The countdown has begun

*warning, looooong post*

So we are down to 11 days til the due date! Crazy huh? We are ready to meet this little guy and love him even more than he has been loved already. I am sure that making a blog post will not be the number 1 priority on my list after the baby, but stay tuned because we will be getting pics and announcements up as soon as we remember to.

In the mean time, here are some events from the past month that have slipped right on by the blogesphere:

Ryan took another trip down to New Mexico to visit his parents and help them with the horses some. It is beautiful down there, and unfortunately I was not allowed to fly (and I am saving all my vacation for maternity leave) and could not join him this time.
Isn't he a stud?!?!? Ryan, not the horse!
Off in the distance is the white sands desert.
Here is the barn and track where Ryan's parents get to train their horses.
This is a world champion ass!
The neighbor goat fraternizing with sadie.

I also had two baby showers recently, one thrown by dear friends of the family Leigh and Kim, and the other thrown by two wonderful women at my church, Jayne and Julie. I cannot thank you all enough for opening your homes and celebrating this new life! Such a blessing! I have included pictures of me and the cakes (both of which were wonderful). I am 36 weeks in the first one and 37 in the second can you tell the difference?



It was spring break last week which was a huge blessing to have some time to get the finishing touches at home done, and spend some time together. One day we got out of town and drove to the tulips. I think this is one of hte first years I have made it before they all die.


Me and the baby, 37.5 weeks

ok, deep breath, pause, and here we go.

Lastly, like I said before we had some time to get things done around the house this week. And when I say "we" I mean I did laundry and Ryan did the rest - what a guy, can't wait to see him as a father!
I just snapped a few quick shots of the nursery, which according to me has been done since we put new paint on the walls, but the rest of your will be glad to see some things on the walls, more pictures will go up once we have some out of utero ones (it took Ryan and I 2 years to put a picture up on the walls in our living room - decorating is not so much a strong point for us). It is all ready for the baby.



I will be making a post here in the next couple days hopefully showing the improvements Ryan made on the upstairs bathroom recently so stay tuned . . .
Congrats if you made it this far!!!!!

Lookin Good!

We are now 36 weeks along, which means it could happen any time (yes, it could be 6 more weeks, but here's to wishful thinking). So we have packed up the hospital bag and it is ready to go anytime we might need it. However the one thing we are having a hard time deciding on is the baby's coming home outfit. Since Ryan and I are such fashion forward people we really want to make the right decision for our child when it comes to his first clothing experience. So we have decided to let all you dedicated readers help us out a bit. Below are a few options we have narrowed it down to. Please feel free to give your vote and reason for choosing that certain outfit. I do realize this might be tough not knowing the baby's hair color, eye color, etc. So I have included either Ryan or my head on the outfit to better imagine what it might look like. Thanks for participating!
OPTION 1:

(yes, that does say "Baby's First Christmas")
OPTION 2

OPTION 3

OPTION 4

Oh Hello Again!

Has it really been that long????? Is anyone still checking our blog? Sorry I have been absent for so long, busy busy days - you know, teaching, birthing classes, taking naps, I can't keep track of it all. So here we are, almost 35 pregnant and realizing that this is really going to happen! Pretty exciting huh?


One of the fun things that has contributed to the business of the last 3 weeks was another shower thrown by my family. Again I felt so blessed by the women there and we are so humbled with the generosity of those around us, THANK YOU!!!!! AND, my sister and nephew flew in from Montana for the weekend which was a wonderful treat! I love seeing this little guy and feel very proud that he says my name when he sees me. He does also love his uncle Ryan!

New things

Hello again! It has been awhile, but we have been busy - Ryan has been working like a mad man on the house. It all started with wanting to take the popcorn off the ceilings, and we ended up painting - the ceiling and walls, cleaning the carpets, putting finish on the floors, replacing all the molding . . . did I mentioned we have been busy?

In the middle of all of this I had my first baby shower, which was Amazing! The gals who threw it for me put in so much thought and detail - way more than I ever expected! I love you guys soooo much! I was also so blessed and humbled at the shower by all the gifts for the baby. I even received all the bedding and an adorable mobile to match (seen in photo below) from a number of ladies! I will share more later when I get more pictures of the event.



After the shower I was so anxious to put everything in a place, so Ryan worked hard to get the nursery done first!!! Here a few pictures of the bedding, crib (from Ryan's cousin), and of course Ryan's beautiful work on the room. The color of the paint is a little off because of the flash - it is called "mocha". Enjoy!

Air mail

We received a great little suprise in the mail today, our friends Roberto and Paola from Costa Rica sent us, well sent the baby a Christmas Gift. We are so greatful for their friendship and can't wait to take a picture of Roberto and Paola with the little guy in his new outfit (in Seattle)! See you guys in May!


Ryan, Eto and Paola in Costa Rica (Katie took the picture)

The Reveal

Alright, the moment we have been waiting for. Our good friends threw us a small party where we as well as all the guests were suprised by the gender of the baby by opening up a present. So, here is the picture story of the night . . .

The Party:






The gift:


And

IT'S A BOY!!!

We Have a Heartbeat!

This is the baby's heart rate at 14.5 weeks! yeah! 160 bpm. We are officially taking bets at this point on the gender.
I couldn't figure out an easy way to post audio (any tips would be great) so you should just be able to copy this URL and paste it in a new page and it should open right up. Hopefully!

http://learn.shorelineschools.org/shorewood/kkyler/documents/voice_messag.wav

Baby's First "Shoes"

My beautiful friend Mandy gave the baby his/her first pair of shoes toady (they are sitting on the baby blanket my mom gave us)! Man, so far having a baby has been great! Thank you Mandy and Mom!