Updates!

So Derek and I FINALLY have a closing date set in stone for our house. We are going in on Tuesday the 19th to get everything signed and all that good stuff.

We've decided that we are going to replace the carpeting that is in the house with some new carpet since there are a few spots that need to be replaced anyway. Derek and his friend Nate are going to do the job. Tuesday Derek is going to rip up the carpet and sometime during the week the two of them will put down the carpets. This means long nights and no sleep for Derek. Haha.

After the carpets are put down we get to start moving everything in. YAY!

We don't have much to move in since we went from a two bedroom apt to a 4 bedroom house. So we are saving up for stuff to fill it. God knows Stratton's room is going to be full. That kid has EVERYTHING! Haha. Thanks to his awesome family. I can't wait to start putting his room together. We are doing a jungle theme in his room. He's going to have big leaves and animals and all kinds of jungley stuff in there. I hope he likes it. I have a few years till he can verbalize if he does or not. :)

As for the little guy he is doing well. I've been having Braxon Hicks the last 4-5 days which has worn me out and made me really sore. I called the Dr about them because I had them constantly (not consistently though) for 2 days. He assured me that it was normal and just make sure I keep my feet up and drink LOTS of water. So the little guy is good. Yesterday I went in to the Doc and had the usual pee test, weight check, and blood pressure exam. Everything was fine. Just a little dehydrated.

I go back in two weeks to get checked for Step B. After that it's one visit a week until D day! YAY!

Everyone get excited!



Since the last blog:

-Mady had her baby girl.
Kayden Hope Koehler
Born August 6th at 12:00 pm
7 lbs. 5.4 oz
20 inches
CUTE! CUTE! CUTE!


-My friend Amy that I went to high school also had her baby
Mason Edward Oliver
Born August 18, 2008 at 9:48 pm
7 pounds 13 ounces
20.5 inches

Not sure if he is still in the hospital now but he did have an infection and they were going to keep him in the nursery for a little while.

Our First House!

Derek and I closed the other day on our first home. It's such a good feeling. We have our own house that we get to bring our little boy home from the hospital to. It on W. Jackson Blvd. right behind the Jr High. Here are some pictures of it. Minus the furniture in it. That's not ours. We are set to move into in around 2 weeks. So if anyone would like to help out please do. We need all the help we can get since I can't really move anything. Thanks so much.



















We are going to be having a moving party as soon as we can get into the house. We either plan on getting a keg or a few cases of beer and grilling some burgers, brats, and hotdogs. Any help is much appreciated.

First Baby Shower and Grandma's 75th B-Day

So my first baby shower for Stratton and I was great! We had so much fun. We even made onsies. I'll put pics up as soon as I get some from Brenda. My cousins Eric and Allen even made a onsie. They turned out so cute. Each one is so different but SO cute. Thank you to everyone who helped out with it.

Grandma's B-Day party turned out so great. I didn't really know most of the people who were there but it was still really good to have all the family in one place. My cousin Beth and her husband Steve and their two girls Mady and Anna were there. My cousins Eric and Allen were there along with Eric's girlfriend Merideth. Of couse Casey and I were there also. That was the first time all 7 grandchildren and great-grandchildren were in one place at the same time in 7 years. Casey and my Auntie Pam tried making my grandma's famous Angel Food Cake but failed. It went flat. Haha. But it was the thought that counts right?

I'll put some pictures from both on here as soon as I get some.

Baby Showers

I'm having my baby showers this next month (August). I made the invites and I'm almost done addressing them and sending them out.

My first baby shower is going to be on August the 2nd at 10 in the morning and it's going be mostly family since my Aunt is throwing a party for my Grandma Marges 75 birthday.

My second baby shower is going to be for my friends and the rest of my family that couldn't make it to the first one. It is going to be on August 16th at 10 in the morning. Here is what some of the invites look like.

If you got something different for the 2nd don't feel bad. I ran out of patience and bought some. Sorry.

My First Pregnant Photo Shoot

My friend Sarah Trickey took some of these for me one day and edited them. They are so cute! She did a great job.








She didn't take this one but I thought it was so cute.
I was laying on my moms bed with Sage and Ender (my sisters dogs) and Ender snuggled up with me and put his paw on my belly. He's such a good snuggler.

Every two weeks

So I've been trying to see how I progress in size. I've been taking pictures of my belly every couple of weeks since I was 8 weeks pregnant. Here's what I have so far.

8 weeks

12 weeks

16 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks

22 weeks

24 weeks

26 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks

32 weeks

35 Weeks

38 Weeks

House Hunting

So, Derek and I moved out of the 1207 E. Main Apt 52. Thank God! One of the last nights we stayed there my mom came over to help us move. I was getting clothes out of my closet when I saw a spider in between two of my shirts. It wasn't just any kind of spider though. It was a BROWN RECLUSE! Yuck! Well, I freaked and made Derek and my mom try to kill it. Well, they didn't get it. I tried to forget about it and go to bed after my mom left but had to get up and go to the bathroom at around 10:30. I turned on the light and made my way to the bathroom when I heard a "WHOP!" Derek found it crawling across our bedroom floor. He smashed it. We went to bed and tried forget that it was even there. Until the next night. We were ready for bed and Derek was getting ready to turn off the TV when I gasped as I watched ANOTHER brown recluse climb up the wall behind him. That was my last straw. I was NOT sleeping there. Two spiders in two days was too much! We packed some clothes for the next day and drove over to his grandparents house and never came back. We packed all of our stuff that weekend and were finally out of that 3rd floor apartment.

So now what? We're staying at his Grandma Mona and Grandpa Bill Williams' house until we find a house.

Stone Temple Pilots!

Our first concert as a married couple was on June 8, 2008. We went with some of our friends. Lauren Loftis and Alex Skelton. We left early in the day so we could stop by the Bass Pro Shop and do a little shopping at Gordmans. The concert gates opened at 11 so we figured it was going to be a day show and we would get home early. Boy were we wrong. Come to find out there were 7 opening bands that day. There were only a few that we even remotely wanted to watch so we all spent most of the day under a tree since it was SO HOT! Water was $4 a bottle and beer was $9 dollars a cup. Two words: Rip Off! We had lawn seats but saw a sign that said we could upgrade to chairs for only like 5 bucks a seat. So we all did. We weren't that close but at least we had a chair to sit in. The only thing Derek hated was that he couldn't smoke. But he did anyway. Even after being asked 4-5 times to stop smoking. He's such a rebel. Haha. ANYWAY, we got our seats and sat for most of the show until STP came on. I stood for most of it but couldn't really see even when standing up. I enjoyed the music though. It was a good concert but it was very hot and very expensive. The best part of the day was when Derek though he "lost me." We both went down so I could get something to eat and drink. He stayed next to the fans and I waited patiently in line. (for 30 min) After about 20 min of waiting in line Derek was starting to get worried and called Lauren and Alex to see if they had seen me. They of course hadn't because I was IN LINE! So once I got my food and drink and went back over to the fans where Derek gave me a big hug and asked where I'd been. I told him I had been waiting in line and he told me he thought that he lost me. That made me feel good. He worried about me. He's such a good guy. The show got over at around 11 or so and we made our way back to the car. Kind of. It took us about 20 min just to find the car. Haha. Once we got back to the car Derek and Alex passed out in the back seat and Lauren slept in the passenger seat, It was a Sunday night so Derek had to work the next day (even though he didn't) so I drove us all back in Lauren's car and got home from STL in about an hour. I sped a little bit. Shh. I got Derek home and we went to bed after our long hot day.

Moral of the story: if you're going to go to a concert, bring your own water and beer or else you will spend way more than you expected.

I got a new J.O.B.!

So i have had 4 jobs now since the beginning of this year. I started this year working at a family owned company called Identity Elements and was fired the Monday after my wedding. Thanks guys for the awesome wedding present. Next was Old Navy where I worked with my sister-in-law Maddie. I hated it there. I worked crappy shifts that made it so I never got to see Derek. I always had to close and it was non stop folding clothes. WHICH I HATE! But what did I expect working at a clothes store right? After that short little job experience with Old Navy I got a job (still out at the mall) at a place called the Shoe Dept. It was so easy and the people that I worked with were great. Only bad part was that the pay wasn't that great and the shifts weren't long enough to be worth driving from Jackson and back everyday. I still had my job at the Murphy's barn where I cleaned stalls and fed horses but I was getting too far along in my pregnancy to keep cleaning stalls and lifting the water buckets so I had to stop until I have the baby. (I'll be back there as soon as Stratton gets here) So what was I to do now? Thankfully my step-mother-in-law asked if I would come and work at RapcoHorizon with them as a graphic designer in their marketing department. So, now I have a real job that I enjoy and will look great on my resume as soon as I graduate. YAY!

IT'S A.......

Derek and anxiously waited for our appointment on Monday May the 19th 2008. We would be finding out the sex of our little one. We had an appointment at 1:30 and it couldn't come soon enough. Derek got off of work and came picked me up. We went to the Dr and waited in the lobby. The nurse came in and did the usual tests then we went back to the ultra sound room. Here's the pictures we got back that day.


IT'S A BOY!


this was the most perfect profile of him


he was showing us that he had all 5 toes


relaxing with his hand on his head


Here's our little guys profile


Here he is all scrunched up