Porter Ray is On His Way

We're having a baby BOY!!! We're so excited! We had a great time meeting Porter during our ultrasound today. He was very cooperative when it came to letting us know he's a boy. He's probably tired of being called a he/she. Porter is very healthy, 5 toes, 5 fingers, he has a well developed brain in his skull, and to my personal relief a 4 chambered heart beating nice and strong! They're keeping my June 14th due date, but Porter seems to be a little younger than last time so I am not going to hold fast to that due date in case he decides to come a little later.

As part of our "Gender Discovery Day", Aaron and I went and bought our first baby items tonight. It's hard not to just put everything in the basket, it's all so cute. We picked up 3 newborn items and had so much fun squealing over our finds and watching the others reaction. My personal favorite was Aaron's "AWW" over this: He's excited to be getting his little boy. As we left, the Doctor that did our ultrasound congratulated me on, "having a normal, well-developed offspring" and to Aaron he said, "Congrats on the Wee Wee!" I can't stop smiling, we're so very happy!

I know you've all seen baby clothes, but I couldn't stop uploading...hope you don't mind. :)

We picked this one because we keep debating about whether he's going to be left-brained like Aaron or right-brained like me.

Half Way

HOLY COW!!! I can't believe I'm halfway through this pregnancy! It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning and a lot of different thoughts went through my head.

I thought about how quickly those first 20 weeks went by! Which caused a mini panic attack because the next 20 weeks will go by just as quickly. It's just not a large amount of time and before you know it our little one will be here. I'm really super excited for that day but I also can't help but think life will never be the same from that moment forward, so I want to enjoy every moment in these next 20 weeks. Mostly I want to enjoy being with Aaron, just me and him! It will be great to see him as Daddy and to be a family of 3, but I'm going to enjoy being a little selfish with my Aaron time.

I thought about how amazing pregnancy is! It has it's moments of unpleasantness, but I'm really enjoying this new experience. I love watching my body change, feeling the baby move, looking down at my bump and knowing there is a life within me. I just feel so lucky to get to be carrying this child!

A Night With The Tax Man

That's right folks, all of our W2s showed up today, so I got to spend the evening with Aaron, the Tax Man. He uses TurboTax to complete our taxes each year and he was very hopeful for a return after several years of paying taxes. The night started off very optimistic after entering Aaron's info. Then came one of my W2s and a loud groan from upstairs: apparently I dinged us a little because my previous employer hadn't withheld enough taxes. I had to look the anxious man in the eyes and remind him that we bought a house this year that would help. I ended up in the computer room sitting on the floor entertaining the puppy so he wouldn't distract his very intense father. Well after it was all entered: donations, college tuition, student loan interest, and the house the saved us, we're actually getting a decent return. Yay, Tax Man, you're my hero!!!

I do think it's awfully nice of the government to lend us $7,500 interest free, that will help shelter us from quite a bit of student loan interest.

It's otherwise been an intense money week for us. At the beginning of the week we took the car in for exhaust work and were quoted $2,000 to get it fixed (we came up with a more affordable option) but still flinched at the thought of the cost. We've felt very grown up this week but are so grateful we put away money every month for rainy days. I can't imagine how we would have felt getting such a large quote like that without a savings to draw on.

I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous Tax Season.

If I Would Have Done A Christmas Card

Aaron and I had some family pictures taken in October thinking we'd send out Christmas Card, but we got too busy. So I thought I'd share a few of our pictures.

Let's end with the Love Of My Life!

Not Much Happenin'

There isn't much going on in our lives besides trying to keep up with the demands of life, work, and home. But it's nice to be working hard and happy. This last week:

• Aaron wired our garage with 20 additional outlets because there was only one in the entire garage and that just wasn't acceptable. He worked so hard on this project and researched a ton. What a smarty pants! As someone in my family once said, "I hate Aaron, he can do everything!"
  
• I went back to school this week with a goal to be a better teacher. I've worked really hard this week and it has felt great. I hope I can keep it up!
  
• Our Little One has increased his/her activity this week and I've felt the baby a lot! Now I'm just hoping I can get Aaron in the right spot to feel him/her soon. January 28th we'll find out boy or girl!
  
• I had my first contraction this week, and it totally freaked me out. I thought I had hurt the baby or something. My doctor explained to me it was a contraction and normal.
• Sydney excavated a bone from our last house plant he can actually reach. We're hoping the plant makes it, but we just could not get mad at him this time. It was too funny that he'd stashed a bone in there.
• We got to go out with BreAnn and Russ last night. It was so nice, we talked and talked! We got some great pointers on babies and what to expect. Steadman is so darling! Aaron and I couldn't stop staring at him. I don't know what Aaron was thinking but this is what was going through my mind, "I have one of those growing inside me! We're going to have a BABY!"
  

Told ya, just another normal week. I like normal weeks though, it makes me grateful for all the little blessings (that really when you think about it are the big blessings) I have in my life.

New Arrival

Aaron's brother Tim and his wife Megan just brought this lovely little girl into the world on January 2nd. We got to meet her Saturday morning! Aaron had a hard time grasping being an Uncle making him that much more excited to be a Dad himself. We're so excited she's here and can't wait to get to know her better. She also made us super excited for June and reminded us of what a great big huge wonderful step we're preparing for. Welcome Emerie!