Registry Information and Baby Update

Brandon and I have created gift registries at both Target and Walmart for our little one. The due date is quickly approaching. I think that my friend Jessica is planning on throwing a shower for us in February sometime.

I didn't add any blankets, clothes or toys to the registry although we do need all of those things. Diapers will also be gratefully accepted. The Target registry has the bedding set I have picked out, and that will be the general theme for the nursery.

We had another prenatal checkup today. Everything is going great. I was a little nervous about the results from the glucose screening they did at the last appointment to test for gestational diabetes, but the results came back normal! Yea! I am already in the midst of my 30th week of pregnancy...which means that in about 10 weeks we will get to meet our little angel. It is crazy how fast this time has gone!

We do have some things already. Thank you Samantha and Becky! We have a swing, a jumper, 2 high chairs, a baby carrier/backpack, a car seat, and a start on clothing, although we don't have much for the newborn-6month age. We purchased an infant car-seat/stroller set and a bassinet/pack-n-play while we were in Colorado last week.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and has a happy New Year!

Basement update 12-26-08

This is an update on our basement. I will do one again here in a couple days when we get more of the sheet rock done.




On a side note if you would like to watch any of our movies in HD here are the steps to do so.

1. Click on the video while it is playing that you wish to watch in HD. (This takes you to the actual post on youtube)

2. Click the link in the bottom right corner of the video that says "Watch in HD". The video will reload in a 720p HD format.

I know most don't care about seeing the basement in HD but I would be willing to bet there will be some videos come March that you might want to see in a little higher quality.

Happy New Year

Pictures...

While I had the camera out this weekend taking pictures of the basement, I went ahead and took some other pictures of our home decorated for Christmas.

I love my Christmas tree, the picture doesn't really do it justice. I should have waited until the lights were on for the picture. I am sure that next year there will be a lot more presents under our tree.

My Grandma Bonnie made the nativity scene for me a couple of years ago, and I really do love it. The pieces have a mother of pearl finish with touches of gold. Thank you again for the set Grandma!

Here are our stockings. I made them both this year and really enjoyed the process. I suppose I will have to find another one to make for our baby's first Christmas next year.

Here is our Hailey dog. She really does not like the power tools being used in the basement and usually finds a place to hide upstairs away from the noise. She will definitely be happy when the basement is done.

This is Cheyenne. She is now about 7 months old, and is full of energy. She is a very loving dog who doesn't let me get too far out of her sight. She loves to cuddle and will curl up in my lap as soon as I sit down. She will be a very jealous puppy when my lap is occupied with a baby instead of her.

Wow...two posts in two days. This must be some kind of a record for me. I am excited about our doctor's appointment tomorrow. I try not to worry about the baby, but I will be relieved to see her again and to make sure that everything is going OK.

I am feeling pretty good. I definitely have some aches and pains as my belly is getting bigger, but nothing that has limited what I do. My students at school have started asking more questions, and it is fun to share this experience with them. I hope that they hear the message that it is best to wait until the right time to have a baby, we definitely have enough students who are having babies in high school.

It feels good to be making progress on the basement. We are that much closer to getting the baby's room ready for the big day. I imagine that she will share a room with us for a while, but I hope to have the room pretty much ready by her due date.

Well, I will post the results of our doctors visit sometime soon. Until then...

Basement Progress

Brandon and I are working on finishing our basement this winter. The floor-plan we posted earlier this fall hasn't changed by much. We are hoping to have everything ready to sheet-rock by the 19th so that we can be close to done with the major parts by the end of Christmas break. Here are some pictures of our progress:

There will be a wall under the stairs with a built-in bookcase on the right hand side of the wall. Someday I hope to have a piano to put on the left-hand side of the wall. (Hopefully we can get it downstairs!) There will be a storage area under the stairs that can be accessed from the hallway.

Brandon and his dad are installing can-lighting in the main room of the basement. The back corner of the room will be the theater room, complete with projection TV, 5x9 foot screen and surround sound. He has been having fun designing and planning for this.

We have the projector set up in the upstairs office upstairs for now... the picture fills the wall.

Here is the view from the stairs. We hope to put a pool table on the other side of the room. In the corner is the storage room. Brandon is putting up the wiring for several neon lights that we will add as time goes on.

Next to the pool table will be a complete wet-bar. You can see the framework for the bar counter and the soffit above the counter. This area will have a full-sized refrigerator, sink, and lighted display cabinets. Down the hall, to the right will be the under-stair storage and to the left is the utility room.

At the end of the hallway will be two bedrooms and a full bath. I couldn't get a good picture of the bedrooms, but each have soffits around the edges of the room and will be open to the full 9 foot height in the middle of the room. For now, one will serve as the guest bedroom and the other will be my project room.

It has been an interesting process so far, and we really appreciate all of the help we have been getting from our dads! We are hoping to have the basement ready to host a Super-Bowl party. I am optimistic about the deadline...but as you can see there is still a lot of work to be done!

24 Week Update

We had our most recent prenatal checkup yesterday afternoon. It is hard to believe that we are already in our 6th month!

Everything seems to be going great, no complaints from me. I have been a little tired, but that is always my biggest complaint when my body is under stress. The baby's movements are getting stronger by the day. Brandon was able to feel the baby kick for the first time last weekend. I am glad that he is now able to share in this experience.

Four weeks ago, after our ultrasound, our doctor was about 85% sure that we were going to have a little boy. However, our baby was much more cooperative this time around and the doctor is very sure we are actually having a little girl. Oops.

Brandon and I are adjusting to the change. We were both looking forward to having a little boy around, since there are so many little girls on my side. So the news was a little disappointing, even though Brandon was never fully convinced that we were having a boy. He has had several dreams about our baby, and in every dream the baby has been a girl.

I suppose we will never know for sure until we get to hold our little one in the spring. I am very much looking forward to the day that we can cuddle our baby. The reality of the pregnancy is starting to sink in for me, and that is both scary and exciting. I pray that Brandon and I can be the best parents possible to our little one.

Our next ultrasound is scheduled for December 17th. The doctor called it our tie-breaker ultrasound. Hopefully we can feel a little more confident that the baby is a girl after a second ultrasound. We are also planning on getting some 3-d pictures then, so hopefully we will have some good pictures to post, and to share with family over Christmas vacation.

I will try and be better about posting, it is just hard to know what to write about. :)

Belly and Ultrasound Pictures

Here are some of the latest pictures. These aren't the greatest of me, but they give a good idea of my growing belly. I have been wearing my maternity pants for some time now, they are pretty comfortable... I might just stay in them after the baby is born. :) This past week I decided it was time to start wearing my maternity tops. The dresses I bought are still too big, they will have to wait a few more weeks.

**Caution: If you don't want to know the sex of the baby, stop reading :) **

We had our second ultrasound this morning. It was exciting to get to see our little one again. Here are some of the images we saw.

Our little one was quite the gymnast this morning, moving all over the place and completely turning around during the ultrasound. It made it difficult for the doctor to find all of the things she was looking for, and to get any good pictures. Our baby is measuring just fine, and everything looks healthy. Such a relief.

We were afraid that we weren't going to find out the sex today, because the baby was moving so much, but just as our doctor was about to give up, the baby cooperated. The doctor is 85% sure that we are going to have a boy. We have another ultrasound scheduled for November 25 to double check. So it is nice to have a good idea, but we will still wait to make any big purchases until we have some confirmation.

Brandon is very excited to be having a boy...as are both of the grandfathers to be. My dad's face was pretty cool to watch as we were talking about it. I am excited too, although I would have been happy either way.

Well I better get going, here are a couple more pictures from the ultrasound. Enjoy!

And we are having...to wait

OK, so the doctor's office called me yesterday to tell me that my doctor had to be out of the office this afternoon and we had to reschedule our appointment for Saturday morning. However, I left my phone at school last night, and didn't get the message until I got to school this morning.

So I was very disappointed that we have to wait a couple more days. However, we will get to see our little one again and that will make everything ok. :)

Hopefully we our baby isn't shy, and we will be able to tell on Saturday whether we are having a little boy or a little girl. It will be nice to be able to start planning a little more in detail.

I have started to feel the baby moving around and kicking. It is a really cool feeling, although I feel bad for Brandon, because our little one isn't strong enough yet to be able to feel from the outside...I am sure that it won't be too long before this happens.

So until Saturday...we wait.

Baby Update and Survey

We had another prenatal appointment yesterday. Nothing too exciting to report, just that everything seems to be going good. I am almost 16 weeks along. The baby's heart rate was 148 beats per minute. Our next ultrasound will be in four weeks, and hopefully we will then know whether we are going to have a little boy or a little girl.

I have some colors picked out for the baby's room. I think that we are going to do shades of blue and green, with a white chair rail in between. We can then add different accents, pinks and purples if it is a girl, and yellows if it is a boy.

Brandon is sure that we are having a boy, but I still have no idea. Please leave us a comment and we will take a survey of your thoughts before we find out from the ultrasound.

Family Fun Night

Last weekend, we had my mom's brother and sister and their families over for a Wade Family Night. We had a lot of fun, playing yard games, singing Karaoke, and the family favorite Encore. Nearly everyone was able to make it, we had quite the houseful with the 14 that were here (Eric and Tycee were unable to be here).

I really enjoyed spending the time with everyone. It is amazing that we all live in the same town, yet get together so rarely. Hopefully we can make this a tradition and continue these fun nights.

Here are some pictures of the night.

Basement

Jami and I have decided to start finishing the basement because we are going to make the current spare bedroom the babies room and we want to have a spare bedroom once the baby comes. So I created a rough outline of how we are going to finish it. Jami and I also want everyone to know that if you want to get us a Christmas present we would love Home Depot Gift cards to help fund the project. We are going to start HOPEFULLY before Thanksgiving weekend and then HOPEFULLY get the whole basement framed and sheet rocked by New Years then we will go ahead and finish the bedroom and the bathroom HOPEFULLY before school starts again so that if someone comes and stays with us they can have their own area.

Wow!

Our first ultrasound was an incredible experience. It is hard to believe that our baby is only 2 inches long and was moving and dancing around during the entire ultrasound. This really helped to make the pregnancy feel real. With as few symptoms as I have had, it was great to know that everything is going well and our baby looks perfect so far. Our due date was confirmed at March 15.

It has been a busy week! School started on Tuesday, and it has been a little more difficult to get in the swing of things this year. Hopefully things will fall into place in a day or two. There are so many changes this year: moving to a new classroom, new classes, older students. I don't quite have my bearings yet. I guess that this school year just is not as significant as the other school years have been, there are just more important things going on in our lives.

I will try and post more frequently, so check back every now and then. :)

First Pictures

Jami and I went to our first ultrasound this afternoon and wanted to share the pictures with everyone. You can click on the sets of photos to view larger versions of them.

Our Home

My first post..... what should it be????

Well I am very excited about the news of the little one. I am also very happy that Jami has been able to put up with me for this first year without any hiccups, well I guess it hasn't been a year yet until tomorrow. Anyways thanks for checking this out and we will be sure to post more news as it unfolds………

I have had some relatives wanting pictures of our house so in the near future I will take some pictures and post them on here.

New to this blogging thing...

With a little one on the way, Brandon and I have decided that this might be a great way to keep all of our family and friends updated on the changes in our lives.

We are 7 weeks pregnant at this point, and luckily I am feeling pretty good. Hopefully, this will continue. I start back to school in a little over 3 weeks, and I am sad to see summer ending so soon. We had so many plans for trips this summer, and very few of them happened. It is amazing how fast the time went!

Keep looking for future posts and updates.