31 Weeks

I'm now 31 Weeks & can't believe how fast time has gone by! Baby will be here before we know it! We had our last appointment on January 20th, at 30 weeks. We still don't know what we're having, just that it is a healthy & big baby!! Baby Marx weighs 4lbs already, a full pound more than is predicted/expected at this time. She/he has long fingers & has been moving like crazy. Heartrate 160bpm and strong. I am still leaning on the side that we are having a little girl, although I'm not sure why. Nate thought we were having a little boy until he saw the baby's fingers on the ultrasound...at that point he said "Amy & Leah have long fingers, it's going to be a girl!" Guess we'll just have to wait & see! Everything has been going well still. I had good test results come back...no Gestational Diabetes, yay!! At this point we're still on track to deliver around April 1st. The doctor had no reason to believe (as of now) that I'd deliver early, even with the size of the baby now.

Christmas with The Marx's & Surprise Baby Shower

Christmas with The Marx family was January 15th...the only weekend we could all get together. We had a blast though. I was 29 weeks & not the only pregnant one...we're so excited that Amy & Adam are expecting also, and a little girl at that!! Here's some pictures of the weekend.

 Nate had fun playing with Cayle & Brock...with the best toy ever, an empty box!! The boys thought it was great & it was so cute to see them laughing as they got thrown around inside.

 The Marx Family just keeps growing! This year we had a Christmas Theme contest...as you can see we had 2 Uncle Eddy's! Needless to say, they won the contest!

A big "Thank You" goes out to the Marx Family for the surprise baby shower...it was more than we could have ever asked for. Baby Marx sure got spoiled!!  We can't wait for Baby to meet Grandma Cindy & Aunties Amy, Leah & Katie!!

 Grandma Marx & Grandma Micke

Amy & Carlina

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 with the Olsen's

 26 Weeks

Windsor loves to open gifts as well...he was very determined to find out what was inside!



Cory & Me

24 Weeks

Here's a look back at the past 12 weeks & how my belly has grown! It's hard to believe all the changes that are taking place, and has been so much fun feeling the baby move. Nate has been able to feel it more often now too!

24 Weeks

19 Weeks

12 Weeks

This weekend we had company and had a blast! Justin and Megan came up from Madison to visit. When they started their travels they knew we were getting snow, but no one would have thought we'd get 15-20 inches...record setting levels! Needless to say, we were definately snowed in this weekend! Saturday we ended up walking downtown to the bars to watch the Badger game...so much snow we couldn't even drive! We were able to grab a tasty lunch, play darts, Wii and of course watch many people attempt to drive places. Today we were lucky enough to have to kind neighbors come over & help snowblow our sidewalk, driveway & get my car out. Here's some pictures of the weekend.

House Projects

And the house projects continue! Last weekend we were lucky enough to have my parents down to help us work on the house. Last year at this time we figured we'd try to "remodel" at our own pace...now for some reason there seems to be a sense of urgency to get these renovations done. Hmmm, I wonder why?! Us girls worked painting walls & trimwork in the dining room, while the guys worked upstairs, taking down a ceiling, more plaster & getting a wall put up. I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel! Soon we'll have the electrician in to update everything, re-insulate upstairs, and get some bedrooms framed in! :)

Mom (or should I say 'Grandma Julie' & Me) 

 Dad (Grandpa Steve) & Nate...trying to look busy at work!

So you might ask why this picture isn't very clear? All of those speckles you see

are dust particles from plaster & old insulation coming down....messy stuff!

Windsor saw that we covered the couch during construction, so after

bumping into wet paint, he decided to take it easy & get some rest.

Grandma Julie busy at work...she did most of the painting while I worked

on trimwork. I tried to help as much as I could, doing what allowed

without my belly getting in the way! :) Thanks for all of the help!!

23 Weeks

I'm officially 23 weeks today & lots has changed since my last post! I've had the best of intentions, just don't know where time has gone! Everything is going very well. Baby Marx is starting to move, which is the coolest thing. On November 20th (21 wks) I started to feel movement...this time it was clear as could be. I was trying to go to sleep after working overnight & it felt like someone was doing summersaults inside of me!

On November 23rd we had our monthly check-up with the doctor. Baby Marx is very healthy & had a heartrate of  approximately 160. We are still right on track for April 1st.

For Thanksgiving we travelled out to the farm & had a blast with the whole family. Was so much fun to have everyone back at the same time. After an attempted couple of hours of sleep, all of us girls woke up for some Black Friday shopping. Once again, we managed to nearly fill up 2 vehicles...this time Amy's minivan & Katie's truck. Who would've thought we'd find so many good deals?! Can't wait to do it all over again next year!

And one more exciting thing...just this week (December 1st) Nate got to feel the baby move for the first time! I was doing some stuff around the house before Nate got home & noticed quite a bit of movement. So when Nate came home & knew baby was active, we thought why not try to see if he could feel anything. Only seconds after Nate put his hand on my belly, our active little baby wanted to say hello...I jumped it was so strong, it kind of scared me! It brought big smiles to our faces. Needless to say, we're both enoying every moment & looking more forward to April 1st!

October 26th - Ultrasound

We had our "big" ultrasound last night...where the doctor measures the head, heart, spine, stomach, etc. & when we could potentially find out the sex of the baby. Well, Baby Marx was quite the wild child! The doctor laughed as he got started & couldn't believe how much the baby was moving. After all, last time he did an ultrasound the baby was cuddled up & sleeping, with an occasional stretch. He couldn't even get a picture of the face she/he was so wild! It was cute though, the doctor said that it's good to have a little bit of "spark" in this world. The baby is doing great. Once again, we were amazed at how much things had changed since our last appointment.

The baby weighs approximately 1/2 pound & the heartrate was 146bpm.  We could see all 4 chambers of the heart, the stomach, thigh bone, skull & beautiful spine! The only picture we were unable to get was the face...for some reason we have a stubborn one on our hands! You'd better believe I hope baby warms up to the camera (for my sake at least!)

Everything's looking very good developmentally which is such a relief. Our doctor, knowing we wanted to keep the rest a "surprise" gave us one more chance to speak up if we wanted to find out what we were having. With smiles & a strong will (thank you daddy Nate) we decided to wait. However, the doctor than asked if he could find out for himself, which he apparently doesn't do very often! We turned our heads, he attempted to find out, but baby was too wild! :)

We brought along a special guest to the appointment also, Grandma Julie! Was so nice to have my mom with to share in the special occasion. She got to see all the fun stuff & was also able to take a few pics of us when we got home.

Ultrasound - 17 weeks & 4 days

Head

 Heart - the heartrate was 146bpm

 Spine