Panther

The story of our family would not be complete without introducing our first "baby" our beloved cat Panther. He just recently turned 7 years old. He is a cat that sometimes thinks he is a dog. He really has a great personality, even if he is a true "scaredy" cat. He is fearful of strangers, loud noises, and most of all kids. Hopefully he will adjust to Peanut, he will have no choice. Hopefully he will realize that she is here to stay and he better like her.

Recently Panther has this habit of sleeping underneath the blanket in our guest bedroom. We keep an afghan on the bed that used to belong to Grandma Little. He curls up under the blanket and sleeps. In the first picture he was caught "cat napping" on camera, so cute!

Baby Shower Blessings

Sorry for the delay in postings! Busy work schedule lately!

Just wanted to share our photos and a recap of our most recent baby shower. This shower was held at our home and was hosted by my sister-in-laws Lisa and Amy and my mom. The shower was simply amazing! The food was excellent, the cupcake tower was adorable. We played several cute games including a nursery rhyme questionnaire (I did poorly on this, but hone up before I teach them to Peanut), name famous tv show kids, and guess how much Peanut will weigh and when she will arrive. We were again given so many great gifts. My aunt and my grandmother crocheted beautiful afghans for Peanut. She got many new clothes, a swing, a pack and play, a crib monitor and much more. Her nursery is definitely filling up and we feel much more prepared for her arrival at this point. I was surrounded by many aunts, cousins, other family and friends who are all so excited about Peanut's expected arrival. It was a great afternoon.

As you can see by the last picture my belly is definitely getting bigger. I have really expanded in the past couple of weeks. It is such a surreal experience to be pregnant, something I feared I would never experience. I love feeling her move inside, her little kicks, even those in the middle of the night are such a reassurance. I will almost miss being pregnant but I also can't wait until she is here in my arms.

Happy Father's Day!

To all the father's out there I wish you a Happy Father's Day. I hope you get the rest and relaxation you deserve on your day. To my father and father-in-law thank you for your unconditional love and generosity!

To my husband, I have been longing to give you a Father's Day for a long time. I know Peanut is not in your arms yet but she will be soon, and I can't wait until she is daddy's little girl! I love you so much and know you will make such a great Daddy!

Our cake from the baby shower! It was chocolate with cream cheese frosting and chocolate covered strawberries on top! Yummy!

Our baby shower in Fort Wayne, June 10th 2006

We are so incredibly lucky

This past weekend we went to Scott's hometown where he grew up, and where we lived for a few years of our married life. My dear friend Amy and mother-in-law threw us a baby shower. They even had a father-to-be bash for all the guys. I can't even put into words the generosity and outpouring of love shown to us. There were several of my friends that I had not seen in a long time that came for the shower. It was great to see them! We received so many nice gifts. I can't wait until she is here so she can wear her new clothes, ride in her car seat, and play with the toys. We are so blessed to have so many people in our cheering section for this pregnancy. They all know how long we have desired to have a child and what a true blessing this is. If any of you are reading that that were there, thank you so much. For those that live too far away to have been there, we know you were there in spirit and we look forward to seeing you when the baby is here. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your thoughts, prayers and generosity!

What A Difference A Year Makes

Scott and I were out to eat tonight talking about what we were doing a year ago today. One year ago we were in Italy preparing to celebrate his sister's wedding. Cyndi and I were in a mad rush to create the programs to be used for the wedding. We also took the bus to Lugo all by ourselves to go to market to buy flowers to decorate the car. We had arrived in Italy one week prior, spent a fabulous weekend in Venice. What an amazing city! Cyndi and Dan's wedding would be in a few days, so the mad dash was on to finish the wedding preparations. The wedding was just beautiful. I wasn't sure we would even understand the ceremony given that it was said in Italian, but love is a universal language. The reception was so much fun, with great food. One of the main things I miss about Italy was the food. I know when Cyndi visits America there are certain restaurants that she must hit while visiting, but the food here doesn't even compare to real Italian food. The vegetables are fresher, the fruit is juicier, more flavorful. We visited Florence, Pisa, Rome, and San Marino on our visit to Italy. It was an amazing vacation. I would almost say a "once in a lifetime", but I know we will be back. We will want to let our daughter experience it all first hand. I know her Aunt and Uncle would love showing her around!

What an amazing year it has been, and can't wait to see what is in store for us for the next one!

Most Recent Photo

This is the most recent photo of Peanut. She is 24 weeks gestation in this picture. You can mainly only see her face and hands. She looks like an alien in my opinion. We have had 8 ultrasounds this pregnancy. It is amazing the amount of growth you can see in each picture. I think we will still have one more ultrasound closer to her due date to ensure that she is head down and prepared for the birth. I can tell that she is head down since her arms play the drums on my bladder and her feet like to kick my ribs. Everyday we are feeling more prepared for her arrival. We will have to take some photos of the nursery soon. Scott got it painted recently, it just needs a few more finishing touches to look more complete.