24 weeks ... almost 25

Things are winding down at school.  Tyler only has 7 days left, and I have 10.  It is amazing how quickly this school year has come to an end, especially with everything else we've got going on here at home.

May 10

For Mother's Day Tyler made me cheesy potatoes for breakfast, and he also bought me a couple of CDs that I wanted.  We weren't going to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day this year, but it's nice to know he knew how special this day was in our lives now.  We then went over to his parent's house, and went to lunch with his mom and dad.  His dad got a job in Seattle, so we know now that we won't be able to see them whenever we want, but we'll have to see when dad is in town.  We'll get to spend a lot of time with them this next week though, as Tyler's sister is getting married on Saturday!

Tyler built the dresser Mother's Day morning!

Brandon has been very active this week.  I was reading on the couch Wednesday night, and Tyler saw him kick me!  It was crazy to see something stick out of my stomach like that!  He still hasn't felt him yet though.  We'll get there, as I'm sure there will be times when he doesn't stop after one or two kicks.  Thursday night as we were driving to bible study I think he was practicing his soccer or kick boxing because he was going at it.

This week was Teacher Appreciation at Tyler's school as well.  When Tyler got to school Monday morning his door was decorated with diapers, and baby stuff, and then his classroom had lots of diapers all over it.  He didn't take a picture for me, but our dining room table was full of stuff that they had left him.  We also got a package from the Votaw/Shaver women this week!!  We love all of you, and appreciate all of the support that you are giving us.  Especially all of the love and prayers that we already know Brandon has!

Teacher Appreciation Presents

From Tyler's "favorite" students.  This cookie was amazing!

Our box from the Votaw/Shaver women!

Friday night we celebrated our friend Liz's birthday!  It was a lot of fun.  First a couple of us went to get pedicures, which always feels amazing!!  Then we had everyone over for a little BBQ dinner at our house. After the girls got ready, we went out for a night down in Old Town.  It was funny to see people's reactions when I walked in, or when they asked if I wanted a drink.  I was wearing black, so it was hard to tell a lot of the time, but to me I feel like I look pregnant.

Girls Night Out!

Yesterday Chelsea and I had the girls over for our swim party.  It was a blast.  The girls that came are amazing, and I love them.  I love all of those fifth grade girls!  We had a blast playing Apples to Apples, swimming, watching Blind Side, eating some pizza and candy, and then we finished by walking down to the park and passing the volleyball around.  Chelsea and I are already planning next year's auction day.

It's going to be a busy two weeks, so I apologize now if you don't get an update until June.  We leave Thursday for Megan's wedding in Nebraska, and don't come back until Sunday evening.  Then we leave Friday evening to go to Nor Cal for Rachel's graduation.  It is an exciting time for our families right now!

23 weeks . . . or 25 weeks?!

I have always speculated about our due date.  Needless to say I have been looking into it a little bit more.  I have been following a site that tells you how things are going in your pregnancy, and what things you should be experiencing.  I have started to get really tired again, and at first I thought it was just due to the heat.  Then I read that once you enter your seventh month that the tiredness starts to kick in again.  I wasn't so excited for that, because I thought I would make it through May first, now it doesn't seem like that is so. I looked at our ultra sound pictures again too, and there is one picture that has all of the baby's measurements.  I didn't really pay attention the first time, because we were just so excited to see Brandon.  On the picture though, it shows that due to his development, they estimate his due date to be August 24!!  That is a whole week ahead of our estimated due date, and three days before my parents will be here!

No idea what the numbers mean, but up top you can see the differences in our due dates!

Other than thinking about our different due dates, things have been going really well.  Tyler has finished his grad work for now, so he is really excited to be done with that.  We have finished painting Brandon's room too!!  We now have one green wall, and three tan walls.  Next weekend we'll probably put the furniture together to start setting up his room even more!  Plus it will give us some room back in our office so we can start moving other things around.

We love the green!!

We have bought shelving for our garage so that way we can start moving everything out of these two bedrooms that we have expanded into over the last two years.  It's amazing the amount of stuff we have, even though I know Tyler will say it is all my stuff!!  I'm just excited for my mom to come, and bring even more scrapbooking stuff with her so that way we can buckle down and get to work!!  I really want to finish my pregnancy album before Brandon comes, because I know once we get here the next 18 years are going to be a whirlwind!!

Tyler only has 12 days of school left, and I have 15.  We are both excited to start our summer vacations. So far we don't have too much planned, a trip to Orange County and then Tahoe with my family, and a two night stay in Sedona.  We are excited to be able to watch Criminal Minds, and read a lot this summer!!  Thanks to my mom and dad we are the proud owners of the first five seasons of Criminal Minds, so that is how we plan on spending at least a week this summer!  Plus I want to read all of the Harry Potter books again to get ready for our big night out in late July!!  :)

We hope that you all have a great Mother's Day tomorrow, and we both love our moms and all of the moms in our lives so much!  Thank you to all of you who help support us, and pray for us!!  We love you all!

Crazy Coupons

So my friend Katie and I stayed home Friday night, while the boys went to the baseball game, and we watched TLC's new show Extreme Couponing.  We were both inspired, and now we want to be those crazy coupon women.  Granted we will never have stock piles of stuff, we just don't have room in our house, but we both love to get a good deal.  Needless to say, if you read this blog, and want to help us, please mail us your coupons!!  Please go through your coupons and take out what you want first, but if you have coupons left over, please send them our way.  We would love to get really good at this, and if we can, eventually get on the show.  We are not that crazy yet, but we would love to be!!  If you don't already have my address, send me your email and I will send it to you that way.  Hopefully I'll be able to report later what a great job we did!!  Thank you all for your help in this!!

22 Weeks

A lot has been going on, as we are nearing the end of our school years.  Tyler only has three weeks left of school from this Tuesday, and I have four weeks left of school from yesterday.  We are so excited to be finishing the years, as they have been fun but challenging years for the both of us.  A lot has happened this year, in the classroom, and out, and has affected each of us differently.  I love my kids, and wouldn't trade them for the world, but I can't wait for summer vacation!

This week is the first time I actually felt Brandon kick, and knew that he was kicking, or moving!  It is such a crazy experience.  I'll just be sitting here, and all of a sudden, BAM!!  :)  I love this little kid, but I wish he would find a comfortable position.  The kicking I don't mind so much, but I have this muscle below my ribs that I think has been stretched out, or has moved, and it isn't always too comfortable.

22 weeks

We have made a lot of progress in Brandon's room so far.  Last Monday we decided how we are going to lay out our loft, and looked at buying some shelving for the garage for the things we can't part with.  We also bought paint, and Tyler will be painting Brandon's room today!!  I would love to be able to help, but because of the fumes, I must stay away.  We have decided to do a green wall, with the other walls a cream/tan color.  We also already have the crib, and dresser, so once Tyler is done painting, he will be assembling!!  I can't wait to see what the nursery will look like in the beginning stages!!

We are using the top colors on both walls, as the other ones we are afraid would be too dark

21 weeks...

We went to the doctor's again yesterday.  We just had to go in for our monthly check up.  There we discovered that our doctor will be out next month because she is having a baby.  Tyler said he knew, but I had no idea!!  Now I guess I shouldn't feel as bad when people say I don't look pregnant.  Then again the last couple of times I have seen the doctor it has only been for about five minutes.

We met the doctor that will take care of us next month, since our doctor is only taking four weeks for maternity leave!!  That's crazy!!  Anyways, the guy was really funny, and answered lots of questions for us.  During our ultra sound last week the guy scared us, and told us we might have concerns about the baby.  Our doctor told us to be more worried about global warming, or a nuclear holocaust.  Obviously there are still things to be concerned about, and I want to make sure I'm staying healthy.  Brandon is doing great though, and he had a strong heart beat once again.

We went back to Target last night to try and finish our registry.  We have now registered at both places, and if any thing I just feel even more overwhelmed then before.  There are just so many things to think about, and figure out.  I know we'll get what we need, and that God will provide, but it's still crazy to think that in 19 weeks we'll be coming home with a baby!!

Tyler had a rough week this week, as he got an abscess on his tailbone.  He was in a lot of pain last weekend, and he finally went to the doctor on Wednesday.  My mom asked what is in the water here, since Tyler and I have both gotten weird things since we've been married.  I had to remind her that mine was in Orange County, before we came here!  She is safe, nothing weird in the water here.  (Besides it probably comes from Northern California anyways!)

Tyler spoke at the Good Friday service yesterday at church as well.  Our friend Chelsea came to join us, and it was nice to take that break in the middle of the day to be reminded of the greatest gift we have.  Jesus gave up His life, so that way He could SAVE our lives.  It is amazing that He would do that for us, knowing that we are going to continue to sin day after day.

Today we are just relaxing, and then tonight Tyler's mom and dad are coming over for some BBQ dinner.  Tomorrow we're going to their house for Easter lunch/dinner since it is Tyler's dad's birthday.  It will be fun, and we are even going to try and get them to do a puzzle with us.  (They don't play games like my family does.)  I'm a little sad we didn't make it home since today everyone will be at Aunt Michelle's house for Brooke's birthday, but now Tyler and I get to start making our own traditions, especially with Brandon joining us in the fall.  It will be strange not to be at my parent's house for Christmas this year, but then again, they may not even have a house.

20 weeks

It's been quite a week.  We celebrated Tyler's birthday last Saturday by having a bunch of people come over.  Tyler really just wanted to have fun, so we played some board games, and ate some good food.  Then on Sunday night we went out to dinner with some dear friends of ours here.  It has always been a tradition for Tyler's birthday to take out just a few very special people to us to let them know how much we appreciate their friendship.

Monday we celebrated Tyler's birthday by babysitting CJ for a little bit, while we waited for Katie to get home.  It was a blast, and just reminded me how much I am looking forward to coming home at night and getting to play with my baby.

Wednesday was our big day, the day we went to the doctors!!  It turns out our sweet bundle of joy is a boy!!  Brandon Keith will be joining our family in just a short twenty weeks.  It's so crazy to think that we are already half way through the pregnancy, and that now we get to start buying stuff for our sweet baby boy!!

Brandon didn't want his picture taken (he takes after daddy already!)

Last night at bible study Tyler held CJ, so Katie had to take a picture to celebrate the festivities!  We are pretty sure this is the first time that Tyler has held CJ, and CJ is now over 3 months old!!

Tyler and CJ  (What a great dad he'll be!)

It's been amazing how some people still don't realize I'm pregnant.  I know people say I don't look like I'm pregnant, or that I'm not showing that much, but goodness I feel like I am already!  Last night it felt like my stomach couldn't get any bigger, because the skin already feels so tight.  I know I have a long way to go though, so at the same time I'm grateful I'm not too big already.

Tomorrow night we will both go to our auctions, to raise money for our school.  Tyler never buys anything at his, but I'm pretty excited about some of the things I saw for our auction.  There are a couple of awesome looking baskets for Brandon and for me!!  Plus, I get to make Tyler go register on Sunday, so I'm even more excited for that!!

19 weeks ... almost 20

Things keep going in this crazy world.  Tyler and I have been working really hard at work to make sure we stay on top of things, and I'm trying to get ahead a little bit.  It's nice to finally have some energy back, so I'm taking advantage of it!

Right now I'm coaching volleyball three days a week, and thankfully it was cooler this week.  Last week it was SUPER hot though, already in the 90s.  I can't imagine how I'm going to survive the whole summer!!

Coaching has been so much fun though, and I am reminded every day how much I love my fifth grade girls!  They are more than just my students.  I know teachers don't normally have friendships with 10 year olds, but I would do anything for any one of those girls.  For those of you who know the story, or remember Tia is on my team.  I love her, and her new nickname is Skittles.  Anyways she has really been beating herself up because she knows she's not where she was when we stopped playing last spring.  I keep telling her she is doing an amazing job, and that if we keep working she will be able to serve by the beginning of our fall season.  Well Tia doesn't like to just do what people think, she likes to prove them wrong, and do way more than you ever imagined.  At practice this Wednesday Tia served the ball over the net!!!  We were all so happy and proud for her I even picked her up and swung her around!!!  (Tyler wasn't too happy when he found out, but you know what, she weighs like 50 pounds, no big deal, I'm sure the baby is fine!!)

I know what an influence my second grade teacher had in my life, and I go back to visit her constantly.  I invited her to my high school graduation, college graduation, wedding, and you know she will be invited to my baby shower this summer.  Teachers have such an impact on children, and I love knowing that I get to help these girls grow and become the beautiful young women they are turning in to.  I just pray that as they go through those awkward teenage years we all love, they remember that I love them!!

Enough about my girls, now on to Tyler!!

Monday is his birthday, so he decided he wanted to have everyone over this weekend!!  He's pretty excited to just be able to relax and enjoy some drinks and food with his friends.  I can't believe he will be 29 this year.  It's crazy to imagine how fast time is flying!  I remember the first year we celebrated Tyler's birthday together, falling in love at where else, Disneyland!!  :)

This wasn't our first Disney date, but proof of how much Disney meant to us dating!

Now it is time to go clean my house, and get ready for our friends to come over and celebrate with the old man!  Next year we'll have a huge party, he already informed with, me kegs and everything.  My mom already volunteered to watch all of the babies at the Fischers for us!!  So crazy to think how much our life will be changing!!