16 weeks - Update 2

Just a quick note to let everyone know I had my 16 week doctor appointment today. I've had a lot of people ask about heart rate and can confirm that today the baby's heart rate was 145. We also scheduled our 20 week appointment for May 24th which is when we get to find out if it's a boy or girl. =) Let the countdown begin!

16 weeks

16 weeks is here! And as promised, the first belly shot. My apologies, I'm a day late on this post. Enjoy!

Carrying high or low? We are interested to see if anyone else has gender guesses.

A few words from the Husband

Painted the House, put in new wood floors, new back door. Probably one more day of work and these two huge projects will be done. Looking back over all the hard work we put in over the last six weeks has really paid off, I even impressed myself with how everything has turned out. A special thanks to my parents who, as you know, helped us paint the house. I am extremely lucky to have parents that will work 12 hour days 30 feet off the ground in 40mph wind painting. No new projects for a few weeks!!!! I bet I know which project will come next. In a few weeks we will know if we are having a boy or girl and it will be time to start the nursery. This one should be a lot of fun.   

House painted - check

As I mentioned in the last post, Joe's parents came into town for a long weekend to help us paint the outside of our house. As with all projects, there were a couple of struggles. Besides the typical took longer and cost more we had the pleasure of rain and hail on Thursday evening (well after dark, thank goodness) and 40 mph winds all day Friday. This made the luxury of spraying the house a joke and it was instead rolled. The job took a day longer than expected, but looks fantastic! Take a look.

Front of house - a little hard to see the color

Side of house

Back of house

Two new (unexpected) additions. A new back door (necessity) and new light fixture (surprise from Joe).

I am super happy with how it all turned out and am thankful Pam & Robert were able and willing to help.

On a side note, Bailey likes to randomly appear in photos. She peaked into the floor photos and now the back yard shot. She's always trying to steal the show.

I almost forgot - for those of you who haven't been to our house, here's a before shot for comparison.

This one is an in-progress shot, but gives a great back of the house view and really shows the old color.

Spring time = home improvements and family visits

One of the goals Joe and I have this year is to ramp up the home improvements so we can enjoy the hard work we put into this house. The first project - get rid of the nasty ten year old carpet and replace it with hardwoods. Easy right? Several weeks later, everything is done except for a little finish work here and there. It's definitely done enough to share.

Second level den 

Formal dining room

Living room

Stairs - looking down

Stairs - looking up

I know the photos are pretty amateur, but you get the point.

My sweet husband busted his butt to get the flooring done before my fam came for a visit the first weekend in April. SUCCESS! Way to go hubs.

No rest for the weary, bring on project #2! Joe's parents are currently driving in to help us paint the outside of our house. While we still debate between two colors, the painting begins tomorrow. Wish us luck!

One trimester down, Two to go

Yesterday marked 14 weeks and the start of our second trimester. I've noticed a lot of people asking the same questions, so I thought I would share some of those answers with everyone. I'm not sure if the questions have been a strategic way to try and pinpoint the baby's gender or just pure curiosity, but here they are.

Morning sickness - not really at all. I've been lucky enough to count on one hand the number of times I've gotten sick in the first 13 weeks. Most of this can be attributed to waiting too long to eat. The peanut is quite impatient.

Tired - of course I have been. Any excuse, or lack there of, to squeeze a nap in has been good enough for me. This is in addition to the ten hours of sleep my body seems to require every night.

Cravings - nothing too exciting. No pickles and ice cream or anything crazy like that. Just food in general. Someone mentions a specific food and I want it. Eating every hour and a half to two hours seems to be my new way of life.

I think those are the big ones. Feel free to guess what gender you think our little bun is. We find out the week of May 24th. Until then, your guess is as good as ours.

Priest, party of 3

We have always considered ourselves to be a big family. If you count our furry friends, we've been a family of 6 for quite some time now. We are expanding our family to an official party of 3. Baby Priest is expected to arrive October 9!

Baby Priest's first picture at 7 weeks, 1 day - February 21.

 Baby Priest's latest photo, 12 weeks, 5 days - April 1.