98 Days to Go!

I'm exactly 26 weeks today, 6 1/2 months and only 98 days left. Time is flying by. Before I know it Tru will be here. We are so excited for him to enter the world and meet him. Other than the five weeks of bad morning sickness, in my first trimester, my pregnancy has been great and easy, so far.

I have to admit it took a little bit to get used to a growing stomach and not being able to control it. So far I've gained 15 pounds. Yikes! i felt like that was a lot but my widwife said that is normal. 

Tru is the size of a 15in cucumber and weighs around 2.2 lbs. my uterus is already the size of a watermelon, which is crazy to think. He can hear and recognize our voices already. It is louder than a vacuum inside my womb. His taste buds are developing already and he inhales and exhales amniotic fluid to help with the development of his lungs. He has doubled in weight and size in the past four weeks and I feel like I have to. :-) 

So far.....my rings still fit and are not tight yet. I haven't had to wear pregnancy clothes yet. I only have a couple pair of jeans that still fit, mainly because they are low rise jeans :-). I still work out and am able to do most of the same workouts as before (other than any high impact, running or ab workouts). I do modify things so don't worry. But I feel better when I work out and I know it's healthy. I do eat more often than before and the only thing I really crave is sweets, but that's not unusual for me :-). I feel him move everyday but not a lot because my placenta is in the front and acts as a cushion. I do feel him the most in the evening. Yesterday was an unusual day because I felt him throughout the entire day and it made me feel so much better. I love when I feel him because it makes me think he's okay and safe in there. 

Life has been crazy and hectic with all the different businesses and buying our first and remodeling it. What started out as just wanting to do new paint and floors has turned in to a budgeted house remodeling. Thankfully Chet has turned this into his full time job right now and is devoting crazy hours each do to get the house where it needs to be. I can't wait for it to be done, move in and start working on the nursery! I look forward to nesting before baby Tru enters the world!!

Our Life and Such....

Well our life has been crazy. I took a leave of absence from teaching at Marion School and started working full time for my father in law and our storage units. After Shane died we wanted to do something, as a family, to honor him. So we started a company, Truman Investments, and together we bought a four plex and storage units. Every time I go to either place I think of Shane and I know Rick, Mary and the boys do too. I think Shane would be proud. We've all become closer together through this and are getting along so well. We are in the process of re naming the storage units to Truman Storage, which is after Shane Truman Todd. John and a Jordan made the logo and used a rugby photo of Shane reaching up trying to get the ball. They did a great job on the logo! Here are a couple of photos of each place. We thank you Shane!

Now on to the next part of what's going on with the Todd family......

A couple of weeks ago we had a crew of 48 Hours, including Peter Van Sant, stay at the B&B for five days and film us. They interviewed Rick, Mary and the boys. They've already gone to DC twice and LA once. They will be airing this in August or September. 

Chet and I had the chance to go with Rick and Mary to DC for a couple of days. We met with Senator Tester, Senator Baucus and Congressmen Wolf. It was a very successful trip and I'm so blessed we were able to go. 

Rick and Mary leave for Singapore very soon and will be there for a while. Chet, Dyl, John and I will be going as well for different periods of time. The reason we're going to Singapore is for the coroner's inquest. I pray it goes well and that justice will be served. Please keep us in your prayers!

Word's Can't Explain

The past six days have been the worst days of my life. On Sunday morning, 15 minutes before serving breakfast for our guests at the B&B, we find out my brother-in-law, Shane, who was only 31 years old had died. His girlfriend, Shirley, called Mary with this horrible and horrendous news. We were in complete shock and still are. Chet, John and Dylan quickly left to meet Granna and Mary at the lake house. I stayed back, tried pulling myself back together and served breakfast, and it was not easy. Mary, John and Dylan took the next flight to Denver to meet up with Rick, which they had to tell him the news over the phone. They then flew to LAX and the next day were on a flight to Narita and then to Singapore to figure out what happened. I write this on Friday and they are still in Singapore working with the CIA, FBI, police and Embassy. They have been having a very very hard time trying to deal with everything and bringing the body back to California. Shirley has been with them every step of the way. But a miracle did happen, and Shirley was able to get a visa for three weeks to come to the States and be with us. I so look forward to meeting her and being with the Todd family. I’m blessed beyond measure for marrying into the Todd family. I feel like John and Dylan are my brothers, not just brothers-in-law and I feel like Rick and Mary are my parents. I love them all dearly.

Words can’t even begin to explain the pain we all feel, and I know it’s SO much harder for my husband, Dylan, John and especially Rick and Mary. But I’m certain God’s glory will prevail and there with be good brought out of this horrific time in our lives. This is one of the worst things and no one should ever have to go through something like this. And of course you never think it’s going to happen to your family. Shane was an amazing man. He was extremely intelligent, athletic, smart, funny, sweet, good sense of humor, thoughtful and we loved him so much. This all happened two days before Dylan’s 21^st birthday and Shane was supposed to be flying to Montana and moving home in just a week, July 1^st. I ask the Lord how can this happen? What happened? Will we ever have our questions answered? But we do know Shane is in heaven with our heavenly Father and we look forward to the day we get to see him again! Shane we love you so much and you will be forever missed. You will always hold that very special place in my heart and the rest of your family.

Chet decided to stay back with Granna and I at the B&B and hold down the fort. Although, he did want to be with the rest of his family, in Singapore, so badly. We had been so extremely busy at the B&B that I felt like a chicken with my head cut off. Trying to get everything ready for leaving and still having so many guests was a little too much, but God brought us through it. The Todd’s have a dear friend, Andy, who called us the day we found out Shane went to be with the Lord who wanted to take over the B&B for us so we can be with the family in California. Chet was picking him up from the airport two days later. We trained him for two days, I planned everything to the T, baked as mush as I could and handed the B&B over to Andy and Judy who are our lifesavers. Once Andy leaves Judy and Michelle will be taking over the B&B and they are also an answer to prayer. We wouldn’t have been able to leave this busy time with the B&B and go to California if it weren’t for the three of them! We thank them SO very much for helping us. We will be forever grateful for them! Now Chet and I are on a flight to Denver and we pray we make the second flight or else we have to fly to San Diego. I think we will be able to process and accept this more once we get to California and are not on survival mode with the B&B.

We thank everyone for his or her prayers. It’s what has gotten us through the past six days. We ask you continue to pray for the entire Todd family.

Here's Shane's Service.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_jWRwtiJ5c

Our two-day adventure getting home to Montana

So we flew to Israel out of LAX. We got back to California on a Monday and were planning on flying home Thursday on stand-by. Well Thursday changed and looked bad so we switched to Friday. Friday morning we checked the loads and it changed yet again and we would have gotten stuck in Denver for possibly two days so we then decided to wait until Sunday. So we had been staying at my dad and ems for six days and decided to try for Sunday, Easter day! Which was a huge bummer but it was our only option. We made our first flight out of LAX to Denver. We ended up getting bumped off four flights and staying in the airport for ten hours trying to fly anywhere to get to Kalispell. We looked into taking a greyhound bus from Denver to Kalispell –bad idea. It would have taken 20 hours and cost $200. We searched about fourteen airports and our only option at 10pm at night was to fly to Idaho Falls. We made the flight and landed in Idaho at midnight. We had to find a hotel and I kept calling several to try and get the best deal. They had to pick us up because the rental company wanted $260 to rent a car for one day and we booked ours online for $112 but had to wait until the next day to get it. Thankfully, the hotel was nice and clean. But neither of us got a good nights rest, because I was sick. And doing all this when you have the head cold is not fun at all. So we get to our hotel very late, stay the night and the next morning they take us back to the airport to get a one-day rental car and drive 7 hours to Kaispell. Crazy, huh? The trip ended up being 9 hours, because we had to go to the Kalispell airport to get our bags, grocery shop and get Mary’s car. It was such a LONG two days and it made me not want to fly stand-by for a while, or at least never again on a holiday. I recommend to NEVER fly stand-by on any major holidays. Or else you might end up with a story like ours. But in the end we made it home, even though it took us two days and cost a lot more. And we’re healthy, alive and together!

Israel….The Trip of A Lifetime

Chet and I had the privilege to go to Israel with my family: Dad, Em, Court, Nick, Christian and Lexi. It was a 12 day trip and we loved every minute of it. The two flights totaled in about seventeen hours and it took about a full day to get there with getting to the airport and our layover. We flew into Tel-Aviv and stayed one night. There was two buses and about 80 people or so on the trip. The second day we drove to the Dead Sea region and spent the next three nights there. The Dead Sea is 38% salt compared to the Pacific Ocean only 7%. It was so awesome floating in the water. One day we drove further down to the southern tip of Israel to Eilat, the Red Sea. We took a long boat ride, swam in the sea, had lunch and got to see the area where Moses parted the red sea. Another day we went to the biggest air force base in Israel. It was awesome! We also went to Masad, En-Gedi and Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and re-written.

Then we journeyed on over to the Jerusalem region for the next three days and it was amazing! All of our hotels were great! We went everywhere in Jerusalem: Mount Zion, temple mount, mount of olives, the pathway of Passover Sunday, Garden of Gethsemane, southern steps, western wall, through tunnels underneath the city, pool of Bezetha, Via Del Aroso, city of David, Church of all Nations, Holy Sepulcher Church, Garden Tomb, Mt Moriah, and on our last day in Jerusalem we went to the exact spot on the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.

Lastly we went further north into the Sea of Galilee region and stayed in Tiberias. 2/3 of Jesus’ ministry was spent in Sea of Galilee. We went to Bet-Shien. Here we took a boat ride and saw how Jesus would have fished, saw a two thousand year old boat they found and restored, went to Caesarea Philippi (temple of pan), saw a gorgeous waterfall, Capernaum, mount of beatitudes, Golan Heights, Mount precipice, Megiddo, Jezreal Valley, Mount Carmel, and Caesarea.

Going to Israel has opened my eyes. It has caused me to read the Bible differently and understand it so much more. It feels like the Bible is alive.

The Time Has Come to Share my Crochet Projects

I’ve come to the conclusion that I love crocheting and now it’s time to share my stuff. I’ve learned a lot in the past several months and have crocheted adult beanies, all sorts of baby beanies, headbands with crocheted flowers, baby sweaters, baby booties, baby diaper cover, different flowers to put in your hair, circular blanket, scarves and baby blankets. And I love buttons!!! I’ve found the cutest buttons to finish off my projects and it adds so much.

Now if you’re having a baby or need that one special gift for someone you know that is expecting, then this is the perfect gift. It’s a great first outfit to bring your baby home from the hospital in. The baby set is $50, plus shipping. It takes me five hours total to make the entire set, not including materials. You can choose between baby blue, pink or brown. The brown can be used for a boy or girl. (The blue has cute sail boat buttons, but I can do wooden buttons as well. The pink set has adorable dark pink crystal buttons and the brown one has natural wooden buttons). The size is 0 to 3 months. I sew the buttons on very well, so don’t worry about your baby being able to rip them off. In the picture, the beanie has the end of it flipped up, but you can pull it down if you want it longer.

And if you’re not interested in the baby set I have a woman’s beanie with a double flower and button. The beanie can come in the neutral tan color with the tan flower or the green beanie with the tan flower (just like the picture). The beanie is $20, plus shipping.

The pictures you see here is what I’m selling. If you’re interested just email me at corynnetodd@gmail.com and we can go from there. If you'd like to see more pictures before deciding just email me and I can send you more.

Christmas in Texas

If you read my previous blog you would know that it was a COMPLETE miracle Chet and I made our flights out to Texas. Mom and Ron picked us up at the airport and it was soooo great to see them and Chloe. Of course Chloe came to pick us up too! I hadn’t seen Chloe since mom’s 50^th birthday in August and man did I miss her. The weather was amazing and warm all week. We took Chloe on walks almost everyday and she was in doggy heaven.

Wednesday they surprised me and said we were meeting Megan and Cody for lunch, but it ended up being the Cross family (family I nannied for while I was in Texas. I hadn’t seen them since I moved to Montana in the beginning of February). I was so excited and we had a great time at lunch. That night they made us a delicious dinner and it was a great night. Thursday we picked Haleigh and Chris up at the airport and had another yummy dinner at home. Friday mom, Haleigh and I had a girl day and did a little shopping, had lunch and mom treated us to pedicures! It was a perfect day again. We met back up with the boys and met Court and Nick at Joe T’s for dinner. The BEST Mexican food!!!!!! I hadn’t seen Court for about 5 weeks or so and it was amazing having everybody together! I just wished it happened more often. We’re all spread out between four states and it makes it so difficult to all be together at the same time, but this was one of them! I savored every minute with the family. My prayer is that one day we will all be within driving distance from each other.

Friday night we had game night at home and it was so much fun. We pretty much played games every night, I think. Saturday we had another delicious breakfast and celebrated Christmas!!!!! It was so much fun, and mom and Ron spoiled us way too much. I made court her birthday gifts and mom and courts Christmas gifts (crocheted headband, crocheted ear warmer headband, crocheted scarf, sewed 2 aprons, and crocheted pot warmers). Everybody loved their gifts! And we went to railhead in the afternoon. Saturday night mom and Ron had a New Years Eve party and it was another GREAT night! We ate, drank, mingled and danced with family and friends into the New Year. What better way than that? Nothing.

Sunday we relaxed, ate some more and had a small get together and ate a delicious turkey dinner! And of course played more board games and laughed a ton.

Then Monday came around and Court and Nick left, we packed our bags and had a 4pm flight. The flight didn’t look good and we weren’t sure if we were both going to make it. Well… Chet got the last ticket and there were no spots left for me, but I waited until the very end when everyone boarded and a family of four checked in, but didn’t show up to the gate so thankfully I made the flight at the last minute. God performed another miracle for us! He is soooo good! The bummer was mom, Chris & Haleigh didn’t make the movie because they kept waiting to see if I made the flight or not. But now were on the flight heading home to take over the B&B from Mary and host 5 guests. Our Christmas in Texas trip was absolutely amazing and couldn’t have been any better! Thank you mom and Ron for EVERYTHING! We’re unbelievable blessed by you guys. It was a Christmas we’ll never forget!