Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and we had so much fun thinking about what next year will be like.

Christmas Eve, we went to our church's Christmas Eve service, which was wonderful! Then we headed back home to have dinner with Josh's parents, my Mom, Steve, Amy and my Aunt Fern. After dinner our families exchanged gifts and we opened a gift for Reed from Josh's parents (they couldn't wait for the morning)...a Bumbo seat and play tray!

We had a "Mexican Christmas Feast" this year!

Christmas morning we got up early and drove to Sheridan for breakfast at my Mom's. We ate breakfast and then opened gifts together! As always my Mom and Steve came up with some crazy ideas! Josh and I had purchased a video camera so we just asked for money for Christmas to pay for the camera. Instead of just writing a check to us, they decided that taping dollar bills together and putting them in a box rolled up like tissue would be fun!! The box had a slot cut in it and the last bill had a tissue tap to it. The tissue was in the slot, so when we unwrapped the box all we saw was what we thought was tissue in a box. Then they told Josh, my step-brother Aaron and I to pull the tissue at the same time and this is what happen when we did!

We also all got battery powered fly swatters! These fly swatters are a mix between a regular fly swatter and those blue bug sappers you may have had on your front porch when you were younger. When a bug would fly in them they would make a frying noise. These things are pretty funny!

Finally, my Mom got Josh a few outfits for Reed. They are baseball themed, I know Josh can't wait to get him in them!




After breakfast we headed to Josh's parents for dinner and more gifts!! Josh's parents got me a small camera that I can have in my purse at all times when Reed is born and they also got us a pack n' play and of course more clothes for Reed! Josh and his Dad spent most of the night putting the pack n' play together and then taking it apart again so we could take it home.

Friday morning Amy, my Mom and I were up at 5:30 to go shopping. We got lots of great deals of course and had lots of fun. Then Amy and I headed back to Sheridan to meet my Dad at my Grandma's house to visit her and then we drove over to my other Grandma's house to visit with her! Whew....lots of people to see!!

After time with Grandmas I headed hurriedly back to our house to get ready for my Dad and Donna to come over to have dinner and open gifts together. Josh had to work all day so they waited until he was home to come over.

Then finally on Saturday we all drove to Hot Springs to have Christmas with my Aunt Cara's family. Having family close is always nice, but it makes for a very busy holiday season!

Reed Update!!

I had another check up on December 12th. Reed's heartbeat was 140 and everything appeared to be great! The doctor caught me off guard by telling me that after my next appointment on January 14th, I will start going every two weeks. I just can't believe how fast time is going by. At my appointment on the 14th I will also have my glucose test and another ultrasound. My doctor said this will be my last ultrasound and they will use this ultrasound to see if my low lying placenta has moved. If the placenta has not moved I will have to have a c-section. I was shocked that this decision could be made so early, but I will trust the doctor! She did say that 98% of the time the placenta moves, so I am praying that I am not in the 2%. I am sure having a c-section will be fine, just not what I had imagined!

Reed is moving around like crazy now! I feel him pretty much all day long. Josh was even able to feel him on December 12th. Reed always moves around a lot in the morning before I get out of bed. This morning I was being lazy not getting out of bed to get ready for work so I laid Josh's arm across my stomach and Reed jumped like I have never felt before, I guess he wanted to make sure that his Daddy had no doubt that it was him. Josh has felt him a few other times since then, but not to much yet.

Only 15 weeks to go.....so crazy!

This is was taken at 23 weeks and 6 days!! The first picture I have taken! I always thought I would want to take a million pictures, but I just haven't felt like it looks like a baby bump on me! I plan to start trying to take more, now that there is no hiding it!

Reed Baker is on the way!!

"Baby Baker" is a BOY!! Josh and I are so excited and can't believe how blessed we are! I have had the best pregnancy and we found out yesterday that Reed looks perfect. Ultrasounds are amazing, I wish I could have one every day. Right now Reed is laying on his tummy and his head is up to the left side of my belly button and his feet are right down on my bladder (per the ultrasound technician, but this hasn't seemed to affect me to bad). It totally made sense seeing him in there because it is right where I had been feeling him the last couple of days. We were able to see all the parts of the brain, all four chambers of the heart, each arm and leg bone, two kidneys, a great view of his face and his nose and top lip look perfect and after looking at the pictures you will see what else we got to see (Reed is a VERY obvious little boy already). His heart rate yesterday was 141 bpm, which I am told is slower, making the old wives tale that boys have slower heart rates true. Right now Reed weighs 9 oz and is about 6 inches long. I have heard a million times how amazing it is, but yesterday was indescribable for me, seeing a little person inside of me and seeing Josh just watch in amazement! Reed measured two days behind the original due date, but at the last visit he was two days ahead so they are keeping my original due date of April 14th. I am 19 weeks today, I can't believe I am almost halfway through!I think his little nose and mouth looks perfect in this profile picture, I am just amazed at what you can tell about a little baby weighing only 9 oz.


A perfect spine!

If this isn't clear I don't know what is! There is no way we could have left that room yesterday without knowing, she didn't even have to tell us!

Just in case you needed to see another one!

This is scary face picture! The technician zoomed in to take face measurements!

Will "Baby Baker" be a Boy or a Girl??

Josh and I find out Monday whether we will be blessed with a little boy or girl! We are so excited and can't wait to find out! It has been six weeks since my last appointment so I am extra anxious just to see and hear the baby again. I know boy or girl we will be so thrilled, I just need to hear that the baby is healthy and perfect!

I have also been feeling the baby here and there, so it has been a little reassurance that everything is going well. During week 14 I was holding the laptop against my stomach and felt something different in my stomach, I wasn't sure if it could be the baby so soon, but as the weeks went on I continued to feel the same feelings every few days or so. On Halloween I actually felt more of a kick than just flutters I am sure it wasn't what a true kick feels like but it was the hardest feeling I had felt so far. I have only felt the baby a few times a week, and today has definitely been one of those days, I swear I felt the baby turn a flip tonight (probably because I am cramping it's space by still wearing regular pants). I get so excited each time I feel the baby move, it almost brings tears to my eyes every time. I just can't wait until I can call this baby by name and continue to feel the baby grow and grow!

Speaking of names, luckily this topic has been a pretty easy decision for Josh and I. I have always wanted to name my little boy, Reed, this is my mother's maiden name and I have always thought it would be a great name for a little boy. I was so excited when Josh really liked the name as well, The girl's name was a little harder, but I LOVE the name Addelyn! My middle name is Lyn, spelled with one "n", so Addelyn just fit! I also think Adde is the cutest shortened name! :) Josh liked it immediately as well! I think partly because he also likes the "lyn" part of the name. Josh has called me Lyn for short since we were in high school, don't know when it started or how, but for some reason he likes the name. So we agreed on two names and they have stuck and we really haven't discussed other ones. I guess this might change after Monday!

Now if we can just make it through the weekend......

"So You Think You Can Dance"

The weekend of October 9th and 10th my sister and I traveled to Dallas (really it was Grapevine and Grand Prairie, but who knows the difference between one Dallas surburb and another) to see the "So You Think You Can Dance" tour and to do a little shopping while we were there. We had a great time! We traveled down on Friday morning and got to Grapevine Mills Mall about noon. We shopped until has late as possible knowing our hotel was less than 5 miles away and giving ourselves about 45 mins to get ready and then about 30 mins to get to the theatre where the performance was.

So we leave the mall and head to the hotel. Amy had told me the hotel was close to the mall and that we were staying at the Comfort Suites. So I printed directions to the Comfort Suites in Grapevine right down the road from the mall. So we go to check-in and the very nice lady looks at our itinerary and says you are suppose to be in Grand Prairie! So we figure out that the hotel is close to the theatre in Grand Prairie not the mall...oops! We decided it would be easier to just stay in Grapevine since we planned on going back to the mall the next day anyway and this hotel was just a little further from the theatre than the other one was. So we get ready quickly and get on the road to the Nokia theatre with Google directions in hand!

The directions state to take Belt Line Road, long story short, Belt Line Road, we find out later, has about a trillion different exits off of every major freeway in Texas, I may be exaggerating, but by the end of our two day trip I think I saw 5 exits for Belt Line Road. So anyway we take the first exit we see and end up going the wrong way for about 20 mins. But we also thought the show started at 7 and it started at 7:30 so we made it with plenty of time. However, just a side note, parking was $15 and that was our only option. Have you ever paid that much to park in a parking lot?

The show was great and if you are a fan of the show you will know what I mean when I say we got to see the "Door Dance," the "Briefcase Dance," the "School Desk Dance," the "Bed Dance" and I could go on and on! It was great! I don't know how those dancers do it night after night! Sorry the pics aren't great we had pretty good seats, but the pictures of the screen were much better than trying to take them of the dancers actually on the stage.

Saturday we woke up early and decided to head back to the mall as soon as it opened! However, while packing up I realized I didn't have my Motherhood Maternity sack (don't worry I am not wearing maternity clothes yet, just trying to get ready) from the day before. What, did I really have ANOTHER pregnancy brain moment? Yes, I did! So we had a mission on our hands, retract every step we took after going in Motherhood Maternity the day before. By the time we got to the mall I had narrowed it down between two stores and has luck would have it, one of the stores actually had the sack! I was SO relieved and was so glad to have my clothes back!

All in all shopping was great we found lots of great deals! I came home with several items of maternity clothes and five pairs of shoes (don't worry the most expensive pair was only $18 and a couple were only $7). Josh also got a new pair of shoes out of the deal, a new pair of athletic shorts and a new sweater!

A few pics from the show!

New Video

Check out the new video below on the "Telling the Parents" post! I finally got the video up! Thanks Lauren for letting us us your video camera!

First item bought for “Baby Baker”

Being the numbers person that I am I look at our bank account almost every day. One day last week I noticed a pending charge that said MLB Atlanta, I immediately knew Josh had bought something off the Internet from his favorite sports team's website. So I called him up and asked him if he was really working or just playing on the Internet spending all our money? He told me he had bought a business card holder. I thought well that is a little corny, but whatever. Then a few days later he brings home this……

How cute!! I thought it was very sweet that Josh wanted to buy something for the baby. I never dreamed he would be the first one to buy something! :) Now hopefully I can keep him from decorating the whole nursery in baseball stuff! We currently have this argument about once a week!

Telling the Parents!!

For most expecting parents one of the most exciting times is telling their parents! We were so excited to spread the news! Again, I had this event all planned out in my mind. We had decided it was best to wait until after our second ultrasound to tell them. So last weekend is when it finally happened! Our church was having their grand opening services and we convinced both sides of the family, siblings and all that they should come to church with us and then come over for lunch. Once everyone got back to our house, Gracie and Zeek were barking like crazy wanting out of their kennels. So I went in and put their shirts on again and let them out to tell the grandparents, aunts and uncles! My sister had already learned the news so she was manned behind the video camera to catch the big moment on tape!

Everyone of course was thrilled once they figured out what the shirts said, that took a while! They loved how we told them and are just anxious for this baby's arrival!

Pregnancy Brain....can it already be happening?

Okay, so I have always heard my pregnant friends talk about having "pregnancy brain!" Basically, I have always thought well that is a cute way of blaming your forgetfulness on something! :) But really y'all it may be true! Most of you that know me know I am pretty detail oriented and organized person.

Well last week I had to travel to Chicago for business. So I check my bag, get my boarding pass, get through security and I am sitting there, with plenty of time, waiting for them to call us to board the plane. I suddenly realize that I have forgotten to go by the bank to get some cash. I know I will have to take a taxi to get to my hotel once I land in Chicago, so I decide to get up and walk through the airport to see if there is an ATM. I ask someone and they tell me that I will have to go back through security, so I decide that isn't necessary that I will just worry about it later. So I am walking back to my gate and I hear the lady at the desk saying something about a plane being delayed another 30 mins due to mechanical failure. I know that there are two groups of people waiting to board two different planes, but for some reason in my head I just assume that it is my plane. So I sit back down get comfortable again reading "What to Expect When You Are Expecting!" Then I have another striking thought, well if the plane is going to be delayed I might not be able to eat for a while. I have been extremely lucky in the fact that I have not had any morning sickness...PTL! But I have gone a couple of times to the point of starvation and it has made me feel terrible for the rest of the day. So I decide to get back up and go find some pretzels to tie me over until I get to eat dinner. I get my pretzels and I am walking back to my gate again and right as I am getting to the gate over the load speaker this man says, "Andrea Baker report to Gate 1 immediately!" Again, if you know me you know I totally freaked out, I am so embarrassed! I walk up to the man and he says, "Are you ready?" At this point I don't even know what has happen. But then has I am walking down the ramp to the plane I hear him say on his walky talky, "The last one is coming!" Holy cow in the little time I went to get pretzels they call for boarding and everyone had already gotten on the plane. I guess our plane wasn't the one with mechanical problems after all...oops! Anyway, I was just happy I got on the plane! :)

So I have an okay time in Chicago it was all business and no fun, but Friday finally came and it was time to go home. At the airport I go up to one of the self check-in machines and input my information and it says, "Information not found, report to the line!" I don't think anything of it and I go get in line to check my bag and get my boarding pass. I walk up to the lady hand her my driver's license and she says, "Ma'ma do you have any paperwork with you that shows you booking a flight." I hand her the information I had printed off the internet a few weeks earlier when I booked the flight. She immediately looks at it a points to the date and says, "You were suppose to fly home yesterday!" What?? No, I wasn't I was working yesterday! Well, apparently I had my dates mixed up and never realized that I had booked my flight home for the wrong day! YIKES!! So, guess what happens when you don't show up for a flight? Answer: Your ticket is void and you have to buy another one, plus an airport fee of $30, on top of paying $15 each way to check a bag! Thankfully, there was another plane flying to Little Rock that day, that was not full and I was able to get on. I wasn't about to leave the gait this time while waiting, but then when I get up to board the plane I realize I need to go to the bathroom, oops to late and I wasn't about to use the airplane restroom. So when we got off in Little Rock I was litterally running to the bathroom! Wow, what a trip!

Seriously, I think "Pregnancy Brain" could be true!!

Baby Baker is on the way!! :)

We are so excited to announce that we are expecting our first little one on April 14th, 2009!! That makes me about 10 weeks pregnant! Not that everyone wants to know the details but I really want to use this blog as a way of remembering all the little details and memories that we have made so far and will make as we go through the next several months. So if you don't want the details, just know that I am pregnant and stop reading now! :)

Josh and I have always talk about having children and I finally decided it was time. So after taking a little pill every day for 4 1/2 years I decided to stop in June. By early August even though I knew that it may take a while to get pregnant I was a little sad that it had not happen yet (at least so I thought). Finally, one night my brain started processing a few signs that I had been having (all you Moms or Moms to be probably know what I am taking about) that made me think I may be pregnant, but I was also having several symptoms that you don't want to have if you are pregnant, but I decided to take a pregnancy test any way on August 24th, a Sunday night about 9:30. Shockingly it was positive....I didn't know what to think, could this really be true. Well, not sure how I did it but I didn't tell Josh that night. I had planned in my head how I wanted to tell him and I didn't want to ruin it (that's the planner in me)! I decided to call the doctor in the morning and ask them a few questions about the not so good signs of a possible miscarriage I had been having. My doctor's nurse told me to assume I was pregnant and come in for blood work the next day.

So Monday night after work Josh and I had to take dinner to a couple that had just had their baby the week before. It was getting harder and harder to keep my mouth such, but we finally made it home about 8:30. Josh was hard at work on his fantasy football draft, so I snuck the dogs into the other room and put t-shirts on them that said "I am going to be a big brother" and "I am going to be a big sister!" I had had these shirts for about 4 months and had not shown a sole, so I was so excited to be able to actually put them on the dogs and the statements be true! :) I had also gone on my lunch break that day and bought and took a digital pregnancy test. I wanted to make it very clear to Josh what I was trying to tell him. So the dogs go running back into the living room and Josh immediately looks up and says, "What are you doing!" Then I hand him the pregnancy test and he realizes what the shirts say and he screams with joy, "Your PREGNANT!" He was so excited! And you have to remember I had been putting him through a lot the last few months thinking we were never going to get pregnant! So I am sure a lot of pressure was lifted from him in that moment! Anyway, so then I had to tell him that I was going for blood work the next day and that I was unsure how the pregnancy was progressing or how far along I was!

So Tuesday, I get to the doctor as soon as they open. I have the blood work done and go back to work. They had planned to do blood work 48 hours apart to see what my hgc levels were doing, if they went down over a 2 day period I was to assume I was having a miscarriage. So finally Wednesday morning the nurse calls me with the results. She says quote, "Girl your levels are so high you have to be pretty far along, there is no reason to do more blood work, we just need to do an ultrasound!" Apparently, my hgc levels were at 72,000 and someone between 3 and 4 weeks would have levels around 30,000-40,000. So I immediately knew we had most likely gotten pregnant the first time (sorry Josh) and I just didn't know it!

So then I call Josh and tell him he has to take off work on Wednesday to go see his baby! His response of course was, "What?" This was all moving so fast! Wednesday we go to the doctor at 1:10 (so I had to wait all day) and we get to see our little baby at 7 weeks and 1 day and we also got to hear the heartbeat at 135! We were both so shocked, scared and excited! The ultrasound looked great, so that was it! My first OB appointment was set for September 8th, 13 days away! Those 13 days were probably the hardest days of my life. Seeing all the signs of miscarriage, but knowing I had seen a healthy baby inside of me was so hard. I have never screamed out to God before, but I did during those days! I wanted this baby so bad!!

Thankfully, September 8th came and we yet again had another great ultrasound. The baby measured 9 weeks and 1 day (2 days ahead) and the heartbeat was 176! I got to see the doctor this time and she told me that I have a fragile cervix and that the blood was caused by extra blood vessels that had attached to my cervix. She let us know that everything looked great, answered our questions and we were on our way!

We are so excited about the upcoming arrival of this baby! I want to say a special thanks to the few friends that did know about my pregnancy during this very hard time! Thank you so much for getting me through it and for all your prayers! My next appointment is October 6th (the last day of my first trimester). I think once this appointment is over I will be able to take another deep breath knowing that we have made it through the most critical time.

Baby Baker at 7 weeks and 1 day!

Baby Baker at 8 weeks and 6 days, measuring 9 weeks, 1 day!
What a difference 2 weeks makes!

Wow...is this really happening!!

I guess it is official I am typing a blog entry! I have been an avid reader of many blogs for a while, as some of you know, but for some reason never felt the need to have my own. Pretty much, if I know you or even just know of you I probably read your blog! Yes, I am admitting it I love to read about peoples lives, to me it is like real life reality tv!

With upcoming life changes on the horizon I now feel like I have something that friends and family might be interested in reading about and something I will be excited about updating.....so here it goes! Hopefully, I will be a good blogger and find time to update often! :)