Baby Update...

I am 21 weeks and I finally felt the baby kick for the first time this Sunday. I have been able to feel her move for a couple of weeks but hadn't felt a strong kick until now. John and I laid down to go to bed and that's when she started. John could feel it as well so it was a really cool moment for us. I can't explain how crazy it felt but it was such a cool feeling. I hear from experienced women that it's cute now but later I will be praying for her to stop kicking! For now I love it. I haven't felt her kick that hard the last couple of days and I'm thinking it was the sprite I had with my dinner Sunday night. That was one of the few sodas I have drank since I've gotten pregnant and it sure hiped her up!

Erin's Trip to Florida!

I was so lucky to have Erin come visit for a week. Erin said it was an early birthday present. She is really good to me. She colored my hair, cut my hair, styled my hair everyday, and gave me a pedicure. She really pampered me. It rains a lot here in Florida but not like this last week. Of course the one week Erin is here it pours the whole time. We did get a half day in at Clear Water Beach and an hour at the swimming pool before the rain started. But the best news is that with all this time inside I was finally able to help Erin start her blog! She wanted to pull her hair out, like we all did when we first started, but once we got everything going the addiction started for her! I am so happy that Erin is a blogger! We also took a trip to see Greg, Ty, and the girls for a day. Here are some pictures from the week... Kayli and Jenna dressed up in Greg's Physicians Assistant uniforms and it was the cutest thing! As you can see, they are giving Greg a check-up. We got a lot of great pictures that Greg is going to use for a presentation in class.
Here we are at Clear Water Beach. We spent an hour or two on the beach and then we went in all the little shops on the main street and looked around.
Erin's trip was completed when we got a picture in front of this car. This is a typical car here in Florida. A not so pretty paint job with fancy rims and all tinted windows, including the windshield. It's a little scary sometimes. Erin and I were hesitant to take a picture in front of it in case the owner saw but John reassured us it would be ok. We are still alive! Here is my new hair do and I love it! Thanks Erin!

My Surprise Baby Shower!!

My friends here in Florida threw me a surprise baby shower. It was awesome! Here's the story...My sister Erin was in town for the week and she was in on the baby shower. I had no idea! John even knew and it is hard for him to keep a secret from me! Erin had planned that we go to the mall on Thursday. So we decided around 11:00am we would head to the mall. About three times, when we were ready to walk out the door, Erin would so "Oh I forgot this" or "I forgot that" because the other girls were telling her to stall. Earlier Lonna had asked me to stop by and grab some cash from her so I could get her a couple things from Old Navy while I was there so we did. We got there and she acted like she couldn't find her purse and went over to Cathy's across the hall to get it. So I sat there waiting, thinking nothing of it. Then Camron, Lonna's husband said "I think you should go get some money from Cathy too because she needed a few things." so Erin and I went over there and everyone yelled surprise!! They planned it out perfect, I didn't expect a thing.
I have wonderful friends here in Florida! Thank you Lonna for throwing me a baby shower!! Here I am being surprised! Jordan Shields took pictures throughout the whole shower which was so nice of her! Here I am with my "Mom To Be" pin that they had me wear. It flashed and everything! The food was delicious! We had chicken salad sandwiches and tons of fruit, which has been my only craving so far during this pregnancy. I can't get enough fruit! This picture is of my absolute favorite food there, sugar cookies with fruit on top. Oh man they were good! We played a few games like the diaper game..mmmm...and some word scrambles. Afterwards the boys came over and tried to act interested in what was going on but we knew they were only interested in the food! We got so many cute outfits for our girl and a couple of gift cards. Erin gave us some cute head bows which is good because with me being a mom, my baby doesn't have much of a chance of being a girly girl! Below is a picture of all the wonderful people I am surrounded by out here. Thank you so much everyone for coming to the shower, and especially thanks to Lonna for planning it! Cathy, Blaire, Alyssa, Jordan, Lonna, Erin, Me, and Luhia...We also took a picture of my belly. Here I am at 21 weeks!

Happy 4th of July!!

I love the 4th of July and it is the only day John takes off all summer, and he didn't even take it off! He worked from 9am until about 3:30pm and got one install! He is such a hard worker and I am happy to support him. I have to say that this was one of the funnest 4th of Julys yet. First we went to a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game. It was a lot of fun! It was one of my hungry days so I ate lunch at noon and then ate a sandwich at 4 before we left for the game so that we wouldn't have to spend an arm and a leg at the ball park for food. Well that didn't work, our baby must be growing! I was hungry an hour later so John bought me some $8 chicken strips and I think that was the best deal there. Oh well, at least our baby doesn't starve :). The Rays killed the Kansas City Royals by like 7 runs but we left in the 8th inning to beat the traffic.
After the game, we went to Clear Water Beach and it was awesome! There were 3 firework shows going on around us on the beach and then the big show that everyone was there for started and I think they launched them off the bridge. It was amazing. It was packed! It took us a while to find a parking spot and about half way through the firwork show, there were already cars lined up towards the bridge to leave. I guess there is only one bridge off the island and traffic was backed up for miles. Once again, I was hungry, so we went to a seafood cafe type place where they catch there own fish and everything else out back. They had everything like aligator and octipus. I stuck with the shrimp and John had the chicken. Pretty boring I know but that's what we wanted. After we ate we sat in the traffic for probably a couple of hours before we got off the island. It was so worth it though! We really had a great day!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

It's a girl and we couldn't be happier! It is so wonderful to just know! During the ultrasound John and I could hardly contain ourselves because they made us wait until the very end before they told us she was a girl. She is a healthy girl and everything seemed to be working properly. The ultrasound tech had to go get the doctor though because she thought I had two placentas. So she left me laying there with goop on my belly and cold air blowing on me for about 10 minutes. I was freezing. The doctor came in and took a little while but decided that I didn't have two placentas. My placenta is very narrow in the middle so at some angles it looks like it's not connected but they are just going to keep an eye on it. We are so blessed to have a healthy girl and can't wait until she is born. Now we need to start discussing names...we haven't found one that we both love yet. I had to take a picture of a picture so they are kind of blurry. It's the best I can do but here is our baby girl...

Another Trip

John and a few other guys from our office went to sell in Tampa for the week and instead of me staying in Jacksonville, I rode with John to Tampa and took a Greyhound bus to Ft. Myers to be with Greg's family again. It was another good week. I got there Wednesday June 25th and John came and picked me up Sunday the 29th. Greg took me fishing again and it was great! I caught about 4 snook and had a few more bites on the line that I lost. The rest of the week I just tagged along with Ty and the girls but we had a great time. John came late Saturday night after selling and we spent all day Sunday with them before we had to drive back to Jacksonville. Here are some pictures... Ty and Kara