4 months old!

It's hard to believe but Amber is 4 months old today!

She has developed so much within the past month. She smiles a whole lot more even at strangers. She is grasping at toys and batting at them. She has even rolled over a couple of times. She has also definitely figured out she has a voice. She "talks" a bunch! We joke and say that she will just do all the talking for our family since Ricky and I can be quiet :)

I have been taking a picture of her each month on the boppy pillow so we can see how much she grows. Enjoy these pictures of her!

This last one is just so cute....like is smiling out of the corner of her mouth :)

Good Times

Fun!

That sums up this past week! We were lucky and got to see some of our family for Thanksgiving and thankfully they came to see us. Amber was loved on a whole lot this past week and I hope she doesn't miss it too much. We had our Thanksgiving dinner, did some shopping, played some catan, watched a movie, went out to eat, talked, laughed and just all around had a great time.

Amber is really growing fast! It's amazing that in just a few weeks from when they saw her last how much she has changed! We will see family around Christmas time and it will be fun to see how much she has changed and grown!

Burning Leaves

It's that time of year again. Around here you have to pay extra if you have tons of garbage, such as bags and bags of leaves. We live on the border of St. Joseph, so we are in a different county. In the county that we live in we are allowed to burn leaves whenever we want. If we lived in St. Joseph county then we would only have a couple of days to do it. So around our neighborhood during the whole fall season people burn their leaves. It's nicer than having to bag it all up. So the past couple of days we have worked on the front yard. Hopefully we will be done soon, before the snow comes :)

Surprise Visit!

A few weeks ago Ricky came home and asked if we wanted to go to Memphis but make it a surprise. Well he didn't have to ask me twice! I was all for it. The last time his family had seen Amber was when she was first born. She is now 3 months old! In order to make sure that families would be there and not make plans when we came we just decided to tell one person from each family and they would have to keep it a secret. So we told my dad, his dad and nathan.

It was great! It worked perfectly! Everyone was surprised and we got it on video! :) It was a great visit and Amber got to meet lots and lots of new faces! She was so tired by Sunday night that she slept 12 hours straight, didn't even feed her in the middle of the night! Which I think she is finally getting away from the middle of the night feeding. Let's pray...for mommy's sake :)

She rode wonderfully in the car too! As long as the car was moving she was asleep. We would stop to feed her and it worked out great. On the way back yesterday it happened to be time to feed her and there was an outlet mall. So Ricky fed her and I went shopping for a few minuets. There was a Carter's store there and I could have bought the whole store, they had the cutest things. I got her 4 things and really wanted more but I had to stop. They had awesome sales going.

Jr. Admin Assistant

Last week I went back to work just for 2 days, Monday and Wednesday. This week I'm working M,W,F and then the week after that I'll be back everyday. I am hoping that it will all work out. Amber has done pretty good so far. It is sort of hard to juggle working and keeping an eye on her. The church had all the equipment for me to use and it's not being used by the church so it worked out that I didn't have to bring anything from home. They have a pack n play, a swing and a vibrator/bouncy chair. They also have an exersaucer So Amber is now working too :) my little Jr. Admin Assistant :)

Ricky is such a great dad! He is so, so helpful. I get to work an hour earlier and he brings her when he goes into work. So he has to fed her, dress her, get ready himself and then pack her up and bring her to my work. He is awesome!

Afternoon nap time in the Gipson household will be used a lot by me, I have a feeling, once I start working everyday :)

I'm at a loss??

Ok there used to be a button on here when you wrote your blogs that you could upload a video. So simple! I'm a just slow or have I totally lost it, but where did the button go? How in the world do you upload a video on here now?? Any help would be appreciated if anyone knows.

Poppies in December

So this post is a little bit different. I am writing about a book giveaway so that I have a chance to win the book.

Angie Luce recently published a book called Poppies in December. It is a story of their baby girl, not created for this world, who was given three hours on earth before going on to her forever home. She was God's gift, bright, perfect, and beautiful, given to us to open hearts and alter perspectives.


I would love to read about this amazing story of this family and what they learned through the difficult process. So here is my chance to do so by writing about it in order to have an extra entry for my name to be drawn. 


Have a wonderful weekend!!

Encouragement

I don't know about you but there is a lot going on in my life right now. Just different stresses and it doesn't all deal with my wonderful daughter,  although some of the stress is from her. She is fighting sleeping in a bad way and it's exhausting. I can't go into details on here but there are just several other stresses in my life as well. So I just have to lay them all before the Lord and rely totally on him through all situations. Here are some encouraging bible verses and hopefully if you are going through some stresses you will find these comforting.

Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.


1 Chronicles 16:11
Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually.


Lamentations 3:22-24
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."


Psalm 36:5
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.


Isaiah 58:11
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.


Also one of my favorite songs right now is from a band called Among the Thirsty and their song I'd Need a Savior. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj0vdV-Q2I0
I encourage you to go to the link and enjoy this wonderful song!

Video for the Grandparents

Can You Find Amber??

Addicted to Deals

If I could make a living on finding bargains for people I would. I just like the challenge and the hunt I suppose. So this post is me bragging on a great deal I found.

Tuesday morning I was at Target shopping and went down the aisle with all the garden/summer items. They of course are all on sale. I came across a small outdoor table and it was on sale for $24.00. It had been $50.00. I liked it but didn't want to buy it without Ricky seeing it. It was the perfect size for our patio. We have a smaller patio and I didn't want a big table because our firepit and grill are stored there as well. I came home and told Ricky about it and decided we would go the next day after my final doctors appointment ( I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since having Amber) to look at the table and decide if we wanted it. So yesterday we all headed out to Target and we are coming up to the aisle that has the table, we turn the corner and I look down the aisle to where the tables were. I gasped because there were only 2 left and just the day before there were at least 8 tables available. I happen to look down at the price again and now it said $12.00!! In one day they dropped the price by half! So we grabbed one up. We even ate dinner outside last night, it was lovely.

So if anyone wants to hire me to find them bargains I'm up for it :) I live for this stuff!

Gifts to Grow

I was opening a package of diapers the other day and found a little sticker with a code on it. I decided to check it out and see what it was all about. Basically you earn points and then can redeem them for something they have in there "store". They have all kinds of things to choose from. Now granted it will take awhile to get something because the lowest points on there is 40. When I typed in my code for this one it only gave me 3 points. So it could take awhile but hey, you aren't out any money and eventually you can pick something out for free! So those of you who buy pampers look for that code and sign in!!

Just the four of us

Today we are just a family of four. Ashley, Ricky, Amber and Seminole. My parents and grandmother headed back home this morning. Boy was it hard to say goodbye to them! They have been such a tremendous help during the first month of Amber's life! My mom helped out so much and we were so busy. We both thought we would just be lounging around in our pj's and tending to Amber. We got out so much and went shopping, eating out, going to Ricky's activities, going to church, etc. We pretty much left the house everyday for something, but it was great to be able to do that.

Amber is 5 weeks and is becoming more alert everyday! She loves to look at books and for you to talk to her about anything and everything.

4 weeks

Amber is 4 weeks old today! It has flown by. It seems like just yesterday Ricky was cutting her umbilical cord and she was laying on my stomach staring at me for the first time!

She is truly a joy and God's little miracle! I don't know what I would do with out my mom here. She has been such a big help. We have gone out and done lots of things with Amber. We have gone shopping, to the park, out to eat, doctor's visits, friends house, to church, and to watch Ricky at taekwondo practice and softball games. It has really helped to get out and about. It feels a little more normal do be able to do that, than just to be stuck at home all day. My dad and grandmother are coming back up here this weekend and then heading out next Tuesday. That will be a sad day. :(

Once my parents leave, I'm just going to take a couple of weeks to be alone with Amber during the day before I officially get back to work.

This Thursday Amber will officially be 1 month old! Time flies!

Precious Amber

Amber is a week and one day old today! She is just so precious and a great baby. She already has Ricky wrapped around her finger :) We are just so excited to be parents and it's just amazing that this little being is equal parts of us put together. It is literally a miracle. God is so amazing! My labor was better than I thought it would be. I was only in labor for 9 hours and it actually seemed to go by really quickly.

I am however having a bit of a time getting her fed. I am doing the breast feeding thing and we have had a rocky road. I won't go into details on here but its been frustrating and exhausting. Especially with a newborn, you have to feed them every 3 hours and you can't get much done during the day. I just feel like that's all I do is feed. Hopefully it will get better sooner rather than later. I am just so fortunate and glad that my parents are here to help out! I don't know what I would do without them. Ricky has been awesome as well!

Aug. 3rd!

If Amber doesn't show up today or tomorrow August 3rd will be her birthday!! I am scheduled to go in Monday morning to start the process. I had an ultrasound yesterday because the doctor said my stomach was measuring a little on the larger side than normal and he wanted to see how big she is. The guess is she is around 7 pounds 8 oz. we will see how accurate that is when she arrives. Anyway, the reason I'm larger than normal is due to a lot of fluid. The doctor didn't want to go past my due date which is this Thursday so he scheduled for me to come in on Monday! Yesterday when he was telling us this it really sank in and reality hit that we are really gonna have a baby! I mean you would think that I have already thought about that but I think it's because you are pregnant for soooo long that you never think it's gonna get here. So I'm excited and nervous all at that the same time. Excited to finally meet my daughter and nervous to start the process. Your prayers would be much appreciated that I would have a quick, nervous free and healthy delivery, that the doctors and nurses would have wisdom in knowing what the right thing to do is, and that Amber would be born healthy with no complications.

Dividers

So I can't take credit for this idea at all. The first time I saw home made clothes dividers was from Ricky's cousin who made her own. I stored it in the back of my memory thinking one day I will be making some. So that day has come. What is neat about it is I made them from decor that was used at one of my showers. At one of my showers here in St. Joe they cut different colored circles out and different shapes and placed them on the tables to make it look like poka dots. Since her bedding has poka dots and I am a suckers for them as well. It was a really cute idea. Well I got to keep all those dots that were on the table, thinking I could use them for something. So there were some that were the perfect size to make clothes tags. And that is what I did :) It also helped me realize how many clothes she has for all the different sizes. So I spent $0.00 on making these! I still have a ton of dots left over and I can't wait to figure out how to use the rest!

So a special thanks to Glenna, who I stole this idea from :)

37 WEEKS!!

How far along? 37 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: About 28 pounds! I hope I stop putting the pounds on!

Maternity clothes? They were fun for awhile, but I really want to be back in normal clothes especially seeing new cute summer clothes in the stores but not being able to buy them.

Stretch marks? No, thank goodness!

Sleep: What is that?!?

Best moment this week: That Aven Smith was born and thinking how soon our little one will be with us!

Movement: A lot, not really kicks anymore just pushing on me constantly!

Food cravings: I don't know if they are considered cravings but throughout the pregnancy I have had a lot of fruit and eaten cereal just about everyday!

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: I have had a few contractions, nothing major and very irregular. So I think they are contractions :)

Belly Button in or out? Still in!

What I miss: Sleeping, and sleeping on my stomach! My ankles...they have been missing for about a week now!

What I am looking forward to: Holding my precious daughter and seeing Ricky hold her for the first time!

Weekly Wisdom: I have none, but would always welcome the wisdom from others.

Milestones: 37 weeks=full term! So she can be born at anytime and be just fine!

Size of Baby Gipson: Watermelon

Just complaining.....

So this post is just for me to complain about pregnancy. Now let me preference this with I'm glad to be able to have a child of my own and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm blessed, truly blessed to have this little human growing inside of me BUT I just need to vent a little. You know I guess it's the hormones talking :)

So bear with me....

So, I'm really tired of carrying her around, I feel like my tummy can't grow anymore. She just pushes and pushes on me all the time and its not comfortable. I can't sleep at night really anymore. I can't get comfortable at all. I have tried all kinds of positions with pillows. I have moved to sleep on the couch but that doesn't work most of the time. I'm much slower these days. I'm swelling up a lot and I have no ankles and I can't believe how big my face as gotten. I'm hotter than normal and get out of breath so much more easier. I have to go to the bathroom at least every hour!

Ok now I feel a little better be able to vent all that. Other than that, we are really excited that the due date is getting closer and closer. It really has flown by and not really until the 8th month did I start to really feel the discomforts of pregnancy. Today I'm 36 weeks so only 4 weeks to go if I make it to my due date!

Breaker Box!

God truly watches over us! We had to get our breaker box completely changed out today!

What a story getting to that point though. A couple of months ago we smelt the horrible smell in our garage. We thought it was a dead animal....the smell continued for a couple of days and then it just completely went away. We though nothing more about it and moved on with our lives.

Fast forward to this week, our hallway light and main bathroom light kept going out. Ricky would go flip the circuit breaker on and off and they would come on. Then one night when I was in the middle of taking a shower the lights go out on me. Thankfully we have a nightlight in the bathroom and that was still working so I managed to finish my shower with the nightlight...it was actually kinda relaxing. So the next day I leave for work and as I am walking into the garage I smell that horrible smell again...and think man, what could that be, it smell like some sort of dead rotting animal. I tell Ricky about and we go about our business. That night I was gone to a women's bible study and when I get home Ricky informs me that the smell is coming from our breaker box and it is fried!

Last night we got our neighbor to come and look at it to see if it was something we could fix ourselves. He works for the city changing traffic lights/etc. so he knew what he was doing/looking at. He said he is amazed our house hasn't caught on fire. He basically gave his opinion that it would probably have to be changed out completely to be safe. Or an electrician could do a "quick fix" and we would probably have problems down the road.

So today an electrician came and completely stripe our old breaker box out and we got a brand new one! I'm glad our neighbor told us what we were dealing with because I was more confident in what the electrician was saying and knowing that he wasn't try to cheat us on anything.

In any event....400 dollars later we have a new breaker box, electricity works in our house and I feel much safer! So God is watching out for us! It is totally worth the money knowing that your house is safe!

Truly Blessed!

So we are now back up North again in our small town and in our cozy home. It was wonderful to spend an entire week and two weekends in Memphis! It was very relaxing and fun! We got to see a lot of family and friends while we were there.

I had two baby showers while I was there and I am so humbled by everything that everyone did and gave me! Truly blessed! I got so many great things at both showers. The first shower was fun because I got to share it with one of my best friends, Ashley! It was fun to open some of the gifts and pull out the same things...lots of Awww's from the crowd when we did that! :) The second shower was at my parents house and it was wonderful as well. The cake was adorable, a pokadot theme! It was great to see all the people at that shower as well. I got a lot of good gifts at that shower as well. Amazingly, Ricky was able to fit everything we got while we were there in our car! He is a great packer! We managed to put our suit cases, a high chair, a stroller/carrier combo, a bathtub, diaper genie, and tons and tons of other gifts! Poor Seminole didn't have much room. We literally couldn't have fit another thing in the car! I just kept thinking how blessed we are everytime I looked back and saw the car jam packed.

Not only are we blessed with all the material things we received but blessed with wonderful friends and family! It was wonderful to see everyone and what all they did for us while we were there.

I leave you with a picture of Seminole passed out in the car on the way back home.

Book Suggestion?

I am actually getting a little tired of reading Nicholas Sparks books...plus I have read a lot of his. So I want a change of pace but it HAS to be easy reading! Something fun. So start sending me your suggestions, please!

I might try reading Wicked, and I have no desire to read any of the Harry Potter Books or the Twilight books just to let you know so gimme some of your book must reads! :)

So excited!

First of all last weekend was an amazing girls weekend! I have to say that massages are addicting because while I was having my massage I was trying to think of when I could get another one. :) It was fun hanging out with the ladies and having "girl talk".

A week from now Ricky and I will be in Memphis!! I'm so excited to be able to see family and friends!! Especially friends because I haven't seen a lot of them in sooooo long! For example, Kim S., the last time I saw you, I don't even think you were pregnant yet! And now you have a cute little boy! I will be having two baby showers while I'm there and I'm excited about that. Also excited about seeing all my pregnant friends! It must be in the water everywhere!

Today the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. I have had the windows open all day. I think the high got maybe to 70 degrees, maybe. The wind was blowing a lot so it was great!

Ricky and I have, well mainly Ricky, well all of Ricky :) have been landscaping a little. The front yard still looked the same from the day we bought the house which is fixing to be 2 years ago. Which it basically had nothing as far as flowers and nice borders. So Ricky started working on putting in nice borders and mulch and making the space that was there a little bigger. It looks so much nicer now, even without plants in it, it looks better. Tomorrow after church I think the weather is suppose to be nice and we are going to plant it all. We got some hostas and some flower seeds to plant. We probably won't get to enjoy their blooms this year but next year that should be good. We bought a bunch of perennials, that way we don't have to keep replanting flowers every year.

First Ever....

This weekend for me is a girls get away weekend! I'm so pumped! We are going to a spa and I'm getting my very first massage ever. On top of that its a prenatal massage which I heard is really good when you are pregnant. To make the deal even better it's completely free for me! My friend's husband for Christmas gave her as a gift a weekend get away to the spa and she could take 2 friends, as well as one spa treatment for each of us. I was one of the lucky girls picked to go with her! My two friends are getting mani's/pedi's but when I found out they had a prenatal massage I jumped all over that! So hopefully I will come back feeling all rejuvenated and relaxed.

I'm really starting to get excited about getting Amber's room put together. Soon I'm going to try and start washing all the clothes that I have for her so far so that will be less to do later.

Does anyone else have any tips/tricks in getting ready for your precious child to arrive?

Smorgasbord of Info

Busy, busy, busy! That sums up our weekend for Ricky and I.

The annual neighborhood garage sale was this past Friday and Saturday. I didn't participate on Friday because I had to work but had people bring there things over to get ready for Sat. Saturday the sale went pretty good. Made some good money and had fun chatty with my girlfriends. Thankfully I had help moving all the heavy stuff out to the driving. Ricky wasn't here. He was at a Taekwondo tournament in Des Moines, its only about 3 hours from here. He enjoyed it and came back with some medals in board breaking, forms and free sparing. I was wiped out yesterday as well as Ricky. He got back late afternoon and I was tired of the garage sale and also got some sun on my face. Bedtime came really early for me last night.

Today after church, we had a church-wide picnic. It was a lot of fun! The weather was perfect and it was fun getting to socializing with everyone especially people that we don't get to see all the time. We brought Seminole with us and of course he was the talk of the picnic. All the kids wanted to pet him and everyone had to ask what kind of dog he was.

I know have less than 100 days before Amber gets here! It's crazy how fast it has gone by! She is constantly moving, kicking and turning about every 2 hours. It's like clock work. We have her crib finally put together. I am going to start washing her clothes that I have already gotten so that I'm not overwhelmed.


The guest bedroom is finally done for the most part. We have to hang the curtains in there and hang something above the bed but other than that it's done.

Grandmaster Woo Jin Jung

Today we spent the day in Bethany, MO where we normally have our tae kwon do testings. What made this day more special than all the rest was that Grandmaster Woo Jin Jung came to visit and help during the test.

Who is Grandmaster Woo Jin Jung you ask?
On December 31, 1971, Grand Master Woojin Jung landed at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa airport in the United States. The ground was covered with a meter of snow. Both confused and awestruck, he thought, 'This is the land for me to be challenged.' Upon his arrival in the U.S. from Korea, GM Jung had only $35 - he was almost penniless. His English was still poor and life was hard at first. His first job was a pump man at a gas station. Poor and hungry, living in a foreign country was much harder than he expected.
Today, he is known as one of the most successful Taekwondo masters in the U.S. He runs seven fitness clubs and owns several shopping malls. He operates a 36-acre Taekwondo training site in the Rocky Mountains and is the publisher of the world-famous magazine, TaeKwonDo Times. But he has not forgotten the hard work and perseverance that got him to where he is today. Working around his clubs, he seems like a janitor, picking up garbage and cleaning pools. It is a rare thing to see from such a successful businessman. It was because of Taekwondo that he was able to do best in the foreign country.

Profile

1942 Born in Kaesan-Li Cheongnyang-Nyeon Wulsan-Gun Kyeongnam on Feb. 20
1962 Graduated from Kyeongnam Engineering High School
1963 Opened his first school in Yongdeungpo, Seoul
1965 Taekwondo instructor in Korea Army Ordnance School
1967 Instructor during Vietnam War
1969 Graduated from Hanyang Engineering College
1971 Immigrated to USA
1973 Opened a Taekwondo school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
1979 Founded new schools and fitness centers
1980 Started Taekwondo Times with Master Chung E. Kim
1985-1988 Director of USA and Canada Visiting-Korea team
1986 This year's figure of Small Business Administration
1991 Made a Taekwondo Demo team of North and South Koreans living in USA
1992 Visited North Korea and reported the opening ceremony of Taekwondo Sanctuary for the first time. He had talks with Kim,Il-Sung
1993 Opened his seventh fitness center
1995 Chief of Taekwondo Sacred Place Construction Committee in Najin Sunbong Sect.
1996 Completed building Springs Taekwondo Research Institute in Colorado, USA
1999 Ran 45 Schools in three states, USA.



So you see he is a pretty important man. He basically brought Tae Kwon Do to the midwest. It was really neat today because he signed everyone outfits. But instead of signing his name he wrote their name on the outfit in Korean. It was really neat to have him there and he was very helpful with everyone and made a lot of good points to the students.


Here is a picture after the test with Grandmaster Woo Jin Jung and as you can see Ricky's name is written on his outfit. It was a great day in the world of Tae Kwon Do. Of course I just came to watch but I wish I had brought my outfit for him to sign.

Fun past weekend

For Easter my parents were able to come in to town for a visit. I am glad they got to come especially to see my growing tummy. Easter was great, they got to hear our wonderful pastor preach and see the banners we had made for the church. Monday I had a doctors appointment for another ultrasound and they were able to come to that and see their granddaughter. My mom was just so amazed at how well you could see things now....but 28 years ago things were different. At one point Amber looked at us and opened and closed her mouth....it was so cute! She weights 1.5 pounds and is healthy as can be. She has been kicking all the time now as well....She is a mover and a shaker. My mom was able to feel her kick and Ricky has too. I tried to get my dad to feel her but he hasn't yet. While they were here they were able to get her crib that we wanted. I'm sure, well I know that we will take pictures of her room once it's all together.

The weather here I think, or I pray is finally become like spring! We didn't get near as much snow as we did last year but it was already warm by this time last year. I just can't get over how crazy the cold weather has been. I want to buy some cherry tomato plants for this summer...and I'm scared to buy them because of the cold weather. Hopefully I can get them soon. It will save me some money considering everything is going up in price. We aren't going to make a garden. I am just going to plant it in a huge pot. Hopefully I won't kill them!

I leave you with a question:
What brand of diapers do you prefer or does it matter? Just curious.

Sweet baby Amber!!

These are the first outfits I bought Amber at Once Upon a Child.....the little pink one only cost 62 cents!!

Amber Faith Gipson showed us today that she is a girl!! It was so amazing to watch her move around in my tummy. At one point I saw her punch me and felt it at the same time, it was so surreal. We got to see her kidneys, lungs, spine, arms, legs, feet, hands, head, nose, mouth, eyes and the heart. She looked great. The doctor wants me to come back in four weeks and get another ultrasound done because they couldn't get, a what they called, great picture of the heart. They got pictures of it but couldn't get the whole thing, Amber just wouldn't move for them. So what could be an irregular heart might end up being just an "article" meaning something on the screen that really isn't there. So in 4 weeks I'll be bigger and they will be able to see her better. The doctor told me not to worry, so hopefully I will not! We heard her heartbeat and it was beating just fine, 143. So we know the heartbeat is ok they just are double checking on the heart since she didn't want to cooperate today.

I already went out an bought her two pieces of clothes! I went to Once Upon a Child. I highly recommend that place. A second hand store for kids. But the prices are amazing and the clothes look great! I will have to put pictures up later of what I got but one of the little onesie I bought was only 62 cents! It was 75% off! I couldn't believe it!

Well I guess that's all for now. I can't wait to start getting her room ready! :)

Cast your vote...

Today we heard the baby's heartbeat again, which is always a great sound to hear. The heartbeat was 158. Well, the nurse guessed because my heartbeat kept getting in the way. At one point my heartbeat and baby Gipson's heartbeat were beating together :)

I go back in 3 weeks to get my first ultrasound and to see if baby Gipson is a boy or girl! We are so excited. So during these next weeks I would like you to cast your vote. Are we having a boy or girl??

The Best Sound in the World

Yesterday was one of my doctors appointments. This one in particular has been on my mind for a month now, ever since I scheduled it. This one was where we would finally hear the baby's heartbeat! I have been so anxious for it, just wanting to know everything is ok.

Ricky was coming to this appointment with me. He made the most of the day and took a half day off from work. We still have Christmas money we haven't spent so we were going to head into Kansas City after the appointment and do some shopping and eat dinner down there.

So back to the doctors appointment! It was probably the longest 10-15 seconds of my life when the nurse was trying to find the heartbeat. The world was in slow motion for me, and its amazing how much your mind can think of in just a few seconds. But then we heard the "washing machine" sound! It was absolutely amazing. The nurse even picked up my heartbeat in the background but baby Gipson's was strong and pumping! I just wish I could have listened longer! So my relief was over...and it was like finding out you are pregnant all over again! The rest of the day I kept saying, "I have a baby inside of me." I know cheesy but hearing that sounds just really confirms it!

The rest of the day was our "date night" to KC and amazingly we didn't spend that much money so we still have Christmas money. The only thing Ricky got was a book and I got a great deal on a firepit!! It was half off and it originally had been $80. So I can't wait for the weather to get a little warmer so we can enjoy it! We also ate a nice place called Montana Grill. It was really good...and they are big on "going green" the straws were made of really thick paper, the menu was from recycled paper, as well as the paper on the table. They use low voltage lighting in the place as well. They had natural soap in the bathroom which as like a salty powder with no odor. But it was actually a pretty fancy place...so it was a different place to dine.

We have been totally blessed by God during all the bad weather that the rest of America seems to be having. We didn't get a single thing! We can actually see the grass, we have no snow! Which is amazing considering we got hit bad by the Ice Storm last year. I just pray and hope that all those effected will be back to normal soon!

Annoucing Baby Gipson!

It has been a week since we got back home from visiting family and friends in Memphis. One of the reasons for visiting them was to have a Christmas together, since we couldn't actually make it on Christmas. Another reason for visiting was to announce that we are having a baby!!

It was so much fun...and everyone is excited. We let Seminole deliver the fun news, by wearing a t-shirt that said, "only child, big brother." There was a line through the only child though :) It was perfect....we found it on cafepress.com. They have all kinds of t-shirts! It would take to long to type out all the different reactions we got but lets just say it was a hit!

While we were there my mom and I got to go shopping for maternity close and we lucked up! It was so much easier buying them than buying regular clothes! In just a few hours I got 2 complete outfits, 2 pairs of pants, 2 tops, and a dress. Now I know I will need more but it was an amazing start and to top it off everything was on sale! You know me, and if you know my mom we are sale queens! Buy nothing at full price! Well...most of the time!

We also got to celebrate Ricky's birthday while we were there as well. We went downtown and ate at Majestic. It was a lot of fun and I know Ricky enjoyed spending his b-day with family.

All in all it was a wonderful trip....very emotional leaving though! But I know family will be visiting us a lot in the coming months and I can't wait!!

Headed South

We are really excited to be heading south soon for about a week to see our family and friends. We will finally get to celebrate Christmas with them. Even though it is a couple of weeks late! We already have some things planned while we are there. We will celebrate Ricky's birthday, go to a wedding and hopefully see a Memphis bball game. Along with all that we have to see family and friends....its gonna be busy!

Christmas here and New Years was fun. Christmas day Ricky and I opened gifts, ate steaks, saw Marley and Me and went Christmas light looking. It was a good day even though it was just the two of us. New Years Eve we celebrated it with some of our friends here by of course playing Settler's of Catan, eating tons of food and kissing our spouses at the stroke of midnight! Unfortunately, I only got one picture of the whole evening.

Well I guess I need to stop blogging for now. I have a lot to do today before we leave in a couple of days. We actually have to finish up some Christmas shopping/gifts for some people, I am way behind on laundry and we will need to start packing. Tomorrow we are going to be spending a Sunday afternoon with our close friends here celebrating one of our friends birthdays...so that means today is chore day!