Labor Day Weekend

Have a wonderful & safe Labor day weekend! I am heading back home to visit family and love on my new niece and Andon. Andon's having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the fact that mommy's lap is available for someone else, so hopefully having us there will help keep his mind off of it. Cameron won't be coming until Sunday morning as he's going to watch his precious Cubbies on Saturday. I hope you all have a relaxing weekend with family!

Another One!

Our friends Emily & Adam welcomed their first child yesterday. Well after 30 hours of labor...their doctor decided it was time to do a "C" section. Emily gave birth to Connor Martin Kamps at 5:34 p.m. - 8 pounds, 5 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long. Congratulations Kamps family on the latest addition! Hope to see you all soon!

I think that is it for a while...I can't think of any other friends that are due in the upcoming months. We may just be the next ones in line! I hope we don't have to go through 30 hours of labor, but whatever will be will be - we're just happy to be in this amazing situation!

Congratulations Kopala Family!

Congratulations to our dear friends Brooke & Steve on their newest addition - Sawyer Stanley Kopala! Sawyer arrived yesterday to join big sis Madelyn to bless their home! Congratulations to all of you...can't wait to meet him! As you can tell by the picture above from June, Brooke was uber preggers when we went to the Cubs game.

Eddie Vedder Concert

Cameron went to see Eddie Vedder in concert on Friday night. The show was full of surprises...from the cast of stars that attended the small show to the songs themselves. Chris Chelios was in attendance and brought stanley cup with him. John Cusack and several cubs players were there, also. The set list consisted of several Pearl Jam songs...several of Eddie's solo songs (most off of the Into the Wild soundtrack)...and several great covers of the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and several others. The two highlights of the night were a new song written by Eddie about the cubs called "We'll go all the way", and the Encore song "Hard Sun" with Sean Penn singing backups.

For Those Still Waiting...

We have several friends currently struggling to get pregnant and I feel maybe that is the reason we had to endure it, so we could be a help to them. To those going down that path - hang in there...miracles do happen! I've posted this video before but wanted to share it again since we finally got our ++++ results! Never give up hope!

I would also like to mention our blog background...we were playing with several different backgrounds over the last few days, but this is the one we're sticking with. Hope you like the new look! :)

Welcome Baby Zehring!

Baby Zehring finally decided to make HER appearance! Although Janel wasn't technically due until this Sunday, she's been pretty miserable and ready to meet the newest addition.

Presley Marie was born at 2:02pm today weighing in at 6 lbs, 9 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. We are so excited to meet this little bundle next weekend! For those of you that knew Presley was a name I had picked out for a girl, Janel & I both loved it and agreed it should go to the first born girl. I'm very excited the name has been used and that my adorable little niece will be tattooed with that great name for the rest of her life! Congratulations to the Zehring family on the little princess, looking forward to squeezing her next weekend! Love you all!

Whitewater Weekend

We spent last weekend up at Tim & Teresa's lakehouse with Teresa's extended family from southern IL. The weather was perfect and it was a nice, relaxing weekend to be there. Thank you Gerards for making the long drive up - it was great to see you all again. See below for pics...

First Official Bump Post

So, here is my first bump picture for you all to see...these were taken at 14 weeks, 5 days (Thursday). It's kind of strange because in the morning I don't have much of a belly but by the time I'm heading to bed I definitely look pregnant, not sure why it does that! Anyone else remember that happening? Doctor's appointment on Tuesday went well - heard the heartbeat again and it was hovering around 150 bpm. I've gained 2 lbs so far...I was very glad to hear that it's only 2 lbs because during the first trimester when I was literally shoving food in my mouth so fast that I forgot to chew, I was a bit concerned that I was going to gain all my pregnancy weight in the first 12 weeks!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother...I won't share her age, but I will say that she was recently asked to show identification when she ordered a drink because they had to ID anyone who looked under 35!! Hopefully I have her youthful genes...not sure how she can still look so young after raising Jeff, Janel & I! Love you, Mom!

Weekend Updates

We've had a busy couple weeks, but I have neglected to update the blog so here is the update. Last weekend (August 1-3) Cameron went to the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago while I had a nice girls night out. A big group of us went to a cocktail reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art and then to dinner. For our anniversary (August 3rd...6 years!!) we decided we just wanted to relax so we ordered in Chinese food and watched a movie!

This weekend we met up with Curtis & Andrea for a Cubs game and dinner on Friday. It was to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and we found out that we're due 4 days apart! On Saturday, Cameron's cousin Jamie came to visit - we're trying to get her to move to Chicago after she graduates in December. We took her to the Cubs game on Sunday. We also met up with the Kammerer family because they came in for the Cubs game as well. Meant to snap their picture & of course I forgot. Anyway, see below for a few pictures of the last couple weekends!
See the spare tire?Sunday, 8/10 at Wrigley:

Congratulations Scott, Sara & Hudson!

Our friends Scott & Sara welcomed their 2nd son on Friday, August 1st. Pierce Matthew arrived weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 inches long. He joins big brother Hudson who turns 2 in October! Congratulations to all of you on the exciting new addition to the family!

A Baby's Conversation with God

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.' God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don' t know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.'

'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'

'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.' God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'

God said, 'You will simply call her, "Mom"

We Made It!

Yeah!! We are officially in our 2nd trimester, we made it past our first! I am 13 weeks today and I'm so excited to be past that very nerve wracking first tri. I can honestly say that I had the absolute easiest first trimester of anyone I know - absolutely no sickness / nauseousness, just a bit tired / not completely exhausted...God must have thought we've been through enough without having a crappy first trimester. I'm very thankful that it was so incredibly easy, although I'm a little sad at how fast the pregnancy seems to be flying by!

Now, onto the fun stuff...cravings so far - definitely Mexican food as I shared before and noodles with butter and parmesan cheese. I haven't eaten noodles with butter and parm since I was a kid but it sure hits the spot now! I definitely look like I've gained about 10-15 lbs - I have that spare tire action happening to my mid section but I'm not really showing yet. Most of my bottoms don't fit very comfortably anymore. I have managed to avoid the rubber band trick that most of my friends have told me about...that truly sounds worse than packing my gut into my "old" pants! Also the not so fun stuff...my face doesn't seem to want to stay clear. It's not mega zitty, not like a pizza face but definitely not as clear as it was before pregnancy. And my back hurts...not sure why it hurts already because like I said earlier, I haven't really gained weight and it's not having to support a big tum tum yet.

My gut feeling has been boy up until about 2 weeks ago and then I wasn't so sure! It was confirmed at this week's appointment - we are having a BOY, a bouncing baby BOY! I wasn't sure we would be able to find out so early, but with a 3D ultrasound it was pretty obvious! See below for u/s pic - if you click on it, I think it enlarges it. As soon as I have an actual belly, I will post pictures for you all to witness the transformation.

So, now that you know all about the good & bad of my pregnancy I am sure you can sleep much better tonight! I am sure you were all dying to find out that my face is breaking out...sorry if that was too much information! :) Have a wonderful weekend!