Merry Christmas at nineteen weeks

Here's a picture of my baby belly at 19 weeks...starting to be a little more evident now!  We go for our 20 week sonogram next week, & we're still deciding whether or not to find out the sex of our little one.  I still think we will, but I suppose anything's possible with Craig & me!  :)  Either way, we'll definitely be posting Baby's latest photo shoot next week!  Can't wait to see how big he/she has gotten...I know I'm definitely feeling lots more of his/her movements every single day!  What an awesome feeling!  We are already so blessed!

I also wanted to take a second to wish everyone a very safe & Merry Christmas!  It's hard to believe it's already here!  Be safe in all of your travels this holiday season, & enjoy all of those Christmas cookies & candies!  I know we will!  :)  Lots of love & Happy Holidays to you & yours!!!

All our love,
Craig, Ash, Erica, Julia, & Baby  :)

our little kicker

I just had to pass on that, although I have been feeling the little kicks & punches from our babe for about 2 weeks, Daddy finally got to feel his first karate chop late last week!  :)  We were laying in bed ready to fall asleep, & our (very active) little one started going crazy!  Although I haven't been able to feel anything externally yet, Craig was able to feel the movement that night!  I have tried several times to catch the baby moving, but I think he or she knows when I'm trying to feel the movements, so instead he/she freezes!  Go figure...already ornery!  I think Craig & I both already knew we'd have plenty of our own orneriness coming in paybacks!  :)

18 weeks & baby c's 3rd check up

It's hard to believe that Christmastime will be the halfway mark for our pregnancy!  So far, it's been going pretty quickly & very smoothly!  I have to say, there's not a thing I can complain about!  We went for our third check up last Thursday - December 9th, & Baby & I are progressing exactly as Dr Ertmoed said we should be.  Although, I still don't have much of a "bump", I have started to gain a little weight now.  I figure in the next week or two weeks, it'll be much more evident.  I'm definitely not complaining...& hopefully, with any luck at all, the weight will continue to come on slowly!  Here's a picture of my baby belly at 18 weeks...

We go back on the 29th for our next visit & our 20 week ultrasound.  We are still a little unsure if we'll find out the sex, but I'm thinking we probably will!  My impatience might be getting the best of BOTH of us!  :) 

We also went shopping for Baby's new furniture after our last appointment, & we found the perfect set that we both LOVED!  I can't wait until after Christmas when we can start rearranging our house so that the nursery can be on the first floor of our house with our bedroom.  We are both getting very excited for that change, & the girls are more than ecstatic!  They ask us nearly every hour (no exaggeration there) when we will start moving things & making their little brother or sister's room!  I think they are having just as much fun with the anticipation as we are!  They'll be GREAT big sisters...& I can already tell, they will be so much help to me!

Speaking of big sisters...we also celebrated Julia's 6th birthday this past weekend.  We had a bowling birthday party for her on Saturday with her classmates (we did the same with Erica for her first year in school).  Julia had an absolute blast.  There were about 15 kids total, counting a few siblings that came along.  Thank goodness it all went smoothly...no one went down the lane with their ball or anything!  So, we all had a good time celebrating.

Aside from everything else that's been going on...I am MORE than ready for those pregnancy hot flashes to start kicking in!  It is FREEZING here!  At least there's some snow on the ground to make it a little more worthwhile...but, I'm getting ready for May in way more ways than just one, now!

sneak peek!

Thought you all might like a quick sneak peek of our Christmas card for 2010!  So, here ya have it...

I thought we better get at least one more good picture as a family of four before we are PLUS ONE!  :)  Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  It's still hard to believe it's already December - also hard to believe that little Miss Julia just turned SIX, in three & a half weeks, we'll be halfway through this pregnancy, & Christmas is almost here!  Where does the time go?!?  By the way...Baby Corzine is an avocado this week according to babycenter.com & is also starting to be able to hear!  Next Wednesday (Dec 8th) is our next appoinment for a check-up, & then the very next visit will be the ultrasound to determine the sex if we choose to find out (which has been a really tough decision for us)!  We'll definitely update on Baby's progress after we visit Dr Ertmoed next week!

fifteen weeks!

Even though I don't have a whole lot to show for it...here's my first baby belly picture!  :) 

I'm sure it won't be long & this picture will change dramatically...especially with the holidays just right around the corner!  I'm definitely doing my best to eat healthy & exercise each day, but baby C apparently loves sweets!  I have craved them big time, so I'm doing my best to fend off BOTH of our sweet tooths!

This week, our little one is the size of an apple & growing like a weed!  It's so hard to believe that in a few short weeks, we'll already be at the halfway point!  May just can't seem to get here fast enough!

week 14 - little lemon

Each week, I get an update on how things should be progressing from my http://www.babycenter.com/ account. And, every single week, they compare our little one to a fruit. Craig & I get a (cheesy) kick out of calling him/her that fruit for the week. Soooo, this week (14)...we have a little lemon! Although, I'm very ready...I'm not so sure how excited I'll be when they start comparing him/her to a cantaloupe or a watermelon! :)

baby corzine's 2nd check-up

On November 10th, we went to visit Dr Ertmoed for our 2nd check-up for Baby C. Although I had actually lost a pound since the first visit, Doc had nothing but good things to say. He told me that I should start to gain weight fairly soon, but as far as everything else, we're progressing perfectly. I did end up fessing up that before our first appointment, I had been STARVING, & asked Craig to stop for food, so I scarfed some down which may have thrown the scale for a loop. We all got a good laugh out of that, of course. Other than that, Baby C is coming right along. We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time in the office, as well. At our first appointment, we were only able to SEE it on the sono - it was 162 at that point. This time, we heard it, & it was still right around that same number. We go to see Dr Ertmoed again on December 8th. And then....the very next visit is when we can find out the sex of the baby...which is definitely still up for debate! Hopefully in the next 6-8 weeks, I can con Craig into agreeing to find out! I suppose we shall see...

big sisters do halloween

Erica & Julia had a blast this year for Halloween. They each chose their own costume & had a great time at the Trunk-or-Treat in Assumption & visiting Nana & Papa's. Here's our little Hershey Bar & Dalmation Pup...

We also made a quick stop by Daddy's firehouse. It was too cute that Julia had chosen to be a dalmation pup...the other firemen even told her she could be their mascot! :)

On October 30th, we were lucky enough to take Erica & Julia to their very first Illini football game...okay, maybe it was my first football game, too! ;) We had an absolute blast! Nana, Papa, Erica, Julia, Craig, & myself had a great time...despite it being a little on the chilly side! The girls liked it so much, they didn't even want to leave! It's interesting to see how they have really taken to being interested in sports. When Craig & I are watching our beloved Illini, Cardinals, or Colts, the girls have really taken to watching & cheering with us! It's fun to see them grow & become interested in some of these types of things! Here's some pictures from our Illini game outing...

making the announcement

For nine & a half weeks, Craig & I had been holding in the biggest news of our lives! I was literally BURSTING at the seams to tell someone, ANYONE, that we were adding a little person to our family! I even had to avoid some of my very best friends for fear that I might slip & tell them before our first appointment when we knew everything had progressed & was safe! Anyone that knows me at all, knows I can't stand surprises...& I can't stand keeping them, either! This was truly a test for me! As always, Craig was amazing. He helped me to keep our secret safe, & he put up with me talking non-stop to him about anything & everything baby! I couldn't help myself...I was just so excited! :)

Anyhow, directly after our visit with Dr Ertmoed on October 13th, we couldn't help but come home & go directly to Craig's parents' house to tell them. Craig thought up a cute way to break the news, which went a little like this...

In the few weeks prior to this big day, we had dropped the hint to his parents (& mine) several times that we were going to start looking for a Tahoe or a Yukon. Because neither of them had any idea why we might want to get rid of our great, sporty little Maxima, they all thought we were somewhat crazy. After all, we only had the Max just under a year...oops. :) But, Craig & I knew that we were going to HAVE to get something bigger, as we were already bursting the seams of our little sportscar with Erica & Julia...let alone adding a carseat! So, on our way home from Springfield, we stopped by the GMC dealer & picked up an informational book about the new Yukons. Since we knew his parents were less than thrilled about us ALREADY trading in the car, Craig came up with the idea to put the new sonogram picture on the second page. When we arrived at his parents, we gave the book to them & told them "this is the reason we ran to Springfield...we looked at these (meaning the Yukon), we think we might buy one, but our main reason is on the 2nd page"! After giving us "the look", they each opened the book to page two. After a few seconds of figuring out what they were actually looking at, the big smiles came out!!! Baby C will be Len & Susie's 7th grandbaby, & although I think they knew this day couldn't be far off, we still surprised them & even all got a little teary-eyed! :) Even after six others, it's still a miracle & a blessing! :) That following weekend, we were lucky enough that Allison (Craig's sister), Jerry (her husband), & our two precious little nephews, Matthew & Nathan, were planning to come down for a visit. Since they were coming down, Ashley (Craig's youngest sister), John (her husband), & our adorable little neice & nephew, Reese & Drew, planned to come over, as well. How perfect that we were all together at the same time that weekend?!?! So, Craig & I started planning on how to tell them, too. We came up with the idea to take a little pumpkin & tie a picture of the sonogram on it with a little note saying "We're adding a little pumpkin to the Corzine Patch...May 16th, 2011". Luckily for us, it was just the right time of year to announce our "little pumpkin"!

Now it was on to telling my parents! There was no way Craig or I could have ever told them over the phone, so we starting making arrangements to make a surprise trip down to their house. On the following Tuesday, Craig & I took off a little early & made the trip to St Wendel. Since neither of my parents knew we were coming, we had to be sneaky. :) I think I actually talked to my mom 2 or 3 times on the way down...she never suspected it! :) When we pulled up, she came to the door surprised (but not the most surprised she would be that day...). We handed her a pumpkin just like we did for Craig's family with a copy of the baby's sonogram picture attached to it! After she thanked us for the pumpkin, she finally read what was written and about fell off the back step...I think her chin stopped her from falling when it hit the ground, though! Haha! She was so excited...after all, this will be the first grandbaby in my family! :) But, we still hadn't told Dad...he was off running errands. So, Mom called him & told him he needed to get home & gave him an excuse other than that we were there while we hid our car in his shop. ;) When he came home, he came right in the shop & saw that we were there. After looking suprised, Craig said to him, "you know...the last time I made a surprise visit, I had a really big question for you...I asked you if I could marry Ashley. Now, I'm here to ask you another really big question...CAN WE CALL YOU GRANDPA?" Again, my dad was completely stunned, but SO excited! They immediately called some of their best friends, Jon & Barb Raben & Donnie & Leanne Seibert, over to the house & showed them the pumpkin! It was a huge celebration after that...even I had an O'douls with them! Haha! When Uncle Adam came home from work, we showed him the pumpkin, as well! He was just as excited as the rest of us! He loves spending time with his step-neices, Erica & Julia, so I'm sure he'll have a blast with his new little neice or nephew.

From there, we began telling all of our friends, who have been FANTASTIC & super excited for us! Baby C has already gotten tons of gifts! He or she is going to be blessed with an amazing family & tons of "aunties" & "uncles"! We can't wait!

Here's a picture of the pumpkin we gave to Mom...

baby corzine's debut in picture form

At nine & a half weeks, we made our very first trip to Springfield to visit Dr Ertmoed & get our very first sonogram of Baby Corzine. We were so excited to see our little one for the very first time! And, not only that, but Dr Ertmoed told us that he felt everything was perfect! We felt extremely blessed & couldn't wait to get home to pass on the good news to our families...whom we hadn't told yet! :) Here's Baby Corzine's debut in picture form. If you look closely...you can even see a little hand!