Everything's Looking Good

This past Monday 8/9, James and I went for my routine prenatal checkup. Everything is going great and Brooke's little heartbeat is going strong. We are getting more and more excited as the due date approaches. During this appointment my doctor felt around my stomach (as he normally does), however, when his hand got toward the bottom of my stomach he pressed down hard and jiggled his fingers back and forth. As I lay there I thought...Ok all part of the check-up. Then the doctor told James to place his fingers in the same spot, press down hard, and move his fingers from side to side. I was not sure what my doctor was doing, but of course went along with it. He then asks James, "Can you feel that? That is your babies' head." James was able to feel Brooke's head, which by the way at this appointment was located down at the base of my stomach near my pelvic bone. Wow... what a neat experience!

Our Summer Adventures!

Your probably wondering...Where have they been?... When is there going to be a new blog post? I'm sitting here now, typing away, to fill you in on all we have been doing. For those of you that may not know I am officially a "Stay at home Mom." I know it's a little early, but I left my previous position as a preschool teacher at the end of the school year, so that James and I would be able to spend the summer together before little Brooke arrives. You could call it an extended "babymoon," our last vacations taken before the baby is born.

Once the school year ended, I dove right into summer with great excitement. There was no "waiting" period, it started immediately! The very first weekend came (June 5) and I found myself headed to the Bay Area to celebrate Krista's bridal shower. She is one of our good friends that is getting married in September to James' best friend Jason. (For those of you that may not know who this is think the best man at our wedding.) We will be headed to New York for ten days at the end of August for a final vacation to New York City and to Buffalo, NY where James is the best man in their wedding. We are very excited!


Getting ahead of myself... now back to June events...

After attending the bridal shower I headed up to Sacramento to spend the week with our close friend's Steve and Crystal and their adorable children Stephen and Gracie. James had to work most of the week so what not a better reason to spend it with the Thorns' Family. Toward the end of that week Crystal and I headed off to our annual girls camping trip (June 10-13). This was started about 8 years ago by Crystal and has grown in attendance every year since. It is a fun time for just us women to get away from the everyday grind of life and relax for a weekend.


After being home for only two days, simply because James had to work, we were off again. This time we were headed to Tahoe for six days (June 16-21). We recently got a 5th-wheel trailer at the beginning of June and wanted to try it out. With Brooke on the way we figured camping would be a lot easier with a camper, plus it allows you to camp year round. At first we were only going to stay a few days, but decided to extend it to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary while in Tahoe. We are very glad we did. A full six days allowed us the time to visit our friends Dave & Linda, go fishing, bike riding, hiking, take daily walks with Buddy and spend a lot of time just relaxing. Relaxing for us included playing games such as ladder ball, dice, and dominoes and we spent a lot of time just reading.

James reading Dad Labs,

and I'm reading The Hot Mom to Be Handbook!

After a week of fun and relaxation we loaded up the truck & trailer and headed back home to Fresno.

We would spend the next two weeks at home. This included celebrating the 4th of July with friends in Fresno where we enjoyed our own fireworks show by setting off "safe & sanes." One of the perks of living in Fresno = a city that still allows fireworks!

My Mother-In-Law, Denise, mailed me a maternity dress that she made. Here I am at 24-weeks (July 3), wearing her beautiful work. Thank you!

And we're off...again! This time we headed to Donner Lake Memorial Campground in Truckee for a week of camping with the Thorns, DuBose, Props, and Brown families (July 6-11). Steve and Crystal were very nice in letting us stay with them in their camper, since the trip was planned and sites were booked before we knew we would be getting one. We could have pitched a tent, but lets be honest air mattress and pregnant do not go well together. I am okay with the discomforts that pregnancy brings, it is all part of it; however, I am one that NEEDS my sleep. Just ask James :)

Camping at Donner with great friends led to many laughing episodes, which is always fun. We did A LOT of fishing, but all got skunked by the fish except for Stephen. You can see below that he was very proud of his fish.

I hit the 25-week mark on this trip.

After our Donner trip we headed to the Bay Area for the California Firefighter Summer Olympics (July 12-16). For the last 3 years James has traveled North and South to participate with Fresno Fire's Soccer Team. This year the Olympics were hosted by Santa Clara Fire Department. This meant we were able to stay with my Mom and sisters all week and visit between games and in the evenings. It was very nice to be back home and spend a week with my family. After four days of playing soccer and six games later, the Fresno Soccer team took home Silver.

Straight from the Bay Area James and I headed back to the Sacramento area for the first of three baby shower's that are being thrown for me. Since I have lived in three places, Milpitas, Sacramento, and Fresno, family and friends from each place are throwing me a shower. Brooke, James and I are very lucky to have such loving and wonderful family and friends. The first was held on Saturday, July 17, 2010, and thrown by Crystal Thorns, Jill Todd, Tera Props, and Landa DuBose. The shower was beautiful and amazing. I enjoyed spending time with family and friends. It was so great to see everyone!

A picture with all the hosts: Landa, Jill, Me, Crystal, & Tera

My Mom made it, Brooke's Grandma was not going to miss her first shower!

The beautiful cake was made by Tera Props.

The amazing diaper cake was put together by Crystal Thorns and Tera Props.

Thank you everyone for coming!

The following week we headed off for yet another adventure (July 22-25). This time we were Pismo Beach bound. This was going to be our first trip out on the dunes with the camper and the first time James would get to go riding on the sand dunes. Little did we know this would turn out to be quite the adventure. Getting to the dunes, finding a location to fill up the water tank, finding a camping spot (900 spots & it was a sold out weekend), airing down the tires (15psi + 4WD to tow our camper on sand), and setting up. A five hour trip (that should take about 3.5 hrs)... not too bad considering it was our first time. Once we were set-up we had a lot of fun. Our friends Tina & Wiley and April, Alex, & their 1 y.o. Lincoln all came too for a fun-filled weekend. The guys did some riding, and surfing; us girls played in the sand with Lincoln and went searching for sand dollars; and Tina & Wiley went kayaking. Even though it appeared to be overcast some of the days, we all managed to get a little sun and we all welcomed the 60 degree weather over the 100+ that was plaguing Fresno.

James getting ready to ride!

James riding! Alex & Wiley were following behind in a Rhino (5 seater buggy w/full roll cage) and able to take these pictures.

We did not come fully prepared. The guys made roasting sticks out of fire wood. They were a little short so we had to use an oven mitt to protect our hand from the flame while roasting.

Our Pismo adventures continued as we traveled home... it took us 9 hours to get back! We had Alex, April & Lincoln with us in the truck. They were troopers through the whole experience, especially Lincoln! We ended up shredding tread off one of the trailer tires. So, we were stuck on the side of the road somewhere on HWY 41 between the coast and Fresno until the tire was fixed. James and Alex did a great job, but I felt bad for them since it was 108 degrees outside. In the end it was a fun trip that left us with many memories.

July 31, 2010: 28-Weeks, 7 months, I made it to the 3rd Trimester!

With only 12 weeks to go one of the benefits of staying home, aside from all the traveling, is that James and I would have the time to set up Brooke's room and get the house prepared for her arrival. For my birthday, I asked James to paint the nursery and put together all of the furniture. Here is the almost finished project (we still have to add different size dots on the wall behind the crib):Brooke is going to love her room, thanks to her Daddy!

I have a feeling this chair is going to see a lot of hours...

James had to work on my actual birthday, but we had spent the day before together, finishing up Brooke's room and going out to dinner. We went to Red Lobster since I was craving their cheesy biscuits and then grabbed dessert at Cali's Frozen Custard.

So for my birthday some of my friends took me out to lunch at Red Robin, where they had a cake for me and of course the servers sang to me. After lunch a few of us went to the movies and saw Toy Story 3 and then went for a pedicure. It was a very nice birthday, spent with wonderful friends.

The day would not have been complete without a picture with the Red Robin himself!
Back row: Red Robin, Danyel holding Brendon, Tina, Laurie holding Ellie, & Veronica

Tristan & I seated in front

August 1, 2010 - 27 years old

We planned a quick trip back to Pismo just for some ridding and shopping (August 5-6). We met our friends Robert & Loren and their cute kiddos Lil' Robert and Taylor there. Since this was just an over-nighter we stayed in a hotel instead of towing the camper over. During the day James and Robert went ridding, while Loren, the kids, and I went shopping near the pier and at the outlets. We always have a great time when we see the Holsten Family!

Robert, Lil' Robert, & James

Before James and Robert went out onto the dunes for some harder ridding they took Lil' Robert for a quick ride.

On dirt bikes: Lil' Robert, Robert, & James

Sorry that was so long, I really need to try and update more often. Coming up James and I are taking a birthing class, touring two hospitals to see which one we would like to deliver at, two more baby showers, and our trip to New York all before my Due Date.

We are getting very excited for Brooke's arrival. As I am writing this I am currently 29-weeks along, as of yesterday (August 7). We have 11 weeks to go. I am feeling very well as I have entered into the 3rd trimester. One of the only complaints I would have would be the severe leg cramps that wake me a night. I had heard they could be bad during pregnancy, but I did not expect this bad. They are severe "charlie horses" that wake you from a dead sleep and tighten your muscles so hard your not sure they will ever relax, at least during that moment. Sometimes they are so bad it wakes James up too. Other then that my pregnancy is going great,I feel very lucky! Since she is starting to run out of room in my belly, I am feeling her more often now. She still is most active between the hours of 10pm and 2am. Hopefully, she will adjust her days and nights once she is born, or we are in for some T-R-O-U-B-L-E!