Holiday Happiness:)

Christmas was so fun this year. To keep the story short, we spent it with Zach's family. Yes, yes...it's the first Christmas EVER away from home for me but I feel like I did pretty well. It was definitely a challenge to my organized, quiet Christmas brain watching Zach's two youngest brothers open a sea of packages. Toys and paper being thrown everywhere screamed "don't loose me, don't loose me." Zach enjoyed making fun of me and we both enjoyed sharing our second Christmas together. I sure did miss my little family but I get them next year. Bethanie will have to share a little bit of the spot light with Canyon next year so hopefully that goes well:)

I hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays and time with family. I'm not sure I'm ready for Zach to go back to work and school. I've enjoyed the lazy mornings sleeping in and the fun filled evenings after I get off work. The hussle bussell is not yet welcome at our house. I'll fend it off as long as I can stand:)

O Christmas Tree!

So I've been meaning to post a picture of our cute little Christmas tree for so long. To put that in perspective for you....Zach put it up the day after Thanksgiving. When I say Zach put it up I mean he went and picked out a fresh tree, brought it home, pulled out the decorations, put on the lights, hung the glittery balls, added the flower and berry clusters and finished it off with the beautiful tree skirt my great grandma Lamb made. You may say to yourself, "Self, it sounds like what normally is a woman's job was taken by the man in that house." I kindly remind you I supportively watched from the bedrest prison I was on at the time. He did a really fantastic job and the pictures just don't do it justice...you can hardly see most of the ornaments but without further ado.......

The Hawkins family 2nd Annual Christmas tree spectacular!

we are still working on getting a star:)

my TRUE pregnancy

Sunday night, 9:45pm...

Bailee: "I'm bored, I'm gonna make a ginger bread house"

15 minutes later...

Bailee: "This is lame, all I want to do is eat the ginger bread."

5 minutes later...

Zach finds me on a chair in the kitchen in sweats, all the cupboards open and a bag of barbeque baked lays in my hands...dancing and eating....

Zach: "You look like fat Monica....." followed by a lot of laughter and snorting.

He didn't mean it but lets be honest...sometimes I want to eat everything in sight....

525,600 Minutes

How do you Measure a year? In daylights? In sunsets? In inches or miles? In laughter and strife? I don't care how you measure a year but here's how we measured ours!

4 terrific days in Park City as newly weds....

200+ dates, some creative and some not so much:)....

100,000,000+ kisses....

4 Road trips.....

1 hairy mutt....

1 rainy temple visit....

30 illegal fireworks from Vegas...

1 stressful and unsuccessful family photo shoot...

2 pumpkins...
Countless I love yous and moments we'll never forget.
The last 525, 600 minutes have all been memorable and it all started with....
2 yes's..

From the chair in the bedroom...

Not much happening in the Hawkins home. Zach is doing an amazing job of doing just about everything!! Poor guy has to do so much on top of taking care of me. I can't wait to be able to get the little surprise I've been cooking up for him while sitting in this super comfy chair. shh...don't tell:) While spending most of my time in our bedroom I've noticed just how wonderful people are!! Thanks everyone for the phone calls, meals, prescription pick ups, bathroom cleanings and visits. We both appreciate it! I definitely have new drive when I get back on my feet. I've got to return the favor to those in need!!!

As you may have noticed, the count down skipped a couple of days. Due to recent events, my OB has decided that it is completely necessary to induce before I can go into labor on my own. So, little Canyon Walker will be arriving a week or two before the second of February meaning we're having a January baby!! Woo hoo! The day we meet him just keeps getting closer.

Well that's all today..coming to you from the chair in the bedroom:)....

Zach and Bailee:)

I know that hospital pictures are super tacky sometimes but my dad took this of Zach and I with the camera on his phone. I was just so happy to have Zach by my side.

One week ago...

This morning, as I kissed Zach goodbye, I became aware of a post I had written just a week ago. Oh how things have changed in one week...my life turned a little upside down, but everything in my little realization last week has stayed the same. Life still comes down to family. I'm glad I remembered that last week, before I became so dependent on them. How lucky am I that my family happened to be here the one week I needed them the most. It's not just luck that my dad had plans to fly into SLC hours after I was admitted to the hospital. My sweet dad stayed the night in what looked like the most uncomfortable chair known to man so my hubby could go home and get some rest before his 6am shift at work. My mom came down and braided my hair so I didn't look like such a diasaster in my quaint little room. Not to mention all the friends and family that came to visit and my entire family relocating Thanksgiving dinner so I could be there. What a great life I have! Yes, I have a blod clot that runs from under my knee all the way up to my pelvis and yes I am in a lot of pain...but I have a family, a good docotor and a loving heavenly father!

I hope everyone enjoyed the sweet time with their friends and family this holiday break as much as I did. We all have a long road ahead of us but they'll get us through...family is just that great:)

Baby shower

I sure do love everyone in my life. My mother in law, Aunts and Rachel threw a baby shower for me today and it was such a fun time. Not because of all the great gifts (bonus yes) but all the fun and excitement. We had a blast playing some pretty interesting games that Rachel put together. The first was a quiz of nursery rhymes...not just any old quiz but one that had even the most seasoned mom stumped. The second game, appropriately named "My Water Broke", was a race to get a tiny plastic baby from his ice cube. The winner was Teri Allred followed closely by my cousin Amber and my mom. The last game was the baby twist on musical chairs, aka musical bottle. Participants sat in a circle and passed around three bottles, each containing about 7oz of water. Whoever had a bottle when the music stopped had to then race and drink the entire bottle. Out of the three constants, the winner was chosen by the first to finish. The finalists: Ashley Jones, Brittany Jones and myself. Unfortunately for those cute girls...I finished first. With a cramped mouth I vowed to never rush my sweet baby boy when feeding...it's not an easy task. We were plumped up by some delicious food provided by the Stailey family. The party fav: Pumpkin roll (and how fitting for the season:) After eating and visiting, Bethanie and I opened gifts. A quick shout out to all who contributed...everything was just perfect and such a help as we get ready to welcome Canyon!!! Thanks!!!

The one gift Zach was especially excited to put to use was a prenatal heart monitor given to us by my Aunt Jill and her family. The coolest part: you can record the heartbeat to the computer. Zach recorded a little and put to a short little video. See if you can hear the little but strong heartbeat!



Thanks again to all who were there and those who couldn't make it but sent their love and wishes (you know who you are:) We love you so much and appreciate all you do!

Ps..I'll post pictures as soon as I get my hands on some!

Simple

It's funny that Thanksgiving hasn't really even hit me yet and some mystic force nudges me into thoughts of what I am grateful for. I'll be honest, the events of the last two weeks have been...humbling. Late last night I called Zach after he was supposed to be off work. His short and bitter tone clued me in that yet another brick had taken a fall off the wall. He had a flat. A flat tire on any old day isn't all that bad but when money is tight, family is in the hospital and school is stressful, it's one of those "please push me off the edge" occurrences. The flat seemed to cause a couple more issues because it was just a tad too worn to fix. We were able to finally find a tire store that offered us a used tire for an affordable price. Poor Zach is such a great husband and, I will venture to say, father and strives to make life comfortable and cheerful in our home. He was a little down in the dumps today and I started to think. (I know...that could be dangerous:) I went through our list of trials....and then my eyes were opened to all the blessings we have. I went to work, all the while thinking of the good things in life. I have come to a most certain conclusion. A conclusion that I hope I never lose sight of or forget. It's all about my family. No matter what happens, I have them. I have Zach who loves me no matter what. I have my mom who drops everything to drive up and see me. I have my dad who stepped out of doing interviews today to call me back and help me with a problem. I have an adorable little sister who tells my mom she's excited to see Zach and I (and possibly most of all, Bruce). I have an extended family who cares so much about my welfare they'd do anything for me. I have a son on the way, a blessing I can't fully comprehend but something tells me it will be one of the greatest joys in my life. Last but not least, I have a brother. He hasn't left my side since birth. I can't wait to meet him.

So, excuse my long, possibly depressing post. I guess I just wanted to share the simplicity of happiness. It all comes down to something oh so simple...Family.

29 Weeks

Only eleven more weeks to go:) This past week has been pretty eventful. I was having a hard time sleeping at the beginning of the week...hence I didn't feel very good during the day. By Thursday I was doing much much better but that same afternoon we received some bad news. Zach's step dad David was hospitalized for a brain infection. We're still waiting on/for results but in the meantime, David is in the ICU. There were some improvements today so we're going to just keep on praying.

On a lighter note...we've finally started feeling little extremities belonging to our active little boy:) He seems to be a little more squished and so things seem to stick out. There was some sort of elbow, knee or heel sticking out the other night and it was such a fun thing to share with Zach. It's funny that he already seems to have such a personality. Man I can't wait to meet him!

This week we have a full week of work and school but a baby shower to look forward to. My mother in law, aunts and friends are throwing a baby shower on Saturday from 3-5. Everyone's invited just email me for more information:) It'll be fun to have both sides of family there and my friends...just wish my AZ family and friends could come too!! It'll be fun and embarrassing. I'm not so big on being the center of attention but I love chit chatting with all the people I sure do love!

Zach....oh Zach...He has been so great. He's been going on long walks with me and putting up with all my bad cooking (not to mention putting up with a bunch of other things that come along with pregnancy:) He's doing so well in school...I'm so proud of him. He also is working very hard and encouraging me with all my new projects that I've started. What a great man!!!

Hope everyone has a good week!

People I love

Lately my emotions have been running a bit....WILD! I was watching an episode of Glee last night and I found a sweet message hidden behind all the humor. To make a long story short someone was affected by the life a down syndrome sister and in return made the life of one a little more normal by letting her cheer on the squad. Needless to say, I was in tears. It reminded me of the downs friends I have made over the years, not to mention family. I remembered how much I adore these people! They are so amazing.

This is my amazing uncle Joseph. He loves bowling, ketchup, hangers and Disney princesses(among many other things). Over the last year or so I've spent a little more time trying to communicate and build a relationship with Joseph. The moments with Jo I cherish most are captured in simple eye contact and a big smile.

This is a good friends little sister, Jana. Those of you who know Flagstaff, know Jana. Here she is holding my little sis Bea soon after my family brought her home. I can't imagine my life in Flag without Jana. Jana loves dress up and cheer leading (again...among so many other things).

Just a little emotional moment from the thoughts of Bailee...remember these people who have touched your life. Remember what they've taught you about life, love and happiness. Act on what you've learned and you're life will be that much more worth while!

I'm always the loser!

So, like many of you, I never win anything...but today my luck has turned! I won on a blog that gives away products everyday!! I'm pretty surprised myself but so excited! I won a $30 gift certificate to a company who specializes in prints. I think I'll by a cute pack of thank you cards:) go and enter....you can find a button on the side of my blog to get to them!

27 Weeks and 2 days!

So I had my monthly check up today and we're up to speed on what to expect this next month..aka lots of aches and pains the rest of the way and then out pops a gorgeous bouncing baby boy! :) There was a little downside to my visit. They did my glucose screening test and the cutoff is 130 and I was at a 133... No assumptions yet...just a little red flag. I have to go in on Saturday morning and do a three hour screening versus the one hour one I did today. Hopefully things will go better with that screening and we won't be dealing with gestational diabetes. If anyone out there has dealt with gestational diabetes any advice/comfort would be much appreciated! Other than that little downer Canyon is doing great! He kicked the fetal doppler quite a few times making it hard for the OB to find a heart beat. Fortunately she found it and it's at 140 beats per minute! I'm measuring at 26.5 inches and everything looks great. Here we come third trimester!

not your typical October 31st

So as hard as I tried to make Halloween fun this year, by Friday night I could tell it was falling apart. I had wanted to throw a little party with other couples so we could have fun dressing up, carving pumpkins and enjoying one another's company. By Friday afternoon everyone had backed out and I was left with just our sad little Halloween costumes. Zach could tell I was a tiny bit bummed out about our lack of fun plans on Halloween. Saturday morning he suggested we go to an art show in Park City. The artist uses only lego's to build his sculptures and it's absolutely amazing! We had such a good time admiring the art work as well as walking around main st. on a beautiful fall day. I can honestly say Zach made this year the best off the wall Halloween ever!

This was "Yellow". The dimension of this piece was absolutely amazing!

This is "Red" Zach and I had a lot of fun interpreting what or why the artist created the things he did and why. It really was interesting and boy howdy, when Zach is evaluating art he can be deep.

Beautiful sunflower....didn't think about this when we took the picture but man I shouldn't stand next to really thin things...:)

This is "blue". As I look back at the pictures I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite. At first glance one might be tempted to say that his arm fell off...but Zach made an interesting point...did it fall of or is he building himself. The more I think about it the more I love it. We all have a chance to build ourselves the way we want ourselves to be...are we trying or neglecting that task?

The exhibit is open until the 16th of November (I think) and I recommend it to everyone! It's in the Kimball center for the arts and you can look up all the info on their website!

Hope you had a fun Halloween!

Welcome November!

Woo hoo this year is flying by!!! Probably not such a good thing but man I'm anxious to meet this little man:) Well Zach and I are busy as usual! School is a killer and getting worse as the semester gets so close to ending. This week we are looking forward to no tests:) the past two weeks haven't been so kind! I have my monthly check up on Thursday. YAY! I loving talking with my OB and getting all my questions answered. Third trimester is only a week away...I can't believe it. Well, needless to say we are excited for Thanksgiving and a much needed break!!!

Punkins!!!

I love pumpkin carving but was hesitant to suggest it this year. Zach and I were on our way to take some things back to Petco yesterday and we saw a gianormous pile of pumpkins. Much to my delight Zach giggled like a little school girl and we went to pick some out (ok he didn't giggle like a little school girl....but it was his idea:) At seventeen cents per pound, it made it quite difficult to decide which were to be our victims this year. Zach ended up with a 29.99 lb monster and I ended up with two smaller ones....one white and one orange. We came home and carved away. Oh how a little digging, scraping and sawing can make stress leave a little apartment. My pumpkin, aka the great swiss, was pretty simple but differnt from anything I've ever done before...no more faces for me:) Zach's was an artistic master piece, skull with flames (a little too scary for me if I do say so myself:). They are neatly displayed on our breezeway where nearly no one will view them but ourselves....we like to enjoy our own artwork:)

Happenings at the Hawkins: 24 Weeks

I do little updates here and there but today I decided to let everyone in on all the details happening in our home. There's so much going on and I love reading about everyone else so here goes.
***For those of who don't know, Zach left the architectural sheet metal business in August to free up time to finish his degree...YAY! The way things are going now he'll be in cap and gown April 2011. Boy howdy I can't wait. He's now working with Alpine School District doing a job he honestly hates...good motivation eh?
*I'm still working at the law office and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. It's a good job for a pregnant college student. I usually finish all my homework at work so when I get home I can relax and get house chores done (if they get done:)
***We still have our black lab puppy who has now transformed into a full blown monster! He's huge. We knew when we bought him his was a mix of some sort but we figured he had a little border collie in him or something....not the case. We now believe that there must be a great dane in is pedigree. Zach and Bruce now have a relationship stronger than lassie and ...bobby was it? It's fun to watch how attached Zach is to our little mutt. I am sure going to be outnumbered when canyon shows up!
***School has been interesting for both of us this semester. Zach is passing his drafting classes with flying colors. He absolutely loves them and does homework weeks in advance because he just can't get enough. He's not so in love with his Biology class but he's getting by. I love my Calculus 3 class even though it makes my brain hurt. The mathematics is so fun once you figure it out....the figuring out is the problem. My physics class is just awful...my russian professor sure makes things difficult. My favorite class this semester is Humanities....hmmmmm...and thats coming from a math major...rethinking might not be such a bad idea.
***My parents came out to visit a couple of weeks ago and they've been adding to our baby preparedness stash. We now own a pack and play, a bouncy play table, a bouncer, and NYPD onsie (thanks mom!) socks and some other clothing items. Thanks to them we're saving lots of moola.

Updates on Baby Canyon!
***Canyon is a kicking, punching and squirming all over the place! I can't help but smile every time I feel the little guy. We are so anxious to meet him, the months will fly by I'm sure.
*** Canyon was still breach at our last appointment but my doctor thinks there's a chance he'll turn...I mean he has a lot of time to so chances are good:) Our next appointment is the beginning of November and we'll be signing up for our birthing classes then. Things are going so well and all the morning sickness is pretty much gone (WOOT WOOT)
Till next time!!!

Weekend Getaway!

This past weekend Zach and I got to go on a road trip down to St. George for my cousin's wedding. The wedding was gorgeous and it was just so nice to get away from the hussell and bussell of our busy life. Even though I'm feeling quite chubby, I let Zach drive us down to the St George Temple late Friday night to take some pictures. We sure do love the temples! And no making fun of the chubs!

The baby bump

23 weeks!!!

More POOP!

My sweet mother is going to kill me for sharing this post but I just can't hold it in. My family was in town this weekend (WOO HOO!!!) and we had a Sunday lunch together. We were playing a "friendly"game of phase 10 and eating junk food after lunch. Bethanie was eating tootsie rolls with my dad feeding them to her and she turned to him and said "More poop?" She found a striking resemblance between poop and toosie rolls and instead of asking for candy she just went for the easier word. Oh how I love that little girl!!!

"family pictures"

Saturday morning Zach turned to me and said "hun, we don't have any family pictures of ALL of us." By all, Zach was referring to Bruce. So later that day we went up Provo Canyon and attempted to take some pictures of the three of us. Not so easy with a pregnant lady, hyper puppy and a camera on a timer:) but it was fun! Here's the evidence.

Zach insisted on taking some pictures up at the falls. Being 5.5 months pregnant, I'm not feeling all that photogenic but we've gotta have memories!!!

My super handsome husband with his best buddy:)

Baby fun

In an attempt to save money on baby supplies, I've been buying things here and there that I find really good deals on. A month or so ago I bought a carseat. As I was browsing a local website I found the matching stroller. She was selling it for a good price and we decided to buy it. Upon picking it up I discovered the box had never even been opened!!! I'm proud to say we got a brand new, $165 stroller for $90! I'm pretty proud of my matching set:) Can't wait to have our little man in it!

Kitchen chairs

Labor day = fun project:) Zach and I decided to repaint our kitchen chairs. They look great now...practically brand new!

Couldn't do it in the apartment so we did it on the flat between stair cases:)

Zach hard at work sanding the chairs down...don't worry, I helped.

Right after sanding and before the painting.

Drum Roll Please...............

I'm sure you can tell from the above picture but in case you can't....We're officially having a baby boy! We couldn't be more excited:)

The fetal survey went extremely well. Zach and I had so much fun watching our little one. The ultrasound technician couldn't help but be surprised that he was so active. She'd hold one spot and you could see the little guy just kicking and punching all over the place. He's gonna take after both parents and play soccer!!!
Can't wait to meet him!!!

Premature Goodbyes

Yesterday I said my farewells to the five month mystery and today I'm looking into the face of 4 more days of such. We went to the OB and what she had failed to tell me last month was that in this month's appointment we would be "scheduling the fetal survey ultrasound". My hearing must've failed me again. Miraculously, we finished the appointment with smiles on our faces and not a trace of disappointment....until we left the building. Four days seems like a year away but I have a nice weekend in between now and then, I don't HAVE to think about much else. Tuesday 10am....I'll be there...not square... but maybe a little round:)

Farewell

Farewell to not knowing.

Farewell to having to go to both the boy and girl section of the baby isle.

Farewell to "it"

Farewell to the waiting and anticipation.

Farewell to dreams of uncertain baby genders......
I WON'T MISS YOU ONE BIT!!!

Tomorrow morning, Zach and I are going in for our second trimester ultrasound and along with checking the development of the little sprout, we'll be discovering the gender!!! WOO HOO! Here's to waiting 4 months. Praise to those who can go the whole pregnancy...I am not one of you! Here's to gender specific browsing!!!!

School, school and oh so much more school!

So this semester's first day of school was maybe not as precious as the above (mom was this a first day of school pic?) but fun all the same! I decided that we were going to carpool everyday...save gas, yes, but more so I wanted to be able to spend a little more time with him each day.

So this semester will be hard but fun. I'm really excited about some of my 13 credit hours, especially humanities and development of the adolescent student. Zach is taking 15 credit hours (woo eee!) and enjoying the classes for his major. At this rate hopefully we'll get done!!! ;) although that seems in the distant future.

Trudging along....but we'll make it!!! Baby in hand I will be graduating by 2011 at the LATEST!!!

Alarms, Finals and Ear Infections....Life is SO exciting!

Well, life sure has it's moments. The good, the bad and the hilarious. I've been meaning to write about last Friday but the excitement just kept coming.

This weekend I took on the fun responsibility of taking care of a family member's dog/home for a couple of days. Friday morning, before my 8:45am Biology final, I quickly drove over to let their pup out. I entered at approximately 8:20am. I went to go turn off the alarm. In doing so I didn't hit one of the numbers hard enough, setting the loud alarm off and calling the dispatcher. I explained what had happened...and the didn't believe me. At approximately 8:45am the doorbell hinted that law enforcement had arrived. Fortunately a four month pregnant, 5'2" blonde isn't all that suspicious.

Seeing as I was very late for my final, I hurried to the school. Upon arrival I noticed my classroom was dark, empty and locked. Hmph...After an hour of searching I left, not to mention a little disgruntled. A couple hours later, my professor called letting me know he had canceled the final and that I'd done well in the class. YAY!

So, to end this insanely boring blog, I saw a doctor this morning and I officially have a dual ear infection along with a normal viral infection. Woot woot. Here come the antibiotics.

Boy or Girl???

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

176 days

176 days seems like a long time...
Until you realize....

WHAT'S COMING!!!

In 176 days I will be holding a baby...my baby.

In 176 days Zach will be a first time dad...the best I'm sure.

In 176 days our lives will never, ever be the same.

In 176 days we'll have a little piece of heaven in our home.

In 176 days we will truly be a family.

Hard to believe and after thinking about it, that 176 day stretch doesn't seem so long.

We've come a LONG way:)

Ruffling through a few blogs, I found myself smiling as I remembered the beginnings of Zach and Bailee. A year and a half has changed the lives of both of us so drastically it's incredible! Many of you don't even know how it all played out so I'll entertain.

We met March 14, 2008. My roommate/close friend Rachel and I were stretching. I was getting ready to run the Rex Lee 5k the morning following. Rachel's brother Phil stopped by with two of his friends. They stayed and talked for so long!! 11:30 rolled around and I was ready for bed. The boys were heading to a midnight showing of the movie Cloverfield but with a race the next day I opted out. Before leaving another of Phil's friends stopped in to go to the movie with them, ZACH. It was the usual I thought he was handsome but he was telling everyone about the date he had just finished...

We saw eachother every day for nearly 2 weeks after that. He stopped by not even four days after we met to drop by a homemade birthday card and cookies. He was an expert of the imfamous "game". Something I was not impressed by. He'd make sure to wait to call or text at least 24 hours after we'd hang out, just to make me keep coming back. I was so frustrated, but I kept going back.

Zach kissed me on the front steps of my apartment not too long after, and from there it was a landslide to true love. We spent the summer working and playing, never a day apart. At the beginning of August, I went back to Flag for two weeks to spend some time with my family and work at Sizzler. When I had left Zach was convinced he'd have to date me a year before we'd marry, but he knew we'd get married. We were engaged 3 weeks later:) He'd had a spiritual experience in the temple and felt our wedding would be much sooner.

Three months of intense planning and out popped a beautiful wedding. The best day of my life. I began the year just hoping to finish the semester and ended it knowing I was the most blessed woman. We were sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple for time and all eternity, not long enough:) I'm so grateful to have Zach in my life. He has taught me so much about the gospel and has helped me become a stronger person.

Here we are 502 days after that late night meeting. I'm 13 weeks pregnant, we have a 5 month old black lab, and we're more in love than ever. On March 14, 2008 I would have laughed at the person daring enough to tell what was in store in the next 502 days. It's been the best rollercoaster yet:)

The Rex Lee run the day after I met Zach

Hospital visit that same Saturday. One of Zach's uncles actually predicted our future form this picture.

Zach holding baby Bethanie at my birthday party about a week after we met:) ....and someone told me he doesn't hold babies....tsk tsk:)

Leaving our wonderful reception! What a fun year!!!

This week's excitment

So unfortunately Zach left again yesterday for work meaning he's missing out on an exciting family reunion!! My parents are heading my way tomorrow and Wednesday we head to the Russell Family Reunion in Jackson Hole, WY. It's so exciting to be with my family, but man I wish I could share the fun with my hubby! We're coming back on Sunday and Zach should be home the next Tuesday or Wednesday. The best is he'll be able to go to the next OB appointment which is the Thursday after his return. It'll be so fun to have him hear the heartbeat and meet our doctor! What an exciting week!!!

Baby on Board

As most of you might know....we have a baby on board! I thought I'd share a little of what has happened to date.

My first clue: strange breakout
Zach's first clue: Me eating an entire jar of pickles...in twenty minutes.
Although we say these are clues we really had no idea of the surprise around the corner. The morning of June 1 I sat screaming alone in our little apartment. I texted Zach...wanting to wait till he got home but not being able to. His response was "hahaha...sure". I assumed he was upset and he responded "are you serious!?" "are you sure?". The first week was...well different. Although we couldn't see or feel the presence of the newest member of our little family, we were getting used to the idea of the addition. To be honest, we were scared...we still are. Fear is not it now...I'm pretty sure we're just as or more excited then we are afraid.

So I was able to go and get our first real ultrasound a week ago. The little bean has a strong heartbeat..about 150 beats per minute. I can't wait till Zach can go to an appointment and hear that cute heartbeat.

We're excited as ever!!! We'll keep ya updated!

Independence Day

I am one lucky duck. Zach came home a couple days before the 4th so we planned planned to have a day full of fun. 1st...we slept in. mmmmm....forgot what that was like:) Then we headed down to Seven Peaks water park for some fun in the sun. After a couple of hours soaking up some vitamin D we got ready for dinner and fireworks. We ate dinner and the Duke's and planned to watch fireworks from their yard. Unfortunately, that plan was not well executed...we couldn't see the the fireworks but Zach saved the day with some fireworks he had brought back from a pit stop in Nevada. Thank goodness for him and some fireworks David had bought, we were able to see a few fun explosions. What a fun Fourth of July!!!

My Dad

The first man I wrote a poem about, the man who took me too father's and sons and called me Bob, my hero.....guess who? My Dad!!! I have a truly great dad and sad story, he's in Delaware and I didn't call him in time to talk to him today. So I wanted to write a special post just for him.

Dad, I love you. You have always supported me in my decisions and helped me deal with the consequences. You are an amazing man. You always brought the spirit into our home and never acted in anger, always in love. You mean the world to me. From buying me too many shoes when I was little to helping me set up my first apartment, you have been there for me. You have taught me to work hard by your example and I want to be just like you. I hope I already show traits you have given me but I will always keep trying to be just like my hero, my dad, you. I'm sorry I didn't call, I'll try again soon. Mom will bring you the card I made. Love your first little girl!

Here are a few fun pics for the rest of you to enjoy!!