Baby's Room

Here are a couple of things that will be the "theme" for Wyatt's room....upon request! We aren't done putting things together in there, but you get the idea of what it will sort of be like....Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a great holiday! We spent some time in Wenatchee with family before the holiday, then spent Christmas and Christmas Eve here in Edmonds, just the two of us. Lily looks so pleased to be getting her picture taken here...

Now that the holiday season is over, we can start really concentrating on Wyatt's room. Which at the moment consists of two pieces of furniture and empty walls.

We had another ultrasound on Wednesday and everything looks fine. They estimate that the baby weighs about 2 pounds and is in the 53rd percentile. Which is good news since a couple months ago he was in the 85th percentile and I got a little nervous about pushing a huge baby out! We start baby classes on January 7th so hopefully that will help us feel more prepared for him. But my doctor told me to take good notes because he wants to see if they are teaching us good stuff, and not "crap." His exact words. Each time Brian and I go to an appointment we laugh so hard and feel so lucky to have such a great doctor.

Alright - I am off to finish laundry! And it is STILL snowing here!

6 Months!

I suppose it's time I added another one of these. Along with the debut of my new haircut, which my principal pointed out at my last staff meeting - so embarrassing, this is the current status of the belly growth. I have taken a good friend's advice and started telling people I am farther along than I actually am. That saves the unintentional yet hurtful comments of "Whoa! That is a BIG baby!" But the discussion of "pregnancy etiquette" will have to wait until a later date. My husband is rushing me out the door into our 15 degree weather.

Weekend at Camano Island

Earlier this month my family spent the weekend up at Camano Island - Great fun was had by all! And let's not all forget the smack down that Sean and I put on everyone at Pictionary. Great minds think alike I suppose!

A New Career?

Tonight our school held a fund-raiser at McDonald's called "McTeacher's Night." The teachers work at McDonald's and part of all the money spent while we are there goes to school. Liz and I worked the counter.....She thought she might finder her new calling, but turns out the guy she worked with was VERY serious about his job and really all she got to do was get the ketchup. This lucky fellow got to work with me. He let me get the cups. All in all, we will stick to our day jobs. But with the economy the way it is, it's nice we get to add this experience to our resume.

Half Way

Here are the pictures from today and last week. The first is his foot, baby feet are amazing. This picture made me cry a minute ago. The second is Brian's favorite. I feel kind of guilty flashing the baby's goods like this, but it is his little butt cheeks and.....the "family jewels." I will spare you the proud father comments that have been thrown about the house when this picture first came home with us.

For those of you who we haven't told, this week has been pretty stressful. We got some scary test results that led us to have more testing. I had a higher level than normal of a protein in my blood. This could mean that the baby has a neural tube defect - Spina Bifida. That paired with an inconclusive ultrasound caused us a bunch of grief. This news was given to us on Friday, and today we went down to the UW to meet with some specialists. Again, the ultrasound was inconclusive and they could not rule out a birth defect. So they told us to come back in a couple of weeks. WHAT? We complained and yada yada yada, we went out to breakfast and made them re-do the ultrasound. Thankfully they got a good picture of his spine and brain, and were finally able to rule out any birth defect.

This is great news! Although, they did find that something is a little off with the placenta, but really, nothing to worry about. Whew. This experience has taught me a lot about how some people in the medical profession sometimes do not realize the affect that news like this will have on new parents (and grandparents).

One more thing - We have decided on a name (for now anyways!). After much consideration, we are going to name the baby Wyatt Evan McKinney. So unless something comes up that changes our mind, that is it. Another big relief for us! We currently RULE! Now if we could only solve the issue of the concert posters hanging in the nursery....

A husband's quest

So after our long day of stress, I of course, have made myself sick and have a huge headache. Before Brian heads off to work he heads to Safeway to get me some ginger ale - the only thing that sounds good....after I began to worry that he is dead in a ditch somewhere in Edmonds, he comes home with every kind of ginger ale that PCC sells. That way I can't be dissatisfied. Note to Leon - "The Training" is going well, very well.

Belly Picture

Alright - here is the first picture of the baby bump. Something about putting pictures of myself on here seems weird...so we'll just leave it at that.

Future Presidents?

Wow! How did Liz and Jacob get the Maverick and his Hockey-Mom sidekick to come to their party!? If you are a moose and reading this...you are safe, Sarah has left the state.

In all seriousness, that is Brian and me - not a bank robber in a mask and a man dressed as a woman.

If Kids Were President

With the election coming up, I have been talking with my class about government, the candidates, and the issues. Today we did a writing assignment where they got to tell me what they would change about America if they were president. Here are some of their responses:

"I would change schools. I wouldn't let kids have those smelly pencils. And I wouldn't make them learn things they don't want to."

"Kids should get what they want, except for the annoying ones."

"I would let Mexican people come to America."

"I would give homeless people fresh clothes."

"I would plant more trees to fix Global Warming."

"I would bring all the soldiers home from Iraq. We just need every plane in the US to fly there at once and pick everyone up."

"I would re-train all school bus drivers. Well, actually, just the ones that drive for our schools."

"I don't think we need anymore buildings being built where trees should be. I mean, I am no tree-hugger but I know that trees make oxygen, and we all need that to live."

"I would be like Barack Obama and give healthcare to kids. Because some of those places to go are really icky."

"I would lower taxes for middle class."

"Anyone who ever killed an animal would be put in jail forever."

"Gas prices are too high! I don't even drive a car but I can tell ya' that!"


All of this sort of puts things into perspective, and really made me smile today. I thought I would share, even though it has nothing to do with the pregnancy. Speaking of, we have another ultrasound on Monday!

4 months already!

So I think you all knew these pictures were coming, Lily needed to make sure the stroller is safe for the baby. She loved it. If you know our dog, OF COURSE she would love it. I am sure she was expecting Brian and I to take her to U Village in it, too.

Today Brian and I had two appointments, one with my regular doctor, the infamous Dr. Joki, and one with a Genetic Counselor. Apparently one of the many blood tests I have taken showed that I carry a mutation of the gene that could cause Cystic Fibrosis. Brian then went and got tested and he is not a carrier, which means, no CF for us. Good news, but we basically sat with this woman just to hear her tell us about all the things that could happen to people, but won't happen to us....and I had to take a half day off of work for this?

Thank you to everyone who has emailed us names for the baby! We have carefully considered them all, but have yet to come to agreement on what to call this kid. It is killing me! So keep them coming - and if you haven't thrown a name into the hat, get on it!

That is all I really have to report as of now, really, I just wanted to post the pictures of Lily in the stroller...

I brought the ultrasound pictures to school today and told my class. They were all excited and asking a lot of questions. Then they all started telling stories about when/how they were born. It was hilarious. Since we are having a hard time deciding on a name, I decided to enlist the help of my class of 10-year olds. Here are the results:
George Washington
Lil' Wayne
Tony Hawk
Snoop Dog
Barney
Slim Shady
Spike
Obama

The rest of the names reads like my class roster. They must have just looked around the room and named the boys in class, and all of their brothers.

We are currently leaning towards "Slim Shady."

Week 13!

Here are the ultrasound pictures from today! It was quite the day for the new McKinney family. 1st - We were not prepared to see the baby actually moving on the ultrasound, so when the baby was sucking his thumb and rolling around we were so excited! (Notice in the pictures the baby is laying the opposite direction in the top than the bottom). 2nd - We asked the tech if she could tell the sex of the baby. We didn't really expect for her to answer, but she looked around a little bit and told us that she was pretty sure she could tell. Da Da Da Da! IT'S A BOY! There was definitely something growing between his legs! I wish you all could have seen Brian's face. I think all of the future golf rounds, Husky games, and Mariner games flashed before his eyes and could not compose himself. Of course, I am thrilled as well. I did have a moment of grief over the fact that I will not be dressing my child up in Juicy Couture, but that only lasted a second.

The tech told us that she has only been wrong once in five years - so we feel pretty confident that we are adding another McKinney boy to the world.

Names. We had agreed on a girl name since before we were married, but boys names, that is another story. So any suggestions from friends and family are greatly appreciated. Being a teacher can really ruin some great names too. You get one terror that has a cool name and it is out of the question. We will surely keep you all posted on the progress of the naming debate.

Morning sickness. It is supposed to start letting up about now, but so far, the verdict on that is still out. It is pretty sad when I have to sit down in our closet to pick out my clothes in fear that I will fall over. And the other day I had to blurt out to my class, "Uh, recess! Free recess! Go! Go!" They looked at me in disbelief, then bolted out of the room while I proceeded to yak it up in the garbage can. That day I was pegged, "The best teacher ever."

Baby Belly. Let's be real, all I have going for me right now is a killer beer gut. Honest, that is easily what it could be mistaken for. None of my pants fit - yet the doctor told me today that I have actually been losing weight. Thank the Lord for husbands like Brian who have enough sense to tell me "it's cute." I just want the baby to hurry up and grow so I can actually look like a pregnant person, not like I just left Pullman. Until that happens, no belly pictures will be posted. I will spare you all the forced polite comments.

Alright Joy - you can finally get off my case about posting! Until next time!

Wrong Place, Right Time!

I am adding this post, even though it has nothing to do with the pregnancy, because well, it's just a funny story and actually blog-worthy.

So this Saturday my brother and Christina came over to go to a John Butler Trio concert with Brian and me. The concert was on Saturday at Merrymoor park. We get there and are all ready to go and we are sort of noticing that there are A LOT of young girls in the parking lot, which is wierd for the band we are going to see. But, we shrug it off and head for the entrance. Brian hands out our tickets (he has planned this whole thing remember) and Christina hands it to the guy with the scanner - oh, it won't work.....wonder why?! We had tickets for a concert on SUNDAY! So we all think, "Oh, they play twice?" And after a minute, they let us in anyway. They boys head off somewhere and Christina and I are setting up our blankets. We notice a couple girls wearing shirts that say, "I love Nick!" Huh? There is no one in John Butler Trio named Nick. We were perplexed UNTIL - we notice the girls screaming and running towards the fence. Again, wierd for this concert. And then it hits us, we see someone with a bag that says........BSB........BACKSTREEET BOYS!!! We were at a friggin Backstreet Boys concert!!

Brian and Sean were so hilarious. They were the only guys there that weren't 40 years old and bringing their daughters. This also meant that they had an easy time at the beer garden with no lines! We ended up staying for a couple songs - and yes, Christina and I stood up and sang some. Come on, Quit Playing Games with My Heart and I Want it That Way? How can you not take yourself back to 10th grade?

Anyway - the concert was completely cheesy but we ended up laughing and having a good time. Oh Brian, you gotta love him for stuff like this! He will never hear the end of it! He even saw a nurse he works with and she said she ws telling everyone where he was on Saturday night. Yes! The pictures tell all about how the guys dealt with the situation.....with beer!

8 weeks down, lots to go!

This week Brian and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat! It was one of those moments we will remember because we both thought - OK, it's a real baby. At first on the ultrasound screen we saw 2 "babies." Brian was excited - the crazy man wants twins - and I completely panicked. Thankfully there was one baby, and the other was what will soon be the placenta. The heartbeat was 150 beats/minute! According to the extensive scientific research that is Old Wives Tales, that means that it is a girl...I think, there were conflicting reports. We won't go picking out paint or clothes just yet.

As I gear myself up to go back to work next week (which would take another blog to explain the heartache that this job is currently causing me) I realize how much I enjoy sleep. Sleep, Sleep, Sleep. Do they still allow naps in elementary school? Well, they do in my class! Alright kids! Did you all bring your pillows today? It's NAP TIME! Wake me up when it is time for recess!

Before I go - Let me give a quick shout out to Brian McKinney. We are only eight weeks into this and he has already recognized that I need a little help. We all know that I am the crazy cleaner, and lately he has taken on that role without a peep from me. He actually called me yesterday and asked me which stuff goes in the dryer and which doesn't. I am so pleasantly surprised and thankful. I even get meals. They may be from Subway, but at least I don't have to cook. Gotta love a man who remembers how important cleanliness and food is to a pregnant wife. I feel blessed for him everyday.

Well, it finally happened!

After months of trying, we are finally able to say that we are adding a member to the McKinney family! Now I suppose I actually have something to blog about other than my many adventures of watching All My Children and hanging out with a pug all day.

Some of you may be wondering, "What? They were trying?" While others may be saying, "Finally!" Either way, we are so happy to finally be able to share our news with all of you. It is early, but we are looking at a due date sometime in April. All we do now is wait, well, and shop. Brian is very sad to see his concert posters disappear into the world of our storage unit, but somehow he still thinks one might survive if it matches the baby's room. We all know who will win this little battle. As for now, I don't make it an issue. (Watch for a future post from Brian declaring his side of this saga)

We recently told our parents and that had to be one of the most fun things we have ever done. We bought them a picture book about grandparents. It is a cute story told from another kid's perspective on how to deal with grandparents. I wrapped it all up and taped a picture of the actual positive pregnancy test inside. Tears followed the shock. It was great. I think my parents were starting to think that they were going to have to wait on Nick for grandkids!

The first of three...just to be sure.