Busy as a Bee!

What do you get when you put a snowy weekend, a pregnant women, and a very patient husband together...Nesting!  Kyle probably thinks I am crazy.  We have deep cleaned our entire townhome 2 weekends in a row.  He was talking about going out of town next weekend just so we don't have to clean again! :)  

We were a little disappointed with the "blizzard" that was supposed to shut down Omaha over the weekend.  We rearranged our work schedule and had a very busy couple of days, which allowed us to enjoy a long weekend.  Even though we didn't get as much snow as we were supposed to, the kitties were enjoying our company.

"Mom... turn the lights off!"

"I love you Dad!"

"Good morning Mom!"

On Friday afternoon, Kyle surprised me with a Date Night!  We have been working so hard lately that I can't remember the last time we got out and enjoyed a nice dinner.  He took me to the Old Market, where we enjoyed a nice relaxing evening!  It was wonderful~

On Saturday, Kyle wanted to do something different, so we went to the Omaha Boat, Sport, and Travel Show.  It involved toys that were listed up to ~$200,000.  Whoa... who has that kind of money to spend on fun?!?  We were allowed to go through all the equipment and we even got to see a shark and a bald eagle.  It was fun to walk around and really got us excited about this summer!  (You can go camping/boating/vacationing with a newborn, right?! ;)

Family Pontoon Boat that seats 9+ people... who's with me?!

A guy can dream, can't he?!

After we came back to reality (no toys for us!), we decided to work on the nursery.  We wanted to hang her name above her crib for a cute, inexpensive wall decor. We bought the letters and painted them white.

Dad working hard, since Mom is not supposed to inhale paint fumes.

He was embarrassed by his outfit, but I told him it was going on the blog anyways! :)

That night we called up some friends and met them for a late night dinner.  We had so much fun over dinner and drinks (water for me!), that we were the last people to leave the restaurant. Oops~

Fun with Friends, Jack and Misty

The weeks keep flying by.  I hope time slows down and doesn't go this fast once she gets here. :(  We go in for our last monthly prenatal visit next week.  After that, we have to start going in every 2 weeks. Yikes!  We  were sitting in church this morning and calculated that we could potentially have 12 more Sundays (or less) without a car seat in between us!  

23 weeks

24 weeks

I hope everyone has a great week.  I can't believe March 1st is this Friday!  I will post week 25 as well as the some nursery photos soon~

Winter Waiting....

The days and weeks just keep ticking away.  Kyle and I have been putting in looong hours at work, which makes the time fly by.  We go to work in the dark and come home in the dark and I am so glad we are doing it together!  We are settling into our new place and making it feel more like home.  We have been discussing getting the nursery started (I know- she won't be here for awhile, but planning for her makes it feel so much more real!)

Maverick and Maggie have been extra cuddly lately, and Kyle and I joke that they know their time is limited as being our "babies" and getting all of our attention.

Maverick making sure Dad knows he is here and available to be rubbed :)

(Mav doesn't care about personal space!)

Maggie loves to cuddle with Mom!

We decided on pink, gray and white for lil' Miss's room. Our parents,minus my dad :(, came up this past weekend and helped paint the nursery.  We picked up a couple pieces of furniture and it is really coming together. Kyle's mom, Jody, is going to make the crib set and we can't wait to put it all together.  I will post pictures when it is finished!

My belly keeps getting bigger and bigger and it is still amazing to see the change, even within a few days.  Baby Rupp has been really active lately and loves to show off all of her gymnastic moves around  3:00 am!  I wake up tired, but I can't stop smiling when I think of a little person moving and shaking inside my belly. Sometimes I think it isn't fair that I get to experience this awesome connection with our little girl and all Kyle gets is a crabby pregnant wife! Kyle got to feel her move for the first time the other night, and I have never seen him light up like that.  He was so excited.... it was priceless!

22 weeks

Baby Girl is almost a whole foot long and is finally over one pound!  All of my pregnancy apps and emails tell me to get ready to really start growing and gaining!  Oh boy.... here we go!!

!Best Birthday Ever!

Wow! This year's birthday will be hard to beat.  I received the best gift in the world.  God has blessed us with a little GIRL!~  I am still in shock to say that.  Ever since the moment I found out I was pregnant, Kyle and I have asked everyone what they think the gender of the baby is going to be?  I would estimate that ~98% said boy and 2% said girl.  Well, most of us were wrong!  I would have been super excited with either gender, but I am ecstatic that we are having a sweet baby girl!

This weekend I finished my 20th week.  I can not believe how fast this pregnancy has gone.  It is a little overwhelming to think that in a few short months, our lives are going to change forever.  We have a lot to learn before then and even more to get done!!

Now that I am in my 5th month, change for me and the baby are happening more rapidly.  It amazes me every morning when I wake up just how much my body "grew" from the night before.  Pregnancy is a pretty neat experience and I feel so blessed to be growing another person inside of me!

Since we had our 20 week Ultrasound, I have posted some anatomy pictures of Baby Girl Rupp.  (Kyle and I are discussing names for our little Princess because "Little Bean" isn't quite cutting it any more.  She is now the size of a large banana!)

We will start out with my growing belly pictures....

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks....wow!

 Hand

Leg/Foot (foot is at the top)

 Leg/Foot (chicken legs like her mama)

Hands together, praying!

 "Hamburger... not a Hotdog!"

Spine

Breakfast in Bed... BEST HUSBAND EVER!

Kyle getting practice

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures!  I will continue to post often and share our progress.  We are looking forward to the next several months of getting the nursery ready, registering and baby showers, deciding on a perfect name, and most importantly planning on her arrival!~  Stay posted!

Happy New Year~

Wow!  I don't even know where to begin.  The holidays have come and gone (as fast as ever!) and we are enjoying the last day off before the daily grind starts again.  Even though I am not looking forward to the next couple of months of being dark when you go to work and when you leave work, cold weather, and long days, I am very excited about getting ready for Baby Rupp's arrival.  Kyle and I have a lot of work to do! :)

So, here is a quick recap of our holiday season....  We started our Christmas in Grand Island with the Rupp's.  Santa was really good to us this year and even Baby got some presents.  I have to say, I am very thankful for the gifts I received, but it was way more exciting to open the baby's boxes and see what cute things were inside.  It is starting to feel so real!

We then headed to Missouri to spend the rest of our Christmas with the Main's.  We filled the few days we had with family, food, and fun! As I mentioned in the last post, we tried to find out the sex of Bean. Needless to say, we have a very active baby on our hands as he/she would never sit still long enough for us to get a good look.  However, I was amazed how much Bean had grown since Thanksgiving.

Throughout the craziness of the holidays, Kyle and I moved from an apartment to a town home.  We still have a lot of work to do with unpacking, but it already feels more "homey".  I can't wait to get the nursery ready and start nesting!!

We celebrated the new year by drinking sparkling cranberry juice :)

The next couple of weeks will be getting back into the daily grind of work and settling in for winter.  We have plenty of things to keep us busy unpacking and getting ready for the baby.  My next appointment is January 11, and we find out if we are having a daughter or a son.  That day just happens to be my birthday and I couldn't ask for more!

Tis the Season

It's that time of year again...the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season has kept us very busy.  We have had holiday events every night of the week, which has made December fly by so far!  Last weekend, we traveled to Grand Island for a winter wedding of Kyle's high school friend.  It was a beautiful wedding and it is always nice to catch up with old friends.  

Getting ready.

We took a quick "family" photo before we left.

We had another OB appointment this month and got to hear the heart beat.  Kyle recorded it on his phone and I think I used up all the battery after replaying it so many times.  15 weeks, 158 bpm.  Everything is going good.  I have stopped losing weight and I am now slowing gaining.  The only issue is that my blood pressure is really low, which causes me to not feel good through out the day.  The baby is sitting very low and so everyone's guess is still...boy.  I guess we will see soon enough!

Our good friends, Michelle and Adam, asked us to get a little festive with them and run in the Ugly Sweater 5k run.  Since I have not exercised that much during my pregnancy, I was a little hesitate, but was up for the challenge.  We joined the thousands of other crazy people and had a blast!  We started the race with a nice paced jog and when the snow started coming down we picked it up a bit.  Needless to say the rest of the day, Kyle and I moved a little slower and complained of all our aches and pains!

Mike Main Mustache?? HAHA!

Lookin good boys! 

Michelle and I (& baby) getting ready to run.

After the race... in the snow, waiting in line for hot chocolate, apple cider, and Sam Adams.

One week until Christmas with the Rupp's and then the Main's and two weeks until we move into our new townhome!  We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us, but we couldn't be more excited.  If Bean cooperates, my mom is going to tell us if we will be shopping pink or blue!  I will keep everyone posted as soon as we find out! Kyle and I couldn't think of a better Christmas present this year~

Since Little Bean is still 'baking in the oven', Maverick and Maggie are our babies now.  Since the weather is starting to show its true Nebraska colors, the kitties have been extra cuddly.

Have a wonderful Pre-Christmas week and check back after Jesus's birthday to find out boy or girl!!

YAY for 2nd Trimester!

I never knew you could love someone more than life itself, yet had never met them (and was smaller than the palm of your hand)!  Even though I already love this baby more than anything and I think/pray for Little Bean every second of every day, I am very thankful that I am through the first trimester!  Morning sickness is a false term that someone made up to give pregnant mamas hope that they will only feel bad in the morning… LIARS!  It is more like ALL DAY sickness.  I am not one to really ever get sick. And I can count on one hand the times I felt bad throughout my entire life, so this yucky feeling was not cool.  Every time I would complain to my mom, she would tell me that Little Bean is just making sure that I didn’t forget that I was pregnant…Oh baby, Mommy didn’t forget about you!! HA HA~

Now that I am in my second trimester, I am starting to feel more like myself again.  There are more good days than bad and Kyle is starting to relax a little better.  Even though I was the sick one, I think the first trimester was harder on Kyle than me.  He commented often that he felt helpless and would ask me everyday how I was feeling, and when the answer was always the same (crappy),  he would get frustrated.  I did feel sorry for him though, because since I wasn’t hungry, the cooking was slim and we both ended up losing over 10 lbs. a piece.

This pregnancy has actually gone really fast.  Kyle and I are working 12+ hour days and have scheduled events most nights of the week.  I am exhausted and we have been going to bed before 9:00pm (if we get home before then!).  This weekend Robert and Jody (Kyle’s parents) came to town to help us decorate the office and do a little Christmas shopping. 

My patients are starting to call me out on the size of my growing belly!  One lady walked in the door this week and said, “Okay, is something going on here?”  We all started laughing as her face turned bright red, paused for a second and said, “no, what are you talking about?”  She was so embarrassed and when we finally told her that yes, I was indeed pregnant, she screamed with excitement and gave me the biggest hug ever!  Everyone has been so supportive and just as thrilled as we are!  I couldn’t ask for better patients~

 

This week is more long hours at work, bible study, a Christmas party and a wedding.  Tune in next week for more pictures and an update!  Happy December everyone!

Thankful

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving.  I have always been very thankful of family and fellowship, but this year had a special meaning.  It was the first time that my side has seen us since we announced we were expecting and it was so humbling to see everyone’s excitement of our little one.  We had many conversations about how different next Thanksgiving would be and the years to come.  Since we don’t have any babies in the family anymore, it will be so fun to start new traditions and experience the holidays through a child’s perspective!

We had a ton of food and spent the week/end around the kitchen table talking, laughing and eating great food. 

Since my mom is an ultrasound technician, we decided we needed to check up on Little Bean and see how much growth had occurred from our first ultrasound at 6 weeks.  AND, since I am officially over 12 weeks, this was a perfect time to share our exciting news with the world.  Here are some pictures of our little turkey on Thanksgiving Day.  Little Bean isn’t much of a bean anymore.  There has been a lot action going on in there and Thursday, Bean decided to enjoy the holiday.

Just chillin! Reclined back, legs up, feet crossed.

There were so many cute moments.  The last time we had an ultrasound, there was just a little blob… the size of a BEAN.  This time it was a baby, with defined features and a personality.  Baby waved, blew bubbles, and even put on a gymnastics show with back-to-back summersaults. It was the cutest thing ever. 

Now that I am into my second trimester, the all-day nausea has settled a little, but was quickly replaced with dizziness, lightheadedness, headaches, and back pain.  Even though none of those are fun, I would trade anything for the nausea.  That was miserable and I really hope those days are behind us (for Kyle’s sake too)! 

Bean has decided not to hide anymore and I can no longer pretend I just had “too many desserts”.  It seems like my belly grows more and more every day, so I will be posting my progress each week to share with family and friends that are far away :(.

We have a very busy December planned this year with birthdays, holiday parties, graduations, moving to a new bigger home, and of course Christmas, but the most exciting thing we are anticipating is finding out if Little Bean is a boy or a girl!  We should find out right around the 25^th and I couldn’t think of a better present.  We have asked family and friends their guess on gender and NOT ONE PERSON has said girl.  100% feel like Baby Rupp is going to be a little boy!  From the moment we knew we were pregnant (which I had a strong feeling Very early on), Kyle and I have both felt like it is going to be a boy.  We have no preference of course, just want a healthy, happy baby!  Wouldn’t it be funny if everyone was wrong?!?!?  HAHA!  Only time will tell~

Stay tuned for new pictures and updates on the life of the Rupp family!