Quinceanera

We went to our first Quinceanera Party this weekend. This is a coming of age party for a Hispanic girl at age 15. One of Neal's employees was holding the celebration for his daughter. It is quite a production. It was very similar to a wedding reception except the music was so loud we could hardly hear each other talk. It was a neat experience though.

Belly Pic

This is for all of you Indiana people. It is getting harder and harder to post pictures of myself but I'll keep trying for you, mom! My stomach has really begun to pop out these past couple of weeks and I feel huge everywhere! The scary thing is, this is only the beginning!

Back to School!!!

After a long process of thinking, I finally signed up as a full time student with the University of Phoenix. I will be pursuing a bachelors degree in business / management and I hope I'm ready for the long road ahead. I told Laura I might need her to write some papers for me! :-) I still have to meet with an academic counselor to fine tune what classes I will be taking. My first class will start on September 29th right after the Utah trip with my dad. I will ask Laura if I can go buy a trapper keeper this weekend and maybe a lunch box!!

Train

The nursery is almost complete, and after hours of work it has turned out pretty nice. A lot of the colors and decor that Laura picked out have turned out great. I have uploaded a video of the train coming through the wall of the nursery. After everything is complete, I will show some more pictures. But for now you only get a taste. I have probably gone a little bit eletronic crazy but it will be well worth it. :-)

Baby Update

I can't believe I am halfway through my pregnancy now! The time has really been flying by. At the beginning of the week, I finally began to feel him move. It has been so neat to feel him everyday. This has been one thing I've been looking forward to the most.

This weekend Neal has been pounding away in the nursery. He painted the room, put up the crib, and moved in the other furniture. He's been up there working so hard everyday. I pulled him away from his work on Sat. to go register at Babies R Us. Luckily they gave him a little scanning gun to keep him entertained while we were at the store. He thought I had everything picked out already and we would be in and out of the store in no time. Yeah, right. It took quite a long time to sort through all of those baby gadgets. I'm still at a loss as to what we need!

Then today, it was a miracle but I got him to go to Target with me to register for the last few items. The only problem was the store is a little bigger and I kept losing him in the electronics ilse. Who knows what he scanned in there!

Back to School

Well, I survived my first week of school. This has actually been one of my easiest first weeks ever! I only have 19 students in my class, so that is a huge improvement from the 32 I started with last year. My students have been doing very well so far. Of course they are all still very nervous and shy. I'm sure this next week, many of them will begin to come out of their shells. I have to say, the hardest thing for me has been my sore feet and the extreme fatigue I feel at the end of the day. I've come home each day and just crashed on the couch. I'm sure after a few weeks I'll get back in the swing of things and be okay. I've just been so lazy for the past two months, I have to get used to being on my feet all day again :-).

On Friday, some of my students figured out that I was pregnant. One little girl said, "My mom wanted me to ask if you were having a baby." Then another little girl said, "My mom has a big tummy too because she had 4 kids, but she's not having anymore." So just remember all you parents...kids don't know how to be discrete. They always tell it like it is, so be careful what you tell them :-). Then some of the students began asking me questions about my pregnancy. One little girl asked what I was having. When I told her it was a boy, she slumped her shoulders and slowly walked back to her desk. She was not thrilled. Another little girl asked if he was going to be in our class. You just have to love their questions. Now let's just hope I don't get any, "Where do babies come from?" questions :-)

The Name Game

Now that we know it is a boy, we have the challenging task of picking just the right name. We've started a list of boy's names and we both have our favorites in mind. We'd love to hear what you think is the best name for our little boy. So please vote on our pole and post new names to our blog if you have any suggestions. You can post to the blog without registering by first clicking on the word "comment" under this post and then clicking on the circle next to the words "Name/URL". Then type in your name in the box and leave us ideas for names. Thanks for your help in choosing the perfect name!

It's a BOY!

We had our 18 week ultrasound on Wednesday and were thrilled to find out that we are having a boy! It's a good thing or I would be running all over town returning a lot of clothes and baby bedding! Everything looked good on the ultrasound. He was measuring right where he was supposed to and he looks healthy. We do have one active little boy though. I think Neal and I are really going to have our hands full! He was doing somersaults, spinning, kicking, and punching the entire time during the ultrasound. He's done that every time we've seen him. I'm sure pretty soon when he gets a little bigger, I'll be feeling him move all day and night! He's only 7 ounces right now but he is right on target. Everything has been going well for me. I'm feeling great and enjoying every minute of this pregnancy!

Belly Picture

We've had lots of requests for belly pictures, so here it is finally. I'll post more later as my belly begins to grow. Everything has been going well so far. I feel great and can't wait for the day when I begin to feel the baby moving. It should be anytime now. We have an ultrasound on Wednesday where the doctors will take measurements and confirm the sex of the baby. We can't wait to see the baby again!

DK Express!!

After being stored in boxes for more than 12 years, the train has re-surfaced from Indiana to Arizona. The train tracks have been mounted almost 8 feet above the floor on decorative shelving and crown molding. The train makes laps around one guest bedroom before passing through the wall making a lap around the nursery and then steams through another wall and ending up where it began. The train does have a parking garage so that it is out of sight when not being operated, this is accomplished by a set of switch tracks to allow the train to back-up into the closet ceiling and be protected from dust and dirt. You know me, I added the switch tracks and the garage so that I would be one up on grandpa. The entire project is not yet finished, but should be in the next several weeks and then pictures and videos will follow. This project should bring enjoyment and memories to many, but as we remember, this will ALWAYS be grandpa's train.