23+ Weeks and Baby's Stroller!

So I was talking to my mom today on my way home from work... she asked how many weeks I was... I told her that I'd be 23 weeks on Tuesday... so then it got me thinking, "I wonder how big baby is right now?"... so I quickly got online and realized that I'm almost 24 weeks! I know it's not a big difference, but when you feel the way I feel about pregnancy, realizing that you are farther along than you once thought is the best thing ever!! WAHOO!
I made Josh take some belly pictures for you all to enjoy... be nice though, I have a cold so my nose & eyes are red. And yes, of course the dogs are in the pictures!

Here are a couple pictures of our new stroller! Josh's parents bought us this stroller and I was so excited I made Josh put it together last night. :) Everything is starting to come together and I'm starting to realize that this baby is going to come out of my belly and then will come home with us... and now I'm starting to freak out a little!

Josh and Duke have a very special relationship- basically, Duke lets Josh do whatever to him... it's so weird. Here is their "Duke-zooka" pose...


and here is the way Josh normally holds Duke... and Duke just lays there... it's ridiculous! (Josh's face cracks me up in the 2nd picture...)
And of course I had to add a picture of my cute little Dutchess! She is just so darn sweet!!!

Baby Bedding

Ok, so there is nothing exciting really to write about, but I thought I would post pictures of Baby Girl's crib bumper and first blanket....
The bumper is reversible so there are two pictures. The colors don't show up quite as vibrant as they are in person, but you can get the general idea! :)
I'm trying to convince my mother in law to help me make a dust ruffle & valance that will match the bumper. It wasn't a bedding set, so there aren't a whole lot of coordinating pieces, but I think we will be ok. :)

Isn't the bunny blanket that Josh picked out super cute?

Baby Pictures

We had our ultrasound on Dec. 19th (Brady's birthday!), but I am just now getting around to scanning and posting the pictures. Josh is a lot better at figuring out what exactly you are looking at than me, but I think the 3D pictures are pretty self-explanatory if you give yourself a minute. And if you are an experienced parent you'll understand the "3 lines" in one of the photos... Josh looked up at the screen when the tech was determining the sex and before she even said anything he blurted out "it's a girl"! He was right... we are having a girl. The tech was "200... no 300%" positive that baby is a girl... and told us we could buy as much pink as we wanted. Of course Josh did exactly that- you can imagine his excitement about buying all things pink.... (i'm being sarcastic if you couldn't tell).
We are excited to be having a girl and are attempting to pick out names at the moment. We had it narrowed down to three first names, but I think we are back to the drawing board again. I never thought about how hard it would be to pick a name! Geesh!
My students already had names picked out for baby (usually their own...) (yes, they are in 8th grade) but they kept using boy names, so they are going to have a task ahead of them when we are back on Tuesday. It cracked me up though because of all my students, one of my loudest more random boys decided he was going to talk to the baby and proceeded to name it Keaton Hunter (after himself and his friend). I'm not sure how to break it to him that Keaton will no longer work as a first name....

20 Weeks & Happy New Year

Yeah! I got a new camera for Christmas and I am finally able to post some pictures of my growing belly! Josh and I went out to dinner tonight, so my belly is a bit larger than usual (or at least I like to say so).
I've been enjoying my time off from school- I get to sleep in, watch Days of Our Lives & Judge Judy... and I get to play with the dogs all day long! What more could I ask for??


We were pretty wild for New Years- we went to my sister's house to have dinner with my family since it was my Grandpa's last night in town. We headed home around 10pm- Josh did some laundry when we got home, I got caught up on Days... the clock struck midnight, we wished each other a happy new year, and at 12:15 I was snuggling with the dogs in bed. :) Pretty wild, I must say!




We've been enjoying our visits with Brady- he is the cutest thing ever. He is such a good baby- I can't believe how well he sleeps. He doesn't care if the dogs bark or if you pass him around... he is just happy to be held. He also has GREAT aim and enjoys peeing when his diaper is off. If I'm with Lisa when she is changing him, all I can say is "he's peeing!!!" and then she usually covers him with her hand or a towel... but I just stand there frozen.... not wanting to get in the firing range!

Of course we had to take pictures of the dogs too while the camera was out. Duke is sitting up and Dutchess is laying down. Duke does not appreciate the double flash- it blinds him which is why he is squinting a little... poor puppy!!

It's a BOY!

My sister, Lisa, FINALLY had her baby- Brady Michael Hayes was born on December 19th at 3:16am. He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Of course he is the cutest little boy ever!! Lisa went to the hospital Thursday evening and my mom went up there around 10pm. She called me at 2am and I jumped in the car and headed out to the hospital. May I just mention that Desert Banner might want to get some more comfy chairs in their waiting room... not so comfy at 3am. About 3:45 Shaun came to find mom and I so that we could meet Brady! Everyone is super excited and Lisa is doing well. We are expecting her to be discharged on Sunday.

13 Weeks 5 days

Phew- I'm glad the weekend is over- we were so busy!
On Saturday we had a baby shower for Lisa- it was so much fun to see her open all of her gifts, especially when she got duplicates of things (score for Lori!). We had a wonderful celebration and had the opportunity to spend time with lots of family and friends. My mom helped a lot by picking up food & drinks as well as helping pay for various decorations and such. My sister's friend Cara was also a big help- she helped me decorate & picked up cupcakes- yum.
Lisa got a really cute puppy dog blanket from my mom- as soon as she opened it I asked "do I get one of those?" I didn't mean "do I get one right now?", but my mom couldn't wait to give the cute little puppy to me... so I promptly laid down on the sofa and snuggled with it once all the party guests left.
Although the party was great, I am glad it is over- I was exhausted by the time I got home on Saturday. I could barely keep my eyes open once I got home.
Mom thinks it is great to take pictures of Lisa & my bellies.


My throat started to hurt late Saturday night and I woke up today, Sunday, with an even worse sore throat. I'm sure I'm getting a sinus infection, which I always love. Despite my attempts to stay healthy and take allergy meds, I couldn't hold this off. I have usually had at least one sinus infection by this time in the school year, so I should feel lucky... but usually I tend to be sick all the way from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Lovely... and I don't even know what medications I can take at this point- I'll have to consult my book. :)

12 Weeks

Finally- a milestone! I am officially 12 weeks today... although a coworker just informed me that your first trimester doesn't technically end until you are 13 weeks and 2 days. Go figure- she had to burst my bubble. I'm still not feeling great, but I am feeling much better than I was just a few short weeks ago. I made Josh take some belly pictures so you could see that I have been eating WAY too much, but alas, our camera is not cooperating. I will attempt to convince it to work, but I can't promise anything. We might have to take 12 weeks & 2 day pictures! I even made Josh pose for some 12 week photos- I didn't want him to feel left out! And of course the dogs had to be in the picture (well, Dutchess was a little wild so she is kind of all over the place).
My sister had her "work" baby shower on Sunday (the 2nd), so my mom and I went to celebrate this her. I made a really cute diaper cake that everyone loved- I was proud. :) Of course I'd post pictures of it if my camera was cooperating!!
I'll update again when I have pictures- sorry for being boring!

Edit 11/11: My mom emailed me a picture of the diaper cake I made. Someday when my camera is working I will upload more pictures. :)