I can not take it anymore!

AHHHH! I can not take the heat already this summer. Lets just say that I am officially doomed. I have had it with suffering from the heat, so I decided it was time take the plunge and get a new hair style. Soon I will be a new mother which means that I will have less time to get myself ready with a new baby, so off to the hair salon I went. I got all of my long blonde hairs cut and this is what I came out with. Everyone that has seen me says that I look more like a mom now and look older. Well, let me be the first to tell you that I do feel more like a mom now. My little bundle of joy growing inside of my tummy reminds me everyday that I AM A MOM and soon will be able to hold my little one in my arms. I know that when that time does come just a short few months (3 1/2 ) from now, I will miss that little kick and movement inside of my belly.

Just for your information, the photo taken above was taken at 9 PM after I had worked all day, made dinner and a snack for tomorrows Relay for Life, and worked out in the year. Lets just say that it is in need of a little TLC at this point in the day, but it is almost bedtime.

I love my new hair style and hope all of you do too. If you don't lets just say...I don't want to know. Ok!

The air conditioning is officially ON!

Ok, I know it is not all that hot out yet, but I finally got my way. Today, the air conditioning was officially turned on! Words can not express how EXCITED I now am. I have been miserable during the evening hours for some time now, as you could tell from my other postings. After sleepless nights and tossing and turning Brent finally caved in. Now, I can sleep in peace.

Is it Hot in here or is it just me????

They say that pregnant people have their very own thermostat. Well, let me be the first to tell you "we do." Before I was pregnant I was always cold. Brent kept the house set on 64 and I thought I was going to freeze to death in my sleep. Well, the table has turned. Now I would die for a house that was only 64 degrees. I am always so HOT! At night time, I drive Brent up the walls. I have 2 fans going on high plus both of the bedroom windows open and I am still sweating. There Brent is all cuddled up under his blankets freezing cold while I am laying there tossing and turning to get comfortable on fire. Who would have thought the day would have come when Brent who is always hot is now cold. Let's just say I am loving it. I can not wait until this summer gets a little warmer and he starts to get hot, because watch out when Brent is hot he is CRABBY! Maybe then he will allow me to turn on the air conditioning. I beg and plead with him now and he turns me down every time. So as much as I am dreading this summers heat due to my pregnancy I will be happy when at least I can go to bed at night and sleep comfortably.

From a size 0 to ...... (wouldn't you like to know)

I was sitting looking through pictures from Brent and I's wedding in July of 2006 and I kept thinking oh what a special day that was. I kept thinking I remember when I was that little....Oh, it was not that long ago. I went from a size 0 being 22 years-old to .... (this is on a need to know basis.) Sorry! I can only say that even being 6 months pregnant I am still smaller (weight wise) than normal women my age.

This event was a life changing one, well until our little one is born. Brent thought it would be funny the other day for me to get out that expensive wedding dress and try it on. Of course, he just wanted a good laugh. Well, I told him he was crazy because there was no way it was going to fit and I was not even going to attempt it. I have been wearing maternity clothes since month 3, so it would not work. I am sure all of you now have a mental picture of what it would have looked like for me to try on this dress. How dare you! That's ok, I thought about it too.

Watch me grow!

I would like to thank Brent's family for the wonderful tree that was purchased in memory of my mother. About a month ago, Debbie and I went shopping and purchased this beautiful tree. It is called "Autumn Blaze." This type of tree gets very bright red leaves in the fall. It was planted in such a spot that can be seen from both our front and back porches. It looks great! We plan on doing some landscaping by it to make it stand out even more.

Thanks again for the great reminder of how special my mother was and still is to me.

What was I thinking???

In every relationship, people warn you about the characteristics that you want to stay clear of. Well, NO ONE warned me that my husband would be the world's largest PYRO. I knew my husband liked to play with fire, however I did not

think it was going to be like this. When he got home from work today with the help of a little SKYY VODKA and BUD LIGHT, my husband decided that it would be an excellent night for a fire. Well, much to my surprise when he came in a few minutes later with a large smile upon his face I knew he was up to NO GOOD. When I went outside to see what my creative husband was up to this is what I saw. HUGE FLAMES! I just about crapped my pants. Small fire my butt this was HUGE. I kept thinking "Dear God please help me. He is going to burn down everything." The flames had to have been a good 10 feet tall and for sure I had a gut feeling that the fire department would have to be called at some point, but I prayed that they would not. Lord help me for marrying a man like this, crazy about fires. I just hope that in a few hours the fire does not spread and I still have a house to sleep in tonight.

Superman or girl

As most of you know, I graduated from college in December of 2006. Finding a teaching job half way through the year is rather difficult, so instead I have been substituting. Substituting has kept me busy and I love every minute of it. Ok, well when I am teaching the younger students. I have a K-9 certificate, but with substituting you are allowed to teach anything. There have been several instances where I was substituting at the High School level. Most of the students are larger than me! I am only about 5 years older than some of the students. I love being with a different group of students each day and have met a lot of really good students.

Well, since I work with children I learn a lot from them. And of yeah, they say the darnedest things. For instance, I have a really funny story to tell you about my last teaching experience. On Friday, May 18th, I substituted in a Bright Futures classroom. Bright Futures is a type of preschool that is connected with the school district. The students are either 3 or 4 years of age. When they are 5 they MUST attend Kindergarten. Man, we start kids at a very young age going to school. Anyway, so on Friday I was teaching and the students were just getting into the classroom and getting lined up for breakfast. In the front of the line was this cute little boy (I am sorry I can not disclose his name Privacy Issue). He looked me dead in the fast with a very large smile and stated "You are going to have a baby!" as he placed his little hands upon my large tummy. I said, "Yes, I am. Isn't that exciting?" He said, "Yeah! Is it a boy or a girl?" I told him that we did not know (since all of you know that we are NOT finding out the sex of the baby). We continue to talk about me having a baby and such and with a HUGE smile and dead serious he goes, "I know what you can name the baby. If it is a boy, you can name him SUPERMAN. I like that name and it is COOL!" I wanted to roll on the floor laughing it was so funny. I asked what if it was a girl and he didn't know, that he would have to think about it. As the day went on he kept reminding me that I was going to have a baby, like I did not already know that or something. So, at the end of the day I asked him if he had thought of a perfect baby girl name since he gave me such and EXCELLENT boy name and he stated, "Well, I guess you can just call her SUPER GIRL!"

Now, do all of you believe me when I say that kids say the darnedest things. So, now after telling numerous people my hilarious teaching story, my bother-in-law and sister now have nicknamed the baby SUPERMAN until at least the baby is born.

I hope this funny story made you all laugh as much as it made me.

Move over Halle May, we have a Baby Date Change!!

Our little bundle of joy was once due on September 15th, but now is due on September 11th as of yesterday. Hooray! We are getting even more excited now that our little one will be here a little sooner then we thought. I do not know how our little Halle May will feel when that day comes, but I do now she is not going to like it.

Halle May is my mother's one year old dog that I inherited after she passed away. I was only to have joint custody with my father, but I have had Halle now since the beginning of December. Which in my book seems to be FULL CUSTODY. I am not complaining or anything, I love her to death. For now, she is my little one. She gets very jealous and protective of me when others are around. She is my 4 1/2 pound guard dog, so beware if you ever decide to come over for a visit. She is the sweetest thing in the world and I would not trade her for anything.

As of that, there is no further news to disclose at this point about our boring lives. We are just waiting for that glorious day when we can hold our little one in our arms.

"I'm to EXCITED to sleep!" - Doctor Day Hooray!

Pictured above to Top: Baby laying down with his/her head to the right. Mouth open. Hand in the air. Rib cage to the left.

Pictured above to Bottom: Baby's foot. Heal to the top. 5 tiny toes at the bottom.

Today, was yet another Doctor Day! However, today we also had a sono appointment. We love Sono Days! We have not been able to see a picture of the baby in quite some time and we were so excited for today's visit. Today was the day that if we were going to find out the sex of the baby we could. Well,

It's a ...... BABY! Ha! Ha!

No, we did not find out the sex of the baby. We told the sono tech first thing that we did not want to know and even if Brent begged not to tell him. She just laughed at us.

Well, lets get to our little bundle of joy growing inside of my water bed of a tummy. Our little one is developing as normal. The baby weighs an amazing 1 pound 4 ounces and has a heart rate of 138 beats per minute, which is normal for 23 weeks 2 days old.

It was so amazing the different things that the sono machine showed us today. Our baby has 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 arms, and 2 legs, which is always a scare a mother-to-be has. That their child has everything physically that they need. We were able to see the baby's spine and all the vertebrate and ribs. We were even able to see the heart beating and the 4 different chambers. They even put color on the machine and we could see the blood pumping through the heart. That was really neat! But it did not stop there, we were able to look at the brain and also the blood flow through the brain. However, it did not stop there also, we even saw the umbilical cord and the blood flow through that. Isn't that just amazing?! Oh yeah and the listen to our little bundle of joys heart beat. Sounds GREAT to me!

Our little one was on the move throughout the sono. He or she was moving like crazy and the sono tech had to chase him or her around to get all the different photos needed. It was really neat when the baby got the hiccups and we could see him or her suffering with the hiccups. Poor kid, I hate the hiccups.

Pictured above: Baby laying down using the placenta as his/her pillow.

At one point, our little sprout even moved his or her tongue so we could see it moving. I think that it was sticking its tongue out to Brent.

On a side note, our little one at least during today's visit likes to lay on his or her tummy and use the placenta as a pillow. How cute!

Pictured above: Taken before today's doctors visit. 23 weeks 2 days along.

Here Fishy, Fishy

On Saturday, May 12th, Brent went for a peaceful ride in the boat in the pond. While boating he spotted a school of fish. Large fish. He hurried back to the shore and rushed for his fishing pole. He caught a fish the size of his hand,so he says. He was like a kid on Christmas getting that B-B Gun he was not expecting to get.

Just a few months ago, we placed in Hybrid Sunfish into the pond. They were only about an inch long. They were tiny.

Come to find out, when we were on our honeymoon my father bring the thoughtful man he is placed about a dozen bluegill in the pond. Brent thought the fish we purchased grew at a rapid rate, however that ultimately was not the case. It was not until I told my father that he let his secret go. Thanks for the laugh dad!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just want to say "Thank You" to all of you kind souls who sent me a cute Mother's Day card! Even though my little bundle of joy is not born yet, I still feel like a mom. Every day, well mainly at night my little one reminds me how much he or she is going to love me by moving around and kicking inside of my belly. It makes me smile and even more excited for that day when I can finally hold my little one in my hands and give him or her lots of hugs and kisses.

The cards helped to brighten my day a little, which is what I needed on my first Mother's Day without my mother. It helps to have friends and family like all of you that care to make my day a little brighter! THANK YOU!

Race for the Cure

Sorry to all of your daily blog readers, I have been quite busy throughout this weekend to post daily. However, I do have my posts ready for your reading enjoyment.

On Saturday, May 12, my sisters and I we brave enough to fit the thousands of people to walk in the Race for the Cure. I have not heard of the final tally yet, but all I can say is there were TONS of men, women, and children walking for the cure. Men are now allowed to walk in the race, which kind of saddens me. They used to stand along the sidelines and cheer on the walkers. It was kind of motivating and encouraging. Now, no one stands on the sidelines, well there were a few. Everyone is now participating as a family event.

The race is 5K, which I believe boils down to about 3 miles. It took my sisters and I 1 hour and 17 minutes. This is horrible! Usually we do it in like 40 minutes, but this time we were in the middle of the crowd instead of at the beginning. Oh, well we were there for a cause.

We saw a few people that we knew, however with all the people it is hard to find someone you know. My mom's friend wore a in memory tag on the back of her shirt that stated "I walk in memory of my BEST FRIEND SANDY." I started to cry, but that is why we walked was to remember our mom on this wonderful day.

(pictured top: Kasey, Jamie, and me - bottom: only a small portion of the participants)

Nap Time!

Today, after a long hard day of substitute teaching Special Education I came home to find Brent asleep on the couch like this. Oh, course he had the day off and took it easy, but come on! Its just not fair! I had only come home to change from my school clothes to my cleaning clothes to go to my second job cleaning my in-laws house. Bryant's high school graduation party is tomorrow so, I have to get the house in order tonight.

I told Brent he better get his naps in while he can, because before long he will be unable to get all of the sleep he desires. It is not only him, but I myself am also guilty of squeezing in a nap or two when I can. I figure "Get it while you can honey!"

So, in other words if you call and we don't answer we are probably getting in those zzzz's that way we can stock up on them for later.

MOOve Over....

Brent and I have been working hard to get the nursery all in order before our little bundle of joy sprouts. Since, we are not finding out the sex of the baby, we went with a neutral theme. We officially have our own Farm in the house. The nursery is decorated in a FARM theme. It is so cute! We love it.

We ordered our sleigh bed crib and was told that it would take around 4 months to get it in, so we thought we had plenty of time, however it was in within only 10 days. Holy Crap, we have to get busy we thought. We painted the room a light green color that matched the bedding and valances. I only had to fire Brent 2 times and he only quit once. He just was not painting the way I wanted it to be painted. Men, never can do anything right! Ha! Ha!

Brent was so sweet when we went to pick out the crib. I stated that I would like a glider, however the one that I really liked cost around $250. I made him sit in the chair just to sucker him into it. However, he thought a different one would tickle our fancy. The one he chose was $325. So, since he was in such a good mood, I went for it. He stated, "If you have to be up with the baby all the time and up all night you are going to want something comfortable to sit in while feeding our child." Now, how sweet is that. Later, I found out that he had other motives to his glider madness. He felt guilty! He had purchased a new gun to add to his collection without telling me. It was eating him inside out that he didn't ask, let alone tell me, so he let me get the expensive glider. Men, I tell you...can't live with them....CAN'T HAVE A BABY WITHOUT THEM! Ha! Ha!

On the Move....Going Hog Wild!

I believe we are pretty much caught up on our status of our little bundle of joy. I am past all of that morning sickness crap, which is wonderful. WAHOO! I am continuing to get larger by the day. In fact, the bank has me measure up every Friday afternoon. As of today, May 9th I am 34 ½ inches around and continuing to grow daily. I gained ½ inch since my last measure up which was on Friday, May 4th.

THE BABY IS OFFICIALLY ON THE MOVE! Saturday, April 21st was a very exciting day for both Brent and I. We had just gotten home from Kami and Nathan’s wedding reception and climbed into bed and BANG! BANG! BANG! Our little one was going wild! He or she (since we are not finding out the sex of the baby, sorry) was kicking or moving like crazy and for the very first time I could feel it. In fact, Brent could feel a little something when placing his hands upon my rather large belly. We were and still are so excited. Everyday since that between the hours of 5 and 6 AM and mainly between 10 and 11 PM the baby goes HOG WILD! I think we may have the next pro-soccer player resting in my belly either boy or girl. It is such an amazing feeling. If you have had children before you know exactly what I am talking about. Everyday I look forward to those kicks and movements. They are just so cute and brings a HUGE smile to both Brent and I’s face.

Here are some photos of myself and how I have grown (rather the baby has grown) over the passing few months. I am officially 22 weeks along now, so I am half way done. 22 weeks down, only 18 to go!

(Photos: top 2 taken March 31 (16 weeks), bottom 2 taken May 6 (22 weeks)

Second Doctors Visit

We had agreed not to tell anyone that we were pregnant for some time and it was killing us to keep it a deep secret. At wrestling meets, Brent would make little comments when seeing a baby and such or even stating "You are one HOT MAMA!" I would just laugh! Debbie even once said, "What is so funny?" We replied, "Oh, nothing." She commented, "Secrets don't make friends." If she only knew! At my college graduation party, people asked us when we were going to have a baby and we simply stated "Oh, not for a little bit!" Which was not a lie!

Man, was this a hard secret to keep when we are so excited! On Terry's birthday, we decided to tell everyone that we were expecting. We purchased Terry a baby bib that stated "I love my Grandpa!" and a card that from the front looked like one of your everyday birthday cards however when opened it stated something along the lines as Happy Birthday Grandpa! We placed our first sono picture at the top and broke the exciting news to him and the rest of the family. You would have thought Debbie and Terry just won the million dollar jackpot. They were crying, laughing, and even screaming. We got a real good laugh when Debbie stated "Is this a joke?" because she had been hounding us for sometime for a grandchild. No, it is not a joke and out came a scream.

On February 19, 2007, Brent and I ventured to our second doctors visit. We were so excited! We get another sono picture today to update the old one that was taken 4 weeks ago. We hoped that we would be able to see more features of the baby and yes we did. In the last 4 weeks, I had gained some weight....I am not disclosing that information because it was A LOT. We no longer had to keep quiet about the baby because now even just telling the family yesterday the entire town already knew. I was 10 weeks 2 days along and already having trouble fitting into some of my pants.

FIRST DOCTORS VISIT

January 23, 2007 could not come quick enough. I had already experience the morning sickness stage now for about 3 weeks and I thought I was going to die. I could hardly get out of bed in the mornings, let alone all day. I woke up every morning from a dead sleep around 5 AM and to the bathroom I went. This continued daily till about 1 PM. Brent was a real trooper. He would ask me if there was anything he could do or get me everyday. I was so glad at this time the Bank was not working me very much. I kept telling Brent people are doing to find out, since I am so sick in the mornings. Even several ladies at work asked me if I was pregnant and I simply just stated "No." I gave the excuse that I had been around someone who had the flu and I must have caught it. At this time in January, my co-workers believed me since the flu was going around.

Man, oh Man, this is a very hard secret to keep when we are so excited.

On January 23rd, Brent and I woke up early after not sleeping very good the night before because we were to excited about our FIRST DOCTORS VISIT. Much to my surprise, NO MORNING SICKNESS TODAY! YEAH! (about time) All the way to the doctors, there were solid smiles upon our faces.

At my first visit, they took all of my readings so that they could monitor the growth throughout the pregnancy. I only weighed 94 pounds! The doctor and nurse did not like this. I had explained to them the morning sickness that I had been having. I was told that if it did not stop within the next few weeks that I was going to be placed on special medicine. I could not afford, let alone the baby to lose any weight. I was already under weight for a 23 year-old.

OUR VERY FIRST SONO! Yeah! It was amazing. Words could not explain how exciting and amazing this experience was. We could hear the heartbeat of our unborn child! The heartbeat was 124 beats-per-minute, which is normal for a woman my size. They determined that I was 6 weeks 3 days along already! The baby was already growing and was 7.3 mm long. Wow, they can see them really small. It just looked like a spot to us, but it was our FIRST CHILD!

The nurse calculated my due date as being September 5th, however the sono machine calculated it up itself as being September 15th. The sono machine is about 85 percent accurate, so that was the date they were going with. OUR BABY IS DUE ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2007!

We made our next appointment for February 19th and at this doctors visit they decided to do yet another sono to double check the due date of the baby.

Tomorrow, I will have delightful sono picture #2.

(photo above: Sono picture #1 on January 23, 2007)

2 Pink Lines

In January, I left the wonderful state of Illinois and traveled to Texas with my Grandma for a week. You would imagine Texas in January being sunny and warm, however not when I was there. This year it was cold, rainy, and cloudy. So much for sporting my bikini and shorts. Instead, I settled for jeans, t-shirt, and a light jacket. While vacationing, I had this funny feeling, but I just thought it was the change in the weather. I was really sleepy and just felt a little under the weather. Oh, yeah and the fact that I was now a week late kind of got my mind spinning. Am I pregnant? I kept asking myself. I just kept telling myself you are just late like always, but the idea kept sticking out in my mind. However, no matter how much I wondered I had to wait a whole week to find out.

When I returned back into the cold state of Illinois, the first thing that I wanted to do was take a pregnancy test. So, off to the drug store I went. I was so nervous. You know going into a store to buy something that you did not want anyone to know you were buying, praying to yourself that no one you knew was there. And on top of that, the cashier giving you a funny look as they scanned your item and you paid. I could not get in and out of that store fast enough, let alone drive home quick enough.

The 3 minutes it took to get the results seemed like it took for days. I kept thinking to myself "Could I really be pregnant?," "How would I tell Brent if I was?," and about 50 million other questions. 3 minutes was up and up appeared "2 PINK LINES." WE WERE PREGNANT!!!

Oh, my gosh! Now what???? So of course, I called Brent to see when he was going to be home from work, so that I could tell him the big news. Man was I nervous! Of course, he said he was slammed and would be late from work. Those few hours seemed to last a lifetime. So, while I waited I went ahead and made our FIRST DOCTORS visit!

How did I tell Brent the big news you ask? All day long, since I had time I thought about how I would tell Brent the GREAT NEWS. Since I had not seen Brent yet since returning from my trip, I pulled one of my children's books off the shelf titled, "Daddy and Me." I wrapped up the book and told Brent I brought him a gift back from Texas. He believed me! (sucker)

My stomach was going in circles, as he pulled in the driveway. I had to stay calm or else he would know something was up. I handed him the wrapped book and as he unwrapped it, I thought I was going to die. "Are you sure?," he asked me with this LARGE SMILE upon his face. "Yes," I told him. He could not believe it. He was so happy words could not express it. "We are going to have our own little Nacho!," he said. Nacho is a nickname given to our cute nephew, Jacob David.

We promised each other that we would keep it a secret for a while. In fact, we decided to what the typical 3 months. This is to the end of the first trimester just in case there was problems.

Join us tomorrow to hear about our FIRST OFFICIAL DOCTORS VISIT!

(Photo above: L to R: Jennifer, Anna, Grandma Grace (back row), Audrey (front row)

And So Our Story Begins

As I stated yesterday, Brent and I's life was your typical married life couple until December 2006. In December, many different life changing events occured. I graduated from college (yeah!) and my sister and brother-in-law (Jamie and Jason) gave birth to thier first child (Jacob David). It was on that night when Brent and I got to hold this tiny baby in our arms that we both knew this is what our lives were missing. We had been together for so long already that it just seemed like it was time. Needless to say, that when Jacob was born we already had our little bundle of joy growing inside of my tummy. We always say that things happen for a reason and if God believed we were ready to experience this joy, he would grant us with this miracle. So, we continued our lives as normal not knowing that we had our own bun-in-the-oven. At Christmas everyone asked when we were going to have children and we simply stated "Who Knows?" At this time, we didn't.

Visit us tomorrow to hear how we first knew WE WERE PREGNANT!

Taking the Plunge

From popular demand of our friends and loved ones, we officially took the plunge and started up this blog to keep all of you informed of what is occuring in our daily lives. Some of you live close by and some live afar, put here we can always keep in touch. So you die hard baby fans get ready to jump aboard our Baby Wagon, as we take you on our life long journey through our lives that is 100% home grown. For the next couple of days, our postings will be spent catching everyone up on what has happened in our lives since our wonderful Wedding Day in July of 2006. Ok, well nothing really started in our lives until December of 2006, which is why we made this blog. Catch us later, to see how our garden is growing and see how our lives got started.

Brent and I are new at this blog thing, so it may take some time for us to get used to. But our promise is to you that everyday when you are finished reading our Blog you will be dying to hear more about our exciting lives and what will happen next.