Who's a Healthy Growing Baby???

Baby Ashley that's who! Today was a great day seeing baby even though it tried to not happen a couple times.
When we first arrived at the doctor's office for our 4 month checkup the desk attendant regrettably stated that our appointment had been cancelled. I told her that no one had cancelled the appointment and in fact we had both taken off work to be there. She checked the schedule and the day was fully booked. Keep me from seeing my baby? I think not! I asked to talk to the nurse who immediately said of course we can squeeze you in we are almost done with lunch anyway. What sweet hearts! So Shawn and I got back to the room and I looked around...where's the ultrasound machine? When the nurse came in she pulled out the dopler and I frowned at her, " no pictures"? She laughed and patted me on the leg, "aw, no hun your baby is healthy and out of the danger zone we just need to check the heart from now on".  The news was good and bad. Good was that me and baby were NORMAL! HA! NORMAL! who would have thought. Bad news was that I had lost my window to my little one until the sonogram at the end of the year. Well....thats what we thought. When Dr. Davis came in I whined of course and we laughed and talked about how I was feeling (good) and how my test results came back from last visit (great). Next the dopler. We listened....and moved.....and listened.....and moved....nothing. She put the dopler down and said, "well since baby is being difficult looks like we need to move next door to the ultrasound". Baby must have heard mom complaining! Shawn laughed, "geez! Baby and momma already in kahootz"!


Hi Mom and Dad!!!

Shawn and I scheduled our sonogram for December 23rd.....hopefully the day we learn if baby Ashley is a she or a he!

The Loss of an Old Friend

It was a sad morning in the Ashley household. I woke not so eagerly from my slumber and  rolled over in bed. My view of Shawn was partially blocked by the mound of pillows I had used to barricade myself in with beaver like skill. As I peeled back the layer I saw him there browsing on his phone most likely making trades for his fantasy football team. "Hi" I yawned at him, stretching gently as to not strain my aching belly. My greeting must have been received by my 3 fur children as our bed was quickly invaded by 2 heat suckers masquerading as felines. Mau and Cheyenne quickly assumed their position on my chest and legs purring and twitching their tails in delight. Zuruck's good morning message came through as a squealing high pitch whine-bark that echoed in the hollow chamber of our dining room. "Is the dog locked up?" I asked Shawn as I rolled over receiving unhappy glances from my now displaced fur babies. Shawn slowly lowered his phone, " yes, he was a very bad dog". Great, what of my non edible items did the dog decide to eat, would there be dismembered toys, sole-less shoes, gnawed chair legs....I shuttered thinking of the havoc he could have created as he waited for us to wake. Shawn looked at me as if he dare not even speak of the horror that he had witnessed this morning, " he chewed through your heating pad cord". Silence. How could this happen? My heating pad, my old friend that had nursed me through countless back injuries and sore muscles. Lately it had soothed my aching back after long days on my feet keeping me from tears as I felt the joints in my back move and stretch. I'm left now with the painful decision  of what to do with the heating pad that is possibly older than me. Can you throw away such a thing? Such a sad sad morning.

Baby Dreams


I dreamed of our baby again last night it was a girl and she was already 3. We were walking down main street window shopping and she was just adorable. A daddy's girl. She was holding Shawn's hand asking for something or telling him a story I can't remember but I remember her little face, she had dirty blonde curly hair that was pulled back with a hair pin, big brown eyes and long eye lashes. She had a little button nose and she was working those big pouty lips against her daddy. She looked so much like her daddy, what a beautiful little girl. It was a great dream.

Week 13

 Not much new on the baby making front. Backaches and headaches are about the sum of my baby blues. I stopped taking progesterone at week 12, Dr. Herr said at that point the placenta should be taking care of the progesterone production. We go in for our checkup on the 29th of this month which is exciting I've been anxious to peer in on our little one. Already a nosy mom! We will have more pictures after the appointment which I of course will post. Let's just hope that baby poses for the "camera" a little better this time.



See you again soon !

The Maternity Fairy comes to town

What a great weekend! Shawn and I are so lucky to have my cousin Melissa and her husband Adam so close (Texarkana, TX). They drove up Friday with their two precious sons and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Melissa  was awesome enough to bring me two huge bags of maternity clothes, several little items that her boys had out grown, mommy materials and of course the beautiful family bassinet. I got teary eyed looking at the bed that held my mom as a newborn, my uncle, Melissa, my brothers, myself, Landon, Tyler and now would be the first bed of our little one. What an awesome blessing

Zoo Day


What fun we had at the Fort Worth Zoo!  Gorillas, penguins, trains! It was definitely a full day. We had perfect weather  it wasn't to hot or to cold which made it comfortable for us and also meant the animals were all out moving around. Melissa got lots of great pictures and I will post some once she gets them all downloaded onto her computer.  We even stopped for a little snack ( mainly because I was complaining about being hungry! ) .  We chowed down in the audience of some pretty big alligators and a couple curious turtles. Melissa and I spent a while ooing and awing with our noses up against the glass in the primate nursery where a newborn chimp was snacking on some lettuce.  Lots of fun! Shawn got help pushing the stroller from Landon which was adorable and yes of course supermom was on hand to snap the shot, I'm glad one of us had a camera handy I have a lot of training left!  After a train ride and hopping down the path to be disappointed by the tiny sharks the whole crew was looking for a nap. We packed up and headed home where this mommy in the making took a 3 hour nap! 3 hours! I must have been more tired than I thought. 


Melissa is also to be attributed with my new favorite saying. Shawn was picking on me last night for wanting to go to bed at 9pm. True it is a little early but heck I was exhausted! Melissa quickly chimed in, "Katie made a liver and a kidney today. What did you do Shawn?" I died! How funny was that! Shawn laughed and kissed my head...."ok you girls win, goodnight" . 


It was a great visit and wonderful to see my big sister and her awesome clan. Did I mention how cute tyler is. Because that little guy is just dang cute! I can't wait to share some pictures of the trip till now I will share a awkward photo of me from today on the way to the dog park, wearing one of my new shirts thank you Sissa! I will have to get Shawn to take the next picture because the phone in the mirror with the crooked smile is kinda weird! 

10 Week Checkup

Praise God for a healthy baby!!!!


 Today I attempted to simply keep busy. That was my goal once I woke up, keep busy don't stress. I shuffled around attempting new food combinations and every now and then I would tiptoe upstairs and peak into the office at Shawn. Once at the doctor's office I immediately tapped on the glass window and stated that if they wanted to inspect my pee now was a good time since I was about to wet my pants.  I returned to find Shawn leafing through pregnancy magazines.Luckily he now knows  how to handle the stress of being a single working mom. We were called back and began to answer the endless list of questions on family history and our history and the history of other people that we may not even know but that somehow could have an impact on our unborn child.


Now comes the fun part, the window into our babies world. A little maneuvering around and there it was our little alien. We smiled at each other when we caught a glimpse of our baby in all of it's big headed glory. Then the moment that all parents to be live for, that perfect mechanical heartbeat chugging away. Dr. Herr gave us a quick tour of the new additions to our developing baby; little fingers and toes, nose, ears and eyebrow ridge. Just as she was pointing out baby's  big ole brain we got an amazing wave from one tiny little hand right into the screen. She tried to snap a quick picture but baby was to quick. My heart melted and I wanted to reach through the screen and grab that little hand. I  looked at Shawn with a huge grin and we both started laughing at the whole awesome moment. Apparently baby loves mom's laughter and immediately began doing punches, kicks and rolls. The rest of the ultrasound baby just wouldn't pose for a picture and kept on the move. Maybe next month we can get a better profile for the photo albums!

In the picture you can see to the far left that baby is sitting Indian style at this point its legs are just slightly whiter than the surrounding line of the uterus. That pretty little torso has a healthy heart that was beating steady through the whole ultrasound. Baby was in mid jig so it's arms are barely viewable but you can see it's little clinched fists. then of course the dome and yes that is a jaw line, nose, brain and even ear. Oh what a difference two weeks makes. Check out the slideshow in the top corner of the blog for other fuzzy pictures of our active little one! 


Shawn's Baby Picture

Alright so may the guessing begin.....all you experts out there start comparing the pictures and deciding what baby Ashley will come out looking like. Full head of hair?? big head? little head? long nails? have fun !