foot looked Friday night before surgery.

They also called an infectious specialist doctor who took cultures of the foot. The infectious disease doctor took cultures around the wound before surgery. The foot doctor took cultures inside the tissue and around the bone. So they basically have a lot of cultures now that they're waiting to see the outcome. In the mean time, his blister was drained & all the skin around it has turned nasty black. It looks gross. They also put a drain tube in the wound, which came out late the next day.

The good news is that the foot doctor said all his tissue & bone under the skin looked healthy & pink. So what is this nasty black stuff spreading around his toes and killing his skin?? I really hope they figure it out soon so that he can start healing again. On Sunday morning his foot looked like this. The toes are turning black.

39th Birthday

I had a great 39th birthday yesterday. I got a couple of nice gifts from my friends, including a scarf, fancy apron, little wooden art of a man, woman & baby, hot cocoa, fancy manicure creams, and a pineapple upside cake. I got some lovely earrings from my in-laws, some money for dinner from my parents, a Coach purse from my siblings & Rachel and then from Vince I got a really nice security system, 2 dozen red roses, and gourmet chocolates.

I definitely racked up yesterday! I even had over 140 facebook friends wish me happy birthday. For lunch several of my co-workers & I went to Cupcake Creations. We enjoyed lunch, 2 mini cupcakes, and a large cupcake. Plus they brought me out another large cupcake with a candle in it. I ate way too much sugar yesterday.

For dinner, Vince & I braved the rain & went to Outback Steakhouse. I had a really good filet mignon and they brought me free ice cream with hot fudge sauce.

I am truly blessed to have such wonderful family & friends!

Eurofest Car Show

BMW hosts the Eurofest Car Show each year in Greer. Vince's parents, Vince & I got there bright and early this year. We started out at the Performance Center so Vince & Jerry could drive the cars on their test tracks. Vince drove the wet/dry track while I rode as a passenger. I took a video of the course.

Wet/Dry Track

Vince also drove the rat race. This one was a bit more dangerous so I did not ride in the car on this one.

Part 1

Part 2

Jerry rode in their SUV on an off road course.

We then went to the main car show and checked out all the cool cars. And I got to eat homemade peach ice cream.

Dad's Home Visit

Dad was able to go home Sunday for a quick home visit. He tested the new ramp with his wheelchair & made sure he could fit in the doorways.

18 Weeks

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant! My tummy is definitely noticeable now. I'll have to get Vince to take a good profile picture of me this week. Our next appointment is in two weeks when we have our 20 week ultrasound. It will be held at Spartanburg Regional instead of my doctor's office. This is the long ultrasound that takes about an hour. They record it on a DVD for us. They will be checking the 4 heart chambers, the blood vessels, and lots of other things. This machine can detect 90% of birth defects compared the the machine at the doctor's office, which only detects about 65%.

We've been really blessed to be able to have so many ultrasounds. I still want to go do a 3D/4D ultrasound as well. There's a nice place in Greenville that charges $99 to do one of these.

I also am going for a massage this evening. I am very much looking forward to it!

Dad at the Laurels

I took several pictures of dad at the Laurels rehab nursing facility.

Kim came to visit last weekend.

Cody & Elise show off their new Halloween costumes while Grayson shows off his bulldog.

Kim's tire indicator came on so we had to stop to put air in the tires.

On Monday, Dad worked on his arms during rehab.

On Wednesday, he got his casts cut off of his legs and his neck & back brace replaced.

The feet still had betadine on them from the surgery. They can't get wet until his stitches come out, but we did clean them off some this week.

Dad got fitted for his new back brace without the neck part.

Dad's before & after the beard. Now that he no longer has the neck brace, he could shave.

Dad took this picture of me cleaning off his feet.

Pictures at the house.

New Ramp in Virginia

These pictures are of the new ramp built from the drive way to the back deck so dad can get in his house. Several of his co-workers came over to help build it the last couple of weekends.