Dad's visit!

Dad and Steph at the neighborhood pool party

Dad working hard on the patio while I cheer him on

He get it from his mama!

HI everyone! I have been enjoying a nice visit with my dad in town. He worked so hard these last couple days on our patio and it is just about finished! I can't wait to take pictures to show you all. Those will come next week sometime.

For now I wanted to give you all a baby update since I haven't done so in the past 2 weeks. Last week I had my check-up and everything was fine, another pound gained and the baby's heartbeat was in the 140's. My belly however, measured small for the first time this entire pregnancy. I was 34 weeks and was measuring at 32 weeks (32 cm). The midwife I met with asked me if I had been measuring small, to which I replied no, and then she asked if the baby had dropped. I didn't think he had, but Tim had mentioned that he thought my belly looked lower, so I told her this. She felt for his head, and sure enough it was down super low. I tried not to look too much into it, so I figured I would wait until my appt this week (I'm now to my weekly check-ups!) to express any concern about measuring small.

So I went in yesterday and met with Dr. Andy. I had a Group B Strep test done (not fun - for those of you who don't know what that is like!), had my blood drawn to test for anemia, they took the baby's heart rate - 150's- and measured my belly. I was still measuring small and I told the Dr that it concerned me a bit since I had been measuring right on track the entire time except for these last two weeks. I also had lost two pounds since last week, so that concerned me as well. He decided we should get me in for an ultrasound just to make sure the baby was still growing ok and that there was plenty of fluid in there for him. Luckily, they were able to schedule the ultrasound for today.

My dad went with me and we went in for the ultrasound this morning. Grandpa to was pretty excited to get to see his grandson! Ultrasounds are such a neat thing, and I feel lucky that both my mom, dad and husband have all gotten to be there for one of them! Well, the first thing the tech measured was baby's head, and it was measuring at 38 weeks (I'm 35 weeks 5 days along!) so apparently he has a big head like I did (and do). It looks as though I will get to endure what my mom went through! His heartbeat was 137, the amniotic fluid levels were right in the middle of the normal range, and after taking all his measurements (and confirming that he is, in fact, still a boy!) the tech informed us that he is measuring at 36 weeks 1 day! Hooray! The baby looks great and he is measuring just a few days ahead. That was really wonderful news to hear and completely obliterated my worries. They also estimated his current weight at 6lbs 7 oz! They say they estimates are pretty inaccurate, but if it is accurate he is on track to be a hefty baby. He's supposed to be gaining half a pound a week from now until he is born - EEEK! I can't say I will be surprised if he is a little chunky monkey because Tim weighed almost 10lbs. and I weighed just over 8lbs. Small babies DO NOT run in our families!

I will scan the picture from the ultrasound soon and will post it on here. I just wanted to update everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your summer! Take care and I will check in again soon.

~Stephanie

Fun with friends!

So, I didn't get this up this weekend, but thats the way things usually go around here! July has been a crazy busy month with visitors left and right - well, technically Tim isn't a "visitor" but when he only gets to come home for a few days each summer I count him as one :)

So along with Tim coming home for several days this month, I also had three girlfriends from Denver come to visit. We had a blast shopping for the baby, eating some great food in downtown McKinney and just having girl time before I'm a mommy! Here are a few pics from their visit:

Trying on the fake bellies at the maternity store! Look at my belly button - yikes!

Heading to dinner

Dinner at Poppy's in McKinney! Yum!

Thanks for coming down girls! It was great to see you again and I can't wait for our trip next year!

Also, one of my very best friends, Megan, came into town this last week from Boston! I hadn't seen her since the fall when she came down for the MLS Cup, so I was really happy to see her and get to spend time with her. We also did a lot of shopping and eating (I am seeing a trend here!) and also got to take in a movie - License to Wed - which was pretty funny! And I just realized we didn't take any pictures while she was here :( Megan - how did we forget to take pictures!?!?!?! Miss you already and hope you will get to come down again to meet the baby!

The final exciting thing that happened this month is that the Bunco group from my neighborhood threw a baby shower for the three of us gals who are pregnant and all expecting boys! They were so sneaky about their planning, did such a cute job decorating and gave us all some really adorable gifts. We had a blast that night and hopefully I can get Kym to send me the picture of the three pregnant mama's holding the cake. I'll post it when I get it!

My dad is coming in today! Yay! I'm very excited to show him where we live and I am thrilled that he is going to put patio stones on our backyard patio! We should have a fun week :)

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week! I'll post baby updates sometime late this week or this weekend!

~Steph

All the pictures are up!

If you want to see the entire gallery of our photo shoot from last week click the following link and enter the password "popcorn".

http://juxtaposephotography.instaproofs.com/enterEvent.php?id=24384

Tell us which ones you like! We like too many and don't know which ones to frame!

Another post is coming this weekend, so stay tuned!

Professional pictures, a clean house, and my one-armed love

Hi all! Just took Tim to the airport tonight (a 3 hour trip - but I won't get into that part of it!) after his week long trip home with me, the belly and the doggies. Even with just one usable arm, he was a HUGE help while he was here and helped me get the house clean for all the guests I have coming into town this month! We also put some finishing touches on the nursery, and washed all of the baby's clothes, blankets, towels, and bedding (7 loads! Holy moly!). We officially are ready for his arrival. Well, maybe not TOTALLY ready- but if he were to come tomorrow he would have a nice pretty room to hang out in!

One of the highlights of Tim's visit home this time was a photo shoot given to us by one of our most amazing friends, Megan. We love her so much and still can't believe what an awesome and creative gift she came up with to celebrate baby's arrival. So, on Thursday last week we met with our photogapher, Kate, and took some really fun maternity pictures! You can get a sneak peek of the pics at Kate's blog - http://juxtaposephotography.typepad.com/. She did an AMAZING job and I know we will cherish these photos for the rest of our lives. I will be posting the rest of the pics very soon, so definitely stay tuned. Thanks Kate! You rock and gave us exactly what we wanted out of these pictures! And HUGE thanks to Megan! Our little boy will now have some very sweet pictures of his mommy and daddy during one of the most exciting times of their lives!

I am now 34 weeks pregnant and am really starting to feel the fatigue and back pain set in. It's harder for me to cool off (I'm always hot now!) and the non-maternity shirts I have been wearing are now to the point where they don't quite cover my ENORMOUS belly! But all in all, things are going great. Tim and I are getting more and more excited by the day to meet this baby boy. Only 6 weeks give or take before we get to find out what he looks like!

Here are a few pics we took this weekend. We tried our best for a family picture, but Bailey and Pilot just do not understand how to look at the camera sometimes!

Megan is coming for a visit tomorrow through Thursday which I am very excited about. Look for another post late this week or this weekend. Take care and have a great rest of the week!

~Steph

Whoa Belly!

The 5 of us!

Getting baby acquainted with the Florida Gators!

Tim & Pilot

A Baseball Shower!

On June 30th my lovely new friends I met through my Pi Phi Alumni Club threw me a baby shower in downtown McKinney! I was so flattered that they thought of me and they really did a fantastic job of decorating and hosting the shower. I have to share with you all the adorable little poem that was on the invitation:

Stephanie's belly used to be flat
That is, until Tim came up to bat.
And let's just say that he hit a Home Run
Because August will bring their first son.

I thought that was so funny and creative! At the shower we played a few games, chatted, ate some yummy food, laughed a ton, ate some great cake, laughed some more, and just celebrated the upcoming birth of this baby boy! Big thanks to Karen and Rebecca for hosting the wonderful bridal, errr... baby shower (see below). You are the best!

Here are some pics from the party!


The delicious Italian Cream cake!













Mama Steph really excited about the cake (odd, I know!)












The "oops" balloon! Looks more baby than wedding to me - did for Rebecca & the place she bought it from 'cause they didn't notice it either - but it made for some good belly laughs!










Friend Casey posing with the prize she won - a gift basket full of all the goodies you would need to make a fab hot dog to eat while watching baseball!










The favors for the guests! An IBC Root Beer with a baseball bat on it, a popcorn tub filled with peanuts, Cracker Jacks, Big League Chew bubble gum and a Baby Ruth!

Who is this man?

And what exactly is he doing on our blog? Well, let me first start out by saying that yet again I have slacked on the updates and now I have a million different things to update you on, but for now I will stick with the main issue:

*Tim had an MRI on June 27th and found out his ligament in his elbow is severely torn and will need surgery.

*Tim got to come to Dallas from the 30th through the 5th since he wasn't going to get to come home for the All Star Break as originally planned due to his surgery date. Bittersweet reason to have him home, but we did get some house stuff done which was really nice - YAY!

*Tim has Tommy John surgery on Friday July 6th (that mystery man in the picture is Mr. Tommy John himself). For more info on the surgery, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_John_surgery

*Surgery went well and Tim gets to come home for a week after his post-op appointment on Tuesday. So happy I get to see him one more time before the baby arrives!

*Tim will head back to Denver on Monday, July 16th to begin his rehab work and his long road to recovery.

So that is what we have had going on - that, and some other fun stuff - but in an effort to keep my reader's attention I am going to break up the stories so you don't have to commit an hour of your life to catching up on us. Hope everyone had a lovely 4th! We had a rain-free day here which was amazing! Take care and I will be adding more updates in the next few days!

~Steph