You asked for it....

I'm finally getting around to posting my belly. I've actually been putting it off because I feel silly posting pictures of myself. I've gotten a lot of lectures for not doing it so I hope you are all happy. This first picture is taken a couple of weeks after we came out for Jeff and Anna's wedding. So the beginning of May, I guess. It's the only good 'before' picture I have even though it wasn't before. I was a little over 3 months along.
Here are two others that are more recent. The red skirt one was taken just Sunday and the other was taken a couple of days before that.

I haven't minded this part of the pregnancy. I seem to have enough energy and I'm not totally nauseated anymore, so I'm loving that. I've only had one person touch my belly that I wasn't too comfortable with. I hear it will happen more and I'm really hoping that complete strangers won't do it, like in the grocery store check out line. (right, Michelle)? Awkward. And, I can now cry on command or just have an uncontrollable laughing spell. It's kinda weird and sometimes really scares Joel. For one, I'm the one crying during movies and not Joel. That usually doesn't happen. So, there you all have it! That's as big as the belly has gotten and I'm sure it'll get worse and those will be some great pictures to see... maybe I'll share them.

Walking in the Rain

I've been trying to walk to work lately. I got lazy and started driving to work for a while. So to save money and to get some exercise I've been making myself walk. The other day I was about ready to leave work and noticed it looked like some rain was going to start. I didn't bring my umbrella with me, but I knew there were a bunch of them in the closet. So I went and picked out the smallest one, at least that's what I thought. I started my trek home and opened up my borrowed umbrella. I was surprised to see that it was as big as a five man tent. I debated whether or not to shut it and just get wet or continue my walk home as is. I opted to use the umbrella because of what happened earlier in the week. On my way to work a couple days before this I was caught in a rain burst out of nowhere and ended up going back home to change my drenched clothes. I got a lot of stares with such a huge tent, but at least this time I was dry. At one point I was taking up the whole sidewalk and had to hold the umbrella up so people could walk under. So in a way, I wasn't just keeping myself dry I was helping others out. I only ran it into one building, took out one car antenna and almost blew away three times. It was a sight to see. I had learned my lesson earlier in the week. I'll definitely take a tent and stares over nothing any day. Having an umbrella here is a must!
These pictures really don't show how massive this thing was, but you can kind of imagine it.

4th of July in Chicago

We had a fun week last week. We started it out at the White Sox game Tuesday night. Joel's friend from school and his fiance invited us to go with them. We sat on the 5th row, right behind the 3rd plate. It was awesome. I could see everything, even the sweat. We stayed for most of the game, but when they are down by one in the bottom of the 10th with two outs, you kinda figure the game is over. Just as we are leaving the stadium we hear a burst of cheering and fireworks go off. They had scored a home run!! We couldn't believe it. We decided to keep going and listen to the rest of the game in the car. The Sox ended up scoring another point and won the game. We watched the fireworks from the car. Joel was so heartbroken that we had missed the most exciting part of the game! He'll remember that longer then if was in the stadium, right?

Joel's disappointment was forgotten two days later when we went over to the same friend's house to watch the big downtown firework show. Tom and Lauren live right next to the park the fireworks were being set off. We were able to go onto the rooftop deck to watch. We were 56 floors up!! When the show started we were surprised to see that we were eye level with it all. It was loud and fun. Our baby was loving it, she was kicking through the whole thing.



This is the view before the show started. Joel was worried to take the picture because he was afraid he was going to lose the camera over the edge.. even though he was ten feet away from it.




This is a part of the show! Good times.

The next day, which was actually the 4th we were at home ready to enjoy a movie night. We didn't get too far into the movie when it was interrupted by millions of fireworks. When we looked out the window all we could see were huge fireworks everywhere, all the way north and west. So we got a good show again! They started at about 9 and didn't end until Midnight. I guess there aren't as many restrictions here as there are in Utah. We couldn't get a good picture of it all. Sorry to disappoint. We ended the weekend off at the Taste of Chicago. This is a huge deal here. It's a big fair, but mostly it's about the food, hence the name. All kinds of restaurants come out for taste testing. You purchase tickets and go around buying food with these tickets. I felt like I was in elementary school again. The food was good and the crowd was huge. It was quite the experience. All in all, it was a good week. We missed being with family and doing tank battles, but it was fun to enjoy the things Chicago had to offer.

Baby Pictures

These ultrasound pictures were taken June 18th 2008. Jackie and I were pretty excited about going because we decided we could not wait to find out if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. Jackie was guessing it was a boy and i thought it would be a girl. The only names that we could agree on were boy names so of course it was going to be a girl!!!! I was right!!! this is something that I have to be proud of because as a married man I am most all the time wrong.



Here is the money shot of her face!! the doctor didn't seem too interested in the face or any other features pictures....most all she cared about was getting a good look at her heart. From what we could see of the heart it looked like a tiny two cylinder engine...well not exactly, but it did pump real good.



As you can tell by the bottom of the picture these are the feet. she must take after her moms feet. you can tell by the big toe and how it is situated next to the 2nd toe and so on. Im just kidding my toes are the same way.



I like this picture. It was amazing how much detail we were able to see of all the babies features and different organs and bones and the like. Well thats all for now I have to go and sign a new lease for a bigger apartment. we hear that babies don't take up too much space but all their stuff does! thanks for the heads up Noah.

First Post

So, Jackie and I are setting up this blog to keep our families and friends up to date on baby progress, school, work and how wicked awesome we are! I am setting this blog up on the wrong computer so I don't have any of the pictures of Jackie and the baby (Jackie's belly) soon enough....soon enough. in the mean time here is a cool picture from our old computer