A Shower of Blessings

A special thank you to my mother-in-law Lola, sister-in-law Kathy, aunt Karlene, and aunt Rene for throwing such a special baby shower for us! We had fun playing games like present bingo, baby memory, and pick the pins out of rice! We are blessed to have such wonderful family & friends and know our baby girl will grow up knowing how special she is. Thank you for all the beautiful gifts of love! -Jess, Dusty & Baby

34 Weeks, 6 to go!

Saturday marks 34 weeks along! We had a Dr. apt today and all continues to be great. I have gained a total of 24 lbs. and she continues to poke & jab like crazy. Sleeping at night is getting more uncomfortable but overall I am feeling great. Dusty thinks it is great that I have started "nesting" because I have been cleaning like crazy. haha!

30 Weeks

We are at 30 weeks...10 weeks to go! The time is going fast now and my belly has gotten a lot bigger in the last month. She continues to be very active and is kicking and moving around as I'm typing this. As I tell Dusty, "The force is getting stronger" as her kicks and punches are hard! It's also so weird to see the alien like movements from the outside. The last Dr. apt with the glucose test went well, we never heard back so I guess I passed. I have gained 14 lbs. total and all is well. When we were in last our Dr. scheduled all our apts up till the due date so that was crazy. We are all signed up for our classes too. We take a breastfeeding class this month, birthing class in Oct. and then infant care in Nov. busy, busy! We have the nursery all ready except we are waiting on the crib & dresser to come in. We ordered it in Bend from the same place my sister got hers. The crib & dresser are baby's gifts from my folks so we are very lucky!

26 Weeks & the Big 3-0!

Here are a few belly pics, I am 26 weeks along already! We had a Dr apt. and she said everything is "fantastic." My Dr. made another comment about how active baby is when she was trying to listen to the heartbeat with the dopler and she kept moving around! I was surprised that I have only gained 9lbs, since I have been eating like a horse! I have another apt. in 2 weeks where I have to drink the orange stuff and then they take your blood for routine gestational diabetes testing. I also turned the big 3-0...YIKES! Actually, reflecting back on the year it has been pretty good, moving back home, buying our first home, starting a family! I am looking forward to my 30's!

Happy Birthday Baby Ryder!

Congratulations and welcome to my sister and Richard's brand new baby boy! Ryder Jayce (middle name Jayce after our brother Jason) was born on July 30th at 4:25pm. He weighed in at 7lbs 9oz, 19.5 inches long and is just perfect! Mother and baby are both doing well. I got to be in the room during the birthing process and it was so amazing, a real miracle. I now know what to expect in Nov. and am looking forward to having my mom & sister as "professionals." :) Dusty is already a professional, as one of his Paramedic rotations was delivering babies in one of the big Portland hospitals when we lived up north. He got to deliver a baby on his own birthday! It will be so special to have Ryder and our baby girl so close in age to grow up together!

Scotties

We've had some requests for pictures of the Scotties, so here they are. Aren't they regal looking!? Scotch has the blue collar and Kelly has the red. For those who don't know, they are twins. We inherited Kelly, after our good friend Maureen passed away. She flew to us all the way from Kentucky!

Sister Baby Bumps

My sister came home for her baby shower a couple weeks ago, so of course it had to be turned into a family pregnancy photo shoot! She is about 37 weeks along in these pictures and I am 21 weeks. We can't wait for the arrival of baby boy Ryder, with her due date in 1 more week!


Sisters
Sarah, 37 weeks
Me, 21 weeks


Mom with us

Farmer John, I mean dad, with his girls

Ultrasound Pictures

2-D Profile
She looks so still & sweet, but don't let this picture fool you she has been quite the active gal kicking & punching so far!


2-D Girl Parts
Did you know that the way the sonographers tell if the gender is a girl is by the 3 lines which are the female labia?


3-D Face
One of the only shots we got with her hands not covering her face! You can also see the formation of the head, the two sides grow together as seen in this picture, which is why they have the "soft spot" on their heads when born- very interesting & amazing!


3-D Hiding Face With Hands
This was how she was most of the time, with both hands covering her face, as if she was hiding from the camera, and she was sucking one of her fingers. Can you say ornery!?

Sugar-N-Spice

"With patience and love, we wait for our baby girl.
With excitement and joy, we announce her to the world!"

We had our ultrasound today and found out that we are definitely having a girl! She must have known something was up today because she hasn't stopped moving all day! The ultrasound tech said it looks like we will have a feisty one on our hands! It was amazing to see all the organs, spine, heart beating, and "3 lines" that definitely mean she is all girl. I think the ultrasound tech liked us (or the baby) because she said she was having so much fun in there let's look at her in 3-D too (I don't think they usually use the 3-D unless needed up at the hospital). So we got a sneak peak of her face but only briefly as she kept moving her hands in front of her face and sucking one of her fingers. Everything checked out great and she is almost 1 pound already. Yikes, must take after me, as I was a huge chunk and weighed almost 10 pounds when I was born (sorry mom)!!! We will post the ultrasound pics once we find a scanner.

20 Weeks- Half Way!

We are at week 20, the half way point! I have been feeling baby move a lot lately, mostly when I am sitting down in the evenings or after eating. We go in to have the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby this Thursday, July 10th! We plan on finding out if baby cooperates. Dusty thinks it will be a girl, Lola & Sarah think it is a boy, and I have no idea! We will be happy with whatever we are blessed with, we just hope for a healthy baby.

OH BABY!

Dusty & I are excited to announce that we are expecting our first child, due Nov. 22nd, 2008! We are 12 weeks along right now. Stay tuned for updated belly pics!

Our First Home!

On April 11th we will turn the key to the front door of our very first home purchase! We are very excited! The plan is to start here and then eventually build our dream home out on the ranch. Stay tuned for our open house date, and of course, many of Dusty's poker parties!

Winter In the Country

Here are some pics from around the ranch this winter. As many of you know, we had a hard winter with a lot of snow this year! One of these pics shows the avalanche on the hill behind the ranch, one is a herd of deer, one is of some Kildeer birds nesting, a beautiful sunrise reflecting off the clouds, and the ranch house.

Auntie Jessy & Uncle Dusty!

CONGRATULATIONS to my sister and brother-in-law, Sarah & Richard, who are expecting their first child on Aug. 1st! This is the first baby on my side of the family so it is a very special and exciting time for all of us! They will make excellent parents and we are very excited to be auntie & uncle!

Happy New Year!

Here's to a great 2008!