Weekend Pics

This weekend was really rad because we got to hang out with tons of our friends. One in particular flew in from California with her new-ish baby. All of us girls have been super best friends since middle school and have only grown closer over the years. It's sort of like "The sisterhood of the traveling pants" but we've shared more than pants! (I won't elaborate)

It's harder to get together now that we're all married with jobs, babies, and such. But the phone is always on, and we do whatever we can to see each other. At one point we all lived in separate cities and states, but now everyone has moved back to St. Louis except for Lexi. We're still trying to convince her husband to move the family back here...but it's hard to move a California boy away from the ocean.


Left to Right: Marcy, Lexi, Shannon, and Me.

I didn't realize my hair looked so awful. But that's okay because I went the whole day without throwing up! My shirt is pretty amazing too. My sister-in-law got it for me and I love it!!! (it says "future fan" on the belly)


Robbie with Olivia

We got plenty of practice with babies this weekend. Shannon just had a baby boy, Isaac, about a month ago; and Lexi brought her 4 month daughter, Olivia, with her from Cali.


Robbie with Isaac

Robbie wasn't too happy that I was taking so many pictures of him with the babies. It was just tooooooo cute. What's better than a 6 foot guy covered in tattoos holding a baby?

Robbie and I also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on May 26th. It wasn't much of a party because we both had to work 9+ hours. But it was fun to reminisce our memories of that day. It's funny the things that you remember crystal clear, and the other stuff is kinda fuzzy. All good though!!

Week 12 Update

Okay, so I saw this mini maternity update on another blog and I thought it was great, so I decided to use it as a weekly update tool.

Week: 12 weeks and 1 day

Belly Button, in or out: Still an innie. I don't suppose the answer to this question will change for quite a while.

Wedding Ring, on or off: Fits better than ever because of all the weight I've lost from puking.

Food cravings: NONE. NONE. NONE. I hate to think about eating food. I keep a lot of peppermints in my pocket, those seem to help with my nausea.

Food aversions: EVERYTHING makes me want to puke. I can't even watch food on tv.

Nausea: It's pretty much 24 hours a day. There is a small window from about 7 to 9pm in which I feel sort of normal.

Energy level: Feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Weight gain: At one point I was -10 lbs, but since I've gained back about 4 lbs. So overall -6 lbs.

Moods: I cried for 2 hours the other night because our dog got out. She came back of course, but I still cried for the next hour and a half.

Maternity clothes: None yet. But my jeans are most comfortable with the top button undone. And as soon as I get home I get in the jammie pants.

Size of Baby: about 2 inches and weighs about 1/2 an ounce. About the size of a lime.

Changes with Baby this week: learning lots of reflexes like finger and toe movement, squirming (even though it can't be felt), the kidneys start functioning, the umbilical cord will move into the abdominal cavity, nerve cells and brain synapses are forming rapidly.

Can I call it or what?

I know I haven't posted anything about Dancing with The Stars since, well, the beginning of the season. But as you may recall I picked Shawn Johnson to win--and I was right! I should have put money down. Oh wait, that's right, you actually need to have money to bet it. :)

I am so glad she won because she is such a pure 17 year old. Most other 17 year olds would have tried to be too risque with their outfits and dance moves. (if they weren't too risque already) I appreciate her attitude she always carries, which is to just go out and have fun.

p.s. Completely different side note:
We're sooooo excited that our friend from California is flying in to town tonight to stay for almost a week!!!! I just hope that I have enough energy this time to hang out like we always do. Although that is quickly changing as she has a 4 month old, and our other friend has a 4 week old, and I have Rubick making me sick and exhausted.

My 2 favorite things!

Just wanted to share some of my 2 most favorite things in the world, thunderstorms and photography!! Before I decided to be a science teacher I wanted to be a meteorologist, but the calculus defeated me through and through. Majoring in Atmospheric Science is basically majoring in Math too. We're talking Calc 1, 2, and 3, and Differential Equations, etc. My poor college tutor--I'm sure--was ready to stop "beating a dead horse". Sometimes you just have to know when to throw in the towel. So upon some personal inventory taking I decided that the reason why I wanted to be a meteorologist was because I LOVE to explain how our atmosphere works, and I changed my college major to science education.

Anywho, it was actually in high school when I was approached with an extra-credit weather photography project. It was then that the best of both worlds collided! I began my hobby in photography with a Coca-Cola Bear point-and-shoot 35mm camera. Don't be hatin'! That little camera took some of my most favorite pictures. :) After a few years my parents surprised me with a Canon Rebel G2 for my birthday (still film). It actually took me quite a while to make the change to digital, but it was for my own weird reasons. Because film was so expensive to buy and develop for a poor college student, I was super picky about what shots to take. I guess I looked at each frame with more caution before I actually clicked.

Last year Robbie surprised me with a new camera that we both enjoy. I now shoot with a Canon Rebel XTi DSLR with both a 18-55mm and 75-300mm lens. Nothing too crazy, but still super rad for me. I finally upgraded to the digital age. :)

Enjoy!

This picture was taken with my Coca-Cola Polar Bear camera from my front yard: (2002) It's a little fuzzy because I had to scan it in.


Taken with the Rebel G2, so again it had to be scanned in. (2005)


Rebel G2. (2005) An AMAZING view of the belly of a supercell thunderstorm. You can see the shelf cloud perfectly!


Rebel G2. (2005) A beautiful sunset as stratus clouds dissipate.


Rebel XTi. (2008) Cumulus Congestus sunset.


Rebel XTi. (2008) My first attempts to capture lightning. Not too shabby, eh?

Who knew a heartbeat would be so exciting?

And they said it might not happen!

Well, I suppose it's time to share with the blog-o-sphere our unexpected, yet thrilling news! Lookout world, we are expecting a baby December 1st!

I guess I should start with a snapshot of history. 4 months before we got married, in January 2007 Robbie was on a snowboarding trip in Colorado. That particular day Robbie had a pretty nasty fall down the mountain, so he decided to turn in early and meet his friend back at the hotel. While in the shower he found a lump in his testicle. He called me later that day to tell me, and thank God he didn't listen to me for once. I thought he may have herniated something during the fall, but his instinct was that it was something else. So he went to see the doctor as soon as they returned from Colorado.

Super long story short: it was stage 3 testicular cancer, and it had also spread to the lymph nodes near the kidneys. (the same cancer Lance Armstrong had, which is ironic because Robbie is a cyclist) It is never enough to express how blessed we were to have his Aunt, because she is a very high ranking employee for our most prestigious medical center here in St. Louis. Robbie didn't have any health insurance so she told us about all the grants and scholarships available through trust funds. Robbie couldn't have been blessed with better care at Siteman Cancer Center.

Testicular cancer is a two-sided coin. Because it spreads sooooo quickly, it is very vulnerable to chemotherapy--making it very treatable. So unlike all other cancers, the chemo for testicular cancer is very intensive because you have to attack it with great quantities in a short amount of time. 1 chemo cycle: 8 hours a day, everyday for 2 weeks in a row; with only 1 treatment the 3rd week. Robbie had 3 cycles of chemo in 9 weeks. Plus, surgery to remove the cancerous testicle. And he still wanted to marry me on our original date! We got married 15 days after his last chemo.

Writing this is hard for me because I hate to make it sound like our story is this huge miracle because thousands of couples struggle with fertility, and I don't want to diminish that. But it really is a huge miracle, and I say that with the most humble of hearts. The doctor and nurses told us that the chemo may render Robbie sterile, and on top of that he "lost one fella".

Let's fast forward to now. This week we went to the doctor and heard our baby's heartbeat! It was the most fantastic sound ever, and I guess only those who have experienced it can know what I'm talking about. The doctor used a hand held doppler and pressed it against my abdomen. At first it sounded like when you put a seashell up to your ear....and then....duh-dunk, duh-dunk, duh-dunk!

I will be 12 weeks pregnant on Tuesday, and I CANNOT wait for the sickness to be over with! I've never puked so much in my life. (sorry if TMI) I'm hoping that I'm lucky enough to be one of those ladies whose sickness ends with the first trimester, but I've heard that some women are sick the whole 9 months. I just have to remember that heartbeat and it's all worth it!

All the Praise to God! Even when I'm sick! :)

Church + Food = Wonderful

Okay, so Robbie and I have always said that the best way to do church would be to eat around 10:30 am (that way it could be breakfast or lunch) and then have church about 11:30 am. Nobody likes to get up early on Sundays (maybe that's why the Saturday evening service has been so popular?), and everyone likes to eat. It's just a suggestion.

Not to brag on our church, but we've been having a really wonderful trend the past few weeks. EVERY Sunday we've been having various-themed pot-luck lunches after service. Last week it was party food, today it was Bar-B-Que, and next week it is appetizers. Today during the sermon our pastor went outside to get a wheelbarrow (he was talking about a guy famous for tight-rope walking across Niagara Falls but when he offered to push someone in a wheelbarrow across, no one volunteered. Hence, the difference between admiring Jesus vs. following Jesus) and he opened the door to our back patio where they were bar-b-queing. The smell was divine!

I like that we have pot-luck lunches because I personally have a inner battle with eating out/going places where people work on Sundays. I don't make a big deal about it, but I try to stay home and enjoy family. I know that the Sabbath was traditionally on Saturdays, but our culture has emphasized that time on Sundays. I feel bad going somewhere with my family and being served by someone who would love to have that time off with their family too. Granted you could make the argument that they chose to make themselves available to work on Sundays, but I have worked at a couple restaurants where they make you work at least 1 Sunday a month to share the burden. If there were no customers on Sundays, then they wouldn't have to be open.

Anywho, didn't mean to step on a soapbox. I really just wanted to share my excitement for food at church!!!