Getting Closer...

Yesterday, Mark and I had another doctor's appointment to check-up on Mini-Muffin...who is almost 38 weeks! Everything looks to be right on track and he's still VERY comfortable in his uterine home (which is getting more and more crowded each day), as he has yet to drop or make any progress towards labor. This news was perfectly fine with us, as there are still quite a few things to be done around here. The nursery is also coming together. Mark assembled our crib, glider-rocker/ottoman, and changer/dresser this week. Now it's up to me to organize all of the fun new things we've received from all of our extremely generous friends and family. I will be sure to post pics of the nursery once it's finished. Mark and I are trying to make the most of our last days/weeks as a family of 2. We are so very excited to meet our son and begin this new chapter in our lives...now in less than a month's time! Craziness!

Mark decided that it would be hilarious to take a picture of me with a basketball...as these days he's always saying it looks like I've swallowed one. So here's Mini-Muffin and I in all our glory at 37 weeks 4 days pregnant.

July has come and gone...

July was a busy month for us! To begin the month, we celebrated the 4th with Mark's family here in Durham followed by our 4-Year Wedding Anniversary a few days later on July 9th. I can't believe it's already been 4 years since we united as one, but I must say we are very much looking forward to the wonderful changes our 5th year of marriage will bring! Next, we spent a week at VA Beach with ALL of my family. It was such an awesome time to enjoy each other's company, as it's becoming more challenging to get everyone together at the same time. We even had to rent a 3rd condo unit to house our rapidly growing family! Lastly, the month finished with a beautiful shower for Mini-Muffin back in VA with friends and family. Mark and I feel so blessed to have so many friends and family that are so excited along with us to celebrate the arrival of this special little guy. The nursery set-up continues to progress and the baby continues to do well. He's definitely running out of room in my belly, but Mark and I are loving all of the jabs, squirms, and wiggles he's blessing us with on a daily basis. We're so excited to meet this precious baby in about a month!




Mark & I forgot to take a picture at our anniversary dinner, so here's one we took when we got home afterwards.





Mark loved his lobster dinner at the beach...





Here are a few pics from my VA baby shower...I am 34 weeks in these pics...craziness!

Our First Father's Day!

Yesterday, Mark and I celebrated his very first (of many) Father's Days! Even though the day began with our dog, Candy, escaping in the neighborhood for over 2 hours, it all turned-out awesome in the end. (FYI: Candy, we think, decided to go for a swim with the geese/ducks in a nearby pond...as she returned to us soaking wet and exhausted at our front door) We kept things pretty low-key for our celebration, but did have the pleasure of having the newlyweds stop by to join us for dinner on their way back to VA from their honeymoon in Hilton Head. After gorging ourselves on tacos, we dove into the first part of Mark's Father's Day presents...an oreo chocolate fudge ice-cream cake that I had made earlier in the day. This was the first ice-cream cake I've ever made, and according to my critics, it turned-out pretty yummy. :-) Matt and Brittney headed back on the road soon after dinner, so Mini-Muffin presented his Daddy with his card and remaining gifts...an Iphone onesie (Mark's gotta start early "Apple-fying" our son)and a new pair of Rainbow Flip-Flops, since Mark has literally worn a hole through the sole of his current pair! Overall, I think Mark's 1st Father's Day was a success. We can't wait until next year, when our little guy is more "physically" present to join in on the celebration! Gonna be awesome!


Here's a shot of the "run-away" dog...trying to look innocent...






The Father's Day Dessert...a total gut-bomb as my dad would say...





Mark was VERY excited to take his 1st bite...





Mini-muffin helped make Daddy's dessert, so we figured he should be in a picture too!




Gifts for Daddy...they are on their way...

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...