Still Waiting . . .

Here is a quick update on the progress of my pregnancy. We had a doctor's appointment about a week ago and at that point I was starting to dialate. We were able to have an ultrasound to see if his head was in the down position and it was! We saw his little face and hands, he looks like a real baby and this only made us more excited to meet him. Now for the waiting game. The baby has definitely dropped, which is a good sign and only makes my clothes fit more strange. I have started to have a few contractions with minor cramping, which could go on for who knows how long. Matthew smiles evertime I say I am pain because he says it brings him one step closer to meeting his son, not because I am in pain. The babies room is almost there and then we will take pictures and post them, we still have a few final touches to add.

For Christmas Eve we were able to go to the Chargers game and sit 11 rows up from the field! I guess this was a good way to spend our Christmas Eve since we were not able to be with family this year. On Christmas we went to Redlands where we spent the day with our friend Sabrina's family. We had a good time hanging out and fellowshiping! So I think that is it for now. We will try to keep everyone updated as the days go on! We are praying that this little baby comes sooner than later so that Matthew can have some time with him before he starts the new semester, but it is all in God's hands and all in his timing! Hope everyone had a great Christmas celebrating the birth of our King!

Sorry for the delay

Well I know it has been a while, but Melissa and I are finally done with work and school for the next little while so I thought I would take this opportunity to add my own contribution to this blog. I know that so far this blog has been dominated by my better half, but I figured that this shrine to De Haandom should contain the thoughts of both of us. And of course, when our little guy (pictured right, look close, he's in there) comes along, we'll make sure he gets to add his two cents as well. Anyways, the previously mentioned picture to the right was taken today at Babies 'R Us. Apparently, when you open a registry at Babies 'R Us, they give you a free picture. Not bad. Anyways, we took a number of pictures and this was the picture that Melissa hated the least. Personally, I think she looks great for being less than a month away from giving birth!

As I said before, Melissa and I are now done with work and school. What a relief! We traveled to Northern California this past weekend to visit Mike and Naomi Schout in Ripon, CA. We had a great time visiting them and seeing their new little girl, Sadie. Since getting back, I have been working at the library and Melissa has been busy disinfecting all the baby toys and gifts we have been given over the past couple months. Tomorrow, we have a doctors appointment and if you are lucky, Melissa will give the old blog an update after that as well. Anyways, I think that is about all I have for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the endless Christmas music on the radio. Have a wonderful last week before Christmas! Later!

Six Weeks and Counting

Here is a little baby update. I had my doctor's appointment on Monday and everything is looking good and healthy. When the doctor measured my uterus, it was measuring a week smaller. She said this means that we could possibly be having a smaller baby . . . no complaints here :)! It truly is hard to believe that in just 6 short weeks we are going to be parents. This is a little scary at times but we have been praying that God will continue to prepare us to be the best parents we can be. We know that God had this planned from the beginning and we are thankful that we will have a new addition to our family. We truly our excited to meet our little bundle of joy! The baby's room is making slow progress but we are waiting til I am done with work and Matthew is done with school to get everything organized! Here are a couple of pictures of the crib, bedding, and dresser (all these pictures are dedicated to my cousin Kelli who has been wanting to see more pictures!). We will have to update this when the whole room is put together! Like I said, we are making slow progress! Hope all is well with everyone!

Thanksgiving in Seattle

Last week we were able to travel back to Seattle to visit Melissa's family and friends. The first day that we were there I had my first baby shower given by my mom's friends and my sister. It was a lot of fun to take some time to focus on having the baby since our lives have been focused on work and school since we found out I was pregnant. It made me realize how close we are to having this baby. How exciting!

The rest of the week was spent seeing lots of friends, spending a lot of time with family. We had a great Thanksgiving Day hanging out with my family, some family friends, and our friends Luke and Sabrina and Alyssa. We had a great dinner and spent the day playing games and talking with everyone. On Friday my family celebrated "Christmas" where we exchanged a few gifts and had our traditional candlelight dinner. This was very nice for Matthew and I since we will be unable to celebrate Christmas with either of our families this year since I will be unable to travel. So we had Thanksgiving and Christmas all in two days! We had a great trip and we realized that this was our final trip with just the two of us. The next time we travel anywhere we will have our new little baby! We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Crazy Accident

This past Thursday I (Melissa) was driving home from work and was stopped on the freeway in traffic. I heard tires screeching and I knew that I was going to be hit. So I was rearended in the middle of the freeway. My first thought was hoping that the baby was o.k. so I was pretty shaken up. I called Matthew and he came home from school early so he could take me to the hospital to make sure that everything was o.k. We got to urgent care and after a hour and a half of waiting there and seeing the doctor, we were sent over to labor and delivery. They wanted to monitor the baby and make sure that he was doing alright and that I wouldn't go into preterm labor due to the stress of the accident. I was hooked up to a machine that watched the baby for 4 hours. Thank the Lord everything was perfectly fine and that there was no damage done to the baby. I am a little bit sore in my neck and back but for the most part the car took the biggest hit. We came home at 1:30 a.m. and went right to bed. We are so thankful that God protected that baby and myself. God is so good! We are now in Seattle to spend Thanksgiving with my family, so a little break will be nice after all the craziness!

Eight Weeks to Go!

Well, this is getting crazy to think that only 8 more weeks (technically 8 1/2 weeks) and we will have a baby! I am starting to get nervous, but I try not to think about it a lot otherwise I will get too worked up about the whole labor and delivery. On the positive side, I have had two doctor's appointments in the last week (an extra one because we will be gone the week of Thanksgiving). So far everything is looking like it is on schedule and everything seems to be healthy. I do have a little bit of anemia, but the doctor said that is pretty normal for pregnant women. All I have to do is take an iron pill at night, nothing major. The babies heartbeat is strong and he is definitely going to be a soccer player like his dad because he kicks me a lot throughout the day. At least Matthew can look forward to coaching his son in soccer :)! We currently have the dresser and crib up in the babies room, so it is starting to feel more real. Continue to pray for health and strength of our little boy! I will try to send a picture sometime soon (especially for my cousin Kelli :) )!!

A Girl's Weekend!

Last Friday we went and saw the doctor and everything is looking great. She said that I was right on track with the prenancy so we are very thankful for that. God has definitely blessed me so far with health and strength and has continued to bless the baby growing inside of me. We are now at the point where we are going to be going to the doctor every two weeks now and as we get closer, it will be every week. So we have a lot of doctor's appointments ahead of us but we are glad so we know that everything is going smoothly. We are amazed that it is only 10 weeks until my due date! Crazy . . . but we are super excited to meet our little baby boy for the first time!

After the doctor's appointment, I was able to fly up to San Jose where I met two of my friends from Seattle (Joy and Sarah). We have known each other our whole lives so we have been through everything together. It was great to get away from "life" and the fires for awhile and hang out with the girls. We had a lot of fun just hanging out. We went to Santa Cruz for the day on Saturday and had gorgeous weather. We walked around the beach and on the piers seeing sea lions everywhere. It was beautiful there! We had a lot of catching up to do so we had two nights of slumber parties, talking, watching movies, etc. The weather was definitely better up there-upper 60s and lower 70s which was a good break from the 80s in Azusa. I was thankful that Matthew was willing to let me go and hang out with my friends for the weekend. It was a much needed break! Praying everyone is doing well and we will try to keep updating!!

Only 12 and 1/2 Weeks

It is hard to believe there are only 12 1/2 weeks left until we get to meet our baby boy. It is crazy that the time has gone so fast, I hope that this will continue because I am getting anxious. I had to get my blood drawn this past week and a lot of you who know that I HATE needles, I did really well, didn't freak out! Other than that, I just keep growing and everything seems to be going well so far.

This past weekend we were able to relax and get some things done around the house. I have a list in my head of what I want to get done before the baby comes, but we will see if that all happens. We are starting to think more about how to decorate the baby's room which is making this all seem more real.

Matthew has been enjoying his classes and is able to meet with students to do some counseling and is working at a school with little kids. These are all just reafirming that he is headed in the right direction for his life. I am still working, so life has been pretty busy. The biggest news of the weekend is that it rained!!! This is always exciting for us as we never see different weather and it is a refreshing change.

Well, we will continue to keep everyone updated. My next doctor's appointment is in two weeks, so we will for sure update everyone then! This picture is me at 27 weeks!

Poor Poor Padres

Boy am I glad that my son is still inside Melissa and was not subjected to the drama, suspense, Hoffman meltdown, and horrible umpire ruling that was Monday night's Padres-Rockies game. I know that this blog is supposed to be about our baby, but I figured with not much else going on, I would use it to let everyone know that I have been wearing black for the last two days as I mourn the loss of post season play for my Padres. I believe that after wearing black for two days and now letting out some of my frustration over the world wide web, I should be able to rest in peace and await the spring which will bring new life to our family as well as to the Padres. Yes, by the time Spring Training roles around next year, I'll be able to hold my son in my arms as we watch the emergence of another baseball season. Everything else is going fine I guess. We have been busy with work and school but the baby and Melssa's stomach continue to grow. She is a very cute pregnant woman for those of you who haven't seen her lately. We had a doctor's appointment last week Friday and they told us everything looks very good. Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers, enjoy the playoffs (if you get TBS) and have a great week!

Melissa's Growing Belly

Alright, after many requests, here it is! A picture of my growing belly. I guess the suspense is over for all of those who have been unable to see me since we became pregnant. This picture was taken last weekend (I was 22 weeks then).

At our last doctor's appointment we got great news that everything is looking great with our little baby boy. His brain is developing normally, his organs and spine looked good, and he has all of his limbs!!! The other great news is that she confirmed we are still having a baby boy (Matthew is truly thankful)!! So looks like we are on track and now at 23 weeks, we are over half way and still have plenty to do! We have begun to think about decorating his room, but have not made too much progress, it will happen in time. So we will try to update our blog a little more frequently, we are still getting used to this whole technology thing :)!

Our Baby's Pictures

Last Wednesday we went to get our ultrasound. We were clearly able to see that we will be having a baby boy (Matthew is pumped to have his first born son)! We are half way through the pregnancy today (20 weeks) and so far everything has gone great! We are so thankful that God has blessed us with this opportunity to bring a child in the world and so very excited to meet him on January 10, 2008. The new exciting thing that has happened recently is that we are beginning to feel him move (mostly Melissa, but a few times Matthew). It is amazing to see and feel how God forms this little miracle of life! Here are two pictures that we got last week. One of his cute little profile and one of his cute little face.

Welcome

We have decided that it is high time we catch up with the rest of the world (or at least the technology savy world) and make a blog to document the birth of our first child as well as the rest of our life. Since many of our loved ones live far away from us, we thought this would be a good way to allow our friends and family members in all parts of the country to see us and eventually the baby. This is our first time blogging so it may take a while for us to get things set up, but we will do our best. Thanks for stopping by!