13 Weeks

I had my 13 week prenatal appointment today and the midwife said everything looks great! The baby is extremely active and we could only get a good listen to the heartbeat for about 2.5 second before s/he bounced off to another corner of my insides. Kinda funny, this one's bound to be trouble! My bloodwork came back from a couple weeks ago though, and they did find me to be extremely anemic, which is most likely why I've been SO sick, above and beyond the normal "morning sickness" parameters. So once I'm done being nauseous all the time they're going to get me on iron supplements and that should help with all my dizziness and fatigue. Other than that, we're all seemingly healthy and looking forward to our trip to CA. My parents are flying me and John down to visit the second week of February and I can't wait! We wish Isaac could come, but, story of our lives: he has to work. There's not a whole lot going on here. John and I stay home most days and play. It snowed yesterday morning so we went outside to play in the snow, but my silly little boy wouldn't touch the stuff! Someday he'll be adventurous...maybe. Isaac took the Seattle Fire Dept. test on Sat. the 26th, and we should find out if he made the cut for an interview mid-Feb. If he makes this one all the way, we could have our very own firefighter in the house as early as July! What a blessing that would be, but we're keeping all our options open and he's going to continue testing for other fire departments until he has secured a position somewhere. Please pray for us as we're waiting on God to provide a steady job for Isaac! Okay see you all soon!

Fun at Odyssey 1!

I took John to a place called Odyssey 1 on Friday and he had a blast! Sorry the pictures are kinda blurry, he was having too much fun to slow down. There's a prego belly shot too, in case you were wondering why I was already complaining at 11 weeks! ;) (And I look so, um, natural because it was right after a shower, yuck!)

Our Little Gummy Bear

Isn't s/he cute!? I guess...kinda weird looking at 3D pictures of our little one so early but we think it's so cool! I had my first ultrasound today and they changed my due date to August 7th (from the 11th, no big deal) and said everything looks good so far. I did the typical giving of several vials of blood, filled out some paperwork (though there's a separate appointment to fill out most of it next Tuesday), made some more appointments, added our insurance, etc. etc. We were all there for over an hour and it was quite a disaster for John (he hates doctors) but we made it and it's so nice to have some wonderful pictures of the tiny guy.

If you don't know what you're looking at, I don't know how to help since there's no labels. It's pretty cut and dry that it's a baby, head looking down, arms up, and legs meeting at the feet. The bulge on baby's stomach is supposed to be some of the internal organs which are still forming outside the body, and you can see the umbilical cord coming away from the chest for now. Hope it makes sense to your eyes!

Finally...more stuff

Yes, he got a babydoll...he loves it! We thought he needed one to take care of since mommy's having one soon.

I know it's been a long time but I've had morning sickness (all day, of course) for about a month now. That's how long it lasted with John, but it started a lot earlier this time so there's still no end in sight. I'm almost 11 weeks pregnant and will have my first ultrasound on Tuesday the 15th; we can't wait to hear the heartbeat and see our new little peanut! S/he should be about the size of a grape this week and that little grape is making me pudgy! I already dug out all my maternity clothes and started wearing them since my other pants were just too tight!

Well John has been growing and learning so much lately, it's hard to keep up! He's quite a chatterbox these days and loves repeating words over and over again, just to make sure he has them right I guess. He still loves his crib and going to bed more than anything since he only gets his loveys and paci's in bed, but it's quite a blessing to have a child who begs for sleep sometimes! Our favorite thing to do during the day is sing and dance. John loves the ABCs, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and I'm a Little Teapot, and sings some of the words right along with me (but mostly A B B A B C B B B...he loves the first 3 letters of the alphabet and only sings those when we do that song!) He has learned where the baby is, though sometimes he points to his own tummy when we ask him "Where's the baby?" It's really cute, though I don't think he actually grasps the concept, nor will he anytime soon.

Isaac has been working A LOT! He got a great job at LA Fitness right next to our house doing what he loves best...sales! He sells gym memberships and has already been "pre-promoted" to the Weekend General Manager after only 9 days of being there! He will find out for sure after this weekend if he "proved" himself to be worthy of the position, but we know he can do it. He has been working about 58 hours per week, which has been hard on us all, but it was a blessing to get the job and the extra hours during our tough season so we're all working through this trying time.

Here's some pictures from Christmas...very late, but hey, don't complain, you're not sick all day right? Thanks for being patient w/ me.

"Thanks for my cool Cars stickers cousins Jake and Warren, they're great!"

Sorry we don't have any pictures from Christmas day at the Stegmans, I forgot my camera and don't have time right now to dig around Kathy's Picasa site for some good ones. Maybe eventually I'll put some up...don't hold your breath.

Lots to update

Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long, I was away from home for a while and it's pretty hard to get back into the groove after so long! (Meredith...you should know!) Where to start? Well, if you hadn't already figured out the previous post (and I'm sure you did), I'm pregnant, due on/around August 11th. I hate due dates though, so none of you better start asking those all too annoying questions like, "Are you still pregnant!?" and "You haven't had that baby yet!?" That's a good way to get deleted from my e-mail list for good! Things are going pretty well...I think. I mean, I can't see the baby but I feel tired and kinda sick already but that'll pass, and I think I've probably already gained weight but oh well. I'm not freaking out...just going to have to break out the maternity jeans a little earlier this time.
Fun with daddy before our trip!
Johnny and I took a trip to my parents house Dec. 2-11th. We were supposed to fly home on the 7th, but my parents blessed our family tremendously by buying us a minivan! I absolutely love my new (to me) car and it's great not to have to move the carseat all the time! It is a "champagne" colored Honda Odyssey that fits 7 people, so we're pretty well set for a while, hehe!

We had a wonderful visit at their house and spent lots of time hanging out, sewing, playing, visiting family and friends, eating good food, and shopping of course! John's favorite part of the trip was riding on the motorcycle with Grandpa Cliff (my dad). We all thought he would be terrified since it's so loud, but to our surprise, he was grinning ear to ear when they rode back down the driveway after the first run. John couldn't get enough and was pretty upset when motorcycle time was over, but there will be plenty more of that in the future (Grandpa will make sure of it!). Here's some videos and pictures of Johnny and Grandpa on the motorcycle.





This is Johnny and Alex, a family friend
Well we got home after a 2 day drive and were both wiped out. It was nice to see Isaac again and John is still very attached to daddy since we've been back. Every morning when he wakes up the first thing he says is "Daddy? Daddy?" and he waits for Isaac to go get him up. It's pretty cute and we realized was can't go on too many long trips without daddy again. He's too missable!

Lately Isaac has also decided to switch gears and try getting into a new/old career of firefighting. He has always desired to get back into firefighting or possibly police work and decided now would be the best time in our lives to get things going in that direction. He has already begun to study for tests coming up in January and April, and just decided to get a night job as a security guard, during which he might be able to study a little as well. I'm so proud of my husband for being so determined and doing what he needs to do to switch gears. We know God is going to bless all his hard work in this transition!

Johnny's Drawings

Hi everyone, we just wanted to show you how talented Johnny is...really! He drew these today for when Isaac came home from work, hehe! Get it?...

I'll be due sometime early/mid August!

Making Cookies and Taking Baths

Well we've been stuck at home all week since John is sick...he got rid of the cough (mostly) and now just has a horrible cold with lots of snot! I know, nobody really needs the details, but if I don't tell you then you won't know how bad it is! So in order to stay sane and happy, we baked cookies. (Yes, that's a highlighter in his hand, which he wouldn't let go of, and he dipped it in the dough!) We had a lot of fun, and mostly ate dough!

Johnny has started wandering the house all day asking to take a bath. He goes in to bathroom and waits in the dark for me to come run him a bath. Yesterday I found him playing with bath toys in the tub with no water! He's so funny. He still loves to draw with crayons too...or more accurately, he loves watching mommy draw things with crayons. Last night before bed, I drew some fish on his paper with an orange crayon and he pointed to it and said "cracker." Our boy is so smart, hehe!

I also wanted to let you all know that Isaac is doing well and he is healthy. Last week he was having chest pains one night and so he decided to go in for a physical. His appointment was yesterday and the doctor said everything looked great and even his blood pressure was down a bit! Wheew! We were a little worried but now we're glad to know he's healthy and there's nothing to worry about. Thanks for all your prayers about this :)