Practicing Daddy Stuff

Well Kyle got to practice some Dad stuff this weekend. We got a stroller in the mail from my mom and Kyle got to put it together. I wish I would have gotten a picture of me trying to put together the first stroller we got (we returned it after stroller shopping for hours last weekend). I tried for about 30 minutes just to try and get the thing open. I called my mom almost crying and said if I can't get a stroller open then maybe that's a clue I shouldn't be having a baby. After a little longer of tugging and pulling I finally realized that there was a lock on it and I finally got it open. So Kyle is a lot better at putting baby things together (although he didn't look at directions, who needs directions right). He did a pretty good job I think, we'll see if it falls apart.

Yes, I got Padro in the background all for you Angela!

He was also holding Bailey like a baby. Our dog NEVER sits still and she sat still on his lap for about 5 minutes. For anyone that knows Bailey this is VERY uncommon for her. I quietly grabbed my camera and told Kyle shhh...don't tell Bailey she's sitting still. I can't wait to have pictures of Kyle holding his little girl like this, just less hair hopefully.

Mom's Visit

I had a blast visiting with my mom this weekend. I'm so glad she was able to come down and stay for a while. It was great just to do "normal" stuff with her. We got to watch Grey's Anatomy the night she came in. We went stroller shopping in Knoxville. She helped me make a blanket for Aubrey. I even got her to play the Wii while she was here (thank you Alarie for letting us borrow it). One of the really exciting things was she was able to go to my doctor's appointment yesterday with me. I was glad to have her there to ask all of her nursing questions that she had. She really liked our doctor and we even went to the hospital next door for a tour. After seeing the hospital and talking with the nurse, I'm getting more excited that we will have our little girl here in 4 months! The doctor said everything looked great. I had been sick last time and had lost weight but I definitely made up for it this time by putting on 10 POUNDS! He was happy with the weight gain though and I've only gained a total of 12 pounds the whole pregnancy so far, so that's good. Her heartbeat was 145, so maybe she's going to be a calm baby and not take after me or Kyle. I get to go back in 4 more weeks and drink a thing of sugar stuff for a glucose test, fun fun. I'm hoping I don't gain another 10 lbs by next appointment, don't think that's possible and don't think that's going to happen. We'll see. Well here are a few pictures from the weekend.

My mom and I after church.

Notice the hideous smile/smurk on my face. It's because every time I try to take a picture with Kyle it turns into a 10 minute "goof off fest". He is ridiculous, I can't remember all the things he was doing while trying to take this one picture, but it's definitely like taking a picture with a 5 year old. I hope Aubrey doesn't get that trait from him and she's a little model from the get go.

22 weeks. I finally got leggings that fit so now I can wear my Christmas present boots, yay!!!

23 weeks

The cute blanket my mom helped make.

My mom kicking my butt Wii tennis style. She was actually really good.

They were both worn out after the weekend. Bailey loves my mom and they definitely tired each other out playing all weekend. Thanks again mom for coming down, I had a blast. Love you more than taco bell tacos!

My Best Friend

I'm so happy that my mom came down to visit this weekend. It's been since Christmas since I've seen her last and that's definitely wayyyyyy toooo long. I miss having her so close and it's great just for her to come and visit and do normal stuff. Normal stuff like last night we laid in bed, eating popcorn, and watched Grey's Anatomy. She gets to stay until Tuesday and even gets to go to a doctor's appointment with me. I am so lucky I have a momma that will drive 8 hours by herself just to come hang out with her daughter. I hope I'm "that mom" one day.

Just a few things I love about my momma:
1. She's always there for me when I need her, whether it's to gripe to on the phone or tell her exciting news about the baby.
2. She puts up with my dad, me, and even Kyle now teasing her.
3. We still say "We love you more than....." (Chocolate, margaritas, etc.)
4. She's going to be an amazing Mimi or Grandma to Aubrey, whichever she prefers to be called.
5. She's my best friend and I appreciate absolutely everything she's done for me.

I love you more than hooter's wings Mom!

Well Hello Lent

So I've been trying to decide what to give up for Lent this year, but it's a little more difficult than usual. I thought about giving up coffee, but nope already did that due to little miss thing in my belly. I have not drank coffee since July and I think I will be enjoying my first cup at the hospital after delivery. Oh, how I miss my coffee.

Then I thought about giving up biting my nails (I know it's a terrible habit). I've had this habit since I was little and I can remember my mom putting this nasty nail polish on them so I wouldn't bite them and I still somehow managed to stomach the hot and pepper taste to go for it anyway. Thanks Aunt Sissy and Grandma for this bad habit by the way. However, this is another no can do because since I've been taking prenatals my nails grow much faster and they are prettier so I've actually stopped biting my nails.

So I thought what is something I really like and then realization kicked in and I figured I would be an insane pregnant lady if I gave up one of my cravings....tacos or hooters wings.

Lastly, I have come to chocolate. I like chocolate and luckily haven't really craved anything chocolately like crazy. So I think chocolate and I may take a break for 40 days......after my goof up with eating an oreo for breakfast (ooops). Yes, I had a a healthy breakfast of oatmeal and a banana, but I just slipped one oreo. Well goodbye oreos, m & m's, and everything else chocolate for a while. See you in 40 days.

P.S.- Coffee, I can't wait for the day when we reunite in about 127 days.

My baby's bootie

So lately the baby has liked to push what I think is her little butt out. All of a sudden I will feel pressure and can actually see where she is pushing something out. It's hard and round so either she's head butting me or she's pushing her bottom out. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and she was doing it again and then she decided to push harder to make me get up and go to the bathroom. Kyle gets a kick out of it and loves to feel her when she sticks out. We can also feel when she sticks a foot or a fist out. I can just picture her sleeping in there like this...

I have a feeling she will like to stick her butt out when she finally comes out to meet us.

Caden Visit

We had a great weekend with Kathy, Caden, and Bill. I lucked out and got a snow day today so I got to hang out with them this morning before they left. It was so good to see them and especially play with Caden. He's such a ham. I put pictures up from their visit on the right. We went up to see the cannon and the pinnacle on Saturday, then headed to McDonalds to let Caden play in the playland (Bill and I both felt like we needed to bathe in germ x afterwards). Sunday we drove to Gatlinburg to take Caden to the aquarium to see the octopus, sad thing is the octopus was nocturnal and hiding the entire time. He did get to see some big fish and stingrays, touch a crab, and go through a shark tunnel.

The best part was just playing with Caden at the house. He is hilarious and he had a blast playing with Uncle Kyle and Bailey. He played pirates with Kyle and shot a cannon (a long pillow we have), played wii, played operation, and he loved playing fetch with Bailey. His new thing is to say you have a scratch on your cheek and then look really close at your cheek and make a farting sound. He's so much fun. Here are two videos I uploaded and the first one is Caden playing with "Bailey girl" (that's what he called her). The second one is well ummm Caden had to go to the bathroom when we were up on the pinnacle and Kathy decided to just let him "pee off the mountain". Well that ended up being his favorite part of the trip and I'll let you watch the video to get the full effect. I have never seen a kid that excited about going to the bathroom. Thanks guys for coming down, we had a blast.

Shhh don't tell

I should be doing grades, I should be planning for Monday, but instead I'm blogging at school. Shhhh don't tell. I can't wait for my sister and Caden to get here. This is the first time they've been down to visit and I can't wait for an awesome weekend! I always have a blast with Kathy and Caden is always a ham and making us laugh. Kathy's boyfriend Bill is also coming down with them and he was pretty excited last night. Kathy said he had everything packed, an atlas, and even had their pit stops mapped out. The only bad part is Kyle has a big test on Tuesday so he will be busy studying all weekend. To make it even worse he's studying for OBGYN and there's some not very pleasant pictures that are on all of his powerpoints and notes. They are actually DISGUSTING! He was studying last night and like always I'd look over at him every once in a while 1. to make sure he was actually studying and not on ESPN or facebook and 2. just because he's so good looking. To my horror I would see an awful picture of a hmmm what do I want to call this in the "blog world" a picture of a bajango(thank you scrubs for the word). Well sadly it's like a train wreck, it's awful but I just kept looking back....WHYYYYY!!! So I'm hoping Kyle doesn't decide to have his computer open in front of Caden this weekend. Your prayers that Caden doesn't learn too much this weekend would be greatly appreciated.


Here's a picture of Kathy and I last Christmas when she came over with a Kleenex shoved up her nose because she had a bloody nose. So I decided to make her not feel so stupid and join her and put one up mine too.


This is my cute little Caden. I can't wait to hug him and squeeze him, yes I'm "that aunt". I'm especially excited to talk to him about Aubrey. He wants to call the baby Sedgewick (from Veggie Tales). He's good at picking at names. One of their friends is pregnant and Kathy asked him what she should name the baby and he said "Hmmmm, let me think.....I think....Dragonfart". See he is great at names, so we're thiking Aubrey, Sedgewick, or Dragonfart for now. We'll see if she looks like a Sedgewick or a Dragonfart when she comes out, but I'm hoping she looks like an Aubrey. Ok, back to actually doing my job.

Pregnant Buddies

I have been lucky enough to be going through this whole pregnancy with some really close friends we've made down here. Alarie is due 5 days apart from me and she is having a boy. Alarie's husband Michael is one of Kyle's studdy buddies and good friends down here. They are from Missouri (woo hoo) and Michael actually went to school at Westminster with Jeff (Kyle's sisters husband). They will be moving to Crossville too in June, so our babies will get to spend the first couple of years of their lives growing up together. This is Alarie's first and she is actually going to the same doctor I am. We are having an appointment together so we can drive together to the boring appointments and that way the boys don't have to go every time to Knoxville. Alarie works on the LMU college campus too and we have our e-mail up all day to vent back and forth. It's been so nice to have someone to talk to each other about pregnant stuff, medical school spouse stuff, and just LMU/Harrogate stuff. I am so lucky to have her to go through and experience this all with. Love ya Alarie!


This is a picture of another medical student wife Rebecca who is pregnant with a boy. This will be her second baby and I love talking to her about things that she's already experienced and any questions I have I know I can always ask Rebecca and it doesn't hurt that she used to work as labor and delivery nurse.

The last pregnant buddy I have down here (you would think it's in the water with all the girls that are knocked up, or sorry mom...."with child").
Side Note- the weekend we told my mom I kept telling her yeah, I'm knocked up and she'd yell at me and say "Stop it Amanda, that doesn't sound nice". I just like to get a rise out of her but I definitely think "with child" seems like it's back in the Little House on the Prairie days and that I'm going to have this baby in a barn or something.


Ok, so last preggers buddy is Becky. Becky is one of the first people we met down here and she was actually pregnant with her first when we first met her. Becky, her husband Ryan, and her adorable 1 year old Molly go to our church. Becky sings in the Grace Notes(young women's choir group) with me and it's because of Becky and so many other people at church that our faith has been as strong as it has been throughout this whole moving away from our entire family experience. Becky is definitely one to tell me what works as a mom and what doesn't. Not to leave out that Molly absolutely adores Kyle and she may be the one to thank for us wanting to have a baby in the first place. Becky is a week or 2 behind me and she told us about the doctor we're going to and so she'll be coming on some of those dr. trips with Alarie and I. I'm so lucky to have such a good friend that already knows all the ropes and is not afraid to share them (even the gross details). Love ya Becky.

Last but certainly not least, Colleen is not pregnant but she definitely falls in the category of Pregnant Buddy. She is the first person we told we were having a baby and it was her response I will never forget...lots of screaming, jumping, and hugging. Her husband is well not really her husband, he's Kyle's husband. They spend more time together at school and studying with each other than we do with them. We are so lucky to have such close friends. Colleen has gone with me to look at baby stuff and she will probably be my other "husband" when Kyle isn't there. She may be the one that's there when my water breaks and she may be the one driving me to the hospital so she definitely counts as a pregnant buddy without a doubt. I Can't imagine going through this whole medical school experience without the support of Colleen.
These are my pregnant buddies and I'm so lucky to have such great friends to go through this with. Thanks girls for everything!

Half Way There!

Well I'm 20 weeks so we're halfway there. I can't believe in 20 more weeks we will have our little girl here with us. She is moving like crazy and it's weird but I can now just watch my stomach move up and down some times. It freaked me out at first, but now I love feeling and watching her move around. I get this little smile on my face when she moves when I'm in public and I realize I have this little secret inside that no one else can feel, it's pretty amazing. Here's what I look like and as Kyle says each week he takes these pictures "You're huge!". I think that's a compliment.


We had a small get together for super bowl and I forgot to take many pictures, but here's at least one picture and our friends are laughing so I think that means they're having a good time. My friend Alarie is in this picture and her and her husband will be moving to Crossville this summer too and they are also having a baby in June (5 days apart from us). The just found out they are having a little boy. Kyle was kind of jealous of Michael at first, but he's coming around to the idea of a little girl. I think he'll loving having a girl and she'll have him wrapped around her pretty little finger within no time.


My sister Kathy, my nephew Caden, and her boyfriend Bill are coming down to visit us this weekend and we can't wait. They have never been to visit yet, so they are in for a treat. Caden is excited to come and see Bailey and Kyle. Caden always like to play with his buddy uncle Kyle. Here's a picture of Caden and Kyle at Christmas with the shirt Caden got for his cousin that says, "It's not my diaper that stinks, it's the Cubs!" We can't wait for our little girl to be a Cards fan, we'll be devastated if she roots for the Cubs.


The last thing I wanted to share is that Aubrey (our top name right now) just had a little friend arrive. My good friend Joy from Bethalto just had a little girl named Reese last week and I'm so excited to meet her. If we do wind up back in the St. Louis area it's neat to think that we'll both have girls so close in age. Congratulations again Joy and Jared!


When I saw this picture, I sent the picture to Kyle's school e-mail and it both dawned on us, we'll have one of these in 5 months.....CRAZY! We're so excited though.

She's going to be a kicker...

Ok, so I'm not going to let her play football, at least with a team of boys but Kyle finally got to feel his little girl move for the first time last night. He had been listening to the heartbeat with his stethoscope and then I told him to try and feel her because she was moving. Every time I've had him try he says I'm making it up that she's moving.
Well after a few seconds of trying to feel her, he looked up with a huge smile on his face and said, "Was that her?" and I said yes, she had kicked him, haha. The look on his face was amazing, it's so neat that he can now feel what I've been feeling. A little while later, he was feeling her kick again and then all of a sudden I felt something I hadn't felt before and we both looked at each other with big eyes and was like Wow!! She had somehow turned or did a back flip but I could feel her completely move around and he felt it too, it was crazy. As we were flipping out he kept his hand on there and said he could feel her foot pushing out for about a minute, it was the craziest, neatest, most awesome thing ever!! So that was our exciting night last night and I'm so glad that he's now able to share in this awesome feeling I have been for the last couple of weeks. I do hate to say she always moves the most at like 10:00 or 11:00 at night so I'm thinking she's going to be a night owl.

Here's a picture of me at 19 weeks. As most of you know Kyle isn't very good at trying to take serious pictures so it took several times to get him to take a good picture of me. I had to show him what I wanted him to take so I made him stand against the well, hence his "baby bump" picture. I thought you guys might like it.