40th Birthday!

Last Saturday we celebrated the 40th birthday of our friend Dawn by throwing a surprise party. It was a great time...and I'm pretty sure she was surprised! We started the night by having a "girls night out" @ our fave Mexican place. We then ended up at Amigo's where the guests were waiting to yell Surprise!

Dawn & her party hat (Yes...she's turning 40...not 30!!)


Erica & the bday girl


Me & Jenny close-up


The Girls @ Amigo's!


What a CUTE couple (a little too close-up!) ;-)


Fun times! Bring on Summer BBQ's!

Nursery Sneak Peek

I finally got around to choosing a paint color for the nursery. I had the hardest time trying to come up with a denim blue that wasn't too dark, and wasn't too light. Steve did a good job of humoring me by giving his opinion of the shades of blue that I held up to various walls in the room. I think the final selection turned out perfect! Following are a few "before" pictures of the room, along with a couple of pix of Steve as he transformed the room from blah to blue!








We have quite a bit more to do to the room, but it's nice to feel like we're finally making some progress!

What's in a Name?

So you all know we're having a baby. You all know we're having a boy. So naturally we should tell you all what the baby's name will be, right? Well...no. We do have a name picked out - in fact, it's been at the top of our "boy list" for many years. But we've decided to keep the name to ourselves until the day he arrives.

This seems to have caused some grumblings amongst our family and friends. My response is often received by others in many different ways. Some seem offended that I don't want to tell them. Others have decided that we need assistance with coming up with the "right" name.

Some suggestions that we heard as we celebrated Easter with family over the weekend include:
Bill Self Jackson (a nod to the KU head basketball coach)
Bob Jackson (baby's cousin Rachel's suggestion)
L.J. Jackson (aka Little Jim - after Steve's brother Jim)
William Jackson (which Steve's brother Billy thought would be the "perfect" name)

Though it was fun to hear the suggested names, I'm pretty confident in our choice. Hopefully you will all agree when the day comes for the big announcement!

April SNOW Showers...

...Bring May Flowers??? Something about that doesn't sound right to me. Fortunately we didn't get the 8-14 inches of snow that various meteorologists were predicting for our area. But we did get enough snow flakes to create patches of snow in our yard. Most of the snow has melted, leaving a wet, muddy mess in its wake (which the dogs love). But hopefully that's the end of snow for this season.

Baby is still doing great. We have finished up our 22nd week, which means that I am starting my 6th month of pregnancy. This past Saturday we had an exciting experience: Steve got to feel the baby kick for the first time! At first he couldn't tell if it was baby or his finger twitching involuntarily...but then after the second kick, we knew it was all baby! I've been feeling baby's kicks for quite a few weeks now, but I can definitely tell he's getting stronger...especially when he is aiming for my bladder! Though I love to feel him move around, I could do without those bladder kicks!

Friday we are heading back to Kansas for Easter. We haven't been back for Easter for a few years, so we are both looking forward to it (though I'm not sure if I'm ready for the chilly hilltop sunrise services!) It won't be long until our own little guy is running around Grandma's yard hunting eggs! Steve thinks that we should be able to join in the hunt this year - he said he could hold my hand & guide baby & me around so that he can grab some treat-filled eggs "for baby". For some reason I don't think that will fly with the younger kids! I guess I'll have to buy him some Reese's eggs, which should keep him happy. :-)

Since I probably won't write again before we leave on Friday, we both wish you and your families a Blessed Easter!

Our Li'l Buckaroo!

Here he is...Our Baby Boy! There does not seem to be any doubt that he's all boy after looking at this rump shot! (Yes, that is what you think it is above the wording!)


This is my favorite of all the pictures we got. Isn't his little nose adorable?? You can see his hand behind his cheek...he was waving his arms around quite a bit, making it difficult for the technician to get a good picture of his face.


Here is the full body pic. He is facing down and curled up - which seems to be his position of choice! Isn't the spine amazing!


This picture is a little spooky-skeleton-like I think. But when viewed on it's side (as I've placed it) you can see his face really well. This was the only full face pic we got.


Here's his knee and a foot - he was curled up in a ball like this most of the time we got to look at him!


One little foot...


...and 2 Cute little feet!


Baby waving hello!

Week 19

Again...nothing too exciting to report. Today is actually the last day of week 19, which means tomorrow is the start of my mid-point week! I don't know if I'm excited or scared about that fact!

As my tummy is getting larger (I'm down to 1 pair of pre-pregnancy pants that fit!), I'm experiencing more & more pain in my back. I finally decided to see the chiropractor about it, because I really didn't think the pain was baby-related at all. Turned out I was right. I have a lot of built-up fluid & inflammation in my neck and right-shoulder area. I'm not sure what has caused it, but last Friday I had enough pain to make it nearly unbearable to sit at my desk at work. I had 1 treatment that afternoon, and go back today for another. Because I cannot be x-ray'd, it's basically just trial & error until we get it worked out. Ice helps, and I don't feel much pain at home...but hopefully we'll get it worked out soon!

On the homefront we have been working on getting the nursery ready to paint. We took down some trim and Steve has been doing a lot of sanding to even out the surfaces, along with filling in a TON of holes left by previous owners. I still haven't decided on paint colors, but I have a little time before the room needs to be ready. Of course, paint colors will also depend upon which bedding we choose. I purchased a cute baby farm animal set that we'll use if we have a girl...but I think we're leaning more toward cowboy decor if it's a boy. We should be able to find out the answer to our pink/blue question at our ultrasound scheduled for this coming Thursday. I will be off work for Spring Break on that day, which is exciting because I plan to go straight out & start shopping for pink or blue! Ha!

Well...my "nothing to report" comment has turned into some rambling, so I'll sign off. I hope you are all enjoying the same warm & sunny weather we are experiencing here in Central Iowa. Can't believe it's 70 degrees in the middle of March!

Week 18 - SICK

Even though we've had near-record high temperatures the past few days, this week has not been much fun for me. I have the worst head cold I've ever had! Of course it doesn't help that I am limited on the meds I can take. I've tried not to take anything unless I ABSOLUTELY need to, so that doesn't help. I've come to really love the nasal spray Afrin. It has cleared my head enough to allow me some much-needed rest.
Tomorrow I am supposed to join a couple of girlfriends on a shopping trip to Des Moines. Will be lots of fun, so I've been drinking my OJ! I'm on a mission to find pants that fit!
That's about all I have to post. Hopefully week 19 will be more entertaining! :-)
Take care!