23 weeks

So lately it has been my dear husband who has done all the posting- and quite a bit in the last few weeks! So I thought I would chime in with what's new. We are now in the 23rd week of the pregnancy, so only 17 to go! I'm pretty excited about that, as it is really not that far away. Plus, now that we know it is a little she, we have started to do more preparation. As Derek said, we have her bedding already and her furniture is ordered. And my talented hubby is doing a wonderful job painting her room in the difficult way that I wanted. :) It's fun to keep reminding him that he had said it was impossible, and that there was "no way" he could do that. It's looking very cute, and I don't think it will even take him that long to do. 

Everything else is going well in our life. We have both been very busy at work lately, which is both good and bad. It tends to make me a little stressed out, but the weeks do go by very quickly. Not much else is new- most of our spare time is spent preparing and planning for baby girl's arrival! We also find time to play ping-pong every now and then, which is our new hobby. I gave Derek a ping-pong table for Christmas this year, but told him I would never play because I was horrible. The part about me being horrible definitely started out true, but I became kind of addicted to it and have actually improved a lot. But I still need a 10 point lead to play Derek. :) 

Anyways, we will keep you updated on the progress of baby's room and any other happenings!

PHASE 2 OF BABY'S ROOM

The Painting Begins...Again!

Well, we got the furniture picked out and the bedding ready to go. Now that we know the color scheme, it's time to begin painting once again. I just got done painting other parts of the house a few months ago, and now it's time to start a new room. That's alright though, I'll do it for my 2 girls. We've decided to paint the room PINK. The top part of the walls is going to be light pink and then the bottom part will be a darker pink. I am trying to paint a "crown" type of thing in the middle that will separate the two colors. I have taken a picture of phase 1. I will try to keep you up to date as to what phase I'm on. So for now you'll have to enjoy the boring phase 1. I'll be back soon.

Iowa -20, California 85

We just got back from a wonderful weekend in California where we visited my brother Matthew, his wife Melissa and their 1 year old, Cayden. It was so nice to see all three of them again and have a chance to spend some quality time together. We're already looking forward to seeing the three of them again, possibly in April, or otherwise in July, after baby is born. As you can see from the title, when we left Thursday afternoon it was -20 here in Pella, and in California when we got there it was around 85 that day. It stayed in the 80s all weekend, and it was awesome soaking up the sun, even if it was just for a couple days. Lindsey is still doing great and we're getting ready to begin work on baby girl's room. We're going to take a picture of Lindsey's belly again this week and I will try to get her, or myself, to upload the picture for everyone to see. Also, I know Melissa took some great shots of all of us in California, so I'll try to grab some of those as well when she gets 'em posted. We'll talk again soon.

It's a Girl!

Well, it looks like we're going to be having a precious little girl. I had this feeling inside that it was a girl from the moment Lindsey and I found out that we were going to be having a baby. I guess God wanted to start preparing me early for the joys and hardships of raising a sweet little lady. Lindsey and I are both so excited to meet little... Oh wait, this is one thing we're keeping secret 'til she's in our arms. We're half-way there and honestly, it has been a breeze so far, well at least for me and my body! No, I think Lindsey has been doing awesome and I thank God for keeping her and baby so happy and healthy. From the ultrasound it showed that our little one is quite active and I think this means that she wants to meet us just as badly as we want to meet her. I know it has been a while since I wrote, so I will try to do a better job here in the second half of the pregnancy. Maybe I can get Lindsey to upload an image or two during her spare time as well. We'll see!

Exciting First

So we are now almost into the 20th week of the pregnancy, and I (Lindsey) still was not sure if I had felt the baby move. It is supposed to occur anytime between the 18th and 22nd week, so I have been paying attention lately to see if I felt anything. In the last week or so, I thought I might have felt something, but wasn't sure if it was actually the baby. Well, today I was getting ready for work, and I felt what seemed like a heartbeat in my stomach. I quickly realized that it was our baby, who likely had hiccups! It was a very cool feeling, and now that I know what to feel for, I have been feeling baby move all day today. He or she is certainly having an active day! It's pretty amazing though, and I'm sure I will enjoy it until the point that major kicking occurs. Anyways, that is our exciting news. We should hopefully have more news in a few days- our ultraound is scheduled for this Monday (4 days!)