2nd Dr. Appointment

Can't believe that we are already to our 3rd Dr. Appointment - Here are the ultrasound pictures from the 2nd! Everything went great! No blood was drawn so things went smoothly. While the Doc was moving the 'wand' around it seemed like the baby was in fast forward karate mode. When the 'wand' stopped moving it was amazing! The baby was moving everywhere - bouncing off the walls. Tony is pretty sure we have an athlete on our hands!

!! Shocked Family !!

The day we told our friends and family!
We had them all watch a slideshow that Tony had created using the Mexico pictures from Amy's trip. We just told them that Tony had created it and we wanted them to see his magnificent work. At the end we added the "we're pregnant" photo. See for yourselves..... were they surprised? Do they look excited?
So on the day that we decided to tell the Schaefer Clan I, of course, forgot my camera. I had to get my mom's somehow! After church we each stopped to get our own feast for lunch. As I looked at the table it looked like we hadn't eaten in days! I figured this was a good way to get the camera so I began to make such a big deal about how we all had so much food and blah blah blah. You can guess the looks from the brothers - that's my crazy sister just thinking out loud again! I went to get the camera and this picture was taken before anyone knew. See the looks... just smile and nod for Amy's sake. :) Christy is even humoring me as she holds up her glass.

The proud Grandparents posing for their shot. And Haley is so excited to have a cousin come along. Those chips must be magical! She must have talked to Uncle Greg about them.

Since we couldn't get everyone's looks we had to pose the rest of the gang. Jeff and Christy were very excited and even shed some tears. That made our day to know that they were that excited for us!

And as the slideshow played we had our camera ready to shoot. Laura's look was definitely the most surprised that we captured! Greg is totally into the slideshow can you tell!? "Those chips look delicious!" Can you see the tv in the background? Oh yes, Dad was on the floor behind the couch playing with Haley. As the slide came on everyone started making noise and his comment was, "Oh Haley, they are making so much noise! Why are they being so loud?"

1st Dr. Appointment - September 23

Today was a big day for us! We went to our first Dr. appointment. It was a bit more exciting than we thought it was going to be however. After the regular first Dr. visit stuff we went down the hall excited about seeing a photo of the baby. We had one more stop before it was time to go home - the lab for blood work. Now with normal people they wouldn't even think twice about visiting the lab but, with Amy..... she was nervous even before we entered the office. If you know Amy, you would know that she has a history of fainting. She had a seat in the chair with three arms rests, (one on each side and one in the front - apparently people need that front arm rest more often than not!) we informed the Dr. of the possibility of fainting and added a "no seriously, I faint so don't freak out!" She left and came back with an ice pack thinking that it would help. A few minutes later Amy was slumped in the chair while Tony and two nurses do their thing to get her to wake up. After a few minutes she was moved to a reclining bed and then tried again to take more blood..... out of the other arm..... because they didn't learn their lesson the first time. Did you know that after you faint your blood pressure drops and it's hard to get blood? Huh!? So we sat there waiting for Amy's blood to slowly drip out. Finally the nurse says, "You have stopped giving me blood." And so the story continues. We informed the nurse that if she didn't want to have the situation happen again, she would be smart to spread out the blood.
On a different note, we heard the heartbeat today beating hard at 177 BPM. We also found out that we are only having one baby. I guess this go around it will be easy. We will save the twins for another day.

Look at that. 177 beats per minute.

Measures in at 2.09 cm.

This picture is the Ultrasound showing our little angel. Can you tell where the head is? It's on the right side and the heart is right below it - the little dark spot. So incredible!! Oh yeah... our due date is May 2. Amy predicted that same day. Yipeee!!

We're Pregnant - Aug. 2008

Welcome to our space!

So the news on the street is: We're pregnant! Yes, folks, it's true! We will be heading to our first Dr. Appointment on Tuesday, Sept. 23. Hopefully we will get a picture of our new little bundle(s) of joy. Yes, we added 's' for a reason! Tony's Great Grandmother told him that he was going to have twins someday. We really wanted to add some photos of our family and friends when they heard the news but, unfortunately, we can't find the camera! It's small, silver, cobalt blue mini sleeping bag case. Reward if found! :)

Don't forget to sign our guest book and come back soon!

Letters to Anna - 1

To my beautiful Anna,
As evidenced by the date of this letter March 11, 2009, you were not yet born at the time I wrote it. In fact, at this time you are only about 32 weeks along (53 days until you arrive; for those of us counting)—still safe and sound in the confines of the world within your mother.

Okay, so why is your dad writing to you long before you've entered the world? Good question. Maybe I just want you to know how much I love you already. Maybe it's because I've never been so excited anticipating something as wonderful as you. Maybe it's because my mind is filled with so many things that I want to be sure to share with you (even if I've told you a million times by the time you actually read this). One thing is for sure: I am writing to tell you that I will always love you; I will always be here for you; and there isn't anything you could ever say or do to stop me from caring for you.

I know that sometimes things will be difficult. You cannot always have the sweet without the sour, but I promise you that you will always have two loving parents that will always be here for you.

This will be the first of many letters from your dad.

P.S. Thanks for all of the little kicks.

Love,
Daddy

Still Here!

Wow! Where does the time go!? I am already in my 29th week of being pregnant. So sorry for not updating you as often as we would have liked to. So here's a summary of the missing months....

On Dec. 15 we went to the Dr. for our official ultrasound. As most of you know - we are having a girl! Yay! I was excited to know that I didn't have to store the boxes of dollies for much longer! Things went well with that appointment and then we got a phone call telling us that I tested positive for Cystic Fybrosis. This doesn't mean that I have it, but that I am a carrier of it. So the next step was to get Tony tested to see if he is a carrier. And not to leave you hanging much longer - Tony IS NOT a carrier which was very good news. We didn't have the results until after the new year so waiting was just about killing us!

Let's see - we have been to the Dr. twice since that time and everything looks good. I had to do the dreaded Glucose test where you drink a lot of sugar water and then they test your blood for Diabetes. I haven't heard anything from that so I assume no news is good news.

My good friend from school just had her baby this morning and I have to say that I am a bit jealous that she's done teaching for the year. The little kindergarteners are wearing on me and those awful mini chairs are driving me nuts. Not to mention that they bother my siatic nerve ( which already has enough issues of its own). I am tempted to bring in the big ol exercise ball to sit on during the day. I feel as though I am already hobbling around like a big pregnant woman. You know.... the waddle. Some days are better than others! For the most part I feel pretty well. She definitely squirms around a lot in my tummy and seems to get the hiccups every day!

Here's a photo of Tony and I on Christmas Eve. Look what I got from our little one. Notice the bib! :)

Here you go - a preggo picture of me. Please ignore the common outift I have in both pictures. I really wear other pieces of clothing. But hello.....it fits, it's comfy, and it's warm. I debated whether or not to keep on the nice school clothes for the photo but I decided that you all needed to see what I really enjoy wearing these days. :) I know that the sweatshirt doesn't show much but this is what you get for now. We tried to find something to use to compare how big I was getting so.....the ol NE man came back. Kara... that one's for you!

And the Daddy to be. Thanks to Sara and Denja for sharing your family pictures with us as well!

As you can see - we are all doing well and are very excited for our little girl to come! We do have some names picked out but are waiting to see her before we tell the whole world.