Is "Baby G" a He or a She? What's it Gonna Bee?

We had our 20 week ultra sound last week and were able to find out the gender of "Baby G!" Since we couldn't be with our families to share the big news, we ordered cupcakes and sent a note: "Is Baby G a He or She? What's it gonna bee? Take a bite to see!"

Cupcakes with family in Richland - PINK on the inside! Baby G's Great Great Grandma Powers, Great Granny Gray, Great Aunt Kay Powers, Aunts Kim and Katie Gilstrap, and Grandparents Gigi and Poppi Gilstrap

Cupcakes with Baby G's Grandparents Nana and Papa Duvall, Cousins Aubri and Alayna and Aunts Christine and Mollie in Lee's Summit - PINK on the inside!

Watch the video:

Cupcakes with Baby G's Great Grandpa Bob and Great Grandma Sherry Gilstrap in Lee's Summit - PINK on the inside!

Our favorite video line: "If I can add a pun, these two just take the cake!" - Grandma Sherry

Watch the video:

We're so excited to meet our little girl in April!

19 Weeks!

19 Week Baby Bump!

My parents came to Denver for a week to visit, and to be here the day we found out the gender of Baby G. Apparently, we didn't take any photos while the were here, but I did take a couple 19 week baby bump photos!

The Bump

A quick pic of the 1 to 4 month baby bump evolution!

A Good Laugh

For a good laugh, check out these photos! I discovered that in the morning, when I still have a full bladder, my "baby bump" is lop sided (see first photo). After I empty my bladder, the bump is back to normal (see second photo). Oh the adventures of pregnancy! 

Baby Bump: 16 Weeks

Today marked 16 weeks pregnant and a baby bump appeared sometime between 14 weeks and today! Fewer clothes still fit (comfortably) and my tummy is finally looking at a bump rather than just a little extra fat around my mid-section. We've read that the baby is the size of a turnip this week, that ears and eyes are formed (so it could see light if we shined a flashlight at my belly, and hear us when we talk), and anytime now I should start feeling the little movements of arms and legs. I'm still feeling sick, but I feel like we're better at managing the sickness now so it's not as bad as the first trimester. I've done a little maternity clothes shopping for things like a pair of jeans and a few shirts, but I'm going to have to get very creative with my wardrobe if I want to put off maternity clothes shopping much longer. We have a 17 week appointment next week and then will find out gender on December 3rd at our 21 week appointment, and we are very excited!

Weeks 12 - 16

A few miscellaneous photos from weeks 12 - 16...

Announcing to Aubri and Alayna that they are going to have a new cousin! Get ready for a troublemaking trio - big cousin Aubri, middle cousin Alyana, and little cousin Baby G.

When I announced to Alayna that I was having a baby, she offered to share her books with the baby. Later that day, I came back to find she had packed all of her books in my suitcase, ready to take back to Denver with me! What a sweetheart, she is so cute.

We made our first baby room purchase - a changing table off Craigslist! I promised Chris I wouldn't start purchasing things yet, but I just couldn't pass up this steal. It was such a great deal (read: cheap!) and matches our chifferrobe (the dresser/wardrobe already in the room). 

Baby G - with a HUGE noggin (on the right), a body and little arms. 

Goodbye Old Faithful

The Jeep has served me well for 11 years, and though it was tough to part with, it was time to say goodbye. With a little one on the way, we decided it was best to get rid of a vehicle that could not transport a baby safely (note the plastic windows and a Jeep's notorious reputation for "rolling") and get something more practical. No folks, we did not buy a mini-van. We're not at that point in our lives, and really, hopefully never will be ;) 

As Chris became excited about the possibility of a different vehicle, he was so great about being patient with me in my mourning of this loss. After all, Jeep had be in my life for longer than he had (I reminded him of that) and for longer than many of my closest friends. Jeep has been with me through many adventures, good times and bad.

For high school... dance photos

hot summer days driving to Royals games

6 am "Survivor" workouts

countless swim practices

snowday donuts in parking lots

trendy zebra seat covers

Young Life shenanigans

For college... sorority bid days

late nights making Quik Trip hot cocoa runs with Chris

deafening 3 hours (countless times) driving Springfield - Kansas City

 multiple stolen stereo face plates 

(faceplates: dad started buying them in bulk on Ebay at one point) 

count them - 5 - total "break ins" into the Jeep in college

my first job out of college

And after college...the big move to colorado

2 apartments and 1 house

marriage, new jobs, grown up lives, and new friends

I will miss you my friend, but maybe someday we will reunite with a newer Jeep...

with fewer than 215k miles

that starts on the first time instead of the second time 

(though, it started on the second time, every time)

that has a horn that works, and turn signals that turn off after you turn a corner

that doesn't break down at 14,000 feet on a mountain

that doesn't fall out of 4-wheel drive climbing up a mountain

that doesn't get broken into repeatedly, or sat in by homeless people on Colfax

... like I said, the good times and the bad!

Weeks 1 - 12

As most of you know by now, I'm pregnant and we're excited to announce we're expecting our first little one next spring. We've been told the due date is April 13th once, and April 17th once, so we've decided to split the difference and we're shooting for April 15th, Tax Day! The child will be destined to be a CPA.

First, a roll call. This baby will be welcomed into this world by lots of family:

1 Great Great Grandma Powers
3 Great Grandmas (GGMS, Granny and Rose)
2 Great Grandpas (GGPB and PamPaw)
2 Grandmas (Nana and Gigi)
2 Grandpas (Papa and Poppi)
5 Aunts (Christine, Mollie, Kim, Katie and Aunt B)
2 Cousins (Aubri and Alayna)
And an abundance of mom and dad's friends!

We are really looking forward to snapping a 5-generation photo, as well as multiple 4-generation photos, and for this little one to be surrounded by generations of family, love, prayers and support.

If you do the math, you'll notice we have a dominance of female family members, including 8 of 8 female great grand children on my mom's side of the family. If we have a boy, it will be the first of 9 great grand children, and the first of 3 grand children for my parents. Because there are too many type-A personalities in this relationship, we will be finding out around week 20 if we are having a boy or girl, and plan to share with family and friends.

We're now crossing over the first trimester hurdle, and the reality that we're going to be parents is really setting in. On August 23rd we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time, and that was the moment when it began to feel real. Though, I began experiencing all-day-sickness (who coined the term "morning" sickness, it lasts all day!) almost immediately after we found out we were pregnant. I'll echo Julie's description of her first, first trimester, "I knew I was either pregnant or dying!"

We've been creative and found ways to manage the sickness, and Chris has been a huge support. We're eating out a lot these days, because what sounds good when I grocery shop on the weekend, typically doesn't still sound good by the time dinner comes around during the week. I've been eating a LOT of potatoes - in all forms - potato soup, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes. I'm also enjoying strawberry Poptarts or trailmix in bed when I first wake up in the morning. I've gone through phases throughout the first trimester, at first salads and vegetables sounded disgusting, but I had my first salad last week (in about 6 weeks) so I think things are improving.

Below is the link to the Google Hangout where we announced to Chris' sisters that we are pregnant. You can watch the video by clicking the link below, and the announcement is between minutes 11:00 and 16:00. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/2bEFDgHsu3Y

Alaskan Cruise

We started our Alaskan Cruise 9-day vacation with 2 days in Seattle. Chris spent time in Seattle when he was younger because he lived a few hours away in Spokane, but I had never been. We really liked the mixed landscape of water and mountains, and how green everything was. A theme of our vacation began to develop, perfect weather! There was no rain to be had in Seattle, which I hear is a rarity, and we were happy to enjoy the sunshine!

We spent Saturday at the Flight Museum at Boeing Field. 

And explored the city in the world's smallest (economy-size) rental car.

We walked through the first Air Force One airplane that flew a few important figures in history, see below for the abbreviated list.

We boarded our Holland America cruise ship, the MS Oosterdam on Sunday afternoon. We have both cruised before, but never on Holland America, so we were excited to see what it was all about. The conclusion we came to is that it is mainly about old people, keeping to themselves and enjoying the cruise. Fortunately, we tend to have more in common with old-people lifestyles vs. 20-somethings, so this worked out well. We gave up the party-until-3am lifestyle years ago, and have adopted the keep-to-ourselves and enjoy-time-together approach to vacations, so we fit right in.

Our home away from home for 7 days.

We enjoyed lots of delicious food - namely, cupcakes at afternoon tea time.

We cruised Tracy Arm Fjord and enjoyed spectacular scenery. Because we were on a smaller cruise ship, we were able to cruise very far into the fjord and all the way up to the glacier. The larger ships are not able to navigate these inner passages of Alaska.

Day 3 was the only day we experienced rain, on the entire trip! The rain was because we were parked next to a glacier. I enjoyed the scenery indoors and Chris explored outside.

The South Sawyer glacier. At the point the glacier meets the water, it is 30 feet tall above water, and 150 feet below water. This was incredible to see up close, we've never seen anything like it in our entire Missouri or Colorado lives. You can see little black dots on the icebergs in the water, and these little dots are actually Harbor Seals we could see through our binoculars!

A beautiful morning view of Juneau from our balcony.

In Juneau, we went whale watching and saw a whale breach (jump out of the water), it was incredible! I've never seen an animal so large, they are really incredible creatures.

We also hiked to this spot, across a lake from another glacier. It was a warm 70 degrees and sunny all day in Juneau (and most of our trip) but cooler in the shade. On this hike, we trekked through a rainforest, which was developed from the melting of this glacier. At one time the entire area you see in the photo was covered by the glacier (including the rainforest we hiked through) but over hundreds of years it has melted, vegetation grew and the lake formed. This lifecycle process continues every day.

The following day we docked in Sitka, and this is a view from the cruise ship of the nearby volcano that is no longer active. One of the most beautiful things about Alaska was the water and mountains together. We're used to seeing mountains in Colorado, but don't usually have bodies of water at the foot of the mountains. The scenery was beautiful, and so difficult to capture in a photo.

In Sitka, we went sea kayaking. We were transported by boat to this little cove, that had several little boat houses. From there, we boarded 2-person kayaks and explored the salt-water lake (which is connected to the ocean through passageways).

This is Chris being "attacked" by the starfish on this lifejacket.

The next day we docked in Ketchikan, famous for their Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, which we of course had to see! It had a bit of a Branson-show feel, but we enjoyed the humor and entertainment! This is my lumberjack with the other lumberjacks.

Overall, the wildlife and landscapes were absolutely breathtaking, and we would certainly recommend the trip to anyone (and we would love to go back again at some point!) We were so happy to get away for a much needed extended vacation, and glad to enjoy a 2nd honeymoon after a wonderful 3 1/2 years of marriage! 

A VERY Busy July and August

July and August proved to be our busiest two months of the entire year, mainly due to Sarah's work events. She was responsible for two very large events within a 2 week period of time, the annual Alumni Retreat and the annual professional Conference. Both events were very successful and she is looking forward to downtime this fall before planning begins again the first of the new year.

We also welcomed friends to Denver, Brittany Hopp stopped on her way through to her sister's wedding in Wyoming and Jon and Kim Moller visited from Florida (photos below). It is always so great to see our out-of-state friends and to catch up.

We supported Michelle at her FIRST EVER triathlon! She did really well and we are so proud of her. (photo of Michelle and her friend Kelsey below)

We celebrated Chris' birthday weekend mid-August with a trip to a flight simulator (photo below). As you can tell from the photo, he was VERY excited to fly a few airplanes, and the highlight was a carrier landing. Until we can plan for real flight lessons, a flight simulator will have to suffice, and by the look on his face, I believe it did!

And, we purchased a used, and pretty old, Schwinn bike (photo below) that I can cruise around the neighborhood on! Chris already has a bike and has recently become pretty involved with cycling and training with friends, so I figured I needed a nice Sunday cruiser to get me to the farmer's market and church. I'm glad to finally be the owner of a bike!

Visiting with the Mollers x2 and Ashley and Hunter. We celebrated the 4 boys birthdays, which were all in the same weekend.