Quick Update

Hey everyone!
We had our 15 week doctor's appointment today and everything went great. The doctor was very pleased with all the results and progress so far. He said the baby has a perfect, strong heart beat! We even got to hear the baby move. It sounded like someone kicking a microphone. I have decided that the baby doesn't like it when I go in for ultra sounds and when we listen for the heart beat. I never feel the best afterwards and I think hearing the baby kick the instrument said it all today. At 15 weeks this baby is already letting us know what he/she doesn't like. We may be in for trouble!
When I go in for my appointments I always see a different doctor. This practice has the belief that you never know who is going to be on call when you go into labor, so they want you to see everyone at least once. I really liked the doctor we saw today. He was a little quirky, but really nice and personable. He said that he believes in due months, not due dates. So he said that this baby could come anytime between April 18 and May 18. Meaning that if I was to go into labor before April 18, they would try to stop it, and if it hadn't happened by May 18 they would start it. It was kind of shocking to hear the baby could come as Early as April, but I really think that as long as we are ready by May 1, we will be ok!
Our next appointment is a big one! We will make sure that everything finished developing correctly, take measurements, and if the baby is cooperating, we will find out if this is a boy or a girl! It will also probably be the last time we get to see our baby before the big day! The appointment is set for December 17. What a great early Christmas present it will be!
Hope everyone is having a good week!!

Baby Showers, Pie, and Landscaping

In a nutshell, that is what our weekend consisted of. On Saturday I went to my friend Heidi's Baby shower. It was at Cathy's house, and Cathy, Jessica, and Cassie were the hostesses. As always, they did a wonderful job. The shower was a lot of fun. You can see pictures from it here.
Then on Sunday I decided to be adventurous and bake my first apple pie. I have always wanted to make my own pies from scratch and always used the excuse that I didn't have my Kitchen Aid Mixer so I couldn't make one. These mixers are kind of pricey and with the baby coming, I'm sure our money can be better spent elsewhere. I also thought that people have been baking pies long before Kitchen Aid had their mixer so the search was on for a recipe. Little did I know that every recipe I found gave instructions for making pie crust in the mixer or a food processor. Since I didn't have either, I had to resort to the fact that I was going to by pre-made pie crust.
I got the pie baked and I have to say it looks pretty good. We haven't tried yet so who knows how it tastes. If it turned out, I think I will making more for Thanksgiving. The only thing I didn't like was that my pie-crust was flat. I didn't have a mound of apples for the pie crust to go over. I am thinking my pie dish was a deep dish one, so before I make again, I need to get a regular dish. Here is a picture of it.



And as many of you know, our back yard is the next big house project that we were going to work on. Robert has been working on it all weekend. We soon discovered that it was going to take more time then we thought. I think the problem is, is that for the past couple of years nothing has been done to the yard, so the ground has just gotten harder and harder. And the rock keeps getting buried deeper and deeper. Robert was able to get all the rock moved, (it is now sitting on our patio!) and is working on getting most of the hill leveled out. He is soaking the ground to hopefully help soften it up. I offered to help him yesterday, but he said that moving rock was too heavy for me since I was pregnant. I have to admit, I didn't push too hard to help him!


The pile of rocks on the patio. Brandy decided she was now a mountain dog!


Clearing out rocks.



Trying to soften the ground.


A lot of work got done, but there is still a lot more to go!

14 Weeks!!

It's hard to believe that I am starting my 14th week! Here is the first of many belly pictures to come. I definately feel a lot bigger then this picture looks. But the tired look and messy house says it all!
Things have been moving along pretty smoothly. We got the results back from the blood work part of the genetics testing and everything looks wonderful! We go back to the doctor next week and we're excited to hear our babies heart beat again. Then just another 4 weeks until the big appointment and we find out if this will be a little boy or a little girl!
No food cravings to report. Instead there is food I definately don't want!
Everthing else is moving along. Work for both Robert and I is going well. We (Robert) is starting to work on getting the backyard done. It is going to be a big project. He has to lay the sprinkler lines, do some brick work, plant some trees and then of course the grass. I will take pictures of the progress along the way.
We are getting ready for a busy month! There are a lot of things going on with both work for me and home. Then before we know it Christmas will be here. Such a busy but fun time of year!
Hope everyone has a good Monday!

Amanda's Baby Shower

On Saturday, Cathy and I with some help from a couple of girls at work had a shower for our friend Amanda. Amanda is due on Thanksgiving and we can't wait to meet her little guy.

As always, Cathy did an amazing job. She tied in fall decorations with Amanda's nursery theme of Turtle Bay. It was a fun shower and everyone had a great time. Somehow we used my camera for all the set up, and Cathy's camera for the actual shower and guests. So I have no pictures of the mom to be, but thought I would share the decorations!

I decided to do something a little different for a gift, and made a "Baby's First Year" scrapbook album. I can't take full credit for the idea though. My friend Jessica has made several of them in the past couple of years. Each monthly section has a calendar of that month so you can mark special things that happened and then 3 pages to display pictures or items from that month. It's fun because you can personalize it for the couple. Amanda and Regan are taking the baby to Hawaii in June, so that was the theme for that month. And Regan LOVES St. Patrick's Day and Amanda LOVES 4th of July, so I made sure those months were all about those holidays. For it being my first one, I think it turned out pretty well. Here are a couple of pages plus the card I made.