Josh Felt Isaac Kick!

We had a very exciting night last night! While hanging out watching tv together, Josh got to feel Isaac kick for the first time!!! He's been trying to feel our little guy through my tummy for weeks now with no luck. Isaac was going to town last night and when I myself placed my hand across my stomach and could feel him from the outside, I asked Josh to try. It only lasted a few seconds, but he got to feel a few kicks! SO COOL! Josh's face was priceless... a look of wonder and disbelief. He said, "Whoah, that is WEIRD." Then, he put his face towards my belly and said to Isaac, "Hello? Is someone in there? Give her one big kick from me. Hi-yah!"

The Cousins

Just thought I'd share some pics of Isaac's adorable cousins! They are all such good-looking kiddos! I hope our little guy fits in with the crowd and is a cutie, too!

First, we have Joel, Kelly & Jon's son.Next, there's Rachel, Sarah & Dave's daughter.Then, the ever popular Isabella, Heather & AJ's daughter.You can't forget about the little princess, Aveline! She's Dan & Kristi's daughter.And lastly, Isaac's cousin-to-be come October... Joel & Jamie are expecting a daughter they plan to name Cheyanna.

Week 26 Info...

As Baby grows, space is getting tighter inside the womb. Baby now measures about 12.8 inches tall and probably weighs almost two pounds. Most of this weight is bone and tissue, because he still doesn't have much body fat. In fact, the main development of body fat doesn't really occur until late in the third trimester. Between now and week 29, your baby will have a growth spurt and gain another pound.

Lots of other developments occur this week:

• Baby is beginning to blink and open his eyes.

• Eyelashes are beginning to grow.

• Hair is continuing to grow on Baby’s head.

• To support his growing body, Baby's spine is getting stronger and more flexible.

The nerves in the ears are developing and allowing your baby to respond more consistently to the sounds that he hears. Your baby is also continuing to swallow amniotic fluid which is causing his lungs to develop.

Not Much To Blog About...

I have a feeling that most blog entries across the country today are going to be about weather. We are getting thunderstorms from Katrina today and expect rain for the next two days. It's Monday and I'm tired and feeling apathetic. The dogs already have cabin fever and it's not even 10 in the morning. Josh and I enjoyed a nice weekend together, though... and today, I have reached 26 weeks pregnant. My sniffles are almost gone and other than feeling achey and huge like a horse, I guess I'm doing okay. Isaac has become extremely active and kept me up for about a half an hour last night (from 2:30-3:00 a.m.!) with his aerobics.

As Requested...

Here is a new belly picture for you to all giggle about! I put my 10 weeks pregnant belly pic up top for comparison. I am 25 weeks, 5 days pregnant today and have grown quite a bit! Isaac kicks and thrashes about often now... especially when I'm hungry and need to eat. Josh always laughs when I tell him about it and says the baby is saying, "Feed me! Where's my supper?!"

Baby Showers Set!

Mark your calendars and look for invites in the mail soon, family and friends! Two baby showers have been planned in the month of October.... so exciting! My side of the family will be holding a shower Oct. 15th and Josh's side of the family will be holding one Oct. 22nd.

100 Days To Go!!

Oh, my... at first, I thought that little countdown to the right---> was cute. It made it easy for me to remember how many weeks pregnant I was. But, today it scared me! It says, "100 days to go until.. Our Family Grows." Oh, man! Where has the time gone?! Seriously, we need to get our butts in gear! Josh is currently sanding the walls in the bathroom and we *hopefully* will have a shower installed today. I feel badly b/c in my state, I can't do as much as I normally would do in helping with the home renovations. My two jobs consist of picking things out Lowes and painting with latex paint (with a mask on). There's only so much a preggo woman can do (and poor Josh is stuck working all weekend on the bathroom). There's SO many projects and misc. things to do before the baby arrives!

Nursery Plans

This is what Isaac's nursery currently looks like (plus lots of baby loot thrown in). We are kind of at a stand-still for now because Josh working on our emergency renovation of the downstairs bathroom. Hopefully, that project will be completed soon so the baby room can be worked on!

Here are the colors for the room! The walls will be the bold yellow with the lighter yellow sponged or ragged on top of it (I love faux finishes and they look great on our old plaster walls). The beadboard/wainscotting and trim will be painted white.

The sage green color will be used the most... for the background of the border, the corner amoire (shell has been built in place so far), and changing table/dresser. The other colors will be used as accents in the border, wall decor, and accessories. The blue fabric will be used for many things... the valance, lining of baskets, curtains in armoire, and sewn stars for wall decor. Josh's mom is even incooperating the fabric in the quilt and bumpers she is making for the baby!

Here is an example of one of the changing tables Josh has made. Our's will be similar in style with a removable top and cubbies for storage baskets. We plan to paint our's the sage green color.This is the crib we have purchased for our little guy!

The overall theme of the nursery is sun, moon, and stars... but, with some abc's thrown in as well. I will be hand-painting a border above the beadboard with the celestial theme and letters. Josh also plans to install an extra electrial outlet and provide overhead lighting in the room. We have a cream speckled berber rug in the shape of a circle for the wood floor. Thanks for taking the time to read about the nursery and we'll post updated pics once we get more finished!

The Nursery

Many people have been asking us about our baby's nursery! For those who do not know, Josh and I have an older (1890's) home that we are slowly renovating. It's been a ton of work, but we love updating the house and making it our's (I am extremely luck that Josh is so handy). Anyway, the bedroom we are using for the nursery is right at the top of the stairs and is a tiny, tiny room. I like to call it my "walk-in closet nursery."

Here is a pic from when we first moved in of the carpet in the room... mustard yellow and white shag! Beautiful! We have torn up that nasty carpet to expose a very cool wood floor underneath... modeled by Josh and Otto.

Another big project in the room was enlarging the attic/crawl space access. I love this pic of Josh with his head up in that hole... hee, hee. That project has been completed.









Josh has also installed beadboard/wainscotting to the walls. In my next post, I will add a pic of what the room currently looks like and explain more about the theme of the room.

I *LOVE* Reading Comments (hint, hint)

I love this blog, I really do... but, what I love even more are comments from family and friends! This post is to give you directions on how to comment or ask questions about a post!1) Click on the "__comments" at the bottom right hand of a post.
2) Type a comment or question to Josh & I. It doesn't have to be long! Just let us know you are reading the blog and what you think!
3) Choose an identity
-your blogger name if you have a blog
-Other (type in your name here)
-Anonymous
4) Click "Publish Your Comment."

In the beginning, I had our blog listed online for anyone to read. But, I got a couple of freaky comments from people I didn't know (and who really wants random people looking at your belly pictures?). Our blog is now strictly for YOU to read and enjoy. It's online, but not listed with Blogger for weird people out there to find. Please comment every once in awhile! Thanks to those who are regular contributors. I appreciate it very much and look forward to more comments to come (I know you are reading the posts because of my visitor count)!

The Name

So, as it is obvious due to the name of our blog... we are naming our son Isaac. We've gotten lots of opinions on the name and questions. I thought I would address our little guy's name in this post. First of all, Isaac is actually a common name these days and is gaining in popularity each year. In 2004, it was actually #46 out of the top 1,000 male names registered through Social Security (in 1994- #106 and in 1964- #352). You can go find out the popularity of your name here.

The two most popular "Isaac's" are Sir Isaac Newton and Isaac Hayes. Our son is not named after either of them.... although they are/were both pretty interesting men.

We chose the name "Isaac" mostly because we both just loved the name. We both like traditional names that aren't overused. Josh is really picky about baby names and once this one clicked with him, we kept it as our "boy name" even before we were pregnant or knew what we were having. Isaac is a biblical name that means, "He laughs." In the Bible, Isaac was the son of Sarah and Abraham. The story goes that Sarah was 90 years old when she became pregnant with him and she laughed because she thought she would never have children. Although I know we are not nearly past our child-bearing years, it did takes us quite a long time to conceive our little guy and the name fits well because of our struggles.

Isaac's middle name will be Truman. No, not after the President. "Truman" will be used to honor my late father, whose middle name was Truman. My dad passed away from cancer three years ago and would have loved a grandson (He was raised with four sisters and then went on to have three girls of his own!).

Lastly, some people have already been asking about nicknames. For now, we plan to simply call our little boy by his full name. It's not an incredibly long name and for those confuse the spelling, the two "a's" are the correct, traditional way to spell the name. Later in life, Isaac may become an "Ike," especially if he becomes a big football player like his dad was. But, we'll just wait and see. His current nickname from me is "Flippy Floppy" because that's what he does all day. Thanks for reading all my ramblings about the name choice. Hey, this post was even a bit educational if you clicked on any of the links! ;)

Cookies and Lasagna

Last night, I made chocolate chip cookies with pecans... yummy! I think I ate about 8 of them warm from the oven (I lost count). My stomach constantly feels like a bottomless pit these days and it seems that I am ALWAYS hungry even after I eat a meal! Anyway, tonight... I have great plans for dinner. I'm making homemade lasagna with italian sausage. Josh and I are big Italian food fans and it's one of our favorites.
My tummy is grumbling for some right now. I'm sure I could eat lasagna for breakfast being pregnant and all. LOL Josh told me that maybe this means I'll start packing on the pounds more steadily now... most likely! This growing baby makes me feel like I could eat a horse (or lasagna for breakfast).

Isaac's Coming Home Outfit!!

Well, I did it! I found an adorable outfit for our little guy to wear home and to get his hospital picture taken in. I've been looking for something super cute and special... something that could still be worn if we are suprised with a girl instead of a boy! We'll bring a "preemie" sized outfit with us to the hospital just in case Isaac doesn't turn out to be as big as we think he will be! I was also thinking that I could verify spending money on a new outfit if maybe our second kiddo could also wear it as tradtion. So, it's yellow and unisex... velour with teddy bears embroidered on it. I was soooo happy to find what I was looking for online at Children's Place. Let me know know what you think!

The Loot

"Grandma Gone Wild" is what we lovingly refer to my mom these days as she has been on a buying rampage for Isaac! I posted awhile back about all the loot she picked up for us because we didn't have many baby boy clothes. Well, she also picked up a crib cd player (for $2 and it's $50 new!), lullaby cd's, and TONS of great toys!

Our favorite is a Kermit the frog who sings the "Caribbean Amphibian" song. If you hold his mouth closed, he hums the song, too. Too cute! So, I managed to lug home most of the toys and about 2/3 of the clothes. I've been sorting it all by size and now have to start washing it for our little guy. I can't believe all the adorable outfits she found!

Grandma definitely hit the jackpot at a couple of sales and now Isaac won't have to be a naked baby (even though naked babies are cute).

"So, Are You...."

"...barefoot and pregnant?" Yes, I usually am! Josh asked me this particular question with a goofy grin on his face yesterday while at church. I had to take my shoes off.I had worn these dressy sandals that were digging into my swollen feet and it was so uncomfortable to stand. So, I took them off (my bare feet were blocked from view because of the pews). It felt so much better. I think I'll stick to my handy dandy flip flops. :)

Sniffle, Sniffle

Ugh. I think I am getting sick. The last two days, I woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. I do NOT want to be sick with a cold while pregnant again. I went through this a month and a half ago and it was not fun at all... I was miserable. Here's hoping that my symptoms are just normal for pregnancy and will not make a turn for the worse.

This is what a pregnancy website I go to says about all of this: "A runny or stuffed-up nose without any other cold symptoms is a fairly common condition called allergic rhinitis. It will likely clear up after you give birth." Wonderful! Ugh.

Good Times With The Fam

I also wanted to let everyone know that I enjoyed my week at "home" with my mom and sisters. We got rained out of the baseball game Saturday night, but had fun up until the point where we all got drenched! I got to have all my hometown favorites to eat. The weather cooperated for a few days and I got some sun while hanging out at the pool. Chrissy and I took a walk on the beach. My sisters had me help them with some art projects for their kiddos at school. We watched a couple of girlie movies that Josh would have hated. Let's see... what else? Oh! They helped me complete my baby registry at Babies 'R Us! My baby shower for my side of the family will be October 15th (no date set yet for Josh's side). It was very fun setting up the registry for our little guy. We actuallly have a great start from the items we have picked up ourselves and the items my mom has gotten for us. But, wow... it's crazy how much you really do need for such a tiny person!

I had my mom and sisters trying to get me to add more items simply because the first list was so small (They are inviting tons of family and friends to come spoil our baby and wanted to give them more choices, I suppose)! You know... I'm just thankful that registries exist so that those who choose to buy from them can get us what we really do need. It was a lot of work and quite overwhelming to say the least. I really appreciated my family's help.

We Survived!

Just a quick update for those who are wondering... Josh and I survived our night of babysitting our 4 month old niece, Aveline! We played with her, spoiled her with tons of love and attention, gave her a bath... and THEN things got a bit hectic! Soon after bathtime, she realized that we were NOT her parents and she was NOT happy about that. LOL After about 10 minutes of screaming, she calmed down so we could feed her. Josh got her to fall asleep and then came the transfer to the pack and play in the guest room. She woke up from a dead sleep to scream for another half an hour. Yikes! At last, rocking her in the rocking chair and playing our "Mozart for Babies" c.d. for about another 20 minutes, she fell asleep! Ha! Only an hour past her bedtime!

Some funny comments from Josh during the whole ordeal:
"How do people DO this?"
"I'm tired already."
"Wow, we have a lot of work ahead of us."
"What did you get me into?!"

We were very happy to help out Dan and Kristi so that they could attend their friend's wedding. But, WOW! It definitely took a lot out of us watching a little one. It was only her 2nd time being babysat. So, I think overall we did just fine. In the morning, Aveline was her super cute and happy self. I did call her a "stinker," but then smothered her with kisses. We adore that little girl and are so happy we get to see her so much. Thanks for the experience, Dan & Kristi!

Back home!

Hi, readers... I'm back home and will be keeping up with my blog again! Tonight, we are babysitting our little niece, Aveline. I hope we survive! I'm sure we will do fine... she's such a good little baby!

MIA For Another Few Days...

Hello, readers! Sorry to not post in the past few days... My mom's computer is not very good at all... in fact, it makes me so annoyed and I really just want throw it out the window! She has super slow dial-up and I'm pretty sure a virus that makes everything freeze up. Needless to say, I have only gotten online about twice to quickly check email since last Friday.

I wanted to let you know that Isaac and I are doing just fine! I enjoyed "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" over all the baby clothes and toys my mom has picked out for us and am feeling pretty good lately. Not too many aches and pains to complain about... for now, anyway. I do feel super huge and can't imagine that I have a few more months of growing yet to do. Tomorrow, my mom and I are headed to Babies R' Us to complete my baby registry. She and my sisters will be throwing me a baby shower in October.

I most likely won't be posting again until I get home Friday or Saturday until I get home to my Road Runner! My sisters and I are at the local library in order to use the internet tonight... that's the only reason I am able to update you all. :)

Headed "Home" For A Week!

I'll be busy today packing up the dogs and I for a week at my mom's house. No big plans for the trip... just lots of time to hang out and visit. We are going to a Captains game this Saturday and will probably go to the lake to eat at Eddie's. Hopefully, the weather cooperates next week and I get to spend lots of time in the pool as well! I can't wait to see my mom and sisters... Otto and Sophie will have a blast as usual with Toby and Jacob, my mom's dogs. I'm looking forward to showing my big 'ole belly off and seeing all the baby "loot" my mom has picked up!

My sisters, Chrissy & BeckieMy mom & I

Definitely Not Butterflies

Do you know how when you are nervous, you get "butterflies" in your tummy? Well, I woke up early this morning at 3:32 a.m. to use the restroom (fun, fun!). When I layed back down to try and go back to sleep, Isaac started flipping and flopping. He was SO active, all I could do was just let him have his own little party in there! He kept me up for about an hour before I could finally doze off again. So, today, I told Josh that our little guy definitely doesn't feel like butterflies anymore at all.. more like bowling balls in my tummy!

Houston, We Have a NEW Due Date!

December 5th is now the big due date for our little guy! The doctor changed my due date after reviewing the results from my ultraound. I was measuring 9 days ahead of what they had thought. If Isaac comes early, he may even be a November baby now! Josh and I were wondering if he'll maybe choose to come on Thanksgiving day. :) As of today, I am 23 weeks, 3 days pregnant instead of 22 weeks, 1 day! Yahoo!

So, my doctor's appointment went well yesterday. I actually liked the female doc in the practice, Dr. T, a lot better this time. She was especially nice and friendly. We are thinking that last time we saw her, she was just having a bad day or something b/c we weren't so happy with our visit.

Anyway, the big news is the due date change. But, I am also climbing up the weight gain mountain, too. I'm officially up 9 lbs! That really isn't too bad considering that 12-15 is normal for this point. I did have lots of extra "padding" pre-pregnancy, you have to remember! My blood pressure and everything else was fine. We got to hear Isaac's heartbeat with the doppler... such a sweet and reassuring sound. It was 136 beats per minute (normal).

On the Hunt for a Snoopy

When Josh was a little boy, he carried a Snoopy stuffed animal with him wherever he went. Over time, his mom had tried to replace the dog with an imposter, but Josh knew better. So, poor 'ole Snoopy got many sewing surgeries to fix him up and many trips through the washing machine. Snoopy is still alive, although he is pretty rough around the edges by this time. He went to college with Josh and we have him here at the house now. Man, he *loved* that little stuffed animal.

So, Josh and I found these cute "Baby Snoopy" chenille stuffed Snoopy's at Meijer that we have given as gifts to all of our nieces so that they will have a special gift from their Uncle Josh. Isaac also has one waiting for him when he arrives. But, I got to thinking about how COOL it would be to find a replica of the big kahuna, the orginal Josh Snoopy. So, I've been searching on Ebay and online at other stores. I want it to be the right size, the right fabric, etc. It's my mission! I've been looking long and hard to find the perfect one.
Wish me luck... if I do find a Snoopy for Isaac, I wonder if he'll even like it! If not, Josh will!