OUR LITTLE GUY HAS ARRIVED!!!

Welcome to the world, RYKER!!!

7 lbs. 5 oz. and 20 in.--born 11/15 at 10:59 am

(Mommy is very tired at the hospital.)

Getting ready to go home! He has to cry a little bit of course! :)

What a beautiful baby boy! Look at that hair!!

Mommy & Daddy are SO IN LOVE with him!!

Feels good to be home!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers that you've sent our way. Don't worry, we'll be updating more and sharing our hospital experience this week when we're more rested. :) Ryker is such a sweet blessing! Can't wait for you to see more of him!!

40 Weeks on our way to the hospital!

Family of 3 ready to be family of 4!

Last appointment was today!

This morning Jeff & I went to our 8:15 am, 39 week appt. Here's an update: I'm only still 50 % effaced (which I have been for several weeks) and still haven't dilated yet. Bummer, no change. If the little guy doesn't show up by my due date, next Tues. the 13th, I will be going into the hospital Wed. night at 8 pm to get prepped for labor induction. Pretty crazy! No matter what happens, we'll have a baby next week!!! Without going into too much detail, we basically stay the night after getting "prepped" (which also includes me getting a sleeping pill). When I wake up and take a shower, they start the rest of the process. Honestly, I would rather not be induced, but last week we discussed that she would induce me that Thurs. or the following Thurs. if he doesn't show up. Well, the following Thurs. is Thanksgiving Day. So if I have to choose a day to have it done, then I would much rather take the 1st choice so I can hold our sweet little baby boy on his 1st holiday, enjoy the company in town, and eat the yummy food instead of being stuck in a hospital! :) Mom & dad are driving down from MN this Sat. and will stay until the Monday after Thanksgiving, so it'll be fun to have them here for the whole experience. I know the new grandparents are EXTREMELY excited! My sister, her husband, and Jeff's brother are also coming in town the week of Thanksgiving, so it'll be one big happy family all together! I'm really looking forward to it. My nerves are starting to set in for the whole labor part, but I know all will go well. Keep us in your thoughts & prayers. THANKS! :)

FINAL WEEK!

Today marks the beginning of my final week of pregnancy! We had a pretty busy weekend. On Sat. we helped our friends Derek & Andrea move into their new house for most of the day. Then we shopped a bit together at Babies-R-Us, ate at Panera Bread, and rented "Transformers" for the night of relaxing (ended up being a pretty good movie). It hit us that Sunday was going to be our LAST full day of just the two of us without company and/or a baby in the house! So we wanted to spend the day together. Guess what we did?! We went to the sold-out CHIEFS vs. PACKERS game at the Arrowhead Stadium! A friend of mine had 2 extra tickets so she called late Sat. night and asked if we wanted to go. Thinking to myself, I only have a week left of pregnancy...would that be smart to go? Then I said, "Why the hell not!" :) We had lots of fun and had AWESOME seats right behind the Chiefs, 30 yard line, 21 rows from the field, lower deck! Even though the Chiefs lost, what a fun day to spend together, right! After the game we picked up Tippy, ran to Best Buy to get the video camera that Jeff wanted, and headed over to Rick & Julie's house for a yummy dinner.

So Many Baby Showers!

On Sunday after Carrie & Liz left, we had a baby shower for Andrea (above in middle). Hope you had fun, Andrea!! :) She's due 2 weeks after me, so her little girl is coming soon too! Kacie (on left) can't wait for other babies to be around to hang out with Finley!

Julie & Dana are happy and excited to be Grandmothers!

Do I Really Only Have 1 1/2 Weeks Left?!

This was taken this past Friday at 37.5 Weeks

Drumroll please...........I only have 1.5 weeks left until my due date!!! Last weekend was another eventful weekend full of girl time! 2 of my close friends from MN, Carrie & Liz, drove down to KC on Thursday night while Jeff was out of town getting ready for his Professional Engineer Exam. It was nice to not be alone, just in case anything would happen. (No baby yet!) On Friday, as I was wondering how Jeff's 8 hr. exam was going during the day, the girls and I had fun eating a yummy breakfast, relaxing by just hanging out and chatting, baby shopping at Target using gift cards, and having fun at Bunko with the KC girls that night. (If you're wondering, Jeff thought the test was of course very difficult but that it was a little better than he thought it would be. He won't get the results until around February, which is quite the long wait! Let's hope for the best! THANK GOODNESS he's done spending every night studying!) On Sat., while Jeff had to spend most of the day at a work meeting (poor guy), the girls and I had another fun day shopping for the little guy at Babies-R-Us spending more gift cards, organizing the baby room, and doing baby laundry. After Jeff got home and before we went out for dinner, Carrie & Liz decided to do a pregnancy photo shoot! Our friend, Kim, is an excellent photographer (as you can see on her blog if you click "Beejo" on the right side of my page), so the girls wanted to give it a shot like Kim did while she was pregnant! It was lots of fun; we enjoyed having the giggles as they tried to "pose" me and have me change outfits--Carrie was the photographer and Liz was her lovely assistant. They definitely made me feel like a beautiful pregnant woman! :) Thanks, girls!

Here's my 1st belly shot that has been posted on this blog!

Next pose: Hands of Mommy & Daddy on the baby belly

Carrie & Liz were being creative in being photographers!

THANKS FOR THE FUN WEEKEND, GIRLS!!!