Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Saying Goodbye

This post is a quick tribute to our best friends, Wendi & Wade Holmes, who are in the process of moving away from the Metroplex to Houston. We have had a lot of fun with them over the last two years since we moved back to Dallas, and will really miss them! We're really excited about their new house and new adventures, but will definately feel a hole in our social lives. These are a few pictures of some of our fun times in the DFW area over the last two years with the Holmes!


Our first horse racing experience at Lone Star Park
A trip to Houston for the Rangers vs. Astros baseball series
Texas State Fair

Oh...how we spent MANY days and nights at the Rangers Stadium watching some good baseball (it helps having husbands who are equally Rangers fanatics!)


Our recent quick trip to Abilene for a weekend engagement party

Our Goodbye Dinner at Ashley's house


Wendi & Wade....we love you and will really miss you, but are very happy for you and your move to Houston! (as long as you come back and visit!) Good Luck with all the unpacking!


Monday, June 28, 2010

We're having a GIRL!

So Baby Brokaw is 99.9% a Girl! (at least that is what the sonogram technician told us!) We didn't see the doctor today, but according to the sonogram tech we're having a healthy, growing, baby girl. I'm measuring 19 weeks and 5 days, and according to my due date, I'm 19 weeks and 1 day, so our girl is growing right on schedule. She is approximately 11 ounces, with all of her major functioning parts. The sonogram technician started talking to us very vaguely about what she was seeing, and I told her I was a physical therapist and would love it if she could explain everything more specifically, as I was curious to see all of her growing anatomy. She told us the brain looked great with both hemispheres forming. The heart had all 4 chambers, which was amazing to see it pumping! We could see fluid in both the bladder and the stomach, which meant Baby Brokaw was eating & had good kidney funciton already. The spine looked good, with all four limbs!
Here is our girl's profile, keeping her hand by her mouth
Her little foot...so cute to a new mother to be!

Although this is kind of creepy looking, this is her face looking straight at you
She said the placenta is in front but up high, which is probably why I have only felt her move just a little so far. Baby Brokaw is currently head up, so we're hoping she does summersaults in the next few months before she gets too big to move around. We saw her moving a little today, but she seemed perfectly content chillin' with her feet crossed and her hands up by her face. She just looked so cute!
Hopefully we will have a name picked out soon! Our
plan is to call her by name for a couple of weeks ourselves to make sure it "fits" before the big reveal.
We already can't wait to meet our new baby girl!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Great Wolf Lodge

Every year we get invited to a Summer Regional Meeting with Bryan's company, Edward Jones Investments. It's a good time for the Financial Advisors and their families in our region to get together. The Financial Advisors have to spend part of the weekend in business meetings, but the rest of the time is spent hanging out and at an awards banquet. This year, our Edward Jones region met at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. I wasn't sure how adult-friendly Great Wolf Lodge would be, seeing as how we don't have kids yet, but we had a great time!

I didn't take as many pictures as I would like, but here is a quick snap-shot of our weekend

There were several indoor & outdoor water slides that we enjoyed. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go on water slides, and forgot to ask my doctor before we left. So what else did do, but turn to the world-wide-web to help me out. There was no set in stone answers for water slides like there is for roller-coasters for pregnant women. It basically said to use your best judgement on how rough the slides are, and if there are any signs posted at the slide prohibiting pregnant women, then obviously it's a no go. There was only one slide I was not allowed on, but was able to have fun with the others! Hopefully Baby Brokaw enjoyed her time on the slides & in the sun!


We spent a few hours with some of our friends children in the kiddy-pool. It was so much fun, and made me really excited about taking our baby to the pool next summer!



Father's Day Memories

Last weekend Bryan's parents and sister (with family) met in Dallas on Saturday to "swap" children. Bryan's parents had kept our niece & nephew for a week while Lisa & David were in Mexico on vacation. Wylie is sort of in between Abilene (where Bryan's parents live) and Tyler (where Bryan's sister lives), so our place is often a nice meeting location for everyone. We didn't do much....we swam and ate Saturday night, went to church on Sunday, and had a sweet memorial for Bryan's grandfather Sunday afternoon. Bryan's Grandpa Hammitt passed away not quite two years ago, and on Father's day his family celebrated his memory by releasing balloons at 3:00pm wherever they were. So on July 20, ten balloons graced the skies of Wylie, Texas in memory of Robert Hammitt.
Our sweet nephew & niece, Todd & Jillian

Jillian spoke some very sweet words about Father's Day and Grandpa Hammitt



Bryan's Grandpa Hammitt was very fun-loving and always joyful


Here is my Grandaddy Fisher who passed away several years ago when I was in college. We miss and love him!

I'll also take this time to honor both of our current fathers. Bryan's "Papo," as Bryan likes to call him, has been like a second father-figure to me during college. Since Bryan's parents live in Abilene, Bryan's dad would help me out when it came to "Dad" stuff, like cars & home repairs, since my dad lived farther away. Not to mention, Bryan's dad raised such a good, Godly man I like to call my Husband! Thanks, Ed.


My dad is the best father in the world! Him and my mom actually just got home from a mission trip in Mexico, where my dad used his Spanish-speaking skills to help their team communicate. He is so giving, and volunteers regularly with church & the community. I can't wait for both of these fathers to become grandfathers in a few months!


And just a shout out to my husband, and father-to-be....
Although we didn't consider this year our first Mother's or Father's Day, I can't wait until Bryan becomes a father...I love him so much already, and can't imagine how much more I'll love him as a father! 21 weeks left, and counting!
And get your last predictions in....we find out tomorrow morning if we're having a Boy or Girl!


Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Growing baby...Growing belly...

So I had my 16 week OB appointment today, except I'm actually already 17+ weeks. My doctor sees me every 4 weeks, and somehow at the beginning of all these appointments I must have had a scheduling conflict and scheduled my first appointment a week later than normal, hence, all 4-week appointments hereafter have been a week behind schedule. Either way, good news all around.


My doctor is just outstanding; very laid back and down to Earth, and very realistic and practicle about being pregnant and carrying on your "normal" life. She continues to encourage (and allow) me to work out however I want, as long as I'm not starting a "new"workout routine compared to prior to pregnancy. She also is very permissible regarding my job. I work as a physical therapist at a rehab center and regularly lift and help tranfser heavy people. So far she has said I can basically continue doing what I have always done, realizing that the farther along I get, the harder these transfers will be, basically because I wont be able to use safe body mechanics (seeing as how I'll have a big belly sticking out...I have a feeling most people wont want me "lifting" them looking like that!)


All the numbers came back great! Good blood pressure at 102/65. Good fetal heart rate at 145. Good growing belly...I've been very good at this. I have gained 14 pounds as of week 17, and I think the number is supposed to be closer to 10 pounds. But I'm blaming this on the baby for making me hungry ALL the time! I had very little nausea at the beginning and NO vomiting, thank goodness, which helped me "plump" up a little easier so far. But if I had to choose gaining a few extra pounds or vomiting, I'd choose the weight every time!


The one slight abnormality (in my opinion...however, my doctor didn't seem to think this was a big deal), is that I'm possibly already contracting....Braxton Hicks contractions, of course. She asked me if I could feel the baby yet, and I told her I thought so, but couldn't be 100% sure. I told her instead of feeling like the butterfly or flutter feeling people talked about, it actually felt like a very light pressure, almost on my bladder, making me feel like I had to go to the bathroom, and would last about 30 seconds, then he/she would go away. She said those most likely sound like contractions, not the baby moving! I was kind of shocked, but she reassured me this happened to her and is completely fine, just to drink a little more water! She told me I should feel the baby move in the next few weeks!


This cute picture was taken when I was 13 weeks, so I'm sure he/she has grown by now. But BabyB is laying on his/her side facing us, with his arms crossed in front of his face and feet crossed at the ankles! I didn't get to see my baby today, but scheduled my anatomy sonogram for 2 weeks from yesterday, and finally get to find out if we're having a boy or girl! (and also find out how all of his/her anatomy is growing!)



The other night BabyB got his/her first gift! We had some friends over for my Birthday and they brought me a birthday gift, with the preface that gifts aren't for me anymore, they're all about the baby! So true! Thanks, Cade & Jamie for this cute stuffed animal.


The following are a few belly pics. These first two were taken at 12 weeks. What else were we doing, but of course, headed to a Ranger's baseball game!


You can see just a small belly pooch!

15 weeks pregnant while on vacation, taking BabyB to his/her first glacier!


These next few, taken last weekend at 17 weeks, make me actually look "pregnant," not just like I've gained a little weight. It's boosting for the self-esteem to finally get past that awkward "I've gained wait but don't really have a baby belly yet" phase!

And again, at 17 weeks. My good friend, Ashley, who had her sweet baby last year, let me borrow some maternity clothes. So on Sunday morning I decided to wear my first piece of maternity clothing, which I felt really accentuated my growing belly. I went to a baby shower Sunday afternoon and saw several friends for the first time in about 4 weeks, and they were all kind of suprised at the change!


13 Days and counting until I can stop using the he/she reference! Make your predections!






Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Great Alaskan Adventure

Last week we went on an Alaskan cruise with our family. My parents, Bryan's parents, and Bryan's grandmother and Aunt went also. We used this opportunity to finally share our "Big Secret" - that we were already 15 weeks pregnant. I was actually kind of nervous that since I was already starting to "grow" a little, that my mom would notice something before we made the big reveal. We flew into Seattle Friday night, and after breakfast Saturday morning, Bryan and I gave each of our parents a gift for their Anniversaries. This trip was actually planned because my parents were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary and Bryan's parents were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. We told them that we needed to give them their gifts before we got on the cruise because they might be able to enjoy this gift while on our vacation. Both of our moms opened the gift at the same time, which was a picture frame that said Happy Anniverasry on top, with a picture of our sonogram in it with a phrase at the bottome that said "Due to arrive November 21!" It seemed like forever until they finally realized what we were trying to tell them. My mom even made a comment about how cute the frame was. She told us afterwards she was a little confused becuase she didn't understand how she was going to be able to use a picture frame on our cruise before we had taken any pictures! Once they finally realized we were pregnant, everyone got really excited. I think there were even a few tears. It was fun to see how excited they were. This will be the first grandchild for my parents and the fourth for Bryan's parents. The rest of our trip was just so fun because everything we did with our families was compounded with excitement due to this new baby.

The following are several pictures from our trip. Of course, when you go on a cruise, you have to do the obligatory "life safety drill."


Our first formal night. We took one of the staged formal night pictures from one of the cruise photographers, and on one of the poses she made me cross my arms in front of me. When we viewed the pictures later, I didn't quite realized how pregnant it made me look when my dress was tucked below my belly. I wasn't quite ready for those pictures yet!


Bryan's grandmother was so much fun the entire week. She was a trooper, even staying up way later than me most nights listening to a pianist who played almost every night in one of the cruise lounges.


It was some of the most beutiful scenary I have ever seen! A little cold, however.


Our fist port was in Juneau, Alaska, and we took a self-guided tour to Mendenhall Glacier National Park. We decided to go on a 3.5 mile hike to the top of this mountain to overlook the glacier (they don't let you walk on the glaciers anymore). Well, I didn't realize quite how strenuous this was going to be, and I was beat at the end of the hike to say the least.



Here's my 15 week belly. We thought we'd get a picture of the baby at his (or her) first glacier experience!


Unbelievable beauty God can create, don't you think?


Our next day we rented a car in Scagway, Alaska, and drove into the Yukon Territory of Canada. We saw our one and only black bear there, on the side of the road grazing. He didn't seem to mind us stopping and taking his picture.


Our next day we cruised Glacier Bay National Park. We stayed on the ship the entire day, and they took us to see some of the most amazing glaciers.




This was another cruise ship in the distance we were kind of traveling with for the week. You can see the perspective of how big the glaciers are when the ship is up against them.


The next day we stopped in Ketchikan, Alaska, where we went ocean kayaking. It was really fun, but my arms have never been so tired.



Our last formal night happened to be our 4th wedding anniversary. They brought us the best dessert of the entire week, and that is saying a lot! There were multiple occasions in which I ordered two desserts because I wanted to try them both - I just said one was for me and one was for the baby!


Our last night before we returned to Seattle we stopped in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Here are my wonderful parents, and soon to be Grandparents for the first time!

Here are Bryan's parents in front of one of the Canadian government buildings.

We had a great time with our families and can't wait until our next vacation!