Going into 21 Weeks

I'll be going into my 21st week in a few days. Time flies when you are having fun! My latest online newsletter tells me that my baby is having a blast these days. The baby is practicing somersaults and flips and getting to taste all kinds of new foods. Whatever I eat changes the taste of the amniotic fluid and Baby's taste buds are highly sensitive at this time. Baby can taste whatever I've been eating...so aside from ONIONS, it is safe to say he or she will have an acquired taste for all kinds of good things after birth. Especially dolmas, ranch, and french fries. But of course lots and lots of veggies, too!

Baby is also continuing to practice swallowing, digesting and "breathing". I get a little overwhelmed (in a good, sentimental way) when I think of my baby taking his first breath. And the smell of my skin will be among the first breaths our baby takes when they lay him on my chest for us to meet. How sweet it is! Our baby sleeps as much as a newborn, 12-14 hours a day. I have sleep envy! I remember times when I got a solid 10 hours and it was great. Sleep on, little one.

Josh and I got to see my belly jump the other night! It was pretty cool! I felt some kicks that were harder than usual and we started intently belly watching. Sure enough you could see little "pops" here and there. It was the coolest thing! I actually prefer to feel the baby all the time as opposed to not...it's just more reassuring.

In other news...everything has settled down after being so close to the blast zone! We are back to business as usual here at work. Mom has landed safely and began her vacation on Tortola. I am sure she is digging her toes into the baby powder white sands as we speak! The Johnson's are doing well as little David finishes up his school summer projects for the start of the new year, and big David is recovering from having his knee scoped. Ouch!

Take care for now, friends and family!!

***Love to All!***

Gas Explosions Rock Downtown Dallas

"Explosions at a liquefied natural gas plant Wednesday morning injured three people and shut down Interstate 35E and Interstate 30 near downtown Dallas, forcing evacuations within a half-mile."

We had an exciting morning today. We were far enough away from the blasts and no one here was hurt...first and foremost. I heard the report on the radio at my desk about 9:30ish and called back to the secretaries who sit by windows. They said they could see it well so I went and watched the blasts for awhile. It was horrible! Explosion after explosion was going off and at that point there was no speculation as to what was causing it all. We know now that an acetylene tank (similar in looks to a helium tank - about 4 ft in height) malfunctioned and caught fire starting a chain of explosions and shooting fireballs that lasted for at least 30 minutes. We could hear the booms and see debris, shrapnel, and fireballs flying through the air...over the highways and into buildings. One newscaster stated that the tanks could easily be propelled up to 100mph, hundreds of feet through the air. It was truly a sight to see. On the ground at the plant it looked like dozens of blow torches flaming fast and furious, this among other flames shooting hundreds of feet in the air. At the point that I got there to watch the traffic was almost completely diverted but there were still a few cars rolling by slowly. According to the news those who couldn't reverse and get away due to stopping traffic got out of their cars and ran under bridges to safety from the flying canisters and a shower of concrete! At 10:30 the fires were still raging but the explosions had subsided.

This craziness took place right next to the I-35/I-30 interchange by Reunion Tower and Arena. So my question is why was this facility so close to stores, buildings and roads? I guess that will be addressed in the near future, I'm sure. The Dallas Fire Chief was not allowing any of his crews to go in the immediate area until everything was burned out. Last I saw, at 1:00 there was still a small fire burning cause by dozens of oxygen tanks...again, being left to burn out by themselves since the situation was too dangerous to approach. They were spraying water on surrounding buildings, though.

Sooooo, just wanted to let everyone know I was ok!! My building is actually on the other side of downtown but we are high enough up that we can see far out. On a great note...no one has died and even the workers who were present were able to get away. Last I heard only three are being treated for burns. Amazing considering the circumstances.

Reporting Live from Downtown Dallas, this is Heather Blachly...back to you in the news room, Ken.


Fireballs of debris set grass on fire near by and all the way across the highway interchange.






These are the tanks that shot into the air. Acetylene is one of the hottest burning gases and the tanks were under thousands of pounds of pressure.


We watched as these cars went from normal to black all the way through.

Twenty Weeks! That's Half Way!

I thought I had hit a growth spurt last week, but already it seems to have deflated. I swear my belly goes up and down, up and down in size. I guess it could be caused by bloat or water weight gain but I'm no specialist so I don't know. I think at this point...being essentially five months along...I am fine with not having a huge belly. I do want to show and get past the fat looking stage, but I know I will have plenty of time to lug this baby around!

We had an amazing sonogram last week! It was by far the best. If we had wanted to know and if everything was positioned correctly, we would have been able to find out the sex of the baby. Our sono tech was very kind and so sweet (unlike an experience with another we've had before) and really spent a lot of time with us. Edie, Bob, Shannon and Lindsey were invited along to share in the joy. Mom, Dad and Tammy will get to come next time. We were only concerned with space, so we split the group. Anyway, everything measured right on time and the baby weighs 10 oz. We saw the amazing heart just beating away - seperate chambers and all. Baby moved and waved and rolled around. He wiped his nose and rubbed his cheeks (that was my mommy interpretation) and the best part of all was to see the baby suckling! It was the most precious thing I've ever seen! The tech said the baby was drinking and so his little mouth was just going and going...it brought tears to my eyes! It is the most surreal feeling to see that going on and know it's right there inside you. It's unexplainable, really.

So we go back in another month...but no sono, just a check up. I've been feeling awesome lately and even mowed the lawn yesterday and swept up afterwards. We got a great downpour right as I finished so I let myself get a good sprinkling from it then sat on the porch and watched the storm go by. Speaking of the yard, I am hoping our azaleas will get some darn blooms sometime soon. We have a series of bushes that are supposed to give us spring, summer and fall blooms, unlike more traditional bushes that typically bloom only in spring.

Lastly, we got word from our videographer Saturday that our wedding videos were ready! We picked them up on Sunday evening and they are beyond anything I ever could have imagined! I think it really sheds a new light on the whole day and festivities being able to watch it from a different point of view. I can see how wonderful the day was instead of just remembering the mistakes and "should'ves" as a perfectionist would. It was magical and I saw nothing but smiles and happy faces and a whole list of people who we care about and love immensely.

Oh gosh, I've written even more than usual. That is enough for now, eh? Have a nice week and remember there are only four-ish more days till Friday!

***LOVE TO ALL!***

The Johnson's are Back

Shannon's whole family got to take a vacation! Imagine coordinating the schedules of three busy, sports playing, camp going, socializing tweens and a teen to find an opening to hit the beaches of Alabama. Gulf Shores, Alabama to be exact...right on the Florida border close to Destin. Their pictures were so cute I just had to share them on here. I can tell they all had an awesome time and I am taking notes for a vacation of my own to Gulf Shores someday.

Brianna Jolie Skarpa

Brianna is just the most precious baby ever! Until mine gets here that is! Boy was it great to see everyone in Dayton, and especially since that was the first time Josh met Uncle Ray and Aunt Sheri. Unfortunatly, Julius got kicked to the couch and Josh and I were given his bed...which sure was a nice bed!

So, on July 11th Kayla's water broke and Keri and Bobby raced over to get her. The maintenence guy was at Kayla's apartment right then. I am sure he had no idea what his day would entail when he woke up that morning!! When Bobby got the call he was just about to take a customer out on a test drive at the dealership where he works. Bobby's truck was up on the rack in the garage at the dealership, so they QUICKLY got it together so he could hit the road. He said if they weren't as quick as they were then he was grabbing the keys to one of the cars off the lot! Once they got Kayla and took off for the hospital, getting through traffic was the next obstacle. I bet all three of them were fixing to have a heart attack with Kayla sitting there in labor!

Labor lasted about three and a half hours (only!) and Kayla went all natural! Good job girl! Welcome baby Brianna, we love you so much already! And you have a cool birthday...7-11.

***Have a great day!***

Happy Belated Birthday Lindsey, Luau Princess!

I got some fun pictures from Tammy from Lindsey's 12th birthday I wanted to post. We had such a fun time! Tammy and I actually went up on Saturday and spent the day scrapbooking in Shannon's new craft room. It looks awesome! I know many good hours of painting, scrapping, and creativity will go on in there.

Sunday was the big party day. We made a cute little fruit basket, which was fruit on sticks like flowers, for the girls to munch on and it turned out both good looking and yummy! Once everyone got to the house we took of to see Ratatouille. It was too cute! I don't always enjoy kids movies but this one was enjoyable for all. We all kinda split up to make the seating easier and I sat with Jessie. She is turning into the sweetest young lady. She has a great sense of humor and I love her loud, bold laugh (it's like mine and Shannon's). She fits right in with us O'Briens. And P.S., I had the most delicious movie theater pickle ever!

Once we got back to the house everyone changed into their Luau gear: bathing suits, leis, grass skirts and matching accessories (ofcourse)! Lindsey had a coconut top! It was so cute! So, the games commenced and everyone had such a good time with the water balloons, slip and slide, limbo, and pinata. And one of the young ladies had just had her first kiss so as you can imagine, that was the talk of the party! I guess her mom forgot to teach her that there is NO kissing allowed, ever! Ha!

***Love to all and enjoy each day with the joy of a 12 year old!***

Roach Update!

We got back from Grandma's and I know you are all wondering what happened to the roach in a three day timeout. Right?!

I wasn't looking forward to seeing if he was still there, but I had to use the restroom so I might as well use the one with the roach trap and check it out. He was still in his tissue boutique and still trying to crawl up the sides! Agh!! I decided to flush the sucker and that way I didn't have to crunch anything. So I found some paper to slip under it and dropped him in the toliet and flushed twice. I still had to look under the seat when I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, though!

And this concludes our roach fiasco! Tune in next time for more excitment in these days of our lives.

I KNEW He Would Be Back!

The night before last I found a huge (HUGE) cockroach in our bathroom. He was being very calm and laying still, not attacking me as I thought he might. I watched him closely as I brushed my teeth and washed up for bed. Then Josh came in and I warned him of where our visitor was so no one would be startled. Josh stopped dead in his tracks and asked why I hadn't killed him yet. But if you recall our last adventure with our friendly house roaches...I don't like to kill things period, but especially roaches because they crunch too much! Who am I to take his life? No one gave me that right! Who is to say that I am better than that roach? Is his life that unimportant that I can take it? They are the ones who have outlived the humans anyway, so he'd just be back AGAIN! I ushered him into a safe spot (for our benefit, not his) and went off to sleep.

Soooooo, I get in the shower this morning. Are you already shaking your heads in horror? Cause I know you know where this is going, and it ain't pretty. Incredibly, ONCE AGAIN with shampoo on my hair I felt something scratchy on MY FOOT. I shook it lightly not yet putting two and two together but then it hit me what it was. All at once I began screaming, wiping shampoo from my eyes and hopping - nay, violently shaking - my leg. Now, the really terrifying part is that our master bath shower is a stall with no ledges to escape to, no "back" to run to, and has a grate over the drain so as to prevent roaches from climbing up the drain into the shower while you are bathing and subsequently...they can't go down it either.

The story ends here my friends. There is no hero to rescue me (he was in the other shower and didn't have a clue of his pregnant wife's potential heart attack), and no killing of God's creature. He quickly found the shower curtain and high tailed it out of the shower with his tail tucked between his legs. I grabbed the tissue boutique that is kept on the back of the toliet and stuck it on top of him as a trap so I could finish with some sort of peace of mind that I was alone. AND, we are leaving for grandma's this afternoon...with that sucker still in there. I feel it is only right that if I am going to do him the favor of not ending his nasty little life, that he at least owes me to sit in timeout for the weekend. Blech!!!

This Ain't Your Mama's Stair Stepper!

This guy from a neighboring office just ran up 45 flights of stairs TWICE. He was in workout clothes and had water so I guess he just decided to exercise "real quick" this afternoon. As he went by our door (panting) he said "the first ten are the hardest!"...uh, yeah...and how about the next 35?! What a loon! I'll stick to my prenatal yoga (that I will be starting aaannnnyy day now...)

It seems like it has been too long since my fingers have trickled over the keyboard with a story or something fun to share. I guess I could say that I have been uninspired lately, and nothing has been deemed good enough to grace my blog. Ofcourse, that would imply that any other thing I've written here is worthy of everyone reading it. Which that may not be the case if you don't care to hear about baby updates, gardening, family and other special tidbits in my life. Anyway, I digress...so here I sit uninspired and wondering when the fog will clear.

I can say that I have been supremely disenchanted with work. That is to say moreso than usual. I have become a telemarketer/client phone call diffuser. And if you know me well then you'll understand how much rude telemarketers and rude clients hurt my feelings. That's all I have to say about that.

Baby is great! I guess...for as much as I can tell from the outside. Maybe it's Baby's fault that I've been so "uninspired" lately! Maybe it's the hormones! These days it's ok to blame everything on the hormones--"I can't clean the kitchen cause the homones won't let me!!" Now, that's a good one! So, Baby can yawn now. His nerves are being coated with myelin which will speed messages from nerve cell to nerve cell. And Baby may start hiccuping as the muscles in his lungs practice breathing motions. Baby is also making momma very tired so I guess we are going into a gowth spurt.

Here is a fun picture to leave you with. We saw a squirrel relaxing in our tree laying almost vertical! Must be a nice spot cause he stayed there for a long while. Have a nice week, all!