We’re having a baby GIRL!

This morning we had our first ultrasound at 20 weeks. And WOW, it was a memorable experience seeing our baby for the first time! We found out we’re having a baby GIRL, which was delightful news…. a dream come true for both of us. It was amazing to see her move around, she was very active! The Lucky Charms and Orange Juice may have been a little too much sugar for her! The ultrasonographer reported that she looks healthy and perfect! She caught some great pictures, so here they are for your viewing pleasure…

Prego, Holly's Bachelorette & Jessie Update

So as you all know... I'm PREGO! I haven't really blogged too much about it, so here goes. I am 14 weeks along and I have felt a wide range of emotions and symptoms in the past 10 weeks (I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks). This may be TMI... but my boobs are out of control! They are getting so big, I have grown 3 cup sizes (and they were already too big to begin with)! I was VERY VERY TIRED in my first trimester, I seriously could go to sleep at 7:00 every night and I found myself falling asleep on the couch and getting fatigued very easily, I was just plain exhausted. Even though it looked like I wasn't doing much laying on the couch, I was very busy! ...I was making a placenta! But in the past few weeks I've started to feel more energy, still more tired than usual, but I can actually stay awake past 9:00 now! :) Other symptoms... nausea/quesy feeling (but no throwing up), sore breasts (really sore, especially in frist trimester), gotta go pee now! (and anywhere between 4-7 times/night), bloating, flatulance (gross, sorry), I'm a hot-box (seriously radiating heat, I'm a furnace), and when I'm hungry-I'm HUNGRY!!, frequent headaches, heightened sense of smell, very thirsty, taste aversions to meat-chicken-coffee (what?! I love coffee?!), craving fruit and anything fruity and comfort food (mac&cheese, potatoes, grilled cheese, pizza, cereal), painful spider veins on my thigh, and the list goes on and on! So now that I've mentioned maybe the "not so good stuff"... here comes the good stuff... there is a BABY growing inside my tummy! AmAzInG! I am still kind of in shock about it. I read all the weekly updates sent to my email inbox and I am simutaneously reading 3 pregnancy books at the same time, learning about how my baby is developing week by week... but it still doesn't feel totally REAL yet. I think I'm waiting for that "baby bump" and the feeling of the baby moving inside me! Which all should happen very very soon, probably in the next month! :) Yay! ...I can't wait!!!

Last weekend I went to Chicago for my good friend Holly Purcell's bachelorette party weekend. Holly was my first friend in Des Moines, she lived across the hall from me in the Turtle Creek apartments, we've been friends since February 2007. She lives in San Francisco now, and I miss her dearly. I am one of her matrons of honor and she is getting married to a wonderful man, David Birkey, on August 7th! Anywho... we had a fun-filled packed weekend in Chicago! ...pedicures, shopping on Michigan Avenue, piano bar, girl time, it was a blast! I look forward to Holly's wedding day and standing by her side as she says "I DO"!

I last blogged about Jessie (see last post) and here is an update: Jessie moved out of the PICU to the pediatrics floor at the University of Iowa Hospital, then left the hospital and moved to in-patient rehab at Genesis in the quad cities and tonight she gets to go HOME!!! ...and continue out-patient rehab Monday-Friday. This will continue on for 5 months or so, she still has a lot of progress to make but she has come a LONG way since July 4th, praise be to GOD!!! Thank you for your prayers! They worked!!!

Prayers for Jessie!

Sunday there was a tragedy at the Bellevue, Iowa 4th of July parade...

I think we've all been to parades, sat on curbs, waited for candy to be thrown, watched the floats and animals going by... this could have happened anytime - anywhere. It happened in Bellevue on Sunday...

"Two runaway horses pulling a wagon trampled spectators at a small-town Fourth of July parade, killing a 60-year-old woman and injuring at least 23 other people, four critically. The horses bolted after one rubbed its head against the other, removing that horse's bridle, police said. They galloped for several blocks with the wagon in tow, trampling parade-goers. Among those injured were children who had stooped in the street to pick up candy that had been tossed to them."

One of those children is my long time friend Nicole (Smith) Sullivan's niece, Jessie Mack. Jessie was transported to Mercy Hospital in Dubuque and then airlifted to Iowa City with critical injuries. Jessie is still in the PICU at the University of Iowa recovering from her injuries including skull fractures and brain injury. Her family is asking that all pray for Jessie's recovery and that God hold her hand tightly and walk her through this as well as them. Every prayer counts towards Jessie's recovery and is graciously appreciated by the family, so please think of Jessie and pray for her.

I am amazed and inspired every day as I read the carepage entries from her mommy and daddy and facebook status updates from her aunt Nicole. You can follow Jessie's story at http://www.carepages.com/carepages/JessieMack....Just create a username and password and then search for JessieMack (all one word).

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma Vaske!

I love my Grandma Vaske! She is the most kind, loving, sweet, thoughtful and faith-filled woman I know. I could just go on and on about her. She is turning 90 today! We are throwing her a birthday party on Saturday at the Farley park. Happy 90th Birthday Grandma Vaske!

WE'RE EXPECTING!!!

Jason & I have some news to share... WE'RE EXPECTING!!! Today I am 10 weeks + 2 days and the due date is somewhere around January 22, 2011. We are thrilled! We heard the heartbeat today and it was AmAzInG! ...makes it so much more "real". We are blessed :)

So... starting around 6 weeks and lasting through 10 weeks I felt very quesy... on the bright side I wasn't throwing up! I also have been feeling VERY tired and fatigued. I could seriously go to sleep at 8:00 every night, and sometimes I do. All I want to do is relax on the couch and watch TV... but there isn't too much on TV in the summer... I've been hooked on The Bachelorette, Hot In Cleveland, Design Star, Keeping Up With The Kardashians and I'm looking forward to the new season of Big Brother which starts next week. While on the couch we are also reading all the baby books... "What To Expect When You're Expecting", "The Girlfriend's Guide To Pregnancy", "Belly Laughs", "The Dad-To-Be Handbook" and a couple others including some baby names books. Talking about baby names... we have some favorites narrowed down, but who knows... these might change. I think we're leaning towards finding out the sex of the baby (around 20 weeks) but since so many people like the surprise and I feel like a fun-hater for finding out... we might find out and keep it a surprise from everyone else. That way, people have their surprise and we get to find out. Not sure if we are capable of keeping it a secret though! It was hard enough keeping the pregnancy a secret until we were 8 weeks along!

I haven't started "showing" yet but I feel like my body is definitely changing shape. My pants are starting to feel tight and uncomfortable. Since I'm so short I'll probably show sooner than others. I think when I start showing it will feel even more real! Also, around 16 weeks is when you can start to feel the baby move and I can't wait for that feeling!!!

We are really crossing our fingers that our townhouse SELLS so we can buy a house and be all moved in before baby comes. But we are also prepared if that doesn't happen. We've rented a climate-controlled storage unit and last weekend we moved in a bunch of random stuff to de-clutter and if we do bring the baby home to the townhouse... the 2nd bedroom will be moved to the storage unit. We'll have a room for baby... we just won't have a room for guests. On the bright side if this happens... we can save more money. Which might come in handy considering we started pricing daycare options! ...oh around $1000/month for 1 baby... Yikes!

Well... I'll of course keep you updated and maybe? post a few baby bump pictures... ;)

Whoa... it's been a LONG time!

To all my blog followers... I apologize for my lack of posting. I really don't have a good excuse other than I just didn't feel the urge to write anything.

We've been busy busy... seems like we have been traveling somewhere every weekend! We've been to Sioux City, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis, Madison, Dubuque, Goldfield and back to Dubuque again this weekend! Summer weekends always seem to fill up fast! This weekend is my cousin Ryan Scherner's wedding. Ryan is getting married to a wonderful woman named Trish. I'm really looking forward to their wedding!!! Here's a picture of the lovebirds ~ A few weekends back we went up to Minneapolis to visit our friends Katie & Wade Heidemann and their two little ones, Madeline and Quinn. Here's a picture of Katie & the kiddos ~ Katie is such a great mom and I'm so proud of her! Maddie is learning how to potty train and Jason had a little talk with her that weekend and asked her why she didn't like the potty. Maddie said because she's afraid she'll fall in. So Katie got a little potty for Maddie the next day and she's been going potty in the little potty ever since! Good job Jason! Also, we brought our famous Palmer's sour cherry balls with us and she gets a cherry ball after going potty. Maddie still calls Jason her "boyfriend" and says "you're cute!" (see December blog)... it's so funny! I guess I have some competition! ;)

May was a baby delivering month for my friends!!! Welcome Owen (Lindsey & Nick Funk), Josephine (Molly & Chris Kuhle), Ivy (Abby & Dave Jones), William (Amy & Pete Rothering), Sophia (Amy & Josh Tranel) and Faith (Nicole & Tom Sullivan)! ♥ I am hoping to meet Josie & Faith this weekend when I'm back in Dubuque. I can't wait! Here's a picture of The Funks, our good friends from Des Moines and their new addition Owen ~ We are also holding a garage sale this Friday at my parent's house. So we've been going through all our belongings and we've come up with quite the pile of things to sell! I hope we have a good turnout and make lots of $!

The first "POA" was completed for the Victoza launch as of May 30. Victoza is the new product I'm selling with my job at Novo Nordisk and my territory ended up #2 out of 40 territories! I am very pumped about the bonus I'll receive in July... which will go towards our down payment on a house whenever we sell the darn townhouse!

I promise it won't be long until I post again... I'm glad to know I've got followers that were anxiously awaiting the next post ;) Love you guys!

Engagement Celebration!

Saturday night we went out on the town in Dubuque to celebrate Ben and Mary Ella's engagement! We were escorted by limo, which was a total surprise! ...Jared arranged this... how cool! We started off the evening at Star Restaurant and Brewery for pre-dinner cocktails and appetizers. Then we had a yummmalicious dinner at my favorite restaurant in Dubuque, Pepper Sprout! After dinner we went back to the Star and enjoyed some more cocktails & live music, where some extended family joined in on the fun. It was an enjoyable, hilaroius, joyous night... with lots of laughs and good memories made (Oh Bobby! Tammered! Amazeballs! Taco Dip!)! I love my family!
Here are some pictures of the evening: