A PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND:

Ever since we moved into our house (over 2 years ago) our basement has somehow turned into a storage area.  Since the basement is only partly finished (and we didn’t really need the space), it became the place to put things when we didn’t know where else to put them.  On Saturday we spent the whole day organizing everything and making big piles of what we wanted to get rid of.  We plan to have a living area and toy room down there when it’s all said and done.  I also have Baby Ak’s future room cleaned out (other than the guest bed that is in there now). 

On Sunday we became new members of the Sheridan Lutheran church in Lincoln.  We have been attending the church ever since we moved to the south side of Lincoln.  Due to the fact that Jake was Presbyterian and I was Catholic it took us a while to make a decision and commit to actually joining a new church but we are happy with our choice and think it will be great for us. 

I’ve been feeling good and I have a decent amount of energy.   I’m looking forward to a long walk over my lunch break to enjoy this 60 degree weather!

16 WEEK PHOTO:

                                         BABY AK-SIZE OF AN AVOCADO

NESTING AT ALMOST 16 WEEKS?

I’ve read that nesting is the final stage of pregnancy but I wonder if it’s possible for those who are extra organized to start the nesting phase much earlier.  If so, that is what is happening with me right now.   Maybe I’m just using this baby as an excuse to do everything that we’ve been putting off since we moved into our house.  I secretly love it …but don’t tell Jake! 

I haven’t mentioned much about food cravings or aversions.  And maybe that is because I haven’t had very many.  More than anything, I have a hard time thinking of what sounds good.  We used to eat a lot of turkey burgers and that is something I can’t even look at right now.  I’m not currently having any major pregnancy symptoms.  After catching up on sleep this weekend and getting rid of a cold, I finally have some energy and I’m starting to feel like myself again. 

We babysat Pam and Ryan’s kids on Friday night.  I hope our baby will take some lessons from their kids on bedtime.  With the twins (18 months), all I had to do was change their diapers and put their pajamas on and then they just walked up to their room on their own and waited for me to put them in bed.  It doesn’t get any better than that!

Congratulations to our brother-in-law, Ryan for winning the “National Foy League” (fantasy football) this year.  We had a party in his honor on Saturday night and Jake reluctantly passed the trophy on to him. 

BRUCE LEE

It seems fitting to call our baby “Bruce Lee” until he/she is born and we announce the real name.  My parents were “blessed” with four girls and they tried several times to name one of us Bruce but it never quite worked out.  This has always been a joke in our family and Jake even calls me “Bruce” from time to time.  After considering Jake’s Asian background, “Bruce Lee” seems like the obvious choice.  So if you hear us calling the baby that, just know that it’s only temporary…unless the baby is REALLY lucky and it sticks:).

BABY AK’S FIRST SLUMBER PARTY:

This past weekend Jake had a guys night and I had a girls night.  Two of Jake’s friends from Chiropractic school (Thad and Jared) came to Lincoln to visit.  It was fun for them to reminisce about old times and make some new memories.   While all of this was going on I headed to Omaha to have a slumber party with my mom and sisters.  We did everything you are supposed to do at a slumber party.  We ordered Chinese Food, played games, made prank calls to the hubbies, and watched a movie.  I was the first one to fall asleep but luckily no one froze my bra.  It was a fun night but it was also my fourth weekend in a row of not getting the amount of sleep needed and I am still paying for it.  Just last week I was bragging about how I could still hang.  Lesson learned, I’m setting a curfew for this weekend.

SURPRISE ULTRASOUND:

We had our 2nd doctors appointment today.  Everything went well but when the doctor did the sonogram she couldn't locate the heartbeat right away so they did an ultrasound.  We didn't panic because we know other people who this has happened to.  During the ultrasound we saw the baby right away and the heart rate was 160 beats per minute so everything was great.  It was fun to see our baby a little earlier than planned.  Jake was smiling from ear to ear the entire time (I was just trying to figure out what everything was).  Jake thinks the baby might have the Foy nose...hopefully he/she will be be spared of the Foy laugh:).  We left our appointment feeling very blessed and we scheduled our next appointment for February 9th which is when we will find out the sex.

Here is Baby Ak's first of MANY pictures that will be taken in his/her life at almost 14 weeks:

In other news I'm happy to say that I found out this weekend that I can still hang:).  It was my good friend LaBebe's 30th B-day and I made my 3rd trip to KC in 8 days to celebrate her big milestone.  The night included a party bus, 3 bars, and staying up late reminiscing with great friends.  I can honestly say that I barely noticed that I was pregnant and stone sober.  It just goes to show that all that matters is the people you are with!  I've still got it:).  Oh, and Happy Birthday Beebs!

SECOND TRIMESTER:

Now I can say that I’m officially in the “fun” trimester.  I’m feeling great and my only current pregnancy symptom is that if I get less than 8 hours of sleep, I’m completely exhausted the next day.  Other than that, all is well and we have our next appointment on January 10^th.  This is probably a good time for the first “bump” picture.

                                                               13 weeks-size of a peach

SHARING THE NEWS:

It didn’t take long to figure out WHEN we wanted to share our news.  Once I realized that I would be 11.5 weeks on Christmas Day, we decided it would be the perfect time to tell our immediate family.  So we had 2 long months to keep it to ourselves.  It was kind of fun to keep the secret and to plan how we were going to surprise everyone.  Just to throw people off a little more, I made sure to have a few fake alcoholic beverages each time we were with friends/family.  I didn’t want anyone to suspect anything.  After our first sonogram we arranged for the Chiropractic Assistant at Jake’s office to take the picture below to announce our news.  Obviously we photo shopped the graffiti in after wards.

We ordered the picture above, framed it, and wrapped one up for each of our moms to be opened on Christmas Day.  We had them under the tree with the rest of the gifts and they didn’t suspect a thing.  They were both surprised and excited (the rest of the family was too) when they opened them. 

We got a pretty funny response from our nephew Hayden when we told him the news.  He had been in the next room playing with his new toys when everyone else heard the news so we brought him over to tell him and Jake recorded his reaction.  Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/fw1w32P7yIY

We told the rest of our friends and extended family around New Years and it feels so much more real now that it’s out in the open.

6-9 WEEKS:

So far most of the unfortunate pregnancy symptoms fell in the 6-9 week range.  I was nauseous all day every day.  I only threw up 3 times but I rarely felt good.  I still managed to eat pretty well but nothing sounded good during that time period.  Jake took great care of me.  Since I didn’t have a lot of energy, he made every single meal for us and always tried to make sure I had everything I needed.    Time has gone by much faster since the 9 week period.  We had our first appointment at 9.5 weeks.  My doctor found the heart beat right away which was a huge relief for both of us (and pretty cool too).  So I guess there really is a baby in there…

FINDING OUT:

We found out that we were expecting on October 31, 2011 (Halloween).  We had a pretty good idea all weekend that I might be pregnant but I officially took the test that day.  I would love to tell an extravagant story about the sweet way that I told Jake that he was going to be a dad but it didn’t quite happen like that.  You see, I REALLY like pop.  I had stopped drinking it all together mid-October just in case we ended up getting pregnant.  By October 31^st I was dying for one.  So even though I knew it was a little early to take a pregnancy test I thought I’d give it a shot to see whether or not I was in the clear to have a pop over my lunch break (OR if our lives would be changing forever).  Jake was home for lunch  and after what appeared to be a positive pregnancy test I simply walked into the room he was in (with the test in hand) and said, “Well, I was going to have a pop but I guess I shouldn’t.”  I think we were both a little in shock at that point and it took quite a while for it to actually seem real (a little over two months to be exact).  After sharing the news with Jake I called my OB and we scheduled our first sonogram for December 13^th.  We are getting more excited every day and our due date is July 12th.