A sound that never gets old...

JJ's heartbeat at 16 weeks. We have a personal doppler and I love it!

Fine Fine Fine, here is the belly picture. But if i'm gonna post it, you have to tell me how tiny my belly is. ;)

Christmastime

This picture shows how much the baby grew from week 9 to week 12. Pretty amazing huh?

I was 12 weeks at Christmas! We heard the heartbeat the first time then with the doppler my mom got us! So exciting!

As you can see, JJ is already a very spoiled baby. But I like it that way.

Quite possibly two of the cutest kids in 1988.

Santa Baby

Our best Christmas present ever!

James 1:7 "Every good and perfect gift is from above..."

baby JJ at 8wks 2days

SURPRISE! WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

My parents reaction! We told them by decorating the living room with "grandpa is my hero" and other grandparent onesies, a suitcase that said "ready or not grandma here i come!", a countdown til I become a grandma calendar, and balloons and stuffed animals. They were coming to visit from Michigan and walked in the door to Jesse and I just standing there in the midst of it all.

We celebrated Jon and Karly's birthday's over Thanksgiving. On top of each of their presents we placed an "My Uncle Loves Me" bib and a "My Auntie is the Best" onesie. Here is jon opening his present first.

I definitely recommend recording people's reactions. It has been so fun going back and watching these moments!

Cheers to baby JJ!

Hopeful

It has been one tough week! This H1N1 thing has got me down. I havent been out of bed in a whole week and when i called the doctor today to see if i could go back to work, she said NO. Bummer. I really didnt know how i was gonna go back anyways though. I cant even get out of bed. Ahhh by next week things will be looking up.

Ive been worrying about so many things while i spend my day lying in bed. So I found this great little verse and i repeat it to myself throughout the day...I CAN be hopeful in all the uncertainties of the future!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Thank you God for giving me so much to hope for!

Help! I'm a Chicagoan Get Me Out of Here!!!!!

I have been in Chicago too long....

    Let me tell you why.    

I was waiting at the airport headed home from Mexico, when to my surprise, another girl sitting across from me smiled at me and said "hi" when I looked at her.   Any normal person would smile and say hi back right?  Well apparently I have been Chicagonized because that is not what i did.  My reaction.... quickly turn and tap jesse on the shoulder... "Hey that girl just smiled at me!"   

wow.

I have been thinking about this incident a lot this summer.  I don't know how much longer I can take it.  I want to move.  But where?

Lincoln Park Zoo

I thought the best thing about Lincoln Park Zoo was going to be that it was free.  However, Jesse and I scored big with a day at the zoo where every animal we visited was active and within inches or feet from us!  Here are some of the animals we meet that day...

Only the glass window pane is separating Jesse from this sleeping black bear.

Giraffes are my favorite animals and I cannot get enough pictures of them!

So thoughtful...

This polar bear swam right to us with his nose on the glass.

As always, I stop for a cotton candy break.

Sleepy Kitty...

Aren't jaguars beautiful?!

The kangaroos were very active.

This one is for you mom....little meerkat!

Even the drinking fountains are cute!

Last but not least.... adorable little naked rats sound asleep in their rat nest....yuck!

(If had some poison I would have tossed a little in here)