Happy Birthday Peyton!

Yes, we do celebrate our dog's birthday! She is our only child (for a few more weeks anyway!). Peyton turned the big 2 yesterday. She spent much of her day outside running around, so she wasn't exactly in the mood for a celebration. Oh well!

Baby Luke Update

I went back to the doc today for my first weekly visit. I can't believe it's this close! Everything looks good. I've been having some Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing serious yet. I go back next Thursday!

My parents came this past weekend and helped us with the nursery. It is really starting to come together. We can actually keep a baby there now! :) I'll post pictures of the nursery soon. We actually got a new computer with the internet, so now I don't have to wait until we go to Indiana to post pictures anymore! It's amazing, I know. So, look for more pictures down the road....

35 weeks

Here we are at 35 weeks...I don't know how much more I can grow, but I'm sure I'll find out! :) I did want to mention that two days ago Jonathan and I celebrated our fourth anniversary. I can't believe it's been four years. I'm so lucky to be married to such an amazing man. Awwww! Alright, that's as mushy as I'll get. :)

Baby Shower

We made our way to Indiana for one last hurrah before Luke comes. My aunts threw me a baby shower this morning, which was really nice. It was good to see family and also Chris and Tonya, who drove all the way from Cincy. (Adam, too...he had to come to play with Jonathan!)

Julia Elizabeth

She makes grandbaby number eight on Jonathan's side!

Birthday & Graduation

Thought I'd get pictures posted of Jonathan's 27th birthday and my brother's graduation from IWU.

Blessed

Only 5 1/2 more weeks to go! We cannot believe it...Luke will be here before we know it! It's really starting to sink in more because other people who were due shortly before me now have their babies. Jonathan's sister had her baby girl (Julia Elizabeth) about a week ago. It's her third (but first girl!) and grandbaby #8. Poor thing only gets to be the youngest grandkid for a month or so until Luke comes! My old college roommate Erin and her husband had their first this past weekend. Also a girl, Emma Grace. We're so excited for everyone and it makes us even more excited about ours!

Jonathan got to come with me to the doc this morning. He says everything looks great. Luke was extremely active during the appointment. It took the doctor a while to track down his heartbeat long enough to get a reading! It was 160--the highest it's been, but probably because he was so active and that's his awake heartbeat.

We have a huge praise financially! School gets out in about a week, so our extra income from my subbing (although not huge) will be gone. But, Jonathan will be able to pick up extra hours at work that will replace, if not exceed, that loss of income! He's going to be seeing a few extra clients per week (about 5 extra hours). So instead of having every Friday off, he figures he'll have about every other Friday off. And he gets paid a lot more hourly for these clients. Hopefully we'll be getting the internet soon, which will be another praise because he can do a lot of his paperwork online, which would mean working from home some!

I think that's all the updates for now. We are just feeling really blessed. It's awesome to see how God provides!

Mother's Day

Well, my first Mother's Day was pretty good. My parents sent me a card, which was nice. Poor Jonathan wasn't sure if I qualified as a mother yet or not, so only after some berating from his older sister did he realize that he did, in fact, need to acknowledge this day! :) I got a sweet homemade card around 11pm Sunday night telling me what a great mother I will be to Luke. Thanks hon! :)
I went to the doc yesterday and everything is pretty much the same. Nothing too exciting to report except that Luke is healthy and everything looks normal at this point. I go back in two weeks and hopefully Jonathan will be able to come to that one. We have one more week left of our childbirth classes. We got to tour the hospital this past Monday. It was nice to know where we will be at for the big event! Kinda freaky, too, though, knowing that it will really happen....and soon!

Update on Luke

I went to the doctor today and everything is looking good with Luke and I. I didn't gain much weight this past month, so that's good. I feel like I'm back on track now, thankfully. My doctor said my glucose test came back fine and that I am normal sizewise. That's a relief, because Jonathan was convinced we were having twins, I was so big! :) I go back in two weeks now instead of four!! Less than 10 weeks to go!

Busy Weekend

Well, Jonathan and I are recovering from a hectic, but fun, weekend. It started out Thursday night with Jonathan's birthday. He's the big 2-7 and feeling a little old. :) We didn't really get to celebrate his b-day because he had to work a 12 hour day and didn't get home til nearly 9pm. Too late for a party with family, considering that's bedtime for the kids. I did make him dinner, though, and had two fancy chocolate cupcakes I bought at the store with candles for him to blow out. Friday morning, we got up and headed to Indiana. On Saturday we went to IWU to see my brother graduate. That was fun being back on campus, though it's hard to believe it's been four years since we graduated! After graduation, we all went to Outback to celebrate Jacob's graduation, Jonathan's birthday and my sister's 19th birthday (which is today, actually--Happy Birthday, Em!).
Next we headed out for Cincy to visit our good friends Adam and Tonya and the Chrises for the rest of the weekend (Jonathan took Monday off work, so we had a little extra time). We had a great visit with everyone and got to meet the Chris and Chris' new little girl, Linnea, who was born back in February. We all went frisbee golfing on Saturday and I must say, we were quite a sight! We brought Peyton along with us, so we had two strollers, a dog, and a pregnant lady waddling around. What has happened to us?? haha

Visiting Family

I went down to Indiana this weekend to see my sister star in her high school play. She had a lead as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls. Way to go, Emily! :) While there, we got some pictures of Luke with his Aunt Emily and his Grandma and Grandpa. I'm about 29 weeks now. Woo hoo!

His Name Is....

This is the latest ultrasound (sorry about the lousy color) of our son. It's a profile shot and he's sucking his thumb. :) I checked with Jonathan and he was okay with "officially announcing" his name. haha Although we haven't completely decided on the middle name, we are planning to name him Luke.

Nursery

Jonathan got the nursery painted! Isn't it so cute?? (I'm freaking huge, I know.)

Our New Purchases

We're very excited about our new purchases! Jonathan and I were having an issue with what to do about a car seat and stroller. Jonathan's sister gave us her old car seat/stroller combo but told us the car seat was outdated and she recommended getting a new one. Then his other sister offered to give us their newer stroller but they're keeping the car seat (for their new baby due in June). So we were going to register for a car seat, but weren't sure if we could find one that would be compatible with either stroller. We were out with his sister's family and they suggested going to Sears so they could show us what kind of car seat would work with their stroller. While there, we found a stroller/car seat combo that was on clearance! Plus, Jonathan signed up for a Sears card and got an extra $15 off. Jonathan's parents had given us some money to use for the baby and we had just enough left to cover the stroller and car seat! We were so excited! (Okay, maybe excited is a bit too strong of a word for Jonathan, but I was excited at least!)

Our other purchase was a couch, which we desperately needed. People came over to visit us and we never had enough seating! Plus Jonathan and I could never sit together and cuddle to watch tv (it's hard to cuddle in a papasan when one of you is seven months pregnant!). We found the couch at a store in Grand Rapids that sells gently used furniture. It's practically a brand new couch and we got it for just $200! Jonathan was actually excited about this purchase! :)

I Survived!

Well, I had my glucose screening test last Friday and I made it through with no problems! A big thank you to those who recommended the orange flavor over the cola. It tasted like flat orange pop...not too bad but by the end of the glass I was glad it was gone! I'll try to get the latest ultrasound picture on here by the end of the week. It's so cute--he's sucking his thumb! :)

Update on Baby

I had another doctor's appointment this morning. All is well with baby and me. We do have a name picked out that we've been calling him, so I suppose I could just start calling him that on here, but I'd better check with Jonathan first. He's afraid of commitment when it comes to this poor kid's name. :) Anyway, his heartbeat was 138, which is great. I have to get my glucose screening in a week or so. My doctor said he wants to see me in four weeks, and then after that appointment it will go to every two weeks! How exciting!! I am still feeling pretty good, although I am starting to understand what pregnant women always meant when they said they were "uncomfortable". I feel like I weigh 500 pounds and switching sleeping positions is next to impossible. And I'm only at the start of my third trimester! Jonathan keeps reminding me it will only get worse before it gets better. Thanks, hon. Such great support. ;)

Nothing Too New

It's been a couple weeks since our last post, so I thought we'd update it. Only, there's not much to update you on! Jonathan did get the nursery painted yesterday and it is so stinkin' adorable I almost can't stand it. :) It makes it seem that much more real that this little boy really is coming...and soon! I go back to the doctor next week on Wednesday, so we'll see how things go then. I think I have to take the glucose screening test soon. I've heard it's awful from everyone except my sister-in-law. Get this, her doctor lets her eat 18 jelly beans before she comes in for the test instead of drinking that stuff. She's done this with all three pregnancies! Now, has anyone else heard of this?! I want to know if I can get that hook-up.

Jonathan and I are both working. I've been subbing quite a bit (four days last week!). I enjoy it, though it is tiring after four days straight! The kids make fun of me for my Indiana accent. Apparently, I say certain things wierd. I think they don't know how to say things right in Michigan. I want to take a poll. How do you say the word "crayon"? This is the toughest word for me to say (and I use it a LOT when subbing for kindergarten!). They say it "cran" but I say it more like "crown". I had a kindergartener seriously look at me like I was crazy after I told her to pick up her crayons and she sneered and went, "Did you just say crown?!". It was kind of funny actually. So, wow, this update turned out to be longer than I thought. So, let us know what you think: what is the appropriate pronounciation of crayon? :)

IT'S A BOY!!!

Thanks for your patience...I know it took a while to get the post up. Yes, it's true, we are having a boy and Jonathan is SO excited! :) Though we weren't given a percentage by the ultrasound technician, she did point out his, um, boy parts and they were all clear enough for even Jonathan and I to tell what they were. haha It's so much fun now being able to refer to our baby as a "he" and not an "it". We think we have a name picked out, but Jonathan doesn't want to commit yet, just in case he comes up with another great idea (like Arson--ha!). We got to meet my parents on Saturday and share the news with them. They were thrilled, though not all that surprised--my mom has said from the beginning she thought it was a boy. Jonathan is very proud that the Athearn name will carry on. He has done something his brother can't (or at least hasn't yet): produced a boy! ;) Needless to say, we are absolutely thrilled and cannot wait for his arrival. He has been kicking harder and more often lately and Jonathan was able to feel him kick for the first time on Saturday, which was awesome. It's so wierd to see my stomach twitch and move when he kicks! I forgot to mention in the previous post that the technician said she measured me a bit further along than my doctor, so she gave us a range on my due date from July 3-8. So, he may be here sooner than we thought!

Another Ultrasound

I went to the doctor this past Wednesday and everything looks great with baby and I. I really put on the pounds this past month, though. I can't fit into any of my old clothes anymore and my appetite is insane! Jonathan's upset about this part of the pregnancy because instead of getting all of his meal and part of mine, now he's lucky if I don't eat part of his! :) I was scheduled for another ultrasound and luckily didn't have to wait long--we went Thursday night! It was SOOOO amazing--the baby has grown so much! It was cool to be able to see the baby move on the screen and feel it at the same time. Everything looked good on the ultrasound, too. Our baby even had its fingers in its mouth...too cute!! For those of you who are wondering, YES WE DO KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!! We found out, but will have to wait to post it. We're meeting my parents tomorrow to tell them in person. So, until then...
p.s. Thanks SO much for all the great baby advice...it's been very helpful! :)

Looking for Advice

We're probably going to be registering for the baby here in the next month or so. We've been out looking at various things at different stores and one thing is for certain: we have no idea what we're doing! It's kind of overwhelming, trying to figure out what things are a must, what things we can do without, what brands are good, what things you can skimp on and what things you have to go with top-of-the-line on. So, we're asking for help! If you have any advice about baby stuff, let us know. We'd really appreciate it!! :)