Long Over Due...

...This post, not the baby!  I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything new!  As you know, we've been super busy working on the basement.  The goal was to finish it by this past Saturday, when we hosted a party for Craig and Marilyn's 30th wedding anniversary.  I'm proud to say that because of Ryan's hard work, we finished just in the nick of time!  Yes, Ryan was cutting trim pieces for the cabinets the morning of the party, but we finished in time to host a small party before our party to watch OSU clobber Michigan! 

After the game we cleaned up a little and prepped for the next party!  Everything turned out very nicely, even though several couples were unable to make it due to the holiday weekend.  Below are some pictures.

Visiting in the living room

Judy Kimchi Woods and Rachel

Marilyn, Karen Collins, and Mom

Ryan, Craig, and Chip Woods

Tim Collins and Dad

Yummy Food by Z Cucina!

Beautiful Cake and Rachel's crafty picture collage

My Handsome Hubby

 Cheers to you!

Cutting the cake together.  Don't they look great!  30 happy years :)

Gathered

Bar/Kitchenette in the new basement!

 Not a very good pic, but here we are lounging in the basement after the party. We'll get some pictures on the wall soon!

Ted and Lauren (6 more months until wedded bliss!)

Sisters-in-law :)


 

That's all I have the energy for tonight.  The next post will be about my lovely baby shower that was thrown the next day!  We certainly had a Thanksgiving weekend packed with fun!

The bump's a-growin'!

Here we are at 22 weeks.  Not sure why my belly is a weird shape this day.  Looks kinda goofy around my belly button doesn't it?  Maybe as I get bigger it will even out?

Under Construction

Well Baby Crossley is under construction...

(t-shirt courtesy of Grandma-to-be Marilyn)

And so is our basement! Ryan is working very hard to finish the basement so we will have a party room (osu games anyone?), a play room (when peanut is a little older), and and a place for our desks so the office can become the nursery (yay!)!!! Check out the before pictures below, followed by some pics of the progress Ryan and his Dad made today. A huge thank you to Grandpa-to-be Craig for all your help with this project!











Now: Basement water-proofed, new egress window installed, walls framed up and insulated, and drywall almost completely hung. We're gettin there!


Sorry about the drywall dust clouding the pictures



Doorway to Ryan's workroom


Doorway to full bathroom and electrical closet


Kitchenette area


***Also today I owe a huge thank-you to my very giving Mother-in-Law, Marilyn, who came to help me clean out and organize the office to get it ready to be moved to the basement! I couldn't have made all the progress without you!

It's a......

GIRL!!!!!!! And a healthy one at that!

Today we went for what is called a level 2 ultrasound. For those of you who don't know, a few weeks ago I decided to have genetic testing done to check my risks for certain genetic disorders. Well everything came back normal, except for my risk of having a baby with down syndrome. My risks were much higher than normal for someone my age. So we were sent to the hospital to have a more detailed ultrasound than what could be done at the doctor's office. They checked for symptoms of down syndrome such as length of limbs and neck, and shape of heart. We are so thrilled and relieved to report that baby is healthy and growing very normally. WHEW!

The ultrasound was amazing! She was so active, I couldn't believe how much she was moving around...and I still can't feel her yet! She was kicking up a storm and at one point it even looked like she was moving her arms and legs as if she were running.

When the doctor saw that baby was a girl, he told Ryan to put some shells in his shotgun (ya know, to fend off the boys)! Below are some pictures for you.





It's harder to see on here but it looks like she's signing "I love you"!


Showing leg...


Footie!


We got lucky and got to have some 4-D pictures. If we took these pictures around 36 to 38 weeks we could really see her facial features!


Movin' and groovin'


Hand on heart...so dramatic ;)




That's it for now. Hope you are all well out there in internet land! :)

Belly Pic

Took this picture last Monday morning, September 6th, which was the first day of week 17. I definitely look bigger in the evening so I'm going to try to take pictures in the morning to get a truer idea of how I'm really growing.

Looking foward to our ultrasound in one week! Hopefully we find that baby is healthy!!!

Bumpin'

Well, you can guess by the lack of posts that things have been pretty calm on the pregnancy front. I am now 15 weeks along, and feeling great for the most part. I made it through the first trimester with hardly any nausea, whew! My hunger has been more under control lately and I'm eating almost as normally as I was before, with a before bedtime snack usually being snuck in there :)

Last Thursday I had an appointment with my new doctor. I switched practices because I wasn't thrilled with the way the first practice operated. With that practice, you only saw a doctor for an ultrasound, and with all other visits you would only see any of the nurse midwives who were available. With this being my first pregnancy, and me being the somewhat neurotic person that I am, I want to be able to see the same doctor every time, and establish a relationship with that doctor. So anyway, I love my new doctor! The checkup went well. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat again...fast and strong! Everything is progressing as it should, so I'm happy.

Speaking of progressing, I've beeing weighing myself and checking out my tummy every morning (I told you, somewhat neurotic). So far, I've gained about four pounds, but that's not the big news. The big news is that every morning my tummy looks flat and normal. It slowly gets bigger throughout the day, and I definitely look pregnant by the time dinner's over. But TODAY, I had a little bump this morning! No more flat tummy! Baby's definitely growing :)

Ok, that's all I've got for now. I'm counting down the days until we hit 20 weeks so we can find out if it's a boy or a girl!!! Of course I'll post it here when we find out. Hope you're all doing well out there! Oh yea, GO BUCKS...one week from today!!! :)

Wonderful weekend of Friends!

It was a great weekend for me, spent with some of my very best friends. Emilie, Sapna and I met in college, they were both bridesmaids in my wedding, and we have stayed close friends ever since. Emilie lives in Cincinnati with her Husband Kevin and new 3 month old adorable baby Abby. Sapna lives in Connecticut and is quite the traveler, squeezing in time to travel to see her boyfriend Charlie. Sapna was able to fly into Cincinnati this weekend to meet baby Abby and see Emilie, and I drove down to spend time with all three of them!



We took Abby to the zoo Saturday afternoon, which was delightful. Then we went to dinner at a delicious tappas restaurant where the girls surprised me by bringing a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne to the restaurant! Aren't they so thoughtful!? I was touched that they would think to do that. All this water drinking while everyone else is fun drinking is getting old! :) After dinner we went to a bar so Emilie could enjoy her first "night out" after having Abby. We had a blast together and as you can imagine we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning having girl chat like old times. Oh I also got many baby lessons from wonderful mom Emilie :) It was so fun being around baby Abby. Not only is she so cute and expressive and such a good baby, she made me even more excited for our little "Peanut" to arrive!



Sunday morning we went to Findley Market, which is kind of like a famers market but on a bigger scale and not just produce. I got lots of fruit (for those cravings!) and also got to breifly see one of my other best college pals Becky! All in all it was a wonderful weekend and warmed my heart to be with such good friends.



While I was gone, Ryan made some good progress on the basement. We are working to finish it so one of the rooms upstairs can be the nursery! I'm lucky he's such a handy guy and is willing to work so hard for us :)


Ok, on to the baby update. We are now in our 12th week. The baby is about the size of a lime now and is almost 2 inches long! I don't quite have a baby bump yet, but am definitely losing my waistline! I'm still counting my lucky stars that I haven't gotten sick. I guess I'm probably in the clear now. My constant hunger has died down a little bit, thank goodness, and I'm getting a little more energy back. I'm thinking that maybe I should start shopping for maternity clothes? Not sure if it's too early or when I'll start needing them!

Sorry the baby update was kind of brief, but I'm not sure what else there is to update you on! If you have questions, feel free to ask. Hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

P.S. Fellow bloggers...how do I get my pictures to show up at the bottom of my post instead of at the top? Can't figure that one out!

Welcome!

Welcome friends and family! Ryan and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our first bundle of joy, this Valentine's Day, February 14th! Since we don't know the sex yet, we are affectionately calling it "peanut".

I am currently 11 weeks along and both baby and I are doing quite well. We had an ultrasound at 9 weeks and got to hear the heart beat! It was such an amazing experience!

I am counting my blessings every day, as I have been feeling remarkably well. I have not gotten sick at all, just a little queasy feeling if I don't eat often enough. Ryan keeps laughing at me because I am definitely eating more than I used to! A few days ago I went to the kitchen for a snack at 3am because I was so hungry. He's telling everyone that I cook dinner in the middle of the night...such a jokester :)

Everyone keeps asking if we will find out the sex of the baby or be surprised. The answer is that I am too much of a planner to be surprised like that! How would I know how to decorate the nursery or what kind of clothes to buy!? Yes, we will definitely find out. From what I have read, an ultrasound at 20 weeks will give us this answer, and will be sure to keep you posted.

That's all for now. Hope you are all well out there! :)