Basically Brooks

WOW! 20 days since the last blog and the Brooks family has been very, very busy! I guess I should tell all you followers out there that this is Kyle posting the blog. Rebecca suggested that I post this blog and has since then fallen asleep, so I guess here goes.....I would like to first start by saying that I have officially felt Ava move. Each time I would go to feel her move she would not kick and as soon as I would walk away she would make a movement. I finally told Rebecca to let me tell her when I felt a kick so that I could distinguish between the movements. This past Saturday I was finally able to feel her precious movements and she actually kicked three times in a row. We went to the doctor this past Monday and everything is just fine. It was an informal appointment with an amazing sound at the end...Ava's heartbeat. The next appointment will consist of Rebecca completing a sugar test. This means there will be a nasty drink involved and needles! After that w...

Ava's getting stronger and stronger every day. That's what the books say and that's definitely what I'm feeling. I started feeling little flutters several weeks ago, and now they are turning into strong movements and rolling. I love feeling her move around inside of me! Kyle can't wait to feel her. He sits patiently on the couch with his hands on my belly-just waiting for her to kick. Unfortunately, I have to learn to control myself when she does because I get so excited and say, "Did you feel that!?" and his answer is,"I don't know because you were talking." So I gotta either work on that or wait until she gets even stronger. I know it may not seem like a very exciting post, but we are really excited about it!

Kind of fuzzy, but a great memory! It's a Girl!!! One of the only pictures of the cards I made! Yesterday was a pretty big day for Kyle and I. We had our first ultrasound and found out that we are having a precious baby girl! We were so shocked when the ultrasound tech. said it was a girl because everyone had convinced us it was going to be a boy. We were shocked but so very excited. This day was extremely emotional for me. As soon as I left school I was sobbing with joy. I just could not believe that in a few short minutes I was going to see our baby! I have honestly never been so overjoyed in all my life. The ultrasound was so fun. I laughed and cried the whole way through it. She was bouncing all over the place. We were really hoping we would get a good view of whether or not the baby was a boy or a girl an...

We have officially started working on the baby's room.! We have quite a few things we'd like to do before he/she gets here. Here is our short list: Remove and replace baseboard with new that matches the rest of the house. Put up crown molding to match the rest of the house. Put up chair rail. Replace the fan. Paint. DECORATE!!!! As you can see, I am pretty excited about all this! This week my mom came over to rip off the old baseboard. She is a hard worker! She and Kyle knocked that job out in about 45 minutes. She has even said she would paint and put up the new for us as well! We are so thankful for all her help. Kyle and I are not gifted in the fix-up-your-house department. We are very fortunate to have such a large, talented family who can help us if we need it...which we do! Here are pictures of Kyle and Mom working on the baby's room. More to come soon!

My belly is getting bigger and bigger each day. Even though I haven't gained any weight by the doctor's scale...it's definitely growing. There has been a request to see the baby bump, so here it is in all its glory! Enjoy! This is me today at 16 weeks.

We had the fastest doctors appointment in history on Monday. It was so fast, Kyle almost didn't make it in time for it! But, he got there thankfully just in the nick of time. This appointment was pretty uneventful. They just checked my weight, blood pressure, and urine, and then we got to hear our baby's beautiful heartbeat again. This time it didn't take any time at all to hear it. It was 170 beats per minute again--same as last time. Once I commented on the fact that it was the same, it dropped to 164. The doctor laughed and said it was listening to me. We were really excited about this appointment because we got to schedule our ultrasound. We will know if we are having a boy or a girl on May 20 th ! We are both so excited we can't stand it! Kyle just knows it will be a boy, I on the other hand haven't said what I think it will be because I just don't know. However, I am getting convinced it may be a boy since everyone else is just so sure of it. E...

This week, we reached the second trimester of the pregnancy. I was very excited to meet this milestone for two main reasons...1st you can breathe easier because the baby will most likely be healthy and less chance of miscarriage and 2 nd there is hope that morning sickness will be gone! Don't get me wrong, I wasn't as sick as some people who throw up 3 or 4 times a day, but just about every day all day I was nauseous and queasy-I only actually got sick 3 or 4 times a week. It really is true what women say, it seriously goes away as soon as you hit the 2nd trimester! What a relief! Not too much is going on here. We are just trying to be patient and wait to find out the gender of our baby. Some days it seems like the days and weeks are flying, but then other days it seems like it is going slowly. I just can't wait to call and pray for our baby by name. On a much funnier note, I think I will now include some of the awesome advice I have recieved from my 4th grade st...