Our Thursday

This week has been a Spring Break for me of sorts too.  Both of my Bible studies had the week off and my Friday job was off this week too.  So, I only had to work on Monday.  It's been a fun week so far.  Today was a super full day!  First, we headed up to my OB for a quick fetal heart rate check.  I have an amazing doctor and office that have told me repeatedly I can come in anytime I want to hear the heart beat if I need a little peace of mind.  I've been tempted to take them up on it before, but finally did so today.  I am 16 weeks 5 days today.  I felt Ryker kicking like a banshee at just 16 weeks 1 day.  I was hoping to have felt this one by now too, but no kicks or punches as of yet.  I think I've felt a "flutter" or two, but excused it as a gurgle in my stomach.  Ryker never really fluttered, so I'm not quite sure what it feels like.  Thankfully, all was well and the heart beat was right in the 152-157 range and sounded just fine!  The nurse practitioner also said my placenta maybe attached to the front of my stomach which would make it much harder to feel the early movements.  Still praying to feel this little one to move soon though and looking forward to seeing it during our ultrasound on April 18th!

After the doctor's office we headed down to Southport road for some errands.  We hit up Goodwill, had lunch at Qdoba, went to Kohls, then Target.  I had planned on going to Aldi for groceries, but Ryker fell asleep on his new travel pillow and I didn't want to wake him up.  Thankfully, I signed up for the Target RedCard which allows me to save 5% on everything every time I shop but comes straight from my checking account like a debit card. 

Here he is sound asleep.  Everyone in the store kept "Awwwing" over him.  It was pretty sweet! :-)

After we got home and unloaded everything, we played, played, and played some more!

My 31 order came in yesterday.  He's been having fun with the boxes.

Chasing bubbles

"Coloring" outside

He said this was an elephant

He was wagging his "tail" like a dog here.  It was pretty funny.  He kept saying, "Wagging, wagging, wagging" in a sing-song voice.

Getting a little golf practice in. (By the way, I finally put up the pics of Ryker golfing with Robert.  See them here.)

Blowing bubbles all by himself.

Figuring out the "glider."  In the fall, this would have been a no go.

Even figuring out how to do it on his knees too.

And, finally, a little soccer...



Playland Playdate

Wednesday Ryker and I met up with Katie (Chaney, Tucker, and Paislee), Emily (Chloe, Sophie, and Charlotte), Christy (Nate and Noah), Emily (Kainen), and Crystal (and her 3 girls) for a little fun at the church Playland.  Being Spring Break for most schools it was pretty busy!  I had already taken Ryker on Monday and we were the only ones there.  I didn't anticipate it being as busy as it was, but it was packed!  The kids had fun running around and expending some energy and the moms enjoyed getting a chance to chat.  We went to Bonnie and Clyde's for lunch with Auntie Em and Kainen afterwards.  Em had never been before and wanted to try it out.  We all enjoyed it!  I was too busy chatting to take many pics but here are a couple I snapped while Ryker had a snack.

Enjoying some pretzels

Paislee and her adorableness.  Ryker (begrudgingly) shared some of his pretzels with her.  She enjoyed!

Fire Department Instructors Conference

Friday morning we headed downtown for the Firefighters' Convention.  Uncle Brian is the chief of IFD so we all got passes in.  We met Nana and Grandma Sheepie and drove down together.  It was a bear finding a parking spot and rather cold walking there, but Ryker was thrilled to see Aunt Diane, Uncle Brian, Jalyn, Ashlyn, and Carter.  The kids had a great time exploring all the displays and fire trucks.  They were everywhere!  The convention was at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium.  It was HUGE!  After exploring for a bit we walked to the mall, had lunch, and did a little shopping afterwards.  We didn't leave the mall til 4:00 and Ryker was wiped!  He crashed out in the car pretty quick and I had to wake him up in the evening.

Trying out one of the firetrucks

Carter wanted a turn...look at his cheese face.  I remember when Ryker would actually pose for the camera..oh I miss those days!

Ashlyn and Ryker by one of the big tires

They seriously walked through the whole convention like this...so cute!  At one point they were both in their separate strollers and were still holding hands.  It was too funny!

This is Sparky.  A robotic dog that talked and interacted with you like you it was human.  It even winked at me!

This is one of Sparky's friends.  Ryker really liked the duck.  He gave it several kisses.

Sporting his firefighter's helmet.

Just having a snack in the back of an ambulance parked in the middle of a convention center...just your typical Friday!

This is the best one of the three rascals on the back of the ambulance.

Look at Ashlyn's beautiful eyes.  Notice the seat belt...every seat she sat in she had to put the seat belt on.

Hanging with Nana and Grandma Sheepie at the food court

Ryker really liked taking pictures with Nana

He was "helping" Aunt Diane eat her Cinnabon.  All the kids were very helpful in getting rid of that thing.  Ryker even bit Nana's finger at one point...can we say sweet tooth?!?

16 Week Appointment (Well, 15 1/2 Technically)

Today was my 16 week OB appointment.  I'm actually 15 1/2 weeks today, but whatever!  Everything looked great.  The baby's heartrate was at 152 bpm.  I've gained 1 pound so far which is great.  Ryker was excited to hear the baby's "noise" (heartbeat) again.  Before bed each night, he wants to know what the next day has in store for him.  I told him we were going to hear the baby's heartbeat today and he said, "It sound like dunu, dunu?"  It was a pretty accurate sound and I thought it was too sweet!  We also scheduled our next appointment which will be when we find out what we're having.  It's set for April 18th.  Only 3 1/2 weeks left!  Yay!  I created an online poll for guessing the gender, delivery date, size, etc.  I'll have a link here on the blog if you'd like to participate!

Here is the belly this morning before we headed to the doctor.

Ryker decided he needed a belly pic too!  After the pic was taken, he pulled his Woody doll out and said, "Look, it's Woody!"  I sent Aunt Kate the picture and she said, "Oh, if only it were that easy!"  LOL :-)

A Day on the Farm

Tuesday morning we headed over to Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisa's house.  Lindsay is home from school for Spring Break and we thought it'd be fun to go visit and see all the animals on the farm.  Ryker hasn't stopped talking about it and asked me when he can "go back to that barn again" over breakfast this morning.  They had probably a good 20 lambs and Ryker loved them.  I loved hearing their little bleats.  Something about a little lamb is just so sweet and screams "Spring is here!" to me.  Love it!  Ryker liked watching the 2 llamas and donkey hanging out with some of the sheep in the pasture too.  They have 6 dogs, including a brand new puppy that Ryker loved playing with. 

We were so excited to see Bentley too.  He's getting so big and loves playing the piano!

Just love this little guy!

Lindsay and Ryker climbed up in the feeding trough to get a better view of the sheep.

Hanging with the new puppy, Silas.  He's 7/8 Great Pyrenees and 1/8 Rottweiler.  He's so cute!

Petting one of the new lambs.  The Mama was baaing pretty loud when Lindsay took the lamb out of the pen.  Ryker didn't know what to think at first.  We explained that most Mommy's are just protective over their babies and don't want anything bad to happen.  Last night when he was telling Robert about our day, he said, "The mama sheep said, 'Baa!  Don't hurt my baby!  Give me back my baby!'"  It was pretty funny!

Checking out the cows.  They were pretty lazy and uninterested in us. haha.

Ryker wanted to "hold" Bentley.  Basically they sat together on the couch and Ryker refused to smile for a picture.  Stinker!

Golfing with Daddy

Robert took Ryker out golfing on Saturday.  He was so excited to use his new clubs he got from Papaw for Christmas.  He had a great time.  Robert did take some pictures on his phone that I'll upload soon.  Apparently, Ryker liked picking up the balls and putting them in his basket while Daddy had his turns.  Robert also said he would get pretty upset when he would miss the ball.  So competitive already!

Sitting in the back of the car with the clubs all ready to go!

All loaded up with his clubs

What's more fun than golfing with a bucket on your head?!?!

We may need to work on his grip a bit, but it's a start.

Running around on the green.

A unique way of putting

Feeding the Ducks

This post is overdue (as are many others to come) and you will soon know why.  Last Thursday after Bible Study, Ryker and I walked across the street to the neighborhood pond to feed the ducks.  I had some bread that was getting stale and thought it'd be fun.  It was, until I dropped my camera in the pond!  Oops!  I was able to quickly retrieve it and put it in a bag of rice to dry it out.  By Friday night, it was still not working properly so we don't have any pictures of Ryker's first time bowling :-(  However, by Monday, it was functioning again.  It's not exactly 100% but it'll do until we find a suitable replacement.  Here are the pics from feeding the ducks.

Trying to get them to come closer to eat our yummy bread

He was pretty excited.

The fish were gobbling it up too.  Ryker liked them even better than the ducks because most of his bread ended up right next to the bank and the ducks wouldn't come that close.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I realize New Year's Day was 2.5 months ago..hang in there, I promise the title will make sense shortly!  Our 2011 started off the best way we could have hoped and prayed for....with the news that....

WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!

I am 14 weeks today making our newest addition due to make his or her arrival on 9/10/11.  (Which, by the way, has to be one of the coolest due dates ever, right?!?) :-)  So, now, to fill you in all that has happened over the last 14 weeks.  I took a test first thing New Years morning and quickly saw this:

Two lines=YAY!

We shared the news with Nana and Papaw the next day by having Ryker wear his "I'm a BIG Brother" shirt to their house.  They were surprised and very happy!

Here is the little bean at our first ultrasound at 8 weeks 2 days.  Heart rate was 179 bpm (which is just 1 bpm higher than Ryker's was at our first ultrasound with him around the exact same time)

Here's the belly at 10 weeks.  This baby has been much harder to keep hidden than Ryker was!

Here's our little one at our second ultrasound at 12 weeks 5 days.  The booger is already measuring 5 days ahead!  Heart rate was 163 bpm today.  The baby was asleep on its belly all curled up the entire time.

And, here is the belly as of this morning at 14 weeks exactly.  Thankfully, I haven't gained any weight yet, but I'm sure it won't be long! 

Robert and I cannot express how thankful we are for this precious miracle and how excited we are to be welcoming a new little life into our family.  Ryker is super excited to be a big brother and talks about the baby and to the baby all the time.  He even prays at every meal and bed time that his baby brother or sister will grow and "be strong and heafy (healthy)."  He changes between wanting a brother or sister pretty frequently so we think he'll be OK either way.  We head back to the doctor again March 23rd, but won't find out what we're having for a while after that.  We'll definitely know by Easter though!