Another belly pic!

11-28-10, 22 weeks 3 days

belly shot

So here is what my belly looks like today... not sure if it shows the difference very well or not, but no one is silently wondering if I am pregnant anymore, they can all see for themselves now.

long over due

Back at the end of August we took a short trip to Indiana to see family so we will start with a few pics from that trip. One of the most fun parts, and also the most photographed, was seeing the kids play so well together. They really had a blast together!

Playing soccer!

Searching for and eating the very last rasberries of the season...

Blowing a ton of bubbles, if Luke wasn't otherwise occupied that is what he always wanted to do!

We also went to a "farm" that had lots of wild animals that the kids could see and in some cases feed. Mimi and Papa paid for each of the kids to go on a camel and pony rides! Luke was ecstatic about the rides, but so tired he had a hard time waiting his turn and finding out that he only got one each!

We even got in one good family pic of all of us together!

Here is one token picture from Winfield. This year I went with Luke on my own. Greg had to work so he only made it down for Saturday during the day. At night I slept with my Mom in their pop-up camper, mostly just the three of us though Dad was there part of the time. During the day various friends and family helped me keep an eye on the busy little guy and at the end of the evening they helped me lug both sleeping boy and all our survival gear back to camp. It was hard, especially since I was still not feeling the best with the pregnancy, but it was also a really good year. Luke had a lot of fun playing with everyone and I enjoyed seeing a lot of people who are normally pretty far away.

Here is one belly picture taken over a month ago on October 6th, I guess I need to take another!

Here are a few of my sweet boy...

Luke and I played outside in the leaves about a week after Halloween, so here are a few pics of Luke!

He wouldn't jump in them with me but he did like to throw them in the air and say, "WHEEE!!!"

We carved pumpkins on Halloween with Amy, Derrick and Glen at their house in Derby, this is what they looked like one week later...

First Greg's (looks like he lost his teeth)....

And mine (in case you can't tell they are leaves, and they did look pretty good when I first did it).

Finally here are the pictures we got from our sono on Wednesday the 10th of November!!!

Face and hands!

The beginning of this pregnancy I was really sick, throwing up around 3x/day, even with medications. It was pretty miserable, I have to say, even though we were thrilled about expecting another baby after such a long wait.

The nausea finally passed around week 14 or 15 and I felt so much better that it seemed as though the whole world was better! Finally I had energy to be a parent again, I could walk into the kitchen without feeling sick, I could even cook again! Needless to say I wasn't the only one in my family grateful that I was feeling better again.

Because of all the nausea my entire family was positive that we were expecting a girl this time around. As you can see from the pics though, we are looking forward to a "baby broder" for Luke. I am really excited about having two boys in our house, I guess we will just have to try again for a girl later! (-;

Now my belly feels huge, even though it still doesn't look it. At my last weigh in about 3.5 weeks ago I still hadn't gotten back up to my pre-pregnancy weight but I had gained 1 whole pound from the month before so at least I have started moving in the right direction. Luke is super excited about this whole thing and says lots of cute things about the baby. I know it will be a big adjustment for him when the baby actually gets here, and I don't expect him to really like all of those changes, but for now it is fun to see him so excited and happy about everything. He loves to put his hand on my tummy to feel the baby, or lay his head on my tummy to listen to the baby. He likes to pretend to be the midwives we are seeing and use a flashlight like a Doppler at which point I am expected to make the sound of a baby's heart beat. He used to talk about having a baby in his tummy too, but I think now that my tummy is so much obviously bigger he has stopped for the most part. He often asks if the baby is going to come out and we always say not for a long time, it has to get bigger! He also loves looking at pictures of me when he was still inside my tummy and of himself when he was a brand new baby. I hope that looking at those pics and videos helps him have a little bit of a better picture of what this baby will be like when it first comes home, small and not able to play yet, but of course the videos don't show a lot of the things he will be faced with all of the sudden.

As I mentioned we are seeing a pair of nurse midwives who practice out of a free standing birth center in Yoder, KS, about a 40 minute drive if we stick to the speed limits. (-: I am really excited about the whole process and really am enjoying getting to know them. They have labor tubs and big comfy beds and they bake you a birthday cake when you deliver! They also have all the safety meds and equipment I would expect them to have and they have an excellent track record. They have a kitchen that you can cook food in after delivery and you don't stay there long, usually 6-24 hours after delivery depending on how you and baby are doing and what time of day you deliver. Then they do home visits for a little while and later another visit at the birth center.

Currently I am 20 weeks, at the halfway point. I can feel the little guy move now, occasionally even from the outside if I happen to have my hand there at just the right moment. Greg still hasn't gotten to feel him move yet, but I think Luke has. We haven't decided on a name yet, and probably won't tell anyone until after he is born anyways, but we are looking for an in-utero name and have gotten a few really good suggestions already. If you want to get one in I think we will decide officially on an in-utero name by Thanksgiving! (-; My favorite suggestion so far is Cookie, or something related to cookies, for a very strong wonderful woman I know.

Anyway, that's a quick update, long over due, from the Myers' house. Hope you all are well!

So... most of you already know...

We are pregnant! We are expecting a baby around the end of March, which puts us almost at 11 weeks now. We are really thrilled that everything seems to be healthy so far. We got to see the baby on a sonogram around 8 weeks and Luke was so excited about the baby in mommy's tummy! I have been pretty nauseated already since week 5 so that has not been fun, and Luke started imitating mommy being sick too! I think it may be starting to get slightly better???? Either that or I am getting better at managing it. I also got to hear the heartbeat on doppler just a few days ago!!!

I can't stay up any later, Luke will be up bright and early I am sure, but soon I hope to post a few pics from our recent trip to visit family in Indiana!

Things Luke says...

Peeny-butta-sammy! (peanut butter sandwich, his absolute favorite right now)

Fire-cacky (Fire Cracker)

Tackty (tractor)

Mommy, I hold you? (meaning "mommy, will you hold me?")

One day when I was leaving to go to work, "Mommy, I go work too?" And another day, "No, I go shoppin' mommy! I go shoppin' mommy!"

Yogi! (yogurt)

Peaky-boo!

Most things get a y/i on the end.

Yesterday we went grocery shoppping and a young teenage girl helped us take our things out to the car and when she left all of the sudden Luke was in tears. It took a while for me to understand what he wanted because of the tears, but he wanted to give her a hug and kiss good-bye!

He frequently asks to talk to different people on the phone, Daddy when he is at work, Gammy and Papa, Mimi and Papa, Amy and Glen, Ben and Andrea, etc. If I am talking on the phone he starts tugging on me and saying "I talk phone, Mommy! I talk phone?"

Hugs and kisses are very important to Luke, and usually he needs more than one set at any parting, whether I am leaving for work or he is getting up before me to eat breakfast with Daddy. Tonight he was going up to bed with Daddy and I asked him for a hug and kiss and then teased him by continuing to ask for just one more! He seemed very pleased about the whole thing, got a big grin on his face and was happy to give as many as I asked for.

Anytime there is music he grabs my hand and insists I dance with him.

The more tired he is the louder and wilder he gets, most people think he is being cute, but eventually he always wants to snuggle and calm down.

He loves the Francis books my mom has about a sassy little girl badger.

He loves to direct, to do things himself, to chose.

If I am not paying enough attention he comes over and cups my face in his hands and gets very close so I will be sure to listen!

Every time he goes potty in the right places he says, "Yay!" and raises his hands over his head and then gives a high five! Some of the time he tells me when he needs to go, but he never tells anyone else yet, and poop still doesn't go in the potty yet. If he is with me or my mom he usually is able to stay dry and is willing to go if we suggest it, I think Greg has given up all together at the moment.

He loves being outdoors, helping me with the flower garden, bike rides, swimming and playing in the park with other kids, usually from our sister hispanic church who meet twice a week at the park for Bible study.

Today he told me, "I sorry mommy!" without being prompted at all. (I don't even remember what he was sorry for, I do know that I was surprized because it wasn't something I was going to ask for an appology for, but he did have a reason and he was very sincere!)

He is sweet, funny, strong willed, emotional, creative and loving, and he makes me want to be a better person.

I suppose that is enough for one evening!

Harvest

I think everyone already knows that harvest is one of my favorite times of year, so here are a few pics of me enjoying my favorite time of year with my Dad and Luke and a few others as well.

Grandpa and D.A. waiting to drive the next truck.

Luke was still napping during my first ride but after his nap I went to pick him up and bring him to the field for his first ride of the year. He was nervous at first but as soon as I started explaining the mechanics of it all he forgot about being scared and was completely engrossed in how the combine cut the wheat!

Luke is potty training himself and doing a really great job with it! I do remind him sometimes, but he pretty much knows when he needs to go and he does ask me a lot of the time on his own. Yes this is a naked baby pic, but I don't think you can actually see much, and he was just so cute walking down that dirt road in the sunset.

He also got the chance to play in the wheat!

Austin and Tim joined him and Austin helped him fill his shirt with wheat but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of it!

We had a great day in the field and Luke got another ride on the combine after dark. My mom made supper for everyone, partially in honor of two birthdays, mine and my sister-in-law, Andrea's birthday. It was delicious!

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I am so proud of how well Luke is doing with potty training, especially since he is really doing it all himself. Unfortunately I have to work the next 4 days in a row so we will see how well my mom and Greg are able to do with him. So far he mostly has just gone for me, but I'm sure in time he will do the same for anyone.

Indiana trip, Dori and Tom get married!!!

We just got back from a very nice trip to Indiana. It was a great drive up as I mentioned in a previous post, and the drive back was almost as easy as the way up had been. We really enjoyed our time with Greg's family even though it was definitely too short this time around. Greg's sister-in-law Kathy and Luke's cousins Anna and Isaac were only around the first two days, and the last three days were very full of wedding stuff, which was also good, but made our time with family seem extra short.

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Right away after getting there we got a taste of Indiana Summer! It was so humid outside that as soon as I stepped outside the camera lens fogged right up. I kept wiping it off and taking the picture again but it fogged back up so fast most of my pics looked like this.....

I did manage to get one really quick that turned out clearer though!

Luke remembered right away about feeding the fish in the pond! It didn't matter how many mosquito bites he got, he wanted to go outside any chance he could get to play near those ponds!

Playing with Anna and Isaac was lots of fun, especially with this toy horse strong enough to sit on! Of course it is always more fun when the thing you are sitting on moves, but unfortunately Anna was not available our whole trip.


Great Grandma Myers...
(Luke decided after lunch that Great Grandma Myers needed to come take a nap with us so he grabbed her by the hand and took her down stairs with us, and she took a nap with us!)

Pawpaw sitting in his usual spot.

Playing with Mimi!

On the Hershberger side we only were able to have lunch with Greg's cousin Kristen, her baby Lizzy, and his Aunt Donna.

Luke still loves babies! Isn't she cute!

On the Myers side a pretty large group got together but since I was sitting outside most of the time I only got pics of the few who were also braving the mosquitoes. Luke found that he could easily take Greg's cousins wherever he wanted to play!

Wednesday I met with Dori for the first time to discuss wedding plans while she had her hair done. Then on Thursday we all met up at the reception site to get everything ready! It was a ton of work, but there were lots of busy hands to help and it all got done beautifully. Dori's Mom had gotten a lot of stuff done on her own ahead of time. She sewed curtains....

Got all the lights and other supplies that she couldn't make herself....
(Dori having a bride moment and deciding that she needed to be the one on the ladder in order to show the guys how it was done!)

(Kevin with Nolan)

Luke was there for a bit but I don't think he did much helping, maybe just a big of entertaining!

Dori's mom is on the Right...

Dori had designed the programs and put the outsides together but hadn't printed out the insides so these two lovely ladies spent most of the day and part of the next doing that.

Friday we met again to finish up at the reception site and then to get our nails done before the rehearsal dinner. We ate a nice lunch outside with a gentle breeze keeping it from being too hot.

These are the finished tables.

The bride and groom's table had a beautiful crocheted lace table clothe that Dori's mom made in a few months time just for the wedding!

The dessert table, I think there were 12 different kinds of desserts at the reception, all made by Dori's family and friends.

Beautiful flowers everywhere!

The ladies putting the flowers together!

We took a lot of pics of the bachelor party and bachelorett party as well as the rehearsal but I'm going to omit them here because that would be WAY to many pics for one post and they aren't the most interesting or beautiful pics anyways. So, without further adu, the wedding day!!!

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Of course the biggest part of any wedding day is how to get the bride into the dress with out messing up the bride's hair, makeup or dress!

Dori's mom also found time to alter her dress for her and took extra time to sew in little beads inside the hem spelling out their names and wedding date as well as several others with things like "peace", "love", "Family", etc. on them.

So beautiful!

I had the title of wedding coordinator, but really I was the assistant and her mom was the boss. I think it went off pretty well, inspite of me trying to learn everything they wanted in just three days!

I'm not sure what Greg's eyes are doing in this pic, but it was the only one of the four of us that turned out decent.

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The guests began to arrive...

The ushers, Eric above and Phil below...

Time to say, "I Do!"

You may kiss the bride!

On to the reception....

Luke wanted to blow out all the candles but fortunately most of them were battery powered!

He also wanted to eat all the mints on the table!

Cutting the cake!

First Dance!

I love my friends!!!

As soon as I finished this clip I joined in! So much fun! It was a great trip, a beautiful wedding, an a great time to be with really amazing friends!!! We love you all, and lots of good wishes for a long happy life together to Tom and Dori!