Tagged!

I have been "tagged". Thanks, Jennifer. If you find yourself "tagged" like me, here are the rules you must follow...
The Meme Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Okay, eight random facts:
1)Neil and I grew up in central Il and moved here 3 years ago
2)I have a degree in Children's Ministry from Lincoln Christian College
3)I don't have that many interesting facts about me
4)I have a small group cookout tonight
5)We just found out we have a neighbor 3 doors down that have a 3 year old daughter and a 4 1/2 month old daughter and we've lived there for 2 1/2 years!
6)My mom is a preschool director
7)I have a brother who is a youth minister and a brother who is going to Lincoln this fall
8)One of our professors from Lincoln is the interim preacher here at TPCC and is doing a fabulous job! GO JK!

Okay, so I don't have 8 friends that have blogs so I'm just going to tag the people on my links list.
Meghan, Jill, Brookelyn, Matt, Jared
That'll be fine!

Registered!

We've registered! Neil and I went out this past weekend to Target on Saturday and then Babies R Us on Sunday and registered for all the stuff that we need for Baby Troyer. Wow, there's a lot! I got a list of things from Jennifer Jordan that she recommended I register for and I think we pretty much got everything.
I love the stuff at Target but there are two frustrating things about them:
a)you MUST have a gift receipt to return ANYTHING you got as a gift
b)they don't always have everything in stock when you want to register for it, but they've got the display.
We liked several things on the display as far as the Pack N Plays and Carseats but they didn't have them in stock so you can't register for them. Then we ended up finding something different that we were okay with at Babies R Us.

I also learned a couple of things about my husband by going to register for baby stuff with him:
1)He doesn't like anything he's never heard of(which is a lot when it comes to baby stuff)
-Example: he didn't want to register for Baby Einstein videos because he didn't know what they were and they just had babies on the front, it wasn't what he grew up with
2)Finding a diaper bag that both of us can carry that is for a boy but isn't black is SOOO hard!
3)He likes to be independent, he doesn't like to do things like everyone else does them, he likes to be different
4)He does better if I prepare him for what is going to happen before we get there. I had to prepare him that this was going to be somewhat boring for him but also exciting because this is for our baby, not someone else's!
5)Many times he enjoys himself more than what he lets on. I think he actually had fun thinking about his son and what he would need. Just go look at our registry from Babies R Us and you'll see several bibs on there. Those were all things that Neil thought we needed because they said things like: "If you think I'm cute, wait til you see my daddy!" and "Daddy's Lil Sport". He also found some Colts baby items that he liked and that made him excited. They had a few bottles we put on there and a set of toddler dinnerware.

Anyway, it was a fun experience that we'll never forget, registering for our first baby.

Milestone

Well, this past Saturday morning, Neil and I were IL visiting his family. We were laying in bed that morning and I could feel the baby kicking. So, I decided to try to put my hand on my belly to see if I could feel it on the outside as well. I felt him kick 3 times so I told Neil that I thought he'd be able to feel the baby move that day. Well, I decided to wait and have him try a couple of hours later, like after lunch because that's when he's most active and moving around. So we sat down on the couch later and I had Neil put his hand on my belly. I could feel some small movements but nothing like a kick. Neil kept asking me "Is that it?" whenever he'd feel a little movement. I wasn't sure if he could really feel the movements so I thought maybe he was feeling my stomach digesting or something. So I told him no whenever he said that. Well, after about 20 minutes, I never really felt a kick so I just said, "well, maybe later". Neil got kind of frustrated cause he really wanted to feel it but didn't. But he explained to me what he thought he was feeling and I realized that he really was feeling the baby move, just not kick. So, that was the first time he felt anything. But, I thought I'd wait a few days before having him try to feel a kick again.
Well, last night while laying in bed the little guy was doing gymnastics! So, I said "Quick, put your hand on here!" and then sure enough, he felt probably one of the biggest kicks I'd ever had! Neil was almost freaked out but more just shocked that a)he could feel it so distinctly and b)that this little tiny baby could pack such a powerful punch! It was really neat and he was really excited that he got to finally feel a real kick!

Maternity Clothes-thankful

Well, I've officially started wearing maternity clothes. Up until now I've been able to get away with wearing some things that are just bigger sizes around the waist and still wear some of my pre-pregnancy shirts. However, some things are fitting a little too snug now and just aren't looking right anymore so I've graduated. I still can't wear a lot of the bigger stuff but I've been surprised by how much does fit me already and I've still got a good 4 1/2 months to go!!!
Then, I got to the church this morning for work and a lady that has 4 kids under that age of 3 in our ministry stopped me. She was dropping her son off for summer camp and had brought me some of her maternity clothes. So we went out to her van and she pulled out this HUGE tub full of clothes and I was so excited! Then, I told her I would return them in a few months and she told me that I don't have to give them back, she's done having kids!!! Wow, what a blessing. God has really provided already, I think I've bought myself about 4 pieces of maternity clothing and the rest I've had friends loan me or give me! And I only bought those 4 things cause I wanted to!
I am so thankful to have a church body to help care for our needs. We all know that starting a family and expanding is not a cheap endeavor but when we're faithful to Him, He provides for all of our needs and even some of our wants!!!

Belly pics

New Table

Our new table is here and we love it! This is the table without the leaf.

This is the table without the leaf.

This is the table with the leaf and all 8 chairs.

The baby this week: 20 weeks

An excerpt taken from Babycenter.com
How your baby's growing:
Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to heel. (For the first 20 weeks, we use measurements taken from the top of the baby's head to her bottom — known as the "crown to rump" measurement. After that, we use measurements from head to toe. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against his torso during the first half of pregnancy and are very hard to measure.)A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats his entire body to protect his skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. (This slick coating also eases the journey down the birth canal.)Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, and swallowed amniotic fluid. This meconium will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first messy diaper (although a few babies pass it in utero or during delivery).

New clothes for Baby Troyer

These are some of the new outfits that Grandma, Mama and the girls last night have bought for us.

College Replay

The pregnant ladies, Jennifer, Lindsay, and me.

Last night was a really fun night. 6 of us girls from college all got together here in Indy for dinner and then dessert at my house. Lindsay(my college roommate) just moved to Dallas several months ago and surprised us by being in town for the week and wanted to get together. So, it turned out that 6 of us girls (out of like 12 or 13) could get together kind of spur of the moment! They all came in yesterday afternoon and went shopping for a while while I was at work. Then, when I got off work I met them all at a really good restaraunt called Rick's Cafe Boatyard. http://www.rickscafeboatyard.com/ There is outdoor seating right on the Eagle Creek Resovoir and you can see sailboats and pontoon boats coming in and out of the Marina the whole time. The water is just gorgeous and the atmosphere is fun. After eating there, we all went back to my house for dessert and hanging out. All the sudden Lindsay said she had to get something from her car and came back in with gifts. They were doing a surprise baby shower for me! Since we're not ever sure when we'll get to see each other again we have to take advantage of the time that we have together. They got me some really cute outfits and things for our little man. I'll take some pics and post those soon. My favorite was this onesie from Old Navy that looked like a brown, striped polo shirt but of course snapped at the crotch. I said it was perfect because it's something Neil would wear and then we all got a funny mental picture of Neil wearing a big onesie! It was pretty funny. I am so thankful to God for all of my friends who have been there for me in all situations. They have truly helped me grow closer to the Lord in all aspects and I miss them dearly.

Stephanie, Abby, and Lindsay

Kristina and her daughter Sadie.

Good friends

Our good friends Matt and Janie just moved down to Miami, Fl last week to start a church plant there. It's so exciting to hear and see what they're doing for the Kingdom! If you want to check out their blog, I have it listed out to the side under links as The Miami Pursuit. Our dogs like each other too. Indy is ours and Jeter is their new dog. He's still a puppy but you can kind of tell from the pic on the right to the one of the left, he's gotten bigger! The one of all of us on the left was taken last week whereas the other one of just the dogs was taken like over a month ago, maybe even two months ago.

New kitchen table

Well, with a growing family comes the need to expand your furniture and get some bigger stuff to accomodate! Neil and I just went out this weekend to purchase a new kitchen table for our kitchen. When we first moved into our house we had a dining room but then in the fall when we started thinking about expanding our family and needing another bedroom upstairs, we made the dining room into an office. So, we got rid of the dining room table and so we were left with just our kitchen table. It seats 6 but it's REALLY old and rickity. It's one my parents had for a long time, then they got a new one and took this one to the cabin for quite a few years and then when Neil and I got married 3 1/2 years ago we aquired it again so we could have a good sized table. Well, to explain how old it is, my parents are now on their 2nd table since they got rid of this one!!

Needless to say, we are ready for a new table. We looked around at all the possibilities and wanted something maybe a little larger than the one we have now. But, our kitchen isn't HUGE so we wanted it to have a leaf. So, finally at Sofa Express we found the table we wanted that will hopefully last us for a while. It's a pub table that came with 4 chairs but we ordered 4 more so we could seat 8. When you put the leaf in the table, it makes a big square so we can fit 2 people on each side. It's the perfect size for our kitchen because it's the same size as our old one when the leaf is not in it, just higher off the floor, but with the leaf in, extends to a larger size. Also, the other good thing is that the leaf stores underneath the table and just slides under for easy storage. That's a good thing because we don't have a basement or a good place to store things like table leaves. Here's a pic of the table(from the website, not in our house):

Okay, I know these are a little small, but these are my ultrasound pics.

The first one is just of his little foot on the left. The next two pics are of him laying on his back in the womb.

Pic #4 is the moneyshot! His head is not in the picture but would be off to the left and he's laying on his back. You can see the white bones of his spine on the bottom and his belly is sticking up. I think one leg is translucent so you can't see it, but what we're really looking at is his manhood. It's kind of down to the bottom right. This is a side view.

The next two pics down here are him sucking his thumb! These are my favorite ones because he seems like such a little baby. He's got his leg curled up and is in the fetal position on his back. You can also kind of see the umbilical cord right by his knees. The last pic is just of him laying on his back again.

I love that we have this little window into our baby's world. I wish I could have watched him longer and just kept falling more in love with him. Neil and I were so in awe of how God could create such a perfect person inside another person! We are so blessed that God has allowed us to experience one of the best things in the world!

Kicking Troyer

Nineteen Weeks:
Okay, so I've definitely been able to feel some kicks now. It's the coolest feeling! Last night I was laying in bed and for about 20 minutes I counted how many times I could feel movement, either a kick or a flutter and I felt it 11 times! Boy was he active last night!
It's now become the fun thing to do when I get bored or I just have to sit and wait for something, I try to see if I can feel any movement or kicks. Then, if I get really bored, I count how many I feel.
Neil is disappointed because he still can't feel anything yet from his end but hopefully that'll come soon. I'll let you know!

The News We've all Been Waiting For!

Okay, sorry it's taken me so long to update this with the news from yesterday. We had a very busy day I didn't get a chance to get online. Plus, I was kind of waiting until we could get the ultrasound pictures up and I have to scan those somewhere else.

Anyway, here it is.....

Neil is going to have a mini-me!!! We're going to have a boy! It's very obvious from the ultrasound, he flashed his manhood several times for us all. You'll see once I get the pics up.

We also got some great pics of him sucking his thumb and just moving around like crazy! I still haven't been able to feel anything definite but I've felt a couple of things that I think could probably be him.

Everything looked fine during the ultrasound, he has all his parts and looks very healthy. We have a lot to praise the Lord about! He weighs just 8 oz. and they gave me an updated due date of December 9th instead of the 3rd which is what I had thought all along!

We also got our crib yesterday so here is a pic of Neil putting it together.

Here's the finished product.

Well, that's all for now, I'll put more pics up soon! Stay tuned!

Breckenridge, CO

View from an area near where we stayed
















What Neil and Austin did most of the time...
















Train ride on the Georgetown Loop Railroad















Down by the water getting ready for fireworks


















Getting ready for fireworks



















On the train, Austin, Neil, Amy and half of dad


















View from the top of the bridge in the train


















View of the bridge we were on from the car of the train
















The guys getting ready to go mountain bike

















The bridge from down below






















Trina and Amy getting ready to go lay out by the pool



These are all pics from our vacation to Breckenridge, CO. We had a blast while we were there just relaxing and hiking and taking in all the beautiful sites. One day we went to Estes Park and hiked and then drove up trail ridge road. It was beautiful and got REALLY cold up near the top. I think it went from being 75 to 50! There was a pool outside that was heated and was so much fun to go and lay by which I did like 3 or 4 days. The day the guys went mountain biking the girls went down to the little shops on main street and went shopping all morning. The stores are so cool!
We all took turns cooking meals and also went out to eat for a couple of them. We had a great time just being with family and getting away for a week. But, it's not easy being pregnant in the mountains, let me tell ya! I was out of breath more than I thought was possible! The air is so thin up there that by the end of the week, after getting winded from a small, slight incline and having several bloody noses, I was somewhat ready to get back to the hot, humid, Indiana weather!

Fun times with the Trude-ster

Janie and Amy
















Nicole and Cheryl-the model brides!





















Nicole

Nicole's Red Sox leg warmers

Trudy-the guest of honor

Cheryl-white trash bride

The girls at dinner

Here's some pics from Trudy's bachelorette party that was on Friday, June 29th. We went to Papa Joe's in Brownsburg to eat dinner and then to Amy Nichol's house for dessert and sparkling juice. Jake had put together a cute video for Trudy of what he thought her "ideal" bachelorette party would look like which was pretty funny. We played a funny game where we split up into teams and had each team pick a "model". We got 6 rolls of toilet paper and had to make a wedding dress for the models to wear. Our team picked a very pregnant lady, Cheryl Hamilton to be our model and made her into a "white trash bride" where she was smoking a cigarette and was dressed in an 80's gown. It was pretty funny.

The other team as you can see decided to dress Nicole Lopez as a Red Sox bride because that is Jake and Trudy's favorite baseball team. It was a close competition but in the end our team won!

All in all it was a very fun evening put on by Andrea Bowman and Amy Nichols. They are a great team of party planners!

Appointment on Friday

For those of you who don't know, Neil and I have our first Ultrasound this coming Friday morning at 10am. We get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl! I can't wait and am SOOO excited! I think we may go ahead and buy our crib as well this weekend cause I think we know what we want.

Here's info from some articles that I suscribe to about what's going on during this 19th week:

You're 19 Weeks Pregnant
Think you're big now? You'll start growing even more rapidly in the weeks to come. This added weight may make it hard for you to keep up your regular pace without taking a catnap during the day. You may also be wondering about that darkened line running from the top of your belly button to the top of your pubic bone. It's called the linea nigra, or "dark line," and is caused by a temporary increase in melanin, the substance that colors your hair, skin and eyes. This is an important time for your baby's sensory development, too. Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision and touch. Some research suggests that she can even hear you talk, so read out loud, talk to her or sing a happy tune.

Telling our family

We printed these 4 pictures and put them into albums to tell our family that we were pregnant.

We just nonchalantly handed our families these pictures and they were completely surprised when they looked at the last couple of pictures!

1st Blog

Well, this is my first entry as a blogger. Here's a pic of Neil, Indy and I. What's funny is that Neil actually took the picture of him and I and then photoshopped Indy into the picture! But you can't even tell!

Stay tuned for pics and updates of our pregnancy and just life in Indy in general.