21 weeks

We are over half way done!!! Yippee!!!! I swear this little guy is growing like a weed inside of me. My stomach feels like it is trying to pull apart sometimes. So far, the belly butter is doing it's job though and luckily no stretch marks have appeared on my tummy. He has become even more active. Yesterday I think he was constantly on the move and today he was moving a lot too. I have started being able to eat chicken again, which is good. Tim was going nuts with my weird aversion to chicken and is now very happy to have it back in the line up of things to eat. Baby still loves pizza, but then again, who am I kidding, I have always loved pizza too!

Phoenix Baby Shower

Tim's mom and two sister-in-laws were very nice and had a baby shower for us while we were down there. My cousin Jake and his wife Nicki, along with their two little girls Ali and Riah also showed up. It was so good to see them! Lisa and Andrea (my sister-in-laws) got all the guys involved, and actually tortered them more than anyone. We played three games. The first was where there were three teams of four and we had to change a baby's diaper blind folded. My team won. Then, there was a bottle full of milk chugging contest. Jake won quickly, but after looking back at pictures, I think he cheated. It looks like the cap is in his hand. Hmmm, so Jake, were you cheating????? The next game was a blind folded baby food taste testing competition. I tried to warn my in-laws before we started that Jake would for sure win since my Aunt Evie always had us doing taste testing when we were kids, and I was right. He is the only one who scored a perfect score. After all that, we were given a ton of gifts for the little guy. He is going to be a very spoiled little guy for sure.

My niece Lizzy gave the baby this bib that says "Chicks Dig Me" I thought it was too cute!

Paul and Lisa gave us this St. Louis Cardinals onesie. They lived here a few years ago and are still big Cardinals fans. They only saw it fitting that the baby be a fan as well.

Mark really disliked the baby food. In fact, we all thought he was going to lose it at one point, but luckily his stomach stayed strong.

Ron (Tim's dad), Jake and Tim sucking milk from a bottle...see, men never really do grow up. ;)

Tim, Paul, and Jake trying to change a diaper. Tim was VERY slow at this. He has lots of practice to do. :)

Christmas in Phoenix

We spent Christmas in Phoenix with Tim's family. Both his brothers were there along with his parents. We had a fun time seeing everyone and even took all five nieces to see "Marley and Me," which although rated PG still had a smathering of language and some interesting scenes. Luckily, all the youngest ones remember is that the dog dies and they decided that because of that they don't like the movie. They did however love the Coldstone ice cream we took them to get as well. Something I learned this trip. Kids hate washing their hands, and will always tell you they did, even when they didn't, this is why a sniff test is always required. They will also always tell you they brushed their teeth, even when they didn't. This is when being a hygienist comes in handy...can't fool me. :)

Tim, Mark, and Paul...seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil.

Kimberly's favorite place to be is on Uncle Tim's shoulders. She has always loved her Uncle Tim tons, and always knows she can get him to play fun games with her.

Tim discovered Mark's inversion table and loved it. He now wants one.

IT'S A BOY!!!

His face looking straight at us.

Tim and I went in for our ultrasound today after having it canceled yesterday. They originally had me rescheduled for December 31, but managed to get me in today. Thank goodness, we had a lot of phone calls last night wondering what "it" was. Luckily, today we were able to tell people that "it" is now a baby boy. He is not modest by any means, his legs spread eagle several times throughout the ultrasound. Tim was also finally able to see him moving around. He has been very active the last few weeks, and the ultrasound proved just that. Arms were flying all over the place, legs were kicking and the head was turning all over the place. Then, every hygienist's worst nightmare...I saw him bring his hand to his mouth and start sucking on his thumb! I could just see the dollar signs for braces right then and there. Oh well. Everything is looking really good according to our doctor and he is in the 50th percentile for weight and head size.

This is a view from the butt, showing the two legs and that he is in fact a boy.

Look how cute his little foot is! I love this one!

Yep, he's sucking that thumb all right...

19 weeks

We find out the sex of the baby this week if he/she is cooperative!!!! Tim took this picture of the ever expanding belly last night before we went to a Christmas party for my work. This week the baby has been very active. I can feel it moving around and kicking or punching at my insides. It feels super weird. The only bummer is that Tim isn't able to feel anything from the outside of my tummy yet. I think the kiddo had a growth spurt on Tuesday night. My scrubs fit fine on Tuesday and I put them on Wednesday when I got to work and they were snug and too small. Lucky I had a few pairs that were a little bigger at home until I can hit the scrub shop today.

18 Weeks

The little one keeps growing! I feel like I am huge, although I have been told I am not by several people. It is starting to get harder and harder to bend over to grab things. My belly definitely gets in the way. I have felt the baby moving around a few more times since Tuesday morning when it woke me up. Other than that, we're just chugging along.

It moves!

So, two nights ago, I am peacefully sleeping. Or, as Tim says, out with no way of waking, I was awoken. Startled awake more like it at two in the morning. I felt like I was having all these weird muscle spasms in my tummy. In my zombie like state, I finally figured out that it was my little bun in the oven kicking me from the insides. How weird it felt. My sister-in-law had just been describing how weird it felt to me when she was here this weekend, and boy was her description spot on. (Thank you Lisa!) Then, of course after feeling the baby move for the first time I instantly had to get up to use the restroom. Guess he/she must have been kicking my bladder too. Anyways, I was just really excited to have experienced feeling the baby move. I am sure pretty soon it will be a common occurance.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend and were very fortunate to have a large chunk of Tim's family come out to visit. His parents and 91 year old grandma flew out from Tucson, Arizona and his from Paul, his wife Lisa, and their girls Lizzy, Hannah and Kaity all drove out from Enid, Oklahoma. Tim and I hadn't seen Paul's family since the wedding and the girls have grown sooo much. I had a blast spending time with all of them and couldn't be luckier to have gotten five amazing nieces. (There are two that weren't here that are pretty amazing too!) Tim's mom made almost all of our Thanksgiving dinner. I helped a little and so did Lisa. Lisa and I mainly had clean up duty. Friday, Lisa, Lizzy, Hannah and I went shopping for a bit, while Paul helped Tim put up Christmas lights. Saturday we took Tim's folks and grandma down to Forest Park to walk around and go in the Art Museum. Sunday everyone had to go home :( and we got our first snow fall.
Tim and I in front of our mantel. Below is Tim carving his first turkey. He didn't like the carving knife and fork that I bought him. He said the design stunk and it was too slippery.

Baby update

I had a baby doctor appointment today. We got to listen to the heart beat again. This time it was 156 beats per minutes. My doctor says everything is looking great still. Yeah! My next appointment is December 18. I will have an ultrasound at that one and if the baby cooperates, we'll find out the sex!

Amoxicillin anyone?

So, I have been sick for the last week. It all started with a stomach thing on Wednesday and then progressed from there into a full on hacking fit and congestion. It got better over the weekend and then slammed me down good yesterday. I ended up calling in sick to work today and Tim took me in to the doctor. Turns out, I have an upper respiratory tract infection. Lovely, yes I know. I figured something was up when Robutussin just wasn't cutting it anymore. So, I am now on day one of antibiotics to clear me all up. Doesn't really help that we didn't even get out of the thirties today. Needless to say, I think my butt is imprinted permanently into the couch cusions from all my time spent there over the last few days.

Onto baby. I am now fifteen weeks. Tim just snapped this picture. We are trying to get a shot each week so we can watch my growth, although with me being sick we are running a little late this week. Oh well. My morning/all day sickness is pretty much gone. (Thank God!) I am now noticing that foods I used to love, just don't taste good anymore. For some reason chicken just isn't cutting it for me right now, which really stinks. No real food cravings for me though, which is kind of nice. Other than that, things are just cooking right along.

Chicago!

Over the weekend, I flew up to Chicago and met three of my girlfriends from high school. Karissa is a CPA in Seattle and had a business trip out to Chicago to audit a hotel, so Charissa flew in from Virginia and Shelley drove up from Indiana and we all got to visit with each other for the weekend. Charissa was the planner for the group. (Thank you Charissa!) Friday night we went to the original Uno's Pizza, which is Chicago style deep dish. Then, Saturday we spent the day downtown. We walked the magnificent mile, and boy was it magnificent! I've decided that I need a whole week, plus a lot of money to go shopping up in Chicago. We also went to the Signature Room at the top of the John Hancock so we could see the city from up high. For dinner we went to Lowry's and experienced the famous roast beef, and then took off to the Oriental Theatre for the Broadway production of "Wicked." It was great being able to see my friends, so who I hadn't seen in a long time again. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again soon!

Our view from our table at the John Hancock.

Charissa said she had a "food" baby, so we compared to see whose baby was bigger. :)

Me, Karissa, Charissa, and Shelley in the Signature Room.

Shelley, Charissa, and Karissa on the blue train going to town.

13 Weeks

So, I continue to have a growing belly. I swear it doubled in size to me this week. I officially can't sleep at all on my tummy and that drives me nuts! The "all day" sickness has definitely eased up, now just randomly will I feel sick. Yeah!!! Both of us are still working extra, and this week I really felt it. I am super tired. Hopefully I can catch up on my sleep with day light savings time tonight. :)

Pumpkin Carving

Being that is Halloween time and all, Tim and I decided that we should carve up some pumpkins. Our whole plan was to go out to the pumpkin patch, go through the corn maze and each pick out a pumpkin. However, every time we set a time to go do it, something came up, so we resorted to going to the grocery store and buying two pumpkins. Tim's pumpkin is the one on the left, and mine is the one on the right. According to Tim, I have the weeny pumpkin and he has the scary pumpkin. Mine just looks like a kid carved it is all. ;)

Me with my pumpkin.

Tim with his pumpkin.

Arizona Wildcats

So, unless you are in the dark, Tim is an Arizona alumni, which means that the world stops when the Wildcats are playing. Last night they played USC (the University of Spoiled Children as our friends call them) and unfortunately lost. Timmy is very sad/grumpy about this today. He did crack me up though. As soon as we found out I was pregnant, he went online and ordered this little football jersey onesie thing. We were joking around last night that my stuffed dog Muchachito would probably fit into it. He surprisingly did. So, since I fell asleep, Tim had someone to watch the game with. :)

The Gateway Arch

My mom has been visiting since last Thursday. Tim and I are really enjoying having her here and don't want her to go home. I luckily havent' had to work all that much, so I have been doing all the touristy things with her since I haven't done a lot of them yet. Unfortunately Tim was only able to go with us this weekend as he is still working his long days. Sunday we all went down to Forest Park where all the museums and zoo are located. It is a beautiful park, and best of all, all the stuff there to do is free! We did the art museum on Sunday and then went to the history museum yesterday. Monday mom and I went to the arch. I truly feel like it is something everyone should do once, but I definitely feel like I have been there, done that, and have no desire to do it again. To get up in the arch, you get in these little cars that I swear just looked like oversized washing machines that were made big enough for humans to get inside of them. Then, as you go up, it sounds like things are going to break down. Apparently, from time to time they do break down, so if you are one of those unlucky folks in the "washing machine," you end up in this tiny crammed space smaller than an elevator until they can get it fixed. The views from the top of the arch were amazing though. It was neat being able to see over the Mississippi River and see straight into Busch Stadium.

On another note, I had a prenatal appointment today. My doctor says everything is going great! He used some funky machine that I forget the name of so that we could hear the heart beat of the baby. The heart beat was 170 beats per minute. The doctor said the baby is happy today. :) We will find out the sex of the baby at my nineteen week appointment. I know grandma Bonnie can't wait to know...she said that looking at baby clothes is torture for her right now because she just wants to buy, but doesn't know whether or not to buy girl stuff or boy stuff. :)

I got a kick out of this dental sign that was hanging in the line we waited in to go up the arch.
Busch Stadium from the top of the arch.
Looking out the windows at the top of the arch.

Mom and me in the "washing machine" riding to the top of the arch.

My Clothes Don't Fit

Today, I am officially ten weeks pregnant. Tim took this picture of me last night, so I thought I would put it up. I only have two pair of normal people pants that fit me right now, one of them being a pair I just bought a size bigger. :) My friend Monica went with me yesterday to finally buy some maternity clothes, so I now have a pair of those funny jeans with elastic stuff. I think the benefit to these is that I don't have to worry about buttoning or zipping up my pants, I just pull them up. I am continuing to have my "all day" sickness randomly, but it is starting to ease up some thank goodness.

This past week and this coming week, I have picked up two extra days at work covering for one of the other hygienists who had to have her tonsils out, so needless to say I have been extra tired. These extra days are cutting into my nap schedule. ;) Tim has also been working extra. By extra, I mean six day weeks of 60 hours. Needless to say, he is rather tired too. I don't think me getting up to go to the bathroom 2-3 times a night and accidentally waking him up is helping his tiredness either, but he doesn't complain. Hopefully he'll have next Saturday off since my mom will be visiting. She flies in on Thursday and we are both very excited to have her coming to visit.

We're Expecting!!!

For those of you who don't already know, Tim and I are expecting our first little one in May. Thursday was my second trip to the doctor and our first ultrasound. We got to see the heart beat, which was really awsome. It is so weird to have something alive inside of me and not be able to actually feel it yet. With that being said though, I definitely feel the waves of nausea the baby sends to my tummy. As of right now, I am eight weeks and am due on May 10, which is Mother's Day. Although this ultrasound picture just looks like a blob, on the actual ultrasound machine, things were way more defined and actually looked like a mini human. Enjoy!

Jack Daniels anyone?

For Labor Day weekend, Tim and I drove down to Huntsville, Alabama to visit our friends Dani, Mike and their daughter Kyleigh. On the way there Friday night, Tim saw the sign for the Jack Daniels distillery and insisted we stop on our way home. So, we left Monday morning and headed straight to the distillery, which I must say was pretty darn neat.






Mike and Tim leaning on the charcoal tanks.














These are the oak barrels they char and then put the whiskey in to soak up the oak flavor. The whiskey actually gets it's color from the oak and char in the barrels.



















A really neat display of single barrel Jack Daniels. You can actually purchase a whole barrel of single barrel whiskey from the distillery for a small fortune, but you get 420 bottles of the whiskey all from the same barrel, in addition, you get to keep the barrel.














Mikey in heaven...also known as being next to all the barrels loaded full of Jack Daniels.














Tim and I in front of the distillery.














This is the cave where the spring water that is used in Jack Daniels comes from. Apparently they only use water out of this spring because it is the best quality for the whiskey. Interesting fact to know is that the county where the distillery is located happens to be a dry county, however, they have managed to make it legal to make whiskey, you just can't buy it there.














Tim and I with the statue of Jack Daniels. He was only 5'2"...the same height as me.














Fermentation tanks.














The mash inside of the fermentation tanks. I really wanted to stick my hand in there to feel what it felt like, but I controlled myself.














This is the charcoal tanks. After fermentation, all the whiskey goes through the charcoal. Each time the whiskey runs through this, it is called mellowing. For those of you Jack Daniels fans, Gentleman Jack differs from the old No. 7 in that it is double mellowed.

Cardinals Baseball

Last night Tim and I went to the St. Louis Cardinals game with Rob, Monica, and Alex, who are some of our new friends here. Rob works with Tim. Anyways, we enjoyed watching the Cardinals cream the Atlanta Braves something like 17-1. We also discovered that Tim had never had cotton candy before!!! Monica bought some and Tim wasn't quite sure what to make of it, so we made him try it. Needless to say, he is hooked. Some of the pictures came out a little blurry. For some reason all the humidity in the air was fogging up my lens on my camera.















Tim, me, Monica, Alex, and Rob