Pizza Night.

Two weekends ago we went down and had pizza night with the Oborns. Shane made some homemade bread for our pizza crust and we all contributed toppings. We had some white sauce pizza and some red sauce. It turned out really good! It was also fun to see their boys and daughter, Raina. She is getting so big!
And since we were in an Italian-mood, we ended up watching our Italy Trip video as well. It was so fun to look back on our trip from two years ago! I can't believe it's been two years...but when I think about it, A LOT has happened during that time!

"Babymoon" in Florida!

Two weekends ago we went to FL with Erik's family. We're calling it our "babymoon" because money and vacation time are probably too tight for us to take another trip before this baby arrives. We loved Florida and are so thankful to Erik's parents for taking all of us! We spent time at Sea World, Disney and Discovery Cove. We even got to swim with a dolphin! The weather was actually pretty good for us (in the low 70's). We happened to hit the best weekend in FL in weeks! I'm glad it wasn't 50 degrees or even less when we were swimming with the dolphin!

We spent 15 hours one day and hit all four Disney parks!
(Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Magic Kingdom!)

We met up with Uncle Pete and Aunt MaryLou -they took us to Disney!
This is "A Bug's Life"

This one is for Kirk and Sarah! This was Epcot's version of Morocco!

Sea World!
(yes, we were actually there two days before the whale trainer was killed -crazy!)

Petting stingrays. Probably the highlight of the trip...Discovery Cove! And swimming with a dolphin!Yep. Wetsuits.For some reason I look about 8 months along in this pic!Feeding birds:

We had a great time! And loved it! We recommend it...except, maybe take more time to hit ALL of Disney than we did!

For those of you without Facebook...

I have been posting "belly photos" on Facebook, but here are the last few in case you're not on Facebook:

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20 -Half way!

It's crazy to think we're past the half way point already....but something tells me the 2nd half is, well, 'more involved' than the first. I can feel him moving around and kicking a lot more now though. In fact, he's kicking right now. It is such an amazing feeling. I love it! I can't wait until we can feel him kicking and moving from the outside. Erik really wants to feel him too! He asks me almost everyday if I can "feel him outside yet?" I did once, but Erik was in the other room. We're so excited to meet our little guy. Summer seems like forever from now though, especially with a MN winter! I think a lot of us start feeling this way mid February ...but, this too shall pass. Enjoy your Valentine's weekend!

Last of the Specialized Tests...

This morning we went in for the Fetal Echo Cardiogram. He's still a little wiggle worm and sometimes made it difficult for the tech to get to all the parts of his heart when she wanted, but she was eventually able to get everything she needed. The great news is that everything looks normal! They were very nice and explained everything to us. He has a normal healthy looking heart...all the chambers and ventricles. It still absolutely amazes me that they can look so closely at the inner-workings of his little heart! His heart is only about 1.5 centimeters in size right now. And it is so crazy to see it beating! I love it!

So, it looks like now we just have to wait to meet the little man! It might be a little weird after we've been through all of these specialized tests for so long. Now all the special treatment is over (which is bitter-sweet) and we pretty much just wait. But we can wait with some confidence knowing that so far all signs point to a healthy normal baby boy!! We are so happy for that! I wouldn't wish for anyone to go through this, but we have been so relieved now after each additional test. Thanks again for all of your prayers!

Happy 29th Birthday Erik!

Enjoy your Birthday, Honey!

So Relieved!

We are so relieved after our Level 2 Ultrasound. Yesterday we got to see all the ins and outs of our little boy...literally. Because of the threat of defects, we have two additional tests, the first of which was a Level 2 Ultrasound. For over an hour they looked at every organ, measured everything, and confirmed again that he is a boy. It was amazing. We could see each chamber of his beating heart and, through motion sensors, we could see his blood flowing in and out.

He didn't cooperate for many of the cute profile pics or a good 3D pic of his face, but I guess the important part is that all of his little organs and parts are measuring right on and seem to be functioning well. The doctor said that he was not concerned about defects much at all anymore, but they will still do an echo cardiogram of his heart in a few weeks (the 2nd additional test). We are so thankful and so happy to hear that there are no longer concerns of defects. Of course, I still worry about everything, but I don't have that overlying huge fear anymore.

He's waving:

This is my favorite...I loved seeing his cute little feet!

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We are so relieved and even more excited about our baby boy!

First sounds - Hello!

You will need to turn on your speakers for this one...

An Apology and an Announcement!

Ok, so it has been well over a month since we have updated our blog. There has been a lot of excitement (both good and bad) between then and now. The holidays were a great time with family and friends. I (Mindy) enjoyed two weeks off of work and slept in a lot! This has been a tough week getting back into the real world, but it's Friday now and I already plan on sleeping in tomorrow!

So, about two years ago when I started this blog I thought it would be a nice place to post information about our future children. To be very honest, that is the reason I started it in the first place....Well, over two years later I am happy to announce that we are expecting a baby boy in June! Our due date is June 24th.
The ironic part is, now that we actually have our future child(ren) in the works, we have had such a whirlwind pregnancy so far, that we have not had any time to even figure out what to post on the blog. So, we left it blank. Sorry!

As many of you know, we have had a rough start with our little guy. We were told early on that he has a 95% chance of some major defects. This has been very emotionally trying for Erik and I as we so dearly hope for a healthy baby. We are thanking God that so far the tests that have been done have come back clear of defects. We are hoping and praying that continues to be the case, as are many of you. We appreciate these prayers so much! Thank you! I already feel like we have seen God work miracles in our little boy. We still have some tests coming up in the next few months and hopefully a life time of smaller worries ahead of us (I'm already learning that the hopes and worries of a mother are strong and don't go away)...So, we definitely appreciate your continued prayers for our family!

Bob and Sara's daughter, Claire, was dedicated to the Lord a couple weeks ago. Mindy and I were able to attend the dedication, but also a fantastic brunch that Bob and Sara put on. Yes Bob, the BBQ pork was delicious!

KJ Comes to Town!

Antie KJ came to town a few weeks ago. It was great seeing her! We got to hang out and catch up on two separate nights.