Six Years Already

It's hard to believe we have been married for six years already. I remember that day very well - how excited and nervous I was (believe or not, I don't like THAT much attention), how beautiful the weather was, and how happy we were to start our married life together. This year we decided to re-visit the Emily Morgan hotel since we spent our wedding night there. We had a great time and I can honestly say it was the most special anniversary we've ever had. We are incredibly grateful for our blessings.

 Pretty flowers!

 We made like tourists and did the Alamo - it was packed!

 A well inside the grounds - I'm so glad we went; I've lived in Texas for 18 years and never been to the Alamo before. We learned a ton and really enjoyed ourselves.

 Out to dinner

 Had to show off the belly :)

A horse-drawn carriage ride - we did this on our wedding night too! Good times...

USAA 5K

Nearly my whole family participated in the Veteran's Day 5K this year (I didn't for obvious reasons). We had a good time and I was very happy that my momma was there to be on the support crew with me.

 Dad and Kenan pre-race

 Dad, me, Olivia and Kenan

 The whole crew

 This was as useful as I got the entire day :)

 Me and Mom doing race support

 The runners post-race

Daddy accepted first place for his age group - he blew away the rest of his competition by four minutes. If you're a runner you know that's a LOT for a three mile race. Go Daddy go!

Happy Halloween

It was a pretty warm Halloween here this year, so no big bulky costumes here! (Not that I need one this year). We went to the Machicek party and had a blast.

 My version of a costume (homemade, I got a little crafty)

 I wanted Kenan to dress up like a construction worker but he was not up for that :)

 The ladies and their adorable kiddoes

This is a random funny picture from the week that I realized I couldn't see my feet without bending over. This lady is all belly!

Sometimes Chaos = Progress

We've been moving forward with the nursery and Kenan got a whole lot done this weekend. It's now painted and the shelves he built me for the closet are painted and drying out in the shop. Also, he finished building the mirror frame and now just needs to cut the glass and hang it. Meanwhile my mom and I made lots of other decorating progress - picked out fabric for the bassinet sheets (which I adore) and even found the right letters and ribbon for putting our daughter's name on the wall! Here are some pictures of this weekend's progress:

 Priming the shelves

 He painted where the wall meets the ceiling by hand. My husband is very talented :)

We really, really love the new color. It goes great with the jungle theme we picked. And it's funny how at first I said no pink and now there is lots of pink around - and I love it!

Also just for fun, here is a belly picture at 22 weeks (this past Tuesday):

But Kenan looks exactly the same :)

It's a Girl!!

We went to the doctor this week and got to take a look at our beautiful baby, who is a girl :) I'm gaining confidence in my maternal instincts because I said all along it was a girl - I believe the first time I felt that way was mid-July, so only approximately 8 weeks along. Our ultrasound tech is an angel, she took 20 pictures for us! Baby was very cooperative too, moving around a bunch and striking cute poses like she knew we were watching. (Of course it's a girl - camera ready just like me LOL) I think some of the activity may have been due to the 16 ounces of orange juice I drank prior to the appointment ;) She has very long legs, but we already knew that. Here are some of the pictures from that day:

Right before we walked into our ultrasound we were a SMIDGE excited. Good thing it was in the morning because we never would have lasted all day!

Like I said, striking poses - her left hand was almost always closest to the mouth (studies show this means it's likely she will be left-handed like Mommy)

She is stretching out while she still has room to do so. This one is a great picture of her profile - you can clearly see her nose, lips, and a good strong chin. 

Her feet look just like her Daddy's (that's a good thing, he has very pretty feet). On the other hand, he wears a men's 13. Yikes!

Here she was showing off what long legs she has - in fact, she is measuring a week large entirely due to her legs!

The very first thing she did was give us a yawn - it was the cutest thing I have ever seen

She rolled over to the other side during the appointment and was sleeping at this point - we had to poke her a little to get our last measurements.

We are very lucky - she is looking extremely healthy; we did things like look at all four chambers of her heart, check the blood flow from the umbilical cord to her and back from her to me, look at her brain, count her vertebrae, and count all of her fingers and toes. We also checked her pretty little mouth for cleft palate (none). Last picture:

On the way home that evening I bought her a couple of outfits and her first pair of shoes. They spoke to me because they were red and sparkly and I want her to always feel like there's no place like home. They're also my way of expressing to her that she is magical, and she will bring the magic with her wherever she goes :)

Miscellaneous Stuff

Baby, baby, baby! We have babies (one in particular) on the brain! Kenan and I are settling into a habit of eating out a BUNCH - in order to satisfy my tummy and take advantage of the ability to leave the house while we can :)

We have done lots more prep on the nursery; Kenan's next step is to build shelves for the closet and then paint the walls, because we find out in TWO DAYS whether we're having a boy or a girl. Here are a couple of random pictures from the last month or so:

 Late August - a bump, but not yet impressive

19 weeks - all belly :)

I always end up taking belly pictures after I eat supper, which is when the belly is the biggest. We're taking bets on whether or not my belly button will last - Kenan is sure it's going to pop out pretty soon. The baby is very active lately, I can tell the difference between kicks, rolls, and quick flips. Only two more days and we get to stop saying "the baby".

Ask, and it Shall Be Given

We are giddy with delight while we anticipate our new arrival in February 2012, so we are planning and planning for Baby Bubela. We've gotten a head start on the nursery:

 Constructing the crib

 Changing table construction (with Madison's supervision)

 Crib complete!

 I have a LOT more nesting to do, but here's what we have so far. I hung labels on the wall to remind myself where I want to place everything (pregnancy brain makes me forget everything)

Here I am at exactly fifteen weeks - I think I have finally passed the "she-could-just-be-fat" phase and moved into what is clearly a baby belly. Seems like I'm getting bigger every day - we have a nice healthy baby growing in there :)