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!! :)

Picture Time!

We went to Indiana this weekend to visit my family, so you know what that means...access to a computer where we can actually post pictures! We hope you enjoy our mass picture update. :)

21 weeks

I'm starting to feel pregnant!

Baby Athearn

This is our ultrasound from a while ago. I was only 15 1/2 weeks, so our child looks a little alienish. Oh well! :) We should be going back for another ultrasound in the next few weeks. Hopefully it will look more like a baby then and we can tell whether this is a boy or a girl!

Just Chillin'

Well, Peyton certainly is loving her new home. Whenever she gets quiet and I don't see her around, chances are I can find her here. She loves to sit on the stairs and look out the windows by the door. She can see other people's backyards and bark at their dogs from there. It's one of her favorite places to take a nap, too!

The Nursery (So Far)

Thanks to my gracious sister-in-law, Michelle, we already have some major parts of our nursery! (i.e. the crib, changing table, a stroller, etc.) We also happened to find the perfect bedding last weekend--and it was 50% off, too! We're planning to paint the nursery purple if it's a girl and green if it's a boy.

Home Sweet Home

Since we are now pretty much "officially" moved in, I thought I'd post some pictures of our house now that our stuff is there. :)

Three Month Pic

Getting Kicked Never Felt Like This Before!

I am currently 19 (almost 20) weeks along and right around the beginning of this week I started feeling these strange sensations. Not wanting to get my hopes up, I chalked it up to some gastrointestinal action. However, it has been happening numerous times per day every day since then! I can only guess that I am getting kicked by my very active child! :) My sister-in-law told me I'm probably past the stage where it feels like butterflies and am on to the definite kicking stage. I would have to agree with her! It is such a cool feeling, though.

Jonathan and I had a good Valentine's Day yesterday. It turned out better than expected. Wednesdays are always hectic because Jonathan goes straight from work to the church where we help with Awana. I was planning on a late, fast meal (of Hamburger Helper or something delicious like that) around 8:15 when we finally got home. But, fortunately, school was canceled yesterday which meant no Awana! So Jonathan actually got home at 6:00 (one to two hours earlier than most nights) and I fixed us a nice, candlelit dinner. Very romantic! I tried to make him a homemade chocolate cake with homemade frosting. Lets just say I am not a baker. I have tried this before and somehow forget that I CANNOT make it work! Oh well. Jonathan was sweet enough to tell me it wasn't that bad (I was ready to throw it in the trash!). I am really looking forward to tomorrow evening when we will go out to celebrate V-day. My husband actually planned an evening for us all on his own. We are going to the restaurant of my choice (still to be determined) and then he is taking me to the Grand Rapids Symphony!! Yes, I know, I could not believe it either. I have the best husband in the world...

SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!!!!!!!

So I know I'm a few days late in this post, but I've been snowed in (west Michigan's got it's worst blizzard in a while!). But, I am SOOOOO stinkin' excited! The Colts actually won the Super Bowl!!!!! Thank you to all those who made comments supporting my Colts. And for the anonymous Bears fan who left the "Go Bears" comment, I am truly sorry for your loss. hahaha :) Jonathan and I couldn't make it to our Super Bowl party because of the blizzard, so we spent it with his mom. It was still fun! (Though I did have to control myself more in front of his mom--I don't think she's seen my true side that comes out when the Colts play!).

Congrats to our friends Chris and Chris on the birth of their first daughter, Linnea. It makes us that much more anxious for our little one to get here! I went to the doctor yesterday for the routine check-up and everything is great! My doctor said I'd get another ultrasound in another month or so and hopefully at that time we'll be able to find out what it is! I think that's all the updates for now...

GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COLTS WIN!!!!!!

The Colts are going to the Super Bowl, baby!! After countless seasons of exciting regular games that led to disappointing postseasons, they finally did it. And against their nemesis, too. Darn those Patriots for always ruining our postseason...until now! I was so ecstatic last night I nearly cried. Then again, that could just be all those pregnancy hormones...I'm a lot more emotional lately! :) All I can say is, GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's about time!!

It's A....

baby! haha So we had the ultrasound Thursday evening and it went great. The technician mentioned that it was a little early to be doing one and that everything on the baby was so tiny she was having a hard time finding things. :) I asked her why I was sent in so early for one and she mentioned that my doctor may not have been sure about my exact due date and wanted to check and make sure it was right. Turns out, it is. I'm still due July 8. She was able to measure most everything, except the heart valves. I asked her if I would get another ultrasound and she said it was likely. That would be cool! Jonathan was bummed because she, of course, couldn't tell what the sex was. She said it's pretty hard to tell before 20 weeks. We did get some pictures, though, which was really cool. We got a good one of the baby's head with the hands up by the face. It looks very much like an alien at this point, but that's okay! :) We also got a picture of the little tiny feet--too cute! Overall, everything looks great at this point. I hope we get to go back for another one...she said our baby would look a lot different at 20 weeks than it does now! The heart rate was 150...up from the 140 it was at my last doctor's appointment. And the technician made the same comment my doctor did--we have a very active baby! It was moving around a lot and making it difficult for her to do her job. :) I guess this child will fit right in with Jonathan's family: go, go, go and don't stop except to do something else. (I swear they don't know the meaning of relaxation!)

Ultrasound

So, my doctor informed me the other day that I would be having an ultrasound soon. Turns out, it's tomorrow evening! It seems super early compared to what I've heard and read, but oh well. I'll be just shy of 16 weeks. Everyone wants to know if we're going to find out what the baby's sex is and the answer is...I DON'T KNOW!!! I can't decide!! Jonathan says that he absolutely 100% is finding out, so I'm guessing that we will if he has his way. :) Although, my sister-in-law just had her ultrasound and their baby was curled up into a ball so they couldn't even tell. Maybe I'll get that lucky and then I won't have to make the decision! haha

Mommy Update

I went back to the eye doctor this morning. He did a field vision test for my peripheral vision and checked my pressure again. My pressure was in the "high normal" range and my vision test results were (and I quote), "super duper, kiddo, and baby likes them too!". My eye doctor is this really sweet old guy--too funny! He told me he had no concerns at all and to have a great pregnancy. It was quite a relief! God is good!

My sister-in-law told me that when the baby moves, it feels kind of like butterflies in your stomach early on. Well, I had some butterflies last night, so I don't know if it was the baby or not but it was pretty cool!! :)

Also, Jonathan and I finally got new cell numbers, so if you didn't get a email with our new numbers and address and you want one, give me your email address and we'll send it to you.

Baby Update

I went to the doctor yesterday and Jonathan was actually able to come this time. It was a pretty quick visit with the usual--blood pressure, weight, pee in a cup, etc. I haven't gained much weight yet (not even five pounds) but the doc said that was fine. He pulled out the dopplar again and we got to hear the heartbeat! :) He found it right away and said the baby was really moving around and kicking (which I can't feel yet, but it's only a matter of time). The baby's heart beat was about 140. I'm not sure what the theory is about that--I've heard both ways that 140 could mean boy or girl, so who knows. My mom has thought it is a boy from the beginning...we'll see! Everything with the baby is fine and I'm feeling great, so we're pretty happy. Jonathan later told me that it was "really cool" to hear the baby's heartbeat. Trust me, that's pretty big for Jonathan. It's about as emotional as he gets! :) I'm almost 15 weeks and go back February 6th. Maybe I'll feel the baby by then 'cause that would be really awesome. We finally took a picture of my tummy. I don't know how long it will be before I can get it on here, though. The library won't let me post pics, so I have to wait until I'm at someone's house where I can do it. Hopefully soon, though!

What a Crazy Week!

Wow! Talk about a crazy and hectic past week or so. We had a great Christmas in Indiana with my family and even got to visit our good friends the Mowats on our way back to Michigan. :) On our way back home, Jonathan and I were talking about what all needed to be done on our new house before we could move in. He called his brother-in-law, Andy, who said he'd be more than willing to help us move some stuff over that night (we were planning to get back to Michigan around 9pm Tuesday evening). Jonathan really wanted to spend the night at our new place, but we have some heavy bedroom furniture and I told him we'd probably have to spend one more night at his parent's and move it all the next day. We also talked about how we'd need a mailbox, since no one has lived there before to receive mail. We were so thankful because Jonathan's family all came over to the house while we were in Indiana to paint our bedroom and clean the carpets. It was such a blessing that we didn't have to spend more time doing that before moving in. Well, as we pull into the driveway of our new house, I see that we have a mailbox already out front! Then, I see that there is a Christmas tree with lights and all in our front window! I nearly cried because I had been so disappointed that I wouldn't get to have a Christmas tree in my new house (we closed on Friday the 22nd right before leaving for Indiana). As we walk into the house, Jonathan's parents and Andy and Katie are all there and we are completely moved in! They had moved everything over the weekend!! My kitchen was nearly all put together, the bedroom was ready, complete with a bed that was ready to sleep in! It was so completely overwhelming! Needless-to-say, we were surprised. :) What a blessing family is! Since then, we've spent the last week trying to get everything else out of boxes and set up. We are loving the new place and even Peyton is finally starting to realize that we are living here for a while!

On another note, I finally went to the eye doctor to get retested for glaucoma. He was so much nicer and more informative than the guy in Illinois! He did some tests and told me that my pressure was normal. He wants me to come back, though, to do another test and recheck my pressure in the morning, when it tends to be the highest. He told me not to panic, so I'm trying to stay calm. I go back on the 15th. My next baby appointment is next Tuesday, which I'm excited about. Don't worry, we'll get a picture on here of me, but I really don't have much of a pregnant belly yet. I told Jonathan that people probably look at me and wonder if I'm pregnant or if I've just had one too many donuts! :)

So, thanks for making it through this incredibly long blog. We just had a pretty eventful week!

Remember Us?

We know it's been a while, but we finally got some pictures on here!! We wanted to include a picture of us, just in case anyone forgot what we looked like (Peyton too!). :)