New Car

Last Thursday I placed an ad on craigslist and sent out an email to most of my family and friends advertising that my 2005 Scion XA was for sale. I had several inquiries and by Friday afternoon the car was sold! I was really happy that I sold the car to a really nice couple from the north suburbs. I know that they will take care of the car and use it for many years to come. (It made me sad to think of the car being scrapped by a dealership.) The Scion was probably the best car I've had. It was very reliable and great on gas. I literally never had a problem with it. I was sad to see it go, but I know we need something bigger in starting our family. While we could have gotten a car seat in there, there would be no room for anything else. So I sold the car and continued my hunt for a bigger vehicle.

My Blueberry - bye bye

We looked at several cars before making the decision to purchase the Dodge Journey. I was REALLY sold on the Ford Edge and it is a really nice car that I would recommend to anyone. But, the price was more than I wanted to spend. We also test drove a Chrysler Pacifica, which we did not like. We looked at just about every other "crossover" vehicle out there. The Journey seemed to have everything we were looking for - It is a very safe car, has a ton of storage room and a lot of special features that will be great for a growing family. It is a 4 door car. Above the glovebox is a chill compartment to keep things cold. In the back bench seat the left and right seats convert to booster seats automatically. There are storage bins on the floors that serve as coolers as well. The back hatch has a TON of storage space with a hidden storage compartment below the main trunk area. There are luggage racks for traveling and standard features like cruise control. There is an auxillary jack for playing an iPod, etc and it comes with one year of SIRIUS radio. The car comes with a lifetime warranty on the engine and transmission and other great warranties on everything else. It was a good price and fit in out budget. Overall we are happy with the purchase so far.

Baby Smith 15 weeks

We are now at 18 weeks. My last Dr's appointment was at 17 weeks and all was well. We had a chance to listen to the baby's heartbeat which was beating away at 156 beats per minute. It's been nice knowing that we are no longer high-risk. I was hoping for a big energy-surge during the second trimester, but I seem to have remained pretty tired. Other than that, I am feeling really good though. Later this week we have an ultrasound scheduled and we MIGHT be able to find out if we are expecting a boy or a girl!

It has been fun to daydream about the possibility of either. We have talked about ideas for the nursery, names and all the things we might do in the future. Still, it will be exciting once we know who's growing in there - a boy or a girl.

Here are a couple of pictures of me at 15 weeks. I am sure there will be more to come soon!