Catching Up

Well, I can barely believe that summer is almost over. It's gone by super fast. And I've been really bad about updating the blog (I blame it on the fact that I can't get Internet on my computer, and Andrew is a big hog of the lap top!). So, here's a quick run down of what's happened the last two months...

The Baby's Room
We've started working on putting the room together. This pretty much involved painting over the ugly olive green color in the bedroom with a much nicer blue. Andrew and his dad painted the room, and it looks so much brighter and larger than it did before.

Room Prepping

The Finished Project

After we got the room painted, we started doing the "fun" stuff - which was getting the furniture for the baby's room. While it's still not complete, we've got the crib, dresser, and changing table all set up and in the room. Andrew and I put the changing table and crib together, which was kind of fun. We also got the bedding for the crib, so it makes it so that the baby is the biggest thing missing. :) There's still some more stuff that I want to get done in there, but here are some pictures of what the baby's room looks like now, with furniture.

I guess the next thing we're missing is the baby, but we're only five weeks away!

Other news on the baby front is that he is now officially in the "ready" position. He made us a little nervous the last few weeks, since he hadn't "flipped," but at our doctor's appointment on Friday, the sonogram finally showed that he had his head down. So now we're back to waiting for the baby to pick his birthday, rather than us scheduling it (which I was not a big fan of)! Everything went well - we got to see his heart beat again (at a perfect 132 rate - he's been pretty consistent!), and we got another set of sonogram pictures. The funny thing is that this time, the sonogram totally doesn't make sense to me. Andrew said he could see the baby's head and arm, but I was at a loss, and told our doctor's assistant that I couldn't see any definition, and that it was way easier earlier in the pregnancy. She said it was probably because now he's so big it's hard to see all of him in the screen - totally makes sense. So I guess I'll have to see him when he's born!

We also have no name for the baby yet - hence all the references to the "baby," which is pretty much what we call him all the time. Andrew and I are still going through our mental list of names - trying to figure our what we each like, and what actually sounds good with Zwickl - which is actually a bit difficult. But we'll have a name for the baby before we leave the hospital! :)

Our baby is also quite the partier - I swear he's practicing his dance moves each night. It's actually getting kind of weird to watch my belly move, instead of just feeling the movements. Just more proof that he's getting bigger! He's definitely more active in the evening, when I'm home from work - normally when I'm sitting on the couch or lying in bed. I do know that I'd prefer it if he'd lay of my ribs - at least a little bit! Pretty soon, though, he'll have a lot more room to practice those moves!!

Visit from the Gomes

We did get to see Jenn and Francis, Maddie and Taylor this summer, which was really nice. They Gomes family even made a trip to see our softball team play (which, incidentally, took second in our league). We also spent some time at Amazing Jakes, and it looked like everyone had fun.

My mom holding Ella, who's wearing Andrew's hat...

Wings Over the Rockies

Mom, Dad, Shannon, Andrew and I all went to the Wings Over the Rockies last month. Andrew's company occasionally has functions that we can get cheaper tickets to - this time, it was the airplane museum... so of course, we had to go! It was pretty neat - except for the part where I forgot that I was pregnant and tried climbing into the cockpit of some of the planes. Guess I really am my father's daughter!!

Andrew's 14er

Another activity some people from Andrew's work arrange is the annual 14er - we weren't able to participate last year, because it was around the time we were getting married. This year, I was also sadly unable to go - but Andrew, Brittany and Peter all went and climber Mt. Sherman. Andrew actually remembered to take some pictures, so we'll share those. I spent the day with an adorable little three-month old baby... Ella, of course! Shannon came over to make sure that I didn't get to tired, so the three of us had our own nice day!

Andrew, of course, didn't take any pictures of himself, so we'll have to see if Brittany and Peter have some. :) Otherwise, it'll be next year 'til we get some more 14er pictures. :)

Odds & Ends

Other exciting news is that we took second on our softball league. I meant to take some pictures of the team, but we didn't get a chance before everyone left. But we finished the season having only lost three games, which was pretty good. Hopefully, fall league will end with us at number one!

That's it for now... I will definitley try to get some more updates soon... my baby shower, my "bump", the baby's room... it'll just take some more time. :)

Vegas Vacation

Well, I'm at 27 weeks now, and the baby is moving like a crazy person! :) There are definitely some mornings that it surprises me how much he moves. He began moving the Monday after our sonogram, and he's been pretty much moving non-stop. At first, it was a little weird, but I'm actually enjoying the movements a lot. They're like little reassuring kicks of him saying that he's okay. Andrew has gotten to feel him kick quite a bit - he's much more active in the morning and the evening, when I'm "relaxing" or laying in bed. It's still kinda weird to think that there's a little person growing inside of me!



We managed to get a babymoon in this past month. It was a quick trip to Vegas. Andrew and I had Christine & Kerry's wedding on Saturday, June 21, and after the wedding, we were planning on driving to Las Vegas. So, my parents, Shannon, and Ellen, came to pick us up in Morrison, and then we started our *very long* drive to Nevada. After several stops (mostly so that I could relieve my sensitive bladder on a regular basis), we drove straight through the night and were on the strip at 6:30am Sunday morning. We stayed at the Monte Carlo, and spent some time at the pool in the morning, after meeting up with Andrew's parents for some breakfast (his aunt and uncle and grandma would meet us later in the day).




We walked around the strip, and got a chance to catch one of the water shows at the Bellagio, as well as check out the always beautiful Conservatory. I also love chocolate display - Bellagio is my favorite! :)








Monday, Shannon and I went to the the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef, where they had the elusive water fountain (apparently, Las Vegas Casinos have decided to make more money by removing all fountains so that people are forced to purchase water).



The Shark Reef was pretty incredible - lots of different animals and sea creatures. We even got to see some sting rays (always my favorite!).






We left Vegas Tuesday morning at about 5:30am - and made it just in time to our 6:50 softball game (yes, we managed to pull out the victory!). Mom turned 50 on Wednesday, and Brittany turned 29 (for the first time) on Thursday. For Britt's celebration, we went to the aquarium, and had a very nice dinner (the guys just aren't as pretty to look at!).






I also got to *finally* have my picture with my newest baby niece - she's so adorable!!



That's it for now... I'll try to be better about getting the next update on the web for you all. :)

Sonogram

We had our sonogram appointment last week. It was so neat to see the baby move, especially since I wasn't feeling anything. We got to see the size of the head (and if you ask me, I saw that it was measuring small - but maybe that was wishful thinking on my part!) and what the estimated due dates were based on the different measurements. Everything went really well. Here's a picture of the baby's face - pretend he's looking at you, laying down, with his head to the left. I think our baby is adorable. :)



We saw the spine, the kidneys, two arms and two legs, and the four chambers of the heart. We saw the arms moving, and the hand was even on the face for a minute, so I think our baby was getting in some thumb sucking time! The baby kept moving around, and a lot of times, he was moving into better positions for the technician to do her measurements. When it came time to try to get that heart, though, he was pretty stubborn, and she kept trying to poke the baby so that he would move. And then it worked, and we got to see what we needed (which was totally reassuring!). We also decided to find out what the baby was... and... we're having a boy! :) So now the real debate for names is on. We've got a few months to figure it out, but it's good to have half the names removed from the list. :) Maybe we'll actually have something picked out before he's born!!

I did feel a little bit of movement yesterday. It's really very weird. Andrew got to feel some of the kicking, but it's still really faint. The best decription I could come up with is like being on a ride, and going really high, and that feeling that you get in your stomach. He was active in the early morning yesterday, and then last night, and then nothing today until about now (just after dinner). It's still really nice to feel the little movements - I'm looking forward to them - but I'm sure that eventually I'll just want him to sleep. :)

Some other exciting news... Brittany's little daughter is the cutest baby in the whole wide world (and because we're having a boy, she can be my favorite girl for a little bit longer!). Ella Jean joined us on May 3rd at almost 11:30pm. She's so cute (have I said that yet?). She was 7 lbs and 2 oz, and 20 3/4 inches long. I wish I had some pictures to put up, but I'm apparently the bad Auntie and don't have any pictures. So we spent almost all day at the hospital, giving me a glimpse of what I'll be doing in a few more months! I think the baby is fine where he is! :)

Andrew's sister Ellen graduated from college last weekend. I got to take the day off (my first official paid vacation day since I've celebrated 6 months at Fitness Together now) and we went up to Fort Collins for her ceremony. So no more graduations for us for a while. Hopefully, his own graduaton from the UCD graduate program isn't that far away. Andrew is 7/16ths of the way there. :) He's taking the summer off so that we can get the house ready for the baby, and then starting back up two nights a week at the end of August.

One final note - our ten seconds of fame (if even that!). We went to the Rockies game last night agains the Giants. Our seats were in left field, and there was quite a bit of action when Clint Barmes hit his homerun out there - it basically landed under the feet of one of my coworkers. Andrew couldn't catch the ball, and I was frantically trying to grab it, and the guy behind me was trying to reach over me... Basically, I was folded in half (the baby did not like that!). Eventually, my coworker's husband got the ball, but we made it to the Rockies website - in a way. If you check out the link, you'll see the highlight of the game, and if you look hard, you can see Andrew in his black Rockies t-shirt, and the guy (in red) is crushing me. I'm fine by the way - but it's totally awesome to see it and know that was us! :)

http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200805192732580

First Post!

Well, here goes my attempt at moving into technology! We're not particularly exciting people, but we'll try to keep you up to date in what's going on with the Aurora Zwickls. :)

The most exciting thing right now is that we're going to have a baby. We're due October 6th - the day after Andrew's birthday, and two day's before his dad's. We're pretty excited about it! We haven't decided yet if we're going to find out what the baby is - at this point, Andrew's calling the baby "him" and I'm tend to refer to the baby that way, as well, but I'll tease him and respond with "she." Either way, Andrew's nixed Coriander from the baby names, so some of you will be happy! Right now, the baby is affectionately called "Nicodemus."

We've got some upcoming events that we're looking forward t0 - waiting for Baby Ella to make her appearance (any day now can't come quickly enough for Brittany!), planning a trip to Yankee Stadium since it's the last season, and getting to Vegas again. I've been told that now is the perfect time for us to have the "babymoon" - the short time before the baby's born to use for stuff that we apparently won't be able to do once he or she is here. So, we'll see if Andrew and I can get these trips planned! We'll let you know. :) And we'll see if I'm able to figure out how to get some pictures up on this thing!