Amy & Jaxon

Is this not the cuttest ever!?

My sister Amy and my nephew Jaxon

Fun Weekend

For about 5 months now Tyler and I have been trying to coordinate a weekend that works with my cousin Colby and his wife Laura to Bend and visit. It finally worked for all of us to get together this last weekend. They arrived at our house on Friday around 8:30 and we went non stop all weekend long. We were up until 11:30 talking, laughing and playing Taboo, which I might add... the girls kicked butt at!
Saturday morning we lounged around, Tyler made us all some delicious pancakes then we headed out to the Old Mill for a little walk along the river. Next we had lunch outside at The Downtowner, this place is so good, if you live in Bend and haven't eaten there you are missing out!! After lunch we changed into our swimming suites, pumped up the tubes and went to float the river. Yes I am 8.5 months pregnant and I floated the river, probably not the smartest idea in the world but I made it and it was a blast. Next we headed home to clean up and head to dinner. Tyler and I took them to our favorite, Deschutes Brewery. We pigged out on Jalapeno dip, burgers, mac-n-cheese, ribs and fish-n-chips. Just like us Colby and Laura fell in loved everything there!! We finally rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and went to the Old Mill to catch a little Wilco concert followed by coffee and some more girls kicking butt at Taboo! Finally Sunday we went to church, had lunch at home, watched some Olympics and then Colby and Laura had to head home. Tyler and I had so much fun with hanging out with you guys. We can't wait to spend more time with ya!

So out of all our adventures we only got 2 pictures, how sad!!

The newlyweds Colby & Laura

Lunch at The Downtowner

Reading Material

I am looking for a new book to start reading. I have been really looking forward to starting "The Shack" by William P. Young but our library doesn't have any copies of it! Does anyone have a book they can recommend to me or an author that they really like?

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

Dr. Appointments

So I am officially on the down hill stretch of my pregnancy. I am now going to the doctor every week instead of every 2 weeks. They checked to see if I am dilated and I am! I am dilated to a 2 and 25% effaced, which I know technically doesn't mean I will go early, but at least there is something going on down there!

28 Days to go!

Dinner Ideas

I am usually really good about coming up with dinner ideas. The past few weeks however I have been drawing a serious blank.... that is where you all come in!! I would love to hear your favorite recipe or meal idea. Not only will this help spark some inspiration and ideas for me, but if there are others out there in the same rut hopefully it will help you out as well.

Don't be shy, feel free to post multiple ideas :)

Mr. Adventure

Tyler is pretty much the most adventurous, on the go, outdoor person I have EVER met! His goal for this summer was to finish climbing/summiting all of the mountains in Oregon. He only had 4 left at the start of the summer, Jefferson, Hood, Adams and McLoughlin. Now as summer is almost over he has checked all but 1 off his list, pretty impressive if you ask me! McLouglin is the only one left, but it doesn't look like he will be able to get that one in before summer comes to a close. He At least he got the hardest most technical ones out of the way.

Not only has he been trekking across the Oregon Mountains but he has also been blazing the Mt. Bike trails of Oregon! His big purchase before Cade is born was a new Mt. Bike, so he has been breaking that in. And if the trails in Oregon aren't enough for him he left yesterday to ride in Whistler BC!

What kind of hard core stud did I marry?

Check out some pictures of his adventures!

Oakridge

Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Hood

Mt. Adams

Maternity Photo Fun

This weekend I was blessed with the company of my best friend Jenna! We usually try to do a weekend together at least twice a year. Sometimes we let our hubbies join us but this weekend was just her and I. It was Jenna's first time away from her 1yr old little man so we tried to stay as busy as possible.

Saturday we spent the majority of the day on a photo shoot.
Jenna has been mastering her photography skills and choose me to practice on! Tyler did join us for a little while on Sunday so we could get some shots of him and I together.

Here is some of her work.

Cade's Room

The bedding is officially complete!

My mom is so amazing; she did such a great job and is so good at the little details. She made the bumper, dust ruffle, curtain and basket liners for Cade's room.

Now we just need the paintings Tyler's mom is working on and the room will be complete.

Here are some pictures of her masterpiece!

My rocking chair that I have been waiting forever for has finally arrived!! I absolutely love it, you never know what type of quality something is going to be when you order online, but I am very impressed with this purchase and I can't wait to rock my little Cade!!

Birth Plan

So.. Colie suggested I blog about my birth plan. Is it bad that I don't have one? I have talked to my doctor about this and she seemed grateful that I don't have a huge drawn out novel of what I want my labor to be like. I expressed to her that I would like to deliver as naturally as I can and she was very supportive and encouraging of this. So far my only plan is to not have an epidural, however if the pain is hindering the labor process and my doctor thinks I should get one, I’m not going to fight it. I really don't want to have a lot of expectations going into labor and delivery, I'm a very easy going and relaxed person and I want that to be the mood on the big day.

What are your thoughts? Respond to this post with your delivery stories and or your birth plan. I know there are a lot of preggo's out there so share your thoughts and opinions.

Uncomfortable

I have been extremely blessed my entire pregnancy.
I haven't had to deal with morning sickness at all, for the most part my energy has been great, i'm still able to go to the gym and to top it off I still don't ever wake up at night and have to go to the bathroom!! AMAZING! I am defiantly counting my blessings because my cousin, who is still in her 1st trimester, is super sick! She had to go to the hospital on Wed (her birthday) :( because she has been so sick. It is so weird how pregnancy affects everyone differently. I just hope my wrath isn't still to come in the delivery stage!!

As far as the comfort factor goes, today is actually the first day I have actually felt uncomfortable. Cade has found two positions that fit him just great. One being on the right side of my stomach with some crazy body part sticking out. You can clearly see where he is just by one quick glance, I look like I have a rolled up sock sticking out on that side of my body. The second position feels like his little feet are kicking down on my bladder. Each time he moves I seriously feel like I am going to wet myself!

Pregnancy is one of the most amazing experiences ever and I am just so thankful that the Lord has chosen me to experience it!

Sisters

I feel so lucky, not everyone gets to share there pregnancy with there sister. About 1 month after Tyler and I shared the news that we are pregnant, my sister and her husband also had news of there own. After we both had our first doctors appointments we were given our due dates which are exactly 1 month apart. How crazy! While this is our first it is Amy and Jay's second but it is still so much fun sharing this time with her, not to mention the fact that I get to borrow her cloths :)

3rd Trimester

So I have officially started my 3rd and final trimester of this 9 month journey!

Amazing how fast time actually goes by! During the 1st trimester I was a little bit tired but nothing to crazy, the 2nd trimester I felt amazing, the low energy and tiredness was totally gone. Now just a week into my 3rd trimester I feel like I could go to sleep and never wake up! It is the worst and weirdest feeling. This weekend my body felt so tired but I couldn't just sit and relax I had to be doing something. So I cleaned the house, did some scrapbooking, went to breakfast w/ Rachel, had dinner with some friends and ran a bunch of errands.

Now all I want to do is get Cade's nursery all put together. How can I be so tired yet still have so much motivaion?

Crib bedding

So I looked and looked and couldn't ever find a crib set that I just fell in love with. My mom being the talented woman that she is, took on the challenge of helping me make the crib set.
I found the perfect fabric online for a really good price and it finally came in the mail last week. I LOVE IT! So this weekend when my mom was in town she went with me to get all the other supplies we are going to need. Next time she comes to Bend she is brining her sewing machine and we are going to create a perfect bedding set for Cade.

The fabric for the bedding

Finally the Ultrasound pictures

A Great Quote

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be?"

–Miranda Richardson

NYC

Tyler and I got the chance to get away from home and head over to the city that never sleeps! We spent 4 days in NYC and packed SO much fun stuff into a short trip. We left Thursday afternoon and came home Monday night. Some of the highlights from our trip were the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hairspray on Broadway, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, Times square, Ground Zero, Macys, Statue of Liberty, NYC cheesecake, Central Park, navigating the subways, spending time with Brandon and his girlfriend, and lots and lots of walking. We stayed with Tyler's best friend Brandon, he lives right downtown Manhattan on Wall St. 2 blocks from the NY Stock Exchange! needless to say we were in the center of it all.
Here are some pictures of our trip.....

He shall be called.....

Now that we know the gender of our baby, the next step is coming up with his name. I have been sold on one particular name from the beginning but Tyler was having a little bit harder time committing. After a lot of talking it out and saying the names out loud we have finally come up with the final name.

He shall be called Cade Jordan Mackeson.

This is the original name I had picked out; just spelt with a "K" instead of a "C", Tyler liked the name but thought the "K" made it too girly... so we compromised.
It is so fun to refer to him as Cade now instead of "baby" or "him". He still gets "baby mack" a lot which will probably end up being his nick name for quite some time!

It's a B O Y ! ! !

We had our ultrasound on Friday and it was amazing!
What a rush to see our little baby up-close like that. Tyler was super nervous going into the appointment, which made me all nervous. He kept saying "it's just going to make things more real to be able to actually see it". More real was right!
We no longer refer to it as an "it" it's now a HE, and he is growing and developing right on schedule. I was a little nervous when we first got there because our ultrasound tech was "in training" so I was afraid we weren’t going to get good shots or pictures of our baby. But I was all wrong, she was amazing! Especially since baby Mack was an active little thing.
He cooperated great for the first 1/2 of the ultrasound, just long enough to get a shot of his "manhood" then it was off for a game of chase! Just as she would have the shot or body part she needed he would roll over or turn the other way. He is very active and taking after his daddy already! I do have two pictures from the ultrasound but I need to have them scanned so I can post them for everyone. I will try to get it done ASAP!

Now the fun can really begin!

Time to start planning and decorating the nursery and getting our registry set up!

By popular demand....

18 weeks.

I will post another picture along with the ultrasound pictures on Friday!

2 more days!

Ultrasound

We have scheduled our appointment for the ultra sound for April 18th! I can't wait to see if we are having a boy or a girl. I'm ready to start shopping for the nursery!