It's a girl!

Hi all,
We found out last week that we're having a baby girl!  Everything looks good and the due date is on target for Nov 18th so that puts me at just over 21 weeks now... more than half-way!  Time sure does fly when you don't feel sick all of the time :) 

Since my last update, my cousin and friend have both delivered beautiful baby girls so ours will have a few "older" role models to play with. Our neighbors also had a boy just the other day.  Babies are all around us!

Plans are underway to fix up the nursery which will be in the bedroom adjacent to our room on the second floor.  I've discovered that Jason's nesting instinct drives him immediately to either Home Depot or Lowes and the work commences in the basement (ground floor) of the house.  From the foundation we can work our way up, right?  All of the changes will actually be really nice so I am not complaining!

See the obligatory first baby pic attached below. Signing off until next time. Take care all! ~claire

June update

Hi all!
I don't have any huge news this time except I'm doing great and settling into this feeling of being preggo -- it is very different!  I've been really busy with work stuff so that helps the time go by quicker too.

Jason joined a kickball league and is getting set up in the basement with a 'lab' for doing home brews. I think it may be good timing that I can't drink right now so by the time I am back able to drink again, he will have his recipes figured out.  He bought abook on how to knock off various popular beers and wants to start with Sierra Nevada Pale.  Way to shoot for the stars, babe!  We'll see how it goes ;)

Zan celebrated a milestone birthday (#10) on June 6th so that was exciting.  He got a new collar and a toy that he has been loving on a lot.

I've picked up some maternity wear from garage sales, kind friends and the actual maternity store but so far some of my regular clothes still fit (yay!) so I am going to go with that as long as I can.

We settled on the place where we are going to deliver - Research Medical Center - which coincidentally is where I was born (as well as my sister Molly).  We go in for the sonogram on July 5th and will update the blog with the sex of the baby after that.  People have asked me what I think it is and I tell them I am betting it is either a boy or a girl... we'll see ;)

There are a bunch of exciting weddings this summer, including two of my cousins (one who is getting married on my wedding day a year later!) and Jason's sister.  We actually leave on Thursday for Kathryn's wedding in Chicago - can't wait!!

I was reflecting on our wedding last year in Costa Rica and the fun few days we explored the country afterwards.   After the baby comes, I know we will be home-bound for awhile but at least we have lots of travel memories to draw from.

Here's a pic of a volcano we visited in Nicaragua -- the heat and smell was really overwhelming.  It was really cool to be able to look right into the mouth of the volcano.



Here's a sign they had posted as well. There were pictograms of flying rocks and instructions to hide under your car if the thing starts to blow!



Here's another "arm length" photo of me and J - these are a staple in our photo albums - good thing he has long arms!  It is crazy how these massive crocodiles laze around on the muddy banks of the rivers.  You really hope they know to stay down there and don't decide to run uphill!

We also went fishing and caught/released some fish. Lots of fun! Here's Jason's rooster fish.



A jackfish that I caught.. I'm not sure why I was hugging it!  I smelled like fish for the rest of the day and then some.

PS: Our neighbors moved back to KC last weekend. She's a dr and was doing a fellowship in Wisconsin for a year... AND she's about to pop, her due date is days away.  It will be fun to have a baby so close in age right next door, plus we're all first time parents.  We're talking about doing a nanny-sharing arrangement which I think would be ideal.

Baby Picture Olympics

Hello all!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  We got back from Spearville, KS last night where we helped celebrate the 60th anniversary for Grandma and Grandpa Simon.  It was fun seeing the many folks who made the (long!) trip down to Costa Rica for the wedding last August.

Grandma Marcy and Jason's mom Patti pulled out a bunch of pictures of Jason from baby-hood and childhood.  Keep in mind that Jason was the first grandbaby in two families... and his childhood is very well documented to say the least! (I am told that there is another whole box of his baby pictures somewhere in the basement or in storage).

In comparing the baby pics of me and Jason, I have to say that he was a cuter baby than I was!  Of course, there are a lot more pics of him to sort through, all of his clothes were brand new as opposed to the hand me downs that I wore, and his mom must have had him at the photo studio every other week (seriously!) for professional pictures. I am sure there are some good pictures of me when I was a kid, but my mom always says that I looked so much like my sister Chandra that she isn't sure which ones are me and which are her!
Decide for yourselves... let the baby picture olympics begin!

This is me as a baby...

 

This is me (on left) with my sister Chandra. We do look alike!
 

This is Jason as a baby...


Jason's first beer!



 Jason's first best friend.          



Playing Little Leage for the Senators.    

155 BPM

We visited the doctor today and everything looks good! We got to hear the baby's heartbeat which was exciting.  We found out that they won't do a sonogram until I am at 20 weeks when they can do a full health screening sonogram.  That appointment is set for July 5th.  So when that day comes we will know the sex of the baby :)

Our next steps are to tour some hospitals and decide where our little one will make his/her debut!

Funny story.... Jason and I traveled to Las Vegas last week for a few days for a seminar.  We were waiting at the airport in KC for the 3 hour direct flight to Vegas and our flight was just about to board when this guy walks by with a bag full of Quiznos sandwiches.... and they smelled really good! 

I turned to Jason and said "I am going to need a sandwich for this long flight!"  Bless his heart, he jumped up and raced several gates down to the sandwich stand, getting back in time to board the flight with 2 turkey and swiss sandwiches in hand.

We went to Vegas for work but also enjoyed the Beatles LOVE show on one of the nights.  Health-wise I am continuing to feel better (or maybe I am just getting used to the feeling of being preggo!) with little bouts of nausea and headaches here and there. 

Signing off for now ~claire

Finally feeling better

Yay!!!
When I woke up this morning, I actually felt human again!  I am hopeful that the 1st trimester symptoms are starting to wane.  Fingers crossed...  :)

Last week, Jason and I had a fun week/weekend full of family activities.  His mom Patti came to visit Wednesday thru Saturday and it was great to see her.  After she left on Saturday we had some other fun things planned with the families, including a birthday dinner Saturday night, Easter brunch and Easter dinner on Sunday.  Needless to say, by Sunday night I was completely beat.

In (rare) home-improvement-related news, Jason and Patti went shopping for hanging flowers and worked to fix up the porch in anticipation of the nice weather.

AND... they got cracking on another big home fix up project which is replacing our back door.  Jason has actually worked tirelessly on this since Sunday and it really looks great.  Now we have a back door that shuts and locks properly and a really nice screen to boot (good thing I didn't post earlier that we were an easy break-in target!).  My mom-in-law Patti is welcome to come visit anytime!!
 
 

Family Pictures

Since our brood is growing soon, I thought I would post some pics of the current children.  They are all getting along really well and staying healthy.

Zanzibar (Zan for short) is the oldest and the first puppy I ever raised. He is a momma's boy through and through.

Morton is the next in the birth order.  He loves his toys and actually still has some stuffed animal toys from his puppy years.  Morty loves his people, loves bird hunting and can be really protective. He is a really special dog.

Vanna is the youngest -- she will be 6 in October.  While she WANTS to be good, she gets easily distracted and trys pretty hard to impress the others.

Here are some cute group pics from a portrait session we had done last September.

 

Hello world!

Hi all,

I hope this message finds all of our friends and family well.  Jason and I have some really exciting news! We're expecting our first child (not counting our 4-legged ones) in mid-November. 

At currently a little more than 10 wks along, I can say that so far I've been experiencing just about all of the first trimester pregnancy symptoms en-force (!) not always fun but at least you know you're healthy...  I am hoping that things calm down in a few weeks when I hit the 2nd trimester.  We'll see.

We are thankful that Spring is upon KC and the cold is starting to let up.  We have lots of fun things to plan and look forward to (several weddings this summer and fall which will be a blast!).

Love always, claire