Congrats Brian & Amy!!

Our good friends Brian and Amy had their first baby boy on Wednesday, August 29th. Aidan Brian is 8 pounds, 7 ounces and cute as ever! Welcome to the World!

Another Baby Update

I had my 38 week, 5 day checkup today - I am dilated to 3cm and 70% effaced, so all we are waiting for is consistent contractions so we can make the trip to the hospital. The doctor said it's pretty unusual for a first time pregnancy to progress this far so quickly and without much pain or discomfort. So, I am about 1/3 of the way there!! Nate is happy we didn't get sent to the hospital today - the first Beaver Football Game is on tonight! Oh my goodness! :)

Baby Update

I had a doctor's appointment last Thursday, August 23rd. I was checked and found out that I am already 2 cm dilated and about 60% effaced, she was able to feel the baby's head and said he is right there, ready to be born. She estimated, with all my current symptoms, that I could go into labor this weekend. I have had several series of contractions this weekend, although irregular, I am not sure we will be going to the hospital just yet. But hopefully soon, this week would be nice! I am 38 weeks today, so the baby is full term and we would love to meet him a few weeks early. I will keep you all updated, cross your fingers for us!!

Happy 25th Birthday Maggie!! We Love You!!

Happy "Early" Anniversary

Our 1st Wedding Anniversary is quickly approaching, on September 3rd. Wow, I can't believe it's been a year already, seems like just yesterday we were still in the planning phases. Last year was all about the wedding, this year, it's all about baby. Last Sunday, I surprised Nate with a reservation for brunch up where we were married. I figured we probably shouldn't wait until our actual anniversary... I will be either very uncomfortable or will have a newborn. But, we had a great time, we have such wonderful memories of our wedding, it was absolutely perfect! Below are some pictures of the view we had.

Happy Anniversary Honey! I love you with all my heart, it's been wonderful to be able to call myself your wife over the past year and I look forward to the next year with you and our son.

More Pictures

At 36 Weeks!

Ready for baby to be here!

Nate and I at Walsh's Company Picnic.

We had a doctor's visit 2 days ago, everything looks good with me and the baby. We had a quick ultrasound to see what position he was in, he is head down and has dropped dramatically, so I think he is ready to be here just as much as Nate and I want him here. I am measuring about 2 cm small (hard to imagine for me since I feel like a house) but the doctor is not concerned. I will now be going to weekly appointments... only four weeks left!

We finished our last birthing class a few days ago, I think Nate learned a lot. The class seemed to be catered towards the coach, which will be helpful for me during labor and delivery. I have no doubt Nate will be the calm one, he will remember all the breathing techniques, and he will be a wonderful coach! A couple in our class ended up giving birth to their son 2 weeks early and brought him in on Monday to visit everyone, he was very cute and made Nate and I anxious for our little one.

Less Than 5 Weeks!

Here is the latest picture of me at 35 weeks. It's not a great picture, our batteries went out on our camera almost immediately after taking this photo. Nate will take a few more of me later on in the week and I'll post them. As you can see, my belly is now huge!

There has been a few milestones that Nate has waited for in this pregnancy - first, of course, to feel the baby kick. He loves to feel the baby when he has the hiccups, which is quite often, I am thinking it's because it's a constant feeling. The second milestone, was that my belly would exceed my breasts - and those of you that know me well, you know that is a defeat of itself. (Sorry if that is TMI for some of you). But this has finally happened. The last milestone has not happened quite yet, much to Nate's disappointment, "the turkey is done." Well, not quite, my belly button is still an innie... Nate teases me every night that my innie will become an outie anytime now. Oh geez, the joys of pregnancy!

Finally!!

Nate and I finally got a car this weekend! We have been a one car family for a little over a month, which hasn't been too bad, but it was time to finally make a purchase. We almost purchased the 2007 Infiniti Sedan, but wanted to test drive an Acura first, and of course, we loved the Acura as well. It was a tough decision, especially for me! But we figured the Acura's price was a lot more appealing to both of us.

So, we are proud owners of a 2004 Acura TL. It's fully loaded with navigation, leather, sunroof, 6 CD changer and most important - it's a 4-door vehicle! The car has a lot of hands-free tools, we can ask the car to change the temperature, fan levels, radio station and we can call someone through the car and talk to them without touching our cell phones (which will be really nice with kids in the back seat). And when I have an incoming call, the car will let me know who it is and ask if I would like to answer the call. It will take some getting used to, but it's a nice feature.

For those of you that know me well, you know that I name my vehicles (I know, I'm a dork). I have had Max the Mazda, Halle the Hyundai and Hannah the Honda. My mom has had Sabrina the Subaru and now has Lucy the Lexus. I need help naming my new car and yes, it needs to start with and A. So, let me know if you have any ideas! Maybe I'll be more successful in naming our car than our baby. :)

Baby "Get Together"

We decided to have a little get together to celebrate baby - not a typical baby shower... so guys could attend and have some fun with us. We had about 35 people attend and we had a great time visiting with all of you! We wish it could have been a longer visit, but enjoyed every minute of it. We have such a wonderful group of family and friends. Our baby was showered with such great (and very cute) gifts, they were all much appreciated and we will get lots of use out of all of them. We know our baby will be so loved, we can't wait for everyone to meet him in about 8 weeks!

Nate and I would like to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for everything!

2 More Months Left...

Well, I finally made it to the "uncomfortable stage" in pregnancy! Here is a picture of me at about 31 weeks along and really showing! My belly has grown a lot in the last few weeks, strangers are finally asking me when I am due rather than giving me that look, "Is she pregnant or is she just fat?" The baby is very active lately, he seems to be constantly on the move, I feel like my stomach is a large jello mold that just jiggles constantly - it's cute to watch.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and you are enjoying the summer weather we have been having. We are finally looking into air conditioning in our condo, sleeping on the 3rd floor has not been fun this week!

Oh, still no new car yet. Nate and I are having a difficult time making a choice. Hopefully we will test drive some more cars this weekend. So far, Nathan loves the new 2008 Buick Enclave (but there are very few to choose from since it is a brand new vehicle) and I love the 2007 Infiniti Sedan. Decisions... Decisions...

I have had several people ask me where Nate and I are registered and what items we need - we are registered at www.babiesrus.com under Jessica Connaway.

Denali

Our friend Joe had the opportunity to climb Mt. McKinley (Denali) in Alaska last month.

We are happy that he had such a wonderful time!

He trained hard and did a great job, we're proud of you.

Congrats Joe!! Welcome Home!!

How About Them Beavers?!?!

The Beavers have done it again, they are now 2 time National Champions of the College Baseball World Series!! I remember last year, watching the championship games in our new condo. We had just moved to Washington and Nate was constantly screaming at the television and jumping up and down - I really thought our new neighbors would think crazy people just moved in next door. So, no matter where we live, we will always be Beavers at heart!
GO BEAVS!!!

Can pregnancy really make you dumber?

Okay, so I consider myself an intelligent and confident woman (and I would hope most of you would agree). But in the last few months, I have magically become absent-minded, extremely indecisive and just plain slower at most everything. I have had the worst time choosing items to purchase for our baby, I thought once we knew the sex, it would get easier - nope. Poor Nate and my mom on the day we registered for baby gifts, I couldn't make a decision to save my life! I lost count how many times I said "I don't care, whatever you want." And now car shopping... oh my goodness. Between Nate and the salesmen, I think they want to strangle me. We have finally narrowed it down to 3 vehicles and it has been an exhausting experience so far. It does make me feel better when reading articles online or in pregnancy books that this is "normal" but it's still difficult for me. But the good news - although Nate has to deal with my forgetfulness and that I have lost the ability to make my own decisions, I have been decently pleasant during this pregnancy. So, I think Nate would take dumb over b!$%& any day!

Bye-Bye Truck...

We sold our truck yesterday! Nate surprised me, he was ready to get rid of it and was relieved when it sold. He is ready to move on and buy a family vehicle - so look for a new posting in the next week and hopefully we will have a new car soon! So, here is to Nate's Toyota, it was a great vehicle and we hope it is going to a good home. We had some great memories in the Toyota, hunting, camping, 4-wheeling and I will never forget the look on Nate's face when he first saw the truck 4 years ago when he returned from Iraq - it was his dream truck. But life goes on and we are looking forward to getting a new vehicle for our family.

3D/4D Ultrasound - Our Baby Boy

Nate and I had an amazing experience on Saturday. We were able to see our little boy in 4D! Our appointment was for about 30 minutes and our boy was active the entire time. I don't even think I have the words to express what we saw, we did get an entire DVD of the show, so we can watch it over and over again and share it with friends and family. It was pretty crazy to see him open and close his eyes, it looked as if he was looking right at us. He loves sucking on his thumb and fingers, and waving his hands in front of his face, but we did get some great face pictures. He played with his foot a few times, yawned and waved, you could see him pushing the emblicial cord out of the way of his face a few times - looked like he was getting frustrated with it! We were able to see he has some hair, and definatley comfirmed that it is in fact a boy. He did give us "the finger" toward the end, I think he must have been tired of getting poked and feeling like we were invading his territory. It was a great experience and we will never forget it! Eyes are open, looking at his parents, and trying to stick his fingers in his mouth.

Cute profile of baby - looks like he is happily sleeping... although he is really kicking his mother!Sucking his thumb - Eyes are closed.

Taking a peek at who's watching again... hand is also in the picture.

Trying to shove the emblicial cord back down out of his face. You can see his eye closed and his hand pushing at the cord.

Here is the "nice" shot of giving his parents "the finger!"

It's A Boy!

We finally found out that we are expecting a boy! It's so great to finally know for sure, so we can finish up our nursery and register for more baby items. We had a slight scare a few days ago, I hadn't felt the baby move for about 2 days, we tried all the tricks that have worked in the past, but didn't have any luck. So I finally called my doctor (I was so worried she would think I was just overreacting) but they told me to come into the office right away. She was able to find the heartbeat and got out her old ultrasound machine, we saw the baby moving around and kicking me quite hard, but I wasn't feeling it. The baby was head down, which is abnormal for him, so she thought maybe that was the reason I wasn't feeling anything, or that I had a pinched nerve. So we monitored it for the day, and decided that I would get another high tech ultrasound, just to make sure. Everything looked great during the ultrasound, the baby is 2 pounds, 6 ounces and is VERY active. I am starting to feel the baby more and more each day, so that is reassuring. And we found out that our baby is a boy... Nate is very happy! He told me from the beginning that he only makes boys, so of course, he is very happy to be right (for once). But we need help on a name, we had a girl's name, and we have narrowed it down to 2 names for a boy:

Bailey Alexander Connaway (Bailey is my maiden name, and I am the last Bailey in the family. Alexander was my mother's father's name).
Jacob "Jake" Charles Connaway (We just like the name Jake, and Charles is Nathan and his dad's middle name, his grandfather and uncles first name.)

Vote on our name poll: http://www.babycenter.com/babypoll/7cJz

Let us know your opinions, if you have a preference or if you have another name you would like to share with us. The picture below is baby looking at you and yawning and me at 28 weeks along!

Special Treatment

Nate and I saw this sign at the mall and got a front row parking spot! I thought it was funny, but nice that I didn't have to walk very far to get inside to the air conditioning.

Starting A Blog... Catching Up

Well, Nate and I are going to try to start a blog to keep in touch with all our family and friends. We figured it would be a great way to post pictures of the baby and of things that are happening in our lives.

It's hard to believe that we have lived in Seattle for almost a year now! But this past year has been the best for Nate and I. In September, we finally tied the knot, and our wedding was absolutely wonderful, we wouldn't have changed a single thing that happened that day. We are so happy with how everything turned out, it was great to spend time with all our family and friends and party. We received our wedding album a few months ago and we were stunned at how beautiful the pictures turned out, we hope to share it with all of you some day. We went to Napa Valley for our honeymoon for a week (picture above was taken at Mondavi Winery) and we had the best time! It was so relaxing, we just drove around the country, we took a hot air balloon ride, went to San Francisco for a day and just explored.

Then a few months later... we are pregnant! And so happy about it! We originally thought we would wait a year or so before we started to try, but figured it was a good time in our lives right now, since I wasn't working yet. I am currently 26 weeks pregnant, so we are over the half way mark. Most of you know that I had horrible morning sickness that lasted 24 hours a day, with no relief at all for about 6 weeks. It was definitely difficult to go through, but it was great having my mom and Nate help out so much during that time since I was bed-ridden. But once the sickness was over, the pregnancy has progressed wonderfully. It took a long time for me to start showing, but once I did, it finally started to feel real and it is great! Our doctor has an old ultrasound machine, so at each appointment we are able to see our baby and at our 20 week appt, we had the "big" ultrasound to make sure the baby is healthy. With the good news of the baby being very healthy and very active, we were unable to determine the sex. Each time, the baby decides to be stubborn and doesn't show us the goods. We are having a 3-4D ultrasound in a few weeks, so we are excited to see our baby again. The ultrasound picture above is the baby's profile at 20 weeks and the picture below is my pregnancy at 24 weeks. Nate has been good about taking my picture each month to show my progress (now that there is something to show!)

Nate is doing really well, as most of you know, we relocated up here due to a job offer (and of course to be close to my mom!) He is working for Walsh Construction in downtown Seattle as a Project Engineer. He has been working on a project this year that he is really excited about, it's the largest project in Walsh's history, about $90 million. It's a 9 acre lot in Seattle, it will have a parking garage, movie theatre, 109 Condos, and 279 Apartments along with day lighting a creek in the middle of the project. Walsh has been a great company to work for, they really appreciate their workers and Nate is really happy with them. Nathan rides the bus into work each day (which Walsh pays for), which is wonderful with the price of gas lately! He usually catches the bus at 5:15 in the morning and doesn't get home until 6 or 7, so it's long days for him, but he doesn't complain. I have never met anyone who actually likes his job as much as Nate does.

I have been staying home, I had a part-time job for a few months, but didn't care for it and it was a great feeling knowing I didn't need it and quit with no problem (doesn't typically happen for me). I love being domestic, cooking, cleaning and doing projects around the house and taking care of Nate is fun for me. And getting ready for the baby... Nate and I are really happy that I can stay home with the baby, we are really lucky that he has a great job and can support us with no worries.

Some of you have seen our house, it's actually a condo (condos are everywhere up here). But we live in a nice gated community next to a lake with a view of Mt Rainer, so it's very pretty. I can't wait to move into a house someday, hopefully in the next few years... Nate and I have done some upgrades in the condo, but it's pretty new, so there isn't a lot to do. But after living in an apartment for so many years, it's a nice feeling to tear things out and paint walls! We are actually hoping to rent it out after we purchase a house to keep some property. So, if anyone wants to move up here...

It's been great being so close to my mom, she lives about 15 miles away and works about 5 miles away from us. I have lunch with her each week and Nate and I have dinner with her and my step dad each Sunday. For those of you who know my mom, you know how unbelievably excited she is to become a grandmother!!

Other than that, our lives are pretty much the same as they were in Corvallis. Nate and I try to explore and do fun things on weekends. We have been going to some Mariners games lately, we went to the Yankee game (I am a huge fan) Nate was able to get us 4th row seats right behind Jeter... so I was able to stare at his behind for 9 innings (with binoculars even) so I was really up close and personal with him - so I was a happy girl! So, it's not the best picture of Jeter, but it's closest that I got to him... Nate went to high school and played baseball with one of the Yankee relief pitchers, so it was really neat to watch him pitch. Famous people tend to come out of Astoria, Nate knows most of the guys on the Alaskan crab boat The Maverick on Deadliest Catch, he went to high school with the captain. Maybe Nate will be famous some day... a girl can wish!

Well, we will try to keep updates on the baby and everything on this blog, so check it out when you can. We want to thank our family and friends, everyone has been so great in keeping in touch with us after our move and so happy for us with our pregnancy. It's great to have so much support, we love you all!!