Anyone Still Out There???

Not sure if any of you still read my blog... i know i've been a horrible blogger but I am going to try to be better at it (key word being try). Well, so much has happened since i last posted and it would take me months to catch everyone up but the most important thing :

We're Pregnant!!!! :)

I'm currently 19 weeks and due on December 25th, that's right folks...i'm due on Christmas day! I just hope that the baby is a litte early or a little late because i'm afraid growing up they might not enjoy their birthday so much with it being on Christmas. Any of you have a christmas birthday or know someone who does??? How do they feel about it?

So, being that i'm a first time Mommy i thought I would blog about some interesting things that i have learned so far in this pregnancy. For those who alredy are mommies... you will probably laugh at some of these and feel free to give me any pointers! :)

• Bella Band - pretty much the greatest invention ever! If you are not yet pregnant but planning to do so, invest in one (or five) of these
• Bras - I assumed that I would not have to buy a larger bra until closer to the end of my pregnancy...for obvious reasons(sorry if this is an overshare), but that is definitely not the case. For any first time mommies or ladies planning to get pregnant - you will need bigger bras much sooner than the end of your pregnancy
• Sense of Smell - I had never heard of a hightened since of smell, but especially during the first trimester I could smell EVERYTHING. If someone is a smoker and had walked inside after smoking that is ALL i could smell. After cooking dinner i could smell it in the house for the entire next day and ugh don't get me started on public bathrooms!
• Weird dreams - I have had the strangest dreams since i've been pregnant...most of them don't make any since but are weird and i just don't feel well rested. Hopefully those will go away soon.

That is all i can think of for the moment, although i'm sure there is much more to share. I promise not all of my posts will be baby related we are just really excited right now :)

The New Addition!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately guys, work has just been really busy and when I get home after sitting in traffic for an hour and half the last thing I want to do is get back on the computer! lol

Getting back to my post title, we have a new addition to the family ......

This is Lilly :)

She is a black lab mix although we are not sure what she is mixed with. Everyone seems to think she is all lab but we don't really care. We love her!


Lilly's mom passed away when the puppies were just shy of two weeks old. So we got her when she was 15 days old.



She had to be bottle fed for the first few weeks so she came with me to work every day and there were many nights of waking up to feed her at 2 or 3am. I considered it practice for me if I ever do decide to have kids :) hehe.

When we first picked her up her eyes had just opened and she couldn't see too much, so she stuck pretty close to us. The last week or two she has gotten much more energy and she is growing so fast!

Climbing on Layne the day after we got her. She was so tiny!

Cuddling with her stuffed animal

Playing with Tucker!

Tucker is Layne's family's dog. He is probably the sweetest most docile dog I have ever been around. Tucker is 120 lb lab so he really makes Lilly look small.

How adorable is she??? Ok, maybe I'm a little biased...but she is stinkin cute! ;)

This is probably my favorite picture so far.

P.S - On a side note I have started looking at a new camera. I am looking at Nikon Digital SLRs right now but wanted to know if any of yall use a camera that you L-O-V-E. I could use any tips tricks or advice you have !

Shame On Me...

I am a bad blogger :(

I really do log in and start posts all the time but then I get busy or distracted and never finish my posts. So, I thought I would just give you a few updates on what has been going on.

Layne's Birthday was a few weeks ago and we went to Spaghetti Warehouse downtown. It was so so so yummy:) For those of you who don't know, it is supposed to be haunted! So after we ate we went upstairs to take a few pics in the most "Active" part of the building. Do you see any ghosts in these pictures???

We also went out for our Friend Katya's 21st Birthday too!

All of the Lovely Ladies

Layne and I

Me and the Birthday Girl

Layne's Brother Chris and Me...apparently I did not want to smile ???

I was so not ready for this picture...can you tell???

On Sunday my Parents had a big bar-b-q for Mother's Day so we all went over there for the day. It was so nice to relax by the pool. I somehow didn't get any pics with my step-mom but here's a few from our day.

In case you did not notice, I have discovered a love for big floppy hats :) I decided I need more of them...I think one in every color ;)

This weekend I have the CF walk on Saturday and then a wedding to go to Saturday Night. By the way...it is not too late to donate! Please please please donate if you can!!!!

All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!

On Saturday May 16, I will be joining my friend Cara Durnin again, to walk on her team Cara's Corps for Great Strides. This is a great opportunity to help raise money and awareness for a devastating genetic disease that Cara is all too familiar with.

Cara was diagnosed with CF on her first birthday, and at the time her parents were told she would not make it to kindergarten. Thanks to medical advancements made possible through donations Cara is now a Healthy 27 year old! Unfortunately the average life expectancy for someone with CF is 37, which is not good enough. Since there are only 30,000 Americans diagnosed with CF, their research does not receive federal funding.

Cara is an amazing person with an infectious smile and an unstoppable drive to enjoy life to its fullest. She is a friend, a daughter and a wife.

If you would like to walk with us it does not cost anything, all you have to do is harass your friends, family and co-workers, like me :) Even if you are only able to raise $5, that is $5 that goes towards a cure!!! If fund-raising isn't your cup of tea, please consider making a donation to help Cara's Corps reach our TEAM goal of $10,000!

Please follow the link below to show your support for Cara's Corps. Making a donation is easy and secure! This link will take you to my Great Strides fund-raising page where your donation will be credited towards my team.

http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/BrittanyLudwig

Thanks for all of your support, and thanks to those who donated in 2008! With your help we were able to raise almost $10,000 for cystic fibrosis research last year!

I have also included a link to a video about Cara if you would like to learn more! Also, please pass this on…you never know who might be willing to help!

Galveston - 5 Months Later

Layne and I decided to go to Galveston yesterday for the day, this was the first time we had been down there since the storm. Although there has been a ton of stuff cleaned up it is still crazy to see all the damage and destruction. I thought I would share some pictures with yall from our trip.

The pictures below are from Layne's Grandfather's house. They sold it a little over a year ago. I never saw it but was told is was a gorgeous 3 story beach house.

The slab was completely gone in the middle of the house.

They wrote their last name on the slab when it was built. I took this pic to show his mom.

This is the house Layne's Family had when he was little.

Here's another house that we saw on the beach.

Waiting in line for the ferry. I hate waiting in line for the ferry :(

They had a bunch of stuff set up on the Strand for Mardi Gras, we were walking to some of the shops when we noticed this :

They had a line around one of the buildings showing how far up the water was. Many of the stores and shops had been gutted and we re-doing everything.

We took pictures standing by the "Ike Water Line," keep in mind we are standing on a sidewalk about 2 ft off the street. It was HIGH!!!

This one is just me being a dork as usual! I tried to talk Layne into letting me buy it ... he said no :( haha

I just had to take a picture of the sunset on our way home. So pretty!

Comic Relief

Well, this week at work has been crazy, hectic and beyond stressful. I feel like I have been at my Wit's end all week.

Lets just say I do not work in the best area of town and there are quite a few people who stand by the underpasses with signs asking for money. I do not give money to them nor do I condone it, however there is one guy who lately has had some very funny and original signs. With this hellacious week i have been having some of these signs really made me laugh...it was some much neededed comic relief from my day!

So, i thought i would share some of these with yall :

1. In Need Of Economic Stimulous

2. Family was captured by Ninjas. Need money for karate lessons.

3. Why lie, i just want a beer.

4. Family was captured by Aliens. Need money for flying saucer and flying lessons......and a ray gun. <--- This one really made me laugh!

Hope these give yall a little chuckle on this gorgeous Friday!

Microsoft Project....

Is the DEVIL. That is all.