Ollie and Gertrude

No-Ollie and Gertrude are NOT our number 1 boy and girl names :) They are the names of the ducks who have come to live in our backyard! They are so cute. They started coming around so often that Rusty and I decided to name them. We even discovered an egg they had buried in our mulch! The male duck is very protective of the female and just stands guard while she eats all the little bugs and worms in our yard. There was some action on Saturday when another male duck came to eat in our yard. Ollie ran him off and it was pretty funny! Here are some pics of our ducks...


And apparently, we are popular with the winged animals. Saturday morning I was cleaning up around our front porch and noticed a bunch of grass and brush all over the place! I couldn't figure out what was going on until I followed the path and found this!

So far no eggs, but we are waiting!!

Ok, on to human news. I had a dr.'s appointment this past Thursday. I felt SO much better after the appointment. I love my dr. (that was the first time I had met her). We had a little scare with my insurance (they tried to tell me my dr. was out of network-turned out she is). Before the appointment I was just feeling very unsure and very "un-pregnant". I was so nervous about hearing the heartbeat! I was so afraid she wouldn't be able to find it. We had a stressful minute or so as she tried to locate the heartbeat with no luck. But finally we heard a very faint "thump-thump-thump" and there it was! She let us listen for a long time. We even got to hear the baby's kicking movements! It was just a lot of swooshing sounds, which I assumed was just my stomach making noise, but then she told us it was the baby kicking! So cool! The baby was located way over in the left part of my tummy and very low down. It was funny because I kept thinking for about a week before my appointment that that is where the baby was-just a feeling I had-I couldn't feel any movement, but that is just where I sensed the baby was. And I was right!! So, ever since my appointment, I've been really wondering if the baby has moved and what he/she is doing...is she awake? is he asleep? ON MAY 8th I won't have to say he/she anymore! We get to find out what we are having!! That seems so soon! I'll be 18 1/2 weeks along. I'm so anxious to find out and start preparing! I have a feeling its a girl, but who knows!! I try not to tell that to Rusty too often, he is really hoping for a boy. But of course, we'll be happy with either :)