Halloween Party!

Our 7th annual Halloween Party has come and gone!  We feel like we spent weeks preparing for it and it has passed way to quickly.  Dan dressed up as Stu from the movie The Hangover and I dressed up as a "Mummy" (very appropriate)


The sign on my tummy says "I love my mummy"


Surprisingly, I wasn't the only pregnant attendee at our party this year.  Three other girls were there with their husbands, all pregnant, one very pregnant (32 weeks!)  Lucky for them I made some virgin jello shots for us to enjoy with the other party goers.

We has some extra entertainment at our party this year, always something to step it up a notch from the previous year.  We had a guy who does all sorts of "tricks" to help keep our guests entertained.  He did such things as juggling, sword swallowing, and putting nails up his nose.  He even got some of our guests attempt to put nails up their nose as well, impressive!  At one point he had a group of people attempt to lift a guy off the ground by pinching small portions of his skin!  A group of ten people all took hold of portions of this guys skin and actually succeeded in lifting him about four feet off the ground.  It's amazing what you can get people to do after a few drinks!

The party was quite different for me this year as I was not partaking in any alcohol.  I had a great time with all of my friends, and was getting some really good pictures!  Watching other people make fools of themselves is always entertaining.  Having no hangover, cleaning up the house the next morning was a lot easier than years past.  7th Halloween Party=SUCCESS!

18 weeks and 5 days pregnant today!

Just over one week until the official ultrasound to tell us if we're having a boy or a girl!  Time seems to be flying by now, I can't believe I'm nearing the halfway point.  For people that know that I'm pregnant, I've reached the point that a "Hello" in the hallway is met with a stare at my tummy followed by the eye contact.  It's kind of funny to catch people looking at my tummy all the time.  For my close friends, they are just itching to touch the bump all the time.  It's definitely something to get used to!


17 weeks 4 days


I think I might be feeling something poking me from the inside!  Everyone tries to tell me what it felt like when they felt their baby move for the first time.  So far I haven't felt what their telling me.  But, I think I'm feeling little "thumps" from inside.  Not sure if what I'm feeling is the baby, but I don't think I've felt this before.  Still waiting for the big kick, and something that Dan will be able to feel from the outside.  It's all very special to know that a little baby is living and moving inside of me...

We got a package the other day from my Aunt Regina.  In it were some of Dan's favorite baby clothes we've received thus far.  We received two little onesies with Purdue Boilermakers emblazoned on the fronts.  Dan is very excited to dress baby in these come football season next year!  Thanks Aunt Regina!

With Love
Jess and Dan

17 weeks pregnant

Today we are 17 weeks pregnant and time seems to be flying by!  I can't believe it's already so close to Halloween.  We began decorating the house this past weekend in preparation for our annual party.  No matter how many times I say we're not buying anymore Halloween "stuff", we just can't seem to help ourselves!  Here are some picures of our decorations so far.

We are still getting sweet little baby clothes in the mail from family and friends.  My friends Melissa and Emily actually sent me some clothes on the same day.  Here is a pic of one of the outfits.  What cute little duck feet!

My mom and dad finally caved in and sent some outfits as well. One of my favorites pictured below.

Go Bears!!

While we are receiving new outfits, my mom reminded me that I have a hope chest full of clothes I wore as a baby.  I forget there's actually something in there, Dan and I use it as a bench so frequently!  There are all sorts of treasures in the hope chest.  Infant onesies and some of the softest pajamas, toddler overalls, shoes, shirts, even some toys saved after all these years.  Some of the items I found particularlly interesting, I had to snap some pictures of them.


This seemed to be a bright yellow snow suit?  With it is a squeaky toy.



Silly baby humor?

Last week I joined my friend Kate at the Taste of Altamont.  Not quite comprable to the Taste of Chicago, but offer a pregnant woman a food festival and she's there!  There were approximatley 20 restaurants serving all sorts of yummy dishes as well as five different dessert stands.  Kate enjoyed the adult beverages while I enjoyed a decaf coffee from Starbucks.  We even got some free non-edible items.  Lucy enjoyed one of those items the most!


It's a frisbee! She loves wearing them over her head...

We have our monthly doctors appointment tomorrow.  They will check my weight and vital signs as well as use a doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat.  They will probably draw more blood as it seems everytime I go, there is another test that needs to be run at that particular time.  We will schedule an ultrasound for a couple weeks from now to check out the baby's anatomy and hopefully be able to determine whether it's a boy or girl!

Bump at 16 weeks 4 days

 With Love,
Jess and Dan

Today we are 15 weeks and 4 days pregnant (hey, every little bit counts!)  I'm feeling less nauseous and less tired thank goodness.  My waistline is expanding but I don't feel I look "pregnant" yet, just like I may have had a large lunch.  No fetal movements yet.  From what I've heard, most first time moms don't feel the baby move until somewhere around week 20.  Cravings?  I haven't really had many cravings, just a few things I really, really like.  Early in my pregnancy I was eating avocados like crazy!  A whole avocado, diced up with some olive oil, salt, pepper and lime juice.  Yum-o!  Now I'm loving fruits, especially red grapes.  I believe this has something to do with the absent red wine in my life.  A bottle was always stocked and waiting for me when I got home from a rough day at work.  Oh, how I miss my red wine...  So red grapes are my baby-friendly alternative.

The Bump! 15 weeks

What about Dan?  These days he spends his workweek on Disney property working on the new hotel they're building.  He's consulted daily on the drawings and plans he came up with to make sure everything is in the right place and that it looks good too.  Of course every job comes with it's frustrations.  Especially when you're sharing an office in a trailer.  It's supposed to open sometime in March which is when the baby is due.  Who knows, maybe we'll have a babymoon if we get to try the new hotel out for the soft opening!

The way Lucy sees it:
(Lucy seems to be popular with a few blog followers, so she gets a voice too!)

I've heard mom and dad talking about this new thing we're getting called a "baby".  When they talk about it I kind of tilt my head to the side like I understand what they're saying.  I don't really understand what's going on, I just know I look cute when I do the head tilt.  I still really enjoy cuddling up on Jess when we go to bed.  I love laying mostly on her stomach and digging my elbows in, which she says is going to have to stop soon.  Something about that baby thing we're getting.  The other day it was really nice outside and I just love laying in the sun.  When I get really excited I run big circles in the yard and bound through the flower bushes.  I came out with an accessory after a few laps around the yard.


Flowers in her hair

 With Love,
Jess and Dan

So much has happened...

Welcome to our blog!  My mom had the idea to start this to track our pregnancy progress, and with some ideas from other friends that blog about family life, I came up with "The Family York" blog.

So, Dan and I got married April 21, 2011 in Las Vegas.  We had a beautiful wedding surrounded by wonderful family and friends! 

Then, 3 months later we realized we were pregnant!  On August 25th we had our first ultrasound done and saw baby York squirming about.  The heartrate was 170 and the baby looked like a little peanut.  It was surreal to see this tiny thing living inside of me.  The ultrasound tech said, "Seeing is believing, huh?"  Wow was she right!  To our surprise, the baby was 9 weeks and 2 days at this point, a week ahead of what we originally thought.  Let's hope this is not a trend...

On September 19th we had another ultrasound done for genetic testing.  This time the baby looks more like a baby with facial features, arms, legs, and hands!  The baby was lying in a curled up position, basically on its face and tummy when we first saw it.  This was the perfect position for the tech to see what she wanted to see.  The heartbeat was again in the high 160's.  I asked if the baby would move to get a different view and she said no problem.  She took the ultrasound device and bounced it up and down very quickly on my low abdomen and I lost it!  For some reason I started laughing and could not stop.  The baby was bouncing all over the place and every time I laughed it bounced again!  The problem here was when I was laughing, the tech could not get the picture of the baby since my tummy pushed the device away from where it was supposed to be.  I managed to calm down for a few seconds and we got an awesome view...

A darling five fingers on baby's precious tiny hand!

Now, lots of planning has begun.  After working a long weekend I came home to a clean house thanks to Dan!  He also started cleaning out the guest bedroom which is going to eventually turn into the nursery.  Up until this point, all of Dan's clothes were in the dressers and closet in the guest room.  So, the next day I stepped up and cleaned out some old clothes and other things that I did not wear or use anymore so Dan could use some drawer space in our room.  In the end we took six garbage bags to the Salvation Army for donation.  I guess our spring cleaning was more like fall cleaning.  I tought it felt good to get rid of all that stuff, Dan thought we've only scraped the surface...

Speaking of Dan, we just celebrated his 38th birthday with a biking pub crawl!  We've done this for three years now, and it seems this may have been the final year on bikes...  What a different perspective I had on the occasion being pregnant and the sober biker!  The day was a success with only one minor (ok, maybe moderate) injury (thankfully not to Dan or I).

We haven't bought anything for the baby yet, but we've started browsing.  There is so much baby stuff out there it's overwhelming!  Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike get the prize for the first baby clothes bought!  We received a package the other day with some cute onesies!  There was also a knitted baby blanket that belonged to my Uncle Mike.  He actually received two blankets, and the one pictured is the only one that survived over time.  A neighbor made them for his mom before he was born. A blue blanket with a pink border and a pink blanket with a blue border.  So amazing that we will be able to use it for our baby someday soon!  Thanks Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike!

Now that it is October, we are starting to plan our annual Halloween party.  A few costume ideas are floating around.  Check back with us to see the party ideas and pregnancy progress.

With Love,

Jess and Dan