Happy birthday, Drew!

HAPPY 27TH!!!!

Saturday was Drew's birthday. We had such a good time having his family over for dinner. Drew is so excited to know that he is officially getting older and he gets socks for his gifts. Thanks Mom and Dad. :) Hopefully, he'll enjoy all of the handmade gifts that he'll be getting from Little Bit in the future.



Drew's cousin, Renee, brought her 2-year-old son, Will, over as well. So Dixie got to be "child-proofed" again. She did GREAT! Here she is getting another treat for doing so well.


Oh, and I went to the doctor today. Everything was fine. The heartbeat was good and I have somehow not gained any weight since last visit. It's strange how Mother Nature works on a body! We'll get our first ultrasound next month, and NO we are still not going to find out!

Busy weekend at the hospital

My father-in-law, "Pop", came in Friday night, so I ran around the house trying to make sure that everything was clean. However, in the midst of cleaning, I received a great, cute, helper. My neighbor, Shane, decided it would be cool to slice his hand and go to the ER, so I got to play with his son, Will, Friday afternoon. He helped me sweep, do laundry, dust, and wrap Drew's bday presents by standing on the boxes. Best of all, he's been in the works of helping me coach my dog, Dixie, into liking kids before Little Bit arrives. He did a great job and rewarded Dixie with treats. I have the pictures to prove it, too (Dixie is taking a treat from Will, not his hand)! Will then thought he deserved a treat himself. For those of you that don't know Dixie, this is a BIG deal!!! Please pray for Dixie to have a change of heart with kids -- I think we're almost there. On a positive note, we're glad to say that Shane's hand is all right!

Then, I received a phone call that night around 9:45 to find out that my friend Valerie went into labor. She's not due until July 2, but God told her Friday afternoon that He was ready for Valerie's miracle to happen now. We are so excited to welcome Hayden Adam Gioannini Daters into this world at healthy 7lbs. 3oz. and 19 3/4 long! He's gorgeous with beautiful Italian skin and 3 inch long feet!

We're in the 2nd trimester (14 weeks)!

I've finally come to an end of the 1st trimester! I have to say that I had a pretty good 1st trimester, too. I've heard horror stories of other girls' pregnancies, so I feel very fortunate. I guess the worst thing was getting sick after lifting weights last week and this week, but I've felt great other than that. So, darn, I can't really workout too much anymore (that's a sacrifice I'm willing to take!) . :)

Here is my first belly picture. It looks more like a spare tire right now, but I'm hoping that will change within the next few weeks. It's been funny to read about what changes I should be expecting each week and most readings compare the baby's size to a different type of food. Little Bit has been the size of anything from a sesame seed, to a kumquat (not sure how I feel about carrying that in my belly) to a jumbo shrimp, and many types of beans and fruit. This week I'm carrying a lemon. I pray that my child, though, won't really be a lemon. Just kidding!

HAPPY SUMMER!

Happy 1st Father's Day, Daddy Drew!

Drew got to experience his first Father's Day today as a daddy-to-be. He's been asking me when will he get to start reading to my belly, so I picked out some storybooks for him to start reading including Peter Pan. Then Grandma Verna (we've got to pick out a way cooler name, by the way) just got back from Destin and got Drew, really Little Bit, a souvenir that says "Daddy's my hero". Thanks for the gift! Then our friends, Kerri and her son Will, brought Drew early Christmas presents -- Christmas outfits for either a boy or girl. Oh, and my parents bought him maternity clothes for me. I loved them!

Thank you everyone for making this such a special 1st Father's Day!

To find out or not to find out????

To find out or not to find out what we're having...that is THE question on my mind right now!Today I went to Cynthia East Fabrics with my mom to pick out baby bedding fabrics. My sweet, and creative, friend Abby works there and helped me come up with some CUTE bedding options. She is convinced that we're having a girl after she self-diagnosed me with the "20 questions" game of what I'm eating and drinking (which, by the way, I've been craving lemonade and cold cut sandwiches with Cheetos-yum!). So she insisted that I come up with a real girly option. My original plan was to go ahead and have everything squared away in the nursery by designing a gender-friendly room based off of a painting that Drew bought me for Mother's Day before Little Bit gets here, but now I'm all sorts of confused. I did agree to coming up with 2 options, however; one that could work for a boy or girl, and one that would be tooooo cute for a girl. It's crazy to think how little things such as bedding can really tempt you on spoiling surprises, but I'm sticking to my guns and still not going to find out.

PS - This is the painting that Drew surprised me with for Mom's Day. Although there is a frog and dragonfly, I'm not doing an insect/amphibian theme in case you're wondering.

The secret is out!

So I guess it's official now that just about all of our family and friends know our big secret (and we have actually heard a heartbeat). Drew and I are going to enter the exciting, yet mysterious, world called "parenthood". We are really excited, but, of course, mixed with nerves and all sorts of other emotions as this is new territory for the both of us.

We can't wait to share our bundle of joy with everyone around Dec. 20th. I know that it's going to kill most of you to not know what we're having. But we both feel that this is just one of the very few surprises in life, so we want to keep it that way. Plus, it's going to be fun to torture those of you that can't wait to find out! ;)

Our next visit is June 25th. Please check back periodically as we will be posting updates about us and the baby. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!