Sunday School Christmas Party...and the Gift That Kept on Giving

Last weekend we traveled over to Grace & Morgan's for the Sunday School Christmas Party. (We had the camera but forget to get it out until we were preparing to leave, so sorry for those who didn't get pictured.) This year, instead of doing a party for those in the class and gift exchange, Erin suggested taking a more service oriented approach. So, one group put together care packages for the military missions, while another group traveled to a nearby nursing home to sing carols to the residents. Andy chose to do the care packages, and I went with the nursing home group. Then, we all returned to Grace & Morgan's for hot chocolate and dessert. It was a wonderful party...with one exception. Through the following week many of us came down with some sort of stomach bug, and I'm wondering if perhaps one of the kids who attended may have shared a little too much. In our house, Andy got it Saturday night. This left me to sort of fill in for him in Sunday School the next morning. He already had his lesson prepared, so it wasn't too difficult. But I greatly appreciated everyone stepping up and participating to help me :). Andy was out of commission Sunday and Monday. Despite our best effort with hand sanitizer, Lysol and trying to avoid each other, I came home from work mid-day Monday, and stayed home Tuesday as well. Thankfully, though, God protected me and our little buddy, as I didn't have it nearly as badly as Andy or as some of the others that I talked to later in the week. By Wednesday, Andy and I were both back to normal.

While I wasn't sure earlier in the week, I was able to go do my "sugar test" for gestational diabetes on Thursday morning and attend my doctor's appointment. Everything went well, and, thankfully, I passed the test without complication. We are officially in our third trimester, so I will be going back to the doctor's office every two weeks until my final month, when appointments will be weekly. My stomach is also beginning to show that we're in the home stretch...no pun intended :). Our baby boy is now about 10 inches long and weighs around 2.3 pounds. So that begs the question, if he has to go from 2.3 pounds to 6-8 pounds, how big can my stomach get? :) Thankfully, from what I hear, it's not proportional, but if other mother's comments are any indication, I may be asking this for the next 13 weeks.

This week, we'll be staying in Lexington for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then heading to Owensboro on Christmas night to spend time with Andy's family, including his aunt Georgina and uncle Roger who will be in from Northern Virginia. We're definitely looking forward to time with family and a few days off of work, as we've both been VERY busy, especially with missing time our illnesses this week.

Christmas Pics

So we took a few minutes out this morning to take some pictures in front of the tree for fun and for the Christmas cards. Emma was too funny. We called her to come for the pictures; she froze; then she ran into her cage. We finally caught up to her to get one picture with the three of us. Then we headed to church, out to eat with Eric & Joni Beth, and to Baby's R Us. I then went to the UK game with my dad, and Andy headed off to his deacon's meeting. We finished up with the children's Christmas program at church...which was very cute. Another busy day, but it was all fun.

Ultrasound Pictures

We have had two ultrasounds in the last several weeks. On October 23rd, we found out we were having a baby boy. They were able to measure his body and brain, check for movement (which there was lots of since I had a half a diet coke about an hour before I went!), and check a host of other things, all of which showed to be normal. Here are two pictures from that ultrasounds, one of the bottom of his foot and one clearly showing that it is in fact a boy. With the position he was in as well as since we were only at 19 weeks along at that point, we were not able to see his face (as it was pressed against my back out of sight of the ultrasound machine) or see each individual heart chamber. So, they scheduled us to come back for another ultrasound at the next visit.

On November 25th, we went back for another doctor's appointment and ultrasound to finish the mid-pregnancy check. Here are several pictures from that one. In the first picture, you can see the profile of his face and chest, and you can see his little arm raised over his head. (Apparently, he likes to sleep like his Grammy :). In the second picture, you can again see his facial profile and chest, and it looks like he's blowing a little bubble. In the third and fourth pictures, the ultrasound machine is looking down at his face. The dark spots are his eyes, and you can see the shape of his head around those. These are certainly the hardest to make out. Finally, we were glad to see (after painting the room blue and receiving many baby boy clothes) that it's still clearly a little boy.

Thanksgiving...etc.

Well, we have lots to report as we've again been very busy over the last couple of weeks. We've picked up most of our nursery furniture, the dresser and the bookcase, both of which we found on sale a the Baby's Room and matched the crib. We may pick up a glider or other chair, but other than that, we're mostly done.










Second, we traveled to Owensboro for Thanksgiving. Andy and Denny were bummed that Thanksgiving fell after the end of gun season for deer, but they went after some ducks instead. You can see them here in their hunting gear. We also spent quality time with Andy's parents, Eric & Joni Beth, both grandmothers, and Andy's aunt, uncle and cousins from Georgia. It was a great time squeezed into a few days. Unfortunately we didn't get any group pics with our family, but we did have fun with everyone.

We headed back Saturday morning so I could go to Shannon's family baby shower that afternoon. It was such a great time to catch up with all the Glancy and Sloan families, and it was fun to celebrate Baby George as well. Here are pictures of Shannon's counsins, Stacey and Sarah, her mother-in-law, Maureen, with her nephew, Benjamin, and a group shot of the Sloan girls, Stella, auntie Ruth and aunt Linda. She also promised to post the picture of us together on facebook when my camera battery went out :)

Cold UK Game

It's been a pretty busy weekend again, though things are perhaps starting to slow down a bit and include more fun and less responsibility :). We went to the first UK basketball game Friday night. While we were very disappointed in the loss, the most exciting thing about the game happened during the big UK comeback when the crowd was incredibly loud, cheering on the cats. Our baby boy was going crazy, too. He started moving and didn't stop again until we were half way home. I had never felt him be that active, but he had probably never heard that much noise before either :). He has been much more quiet today as he's surely needing to rest up after an hour of kicking and doing flips inside me.

We've also had a busy but productive day today. This morning, a nurse came to give us our mini-physicals for our new life insurance policies, which mostly reminded us how blessed we are to be so healthy. Then we headed out to look at some nursery furniture. We headed to the "Baby's Room" off Nicholasville Road and found two pieces, a dresser and a book case. We will pick them up next weekend, assuming it's not raining as it's been all day today. We visited with our friends Brian & Amy Cole for a little over an hour after that and watched a bit of the Auburn vs. Georgia game. Then I headed to "Stamp Camp" at church with several friends, including Traci, to make Christmas cards, while Andy worked on his Sunday School lesson.

UK, as I'm writing this, is having a difficult football game against Vandy. Since it's 34 degrees and raining, the baby and I definitely refused to go to the game. So, Traci and I are hanging out, baking, and watching the game, while Andy, Eric, and Mark attend the freezing football game. Hopefully, the second half will go a bit better! Above is a picture of me in a Kentucky shirt loaned to me along with several other maternity tops by my friend Kristy Marsh, who had her baby boy on October 19th . Thanks Kristy!

Lots of Updates!

So since we found out we are going to have a baby boy, we have been VERY busy! (Too busy to update the blog and keep everyone informed...sorry about that.)

First, we had a good bit of work done on our house. The husband of a good friend of mine, Joe Whipple, does home renovations. We had he, and his wife Kylie (who is currently pregnant with twins!), over for brunch to look at the house and give us an estimate on several projects. He was so reasonable that we quickly signed up for a spot on his schedule. Two weeks ago, he started by installing our electric fence then painted out half back, master bedroom, master bathroom and, of course, our nursery. We were absolutely thrilled with the results and how quickly he completed it all. (For anyone else too busy for those home projects, his website is www.jdwhomes.org.) Here are some pictures of the whole process, from testing colors to finished product.





























Second, we started picking out baby items for our registry. Because the painting was coming up so quickly, we had to pick out bedding (so we could pick the nursery color) quickly. We found a set at Target in Owensboro and picked it up. Here's a picture of the packaging, and you can see pictures of the little comforter in the painting pictures. We also registered in Lexington at Target last night and Baby's R Us this afternoon. It certainly took us a while to choose everything and we have lots of updates to make (especially when Andy has a chance to check consumer reports and we can read through the "Baby Bargains" book that Adam and Kelli loaned us). But I think we got the basic ideas down. We also received several offers from other recent parents to take a look at our choices and offer their best advice, which will be invaluable! Here are a few pictures of Andy enjoying the process ;). By the end, I think he was ready to go home.





Last but not least, Andy went by my parent's house and picked up the crib after we returned (while I went to Walmart so we could actually eat this week). We'll be using the same crib that my parents used for my brother and I as well as loaned out to a few other close friends over the years. Then, he and I (mostly he) took on the task of assembling an almost 30 year old crib with no instruction manual. After a couple hours off and on, I think we've gotten it put together correctly (mom if you're looking at the picture and shaking your head, please call us and give us some Grandmotherly advice :)

What a busy couple of weeks! Hopefully, things will slow down a bit.

It's a Boy!

We went to the doctor's office yesterday and, praise the Lord, had a great visit. The ultrasound showed everything from brain to footprint looked good, and they were able to clearly see that we were expecting a baby boy. Andy and I had both guessed it would be a boy that morning, but of course you never really know :). We are certainly excited and looking forward to being able to begin official baby planning.

After the visit, we immediately went to my parents to share the big news and were even able to catch my dad in person before he left for two weeks in Dubai that afternoon. As expected, my mother was extremely excited and dad was excited in his own way :). We then called a few other family and friends. Today, we traveled to Owensboro to share the news with Andy's parents in person. They, too, were ecstatic. Joni Beth and Eric gave us a cute and very soft blanket as our first baby boy gift. We also received several UK items (and some very cute maternity dresses) from Andy's cousin Kelly, who, since she now lives in Knoxville, said she was having trouble finding friends down there who wanted UK gear for their little ones.

Even Emma got in on the excitement, as she immediately wanted to sniff and then try to bite the new blanket. We hope this is not a sign of things to come ;). (Actually, she has a blanket that she chews on constantly, so we think that might be the real confusion for our little doggie.)

Colorado Trip

So after a week visiting with a supplier in Colorado, I am glad to be back home. As I've been asked by a few people, I did not ski. (I would have only slim hope of skiing if I were not pregnant, so I thought this might not be the time to try.) I actually spent most of the week in Eastern Colorado, which looks more like Kansas & Nebraska than the mountains. Everything went wonderfully both in business and in fellowship, and I had no issues with altitude, food, carrying my bags or anything else...praise the Lord. The baby survived it's first four flights from Lexington to Chicago to Denver and back and its first trip down a dirt road (at which point I thought for sure the Garmin had me lost). The family I stayed with, Gil & Jeri Anderson, was so gracious and took great care of me. (With four grown kids and seven grandchildren, they had apparently experienced taking care of a pregnant woman before.) But, I know Andy was glad to see me...and the baby...back in Nicholasville, and the feeling was mutual.

We are at 18 weeks, and are so excited to find out what we're having next week...assuming the baby cooperates. We found out this week that our friends David and Liz are having a little boy (due 10 days before us) as well as Mark and Shannon (due about 6 weeks before us), so we'll see if the trend continues :).