Happy First Father's Day Brent!!

John and Kathy invited Brent, me, Brad and Jessie over the day before Father's Day for a cookout and swim party to celebrate father's day with John. Pool and food, you can count me in!! John cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and Kathy made an amazing strawberry pie. I love her desserts!! We spent the whole day just hanging out by the pool enjoying the day.

Happy Father's Day John

Sweet Kathy


Happy Father's Day B-rent

Brent trying to balance on the big volley ball

John giving it his best shot

Kathy couldn't resist trying too

Ahh soo nice

Brad and Jessie

Love hangin by the pool


Brent's First Father's Day
Brent celebrated his first father's day on Sunday, June 19, 2011. I thought long and hard about what to do for Brent and I came up with getting him a couple of baby books he could read to the baby when he/she arrives. I asked his mom what Brent's favorite childhood book was when he was growing up and she said he loved "Goodnight Moon". I don't remember that one as a kid but she said he liked it. I also wanted to get him a daddy book since it was father's day and luckily I found the "Daddy Hugs" book. I had my little nephew Jerod wrap the books and write Happy Father's Day on the package in marker to give the gift the feeling that a little kid wrapped it.

The morning of Father's Day, I woke up excited about Brent's big day. I looked out in the backyard like I normally do every morning to feed the alley cat and I couldn't believe what I saw...5 baby kitties. I ran and woke Brent up and said there was a big surprise for him outside. He jumped out of bed and I told him to look in the backyard. He loves cats and couldn't believe the little alley cat we have been feeding must have had baby kitties a few days ago. We watched them eat from inside and then Brent couldn't resist wanting to pick one up. They all ran away when he went outside but then they came back after we went back inside to finish their meal. While Brent was watching the kitties, I went and got his gift from my hiding spot. He looked surprise that I had a present for him. He first ready his card then opened his books. When he opened "Goodnight Moon" he said he loved that book as a kid. He read the whole thing before opening the other book. After Brent opened his presents we met my family for lunch to celebrate father's day with my dad. He wanted the movie True Grit so that's what I got him.

Happy Father's Day!!

Brent's first father's day gift

Brent's favorite book as a kid

Reading the "Daddy Hugs" book


Baby kitties on Father's Day

First Doctor's Appointment

My first doctor's appointment was on Thursday, June 9th and it was so exciting. I have been waiting for this day just as much as I had waited for my wedding day. It was such a surreal feeling walking into the doctors office knowing this was for real. Brent and I kept saying to each other as we were walking up that we couldn't believe we are going to be parents. I thought this appointment would be my "Big" appointment that everyone was telling me about but it ended up being an appointment to confirm the pregnancy and to answer any questions we may have had. When the nurse came out to get Brent and I from the waiting room, she said hello and asked if we were ready for our first sono. I was beside myself with excitement knowing we were about to see our baby for the first time!! The nurse took us back to the sono room and Brent and I just sat there in amazement. The doctor came in and got started right away. I of course started to cry when the image of our little one came on the screen and you could see the little heart beat beating away. Brent got way more excited than I thought he would as he leaned over me stroking my arm and asking the doctor all kinds of questions. Half way into it, our doctor looked at us with a puzzled look and asked, "do twins run in your family?" We both looked at each other with shock on our faces and said we didn't think so. Our doctor said I did get pregnant with twins but one of them didn't make it. I didn't really know how to feel at the time but afterwards when it had a chance to soak in, I did morn for the one I lost. After my sono, the nurse took one pint of blood and then we were all done. I will never forget that day for the rest of my life!!

Waiting on the doctor to arrive

Looking at the screen that will soon display our baby

That's either Ella or Preston

Memorial Weekend

The weekend of Memorial Day was packed full of activities. First we had Josh and Natasha's BBQ, then Natalie's going away party and finished up the weekend with a Memorial Day bash at our house to reveal to the rest of the family our big news. I was exhausted afterwards but it was all worth it!!

Josh and Natasha's BBQ
Josh and Natasha invited everyone over to their house to celebrate Memorial Day a few days early and I couldn't wait to go and tell my close friends the big news. As us girls sat around the pool, Sue was talking about her nursery and I said I would have to start shopping for all that stuff soon!! Sue with a big smile, asked, "are you pregnant Hols?" I of course said, "YES"!! It felt soo good to finally say the words that I have been waiting to say for such a long time. I loved every minute of it and we had a blast watching little Logan and Grant play in the pool and talk to each other as if they were having a deep conversation. Fun day and great friends!!

Just spilled the beans to Sue and Natasha

The 2 prego girls



Logan playing around with his momma

Such a sweet boy

Watching their daddy's play water volleyball

In deep baby conversation


Natalie's Going Away Party at Hotel Zaza
The night before Natalie was to depart for Cameroon Africa, Red's parents threw her a really nice going-away-party at Hotel Zaza. The night was filled with laughs, cries and one big surprise. Natalie looked gorgeous as usual and it was good to see her close friends and talk about fun memories and how excited she is about her new adventure. Towards the end of the night, a friend of John and Kathy's got the news that I was expecting. As Brent and I were talking to Brad and Jessie (who didn't know we were pregnant yet because we were going to tell everyone the next day at our cookout) John's friend came over to say hi to Brad and to congratulate him and Jessie on their engagement. After she congratulated them, she turned to me and said, "I hear there are congratulations to you as well, congratulations on the new baby!" Jessie and Brad quickly turned to me and Jessie shouted out, "Your PREGNANT!!" Not really the way I was expecting to tell them, but it was kind of funny the way it happened and we'll never forget it.

The family at Natalie's Going Away Party

Daddy and Momma

The Blue Shirt Boys

We'll miss you Nat

Nat and the girls

Nat and the boys


We ended the busy weekend with a grand finale by revealing to our grandparents, bothers, sisters and cousins that we are expecting our first child!! Everyone thought we were just inviting everyone over for our first cookout at our new house but little did they know they were in for a much bigger surprise. I decorated my new kitchen chalkboard with baby toys, pink and blue balloons and baby blankets and wrote on the chalkboard, "Baby P Coming Jan 2012". As everyone made their way into the kitchen, they were a little confused at first but then realized what was going on. Grandma was the first to see the board and started to cry when she realized I was pregnant. Grams and Peeps were second, followed by Bub, Michelle and Jerod. I thought Jerod would be a little happier than he was but all he was concerned about was getting another girl he had to deal with. He's hoping for a boy!! Vicki made blue and pink cookies that were very yummy to help in the celebration and everyone got a chance to make their mark on the board whether or not they thought it would be a girl or a boy. The majority thinks it will be a girl, I guess we will find out in January!!

Baby "P" coming January 2012

I think it's a girl

Brent thinks it's a boy

Proud momma and pappa either way

Couldn't do it without my momma

Some of my spring decorations for the our party

Brent grillin it up. Dad supervising of course

Brent and Jerod playing a little catch


Family photo. Can't wait to add our little one to our next family photo

Oh my...I'm Prego!!!!!!!!!

It's official, Brent and I are expecting our first baby who we'll excitedly meet in January 2012. We found out the exciting news on the morning of Saturday, May 14, 2011. I had taken a pregnancy test the night before and it showed to be negative but I just knew in my heart I was pregnant. So I quickly took another test the next morning and to mine and Brent's surprise it said "Pregnant"!! We have been trying for several months and when it finally became real, we were both excited and scared to death all at the same time. After Brent changed my flat tire that morning, we wanted to celebrate in some way so we decided to try to eat at the new In-and-Out Burger that just opened a few weeks before. Sadly, they were on a 2 1/2 hour wait so we went across the street to Frudruckers. When I ordered my burger, the girl asked how I wanted it cooked and I had to remind myself that I had to have it well done. I didn't get bacon on it and I had to drink water. Already, things were changing quickly. I asked Brent if we could go to the Buy-Bye Baby Store and to my surprise he said yes. It was so surreal looking around the store knowing we would be having a child soon who would need all that stuff.
We're having a baby!!!!!!!!!!


New In-and-Out Burger

At Fudruckers



Later that evening I found out that Brent had already called Colby asking for advice on what the heck do we do now even though we said we weren't going to tell anyone until we told our parents. Colby did have a good bit of advice and to my surprise, Brent came home from running a few errands with a little onesie and a red velvet cake with the message "Here I Come". It was really sweet of him and the cake was awesome. We spent the rest of the night basically in shock and trying to absorb the new news.


The next day, our little one had his/her first experience riding rollercoasters. Brent's work was hosting a family day at Six Flags and we got to go for free and eat for free. The baby's first rollercoaster ride was on the Conquistador because that is one of my favorites and because the line was really short. All day I wanted to tell the couple we were hanging out with that I was prego but Brent wouldn't let me. It was a fun day and I enjoyed saying to Brent, "baby first this and baby's first that" all day!!

Monday, May 16th is the day we told my parents. We met my parents at Germaldi's Pizza in uptown for dinner and the whole time Brent kept looking at me funny wondering when I was going to finally say we were expecting. I wasn't really sure how to say it, so after dinner when we were walking outside, I pulled the little onesie Brent got me out of my purse and showed it to them and said "look what Brent got me!". My mom looked at me with this "ok and..." look on her face when she finally processed that I was telling her I was pregnant. She screamed like a thought and gave us a BIG hug!! My mom had never taken the trolley ride so her and I jumped on the trolley and I told her all the details as we made our way around uptown. I had been waiting for this day for a long time and I was so thrilled to finally tell my parents that they were about to be grandparents for the second time!!


Tuesday, May 17th is the day I told my best friends Mindi and Sara I was pregnant!! They were meeting at the Sunnyvale Park to let their boys run around and play and I couldn't wait to meet up and tell them. Sara was running a little late so I had to lie to Mindi when she asked if I had started my woman cycle yet, I told her I did. I felt bad, but I wanted to tell them both at the same time. Sara finally arrived and started to share a funny story about her sister's wildness at her soon to be sister-in-laws bachelorette party. Finally when there was a break in discussion I pulled out my phone and said there was a picture I wanted to show them. It was a picture of the pregnancy test I took. Mindi was shocked and looked at me with a big smile on her face. She asked, "Are your pregnant?" of course, I said YES!! They both gave me a big hug and then I told them all about it and how I was feeling. While we were pushing the kids on the swings, I told Mindi I had already picked names for a girl and for a boy. I told her I like Ella for a girl and she about killed me. She said she has always wanted that name. I was totally shocked that she liked that name as well. Luckily she called me the next night and told me if I really wanted Ella I could have it. What a good friend!!
Big reveal to Mindi and Sara




Saturday, May 21 was Jessie's Bridal Shower and it was so hard not to blurt out the big news to the girls in the family. I of course didn't because I didn't want to take away from Jessie's big day. After Jessie's shower as I was helping Vicki clean up, I was getting hungry and asked if she and Dave were hungry too. They were so I called Brent and we were all going to meet up for dinner. I asked Brent if he wanted to spill the news and he of course did. So after dinner we went back to Vicki and Dave's for dessert. I kept waiting for Brent to make the announcement but he was too nervous, so I pulled my phone out again and showed Vicki the same picture as mindi and sara. She couldn't believe it and told Dave they were going to be grandparents. I think Brent got really excited to finally tell one of his family members the big news.

Thursday, May 26th is the day we told John and Kathy. Brent had called his dad to see if he and Kathy wanted to grab some dinner and luckily they were available. We met them at their house and I notice they were both dressed up a little bit to just be getting dinner with us but I didn't think much of it at the time. We went to a little Italian restaurant in Richardson and started to talk about Natalie going to the Piece Corp soon. Kathy mentioned she would be traveling to visit Nat in Feburary and I responded with, "well just don't travel anywhere in January". Kathy with a big smile on her face said, "I knew it, your pregnant aren't you?" Brent and I both nodded yes and they got soo excited. John actually started to tear up as he and Brent shared a big hug. Kathy said he knew something was up when we invited them to dinner and told John she thought we were pregnant but he didn't believe her. Much to his surprise, she was right. That explains why they were dressed up to meet us for dinner, they wanted to look nice for the big reveal!! The rest of the evening we spent talking about all the changes we would be experiencing and talked about what they wanted our little one to call them. Kathy wants to be called nana and we'll have to come up with something cool for John!!