Christmas Goodies and Good Friends

Last weekend the girls and I all got together to bake some Christmas goodies and hangout. I always have such a great time with these girls. It was wonderful to finally get some time off work to just relax, visit and bake (one of my favorite past times). Everyone come up with some ideas of what to make and we ended up with several plates of delicious sweets.




What a great idea Renee had to bake goodies. While we all said how we planned on taking the plates of goodies to our neighbors some of us were less successful at this then others. They were just so good that they disappeared off the platters shortly after arriving home with them.


We missed having Brandy, Liz and Melanie there with us and I look forward to when we can all be back together again. What a blessing the Lord has brought to my life through the friendships he has given me with all of you.

Below the double digits - in weeks

I am at the 31 1/2 week mark; which means that we only have 8 1/2 weeks left to go until baby Gates joins us.


I thought I would be more organized by now - such as having the nursery painted and the crib put together and his quilt started...but time has gotten away from me and none of this has happened (or even been started). However, my parents are coming up for Christmas and have so graciously offered to paint the nursery for us while they are here. What a blessing it will be and so fun to get to set stuff up in the freshly painted room with my mom while she is here.

My new most favorite thing is the recliner that we just got. Our couches, though usually very comfortable, are not quite comfy for me at this point. The recliner was a much needed and welcome addition to our living room. It will also be very handy in helping rock baby Gates to sleep.

The Christmas season has come very quickly this year. Tyler and I have been so busy at work that it has snuck up on us. I am finally starting to get Christmas decorations up and this weekend we got our Christmas tree. I stayed back this year on the annual tree trek and allowed Tyler to choose our tree. Tromping through the snow and cold is not quite as easy as it was pre-pregnancy. I had a wonderful "tree trek" by sitting by the fire up at the property, quilting, sipping hot tea and holding my new nephew Titus. Tyler got a great tree, by AK standards, and it will soon look and smell like Christmas in our house.


One week 'till my parents come. Two weeks 'till Christmas and two months 'till baby arrives -- we have lots happening here in the next few weeks/months.

Baby Gates - 26 weeks

Today we went in for an appointment and we got to get more pictures and video of baby Gates. It was fun to see him at this stage. He cooperated well this time without moving quite as much, allowing us to get some good shots of him. Here are a few photos and video of baby Gates at 26 weeks.

The most crazy thing is that next time we get to see him will be in the delivery room - 3 months left and time is flying.

25 weeks

I am now 25 weeks along. Baby Gates is very active lately and is moving around all the time. No suprise really since during both ultrasounds you could see him moving and "jumping" and the technician had hard time keeping up. He is definitely active - maybe he'll calm down a bit when he comes out.

I have to say that the second trimester has definitly been great. I have read that the second trimester is the "honeymoon" of pregnancy and I would have to agree. I feel great and and it is so fun to feel the baby moving. Tyler and I will sit on the couch at night and just watch my belly and feel the baby move while we watch TV - a great way to spend a relaxing evening.

I was so blessed the other day to receive a free crib and changing table from some friends of my sister-in-law. The crib is the exact style and color that I wanted so it a perfect match and a great blessing. The changing table is in great shape but we are going to try and find a way to paint it a dark brown to better match the crib. Here is a glimps of what they look like ---

Now we need to clear out this room so we can paint and set everything up. As you can see it will be quite a long weekend project to get this room cleared out (probably several weekends). I hope to post finished nursery pictures in the next few months.

We go back to the doctor next week for a long appointment that includes a Glucose test and ultrasound. We are excited for the ultrasound but I am not so excited to take the glucose test - drinking a glass of concentrated sugar-type water does not sound appealing to me...but surely it can't be that bad.

Fall is still here which is crazy for this time of year. Not a drop of snow yet. Usually we would have snow already - maybe not sticking around but usually a few snow falls that come and go. We have tried to make the most of this extended fall by going to the dog park with Yawkey when it isn't raining. He loves it outside but is a wimp when it comes to cold weather so his outdoor adventures are going to come to an abrupt halt in the next month.

Kicking and Active

I am now 21 weeks and on the second half of this pregnancy. I am loving second trimester and feel way better then I did first trimester.

Yesterday was the first day I felt baby Gates give me a good kick. I was sitting at my desk at work resting my hand on my belly and siddenly he kicked about 5 times right where my hand was resting. I guess he didn't like my hand in his space :). It was so fun to finally feel him on the outside with my hand. I tired to get him to kick more last night so Tyler could feel him but had no luck.

I am starting to get excited about decorating the nursery, now that we know we're having a boy. Our plan is to clear out the nursery this weekend so in the next few weeks hopefully we can start painting and getting things set-up.

Seattle Weekend

I just got back from a quick weekend trip to Seattle to visti the family. I had such a great time getting to hang out with my sisters and neices.

My mom and sister threw me my very first baby shower while I was home and it was so specail. Lots of friends were able to come and it was a deligth to share in the joy of new baby Gates with friends and family. I am excited now to use my gift cards to get teh careseat and for baby Gates to arrive 'cause I have lots of cute outfits for him to wear.

We had a great time at the photo studio over the weekend getting pictures of the girls and Amie and I even got our pictures taken since we are both pregnant (. Who knows when this will happen again, so though the prgo shoot was quite cheesy it is actually fun to have just a few pictures of us together with the growing baby boys :) The pictures of Amie and I are really for my parents but I think one might end up in the baby book. Here are just a few from the two photo sessions:









As alwasy the time went by so quickly. It was filled with laughter, stories, movies, and tears (but only tears while watching Grey's Anatomy with Anna). Next time I see my sister's they will be coming to meet Baby Gates :). I do get the joy of seeing my parents sooner though as they will come up for Christmas which will be great since my time with them this trip was far to short.

Enjoy this one last video of Rosemary and Providence on the swings laughing and giggling together - I love those girls :)

It's a...

Tyler and I went in for our second ultrasound today and found out that we will be welcoming a little baby boy into our family this February (just what we had wanted).

Everything looks great and he is very active. I am feeling him move a little, but if he remains as active as he is now, I am sure in a few weeks his movements/kicks will be quite frequent and very noticable. Let's just hope he lets me sleep :)

Our ultrasound technician was wonderful. He let Tyler video some of the ultrasound which you can see here:





Finally tonight we are going out to buy our little boy his first outfit :) Can't wait to look through all the cute clothes and find the perfect little outfit for him.