Update from New York...

Well we are approaching the half way mark for our training. I have been pretty busy here, buss leaves the hotel at 7:30 am and we are at the college until 5:30 each afternoon. Then we usually have some sort of homework for the evening. By the time I eat dinner and finish my homework I am ready for bed. So not a lot of free time here.

I am excited about teaching this class next year...there are lots of neat projects for students to do to help learn the content. Here are some of the things I have been doing.

This is a marble sorter. It takes a bunch of different colored marbles (3 colors) and uses light to sense the color and sort it into the correct bin.




Here is a video of our temperature controlled fan:

Today we made "dog bones" from aluminum and brass, in the machine shop, that we will be using later in the week to test the strength of the material.

I also used Autodesk Inventor to "build" a lego car out of pre-programed parts.


I am doing good, a little tired with the non-stop action, but things are going smoothly. I do miss my little girl and being at home with my family. I will definitely be ready to see her when I get home on Monday. I suppose I better get back to work, just thought I would send out an update.

A Couple of Firsts

This week has marked a couple of firsts in our lives...

Wednesday afternoon, when I picked Madi up from Grammy Cone's, Madi gave me my first hug. I was nuzzling her cheek with my nose and she pressed her face against mine holding it there for a while. Then she released the hold momentarily and then again pressed her cheek against mine but this time she wrapped her arms around my head and held me close for a quite a long time. I am guessing that she was sensing the next big first.

Thursday morning, I left Gillette for a 12 day trip for school to Rochester, New York. So this is the first time Daddy had his little one by himself overnight, which sounds like it was interesting trying to get her to go to sleep without her mommy there to tuck her in. It was sure hard to know that she was missing me and I couldn't be there to help. Hopefully she will adjust soon.

Today is pretty laid back until registration begins about 5:00 eastern time. Then it is off to the races. Class will be from 8-5 every day (including weekends) starting Saturday and running through next Sunday. I leave here Monday morning to head back to Gillette.

Brandon leaves Sunday the 31st to go to California for a few days for a different conference. Luckily my parents agreed to watch Madi in the overlap. However, I won't get to see Brandon for two weeks. This will be the longest we have been apart since we started dating 3 years ago.

So I know I promised belly pics, but I guess those will have to wait until I get back to town. It was decided Monday that I would be going on this trip, and it has been a bit of a crazy week preparing for this last minute.

I suppose I should go put my feet up for a while before our evening session starts tonight...wish me luck.

27 Week Check-Up

I saw my OB yesterday for a check up on baby number two. Things are progressing nicely, she says my weight gain and blood pressure are perfect and that the baby is growing right on schedule.

The office is in the process of switching from the OB performing the ultrasounds, to having technicians performing the ultrasounds, and there has been some confusion. So my OB did a quick ultrasound yesterday just to make sure that she was getting the right information from the scans.

The due date we are officially using is April 12. The scans we did yesterday had us measuring right on the due date we found in our first ultrasound from September. So that bit of confusion has been resolved and we can now say with confidence that our due date is April 12.

After two scans that didn't show any boy parts, we can feel fairly confident in the fact that we are having another girl. So far the name we have chosen is EmmaLea Ruth, although the spelling might change before she arrives. I am getting excited about meeting our Emma. Although life will definitely be a little crazy with two babies 13 months apart. :)

Madison is going to be a great big sister. She is already trying to help out with her cousin Aiden who is 2 months old. Last week she was trying to give her bottle to Aiden while they were at Grammy Cone's house during the day. She is getting closer to walking every day. She can pull herself up on anything, including the wall. She is getting braver about letting go to stand on her own and even tries to take a few steps on her own. She still needs to improve her balance before she will be walking independently.

Well, with today being the 12th, that means that Madi is 10 months old, and three more months until Emma joins our family. I will post some pictures soon. I have belly pictures, ultrasound pictures, among others.