Boy names, hospital trips, and Ellen

Well I've been trying to think of boy names for our little bean. Not so much a little bean anymore - he's over 11 inches now!!! And kicking up a storm in there!! I keep thinking about him as tiny little newborn and I'm so excited to see him and hold him!! I wonder if he's going to be a big baby like Ellen, is he going to take after me or John, will he have blue eyes or brown, will he have hair... oh all kinds of things I can't wait to find out!! But I love Ellen's name and think it's so perfect for her so I want to find just the perfect name for DS too. (That's short for dear son). I'm sure it will come to us eventually - Ellen's didn't come til two weeks before she was born and wasn't for sure hers until we signed the birth certificate!! I've been feeling pretty good, all except my SI joint. My headaches are dwindling, my nausea is all but gone, and my appetite seems to be on it's way back up. Yay!!

My mom had a stroke earlier this week and it has been crazy busy. Thankfully it was a fairly mild stroke and she'll regain most, if not all, of her mobility and ability. She is still in the hospital for inpatient rehab and is doing really well. I spent the first couple nights with her in the hospital - I was really lucky and glad that Ellen has been sleeping through the night so I was able to do that. And I've been watching Ethan this week since Mom and Dad have been at the hospital. Ethan is really good and very laid back as well, so it has gone really well. They even napped at the exact same time both times he was here. It's given me some sort of inkling as to what it will be like when DS is finally here... I know some days will probably be pretty rough, but I think once we get into the groove of it, it will be just peachy. I can't wait!

And Ellen is pulling up on EVERYTHING. The only thing I really have to watch out for is that she'll pull up on things that aren't stable - boxes, toys, and especially her high chair, which is on wheels. She's doing really great and is happy as ever. She's babbling a lot more now and constantly on the move. Her naps have been a little off this week b/c we went to the property last weekend I pushed a nap too far and got her OT. I think we are finally getting back on track. I'm really surprised it took so long.

We bought a property near West, Texas. 10 acres and it has a home already on it that I'm just going to call a cabin. We are going to live there temporarily while we build our permanent home. It will take us a few years to get that house built, and before we move down to start, we have to make the cabin livable. The water heater in it burst and flooded everything so there is a lot of work to be done. John went down yesterday just for a day trip (we didn't go for the weekend b/c of my mom in the hospital) and got the plumbing capped off in all the necessary places so that we can finally turn the water on to the cabin. YAY!! That's a huge accomplishment and relief b/c til now we've only had well water and we've had to run a hose into the house through the window for all our water needs... toilet, dishes, baths, etc. It was a major pain in the you-know-what and I'm so glad we will finally have running water!!!

So far we have spent two weekends down there and we have found one scorpion, one HUGE black widow, and one baby copperhead. Yikes!! I hope once we get situated there all these venomous critters will decide they don't like our company and will relocate!!! I'm not so worried about John or I, more about Ellen and DS when he comes - what could be just painful/hospital trip for us could prove fatal for one of them if we're not careful!! We will just have to be very vigilant and super careful.