Our first "real" tree

I'm so excited that it's Christmas time! Although I love fall, there's just something about Christmas that gets me. The lights, songs, nativities, and of course the trees...

This year, Jason and I decided that we wanted to experience the way we did when we were kids and get ourselves a real Christmas tree. Rather than going to a tree lot, we thought it would be best to go to an actual tree farm for a fresh one. Well, little did we know just how fresh we were going to get it. When we ventured out to the tree farm, they informed us that they were all out of pre-cut trees as they handed us a saw and pointed to the forest behind the barn. So, we hopped in the Aztek and headed out in search of the perfect tree.

Being frugal (cheap!), we opted not to get a blue spruce or Douglas fur, but rather a nice Scotch pine. After a driving a few laps around, we finally spotted THE tree - not too tall, nice and full - perfect! So, for the first time ever, Jason got down on the ground and cut down our first real tree (not an easy thing to do, remember I said it was full, very full!).

After loading it into the back of the Aztek (mostly anyway), we finally got it up to the bander to compact it for the ride home. Maybe we should have been a little wary when the operator commented on the "messy" one, or when it would barely fit through their banding machine. Hmmm..... We thought full was good.

Fortunately, it did fit into the back of the Aztek, and after unloading and stomping it on the ground multiple times, we felt we had knocked enough of the dead needles off to bring it inside. After 2 hours, lots of sticky sap, and hundreds of dead needles later, the tree was finally standing on its own. How come we don't remember any of this growing up?!?

Now that we have it in the house, standing and decorated, I must admit that we really do like it. Yes, it's a little full (ok, takes up 1/3 of our living room), but it really is nice to smell the fresh pine. I think I have even mastered the art of vacuuming the needles up around the tree without touching it (or else twice as many more needles fall off!). We're not sure that we're going to go the real route again next year (as we were trying to get it to stand, we swore we were going to buy a pre-lit tree next year), but maybe it's like child birth amnesia - seeing the beautiful tree, you only remember the joy it brought, forgetting the misery it took to get there.

My favorite new ornament, a gift from my parents. They're not excited about a grandbaby, are they??

On a separate note - 23 weeks. Definitely growing! The baby is moving so much now! Sometimes, I just sit and watch my belly move. It's incredible. Sometimes Jason acts like I'm nuts, but I know he's really getting into it, too!

My body is slipping away

Over the past few weeks, I've really noticed my "baby bump" starting to stick out. However, tonight was the first time that I realized that I no longer have a waist. Where there was once a little bit of a defined middle is now just a round bump. No more bending at the belly button (even that has started to stretch a bit!). No wonder it's been a bit more challenging trying up my tennis shoes. Thank goodness for slip-ons!

In other exciting news, Jason has now felt the baby kick! Evenings seem to be an active time for the baby (hope that's not a sign of things to come), so he's been able to feel little kicks on a couple of different occassions now. He seems to be pretty excited about it. I've even noticed that he's feeling my belly more often now :-) So much fun!

Sorry, no pictures tonight. Maybe I'll get to that in a few days. I hope everybody had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

30 and other things

Blessings, blessings, blessings... This time of year makes me reflect on how blessed I am, more so this year than ever before. I have so many things to be thankful for - a wonderful husband, loving family and friends, good health, birthdays (even 30 of them!), and of course this little person growing inside of me! God is good (all the time!).

Jason recently surprised me and took me to St. Louis for my birthday and one last get-away before baby comes. Ordinarily, I would not have picked St. Louis as a weekend escape, but we had a great time! Unfortunately, our vacation literally got off to a bumpy start when we landed in Detroit for our connection minus flaps (a.k.a. brakes!). We got quite a greeting on the runway with all of the fire trucks awaiting our arrival. Thankfully, we were in a small plane and the pilot did a fantastic job of landing us safely.


Turns out, St. Louis is a pretty interesting city with all kind of FREE stuff to do (West Michigan is rubbing off on me - I love to find a deal!). We visited Forest Park (home of the 1904 World's Fair), Missouri History Museum, St. Louis Zoo, the arch, Soldiers' Memorial, endless parks, Union Station, City Museum... We were exhausted by the end of every day. It really was a very nice getaway. I'm so thankful for a man who plans such special surprises for me and treats me so well!


Some pics of us in St. Louis - The Arch, Jason coming down a slide at the City Museum, and us at Jefferson National Park

I am now officially 21 weeks. I can hardly believe it. The time is just flying by! Last week my doctor informed me that the ultrasound report came back, and everything looks very good - right on track. I can feel the baby more and more everyday. We definitely have a little kicker. Jason hasn't been able to feel it yet, but I'm sure it won't be long.

My mom and I went to Babies R Us a few weeks ago to register for baby items, and there's been talk of a baby shower coming this winter. All of these things just make me realize that we're going to be PARENTS very soon. That realization is terrifying yet thrilling all at the same time. The farther along I get, the more anxious I become about meeting this little person. Boy or a girl?? Who's eyes, nose, mouth, etc. will he/she have?? I can't wait to see this little miracle that God is knitting together right now!!




21 weeks - yes, going back on my belly shot vow...


I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and count all you have to be thankful for!

It's a....

??? We had our 20 week ultrasound today, and we stuck to our decision to not find out the baby's gender. It was so hard not to ask! I kept asking Jason if he wanted to change his mind. At that point, I would have found out in a heartbeat, but Jason remained firm.

Although, honestly, I don't know that the technician could have told us or not. When JackHannah wasn't moving, he/she was curled up in a ball. It's amazing how flexible babies are! We could potentially have a gymnast on our hands. From the time we started the ultrasound to the time we were done, the baby had completely summer saulted positions.

It was such an amazing sight to see. I think we were both kind of in awe to see our child for the first time (larger than a jelly bean anyway). Even though we won't get a full report on the baby until next week, the tech said everything looked good and is developing as he or she should.

This just really reconfirms what a miracle God has blessed us with and really brings Psalm 139 home. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we are now half-way through the pregnancy. Pray for the baby to continue to grow and develop as he or she should, that I would continue to stay healthy, and that God would prepare us to take on this awesome responsibility of raising this child up in His family.

Ok, just a couple of more pictures....

Halloween

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I'm just not big on all of the darkness of the day. We don't really "celebrate" it, but we do participate in the candy giving tradition. However, it never seems to fail that no matter how much candy we buy, we always run out. This particularly disappoints me this year, when chocolate is tasting SO good! I must admit that I broke into the candy a little early. Thank goodness I only bought it 2 days before.

Since we don't yet have our own kids to dress up, we thought we'd do the next best thing and dress up the dog.

Poor JJ. He really was a good sport about it. Actually, after a few minutes, he didn't even seem to notice he was wearing it. Maybe we should have taken him out trick-or-treating. Seems to me that would be about on the same plane as the parents who carry around 2 bags of candy - one for their toddler in a stroller and another for the baby in the car. Ugh!

Although we're too old to go trick-or-treating, Jason and I dressed up for a Halloween party at Tyler and Jennifer Curtis' house this past weekend and had a great time. Jennifer does a phenomenal job with all of her party decorations. She should seriously go into the party planning business :-) Although we just recycled from costumes from the past, there were quite a few very original costumes. Below are just a few pictures from the night:

Jason the pirate and I was a flapper

Lindsay, the beautiful butterfly and Erich (aka Slash from Guns and Roses)

Tyler and Jennifer - Dwight and Angela from The Office

Finally, one very cool thing that occurred tonight was after the short rain storm that started off the night, we were blessed with a double rainbow! It really was beautiful and made the whole night a little more "light".

Baby kicks!

Yes, I finally felt it! Sitting in church yesterday morning, I definitely felt for the first time a good kick of punch. It actually kind of caught me off-guard. I just hadn't really been thinking about it at the time. Of course, at this point, it is very sporadic, but I've definitely felt a few more kicks today. Everybody is right when they say you can't really describe it, but it was definitely wonderful! I'll have to remember that when JackHannah is kicking my ribs later in the pregnancy :-)

I've definitely developed a bit of a baby bump now, too. I'm starting to get a bit self-conscious about the belly pics, so I may start posting with the shirt OVER the tummy soon. I know that it's natural for the waist to expand, but it's still a little tough getting used to. Of course, being a typical woman, I've mentioned this to Jason a few times, hoping to get a reassuring response of "I haven't even noticed" or "You are more beautiful now than ever" or some other man-lie like that. Instead, he has reassured me not to worry b/c I'll lose it all after. NOT the response I was looking for. I finally advised him that when I make such comments, I'd like the proper daddy-to-be response :-) I don't need to be reminded that I'll need to lose weight afterward! He is doing much better now :-)

Our next ultrasound is scheduled for a week from today. We're still planning on not finding out the sex, but it will be fun to see how much the baby has grown since our last ultrasound. I'll post pics next week for sure!

Bedtime for me, but before I go I'll post what will most likely be my last bare belly shot (at least for public viewing...)

18 weeks

2nd Trimester!

Where does the time go? I'm already nearing the end of my 15th week. I can't believe it. Since I'm now in the second trimester, this is a great time to travel. I was in Bruce, Mississippi for work this week. I've been to the south before (Florida, North Carolina, New Orleans), but this was the deep south, the real south. Let's just say it was a learning experience. For the first time, I saw cotton not in a bag but growing in fields. I actually ate lunch at a bait shop. Kind of a one-stop shop - fishing tackle, groceries, and fried food. We stayed in Oxford, home of Ole Miss (University of Miss.) and John Grisham. I still don't understand how a town that size can literally support a law office in every building! It was a very cute town. Very typical southern style.

Back to the baby... Jason and I went shopping for a crib and dresser last weekend. We actually had a difficult time finding stores with baby furniture. After trying a few places, we finally stopped at the dreaded Babies R Us. It really wasn't as bad as I had expected but definitely a bit overwhelming. We came away with nothing but got some good ideas. We really like the idea of a convertible crib that turns into a bed. Our favorite was this collection (only in dark cherry) from USA Baby:

I am now starting to outgrow comfortably wearing my "regular" pants (although I could still button them if I really tried!), so I bought the most wonderful invention - belly bands! Since so many people have never heard of them or know what they are, see the picture... They're great! It just goes right over top of my normal pants, so I can leave them unbuttoned and it holds them together.

Overall, I'm feeling really good. My energy seems to have come back. Thankfully I managed to escape the dreaded first trimester morning sickness. As my tummy continues to grow, I'll keep you posted on the progress. No signs of baby movement yet, but I'm hoping I'll start to notice that in the next few weeks. And....For those of you who mentioned the Drano test to me.....I tried it. How come nobody tells you that in addition to it "showing" you the baby's gender, it also gets extremely hot, smokes, and lets off terrible fumes?!? At any rate...according to that urban legend test, we're having a girl. I guess we'll find out at the end of March if it really works or not.

Have a great weekend!

8 weeks vs. 15 weeks