Merry Christmas

This was the first year since our first Christmas married that we were able to spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together. Christmas Eve we just enjoyed each others company and watched Christmas movies. This morning we had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast that included bakery cinnamon rolls with melted butter on top and chocolate milk! Yum!! Our Christmas tree, presents and stockings!

After breakfast it was time to open gifts! We had a smaller Christmas this year, being that we are preparing to have a baby, but we still got pretty spoiled!

Our Christmas Loot! Merry Christmas to Everyone!

IU Christmas Party

On December 12th, we attended a Christmas party with a bunch of the students and teachers that Steven goes to school with at IU. We had a potluck dinner, decorated a gingerbread house and little gingerbread men, then had a white elephant gift exchange! I ended up with 2 water guns and superhero wall stickers, which no one dared steal because Steven told them they'd be stealing from our baby! It was pretty funny and we had a great time!

Preggo Pics

After many demands and threats from our family I'm finally posting some preggo pictures. Hopefully this will keep them satisfied for awhile. Weeks: 8-12-21-22

Rosco

Just a few pics of Rosco's MANY faces, and a few details about him at almost 19 months old. He weighs 48.5 pounds, loves to play fetch, snuggle, and curl up on soft blankets or by us. One of the cutest things he does is he always likes to give you his paw or put it up on you. He often will give you both front paws and then he'll lose his balance and topple over on his back. It's so cute and funny, we have loved getting to know his personality this year and it's hard to believe that in January we'll have had him a year. We are definitely interested to see how he is going to react to the baby when he comes.... Yesterday our friends brought their dog Chloe over for a quick play day with Rosco, and they had tons of fun wrestling with each other. Like Rosco, Chloe came from the Shelter and they aren't sure what kind of a mix she is, but they think she may be part rat terrier. She is about 1/3 of Rosco's size, but she's feisty and can definitely hold her own against him.

Happy Thanksgiving

I had to work again this year the night of Thanksgiving, but we were still able to have an early Thanksgiving dinner with some of the other students here in town. It was a potluck dinner, and it actually turned out to be really good. Following dinner we just hung out and then I watched Steven and a couple other play the Wii before I had to leave for work. It's definitely hard to be away from our families during the holidays, but we've been lucky to have friends here to celebrate with. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, and were able to spend time with family and friends. Also, I feel like I have so much to be grateful for this year, and I couldn't possibly list everything, but topping the list this year our: my HUSBAND, our BABY BOY, our FAMILIES, and the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST!

IT'S A.....

BOY!!!

There's no mistaking that!! I guess my instincts were right about this one! We seriously couldn't be more excited! We loved being able to see our baby boy inside and find out that he is doing great! Everything looked good as far as they can tell, and he is actually measuring about one week bigger, but we are still sticking with our original due date of April 3rd!

I am continually amazed with the ability that our bodies have as women to carry children, and the strong emotional bond that you can have with the baby growing inside. It's definitely unlike any other feeling. Really the only thing I know about this baby so far is that he is super active, and yet I would do anything to protect him! I could have stayed on that table all day just watching him. We are really looking forward to his arrival and the opportunity we'll have to get to know him and his personality! Oh, and in Steven's words, "we get to buy tools now, and they don't have to be pink!"

I love all the profile pictures, and a couple times it looked as though he was sucking his thumb, but I don't think he actually ever was. Anyhow, there is our precious baby boy in all his glory! P.S. We are having a hard time agreeing on any boy names, and are in need of suggestions, so let us know if you have some you like!

Proud Daddy Moment!!

Last night Steven and I went to opening night of the show he's been working on as TD, "As You Like It" and while sitting in the audience I started to feel the baby move. I instinctively put my hand over where I was feeling movement and then all of a sudden I felt a little punch/kick on my hand! It completely took me by surprise, because up until now I have only been able to feel him/her from the inside. I reached over and grabbed Steven's hand and put it on my belly for him to feel it. Of course it stopped as soon as I did that, but then later on he put his hand back and the baby was moving like CRAZY!! I swear he/she was doing somersaults in there! I have never felt the baby move that much and for as long as last night, and the best part was that Steven got to feel it all too!! We were both smiling from ear to ear and giggling to ourselves. I can only imagine what the people around us were thinking as we embraced, savored, and cherished this new experience with our little one! Needless to say Steven looked like one proud daddy and after the show announced our experience to all our friends. It was one of the best nights ever!! This morning we laid in bed a little longer together and once again the baby started up again. Steven's hand of course became glued to my stomach and the baby gave him a good swift punch/kick in the palm of his hand! Steven thought that I somehow did it and was teasing him, so I had to reassure him that he was indeed feeling our baby! Moments like this totally make all the discomforts of pregnancy worth it, when you feel that little one move inside! This baby already has us wrapped around their little finger, we are completely head over heels! One more milestone today is that I'm 20 weeks along which means we are half-way there! It feels like it is going by so fast and we only have 5 more days till we know if it's a boy or girl! We are so excited!!

Look Who's Turning SEVEN!!

We just wanted to wish our niece Daelyn a very Happy 7th Birthday!! It's hard to believe that she is already seven, she is growing up so fast! I can still remember snuggling her when she was a baby and her famous pouty face that she used to make! We miss you Daelyn and can't wait to come see you! Happy Birthday! (Tracy, thanks for the picture. I got it from your blog)

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween I dressed up as a devil, while Steven went as a Mexican cowboy. We were home to give out candy for a little while this evening before heading out to a Halloween party at our friends house. There were tons of people there and we had a lot of fun. I kind of felt like we should really enjoy ourselves because it will probably be our last Halloween party with them, seeings how next year we will have a little one and probably won't really be into the party scene. Just a picture of the yummy pumpkin cupcakes that I made for the party!

Baby Check Up

We had another doctors appointment this morning and were able to hear the baby's heartbeat! Our MD said he/she was moving in there, and it took a minute to get focused on the heartbeat, but once we did it sounded great. Speaking of baby moving I've definitely felt it this week! I had questioned if I was feeling it earlier, but was never really sure. However, this week there was no denying that it was the baby moving in there, it's the strangest feeling, but I love it! So our next appointment is on November 19th and we will be having our 20 week ultrasound! I was afraid they were going to make us wait 4 weeks to do it, but he gave us the option to do it in 2 so of course we took it! We are so excited to be able to see our little baby again and find out if we'll be having a boy or a girl! I think it's a boy, but Steven has gone back and forth between girl and boy. So we want to know what you think, are we having a boy or a girl?? See voting poll>>>>>>>

I'M DONE!!

It's official I've finally completed my BSN!! I had turned in my last assignment on the 22nd, but it just got graded last night so now I can really say that I'm done. It feels so great to have it over with! I felt like I've had this black cloud hanging over my head ever since I stopped school 3 years ago, and now it has finally been removed! I also have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for getting it done in less than a year, there were definitely times that I questioned whether or not that would be possible. I have to give a huge thanks to my husband for being so supportive and encouraging over the last year, I couldn't have done it without him! I also have to thank my family who supported and cheered me on to keep going and get it done. And lastly thanks to WGU who made this all possible at a very reasonable price!

It's a BOY!!

Nope, not for us, but for my sister Rebecca & her husband Shane! Yesterday on October 26th, 2009 our newest nephew entered the world! His name is Cannon Duane Christiansen, he weighed 8 lbs 10 oz, and was 19.5 inches long! We can't wait to go home and meet him in person! Welcome to the family Cannon!!

Happy Birthday MOM!!

Mom, we just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday and let you know that we are thinking about you! We wish we could be there to celebrate with you. We hope you have a wonderful day, because you deserve it! We are so grateful for all that you do for us and we can't wait for our little one to get to know Grandma Wilson! We love you and miss you tons! Happy Birthday Mom!

The Rest of Us

I realized that the only thing I've posted about our lives lately has focused around our baby, so I thought I'd give a little update on how the rest of us are doing. Steven is now in his 1st semester of his 2nd year of grad school and it has been keeping him very busy. Everyone warned him that this would be the hardest year, and now we are starting to believe them. It seems as though we rarely see each other and he's already had several very late nights staying up to do homework (which sometimes makes me grateful that I work nights). Aside from school he also just received a new calling at church, he is now the Secretary for the Elders Quorum Presidency. It's a big change for him since we've both been in the primary for most of the last 4 years since we've been married. He's very excited about it though and excited to be back in Priesthood. As for me I am still working nights at the hospital and loving it for the most part. With fall here and winter coming things have started to pick up, which is good for us, but bad for the kids. I'm also in my final month of school. As of right now I have 2.5 assignments left to do and then I will be done and have my BSN. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm getting very excited to have school over with, so that I can have time to focus on the baby. As for the pregnancy I have felt very blessed to have felt so good thus far. I've been tired, had some nausea, bloating, lack of appetite and just recently a weird craving for frozen ding dongs, but overall I've felt really good and I'm excited to finally be in my 2nd trimester! And then there is Rosco, who has lost his puppy look and is turning into an adult dog. He has started acting like Mr. Tough guy lately growling and barking at people, cars, or animals passing by, and we've been trying to get a handle on it. He has also been jumping our backyard fence chasing after squirrels and cats so we had to go back to putting him on a yard line, until we got an electric fence put in. He loves to go to the dog park or have doggy play-dates and gets along with just about any other dog, which is nice. Although he tries my patience some days, overall he is still a really good dog and he brings a lot of life into our home.

Heartbeat

For journal purposes I wanted to record that we had our 3rd doctors appointment today and we were able to hear the heartbeat. It sounds like such a simple thing to do, but I'm amazed that you can hear the heartbeat of this tiny little person that is only like 3 inches long! Steven and I both got a little nervous right before they listened for the fetal heart tones thinking, "what if they don't hear anything?" So it was a huge relief when we heard that strong, fast heartbeat. We are so grateful and already so in love with this tiny little person, and we just pray that he/she continues to keep growing healthy and strong. I've also been a little surprised at how attached I've already become to this little life growing inside of me, I can't even feel it yet, but yet I'm acutely aware of it's existence 24/7. What an amazing gift our Heavenly Father has given us to be able to bring children into this world, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world!!

Support Nikki Baker

Some of you may have already seen Nikki's story on my Facebook page, but if not you can follow the link below and read about her story.

'Support Nicki Baker' Facebook site I'm posting this because as you can imagine her fight for life has been very emotionally and financially challenging for her family. They have created a website where you can donate money to help cover medical bills and for the needs of her 4-week baby girl Maddie that she had to leave behind. After reading her story if you feel inclined to help out her family please visit her website at 'Support Nikki Baker'. Thanks.

Happy Anniversary

We just wanted to wish my parents a Happy Anniversary today, we love you guys!

We also want to say Happy Anniversary to my sister and her husband Shane whose anniversary was yesterday and also to our fabulous friends Josh and Jenna who are celebrating their anniversary today as well! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY everybody!!

Baby's First Pictures

We had our first ultrasound today to figure out exactly how far along I am and to get an official due date. As of today I am 9 weeks and 4 days which puts our due date on April 3rd, 2010. The baby is just under 3 cm long and had a good, strong heartbeat. We even saw the baby move it's little arm back and forth. It was one of the most amazing things we've ever seen and we both had perma-grins from ear-to-ear. I think finally seeing and hearing the baby finally made it a little more real for both of us and we can't wait till we see him/her again. So here are some of our baby's first pictures.

We're Expecting!!

It's true, our life will be getting a little more hectic, our wallets will be getting lighter, our house will become smaller, our lives will be forever changed, yet we couldn't be more excited about the new spirit that will be joining our family in April 2010!!

Tree Monkey

We have two huge trees in our backyard and some of the branches were hanging really low, so back in July Steven decided to climb up there and saw them off. As you can tell in the first pic he wasn't to thrilled about me taking pictures of him up in the tree.

Pregnant

This morning I had the thought that I should take a pregnancy test. I've taken many of these before and of course they have always been negative, but this time was different. I was expecting to see only one line as I looked at the test, but to my surprise there were TWO lines! I immediately put it back down on the edge of the tub and stared at the wall for a minute, only to turn back to the test seconds later and recheck it. There were still two very prominent lines. I couldn't stop looking at it, and then I kept saying to myself, "I'm pregnant!" I didn't quite know what to do next, I was still kind of in a daze. Steven was still sleeping so I decided to just continue going about my morning like I always did. I got my bowl of cereal and sat down at the table to eat it. I could barely eat because my heart was racing so fast and I felt like a huge ball of nerves. I then began to read from the Book of Mormon and my nerves started to get a little better, until Steven got up. When he got up he went straight to the couch and curled up with a blanket. My mind was racing trying to figure out how I was going to tell him. This was always in our plan, it just came a month or two early. He called me over to lay on the couch with him, which I did and we cuddled into each other. He started telling me about the dream he'd had the night before and afterwards he asked what I was thinking about. I told him I was trying to think of a clever way to tell him that I was pregnant. He went quiet and I could tell he was in shock. He said are you serious, you're really pregnant? I said yes and got up to go get the pregnancy test so I could show him the proof. He looked at it and said, "Yep there's two lines you're pregnant". We then sat on the couch for a little while still in shock and saying over and over again that we're pregnant as if trying to convince ourselves. It was a very surreal moment, and neither of us could really believe this moment was happening. Like I said before it came as an unexpected surprise, and although it hasn't quite sunk in yet what all this means we are very excited about it!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Last night we had the opportunity to go with the Theater department from IU to the Indians vs Bisons minor league baseball game up in Indy at Victory Field. The last time I think I watched a baseball game was like 6 years ago! We had a great time hanging out with everybody and enjoying the dollar hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, & cotton candy! It was a pretty close game the whole night, and it started to get a little intense the last 2 innings. Well we've heard that the Indians really aren't that good, so we didn't have our hopes to high for a win, but they did end up winning 4 to 3! Overall, it was a fun night out with good friends and fatty foods!

Happy Birthday Steven!

I just wanted to wish my husband a very happy 24th birthday! I think I was more excited for his birthday than he was, because I had a sneaky surprise to make him a birthday cake. Usually I just buy cheesecake, which is his favorite, but this year I decided to try out my cake-baking abilities. I think it turned out pretty good, and it tasted way better! Anyhow, here's to my hubby who is now 24!! You are an awesome husband and my best friend! I am such a lucky girl! I love you so much, even though you let the dog lay on the couch with you while I was at work! Happy Birthday Steven!! Pictures of the cake I made and Steven opening his present (the Band of Brothers DVD collection)