Nursery Phase 1

Well since Heather's dad is coming to help with the nursery in January we know that there are steps that need to be taken before he gets here. We are hoping to have some foundation so that we will be painting and installing hardwood floors, etc when he arrives.

Phase 1 = demolition. Today we began pulling down the ugly red walls so we can start on the nursery. You can tell the difference in Jeff and Heather's parts just by the height. It felt great to break walls in the nursery to get it going.







We are being as careful as possible to not go through the next room where Chuck, Elaine and potentially Meghan will be staying while they are here. We can't wait to share our nursery transformation with you as we go. Everyone cross your fingers because as we all know nothing ever works out the easy way for us and the last thing we need is complications.

Love and Kisses
Heather and Jeff

We know what Sprout's Gender is.

After a long 15 weeks we finally know what Sprout is going to be and even have a name and the nursery picked out. We are so very excited to share the news with all of our family and friends, but first a couple of pictures from the ultrasound where we found out the gender.




So the final verdict is that most of our friends and family guessed boy and they were incorrect. Sprout is a girl and we will be naming her Bailey Ryan. We will keep you all posted.

The Introduction of Sarge and Gunner

Our dogs love each other. Whew. It is a good thing because otherwise we could have had a huge mess on our hands. Sarge currently is about five pounds heavier than Gunner was at his age, even though he has been smaller most of his life. We thought we would share a few pictures of them playing frisbee - one of their favorite past times, and then they love licking daddys head everyday when he comes home.

Sprouts Wardrobe

So Sprout got a wardrobe beginning while Heather's parents were in town. Although Aunt Krystin does not agree with the concept of gender neutral clothes we thought they were pretty cute. Jeff even went and found Yankee onesies and a romper and hooded towel. Take note miracles DO happen. Who would have thunk it.

All Quiet on the Western Front

It's been close to a month since our last blog update, so I thought I would let everybody know that everything is going fine. We're done with the initial onslaught of Dr. visits and now into a more regular 3-4 week interval. Since our last update we've been busy. We finished the guest bathroom shower remodel just in time for visitors: Heather's Dad, Mom, and Nana. We've also added yet again to the family with another Boxer, named Sarge (and to answer your question, yes, we are insane). He came to our house at about 10 lbs...now we'll see how he grows compared to Gunner who now stands at 75 lbs.

We'll be starting the nursery demolition and construction soon and that should keep us busy for a little while. We'll keep you up-to-date with any changes, but I guess for right now, no news is good news.

Our Perinatologist Ultrasound

Well Well Well we have one highly uncooperative child. Here is what we do know. Sprout is measuring right on with 12 weeks today, thats reassuring. There are no spinal cord problems, brain looks good, heart looks good and abdomen looks good. WooHoo that covers most of the things I see in the NICU everyday that have me freaked out about Sprouts growth and development thus far. Plus we all know what a picky eater I am and I just needed the extra reassurance. Now for what we don't know....the gender. Sprout did not want us to find out this early. At first the tech thought is was a girl and later she thought maybe a boy. Congratulations Heather and Jeff you are either having a boy or a girl!!!!!!! Well we could have told you all that. We did get to bring home the ultrasound on DVD it is about 45 minutes long and we saw toes, fingers, hands all that good stuff. Guess we will just have to be in suspense for a while longer.

Sprout on the Move

Well Sprout was not cooperative at our last ultrasound visit at all. Every time the doctor tried to print us an ultrasound picture the baby flipped and moved from the top to the bottom of the uterus. Thus all we have is one very blurry photo. However Sprout is growing so we thought we would share our blurry photo with you.

The fur babies...

Well as many of you know just before we found out we were pregnant we committed to getting a 2nd Boxer. His name is Sarge, and we are hoping him and Gunner will be best friends. We are posting some 5 week photos of our visit with Sarge as well as 2 photos of what Gunner may think when he comes home. Sarge is actually much darker than Gunner and it looks like his coat may stay mostly black. So here are the newest pictures of our fur babies.

Sprouts Growing

So we wonder will Sprout be short like Heather or tall like Jeff??? Since our last ultrasound 10 days ago Sprout has grown to 24 mms. A total growth of 11 mms, just over 1 mm per day. No aunt Meghan he/she is still not ready to come out and play, but will be ready by your graduation we promise. During this visit our wonderful doctor manipulated my abdomen so he could show us Sprout moving. Jeff was impressed that Sprout was head down, just practicing gymnastics in there. Everything looks good and we are going to have another ultrasound on September 11th, Gunner's birthday just so we don't have to wait the full 3 weeks before our 1st OB appointment. Today Sprout will experience in the womb a great USC game. Fight On!!! Here is the newest picture...

Sprout's Weird Dreams

Apparently Sprout is causing Heather to have some VERY odd dreams. While she remembers most of them, the one from last night was odd and hilarious. Just past 11:00pm last night Heather turned over and loudly proclaimed, "The baby's cereal expires August of next year." Needless to say, I was a tad baffled and asked her what she was talking about - to which she got angry that I wasn't listening. She then repeated herself and when I repeated it back she said, "Yes, how hard is that to understand?" - then promptly turned over and went back to bed....oh this will be a LONG few months ahead.

13 MM's???

Yesterday we had our 2nd ultrasound, and holy cow is Sprout growing rapidly. Last week Sprout measured 4 mms and this week is measuring 13 mms. That is more than tripled in a weeks period. Heartbeat was much more pronounced, and so far they say everything looks just like it should, although they are unable to see any defined structures at this point.

The Diaper Bag

Since I have the most wonderful husband in the world, he bought me the diaper bag I wanted. Ok yes it is a treat, and really I probably did not NEED a Coach diaper bag, but I just fell in love with it when I saw it. Hey, every once in a while you need to indulge. So my bag is the Coach Scribble Diaper Bag, and it is adorable. Now we just need to find a bag for Jeff later, because I really don't see him carrying this around.

1st Ultrasound

Today we had our 1st ultrasound at 6 weeks and 5 days. It was amazing. Everything is looking just like it should, and we were even able to see the babys heartbeating. We will have our next ultrasound next week. There is one and ONLY one baby Bailey family.

Sprout's Happenings

Many things have happened since we found out Sprout existed. Heather experienced her first earthquake and sat on the couch with Gunner waiting for it to pass. In the last week we have also gone to see Wicked. What an amazing show. It is our hope that Sporut enjoyed the story and music as well. We will definitely be looking into more shows since we enjoyed this one so much.

Knowing that it is good developmentally to the baby, we have begun reading Sprout a story each night before bed. It is our hope that as these next 34 weeks pass some of our family will also be able to talk to and read to Sprout as well. Now we are just counting down until the first ultrasound on Tuesday. Only 6 days to go. We will update around then. Lots of love to you all.

Its Positive

We are creating this website for our friends and family to keep up on what is happening with our little sprout. Since we are spread across the country we thought a blog would keep everyone updated throughout our pregnancy and after the baby was born so we can share pictures and posts.
So if you have the address to the blog you already know that we are expecting. Our estimated due date is April 02, 2009. We will be having our 1st ultrasound Tuesday August 12th. We can't wait to give you all the details.