21 Week Ultrasound

We got to see little Andrew again today! We loooove going to the doctor and seeing what he's up to in there. Everything looked great and healthy. He was moving a TON and making it hard for her to get good pics, but here he is! He wasn't throwing any hand signs this time either. She did confirm again that he is definitely an Andrew and not an Andrea ;) HOWEVER, something just ain't right about putting his little boy shot up on the internet! You'll just have to take our word on that one.

Kicks @ 20 Weeks

Well, it took me long enough to finally feel little Andrew kicking, but man - he started kicking last night! It was unmistakeable. I put my hand on my belly and was pretty sure I could feel it so I called Matt over and even he was able to feel it! Weird how I went from nothing to crazy kicks in one day!!! ...and he's been kicking all night!

20 Week Baby Bump

...well almost! I'll be 20 weeks on Saturday. That's the halfway point, folks!! Hard to believe!

Here are a few pictures of me and Andrew standing in front of Matt's handy work! The baseboards and crown moulding are done and man, they add a LOT to that room! We (and by we, I mean Matt) still have to paint the doors, replace the knobs, and get new blinds. This is all before we start adding furniture, etc! Whew!!

Nursery - "During"

In observance of Labor Day weekend, Matt has been laboring away!! He has really been working hard on little Andrew Luke's nursery. I forgot to take some "before" pictures, but imagine a gold/burgandy room that we liked to call "The Venetian." Last summer we replaced the 80's brown mo(u?)lded (as in shaped, not actual mold growing on it) carpet. Little did we know it was the first step in changing EVERYTHING in this room!

Matt has painted the ceiling, stripped away the old baseboards, put 2 coats of baby blue paint on the walls, cut new baseboards, and painted the new baseboards! He's in there hammering away right now installing the baseboards. We also bought crown moulding!!! I love love love huge baseboards and crown moulding, so I think it's going to turn out cute! Love my hubby!!!!!

Calling all Mamas!

Ok, mamas, we need your help! What are the 'must haves' for baby raisin'? What did you buy that you totally did not need? What brands are safest? What stuff makes your life easier?? Comment away, chicas!!

It's a BOY!

...and it appears I've already lost the Aggie/Longhorn battle. He's giving the Hook 'Em sign....IN THE WOMB! What the heck???
Sweet cheeks!

Yawn?

Kinda scary...

Super scary! Our little alien...

Can you see the brow bone? He totally got Matt's unibrow, my pointy chin and my big forehead. He's gonna be so cute!!!!! <3

On the screen they had, you could clearly see every little toe!

All the organs were in the right spots!

2 Sisters...

...and 2 cousins!!

Pictures of Katelyn!

Katelyn Rae Poth

Our niece, Katelyn Rae Poth, arrived on August 5, 2009! She was born on my mom's 60th birthday and our nephew's 13th birthday! It's a popular day in our family. I haven't taken my pictures off my camera yet, but you can see pics here.

We are looking forward to finding out if Katelyn will have a girl or a boy cousin! We find out on August 24th!! My due date is Jan. 30, 2010!

London and Paris!

We just got back from 10 days in London and Paris! We had a great time seeing all the touristy sites: Stonehenge, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, etc. We also got to see Matt's cousin, Michael. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of him! Sorry, Michael! He's a marine and works at the US Embassy, so we got a personal tour of behind the scenes at the embassy. We also went through the states rooms of Buckingham Palace with him and had some great Fish & Chips.

Tower & Tower Bridge

We visited the Tower & Tower Bridge excited to see the Crown Jewels and the site of all the beheadings! The Crown Jewels were UNBELIEVABLE. One of the diamonds was over 500 carats. Most of the jewels were authentic, but in some cases they replaced the original jewels with crystals and passed the jewels on so that they could be used in other crowns, etc. I was excited to visit the gift shop after seeing that exhibition - thinking that I might be able to score a replica, but the gift shop was a hokey let down!

After checking out the jewels, our next stop was to see the site of the beheadings. I told Matt to ask the guard where the guillotines were, so he did. The Beef Eater guard replied with, "This is Britain, Mate! We use the AX!" HAHAHAHA Oops. Wrong country.

So, we headed to the White Tower and stumbled upon a special display about Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill. He was quite a character.

STONEHENGE!

To get to Stonehenge: take bus from hotel to the Tube, take Tube to train station, take train from London to Salisbury, take double decker shuttle bus to Stonehenge! Whatta trip! I have to say, public transportation has its place and serves its purpose, but it is NICE to have personal transportation!!! No stinky weirdos, no swine flu, no doors to get trapped in (sorry, Hubby)!

Overall, Stonehenge was one of our FAVORITE places to visit. It is pretty amazing to look at something that is 4500 years old. We took the audio tour, which was nice, but basically it said: "One theory is..." "We're not sure how...." "We're not sure why...." ....so it didn't have a lot of answers! It rained and was cooooold the entire time we were there, but it was very worthwhile!

Phantom of the Opera!

One afternoon we headed over to visit the TKTS booth in London. They sell half price theater tickets for day of and next day performances. We both love the theater and neither of us had seen The Phantom of the Opera, so this was a great opportunity. The venue was Her Majesty's Theater. It was second to none. The sets were impressive and the voices were perfect! We loved it!! Brava!!!

Changing of the Guard & Shakespeares Globe Theater

We watched the infamous Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. It was a lot of pomp and circumstance involving two marching bands and a calvary. The crowd was huge so we didn't get to see the actual palace guards up close. Bascially, we are glad that we went, but overall think it's pretty over-rated :)




South of the River Thames, you can see a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Except it's not really a replica! They have no idea what the original theater looked like, so this is their best guess! They tried to make it using authentic materials with a thatched roof (the only one in London today) and goat hair in the wall plaster! It was neat to see, but I was dissapointed to hear that it's a guesstimate.

British Food

We stopped in for a late night snack at a little pub and ended up with chips, salsa and guacamole! It wasn't exactly Hobbs quality, but we laughed. Matt also ordered a Coors Light -- notice the Rockies are white! There are no blue Rockies in London!!!

Our favorite 2 meals: Fish & Chips and Bangers & Mash! We tried many, many varieties of Fish & Chips (Haddock, Hake, and Cod). All were served with plenty of malt vinegar and MUSHY PEAS (they were actually really good)! The ketchup situation was quite surprising though - most of the ketchup was super sugary. Bangers (sausage) & Mash was my fave. That gravy is unreal. YUM.
One night, after tiring of so much British food, we decided to check out "Chiquitas" Mexican food. When we saw DUCK FAJITAS we had to bite....literally, heehee.

Duck Fajitas with Fries (?!)