Summer has officially begun!

Life is beginning to calm down a bit...but I'm sure this calm will not last very long. I'm officially DONE with school and Mark and I are gearing up for a summer full of weddings and various other events. Since the last post, we've already had a couple school baby showers (one thrown by my teammates and one given by my classroom parents), 2 more doctors appointments, and attended the wedding of my younger brother Matthew and his new wife Brittney. Our little guy is growing and moving a LOT and Mark and I are starting to plan-out the nursery, as the realization that I am now in my 3rd trimester has suddenly hit both of us! We are so excited to meet our little guy in September! I will be sure to keep things updated on here, now that I have a little more time. For now, enjoy some pictures from events of the past month!


Here are some pics from Matt and Brittney's wedding, 6/13/09











..and some pics from my School Baby Shower...thrown by my wonderful 5th grade teammates!

Baby Update

This past Monday, Mark joined me and mini-muffin for our next Dr.'s appointment. Everything is progressing great, with nothing unusual to report. We were able to hear our baby's heartbeat, which was a strong 157 bpm. So fun! I've been able to feel him moving a bit over the past week or so and that has been really cool. Hopefully Mark will be able to feel his kicks sometime soon too! Other than my rapidly growing belly, nothing much else new to report. Only about a month 'til school is out, so just trying to survive until then! :-)

I've added a few of the ultrasound pics from last month's appointment...sorry it took a while, poor Mark had a ton of them to scan! At this point I was measuring slightly earlier than we thought, at about 17ish weeks. Enjoy!


This picture was one of the weird 3-D ultrasounds...you can see a right profile view of our little guy...complete with skinny little armpit!






Cute shot of his little feet!






The "money shot"--taken from below...







Another couple profile shots of our mini-muffin...

It's a...

BOY! Sorry for the delay in posting our exciting news. Mark and I found out this information at my doctor's visit last Monday, April 6th. It was such an awesome experience seeing our baby BOY on the television monitor while the ultrasound tech checked to make sure everything looked good...explaining everything along the way...which I loved! Mark was so excited when we finally found out the gender, that he had a mass-text of our news out to family in record time! Needless to say, we are both ecstatic to welcome our son in early September. The only bummer was that the ultrasound tech said I was measuring slightly less far along than we had initially thought...aka she said I was in my 17th not 18th week of pregnancy. My due date will not change, since it's a matter of a little less than a week. So, it will be interesting to see when our blueberry mini-muffin makes his grand-appearance...there are a LOT of family birthdays in the month of September! I will be sure to post some of the "better" ultrasound pics when Mark finishes scanning them in, so stay tuned! ;-)

Mini-Muffin Update

So, growing-up my dad would always call me his "muffin," with the flavor varying on the color of my clothes that particular day...so Mark and I have decided to temporarily name our little one "Mini-muffin"--hence the name of this post. ;-) This past Thursday (3/5) I had my latest 4-week check-up on the baby and all seems to be right on track. Mark and I were finally able to hear our baby's heartbeat on the dopplar and it was AMAZING! We also scheduled the date of the "Big Ultrasound" for next month on Monday, April 6th. I can't believe we will know what we are having in less than a month! Other than that, nothing much else new going on around here. Once I begin showing a little more I will be sure to post a preggo shot...but there's really not much to see thus far...can't wait til there is! 'Til next time...

Baby Pic!

Here are the first official "pictures" of our baby...the white blob inside the black circle is the baby. This ultrasound was taken at my 10-week appointment back on February 3rd, so my next one (around 18-20 weeks)will be much clearer. Enjoy! :-)

Our Family is Growing...

Mark and I wanted to announce to everyone (who didn't know already) that we are expecting our first little one around September 6th. We feel truly blessed and amazed by this little life that God has already entrusted to our care. I am about 12 weeks along in my pregnancy, with little difficulties to report..except for a few minor bouts with nausea and a constant state of exhaustion. I had the first ultrasound at my 10-week appointment, and although not very detailed, it was awesome to finally see that there is something growing inside of me. I was even able to see our baby's little heart beating away on the ultrasound monitor. My next appointment will be the standard 4-week check-up on March 5th. It will be at this appointment that Mark and I will finally be able to hear our baby's heartbeat! I will try to upload the ultrasound pictures to our blog soon..so stay tuned for updates!

Long Overdue...

Summer is long gone and the holidays are right around the corner...so I figured it might be a good time to update the blog. We have been very busy since the last update, with too many things to remember, but I will hit-upon some of the main events. I am obviously back in full swing at school and Mark continues to work at both of his jobs. Our fall has consisted of many events...some more fun than others. First of all, my family took our annual Apple Picking trip to Graves Mountain Lodge in the mountains of VA back in early October. This year's weather and apple harvest were awesome! Many an apple pie was made when we returned home. Later in the month, my (Kristin's) other grandfather passed-away somewhat expectedly, about 2 months after his wife (my grandmother--dad's side) passed away. God was truly gracious in his timing and the way everything happened. They will both be dearly missed. On a happier note, Mark and I are very much excited about the upcoming holiday season. We will be joining my family for Thanksgiving in southeastern Virginia followed by a Birthday Weekend Get-Away to the Asheville the first weekend of December. I've been dying to see the Biltmore all decorated for Christmas since we moved here 3 years ago and I will finally get my chance. Mark has arranged for us to stay in a cute B&B and even go on a candlelight tour of the mansion! If you can't tell...I'm totally psyched! I will most definitely take lots of pics and try to post some on here soon after we return. Promise to post again soon!

Here are just a few pics from Apple Picking 2k8:

















I had to add some pics of the food from this year's state fair...here's Mark eating a piece of fried pecan pie and me with my frozen chocolate-dipped banana w/ sprinkles...both were so yummy!