Thanksgiving

Well, here we are a few short hours from kicking off the big Thanksgiving weekend! We are all packed and ready to roll after work tonight. We are heading north up to the farm. Craig's brother and family are scheduled to arrive later this evening. We're pretty excited about this, as we haven't seen them since July (pre-pregnancy). Izzy is also excited because she loves playing with the kiddos.

The weekend will be busy, but lots of fun I'm sure. We will have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with my family in Tekamah. I'm so looking forward to that meal. I have been seriously craving comfort foods lately, and what's more comforting than Thanksgiving dinner!

I think my mom and I may venture to Omaha for some Black Friday shopping! I'm hoping we can score some sweet deals! I'm also hoping we may stumble upon some baby specials! My goal is to have all my holiday shopping done by my birthday...that's only about 2 weeks away!

Sometime over the weekend we are celebrating the Mencke family Christmas, since Brent & Buffye will not be back for Christmas. This means that half of my holiday shopping is done, wrapped, and packed! I think this is completely crazy as I don't even have a Christmas tree up yet! I'm hoping that we'll be back early enough on Sunday to maybe tackle that!

Oh, and today is my baby brother's 19th birthday! Happy Birthday Uncle Chip! I can't believe that he is 19 already...where has the time gone. I still remember the day he was born. Wow, this makes me feel old! We will be celebrating his birthday on Thanksgiving, which will just add to the fun festivities!

We want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! Obviously, we have so much to be thankful for this year! This time of year is a perfect opportunity to count our blessings, and we are just that...blessed!

Ultrasounds

Here are the pics from the ultrasound! The little squirt was wiggling all around and playing peek-a-boo the whole time, with the little hands covering the face most of the time. We did manage to get a few good pictures!

Here's a profile picture of the face!



Here a picture looking down at both arms, flailing about!



Here's a picture of the head and body! She estimated the little one weighs about 9oz right now!




Here's a shot of the spinal cord!



Finally, this is the feet, well at least one of them! Look at the cute little toes!



So, it's been a pretty exciting day here for the Mencke family! Baby and Mom both checked out fine, so we're good to go for another 4 weeks! Oh, and Dad's pretty smitten with the baby pics...he's scanned them, printed them, uploaded them, and text them to everyone! It's pretty cute! Oh, and Uncle Chip has already been over to see the pictures in person! It's getting more and more real everyday!

The Latest

Well, tomorrow is our big ultrasound! We are both really excited about it. No...we are still not finding out if it's a boy or a girl. Both of us are still thinking we're on "team pink", but we'll find out for sure in April. I'm still feeling pretty good other than some headaches. This is becoming a daily occurrence it seems. I plan to mention it to the MD tomorrow just to be sure it's ok, as most things say headaches are more common in the 1st and 3rd trimesters. I am also scheduled for an H1N1 vaccine on Thursday, so that will make the grandparents feel better!

We have selected the fabric for our baby bedding! What do you think?

The first two will be either sides of the bumper, the third will be the sheet, the stripes will be the skirt, and the orange will be the piping and ties.

Now, we're trying to figure out what color to paint. We have white furniture and the room itself gets a lot of sunlight. I'm having a hard time finding something i like. The actual fabric colors are a little more dark (not as bright) as the pictures show. I'm starting to lean toward a two color combo with a chair rail or painted stripe as a divider. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

In other news, Izzy has her yearly shots last week. Craig said she handled them like a champ, but she was sure worn out that evening. I'm glad she won't have to get any more for a while. She is up to 23.3 pounds...hard to believe when she started at about 7lbs when we got her. Funny story from a few nights ago...I dozed off watching some TV in bed before bedtime and woke up to Izzy scratching my belly--which was hanging out. It didn't hurt, just startled me. I'm not sure if she was trying to communicated with her future sibling or what, but it made me laugh!

We have an exciting next week or so planned. Obviously, the first big thing is the ultrasound/doctor's appointment tomorrow. This weekend we are headed down to KC for the Chiefs game. Craig works with a company down there that has offered us two tickets. It will be nice to get away for a day. Izzy will be spoiled here as Uncle Chip is coming to hang out with her! After than we're back to work for two days and then home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Craig's brother and family have decided to head east for Thanksgiving this year and stay home for Christmas, so we will also be celebrating the Christmas holiday with them while they are back. This will most likely be the only time we see them throughout the pregnancy, so I'm really looking forward to it. Oh, and we really miss those kids so we are always excited to see them...so is Izzy!

I'll post more after tomorrow's appointment, so that's it for now!

Preparing for the Holiday Season

Well, the craziness of the holiday season is already upon us! We kick off about 10 week straight of various functions this weekend with a couples shower for Jess and Nick. Their wedding is only around 50 days away! Yikes! I'm really looking forward it!

Thanksgiving is only two weeks away with Christmas right around the corner. I have been lucky enough to get a recent jump on my holiday shopping! My goal is to have it all done by my birthday, so we'll see!

We have our first daycare interview tomorrow evening. I'm pretty nervous about it. It's such a big deal, I'm afraid we'll miss something or forget to ask something. I'm hoping we just "know" in our guts and our hearts, so that we can make the best decision. The lady tomorrow sounds very promising, but I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up!

Also on the baby front, we have (I have) picked the fabric out for our crib bedding. My super awesome co-worker/seamstress extraordinaire Kaitlyn has generously volunteered (along with her equally as awesome mother, Peg) to make our crib bedding for us. I'm so excited about it and grateful! So, now that we have selected the fabric, we are hunting for just the right paint color. So far, I'm not really loving our options, so we'll just have to keep looking! Good thing we have a few months!

We had some house guests last weekend! My parents decided to make a road trip down to Lincoln to stay with us on Saturday. It was nice to have them here. They were dog-sitting for Jess, so Cruzan also made the trip down. Izzy liked having her cousin come for a visit. The two of them enjoyed some backyard time while the weather was nice!

Well, that's about it for now! Wish us luck tomorrow as the hunt for daycare begins!