We've been busy lately! Here are some pictures just from the last two days. Yesterday Brad put together our new crib with Tobey's supervision. Then today we went for our 20 week ultrasound. They confirmed again that he is a boy!! The one picture is in 3D and shows his actual face with his hand up by his forehead. The others are him sucking his thumb in 2D and his footprint in 2D. I've felt him moving around A LOT lately and the ultrasound tech confirmed that he's a very busy baby. We saw him do things like grab his toes, do flips and shake his hands over his head. Pretty amazing to watch. Brad felt him kick for the first time two nights ago and it freaked him out a bit! I believe his response was, "Oh my God....I felt it. I felt it!" in the most terrified, but sweet way possible! We're having fun with our little boy already and can't wait to share all of it with you in person! Lots of love!

Baby Update-New Ultrasound Pics

It was a couple of weeks ago already, but here are the latest ultrasound pictures. The baby was moving around lots and I even saw it moving its hand and arm. It's still not adorable, but amazing to see! My next appt. is July 16th, so I'll try to update more info. then!

Feeling Human Again!

Hey family!

Just thought I would fill everyone in on this wonderful process of pregnancy. First, I went to the Dr. again yesterday and they said that all looks healthy with my blood work and labs that they've done so far. We talked about our options for genetic testing and decided to not have any of the tests done. That will make my next ultrasound happen a little later than I thought before. It will be around my 18 week appointment...about 2 months away! At that point they will also try to tell the sex of the baby!

On a more whiny note, I've been feeling pretty green lately. At first it was all day long, then just in the morning. Now I start to feel a little nauseous around 6 or 7 and stay that way until I fall asleep. This is making my work day more enjoyable though!

Not a whole lot more to tell right now! I just wanted to write to keep everyone in the loop easily and to have a chronicle of this process for myself later!

Cute updates!! The baby is about the size of a prune. It now has elbows that can bend!! It also has teeth forming under gums already!! I bought fabric today to make some curtains and a blanket for the nursery and Brad and I started getting organized in that room. The "theme" is jungle animals. The fabric has a giraffe, monkey, elephant and tiger on it amongst jungle leaves. I feel silly writing this, but it's exciting for me to have something to do relating to baby!

If you want to, reply to this post and tell us what your gut tells you about whether we'll have a boy or a girl. Brad and I both have a "gut feeling" that it's a boy.

Love you all lots. Wish we could be seeing you, but I guess a visit will come soon enough!

It All Begins!

Well, we had our first ultrasound today. I'm 7 weeks and 4 days pregnant. My due date is December 20th! The baby still looks more like an alien than a human, but we were pretty excited to hear the heartbeat and know that everything so far is progressing healthily. I'll have another ultrasound in 2 weeks and I can't wait to see the changes already between today and then. It still feels pretty surreal, especially since I don't have horrible symptoms yet.....and hopefully will stay that way. I did feel pretty down last week with nausea, but I actually think that I had a virus or bug of some kind. Glad to be feeling loads better!

Today after the ultrasound Mom and I found an old bookstore in Mebane. I bought a bunch of baby board books and started the little one's library........with a teacher discount they were only 50 cents each!! One of the things I'm looking forward to most is sharing literature with my baby.

Of course, we're also very excited to sharing all of this with our loved ones!

Spring has Sprung!

Hello all! We've been spending lots of time in the yard the last few weeks and getting things in shape for the summer. One day while doing my duty of watering the plants, I came across a nest that a Momma bird made in one of our hanging baskets on the front porch. I've been watching it and noticed about a month or so ago that there were 5 eggs! Now there are 5 babies! They are about 3 weeks old. The nest is only about 3 or 4 feet from my kitchen window, so I get to watch them while I'm doing dishes, etc. Momma and Daddy bird have gotten used to me and no longer fly away when I enter the kitchen. I've gotten to watch them make the nest, sit on the eggs, feed the babies and today I noticed that the babies have opened their eyes for the first time! So cute! This is a long post about baby birds, but it has been really fun to watch the whole process!

Our Wedding Day!

Brad and I were married on March 9th at 11:00 in the morning. It was a gorgeous morning on the beach in Florida. We were so blessed with Rev. Diane and the beautiful words that joined us as husband and wife. We were also very lucky to have our 6 parents there, who each shared a reading and/or some words of encouragement which touched our hearts deeply. After the ceremony we all spent some time next to the pool and then had dinner at a Steakhouse called Gregory's. It was wonderful food and they even gave us a private room upstairs. The night before the wedding we had an amazing dinner at The Mango Tree in Cocoa Beach. Brad was very impressed with the way the waiters "revealed" our meals by pulling off silver domes. They also had a beautiful garden setting where we were able to take some pictures. I really just want to say thank you to our parents for making our wedding so special. And I wanted to let everyone know to put May 2nd on their calendar for that is when we will celebrate our marriage in the form of a "later date" reception!! Can't wait to see those family members that we haven't seen in awhile! Thank you to everyone who has sent us well wishes lately. We appreciate you all and are very happy to start this married life together!

Brad Loves his Little Men

Brad spends lots of his spare time painting the things that I lovingly refer to as "Little Men." I am not stupid though, I know that really they are for the game Warhammer Fantasy or Warhammer 40K...whichever one he's playing that week. I do know that each army has a name, but can't remember what his are now...I'm sure he'll let me know and this blog will be corrected soon! Anywho...he puts lots of time and care into his Little Men and I'm happy that he has such a wonderful hobby with his friends. He is a gifted artist at his craft and I like to brag that he won a painting competition just a couple weeks ago for his skills! If you're ever wondering on a weekday night what Brad is up to, you can safely assume at least part of his night is devoted to these little guys!