MERRY CHRISTMAS

We've been getting snow pretty much every day since Cash was born - gotta love a beautiful, white Christmas!

A day late, but heart felt just the same....MERRY CHRISTMAS! We hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas. Ours was quite low key and enjoyable. JW came up to the house and we opened lots of presents, watched "Iron Man" (what a great movie!) and had a nice Christmas dinner.....

Cash got a bath for Christmas and then proceeded to sleep through most of the day, which made for a fun night. Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts!!!!!

Mika has become quite the mother since Cash has come home - she runs to him anytime he lets out the tiniest peep and can't let him be in a room without her. It's really funny....Windsor and Wesley aren't all that phased by Cash....I am thinking that they are pretty much oblivious to most things as long as they maintain the same amount of attention!

Grandma and Grandpa Hobbs' first visit

I have been slacking a little bit on the pictures and blog. The problem is, we have SO MANY pictures that I haven't gotten them all straightened out yet! My folks were able to come out on Friday (the 19th) to spend the weekend with all of us. Brent and I were both so thankful to have someone around to help out with the 'little things', including Cash. Of course, as new parents, we had a few questions for Mom and Dad! We had a good time enjoying family (and good food from Mom) and were sad that they couldn't stay longer. We're hoping to make a little journey West soon so that we can introduce Cash to the rest of the family. Thanks again Mom and Dad!

Cash's first week

Cash couldn't be doing better and neither could we! We are so happy and excited to finally have him here. He had his first weigh in yesterday....he weighed 8 lbs 2 oz at birth and is down to 7 lb 13 oz. The doc said that's normal, but that he looked very healthy and figured he'd be back to birth weight in under 2 weeks. Sweet, back to fighting weight! :) Another appointment with the doctor today for his one week checkup. We have probably gotten a total of a foot or so of snow in the past few days and it's still snowing. I gotta say, this is the best time to have a baby - Cash and I are just holed up here at home, watching the snow fly! A few trips to town here and there keep us 'in the loop', but I don't think we need to go to town to realize that once the snow hits, everyone goes back to their California roots and lose all sense of what it means to drive in Montana!

Cash loves his Daddy!!!

Cash James Olson

Well, here he is! Turns out Amy really was pregnant afer all. She was beginning to doubt that there was actually a kid in there. That all changed, as did the rest of our lives yesterday at 5:57 p.m. when our "little" miracle came along.

Of course "little" is an opinion that might not have been shared by Amy at the time, but she was a miracle herself when she brought our child into the world. All in all, it was a very exciting day. The first two and a half hours were long and were not very much fun. Amy had some serious "back labor" she decided that an epidural was in order to ease her pain... THANK GOD!!! After the epidural was delivered, things went much more smoothly and rest of the day was very enjoyable. Amy was fully dilated by about 5 o'clock and her time to shine kicked into high gear.

An hour later, our baby was here and our Midwife Nancy hid its "cash and prizes" from us so our dear friend Lisa could get the video camera rolling. Lights, camera, action... IT'S A BOY!!! She kept Cash's identity hidden from us until the last second and she let us see for ourselves the incredible miracle God had given us. We are so, so thankful for our healthy boy, our family, and all of our friends who helped us to realize this amazing event that we will never forget.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife who has fulfilled my life and showed me what it truly means to be strong. I Love You, Amy!!!

3's stuck in there

We had our last doctor's appointment yesterday. Our midwife said that there is NO way the baby could get any lower without coming out - she said she was surprised that I'm not in labor already. That means nothing when it comes to labor though....we made it through the night with nothing happening. If 3 doesn't come on his/her own, we're actually going to have to be induced. I thought for sure that just scheduling to induce was going to scare this little baby right out of there. What do you do? I'm home today - decided to take a day off before the show starts. I have no intention of even changing out of my pajamas! Wish us luck, we're definitely going to have a baby by the end of the week. Seems like just yesterday we were trying to decide if we were actually looking at 2 lines or 1...."What do the instructions say about lines? What do they constitute as an ACTUAL line? Okay, that's a line....let's try another test and see what that one says". Then 5 months of throwing up water and it was time to start growing. Now, we've got our little hospital bag packed and I walk around with my hands on my back and groan all the time. Ah, the joys of pregnancy!





Brent took these photos last night in hopes of them being the last pregnant pictures - we thought for sure we'd be making a hospital run....they're still going to be the last pregnant pictures, there's no way that I could possibly grow that much more by tomorrow morning! Keep watching - the next photos will be of 3!!!! FINALLY!!!!

This one's for you, Jen!

No baby yet! I'm still working, I plan to work through tomorrow (Tues), then take Wednesday off and we are supposed to be induced on Thursday morning at 8 am. I'm still feeling good - just getting anxious to see what Brent and I have created! We went through about 5 hours of 'false, back labor' on Saturday, didn't seem all that 'false' to me. We packed our bags, showered and were ready to roll, but all contractions pretty much stopped sometime around midnight. Darn....just a teaser! At least we know something's actually happening and now we're officially packed and ready. Way to procrastinate, huh?!

Sorry I missed your call Jen! I wish I could call you back, but those darn international numbers just aren't callback savvy - I tried redialing the number that came in, but to no avail. If you get a chance, email me and let me know how I can call you! :) Germany....sheesh. I've been in the back, burning dirt, so just missed you. Nobody worry....I'm still here and the baby's not going anywhere!

3 FYI

Here it is....D-Day....and I'm sitting at work (I'm on break - 15 minutes every 2 hours, or is it every 4?) adding this post to the blog. This would indicate no baby. We had an appointment yesterday and 3 is doing just fine, loving life in there with a nice strong heartbeat to go along with it's nice strong kicks. We talked about inducing and came to this conclusion: if 3 doesn't come out on his/her own, then we will be inducing next Thursday (the 18th) at 8 am, it has officially been scheduled. I am really hoping that 3 just decides to come out because it just seems too weird to 'pick' the day that your baby is going to be born. However, the labor is said to be a little less intense....toughie. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't have to wait until next week - I'm getting short on clothes that fit and am probably getting short on 'good attitude' now that I've started my 10th month of pregnancy. I told Brent this morning that I'm getting closer to the gestation period of a horse than I am a human....he said maybe I'd have a foal. Then we got to thinking that maybe a pig would be better (they're only pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days), but in the end you'd have to give birth to 14 little ones....I'll just stick this one out and try not to think of myself as a 700 + pound farm animal! :)

Nothing yet....

No baby yet....don't worry, we promise to call/text everyone as soon as things start happening - actually, if it's the middle of the night we won't wake you with our news, we'll wait until morning at least!

We haven't been doing much of anything. We went to the Griz game this weekend. We had a great time and did some jumping around (in hopes of bringing this baby into the world a few days early). Today we set up the weight machine downstairs. I'm super excited - I'm hoping it will give me that little boost of motivation that I'm going to need post baby. It's way too easy to not drive to town to go to the gym....harder to say no to a decent workout when all you have to do is go down the stairs. I'll keep you posted on that one - this could be just wishful thinking!

Well....everyone, keep your fingers crossed that the baby comes by Wednesday - we don't want to be 'overdue'! Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this baby will come late.....I don't know why I think that.....guess I just feel like that's my luck. But really, what's another couple days after you've been baking a baby for 9 months?!?! We double promise to keep everyone posted - the very latest that my midwife said she'd let me go to would be December 20th. YOU WILL HEAR SOMETHING BY THE 20TH (or I'll go crazy)!!!!! :)

Three's Ultrasounds

These are some ultrasound pictures that I finally got scanned into the computer. You won't believe it, but Brent and I enjoyed a day of shopping on Black Friday! No fights or anything. We were able to pick up a new printer that prints pictures and scans....I'm sure we're way behind the times, but we're pretty excited about this one. We also picked up a video camera - yep, we're filming the whole birth and we're going to post it online for everyone to enjoy.....JUST KIDDING!!! This camera was a belated wedding gift from Brent's folks. In all reality, it was only belated because Brent and I kept putting off our shopping, but finally got to town and made the big purchase.

The ultrasound on the bottom was the very first ultrasound....Three is 11 weeks here. The one on the top is from 20 weeks....a good look at the little legs! The other ultrasound pics that we have are next to impossible to decipher, so I left them out. Enjoy!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

We stacked up all of the dog beds this morning....looks like Mika wanted to make sure she got a good one - wonder where the other two are going to sleep tonight?! You would think that she was the one that ate all the turkey at Thanksgiving. She was in bed by 7:30!

Here's the spread - pies first!!!

Isn't it amazing how you can cook all day long and then it's all gone (for the most part) in less than an hour?!

Belly comparisons - looks like someone had too much pie! :)

We hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!!! We definitely enjoyed ours! :) Missed being with more family (JW made it up to help put the hurt on our 20 pound turkey).

Are we there yet?! 14 days and counting....

Pics from the Cat/Griz game....what a blast!

These are my favorite pics - Brent and his 'driving gloves'....I swear he drives better when he wears them!! Ha, ha, ha....I have to say I had never, ever heard of such a thing. He says that you wear them when you're driving so that your hands don't get cold. Hmmmm....last time I checked all of our vehicles have heat - guess he grew up in North Dakota with no heaters?!

Ah yes....the belly - I know it's not the best view, but I can't get it to turn, so you'll just have to turn your head to get a good look at the ol' thing!

BIRD'S EYE VIEW.....NO TOES!!!! :(

Here's some of the room pictures. As you may notice, there are no handles on the dresser. Yes, pregnancy has only enhanced my laziness. It is full of clothes though and they have all been washed, so I haven't been a complete slacker.

We are planning to go to the playoff game this Saturday, but I suppose that will depend on Three. While grinding meat at Mike & Trina's house last night, it was cleverly pointed out that this baby will most likely make it's entrance on December 3rd. We'll see! I know one thing for sure - there's no more room in there for baby growth!

I have a feeling that this room is going to get moved around a few more times before it's all said and done. The dresser/changer finally arrived today and Brent surprised me by coming home from work early and setting the whole thing up, not to mention a wonderful meatloaf ready and waiting for me when I got home. What a great man! I couldn't have asked for better!

Pre bedtime update:

Three has officially had the hiccups for the past 5 minutes....it's the funniest feeling ever! Brent is off playing hockey. Turns out the team has had a few injuries: broken nose (I'm pretty sure that's what I heard), stitches and a bad knee or back or something from Miotke. Well, Brent has bravely taken up his skates and stick and has become the sub for the night (and probably many to come). Let's all pray that he comes home with everything in the same shape that it left in! Oh, and so much for having dog beds - Windsor has decided that our bed will be his for the night...hmmm....not going to fly. His last babysitters said that he only gets on the bed when asked.....boy was he pulling the wool over their eyes! Sneaky. Aren't 12 year old dogs supposed to be getting to the point where arthritis is setting in and they can't JUMP on beds? I'm thinking that Brent has his dog ages mixed up because that dog is as healthy as a horse and as far as I can tell, has no problem with jumping! :)

That's all she wrote...

And that's it....hunting season has now come to a close for this family! This is a picture of Brent's bull from this morning. I'm sure when he gets home we'll have a few more to add and maybe even a story or two. Oh, and Dad got his big whitetail in Canada yesterday....hopefully we'll get a few pics of that posted when he gets home too!!! :)

Pics

No, I'm not a liar - pictures are just delayed at the moment! The baby room is finished as of last night (minus the handles for the dresser drawers, I'll put those on tonight), but it was officially done at 9:30 pm and this pregnant lady's bedtime is about 9 pm after working my 10 hour days - I only do this so that I can get my work week over with faster, I really just like to be lazy at the end of the week! Plus, Brent had everything all packed up and ready to roll for his hunting trip....he's leaving straight from work today.....and 'everything' included our one and only camera! He'll be home Friday and there will be pictures by the weekend, don't you worry!

I have to say that I'm very excited about how well the baby room turned out. Everything fits nicely and I like to think that I have it organized 'just right' for mom, dad and baby. However, since I know nothing about babies, it may have to be revamped come Three's arrival. We'll see what happens.....maybe my motherly instincts kicked in early?!?

Season's End

I thought I'd better just throw in a few comments regarding hunting season before it is all said and done. I think that most everybody knows that my Dad shot a nice bull elk last month in WA - unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but if you click here you can go to my brother and sister in laws blog to see the pictures that they have posted. Currently, he and his cousin Bert are hunting big whitetails in Canada. They had a 10 day hunt, no word yet, but I'll post information as soon as I hear! Oh, and last, but not least.....Brent is headed out for one last elk hunt with Jeremy in Bozeman this week. It sounds like this is it - a day of hunting Thursday and a Friday morning if needed. It sure would be nice to have some elk in the freezer (deer and antelope start to get old after awhile), but it's not like we're going to starve! He swears that he's pulling out the stops on this trip....cow or bull, he's hoping to come home with something. Wish him luck! :)

Baby update: as of my appointment last week the baby is officially head down and straight as an arrow - ready to come on out! Yikes! We're not ready, we haven't even put ALL the clothes away yet, I swear this baby has more clothes than Brent and I combined - spoiled before arrival. Probably a good thing. The plan is to finish the baby room tonight....I've been having contractions as of last week, nothing big, just practice for the big day. As my mom said, "Amy, you tried to throw up that baby for 5 months, I think that it has a pretty good hold in there!" - something like that - either way, tomorrow marks the official 37th week. This means that, technically, the baby is full term and can come anytime (you hear that Three?). I'll post some pictures later tonight of the baby room and the baby belly!!!

Big Jim

I finally got this picture today....figured we'd better get a picture of Dad with his buck!

North Dakota: more than just pheasants and flat roads!

Brent was extra excited to be able to have one last hunt with his Dad this year on his Dad's land in North Dakota, drawing this out of state tag will likely never happen again (Brent's pretty lucky sometimes, ya never know). After the first day of hunting I got the report that they had seen about 6 bucks and were going to go after them the next day....my response was, isn't it opening day, why wait? Turns out Brent and his Dad have a much more laid back personality than mine! Their plan worked out just fine, the second day of hunting brought these bucks out of the woodwork for the boys. Brent says that this is probably the biggest whitetail that he's shot (top photo). I've got to say, they're both (Jim's, bottom photo) a whole lot bigger than mine! Well done boys!!



I know that some of you out there might be getting sick of all of the hunting blog posts, but don't you worry, there's a baby on the way and soon you'll be sick of seeing baby pictures too. Guess our lives are pretty mellow....hunting and baby. Maybe we should find a new hobby?! With any luck Brent will be able to play hockey this season, so we should have some good entries from that as well.


Brief, first dating story:


I went to the hockey rink to watch Brent play for probably the first time since we had begun dating. I sat right next to the glass, just to the side of the goalie, by myself. I saw Brent skating around the back side of the goal and watched as some big man from the other team brought his stick right down across Brent's arm - which I later learned is called 'slashing' (I think that's right...). The second that this happened Brent exchanged choice words with the man and tells me later that all he wanted to do was take the man out, but worried that I would think he was some sort of macho man brute, so ended up letting the guy have it with his 'choice words' - which I won't include as a quote - then he skated away. What he didn't see (or hear) was me standing up on the bleacher seat yelling at him to take the guy out! Turns out there's no fighting in this hockey league...oops. I'm sure that all of the wives, girlfriends, friends and children that were there to watch the rest of the team play (without 'taking anyone out') were more than impressed with me and my antics! Sometimes I can't belive that he still married me. :)

Big doe, wait....Big Buck Down!

4:00 pm: Long johns, coats, tags, binos, boots, gun, oh....and bullets, lots of 'em. Check.

4:05: Pull into hunting spot, chat with land owner, lace up boots for long hike.

4:10: Long hike over, first shot.

4:12: Second shot.

4:12:30: Third shot hits!

4:30: Dragging deer to truck.

4:35: Chat with landowner, drive to JW's to hang deer.

5:30: Deer hung, skinned and headed home.

6:30: Clothes washed, pajamas on, eating dinner and watching football.

Ah, yet another hard hunt for the pregnant lady! (yes, this is a buck, you have to look close to find the tiny little nubbins!)

Tagged....Round Two

Okay, I have been tagged again.....with this tag I am instructed to list 6 things that people probably don't know about me and are super interested to find out. I think this one might surprise a person or two....we'll see....keep reading! :)

1. I HATE ketchup. Yep, I think I ate too much as a kid. I'll eat a tomato no problem, but the ketchup bottle is Brent's domain.

2. I have more nicknames than one girl needs. Seems that everywhere I go I pick up a new one....I'll list what I can remember and feel free to add any that I forget (I won't count being called by my last name for the past 10 years, I swear nobody ever knew my first name!)
- Shorty
- Stumpy
- Boots
- Wildthing
- Rowdy
- Hobbies
- Tater
- AEOSpeedwagon (thanks to marriage)
- Brat
- Hoover (I was a catcher in high school, no ball got past me! I know, it's not the greatest nickname to have during your 'developmental years'...)
- Calvin
- Skip
- Beetle
- A2
- Preggers (this one will not be missed once Three arrives!)
I'm sure there are more....

3. I have always wanted to have a desk job. Having my own desk seems like such a big deal; I could have my own little coffee cup, a picture of my family and animals, listen to my radio, have all kinds of organized folders and drawers and I could wear snow boots to work and tuck them under my desk where I would switch to my cute work shoes in the winter. Yeah, I know, probably will never happen and I question just how happy I would be with the work - you never know though, the desk alone may cure me of all other needs and wants in life!

4. I hate it when someone asks me to get an itch for them (on their skin, not so much through clothes). For some reason I am completely grossed out by the idea of getting dead skin cells stuck under my fingernails....this must be the underlying reasoning for ALWAYS having short, short, short fingernails! I will give out the complementary scratch, but immediately afterwards I will run my nails across my jeans (or whatever material is handy) to get the 'gunk' out. Weird, I know.

5. I am planning to train for a triathlon. I volunteered at one in September at Frenchtown pond and was ready to start training, but Three wasn't as ready as I was, so I'll hold out for just a little bit longer.

6. I am the worst driver ever (some of you may already know this....Brent is reminded once or twice a week when he lets me drive in town). I hate driving in traffic and find that I am constantly reminding myself to calm down and quit cussing. I drive too fast and only drive faster when I'm mad (which is usually everytime I drive)....I have yet to get a speeding ticket after being pulled over multiple times and no, this isn't from crying or using any other type of 'pitiful girl' tactics....I just don't get tickets. I'm knocking on wood as I type. **one hand on bible, one in the air** I, Amy Olson, do solemnly swear, to be a more cautious and calm driver for the rest of this pregnancy (41 days and counting) and double that for when Three arrives!

So now is where I tag someone else....and now would also be a good time for someone else that I know to start up a blog! Maybe if Heather's sister reads this she can do it. I know that Uncle Dave has a blog....if he's not too busy, maybe he can throw a few answers out.

Opening day of elk season

A successful hunting trip on more than one note! Jamie, Jason, Jeff and Joe all came out of camp with elk. Don't know what happened with the other J, but Brent was destined not to get an elk at the J camp this year! J's are bad news, right Brent?! :)

Brent and JW both had lots of laughs....not to mention that JW came home $34 richer. All in all not a bad opening weekend, well done boys! Brent will be going to North Dakota to hunt white tail with his Dad in a few weekends and then plans another elk hunt on the return trip in Bozeman. Oh, and Brent and I are going to take our rifles for a hike behind the house this Sunday and see if we can't find a doe that wants to go in our freezer. Lots of hunting season left!!!

The Big Loper Hunt of '08

Well, here it is - the weekend we had all been waiting for. Turns out my amazing paper shooting skills did nothing for the actual hunt. Like I told Brent, anyone can hit paper, but when it comes to hitting an animal.....hmmm....Brent's got it down though!

Everything said and done, we managed to come out of Big Sandy with 2 antelope in the cooler. JW had promised me a 1/2 mile hike with a nice easy shot and boy did he come through. The only problem was that I didn't come through on my end of the deal....killing an antelope Sunday morning. I was not able to lay on my belly to shoot (which would've been nice, given the situation) so we watched the antelope COLONY - no joke, there was at least 70 + lopers - move from 30 yards to 75 and further. After I had somewhat calmed down and laid my rifle over JW's back to help steady it, the first shot of the season rang out. BANG! Nothin'....damn. I'll blame it on JW. I used his back as a rest and I'm pretty sure that he was breathing too hard, or was that me?! I was so excited and nervous!

The race was on....antelope running everywhere, a little cussing and packing up for the long haul. As we crested a hill we noticed that the herd had sent out a "satellite doe" to check on the whereabouts of the humans with the guns. That little doe is now in our freezer thanks to Brent's pinpoint accuracy. The weekend continued with more hiking and another shot from the old 270 and yet another miss. By Monday afternoon we had officially turned our 1/2 mile hike into a 10 mile death march. The cold had set in and I'm pretty sure that I had pulled every muscle at this point....I thought all that cycling and working out was doing me some good, but I guess I should consider getting my money back, that YMCA is a bunch of liars!

Late Monday afternoon the buck finally went down....I will spare those of you who aren't big into hunting and just tell you that the whole fiasco involved Brent RUNNING down a mountain and up another one, I think it might have been 2. And to think I'm the one that's been training for a marathon, next year it's going to be him. JW and I stood and watched in awe as 2 long legs overtook the mountain in maybe a minute....it was deja vu for me, the day before Brent and I had watched JW do the exact same thing. Oh, what I would give for long legs! The afternoon also involved JW running down a hillside, back up another and going for a free antelope ride. Finally, it all came to an end with the boys hauling out two packs full of meat and me parading off the mountain with the head in hand....I never knew just how bad antelope smell, I couldn't wash my hands enough to get that smell out. We made it home around 12:30 in the morning and then it was back to the daily grind....thank god!

The meat is now cut, ground and in the freezer (with help from our new FoodSaver, our early xmas present to ourselves). I think that I will call it a hunting season and just help process meat from here on out. Here it is, Friday morning, and I still feel like I've already gone through labor....yep, last weekend was the start and the finish of this girl's hunting season. The boys are going to shoot a few pheasants this weekend and then they still have elk and deer coming up so I'm sure we'll have more exciting stories to post!!