Aaron & Katie's Baby is on her way!

We just got a call from Sherry & Aaron that Katie's water broke this evening! They are currently at the hospital and as far as we know, everything is going well! She isn't due until the 17th of December, so we are hoping that the delivery will be smooth and that she will be really healthy! We can't wait to go to the hospital tomorrow to see her, I will post pics as soon as I can!

Baby News...

This was taken at 23 weeks (beginning of month 6) and I am measuring at 38"

Lots of exciting baby news to share:

Aaron & Katie's baby girl could possible be here any day now; Katie is dilated to 3cm & 80% effaced. We are sooooo excited to meet her and give her lots of love!

Matt & Amanda had their baby shower on the 11th. They should have everything they need for the arrival of their "Sweet Pea". They decided to keep it a 'surprise' but I think that it's a girl! I am waiting for Julie to send me pictures of the three of us and our expanding bellies; will post them when I get them!

Patrick & Liz announced last weekend that they are expecting in July! Hooray - Liz has been wanting to get pg for a while, but they have only been trying for a couple of months. It must have been that prego dust I sprinkled on her :o)

Steve & Ann found out on Halloween that they will be adding a little boy (Ewen Meyer) to their family. Ann delivered Liam 5 weeks early, so it's a possibility that Ewen will be here in February!

Beau & Beka will be having a baby girl, Megan, sometime in February. There's going to be a bit of competition between Megan & Abbie for Ewen's attention!

Rob & Stephanie are in disbelief that we only have 113 days to go. Okay, so that looks like a lot of days, but after the Holidays, we will be down to January, February, and then only a couple of weeks into March! The time is going to fly by, and I really don't think that I am ready yet. My body is preparing, however, as I have been having pretty intense Braxton Hicks contractions. According to everything that I read, it's normal to feel them more the second time around. I just don't remember feeling them at all with Isaac until May 17th. We went to Metro because I was having contractions 2 min apart for a few hours. I was dilated to 2 cm, but not in active labor. I went again the next night for the same thing and was dilated to 3 cm, and still not in active labor. Many days passed, including my due date and he finally showed up on June 12; six days late.

Abbie is quite the mover - we have caught her on video, but I will have to upload and edit so that you don't have to sit through 2 minutes, waiting for the movement :o) She also has the hiccups quite often, which is a pretty good indication that she will arrive with a full head of hair! My prediction is that she is going to have the Mosqueda/Spencer genes and look nothing like us. Rob's Grandpa is 100% Mexican, and my Grandpa is a German/Native American mix! Only time will tell!!!

We bought our Pack N Play after lots of drama at Babies R Us. Persistence pays off, let me tell ya! We also purchased a used Baby Bjorn for about 10% of the price that they are sold as new. Of course, we have lots of stuff left over from Isaac - luckily I went neutral with everything but clothes! I am anxious to get everything set up and ready to go; the nesting instinct has kicked in and I can't do anything until we move - arrgh!

I will keep you all posted on the progress of all of these prego mommies :o)

Happy Birthday/Anniversary!

I love you more today than I did yesterday, but not as much as I will love you tomorrow

I am a day late in posting this, but we were busy this weekend...

Happy 28th Birthday Rob! 3 years ago, I asked you to go out with me for a birthday beer and you obliged. I was ecstatic! We celebrated at the Rogue with a couple of drinks and chips & salsa; we talked about a lot of things! At the end of our 'date', you dropped me off at home and I was in heaven for the rest of the night. I never would have thought that anything would come of our simple date, but after I finally forced my phone number into your hand, you did the right thing :o)

Now three years later, we are happily married and expecting a baby!!! It has been an amazing journey (not the easiest, but that's how we learn) and I am so looking forward to spending many, many, many more birthdays with you!

Thank you for being such a wonderful husband, dad, and friend.

Chicago Birthday Weekend

What an amazing weekend! Rob and I decided to go to Chicago for the weekend - I bought him Neurosis (one of his favorite bands) tickets for his Birthday and we used it as an excuse to escape the realities of life for a few days. On Friday, we took Isaac to Jackson to stay with his Grandma Sherry and Grandpa John for the weekend.

We spent the night there and enjoyed a hearty breakfast before departing for the Windy City. We checked into our hotel, The Ohio House - seriously good deal on a hotel that was close to everywhere we wanted to be!

We then took off for Rush street to check out Urban Outfitters and the Burton store - yay!!! Customers were lounging on the 3rd floor, playing Guitar Hero III. I should have played, but was too shy/timid. Jon will be disappointed...

We stopped by the Water Tower and took a picMy only request of the whole trip was to get popcorn - delicious! I made Rob take the bag away from me so that I could enjoy it for the rest of the weekend! The half hour wait in line was worth it!Navy Pier was the next stop - we walked to entire time, by the way! We were getting a bit hungry, so we picked up a bite to eat there and I replenished my energy with a little Starbucks!After eating, we walked through the stained glass display. There were some amazing pieces to view, most of them from the late 1800s and early 1900s!

We cheated and took the trolley back to State St. and walked back to the hotel where we freshened up a bit so that we could go to the Hancock Building for dessert.

We arrived at the Hancock Building around 10:30pm, waited in line for about half an hour for the elevator up to the 96th floor and waited for another 15 minutes or so to get a table.

Unfortunately there weren't any tables open, so we were placed at the bar along the glass wall. While we enjoyed our Tiramisu, this is the view that we had! Whoever said that 'patience is a virtue' couldn't be any more right! I think that we had the best seat in the house. It was amazing to look at Chicago from the sky vs. the ground! It was experience that we will never forget!

Sunday morning: with the time change, we thought we had slept until 11am, Michigan time, but it was only 9. So, we got dressed and enjoyed a greasy breakfast at Rock N Roll McDonald's!The view from the insideRob, enjoying his breakfast in the comfy chairsThe view from our seatsWe confided with our Fodor's Chicago Book and after taking the bus to Soldier Field, we enjoyed a two mile walk from Soldier Field, through Grand Park, and ended at Millennium Park. We had beautiful weather and wonderful views of the lake!
Here we are in Grant Park Millennium ParkThe Cloud Gate sculpture, aka the Bean. According to the city of Chicago, permission is needed to publish any images of the structure. If I wind up in jail, this will be why!Sneaking a picture of our reflectionUnder the sculptureOver the river After our fun walk, we went to Pizzeria Uno for lunch. Rob was finally able to enjoy his deep dish pizza that he was craving. After lunch, we visited the places that we hadn't been to yet, like the Lego Store and the Hershey's Store. That was the best hot chocolate I have ever drank! We shopped for a little while longer, then went to Rainforest Cafe for a quick dinner.
After dinner, we were able to rest for a bit before going to the Neurosis concert. The concert was held in an old auditorium (without seating - ugh!) and I made sure that Rob was standing right up front! We were able to get a picture with the keyboard player, Noah.
By Monday morning, we were exhausted! We had made plans to visit the Field Museum, but I was way too tired of walking, and that place is huge! We are going to wait a couple of years and take Isaac there (Abbie can tag along, too). I think that we will enjoy it more seeing it through his eyes. We showed Isaac pictures of the Lego Store and he wants me to take him to Nana's house so that I can go to Chicago and buy him something from there. Hopefully he will still enjoy playing with Legos in a couple of years and we can factor a Lego purchase into our budget.

On our way home, we stopped in Michigan City and visited a couple of Outlet Stores. Rob picked out a couple of outfits for Abbie that are not pink! We finally met Sherry in Kalamazoo and made it home in the rain/snow mix. Isaac is excited to be back home. I think that he has played with every single one of his toys today, which explains how I got this done!

Halloween pics

For the first time in 3 years, I have finally accepted the invitation to go to the bar with the girls on Halloween. I can't tell you how much fun we had - I can't wait to go again next year so that I can have a cocktail or two!

Sir Reginald - Beka's gnome that accompanies them to the party every year!

From left to right: Liz, Ann, Cathy, Kathryn

Katie, Sharon, me!

The bellies! Little Abbie and Ewan are due 10 days apart!
Sir Reginald cutting a rug
The post-bar/pre-Denny's stop at the church steps (approx. 3am)
We carved pumpkins with lots of drama on Sunday and this is how they turned out: We stopped by Mike & Julie's and Kylie was there!