Valentine's Day Weekend

Adam and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and head down to
DuBois to spend the weekend with his parents. We figured with the baby on the way, it may be our last chance to get down there. His parents live in the middle of nowhere and it's really peaceful to be out there and see all the animals. The turkey and the deer were out all weekend long.
Of course just because we went south doesn't mean the snow stopped. Chloe enjoyed playing outside, watching the animals, and laying out the feed with grandpa.

After a healthy and HUGE dinner, Fred and I decided to compare who had the bigger belly. I think I win. :)
With less than 2 months to go, things are starting to become "real." I've been blessed with such a great pregnancy. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon. I only hope the birth and the days at home are equally as easy. I have a Dr.'s appointment today. They are just checking the heartbeat. The heartbeat has been so varied I still have no guess as to what we're having. Adam and I are still leaning towards girl. And, if this is a girl, it will be the first girl in his family in over 60 years. PLUS, I know my step-mom Kathy is wishing and hoping for a girl. With all those boys, who can blame her. We'll know soon enough.

The Crib and Rocker

So Adam and I got particularly motivated and decided to put the crib together. Luckily, when I got home, he and his brother Rich had already picked up our items. (I was afraid we would have to battle the 5 o'clock traffic.) They not only picked up the crib, but got our rocking chair as well. We were in need of the truck and with all the snow, this is really the first chance we had to go pick it up without ruining the fabric. So, we got them both up and running in what is going to be the nursery but with the large bed that is in there (in anticipation of our families visiting when the baby gets here) there isn't a whole lot of room for anything else. In all honesty, it's making me a little crazy, AND if we knew what it was we could paint, but I really am excited for the surprise.

The crib assembly was made even more fun by the fact that daddy has no use of his right arm as he did something to his shoulder playing football on Sunday. Better now than in 3 months when the baby gets here I say.

A few Videos from home...

Here are a few videos of Aiden, Kadence, and the Baby Shower. ENJOY

Aiden playing his new game. PRECIOUS!!!!

Aiden being a rock star and working his light saber magic to "Sledgehammer." What a stud!!

My sweet niece Kadence and a bit of the baby shower.

Baby Shower Trip to Iowa

This weekend was my family baby shower in Iowa. Adam and I left Erie at about 2 PM on Thursday. We hit some nasty weather, but made it into FM at about 1AM Friday morning. We had a great time and got to see tons of our family. The shower was such a success. My sister, and 2 sister-in-laws did an amazing job along with all the hard work my aunts put in. I'm not itching to go shopping with all the giftcards we got, though I have no clue where I'm going to put all our new stuff because the baby's room is nowhere near complete. We're waiting for him/her to get here. Most of the family seemed to be split 50/50 on the boy/girl guessing. Kathy though is wishing super hard for a girl. Hard enough I think that it actually may happen. As you can see, Adam Benda and Rach did a great job at making the diaper cake. I can't believe Adam helped!!!

Sunday I got to have lunch with my girls. I can't tell you what amazing friends I have. Everyday with them is like I've never missed a day at all. We can always just pick right up where we left off and I love it. Danielle, Ally, and Heidi weren't able to make it, but Torrie and her precious baby Blake came down along with Jen, Rianna, Erin and Kim. Mama Suz was also there. We ate and ate and the food was amazing. Who could have guessed this group would have become so domesticated?

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Aiden, (who turned 3 on Saturday) or Kadence. Just videos of them, so I'm going to work on getting those up here. Talk about cute. I could have stolen both of them. I had Aiden convinced that PA was the place to be. Once he heard about our "Mickel Donalds" play place and playing with Carter, our nephew, he was hooked, but grandma said no.

The way home was another day full of adventures. We decided to leave Sunday night on account of the weather, and I'm so glad we did. We hit nasty snow twice. Once we pulled over and took a three hour nap, which was much needed. Oh, and twice, count it twice, we got a flat tire. One actually blew up, and the other was flat when we awoke from our nap. We were sleeping at a gas station, but as our luck would have it, the air pump there was broken. Lucky for us, the next gas station was only a mile away, (you know how there are 60 miles between anything on I-80) so we made it, only to stop in Toledo, OH and get two new tires.

FINALLY

So the moment we have been waiting for is finally here. Adam got to feel the baby move last night. Everytime he would go to feel it, the little stinker would stop kicking but last night the kicks were in full effect. Adam's eyes absolutely lit up. He's been waiting for this since mid-November. I don't know if it makes it seem more official or what, but I'm so glad he got to feel it.

Lagging Behind

Since Adam and I spent our Christmas alone, we thought we should share a few of our Christmas day pictures with you.

Chloe was not to thrilled to be jammed under the tree for pictures, but she sat there, tempted by a cookie, until we were done.

Here is daddy on Christmas morning opening up the many gifts for the baby that were sent. The baby made out like a bandit as my mom would say, getting blankets, bibs, a picture frame, books and many more goodies.

And here is the newest picture of me. I am officially 26 weeks and 1 day which I think 26 weeks is the exact 5 1/2 month mark. I'm not really sure, I haven't figured that much out yet, you all know my math skills. So, the belly is growing nicely and many of you will get to see it next week. Adam and I are so excited to come home and see all our friends and family. Plus, 2 more babies are expected in the family all within a month and a half of each other, so it will be fun to see all the bellies.

January 2 Dr. Appointment

So, we had our doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is going well. As of yesterday, I'm 25 weeks and 2 days along and measuring just right. The measurement that seemed incorrect to me was the scale measurement. It said that I had gained 10 pounds!!! My scale said 2. Someone is lying. Luckily, that's the ONLY weight I've gained, but I was advised to leave the Christmas goodies behind which stinks because I still have a TON left over. I guess work is going to be excited when I bring them all in.

The baby's heartbeat wasn't loud enough to find out the heartbeat count, but she thought it was around 126. For those of you trying to guess, it was 168 last time so... Today is going to be a fun filled day of shopping for maternity bras and underwear since the current bras are rolling up and the current underwear are rolling down. FUN FUN. The baby has been moving constantly since last night but to Adam's dismay, he still hasn't felt the movement. I'm not sure if he can't feel it because it can't be felt on the outside yet, or if the baby just isn't moving at that time. I guess time will tell, but I know he's anxious to feel our little one moving.

Adam's brother and sister-in-law keep bringing over things for the baby. The baby room is full of stuff but so not ready for the baby. We've only primed the walls because we wanted to wait to see what we were having, so no nursery pictures will be available for quite a while.