Special Announcement!

Ok, so I know some of you have been suspecting, and we can now let you in our our secret.  We are going to have another baby!!  Finally!  Two years, one miscarriage, and several fertility tests later, we are pregnant!  Thankfully, we did not have to use any fertility treatments, as we became pregnant right after all of our tests results came in (which were all clear, by the way).  Thank the Lord!

I am sorry we kept everyone in the dark for so long, but after last year's miscarriage, well, that was tough for me.  I hated having to tell our loved ones, those that were so happy for us when they found out we were pregnant, that we had lost the baby.  I think that was just as hard as the loss itself.   I appreciated all the love and support we received after that, but I just didn't want to do that to you all again!  So, we decided to wait.  Boy, was that so hard!!  Every time someone asked me, "So, what's new?"  I just wanted to scream from the mountain tops that we're going to have another baby!  But alas, I usually replied with "Oh, not much.  Same ole, same ole."  Which was MOSTLY true.  Sorry about that!

So, here's the deets.  We are due on January 7, 2010.  Yes, 2010!  Can you believe it??  But, some of you know that while I was pregnant with MJ, I acquired Gestational Diabetes, and my blood pressure became a big issue in the end.  Because of those 2 factors, I was induced early, and MJ came 10 days before his due date.  So, there is a pretty good chance that may all happen again, and this baby will be born before the year is done!  Can you say tax deduction?  LOL!

I know that probably 90% of you want us to have a girl.  I am sorry to be a stick in the mud, but I have always been convinced that we were going to have 2 boys.  Not sure why, but that is what I have always felt.  I just recently have taken an over-the-counter gender prediction test, and it said....BOY!  Sorry, folks!  Now, I am not so naive as to place bets on that result, but that is still my gut feeling.  If I am wrong, great!  If not, great!  We just want a healthy baby, of course!  But I don't think I'm wrong.  I am guessing we will find out in August, when I am around 20 weeks along.  I will let you all say, "I told you so!"  if I am wrong at that time!

I had an ultrasound at 8 weeks.  Everything looked great!  The heart rate was at 159.  Nice and strong!



Not much to see yet, but there is definitely a baby in there!  ONE baby!

I also rented a doppler, which allows me to hear the baby's heart beat at home.  It is just like the one they use at the Dr.'s office.  Since my first appointment wasn't until I was over 12 weeks, this helped me to not be a nervous wreck!  I have been getting readings of the heart rate anywhere between 147-167 bpm. 

So far, Michael has been very receptive to the idea of having a baby brother or sister.  He keeps changing his mind as to which he would rather have though.  And he has been very helpful with name choices.  They all seem to be gender neutral, which is great!  Some of the names he has suggested have been "Stinky Garbage", "Tree", and "Furblomp".  Catchy, huh?  I just love that kid!! 

Ok, so that is all we know right now.  Again, sorry we have kept it to ourselves this long, but I hope you understand!  Love to you all!!

Strawberry Pickin'!

I heard on the news that is was time for strawberries, so I called my mommy, and we went on the first day of pickin'!  We took MJ with us, but he was feeling a little under the weather, so he didn't get into it as much as I thought he might.  He also didn't eat a single strawberry!  He told Grandma that he would wait until mommy made some for him at home.  What a cutie!  As always, I was snapping pictures.  I swear it is getting harder and harder to get this child to look at me and smile!  Oh, and don't mind the big, baggy shirt.  It was a loner from his school, since he managed to "soil" his own shirt earlier in the day!

Our weekly update

This is going to be a long post, so you have been warned!

This week we had a few nice weather days, so Mike and MJ brought out the slip and slide.  However, by the time I came home from work, they had decided spraying each other with the hoses was much more fun!  The evidence:







Friday night, like every Friday night, was pizza and a movie night!  We watched Bambi this week, and it was a hit!

 Now let's move on to Saturday.  Mike and his crew planned on working all day, so MJ and I hooked up with Jennifer and Jace, and we headed out to our local minor league team's ball park.  It was MJ's first baseball game, and he was so excited!!  Well, ok, that only lasted for about one inning.  The boy just cannot sit still for very long!  So, I took him for a walk around the stadium.  We ended up buying some cotton candy and a hat, spun a wheel and won some thunder stix, and played in the bounce house for about 5 minutes.  After we returned to our seats, the clouds started to move away, and we began to roast in the direct sun.  We lasted until about the 4th inning before throwing up the white flag.  The boys and mamas were both ready to leave!  We did get a photo to commemorate the day!



Daddy made it home around 5:30, and we decided to have some Hacienda to Go.  Yum!  After our bellies were full, we called it a day!

Sunday was a great family day!  We started things off with a nice hearty breakfast at IHOP.  Boy, do I love their Harvest Grain & Nut pancakes!  After breakfast, Mike needed some things at Sam's, but they were not open yet, so we sauntered around Meijer for a bit.  Of course we ended up buying some things that we didn't plan on, but that happens whenever we go anywhere it seems!   Oh well!  After our shopping spree at Meijer and Sam's, we headed home to relax for about a hour, and then headed out again.  Next destination:  Putt Putt!!  Boy, that was fun!  It was MJ's first time putting somewhere other than our backyard, and he did very good!  He even had 2 holes in one!  He was a little upset that he lost his ball in the hole at the end, but a few arcade games later, and he was fine!  He especially enjoyed the dinosaur he received from the tickets we earned.   Here is our future pro:



 

Nice shot!!  This is an action shot, and it did go in the hole!



He insisted on wearing his new baseball hat!



After all that golf, we were famished!  So, we hopped in the car and headed over to Sonic.  I wanted to go to Chick-fil-A, but they are closed on Sundays!!  That is ok, the shakes at Sonic were sooo yummy!! 

Our day wasn't finished yet!  Nope, we had one more thing on our agenda.  We were going to see Disney's "Up" in 3D!  We had some time before the next one started, so we headed home for a potty break, and then headed over to the theater.  They handed us some funny 3D glasses, and I just had to get a picture of us in them.  Mike was taking the picture...can you see how much he was concentrating on getting us all in the frame?  LOL!



The movie was great, and MJ was laughing hysterically through the whole film!  Three thumbs up for "Up"!

This concludes our week in review.  Make sure to check back for future updates!