Our Latest Project

Time feels like it has been flying by and I cannot believe that I am already 26 weeks pregnant!  Mady and I are doing great and she is getting stronger and stronger by the day.  At our last appointment I had to take the test for gestational diabetes and thank goodness I passed!!  Besides a few episodes of heartburn, which is the worst, and some occasional back pain I really can't complain much.  I've been really lucky!  I can feel Mady moving around everyday and am noticing that she is starting to develop a schedule.  She loves the mornings after breakfast, and she calms down around noon, and by night time she is up and ready to party.  That might be because that's when her daddy is able to talk to her :)

With Nick being on shift work we have to take advantage of the weekends he has off so this weekend we spent it working on Mady's nursery.  It was a lot of work but it was all worth it because it looks amazing!  Nick did all the hard work but I helped out a lot!  I have never felt more pregnant than I did this past weekend.  I was exhausted, and at various points Nick would walk in and find me sprawled out on the floor.  He worked so hard to get this done and it looks really great.  It is perfect and we find ourselves walking in there just to look at it, lol.  Ridiculous, I know!  I do have to give a huge thanks to Steve and Dan at Nick's work for letting us use their tools for this project.  They made the job so much easier and were just amazing to have.  Thanks guys!  Here are some pictures of our work...

Top Wall Painted

Installing the panels

Cutting holes in the panels for the outlets. This took precise measurements.

I helped too!

All done!

Close up

All done! It looks even better in person.

Here is my latest picture!

6 Months!

Doctor's Visit and Nursery

Nick here...


Alex had another Doctors visit this morning. Madison is doing excellent and is right on track, and her heart rate today was around 140. It is always hard for the doctor to find a good heart rate because she is always moving around so much when the doctor has the doppler on Alex's stomach. Today was no different except this time, Alex was feeling Madison move around trying to dodge the "scary" doppler signal. She thought it was cool to hear her move, but also feel her move. Alex also had her glucose test today and we should find out the results next week. We hope all will be normal.

After the appointment I went to home depot and bought all the stuff to do the nursery. We got the idea for the nursery from a pottery barns kids catalog. The picture had an awesome rug that was lavender and green and then a green wall on the top half and wainscoting painted lavender on the bottom with a chair rail to separate the two. We had already bought the rug that was in the catalog, and today I bought the paint, wainscoting, and chair rails. I got the top half painted today and will paint the wainscoting panels Sunday. I hope to have it all done next weekend and will post pictures of it all finished. Here are some pictures of todays work. Until next time....

The green on the top half and the rug.

What it should look like when it is all done. The lavender will be a bit darker. It wasnt dry yet.

Happy 2011!!

This will be a year full of changes for us but we could not be more excited for what's to come! We had a great holiday break spent with our family. Madison is not even here yet and she already had a pile full of presents. She is already so loved. Such a lucky little girl!

Well in my last post I think I promised to post some pictures from New York but I can't do that unless I post some I find on the internet because sadly we did not go. Of course we planned our trip during one of the worst snow storms in two decades and our flight was cancelled the night before. We were devastated, but you have to make the best of it so instead we found a great deal on a really nice hotel in Houston by the Galleria and we stayed there for two nights. The picture of us is when we were about to go to dinner. We did some shopping, had some good food, and Nick surprised me with a massage at this amazing spa. It was the best massage I have ever had! We also planned Madison's entire nursery. We walked into a Pottery Barn Kids and inside was the cutest lavender and green rug that matched the bedding we already picked out. From there we found a picture in one of their magazines of a room with that rug in it and it had wainscoting that was painted lavender and the top half of the room painted green with cream colored chair rails. We can't wait to get started! I think she may have sabotaged our trip on purpose so that we would find all of this. Already getting her way! I came home from work one day this week and Nick already had about six samples of paint on the wall in her nursery!

We also got to babysit our nephew and niece (Beau and Claire) for two days while their parents were at a wedding for the weekend. We had a blast with them and got a glimpse into our future one day with two kids, and it's a lot of work! Luckily, we are easing into it with just one, haha. Thanks again guys for letting us watch them!

Madison is a growing girl and she is getting a lot stronger. She was dancing around like crazy last night after Nick started talking to her. We had so much fun just sitting there feeling her move around. We are more than halfway through now and it seems to be flying by ever since our last appointment. This month we'll be busy starting on her nursery and registering.

Below is a picture of Alex at 5 months Pregnant. Hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year!

It's a...

GIRL!!!!

We went yesterday for our 20 week appointment, and first and foremost, the baby is wonderful and healthy.  We could not have asked for better results!  And for the fun part, we found out we are expecting a precious baby girl.  Her name, which we already had picked out, is going to be Madison Elizabeth.  Words can't even describe how it felt seeing her yesterday.  She is precious and we fell in love all over again.  Nick knew it was a girl before the ultrasound technician even said it!  I will never forget the huge grin on his face when he said "It's a girl!".  It was priceless!  I joke that I am now officially out of the picture and she is going to rule him and have him wrapped around her little finger.  He fully admits it :)  Take a look at our sweet little girl...

Madison Elizabeth

Madison Elizabeth

We have been busy with the holiday season upon us.  I cannot believe that Christmas is this week!  We had a great Thanksgiving in Port Arthur with family, and since then we have been going, going, going getting ready for Christmas.  This year Nick has to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so I'm going to head to Port Arthur on Christmas Eve without him, and he's going to meet us there once he is off of work.  I wasn't thrilled about leaving him for Christmas, but like he said, I would be spending most of the time alone so better I go ahead.  Next week we head to New York for our anniversary/babymoon/just for fun vacation!!  We've never been before so we are so excited to do all the fun touristy things you do in New York.  Look out for our next blog post of that. 

Just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Be safe on your travels and enjoy this wonderful time of year with family.  I know we will!  Oh, and lastly, here is my first belly pic on the blog!

20 Weeks!

Aggie Game, Harry Potter, and Christmas Tree!

Nick here....

Saturday, the Fightin Texas Aggies took on 8th rank Nebraska. There had been a lot of hype surrounding this game and we knew it would be one of the best environments for football ever at Kyle Field. I found these great seats (2nd deck, alumni side, 40 yard line) for sale on the internet at face value. I called Alex and before I knew it we were on our way to College Station. We arrived there around 5 pm (game was at 7) and met up with the famous Shel Winkley for a few minutes. It was really nice to be back on campus and it brought back a lot of memories from our time there. The game was amazing and the Aggie defense dominated and won the game for us. It was by far the best game we have ever attended. We brought our camera but forgot the memory card and here are a couple of pictures taken with the iphone.



Before the Game!




After the Game!


Sunday we went to see the Harry Potter movie at the local IMAX and it was really good. Tomorrow we leave for Port Arthur for the Thanksgiving holidays and we wanted to at least get the Christmas Tree up and decorated before we left. We just went to Home Depot this year. Next year, we will definetely go back to the Christmas Tree Farm when we have our "nugget" with us! Heres the pic of the tree.....



Our Tree!



Happy Thanksgiving!! Until next time......

Happy Veteran's Day!

First off I would like to say Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to all the men and women who serve or who have served and sacrificed for our country. I know it's not enough, but Thank You for everything you do to protect our country and our freedoms. No thanks will ever be enough.

Well last week I came down with a horrible cold and had to miss work for a couple of days. I figured out that when you're pregnant you really can't take anything when you're sick so I was at a loss and I kept getting worse.That's when I discovered this strange little contraption called the Netti Pot. Thanks Amy! Turns out this thing helps clear out your sinuses, and though temporary, it was wonderful relief when I couldn't breathe and felt like my head was going to explode. If you have ever used this thing or know what it does, it's not the most attractive thing in the world so you can understand my frustration when Nick felt like he had to sit there and stare at me while I used this thing! Anyways, I am feeling much better now after a trip to the doctor (who was kind enough to tell me I didn't have that pregnant glow about me) and some prescription medicine that is safe for those who are pregnant.

This past Sunday Nick participated in a Mud Run that benefited MS. Since I was feeling better I was able to head out there and take some pictures of the brave warriors. The weather was perfect, and we had a good time (pictures below). Countdown to Thanksgiving begins!

The entire group from Nick's work before the race began.

Nick coming out of one of the obstacles!

Nick and some of the other team members scaling this "stairway to heaven!"

Nick going through another obstacle toward the end of the race!

The group after the race was over. Their time for the 6+ mile run with 31 obstacles was an hour and 27 minutes!

Feeling Good

Well I am officially in my second trimester, whoo hoo!!  I am definitely feeling like it too.  I feel like a normal person again with a little more energy and I feel my hormones have calmed down which I'm sure Nick appreciates :)  I can also feel my pants starting to fit a little tighter.  Let's see how long I can last in them!

We have been busy this past month with traveling and doing things to the house.  Earlier this month we finally replaced most of our flooring by getting rid of the nasty old carpet we had and replacing it with laminate wood flooring downstairs and new carpet on the stairs and the second floor.  It is something we had planned since we moved in and are so happy to finally have done it.  It looks amazing!  I just love it so much.

As far as traveling, I had to go out of town for a work conference in San Diego.  I don't think Nick liked it very much that I left and took his baby with him and he was very relieved to have me back home, lol. It was beautiful there but I didn't get to enjoy it much having to be in a conference room most of the day but I did get to meet up with Greg and Allison one night, friends from high school, and I had a really good time with them.  Thanks guys for taking me out!

We also traveled to The Woodlands for our nephew Beau's second birthday party and again to meet our newest little addition to the family, our little niece Claire.  She is adorable and we were so glad we were able to make it down there to see her! Isn't she cute ->

Most exciting was that we had our second appointment last Friday and we heard our little nugget's heartbeat!  166 and everything is still looking great!  A little less than seven weeks and we can find out the sex, but nobody's counting or anything ;)  We just feel so blessed that everything has gone so well, we have been really lucky.  Now that we are in the second trimester we can breathe a little easier now.