36 Weeks!

Today marks 36 weeks in our pregnancy. Here's what's going on with our baby.....

"Our baby is still packing on the pounds - at the rate of about an ounce a day! He now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Our baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of his first bowel movement.

By the end of this week, our baby will be considered full-term. (Full term is 37-42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are considered pre-term and babies born after 42 weeks are considered post-term.) (information from www.babycenter.com)"

Here's a picture of Trish this morning at 36 weeks before she headed out the door to work!



4 weeks from today is the due date!!!!!

Andy's new haircut & Peek-a-Boo Puppy

One month to go!!!!!

Today, August 28th, marks exactly 1 month to go until our due date! This past week we hit the 35 week mark and now are in our final month. All things (doctor's advice) point towards an early baby too! So it could happen anytime! Here's a picture of Trish and the Dozer (and baby) at 35 weeks.

Trish's birthday was also this past week on Thursday. We celebrated and went out for dinner at the Cafe in Ames. Andy made her a delicious yellow cake too!

We also went up to Doug & Stacey's house to have dinner on Tuesday night. Peyton is getting so big too, here she is with her best buddy Andy.

This weekend, Grandma Mary is coming to visit and her and Trish are going to Babys r Us to get the last of the essentials before the little guy gets here.

Eagle Grove Baby Shower

Trish had her last baby shower this past weekend in Eagle Grove at her Aunt Sue's house. This shower was thrown by her 3 aunts and was "women only". Here's her 3 great aunts that made it all possible....Mary, Colleen, and Sue. In front of them is the amazing "diaper" cake, made of diapers, receiving blankets, wash cloths, toys, bibs, shampoos, and many other great baby necessaries. What a cool idea!


There were many family members that attended, as well as other great friends of the family. The generous gifts were more than we could ask for and will come in very useful when the baby arrives.




Thanks to Trish's aunts for throwing a great shower, and thanks to all the guests who showed up too!

The Boys of Summer

WEEK 34

Our baby now weighs 4.75 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers, which will help regulate his body temperature once he's born, is filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you're nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babys born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies. (info from www.babycenter.com)

Here's the 34 week pic of Trish and baby. This was taken next to the tall corn fields of the Bartlett Farm in Solon. We snuck up on this giraffe and got a quick picture before he bolted!

Solon Baby Shower

Andy's mom threw an AWESOME baby shower this past weekend in Solon. We had lots of family, friends, and great food for everyone to enjoy. Here's some of the highlights:

Stir that frosting!!!


Trish and Joanna icing and sprinkling cookies on a stick to make them look like baby rattles! They were delicious!


Trish's sister Tami came down from northern Wisconsin for the shower. It was great to see her. Here she is in the front left of the picture sitting across from her parents Lon & Jean.


Uncle Seth & Aunt Joanna gave our little guy his "first ATV" as a gift. It was great and we can't wait to pull him around in it!


"The Matriarchs"


A very cool gift from the Olson's! This little picture will showcase a picture of our little man's growth from 1 month to 1 year!


It was a great shower and a great weekend overall. Thanks to Andy's mom Mary for throwing a GREAT baby shower. Also thanks to everyone who attended and gave us great gifts that will help us welcome our little guy. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends.

WEEK 33

Today marks week 33 in our pregnancy! Here's the skinny from babycenter.com.

This week our baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17 inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easy for him to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Here's Trish at 33 weeks.



This upcoming weekend we're heading to Solon for another baby shower. Look out Johnson County!

Weekend Highlights

This weekend our friend Terigene came to visit. Trish and her had a great time shopping on Saturday and then laying around watching movies all day Sunday. Here's some highlights.

The animals all love Terigene. Here's Dozer cuddling up while Terigene's dog Miller poses for the camera!


Trish and Terigene caught a whopper too!!!


And here's a bonus pic of the crib all set up.

Forest Friends

This morning was cool and clear, so I set up with my steaming cup of coffee and new camera on its mini tripod on the picnic table on our deck. In hopes of catching a good image of the elusive hummingbird while it visited our feeder. It wasn't hard to see the birds, but we've got a krusty old hummingbird who likes to guard the feeder and chase away any other littly birdies who try to eat. So getting a good picture is tough. But here's the best I've got so far.



Another cool feature of our new camera is its ability to "stitch" pictures together. You can take a series of 3 pictures, say of a landscape, and the camera will stitch them together to create an awesome panorama view. Here's an example of the view looking east from the Oak Woods picnic area in Ledges State Park.

Drumroll please.......

The newest, most awesome camera in the world showed up today! Here's a sample of it's prowess and beauty.....

The Doze.


The neighborhood "skyscraper"


Black-Eyed Susans


Two of the Dirty Dawgs re-living the night's glory.

23 Hours and 30 Minutes

That's how long I was at home on Tuesday, August 3rd. I left for 30 minutes to go into town and get some needed supplies and groceries and guess when the FedEx man came with our new camera??? You guessed it, he came during that 30 minutes I was gone in Boone! What a crock.

Will it ever get here????

We ordered a new digital camera off ebay last week and it's supposed to get here on Tuesday. Andy is off work that day and he's going to stay home all day to make sure he's around to sign for it from the FedEx man.

Here's a pic of what we got:


That's right folks. It's a Kodak Z981. 14 megapixels. 26 times zoom. Not to mention it comes with a 4GB memory card, carrying case, tripod, and a digital camera lens cleaning kit. We don't have to hope for the deer in the backyard to come within 40 yards to get good pictures anymore. Now those suckers can be out to 200 yards and we'll be able to see the booglies hangin out their noses!

In case you missed it, here's another great pic of this fine piece of machinery.