Babymoon!

We are back from Florida! We had an absolutely perfect Babymoon and couldn't have asked for much more. The week leading up to our Babymoon found us in the cat ER with our first child, Clyde. The poor cat was clearly in pain throughout the night and so at 4 AM on Monday morning, I called the animal ER to see what could be done. I woke Matt up, we loaded Clyde in his suitcase and traveled to the hospital. After hours of tests and ultrasounds, he was found to have a urinary tract infection. We had to give Clyde medication three times a day and a new cat food. This led to an interesting decision regarding what to do during our upcoming trip. Our incredible friend Kim, who happens to be a nurse (yes, for humans) offered to take care of Clyde, including giving him his medication twice a day. She saved the day and our trip!

Once we got to Florida, we checked into our hotel which was amazing! The hotel itself was located directly next to a pretty ritzy mall, which was also fun. We grabbed lunch and checked out the pool. Here is the view from our room:

The next day, we took the shuttle back to the airport to pick up the rental car. Somehow, I had entered a "discount code" when I made my reservation, which allowed me a 50 % off discount on my rental car for the duration as well as an upgrade. When offered the upgrade from a Corolla, I didn't hesitate (or ask Matt who was on the phone with his mom!) Since he left most of the trip planning details up to me, I was the one who's name was on the car reservation. Here's the sweet 2009 Ford Mustang that I alone got to drive along the coast. I think Matt got quite the kick out of me being so excited to drive that car. He knew to hold on when I was about to accelerate..there was no holding back! I think this was one of the greatest highlights of the trip for me!!Upon returning to our hotel, we asked the concierge, John, for suggestions of the best beach we could rent a cabana at for the day. He not only suggested going to St. Pete Beach, but made a phone call to his friend to "take care of us." After about a 30 minute drive, which of course I didn't mind in the 'Stang, we pulled into the Don CeSar Luxury Resort. We found the person we were to ask for, who quickly got us cold water, validated our $18 parking fee and walked us out to our free cabana. As we approached the beach, we found the cabanas to be $50 a day..SWEET! She later came back out to check on us, bring us snacks and offer anything else we could possibly need. We were amazed that 6 hours by the beach could pass so quickly. Thank God for SPF 50 sunblock!

The next day, we opted for a different beach, Sand Key Beach, near Clearwater. While there, two people got stung by stingrays, which prompted our decision not to stay in the water too long. It also didn't help that it was 90 degrees that day and our Midwestern bodies weren't quite adjusted to such heat.

When we got back to our hotel, John, the concierge asked us if we had dinner plans. Being our last night in Tampa, we wanted fresh seafood. He recommended and called a place called Mitchell's Fish Market. We arrived to find they had a "special" table for us and incredible food (and the best hand-squeezed lemonade I have ever had!). At the end of our meal, we found that part of our meal was "on John" from the hotel. Matt decided at dinner that when we win the lottery, he is going to hire John to be our personal assistant to make all of our reservations and trips for us, paying him a $1 Million a year. Anyone else interested in applying :)

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, as did our trip. Due to a mechanical issue on our first flight, we almost missed our second of three connecting flights to get back home. When we finally got home at midnight, we were welcomed home to reality: water in our basement, a Corolla that needed a new brake job and a cat so happy to see us.

Gosh, I miss that mustang....

Preggos everywhere!

Being pregnant makes everything a little more challenging. I've had to learn over the past week that I can't easily do many of the things that I used to do without thinking...

Putting my pants on
Putting my shoes and socks on
Shaving
Painting my toenails
Sleeping
And most recently...hugging other pregnant friends!

We went up to Minnesota this weekend for the Baby Shower of a great friend. She is due May 22, but could deliver any week now. We quickly found out that we can't hug each other as easily as we once could!! :)


Angie and I have been fortunate enough to be 8 weeks apart in our pregnancy, which has made things so much fun. When our hubbies (who are actually VERY similar) really don't want to hear our pregnant drama or strange conversations, we know the other one is only a phone call away. Angie and I try to keep a pretty close tab on each other's appointments and usually call the day of, to check in. It is funny, looking back, how much life has brought the two of us through since college.

Some of my funniest and fondest memories of Luther days are running with Angie, followed by the two of us trying to do the Buns of Steel tapes. We will need those again after our babies are born! We also have quite a few pictures together ranging from Halloween parties to formal dinners that are now getting added to with our "Mommy Coldren and Mommy Wogs" pictures.

In church this morning, Pastor Mike talked about the importance of friends...true friends. I am so thankful to have Angie (among others!) as one of those friends for life..and now especially to be pregnant together. I have no doubt our babies will be friends for life, too!

99 days to go!

We have broken the three digit mark for the countdown! Today leaves us with 99 days until Baby Wogs' due date! YEAH! Tomorrow marks the beginning of week 26 for us, and yet, it seems again like we just found out we were expecting our little Mustard Seed.

The past few weeks have been filled with unexpected blessings and we are so thankful to have been given the gifts we have. Here is our top ten list of things I am celebrating today, in no particular order:

10. We have a new nephew on the way who is due within the week!!
9. My Aunt who had a stroke last week is doing amazingly well
8. We have an amazing "contractor" working to finish our basement
7. Plans are being made for my five year class reunion and a group of my close friends from college and the three of us will be staying in cabins in Decorah for Homecoming
6. It is finally Spring, and with Spring comes sandals!
5. I get to see one of my favorite people in the world this weekend who is also pregnant. We shared so many things at Luther and now we have been blessed to share our pregnancies.
4. Easter at our church was amazing. Right when I was feeling pretty homesick for missing my family at Easter and wishing that we would have gone to the "traditional" service for church, the organ got wheeled in and played "Jesus Christ is Risen Today." Matt had to console my pathetic, emotional and crying preggo self in church!
3. We are going to Florida soon!!
2. After my fall on Monday, I went to my doctor's office to find "my" doctor on call who gave us a perfect bill of health..minus my incredibly sore right side
1. I am married to the most amazing man in the world who will make the world's best Daddy to Baby Wogs

So much to choose from!

With our first baby shower just weeks away, we decided we better start thinking about a Baby Registry. It has been a few years since we registered for a wedding, but my goodness...I forgot how challenging (and fun!) registering can be! We started at Target and were immediately confused as to what type of diapers to register for, what bottles are best to use, what Pack and Play we should ask for. How do people figure out this stuff? And then, we started feeling guilty about registering for stuff that was a little on the pricier side, because we don't want to look greedy. How do people figure this stuff out!?!?

We also had to go back over our registry to take off things that were gender specific. While we know what we are having, we later realized if we registered for gender specific items, the whole world would know what we are having, too! Keeping this secret is proving to be much harder than we thought. We should have just kept that envelope closed, so that we would be surprised, too :) On the other hand, it is really nice to be able to call Baby Wogs by his/her name, instead of just "Baby" when we read to him/her. Only 16 1/2 more weeks to go until everyone else knows, too.

The Much Requested "Belly Pictures"

OK, OK, I give in. I really didn't want to post pictures of my ever-growing belly on the Internet. However, I think I have lost this battle! What is it about pregnant women's bellies that we all find so fascinating? I am guilty of it and can still remember when my friend Tiffany was pregnant last summer, inquiring how big her belly was getting. My friend Angie, who is pregnant now, gave in to my strange request a few months ago, and so I too, must add my pictures to the collection.

Matt once again has proven why he is the sweetest husband in the world. As I complained about how "fat not pregnant" I felt, he prompted us to compare bellies. As you can see in that picture, he has clearly positioned his body so that his looks larger than mine, so that I don't feel so self-conscious. I feel so lucky everyday to be able to share everyday-exciting-pregnant moments with him. Tonight we even laid on the couch reading our newest book together to Baby Wogs. If you know of any pregnant women out there, I highly recommend "Oh Baby, The Places You Will Go." It is from the one and only Dr. Seuss and is to be read to babies in-utero. Clyde, Matt, Baby Wogs and I had quite a bonding moment all cuddling up together.

21 Week Ultrasound!

After much anticipation, we got to have our 20 week ultrasound at 21 weeks! It was certainly worth the wait to see our little "mustard seed" growing. Matt and I both got to see that Baby Wogs has a good heart and brain...afterall, how could he/she not have with us as parents! :) We found out that Baby Wogs weighs just over one pound as is about 10 inches long, from the top of the head to the bottom of the butt. This little one still has about 10 inches to grow and about 6 more pound to fill out. Where is that all going to go?? I'm going to start having to charge more rent for this little one.

My absolute favorite picture from our visit is the one on the right, above. Almost as if Baby Wogs knew that there was an ultrasound going on, he/she flexed and gave us a totally cute picture of the bicep and hand. With as much as Baby is jabbing me and moving around, I think we have a little boxer in the making.

Baby Wogs continues to kick, jab and move all the time. It is such a wonderful feeling that can't really be described in words. Matt has started to be able to feel some of the moves as well, as I place his hand on my belly as Baby is the most active. I think that just makes it so much more real to us both. We are heading out to the bookstore after church tonight to pick up some baby books. We are going to start a daily habit of reading to Baby, so if you have any good suggestions, we'd love to hear them. Think Spring!! Love, Us

No new ultrasound pictures!

All day Friday, we could hardly contain our excitment to have our 20 week ultrasound. We both took off work for the appointment and had made big plans to celebrate afterwards. As time kept passing, I finally confirmed that we were having our ultrasound at that appointment. The nurse informed me that the ultrasound techs had been out all week at a conference and that there was no one left in the office to do it! We were so bummed! We are looking at the bright side, that Baby Wogs will be one more week developed by the time we get to see him/her next week.

Our doctor, Dr. Houghton, continues to be a blessing for both of us. While most doctors spend about 5 minutes with a patient, he literally spent about 45 minutes with us. Baby's heartbeat sounds "perfect", my development is "perfect" and all is well in Baby's world. He took the time to answer questions from both of us, and then some. While we are part of a group practice, everyone keep your fingers crossed that he is the doctor on call when Baby decides to be born!

We also finally booked our flights and hotel for our Babymoon! While we are not right on the beach, we are pretty close. Thank goodness for all of our traveling in pre-baby days, we were able to use frequent flyer miles for our airline tickets and use our marriott rewards to pay for our hotel. YEAH! In case you are curious, here's where we are going to stay: