Update

Hello everyone. Well, this morning Megan woke me up saying she thought her water had broke. She had called the DR and he said for her to wait an hour and see if it was still going heavy and if so, go to the hospital. It still was heavy so we left for the hospital around 11:30AM. After we got there and into an exam room they tested the fluid and said it was not amniotic fluid. They decided to check and see if she was dilated and she was 2 cm. She started having mild contractions shortly after we got there but the nurse said they weren't labor contractions. They said for Megan to walk around the hospital for an hour and drink lots of water and come back. We did that and nothing had changed so they called our DR and he said to send us home. There are still conflicting dates because they were saying Megan was 36 1/2 weeks (because of the ultrasound) but our original date says we are 38 weeks tomorrow. Because of that, they say she is not quite term so they wouldn't do anything to bring labor. We have now been home for a little more than an hour and she is having very painful contractions only a few minutes apart. I have a feeling we will be calling the DR shortly and heading back to the hospital possibly. Please pray!!

Not Long Now!!!!

Well, Megan is 37 weeks today!! It seems like time is creeping by but when I think back it seems like only a few days ago that we saw the + sign on the pregnancy test. Our dr. appt. this past week went well. Except for the fact that when we got there, they said we didn't have an appt. scheduled so Megan gave them her appt. card and they called us back a few minutes later. It was the quickest we have ever gotten in. I said hopefully they will forget every time. Our dr. said Ally's head is down and everything is good. After our appt. we were able to tour the hospital and see the rooms and the uncomfortable chair that will be my bed for a night or two. We are now on a weekly schedule of seeing the dr. so our next appt. is Wednesday. Now that the pregnancy is considered full term Megan is hoping Ally comes NOW. Lol, she has had a lot of back pain so she's ready for the pregnancy to be over. Also, yesterday she was having Braxton Hicks contractions all day. (At least I hope that's what they were.) She has all the bags packed and everything ready for the trip to the hospital. Now if it can just happen when I'm home we will be in business. I'll try to get a new picture of Megan on here in the next day or so. C-ya

Getting closer!

Well, we had a doctor's appointment last week and he said Ally's head is down so she's on her way! Only 5 more weeks to go! (Maybe we'll be lucky and it will only be 3 more weeks....lol). I go back next week and after that, I'll be going weekly. We also had our class last week. It wasn't what we were expecting and I'm glad we didn't pay for it, but we at least learned a little. They told me their next class on newborn care will be Dec. 11th and I told them that hopefully, I wouldn't be there. :) Our shower was pretty successful. We had many friends that couldn't make it, but we definitely got some things we needed and gift cards to help us buy the things we still need so we're hoping we should be okay. Dylan (our nephew) was so cute because he saw all the presents and knew his birthday was coming up. My sister had to keep telling him those gifts were for the baby. So then he'd say, "Where is the baby?" And someone would tell him the baby was in my belly. He'd come over to me, give me this sweet look, and say, "Where is the baby?" I'd tell him that she is in my belly and he'd say, "Well...I wanna see it." It was so funny and cute at the same time. Of course, I was thinking "ME TOO!!!" He did the same thing this past Saturday when we went up to celebrate his birthday. One of the things we did at my shower was get predictions about the baby to put in a little book and see who guesses the closest. For those of you that couldn't make it, you can tell us your predictions if you want. We took guesses for the baby's first and middle names, weight, length, and the day and time of birth. On our way up to PA on Saturday, we stopped at the Babies 'R Us in Newark because it is the only one around with a Kiddie Kandids studio in it. When we registered, we were given a coupon for a free maternity picture. You can see one of the pictures, but they all came out pretty good. There's a really cute one of Dave kissing my belly and one where they had us put our hands in a heart on my belly. I was impressed with how good the pics came out because I usually don't have good pictures. So, the agenda this week is to make an appointment to get the car seat inspected, continue shopping for anymore needed items, and of course celebrate Dave's birthday on Thursday!!!! Have a good week!

We're ready!!!!

Well, Ally's room is finished. Technically, not quite....somehow we ended up a little short on the border so we have one small piece that we need to add border to, but other than that, we are ready for Ally. Her room is all set. Dave had decided he wanted to paint the trim. I hate painting so I said it didn't need to be done, but if he wanted to do it, he could. He decided to and I'm glad because it looks really good. I'm also glad he decided to do the border because it is really cute too. So, now all that's left is getting our car seat inspected which we'll do next month, take a class which is next week, tour the hospital hopefully next week, and get any last minute items that we still need. Here are some pics of Dave working hard and the room. My body is also getting ready because I don't think I've had a good night's sleep since August. I'm the type that needs at least 8 hours and right now I'm usually getting 5 or 6 and I'm excited when I get 7 hours! So, I have less than 2 months to get used to even less, but it's already been 2 months and I'm not used to it yet! Lol. By the way, where's everybody at? We're down to only 1 or 2 people still leaving us comments!

Dr Update

I haven't updated lately so I figured it was my turn. Plus our internet at home is pretty much non existent. We had a Dr's appt yesterday and everything is good. Megan has gained a couple more pounds which she isn't happy about and she is now above the weight she wanted to stay below. She stood backwards on the scale so she wouldn't have to see her weight but the nurse pretty much told her anyway. We did find out that the one Dr who is still at our office will be the only one there and that he will be on call and said he would definately be delivering our baby which is good because we both like him. He said our regular due date is Dec 5 but the ultrasound date is the 17th so he said the longest they would let Megan go over would be one week after the 17th so she was thankful about that. He said that 85% of women don't go past their due date which was surprising to me and Megan liked hearing that. So we found out Ally will arrive sometime in December, we don't know much more than that, lol. Megan and I painted Ally's room and Megan loves it. It doesn't matter that I don't like it because since she does, that's all that matters. Hopefully Ally likes it because I'm not painting it again. We will take pictures after the touch ups are done and the wall border is up. As I type this, my sister Leah is in labor and has been for the past 40+ hours. Poor thing is having a rough time. She didn't want to take any pain medication but finally gave in and things have been going better since then. Hopefully I will be an uncle again sometime tonight and we will get to go see him or her this morning. I will be sure and get pictures also. Well, that's all for now. Til next time, peace!! By the way, our first teen Bible Study went great!! Praise the Lord, He is good!!

The Room is getting there!!!!

Well, we have only 2 more things to do to Ally's room. We got our paint so we will be getting that done hopefully this week. We also got wall border that matches our bedding set. Once we have the walls ready, I found a different room arrangement that I think I want to try and the room will be ready!!!! I am posting some pictures so that you can see it. The room hopefully won't be staying in this arrangement because I don't really like the crib where it is, but we'll have to see. I'm keeping my dad busy with projects like converting a desk to a changing table and fixing our mobile (I love our sleigh crib and wouldn't trade it for anything else, but the mobile doesn't fit so my dad's trying to rig it up so that we can still use it). Also, here is a picture of us at my friend's wedding over the weekend. You can somewhat tell I am pregnant when I'm sitting now. lol Everybody has been commenting over the last week that they can finally tell I'm pregnant. However, I actually need to watch my weight because at the rate I'm going, I'll end up gaining more weight than I need to!!! We'll update after our next appointment, which is Wednesday.

Update

Hey everyone. Well, I had another doctor's appointment today. Everything is still looking good. My glucose test came back fine (yea!!! no more blood taken!!!!). I found out as I was leaving that the other female doctor will be leaving the practice in November. This isn't horrible, because I do really like the other doctor that will still be there and so does Dave. But, I'll have to ask at my next appointment if they are planning on getting another doctor or how that will work. One of the things I liked about our doctors was that there were 3 of them so I was pretty much guaranteed that no matter when I went into labor, it would be one of my 3 doctors. Now that we're down to only 1, I don't know what will happen because I'm sure he isn't going to be on call 24/7. I guess I'll find out in 2 weeks when I go back for my next appointment. Also, I thought I'd put up a picture of Dave's hard work. The first picture is of the dresser before, the second is after. We should be getting our bedding set soon so I'll wait to put up pictures of the whole room until we get that. Remember to RSVP to my mom (or you can leave a comment on here) if you are planning on attending my shower and haven't yet. Oh and thanks Kate for sticking up for me after Dave's last blog! lol

Working

Not a whole lot has happened so I just thought I would give a little update on the room situation. I told Megan today that I think we should wait until after Ally arrives to do all this work so she can help. I think she is coming up with excuses because she doesn't want to do any work. Lol Now her reason for not helping is that she says she isn't supposed to be around paint fumes. Hmmm, so let's let Dave die in there breathing all the paint fumes and doing all the work. I sure hope Ally appreciates all the work her daddy did for her room. For some reason, I don't think she will. Oh, I'm painting a dresser that Megan wanted painted. Why does she want a dresser painted? Who knows, it's one of those women things. It does look pretty good though if I have to say so myself. I guess my next project is painting the room but that won't be for awhile. Hopefully we can sell our house before December (let's all pray hard) and then we could paint sooner or somewhere else. Anyway, I agree with what Megan wanted done in the room and I was just teasing with what I said so please don't kill me with your comments. It was all in fun. Well, there isn't much else to say so til next time, c-ya.

"The House That Ruth Built" Will Be Missed

So yesterday was the last baseball game at Yankee Stadium. We had tickets to Saturday's game (we wished we could have gone yesterday, but oh well). I grew up a Phillies fan and was sad to see the Vet go, but the new Citizens Bank Park is really nice too. However, there is nothing like being at Yankee Stadium. I'm not a history person, but there is just so much history that took place there. The stadium is always packed and there's nothing like the energy of being there; no other ball park is the same. We are looking forward to the new stadium next year, but it is kind of sad to see the old one go. There are several traditions that I'm sure will carry over to the new stadium: the "bleacher creatures" yelling out each players' name until the player acknowledges them at the start of each game, the ground crew doing the "YMCA" as they grate the field, Kate Smith singing "God Bless America" during the 7th inning, and as much as I hate Metallica, there is nothing like when their "Sandman" song starts and the place goes even more crazy because Mariano Rivera is coming in the game. As Derek Jeter said last night, it is up to the fans to keep the memories alive. I'm sure everybody will. Dave and I have many memories there already and not just the games. The first game he took me to at Yankee Stadium, we went up early and went in to Manhattan.....we ended up walking the whole length of Central Park (not the width, the length). The look on Dave's face when he opened the ticket package I got for him 2 years ago. The nightmare weekend with the curse of the Red Sox, which many of you already heard about and I don't need to relive because that wasn't a good memory. How last year, just about every game we went to we ended up driving through horrible downpours on the NJ Turnpike to get to the stadium and see the sun shining as bright as ever. Sitting in the dugout and seeing the Clubhouse during our stadium tour last winter. The game we went to this past spring when we had just found out that morning that we were pregnant with Ally. Watching Josh Hamilton break a record at the home run derby. Seeing all of the Hall of Fame players and future Hall of Fame players at the All-Star Parade. And of course attending our last game at the stadium, knowing Ally will never get to go to the old one and she will only know the new Yankee Stadium, "The House That Jeter Built," as some are calling it. Here are some pics from Saturday's game and the souvenirs we bought for Ally because we stopped at Modell's and Babies 'R Us since ours don't sell baby girl Yankee stuff. We decided to use some of our flea market money to buy a cute 3 pack of Nike onsies, a onsie with a bib, and we got a little All-star game t-shirt that was on clearance.

Miracle

A miracle happened today so I just thought I would share it with you. Megan had to get blood taken to check for gestational diabetes. The nurse who took the blood only had to insert the needle one time, yup I said ONE time and she got blood. Megan said she doesn't think that has ever happened so we told the nurse that she was a hero and should get a round of applause. I think we find out the results at our next dr's appt. which I think is October 2nd. Today I volunteered to help Megan rearrange Ally's room. MISTAKE!!!!! lol Of course that meant all the furniture had to be moved around and since Megan can't do a lot of lifting that meant I had to do most of it. I have to admit though, the room looks nice and I think Ally will like it and appreciate all of our hard work. Yeah right!! Now I guess I have to paint a dresser and eventually paint the room. (Women and their insisting that everything has to match) I love you honey!!! Now I am changing the subject but we are beginning a Bible Study with our teens in October. Please pray for Megan and I because we have never led a Bible Study so we are both nervous but also excited to see God use us to minister to the teens.

My new favorite song

Even though this song sounds more "folk" like and not my normal type, I love it. I think sometimes I am too immune to others and what they are going through.
Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

New Pictures

Here are the newest pictures of Megan (and Ally). This is at 27 weeks and 5 days. Enjoy!!

Mark your calendars!

I just wanted to let everyone (well all of the ladies) know that you should be getting baby shower invitations soon. In case we missed anybody when making our guest list, if you are reading this, you are welcome to come! It will be held Saturday, October 25 at 2pm at our church (Sussex County Bible Church). If you need directions or the address, let me know (I believe my mom is putting the address in the invitations for people to Mapquest it or use GPS). Also, if you were accidentally missed and don't get an invitation, please leave a comment or let me know if you plan on coming so that I can RSVP for you. Hope to see everybody there!

Getting ready for Ally!

Well, I have had a busy couple of weeks. I've been clearing out the house to get ready for a flea market day to make money and room in our house. I've been spending a lot of time especially in what will be Ally's room. We are not going to paint the walls until it gets closer (just in case, by some slim chance, we would sell our house), but we're getting everything else ready. My parents got us a crib over the weekend. Our stroller and car seat came on Monday. It turned out to be a different color than it looked online and I love it!!! It's a pretty light and dark teal color combination. And tonight friends of ours brought us a glider and ottoman that they were getting rid of. We are very fortunate to have such great people helping us out! So, I thought I'd send a picture of how her room is looking. Hope you enjoy!

Appt

Hello everyone, Megan is busy getting the house ready for Ally so she hasn't updated our blog with any news so I will do it. We went to the dr. yesterday and were there for about 2 minutes. The dr. said everything is great and he would see us in 4 weeks. Seems like a waste of a drive down there to me but hey, what do I know? There is one thing Megan is not looking forward to and that is she has to have blood work done in a couple weeks to check for gestational diabetes. She hates having blood taken so she is dreading this already. Other than that everything is going well except how much of a mess my house is right now. Lol Megan is getting a bunch of stuff ready to attempt to sell at a flea market to make room for our addition coming in about 3 months. Hopefully she does well because we need the room and we need the money. Well, there isn't much else to say so I'll see ya later. Please leave comments as you all have been slacking lately!!!!!

Pics from Atlanta and Boca Raton

HOME SWEET HOME

Well, we are home again and this time it's for awhile. After a trip to Florida and seeing my brother Nathan in Atlanta, we are home and back to the real world. YUCK!!!!! Lol, anyway, we have a dr's appt on Wednesday so we will update the baby situation after that. Everything is going well with the baby so far and Megan is 26 weeks along today. Megan will probably put pictures up from the trip in the next day or so. We didn't take many so don't be expecting too much. Well, hope to hear from you all.

Home...for now

Well, we finally got home last night. We get to enjoy 2 days of sleeping in our own beds before it is back off on another trip tomorrow. I always have fun on our NYC trips, but I have to say, I think this was the best one yet. We got to our hotel in New Jersey around lunch time on Wednesday. After checking in to our room, we headed into the city and straight to the Bronx Zoo. On Wednesdays their admission is by donation instead of a set price (perfect for those of us on a budget!). Well, we got our tickets online because we thought everybody would still have to have a ticket. We were wrong; everybody just went right in and it was packed because people were getting in for free. Anyway, it was still great. I had no idea how big it would be. My favorite was the Madagascar exhibit. I love that movie and that is the reason I wanted to visit this zoo. It had everything from the movie: the lemurs, the foosa, etc. We had a lot of fun.

After the zoo, we went to Union Square (the best shopping place). We checked out the sales at Filene's Basement and DSW, got dinner at Chipotle Mexican Grill (a mistake for me...too spicy even though I like Mexican food!), and walked around. We went to Murray's Bagels to get some bagels for our breakfasts. Rachael Ray recommended this place because of the good bagels and they make them right there. Finally, we got to Babies 'R Us to set up our registry. That was a lot of fun. 3 floors of baby stuff!!!!! I was a little disappointed at the lack of purple and we had to put more pink than I wanted, but the stuff was still cute. They had a whole section of cute baby girl Yankees outfits (which are probably only available at that store so you probably won't be able to get those). We decided to skip Trader Joe's because we already had a lot to carry and knew we wouldn't really be needing any grocery items anyway. After a long day, we went back to the hotel where I crashed from all of the walking. On Thursday, we woke up early and went right in to the city to ride the Staten Island Ferry. There are 4 waterfalls around South Street Seaport that some artist did, plus the views from the ferry are nice to begin with. It was a very relaxing start to our day. We got to see all of the falls, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and even the Hyatt where we normally stay. We then thought we'd walk to South Street Seaport, not realizing it was quite a walk and really hot. After changing our minds, we went back to the subway to go to Little Italy. It was time for lunch at Lombardi's. I've been wanting to try good New York pizza for a long time and what a better place than Rachael Ray's recommended place that happens to be the first pizzeria in America? Dave got a calzone because he hates pizza and said it was really good. As far as the pizza, probably the best I've ever had!!!!! I loved it! I'm not usually a thin crust person, but the homemade sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and crunchy pepperonis cooked in a coal oven just made it perfect. How do you finish off a good Italian lunch? With a good Italian dessert. We went to Ferrara's bakery and got cannolis, well I got a chocolate cannoli...yum! And after eating a delicious lunch, you have to follow up with shopping. Chelsea Market was pretty neat and we were wishing we had a place like that near us to buy all of the fresh produce at such good prices! We settled for a fresh, homemade strawberry lemonade and blueberry lemonade. Next, we went to Modell's (hoping to find the maternity shirt for me that says "Future Yankee Fan" with an arrow pointing down), but had no luck and we guess it is only available online. We looked at the Baby Depot right nearby and saw a lot of cute things there also. Then we went to the Manhattan Mall. We were a little disappointed as there wasn't much there, but I definitely will be visiting Steve and Barry's after the baby for a shopping spree. Everything in the store was $8.98! In case you haven't heard, that's the store that carries Sarah Jessica Parker's line of clothing, but I still wasn't expecting everything to be so cheap: shoes, dress pants, bags, accessories, EVERYTHING! It was finally time to go back to the hotel where we relaxed and enjoyed the pool for a bit.

Friday we slept in a little bit and went into the city around lunch. We ate at Big Nick's Burger and Pizza Joint (Food Network recommended). Dave tried their burgers and I tried their pizza (hey, I love pizza and Dave hates it, I have to enjoy it when I can). I was able to get my pizza on a whole wheat crust which I liked more than regular crust. The prices were reasonable too (my slice of pizza was about the price of Grotto's and my slice was about 3 times the size of theirs). The food was really good and we were not disappointed, but it just couldn't compare to Lombardi's. Since we usually aren't in the city over the summer, we went to do the rowboats in Central Park. That was fun and relaxing (for me, Dave did all the work). Central Park isn't far from 2nd Avenue, so we had to go put our name in for Serendipity3. It was only a 45-60 minute wait (by far the shortest wait we'd ever heard of...usually its 2-5 hours). During our 45 minutes we walked to Bloomingdale's and did some window shopping and got back to Serendipity 45 minutes later and our table was ready. Nothing beats their frrrrozen hot chocolate. This time Dave tried their strawberry (he usually gets their peanut butter) and said it was good too. Now, I have a special purse that I use when we go to the city because it is big enough to hold our camera and everything we need. This trip it was also holding a bottle of water and snacks for me. The problem is, it has round straps and after 3 days, I was developing a permanent bruise on my shoulder. Dave had gotten sneakers our first day, so I decided I wanted a new purse (now I was risking my life mentioning this to Dave because I am always saying I am in need of a new purse and he just doesn't understand...all you ladies that love shoes can relate, I'm just like that with purses instead of shoes), but I think he really knew it was hurting and didn't argue (he may have rolled his eyes lol). So we stop at a few guys selling purses on the street. One guy wanted $45 for a clearly fake Coach bag so we walked away. A few other guys had some that looked real, but wanted too much money. A Century 21 visit was in order. Outside of Century 21, we found a guy that went down to $35 for a real Coach bag (at least looked very real). Century 21 had a Nine West that was okay for $20, but I figured why pay that much and settle for something I wasn't crazy about. Back outside, in the rain, we got the one I wanted. I was finally happy so we could leave the city and enjoy the pool at our hotel again. Saturday was our lazy day. We slept in and relaxed until after lunch time. We then explored Secaucus, NJ, got lunch, went to their Baby Depot and set up a registry, then had an early dinner at Olive Garden. We went back to the hotel to change and get ready for the highlight of the trip: Grease on Broadway! It was a little different than the movie, which I was expecting because it was a musical before the movie, but it was AWESOME!!!! I think I looked like a dork with a big smile on my face the whole time. The actors were great singers and seeing Taylor Hicks was really cool too, especially when he pulled out his harmonica and played it at the end of a song. Even Dave said he had fun. The only bad thing is, now I'm going to want to go see shows like that all the time, but it's out of the budget lol.

Sunday meant the end of our vacation :( , but not before we went to Mo's New York Grill for lunch. If you aren't familiar with the Yankees, he is their star closing pitcher with an awesome restaurant. We were supposed to come home that evening, but had to go to upstate New York for a funeral, which explains why we didn't get home until last night. Tomorrow evening it's off to Atlanta to see Dave's brother and then to Florida until the end of the month so today is an unpacking, laundry, straightening up, errands, and re-packing day lol. Wow this is exhausting, but it's worth it!

NYC!!!!

Well, it is time to get ready for another trip. :) We leave tomorrow for NYC. I think this will be the first I've gone over the summer (except to Yankee Stadium for a game). We got engaged on a New York City trip and have gone every year since then. We usually go on Dave's days off between Christmas and New Year's. This year, Dave has Christmas off so we'd lose a day in New York, plus we'll have a newborn baby. So, we're going now. This will also be our longest trip. Usually, we are just there for 2-3 days. This trip is 5 days. We've got it full of things to do. I'm excited to see the Madagascar exhibit at the Bronx Zoo tomorrow. Plus, we'll be setting up our baby registry at Babies 'R Us and possibly Baby Depot. I have a lot of fun walking around those stores to begin with so I'm sure with the huge NYC stores it will be even more fun. Of course, we'll be making a stop at Trader Joe's, Serendipity 3, and Filene's Basement and other's that are a must in New York. We also always check out a few of Rachael Ray's picks to eat. This time we're going to get some bagels at Murray's Bagels and some good, New York style pizza at Lombardi's, which is the first pizzeria in America. We haven't been disappointed by her picks yet so I'm sure we won't be this time either. We'll also be doing the Staten Island Ferry and South Street Seaport. Of course, Saturday night will be spent enjoying a Broadway musical. :) As far as how our last doctor's appointment went, everything looked good. Surprisingly, my blood pressure was good. I've never had problems with it, but all the stress I had been under with finances and the doctor's office trying to over-charge us, etc. had me worried that it would be high. The doctor I saw at this last appointment will no longer be seeing the pregnancy patients so I'll have one of the other two doctors. That's fine with me because I've only seen the other two so far anyway. I was still able to look at the scale and not get too scared of the number I saw lol. Ally's kicks are getting harder too. She's been kicking pretty hard for the past couple of weeks. So hard that if my arm is resting on my stomach, it makes my whole arm flinch. So I was thinking that we should be able to see it, but every time I looked, I was too late. Last week I was laying on the couch reading a book so my eyes were looking towards my stomach. All of the sudden I felt a hard kick and could see a little bulge kick out of my stomach. It was really cool to see. A few seconds later Dave was watching and he could see it too. Well, I guess that's it. We'll have pics after we get back of another adventure with Ally and maybe you can look for our registry in the next couple of days! Have a great week everybody!

None

Well, I just thought I would write a little bit before our Dr's appt today and I'll let Megan write later how it went. I am able to feel Ally kicking more consistently now. I never get to feel the big kicks but I feel small kicks when I am patient. If you know me then you know patience doesn't come naturally for me (3 letters, ADD). LOL Anyway, it is really cool to feel Ally moving around in there. Ok, I have a question for you all. Can someone tell me how we are supposed to keep Megan's stress level down when she is dealing with rude billing people at the dr's office and insurance companies that make billions of dollars yet don't want to pay a few dollars of our bill? RIDICULOUS I tell you!!!!! Anyway, since I haven't said much about softball I will update that since the season is now over. We didn't have the best first season but we had a lot of fun. We played 19 regular season games and only won 4. We ended up in the bottom of 3 divisions for our end of the season tournament. In the tournament we came up one win short of getting a trophy. We had a pretty good season considering it was only our first year and pretty much my whole team had never played softball before. Hopefully next year will be better. Well, I don't have much else to say so we will update after the appt. C-ya