Vivian Reese, Camille Sofia, and Charles Dale

Well, after a few days of getting around, we decided we might as well pull up on some furniture! Watch out world - Vivian is fearless!! She can't stay up for a long time (10 to 20 seconds), but she can sure get herself up! I can only imagine how much she is going to learn on vacation next week with an 11 month old, 22 month old, and 3 year old.

She is such a happy girl and we are so blessed - if you haven't seen her for a while, come by and see us. She will light you up with her smile and crack you up with her snarl and giggles. I will try to get some new pics up soon. Also, I have a video of the crawler...but still trying to figure out how to post the videos....

Well, mom is a little slow on the update...but on Saturday Vivian started crawling!! She is not an expert yet, but she is improving by the day. This morning she was getting braver and started trying to get the cats...the cats were pleased to find that she is mobile :)

On another note, poor little one is still not feeling well. The whole family has been sick with a nasty summer cold :( Hopefully we can all get well before vacation in 2 weeks!

We had a good doctor's apppointment last week. Vivian is growing up as she has in the past - tall but not too round in the middle. She is growing out of 12 month stuff - length wise - so we are looking at 12 to 18 month stuff for fall/winter (seems crazy)! We may be taking the waist in to hold everything up, but we will figure it out :)

She did great for her shots, but had a pretty good fever on Saturday and Sunday morning as a result of them. I hate those shots, but I know they are for her own good. We have a break next appt - YEAH - no shots until 1 year.

She is still trying to crawl and now trying to pull-up on everything. I found her in the crib last night on her knees holding on to the bars. I told her to sit down because she is too little to do that - ha, ha. This little girl is determined (imagine that) and gets what she wants one way or another!

Well, that is pretty much it. She has a little cold this week - hopefully it doesn't turn into more than that. Colin and I continue to love every stage of Vivian as she grows up (way to fast)!

Ok, just a quick update...mom is slacking lately. Vivian sat herself up for the first time on Friday afternoon. She has been sitting on her own for a few weeks and now has mastered sitting herself up! Every morning since Friday, we have found her sitting up in her crib...how cute :)

Full update to come Friday...after the big 6 month checkup!

Well, Vivian is growing up so fast we can hardly keep up. She has more than doubled her birth weight and growing up like a weed. She is wearing mostly 9 to 12 month clothes now and is starting to fill them out!

She is also getting ever so close to moving...scary :) She is getting up on her hands and knees and rocking (and usually laughing or giggling while doing it). She is also sitting up on her own and getting closer to being able to sit herself up. She tries really hard, but her little arms can't push her all the way up yet. This is very frustrating to her, but we try to help her out when she needs it :)

She received a nice toy, a jumperoo, from our neighbor (who is letting us borrow it) last week and has been in love with it ever since...she just keeps jumping and jumping. She just cracks herself up when she is doing it!

Well, pretty soon we will have the 6 month check up and prof. pics...I can't believe we are half way through the first year!!

Well, unfortunately Vivian and I (mom) had to take an early trip to the doctor's office on Friday morning. We went because Viv cried for hours at daycare on Thursday and then was up crying in the night later. She was also running a low grade fever on Thursday and Friday morning it started to rise. At the doctor's office we found out that Viv had her first ear infection (and based on the days to follow, we hope her last :)). She really didn't sleep well on her back the past few days, so Colin and I have been taking shifts holding her to sleep. She did sleep in her bed from 11:30 to 6:30 last night, so we have hopes that she is feeling better and she will be able to sleep tonight. Time will tell...

Despite her illness, she has been pretty happy (once we started the pink bubblegum meds). She loves playing with other little kids and also loves to stand up. She is really close to sitting on her own...she can do it for 5 to 10 seconds and then she usually goes diving towards a toy and loses her balance. She can get most anything she wants by rolling and "scooting" on her stomach. She really wants to get going, but mom and dad are really scared of that thought!

Well, that is all for now. We look forward to a long holiday weekend! Hopefully the week will go fast :)

Well, you've seen the pictures and Vivian is officially eating cereal every evening. So far, she seems to really like it :) She opens right up for the spoon and seems to be eating more than I expected. She also gets excited when we put her in the highchair. The good news is that we are not seeing a reaction yet, so keep your fingers crossed :) If all continues to go well, we will probably start feeding her cereal in the morning, as well.

If you haven't seen her in a while, she is getting to be quite a big girl. She loves to stand up and sit up(with assistance of course) and listen to music - especially Dora music for some reason. She absolutely adores other babies and kids and is especially fond of our neighbor's little boy, Gabe. He is 8 months old and she always gets really excited when she sees him. It is really sweet :)

Vivian is also getting quite a large sound gallery...she is doing the "alien", razzing, squeeling, and other cute noises. Before we know it, she is going to be telling us all what to do!

Well, I think that is pretty much it for now. We are feeling lucky and blessed every day watching Vivian grow up. It is amazing how fast she grows and learns. We are looking forward to putting her in the baby pool this weekend....so look for pictures in her polka dot bikini (orange, not yellow) next week :)

Just a little tid bit for those of you who have heard about our baby that doesn't like her tummy...she has been waking up at night when she rolls to her stomach as she has never really been fond of it. This has been going on for a little over a week. This morning, Colin went to check on her and she was sleeping on her belly :) So cute...and really good so that we won't have to flip her over anymore. She can actually roll over on her own, but rarely does it, so we end up flipping her over.

Well, I think that is pretty much it for now. Mom is looking forward to a 3 day weekend with baby since we are all taking Monday off! Have a great weekend!

It has been a nice long holiday weekend, hard to take the baby back to school this morning :( She has been a little fussy this weekend due to our shots on Friday afternoon and our first cold (or at least I think that is what it is). For all this activity, she has been a good baby - which is no surprise to us!

She was great at the doctor's office and is continuing to grow like crazy...she is 26 1/8 inches long and weighs 13 pounds 11 ounces. She is on track developmentally and does new stuff every day it seems like :) She is starting to love her saucer - now that she figured out how to turn and is strong enough to grab all the toys - and is reaching and finding toys without us helping her...very cool, but sad that she is growing up so fast!!

Well, I will put some new pictures out there soon. Hopefully, we will have highchair pictures (her first real food) in the next month or so. She is very interested when we are eating and would like to participate. As soon as we get the go ahead from the docs, we will start this up.

Well, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. Thanks for checking in on us!!

Ok, so it has been a while again...we are so bad! She is just growing up so fast and we are trying to take in every minute of it :) I haven't really talked lately about how good our baby is, but she is awesome. She has been sleeping through the night for a while, but now it is more consistent. We have been hesitant to say this, but it has been going on for a few weeks now... She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 and sleeps until 7 or 7:30. She is a little thumb sucker and this keeps her happy until we feed her in the morning. Many mornings we actually wake her up!!

She is also continuing to be our little wild one...she has rolled over - both ways now! She rolled over first 2 weeks ago (from back to tummy) and then this weekend from tummy to back. It is really cute to watch her grow and learn. She is absolutely awesome!

Well, pretty soon we will see how big she is now as we have her 4 month appt coming up. For those of you wondering, we think she is probably around 13 to 14 pounds and 25 to 26 inches. She is growing like a weed and is already growing out of her 3 to 6 month clothes!! Length wise, of course :)

Well, thanks for checking in on us...have a great week!

It has been forever since we updated...however, it has been a busy month. We have officially made it through 3 weeks of school (daycare) and Vivian seems to love her new friends. She goes to school around the corner with five other very nice children. She loves the other kids and the teacher tells us she smiles and coos all day long. We couldn't be happier with this news!

She is growing...faster than we could ever imagine. She is only wearing 3 to 6 month clothing now and is growing out of most of her 3 to 6 month sleepers. We have graduated to 6 to 9 months for a few already!! This of course is all length as she is still a slim jim :) We are guessing she is probably around 25 to 25 1/2 inches long and probably right around 13 pounds.

She is a happier baby now as she is on special formula for her milk protein allergy. We discovered this problem around 3 weeks ago and ever since we made the change Vivian is a happier baby in the evening. She was always happy, but she is even more content these days!! We are still fighting the weaning, as we had to stop "cold turkey"...but it is getting better every day.

She is very close to rolling over, but still doesn't like her tummy very well so we don't get too much practice. She is grabbing and pulling toys to her mouth, but mostly likes to chew on her hands (especially her thumb). She still loves music and loves it when anyone talks to her - but you better put her down first as she is a little Miss Independent and does not like to be held very much. Funny how the little personality is starting to show :)

Well, I'm sure there is more but that is all I can think of for now. We love her very much and if any of you are feeling neglected these days, we appologize. We spend most of our time in Vivian's world because it is just so much fun :)

It has been an interesting few days. Vivian had her two month appointment on Wednesday. Along with a clean bill of health, came FOUR shots. Either of us would have been happy to take those shots for her. She was not pleased with them. Thursday was actually worse. She was cranky all day. Today she seems to be back to normal.

This week she started grabbing objects. Her fish chair is her new favorite place to be. She grabs her seahorse and goldfish all of the time.

Mom goes back to work on April 10th. It is going to be tough. We are just starting to settle into a routine and we are getting ready to change it again.

Well, Vivian and I (mom) have been having fun hanging out at home the past few weeks! She is smiling all the time, which is awesome, and crying less, which is also good :) It seems we are starting to learn what Miss Vivian likes to do during the day...I say day time since she has been sleeping really good for mom the past few weeks. We go to bed around 10 or 10:30pm and wake up between 2:30 and 4:00am. Then we wake up at 7:30am to start our day! I consider this to be excellent since she is only 8 weeks old and still breastfeeding! She is also sleeping in her own bed...what a big girl :) In case you didn't know, up until last week she had been sleeping in the bouncer or swing. We made the big switch and she taking it in stride (so far) - cross your fingers for us!

We also made another big decision last week to change Vivian's day care situation. She will now be going to the Baker Christian Academy starting April 10th. It is a wonderful place and we think she will be much happier there (compared to KinderCare). As a result of the change, we will be able to spend more time with our little bug (since it will save us about 40 minutes of driving time each day).

Well, I think that is all for now....we will put an update here next week after the big 2 month check-up.

Well, we have a very healthy, growing baby girl. She was awesome at the doctor's office today and didn't cry at all - until she had to get a shot :( Then she and mom both shed a few tears for that...just one for mom, but a few more for Miss Vivian. She is gaining weight right on track and growing up like a weed! She is on track developmentally too! She is 9lb 10oz and 23 1/2 inches long!

She is growing up so fast...but it is exciting to see her grow and do new things! She is my little "smile bug" these days and we are enjoying our time together.

We will be getting 1 month pics on Friday and send an update for those when we have them!

Well, been a while since we updated, so I thought I would tell everyone what has been happening here at the Johns' residence...

Everyone has begun to settle into a bit of a routine...if there is such a thing at 4 weeks old. Mom is getting more sleep and everyone is happier :) Vivian is growing up so fast...she is now smiling a lot more and making Mom feel really good! She is also awake a lot more, which is fun too.

Vivian is growing like crazy and has already grown out of a few outfits (length wise, not width). She just keeps getting longer it seems. We will know for sure next week when we visit the doctor again.

She is also enjoying her playmat more these days. She really likes the purple elephant and the mirror...yes, she already likes looking at herself quite a bit. We understand this because we really like looking at her too :)

Anyway, hopefully we will get some new pics out there soon. She is getting bigger and more beautiful every day!

Today was our first adventure to the Mall. We had pictures taken today of Vivian. She seemed to smile during the picture which was pretty awesome. We thought that it may have been a fluke. After three and a half hours, we finally decided to come home in the snow. Later this evening she smiled again on the changing pad.

Vivian is developing some consistent patterns in eating and sleeping which makes Mom's life a little easier. We all seem to be getting into a routine that will certainly change shortly.

Another good night. Our little princess is sleeping much better than when we first got home. She wakes up every two hours for Mom to feed her. Her umbilical cord fell off last night. Of course, we have to save it. It does make changing diapers easier.

Bath time is a family affair. The first couple of sponge baths had some crying. Last night, she really seemed to enjoy her bath. We can't wait to put her in her tub.

It seems like our little girl is growing up so fast already. Her head control is awesome. Tummy time is Dad's favorite. She moves her head back and forth to show us how strong she is.

We apologize for not updating. Sleep deprived, overwhelmed parents don't always remember to update their website. More later.........

Thank you for the offers to date our daughter. We will be taking bids for the next 30 years. Carter and young Pipkin, get out your checkbooks. She will be 30 before she is allowed to date.

Seriously, everybody is doing great. Vivian is eating well and Mom is feeling pretty good. We are hoping to go home tomorrow evening if everything continues to go as planned. We will put pictures on as soon as possible.

Our beautiful baby girl was born at 5:46pm on January 24, 2006. We are all doing well and thank all of you for all you love and support throughout our entire journey. We are at Clarian North hospital in suite 18 until Thursday evening.

Thanks again and we can't wait to show off our beautiful baby girl, Vivian!

For everybody that checks this compulsively, we are at the hospital. We will keep everybody posted.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it through the weekend...

Don't worry - when it comes, we will let you know!

Everyone is still feeling good, including dad - who is getting the husband of the year award :)

Well, the good news is that everyone is doing well...but it looks like we are still in a waiting game for our precious piglet. After discussion with the doctor, we will all be more comfortable waiting for nature to take its course, at least for now. I have never been a big fan of being "induced", so we will be waiting until next week to see what happens. After that, we may have to look at other options.

Just so everyone understands a little more, the c-section rate goes up tremendously when you are induced and it will also make it more challenging to have a natural birth. I am not sure if that is the route I will go, but I like to have my options.

And I almost forgot, I have progressed to almost 4cm and still around 80% effaced. So, the doctor gave me a 60 to 70% chance of delivery before next Wednesday. Pretty much any more dilation will put me into active labor :)

So, we will keep you all posted. Thank you for all of your thoughts and well wishes, as I have heard from many of you over the past few days. I am still feeling good and apparently piglet is too - so don't worry about us.

Another doctor's appt, with a little more progress this week...which is always good. Mom and baby are doing well and we are around 3cm dialated and 75 to 80% effaced. Yeah...finally a change, even if it is a small one :) We saw our doctor today for the first time in 3 weeks and got the low-down on his thoughts about the baby. We will be going in next Tuesday to see him again, and with any progress, we will probably be induced on Wednesday (my due date). This is only if I make it until next Tuesday...which I probably will, so don't anyone get your hopes up too much!

Stay tuned...we will keep you updated!

Well, piglet is officially the most stubborn baby of all...our neighbor and friends, Katie and Mike, had a beautiful baby girl today at 11:23am. Kylie Morgan Smith weighed in at 7lb 1oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. Both Mom and baby are doing well. Katie and I were due on the same day, so maybe piglet will take the hint and come a little early too :) Anyway, congratulations to the Smith family on their newest addition!

Another doctor's appt down, only a few to go - maybe less if we are lucky! It was a good appt as my blood pressure is staying low, piglet's heart rate sounds great, and mom is hanging around at 2cm and 75% effaced. Also, we didn't see my doctor, but the doctor we saw told us the philosophy of the office on how long they let you go, which is 41 weeks. So the end is near...in 3 weeks or less we will have our little piglet. Mom and Dad are still hoping for a little sooner, so keep your fingers crossed!

This is just a little news update for those of you who know my good friends Tracy and Andy Lieninger (or have met them over the past few months of our pregnancies)...

Today, January 2, 2006, Tracy and Andy became the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy, Carter Ross Lieninger. He weighed in at 6lb 11oz and 22 inches long! Mom and baby are doing well and we wish them the very best!

Congratulations Tracy and Andy - we can't wait to meet Carter!

Another week...another doctor's visit. It was another positive visit with the doctor. My Strep B test was negative, so another thing we won't be worring about on labor day :) I am still at 2cm and around 75% effaced. I could be here a while...or go into labor soon. While the tax deduction would be nice, we will let little piglet come when he or she is ready.

I am still pretty comfortable and able to work out 3 or 4 times a week for about 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. I think this keeps my back and butt from hurting, which is good. I consider myself blessed for still feeling as good as I do at this point :) I'm pretty sure Dad is pretty happy too - you know, as long as I am happy, so is he!

Well, unless there is any breaking news, I will write next week after our appointment.

It was another day at the doctor, but a little more information...exactly what it means...who knows? Everything checked out good and mom and baby are doing well. My progress was checked for the first time and I am about 2cm dilated and more than 50% efaced. The doctor says this is good progress and it is hard to read into anything from it...but he did tell me to try to keep it in for another week or so - for good measure :) I continued to measure around a 1 1/2 to 2 weeks ahead (as far as baby's size). I told him that we didn't want a little bitty baby, so I would rather wait...and he told me that we had a pretty good size baby already. That was good news to me :) I didn't ask how big, since they are usually just guessing anyway. So, other than that, we will see him again next week (on Thursday) and see where we are then. Mom's nerve and lower joints are starting to hurt a bit (like in my early months) since the baby is back in my pelvic area, but nothing that we can't tough out for the next month (or less)! Thanks for checking in and thinking of us! Have a very merry christmas and a happy new year!

Love,
Stacy, Colin & piglet (at least for a bit longer)

Another uneventful doctor's appt today...all good news and from now on we will see the doctor weekly! Next week I will have my Strep B test and they will check to see if I am dialated. It should be interesting ?:)?

We graduated from child birthing classes tonight, so they gave us a certificate that we were ready to be parents!! I am pretty sure that will be true, I just hope we make it through the birth! Just kidding - although it looks pretty intimidating at this point!

Well, thanks for checking in on us and we will have an update next week (and hopefully a belly shot soon too). Continue to have a wonderful holiday season and GO COLTS!

Well, another Tuesday, another birthing class...more videos that are hard for me to watch! We have had 3 classes so far and it seems like 7 is going to be a lot!! I think it will get better next week since we will meet with the anesthesiologist and learn more about different situations like c-sections, inducements, etc.

We were able to take a quick tour of the labor and delivery area of the hospital last week and it is amazing! More than you would ever need...but of course, we will take it :) It is officially opening on December 1st, but hopefully we will only be visiting for a while.

Finally, my friends here at work threw a shower for me yesterday too (big day)! I got all kinds of really cute clothes, blankets, toys and more :) Colin and I stayed up late last night going through everything and had a really good time. Of course, the cats did as well, since it was more bags and tissue paper than they had ever seen!

Well, I think that is is for now...hopefully we are going to have a quiet weekend before the holidays kick-off and then before you know it piglet will arrive! I am going to do a huge picture upload tonight...so look for that later if you are interested!

Thanks for checking in with us!

Well, we have been bad lately and have not updated the site for a while...but a lot has happened. I had a wonderful shower with my family and a few close friends on Sunday, November 6th. Piglet and I had lots of good food and fun! We also received a truckload of stuff for Daddy to put together :) I will have pictures from this up in the next few days (along with a belly update, which will be shocking compared to the last update)!

On November 10th, Daddy and I intended to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary...but my body had a different agenda. I had a little scare and had to go into the doctor's office, which then sent me to the hospital (and then Daddy joined me at this point). I was having some contractions and bleeding (but no pain) and was monitored for a few hours at the hospital. We ruled out dehydration and then had a quick ultrasound to make sure piglet was OK. Since piglet looked perfect, head down and doing great, we went back to monitoring contractions. It was finally determined that I had a urinary tract infection (apparently very common in pregnancy - especially the 3rd trimester) and that was causing all of the problems. So, after a long and stressful day, we went home with antibiotics. I was also ordered to rest for the weekend, no work on Friday and no Colts game on Sunday, but back to work on Monday (assuming no problems).

So, we had a very stress free weekend and I had no more problems :) We went back to the doctor today and my infection is cleared up and at the end of the week I can resume normal activity again! Yeah! Also, piglet's heart rate was good and I measured just a little bit ahead of schedule. We will go back in 2 weeks.

We have class tonight and I had another shower at work today...so I will write another update tomorrow! Off to class...

Another uneventful doctor's visit today :) Hopefully we can keep these up the next couple appts...and then we will probably be ready for some action! Everything is going on schedule and piglet's heart rate was around 150 bpm. When the doctor put the doppler on my tummy, the baby kicked hard and moved it! Then it proceeded to roll around and make it hard to measure the heart rate. It was really funny and then, of course, when I laugh, it makes it even harder :) Oh well, I guess piglet was protecting his or her turf!

We also had our first childbirthing class tonight. It was also pretty uneventful...for now. We met the other 11 couples in the group and learned a little about the last trimester and relaxing, but the big stuff starts next week when we will watch a video of a birth! Of the 11 couples in the group, there are only 2 couples (ourselves and one other) that do not know the gender of our baby. There were a lot of boys, not many girls...

Well, that is pretty much it for now! I will update this weekend after my baby shower with pictures and details! See some of you there :)

Yesterday, mom and piglet attended their first shower at Tracy and Baby Leininger's house. We had brunch, ate cake, opened presents, and spent time with some of our good friends. The brunch was awesome and piglet was definately happy about that!! It was a place for piglet to find his or her new friends with 4 out of the 11 guests pregnant :) I have put some pictures out there for you to look at if you like! Talk to you on Tuesday or Wednesday (after our dr appt and our first class)!!

Well, it was another quick appointment yesterday, which is always a good thing. I am measuring on track and piglet's heart rate was right around 150 bpm (for those of you trying to figure out if our little piglet is a boy or girl). I will be going to the lab sometime in the next 2 weeks for my glucose test and final blood work. I also was told that I needed to get a flu shot in the next few weeks :( For those of you that know me well, this has never really been my favorite thing - needles!! Oh well, whatever is best for piglet.

Speaking of little piglet...I think he or she is going to be a little soccer player or something. I am feeling a lot of movement, which is awesome as it makes mom and dad worry a little less. I also have felt piglet's first hiccups in the past 2 weeks. We are starting to get really excited to meet piglet.

Piglet has been meeting many of his or her future friends over the past couple weeks. Our friends from Butler, Luke & Jenny, had a precious baby girl, Alli, on August 27th. Our neighbors had a beautiful baby boy, Gabe, on September 28th. Also, on October 10th, our friends Ryan and Heather had a gorgeous little baby girl, Abby. We wish the best for all of them and look forward to watching them grow. As you can see, piglet will not be short on playmates as we still have 3 more friends to come before piglet is due to be here :)

Well, I think that is all for now. Thanks for everyone's continued love and support. Colin, piglet and I appreciate it!

Well, another good report for piglet and mom at the doctor's office. It was pretty uneventful, which is excellent. I measured to be right on track, or maybe a few days ahead (but no change in the date). Piglet's heartrate was much slower today, started at 135 and went to 140 in the few seconds we were listening. Still perfectly normal, just a little slower than last visit. We received information to schedule our classes at the new Clarian North where we plan to deliver piglet into the world! We will be able to get a tour in November or early December. It looks very nice for mom, dad, and baby piglet.

We will be getting our furniture delivered tomorrow evening and hope to have some more nursery pictures by the end of the weekend. Also, another belly update will be coming this weekend. Piglet will be attending the first of many Colts games on Sunday afternoon with mom and dad. Mom can still wear her jersey for now, but pretty soon it will be on to dad's xl jersey!! Thanks for checking in and we will update again soon.

Just a quick update to let everyone know that piglet and I are doing well. My back/butt problems are feeling a lot better these days and I have even been able to jog a few days a week :) We will be going to the doctor in a week and I will give another update after that! Until then, enjoy the nursery and belly pictures...finally, I know!

After much anticipation, we finally got to see our little piglet yesterday! According to the doctors, we have a perfect healthy baby. He/she was beautiful and we didn't want to leave the ultrasound room. If we could just watch all the time, we would :) He/she was very active and stubborn (imagine that) during the ultrasound. As soon as the ultrasound tech started looking at the baby, he/she started putting its legs and arms up and rolled around. It was also puckering up and blowing bubbles in the amniotic fluid. It seems to be quite an active baby. We were trying to look at the heart and it kept moving and putting its hands and legs in the picture. So, she decided to move on to the other critical organs...we saw the bladder, liver, stomach, and brain. Everything looked really good. As she started looking at the spine, she realized the baby was finally giving a good view of the heart, which is also perfect! We finished with another look at the brain and spine, which were still looking good.

The tech finished by giving us some really good shots of his/her profile for us to take home with us. We will hopefully scan these in this weekend. I thought piglet had Colin's nose and lips when we zoomed in on the nasal cavity...but we will see with time if I am right.

Some of the other good details were that my ultrasound was measuring me to be closer to January 10th than January 18th. The legs measured January 5th!! The ultrasound tech thought I was somewhere between 19 and 20 weeks. I didn't see my doctor after the appointment, I saw one of the other ladies in the practice and she didn't want to move the date without talking to my doctor but admitted after measuring and feeling my uterus that it felt like a 20 week uterus...so I will be discussing this with my doctor on September 13th. Neither one of us can remember how long piglet was, but piglet weighed a little over 9 ounces. And last but not least, the heart rate was 153 bpm. According to my doctor, the normal range is 120 to 160 and it will probably fluctuate througout the pregnancy.

Well, I think that is all for now. I am feeling piglet move all the time now and it is awesome. I started feeling him/her about 2 weeks ago and it gets stronger every day. I will be posting another belly picture this weekend and there will be a dramatic difference from 2 weeks ago. Colin and Grandma Susie will be painting the nursery on Sunday, so we may have some pictures of that too! Talk to you soon :)

Stacy, Colin & piglet

Well, it was another fun day at the doctor's office :) Piglet's little heart was going at 163bpm today! He/she must be moving around in there...probably should enjoy it while he/she still has room to play. Well, that was the fun part. The reason I was there related to a lot of lower back pain (mostly in my butt), which is a result of my sciatic nerve and potentially my SI joint. I guess this isn't going to be quite as easy as I thought (ha, ha)! Luckily, my doctor is proactive and referred me to a massage and physical therapy place specializing in women's needs. Hopefully that will help. Well, the next appointment will be our ultrasound...so, I look forward to sending a healthy piglet report after that.

We went to the doctor today and heard Piglet's heartbeat. What a wonderful feeling :) The heartbeat was 150bpm. We will be going back in 4 weeks and we will have our ultrasound! I can't wait to see Piglet again. I know he/she is getting so big. Well, I think that is pretty much it for now. I will continue to update as things evolve. Hopefully, Dad and Grandpa will start the nursery transformation pretty soon.

Well, as you all now can see, the Johns' family will be expanding in 2006, or at least that is the current plan. We are very excited and have been anticipating this for sometime! We are also glad to finally bring all of you into the group. We have known since May 6, 2005, so, as you can imagine, it has been a long time of keeping our huge secret!

One advantage to knowing early, and having a few minor kinks along the way, is that we have been able to see "piglet" a couple times already. Everything is perfect so far with piglet (and mom doesn't have too many complaints either) :)

For those of you new to the circle, "piglet" is our name for the baby until the day it is born. To many people's disappointment, we will not be finding out the sex of the baby ahead of time. However, we feel there are only a few true surprises in life and this is one we would like to experience. So bear with us and enjoy the surprise when it comes!

Ok, that is pretty much it for now. We will keep you posted througout our journey.