Busy Month

You'd think, with not working any more, that I would have more time to update this blog!

Ray and I celebrated our 3-year wedding anniversary on July 1st. Ray had to work, but after work we went up to High Cliff to the spot where Ray "officially" proposed.

Over the 4th of July weekend, we went with my family to do some boating and stayed at a cabin in Beaver Dam.

The week following the 4th, Ray had vacation and worked on the baby's room. I'll do a post with pictures on that soon!

Then, we had our baby shower with Ray's family.

Our delicious cakes, made by Ray's aunt Nancy.

Berd and Malia - don't you love her smile?

Little Prince Bennett - already a month old!

And now our baby is due in exactly one month - yikes! My body is definitely ready (I get new aches every day), but I'm not sure my mind has been wrapped around this whole parenthood thing!

Barefoot and Pregnant

I now completely understand where the phrase "barefoot and pregnant" came from. Between the recent heat and being pregnant, all of my shoes feel tight and I'd rather be barefoot!

My 32 week picture:


Also, I don't think I've mentioned that I have a time frame for getting braces off! Dr. Olsen says my teeth will be ready at about the same time as the baby (August). Since lying on my back in a dentist chair for 2+ hours at nine months pregnant is not really an option, I will be getting the braces off once I'm ready after the baby comes (I'm thinking late September or sometime in October). I can't believe that phase of my life is almost over, and with so much less pain and money than originally thought!

We worked on painting the baby's room this past weekend. It's almost complete, just some cutting and another coat on the closet to go. I can't wait to post before and after pictures of that room - its' going to be gorgeous!

30 Weeks!

Only 10 weeks of pregnancy to go (give or take a couple of weeks). I can't believe I'm 75% there! Definitely feeling pretty large these days:

Sleeping is getting less comfortable, but so far I'm getting a good amount of sleep each night. My lower back is also starting to ache, mostly in the evenings. Nothing too major. Overall, I'd say that pregnancy has been very good to me. Thanks, little one!

I can definitely tell that Norman Jr. is getting bigger and stronger in there! I'm feeling stronger kicks, and I can feel body parts pushing against me. Norman Jr. also seems to not enjoy getting squished AT ALL. There have been a few nights where Ray is resting his arm across my stomach and Norman Jr. kicks Ray until he moves his arm. Lol! Stinker!

Sandy

How could I forget about the newest member of the Jochman family? My parents bought a pony!!! I think my dad went a little overboard after Silky died - chickens, a steer, AND a pony?!? Lol! Now he has plenty of farm critters to feed :)

Anyway, here she is:


She came with the name Cindy, but no one in the family cared for that, so Dad renamed her Sandy.

We all think she's going to be a great pony for our baby to learn to ride on!

My First Nephew!

Steve and Keri had their baby... and it's a boy! He's quite the cutie and he was very alert when we went up to see him today.

First, here's a picture of Keri and I about a week ago. I told her it might be the last chance for us to finally get a picture of our pregnant bellies together!


The picture Steve sent out this morning:



Bennett with his uncle Ray:




Bennett with his aunt Becky:



So, is Bennett going to have a boy cousin or a girl cousin his same age to play with???

San Francisco Trip (aka The Babymoon)

Did anyone else feel like May just flew by? Our entire month of May was sooo busy! June is looking a lot less busy for us, and I'll be done working at the end of this month! Yay!

Anyway, I'm overdue for a quick post about our trip to San Francisco at the beginning of May. I've been having quite a bit of tailbone pain lately, so the flight was not very fun. The rest of the trip, though, was great!

We spent a full day in the downtown San Francisco area, doing the tourist thing. I put on 26,000 steps (about 10 miles) that day!


We had dinner that night was some friends who recently moved out to California.


We then went to see the Winchester Mystery House, which was not nearly as furnished as I thought it would be, but still soooo interesting.

On day 3, it was time to see the Redwoods. Just amazing. You really do need to see these trees in person to fully appreciate how huge they are.

On our way back to San Francisco, we stopped at California's Old Faithful geyser. I'm guessing it's not much compared to the Yellowstone Old Faithful, but for two people who had never seen a geyser, it was pretty cool!

So, that's the Cliff Notes version of our trip to San Francisco! We almost didn't go on this trip, since there wasn't much time between our trip to North Carolina and the beginning of my third trimester of pregnancy (when travel is supposed to get more uncomfortable). I am really glad we decided to go and really glad that we didn't go any later in the pregnancy than we did!

Ten Fingers and Ten Toes, Unless You're a Chicken

Last Tuesday, we got to see Norman Jr. on ultrasound! He/she has grown so much since our 8 week ultrasound!



The ultrasound technician verified what my midwife had guessed - I do have an anterior placenta, which is why I haven't felt Norman Jr. much. I have been feeling him/her more now, and Ray even felt him/her on Thursday night!

Babies seem to be the theme of the month of April. My dad has been wanting a new farm critter ever since Silky died this winter. He finally settled on twelve new farm critters:

They're cute now, but they'll be ugly chickens in just a few weeks! I think my dad called them "jumbo fryers", so that tells you a little about their fate :( My mom is pretty excited about having organic chicken this fall!

As if a dozen baby chicks weren't cute enough, Daisy out at my parent's place wasn't about to be left behind. Four more cute babies arrived this week!


Babies everywhere!