baby dream...

So I have FINALLY had a dream about actually having the baby. I've been having weird, vivid dreams in the last few months (including one where an old lady ghost chased me around accusing me of killing the king, who was her husband??? Yeah, weird). Well, this baby dream was strange as well. It all started at my parents in the bedroom where we stay when we visit. I was lying in the bed, with my sister and one of my brothers were standing next to the bed. Suddenly I fell asleep and when I woke Lisa and Kyle told me I had a little boy by cesarean. I glanced down at my belly to find a long, vertical, already healed scar. Slightly disappointed since I really don't want to have a c-section, I brushed that off and couldn't wait to see my baby boy! They finally brought him in and, well... he was a cat. In a diaper. And it wasn't just any cat. It was my parent's recently deceased cat, Earl.

I told Jeremy about this and his response was if a black cat comes out, it's not his!

On a cuter note, Jeremy couldn't sleep one night (not the same night as this dream, by the way - different night) and he curled up by me and started rubbing my belly. He said he the baby started moving around so he started to 'play' with the baby. I guess they played for quite some time! Jeremy said he's never felt the baby move around so much... and I just slept through the whole thing. Father-baby bonding...

I'll be posting more bump photos soon! And VERY soon we should have some baby photos! Our due date is just a week from tomorrow - we can't wait to meet the little peanut!

Garden Success

This year we decided to try out a raised garden. We tried a container garden last year with just a few plants, but they kept blowing off the porch and I think we got 2 tiny tomatoes for a total harvest. This year we got a kit from Home Depot for a 4 ft x 4 ft raised garden bed which we modified and made it 4 ft x 8 ft. We planted sometime in late April, had a frost about a week later and lost a few of the tomato and pepper plants to that. BUT, after replacing the plants that didn't make it, we actually have a pretty decent garden going right now.

We were nervous about planting seeds (thinking we'd never see them grow at all) but they are really growing fast! All the seeds sprouted and look pretty amazing for some first time gardeners!

Here's a list of what we've got (in order as shown of course!):

1. Zucchini (planted by seed)
2. Green Beans (planted by seed)
3. Kohlrabi (planted by seed)
4. Radishes (planted by seed)
5. Onions
6. Strawberries
7. Cabbage
8. Peppers - a few varieties
9. Tomatoes - a few varieties

So our seeds are kicking the plants butts so far! Maybe it just takes time...

Last year our strawberry plant didn't do a thing, but we've got at least one coming in!

We've already pulled our first harvest of the year: 2 radishes and a green onion! Oh, and they were fabulous by the way...

So although we had bad luck last year with the container garden pretty much blowing away, this year seems to be a success so far! Although we did have a really bad storm a few weeks ago and noticed that our lettuce plant had blown away. We figure losing one out of ten ain't too bad!!

First Photos of Baby

Pregnant!

6 weeks, 3 days

16 weeks - Profile

16 weeks - Face (kinda freaky looking, not gonna lie!)

16 weeks - Foot (see the little toes!)

22 weeks - Profile

22 weeks - Profile
22 weeks - Hand (scratching the nose, or could it be picking the nose?)

22 weeks - Legs (feet are crossed)

22 weeks - 3D Face (that's Baby's leg by it's face!)

The Bump!

We will be updating this post with new photos taken weekly (if we remember!!) until the baby arrives. Enjoy!

6 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks


24 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks

28 weeks

31 weeks

Baby!

A new member to the family is expected this fall!! We will be welcoming a baby sometime around October 11th, 2011 and we couldn't be happier!! Last Tuesday marked the half way point at 20 weeks along. Things have been going pretty well - the first trimester involved a good dose nausea, fatigue and adjusting to the hormones, but I have been feeling pretty good during the second trimester!

We have decided not to find out the sex until the day the baby arrives. A lot of people think we're crazy, but we want to be surprised - there are only so many surprises in life anymore!! My mom is excited that we aren't finding out. She told me that I was the only baby she had an ultrasound with and I was supposed to be a boy!

Here are some of the milestones we've reached with baby:

• February 1 - Got a positive pregnancy test!
• February 18 - Heard Baby's heartbeat for the first time at our first ultrasound. Baby looked like a grain of rice!
  
• March 29 - Made it past the first trimester and into the "safe-zone" of the second trimester.
• April 29 - Saw Baby (who actually looked like a baby this time) move for the first time at the second ultrasound.
• April 30 - Gave our families the news about Baby.
• May 14 - Felt baby move for the first time
• May 24 - Baby's half way here!

We have another ultrasound scheduled next week since the baby was a little small to check a few things, like the chambers of the heart, at our 16 week ultrasound. Usually an ultrasound is done at 18-20 weeks, but our doctor decided to schedule us the day before we told our parents so we could have photos to share with them. How thoughtful of him!

I will be posting some pregnancy and ultrasound photos soon!

Bittersweet Goodbye

On Monday, January 17, 2011, six days after his 86th birthday, my Grandpa Delbert Earl Blunk passed away at his home. It is never easy to loose a loved one, even when you know it's their time. The day after the funeral I posted the following to my Facebook page:

Just want to share this story about my Grandpa's services these past few days: What a show of support to see a never ending line of family and friends for several hours at the visitation. I always knew how wonderful and giving my grandpa had been, but I never really knew how much he had done for his community and the many friends he had. It was very touching to hear SO many stories about him helping so many people, many of the stories involved grandpa getting a vehicle unstuck. He never hesitated to lend a helping hand to a friend or even a stranger. Now I know where my own dad learned to be so selfless.

The Bettendorf Fire Department honored Grandpa for serving as a volunteer Fireman for 51 years by providing Honor Guards to stand by his casket for the entire visitation. The guards held a pipe pole and stood very still by Grandpa, looking forward barely blinking, switching out every 15 minutes. My 7 year old cousin Cara asked her mom if they could breathe, that’s how still they were.

Grandma, who has Alzheimer's disease, seemed to already know Grandpa was gone when the family came to the Manor Care to give her the news. The day after he passed, Grandma was saddened and cried for a long period, telling the staff that a man had died, without anyone telling her about Grandpa. After 64 years of marriage, even with her memory condition, she sensed her husband was gone.

The funeral home held all the services at St. Paul Lutheran Church, where Grandma and Grandpa were members and Jeremy and I were married just a few years ago. The church was filled with photos and souvenirs of Grandpa's life, including farming and family photos and a fireman's uniform. Everything was done beautifully, especially the slide show the funeral home put together with a final photo of Grandpa as a toddler waving goodbye. THAT definitely brought a tear or two.

My dad spent every day with Grandpa over the past year as his health declined, enabling him to live out his final days at his farm that had been home his entire life. This loss has been tough for Dad, but very bittersweet. Grandpa no longer has to feel any pain or feel bad that he could not drive himself around. Dad wrote a sweet message about Grandpa that he asked my sister Lisa to share at the funeral, in which she delivered in between tears. My aunt Barb also spoke and cousins Meredith and Hans sang for Grandpa.

When it came time to deliver Grandpa to his final rest, we started the journey from Davenport to Pleasant Valley Cemetery. Two fire trucks lead the funeral convoy, and to our surprise, we passed through two more blocking both directions of traffic along River Drive. What a site to see all the firemen standing at attention alongside the trucks, to honor Grandpa. And yet another fire truck had blocked traffic in Pleasant Valley with two more men at attention in the bitter cold, as we made our turn up to the cemetery.

Pastor Ron Huber gave a lovely burial service and we each said our last goodbyes. All the 13 grandchildren received a red rose in Grandpa’s honor. Apparently Grandpa’s plot had a tree planted on it at some point years ago that was too big to tear down, but they got him squeezed in next to it. I don’t think he will mind too much.

A big thank you goes to friends who have shown the family support, those who donated to the church and 4-H in Grandpa’s memory, and those who provided all the beautiful flowers and plants. He will not be forgotten!

This this the processional approaching the fire trucks blocking traffic. Until we got close, we thought there had been an accident. (These photos were taken by my cousin Laura)

This is what we saw when we got closer.

A proud moment seeing many in uniform honor Grandpa, as we drove through downtown Bettendorf.

Blunk/Wilhoit Christmas

Lisa, Jeremy and I drove to Bettendorf Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with the my family. The trip took and hour longer than usual due to a snow storm, but we managed to get back at 8:30pm and enjoyed chili and chicken tortilla soup, Jeremy's favorite. We counted about 44 vehicles in the ditches from Des Moines to the Middle Road exit, which actually didn't seem that bad. I just hope everyone who was traveling eventually got to their destination safely.

After eating, we opened gifts. Roger was a little short on sleep and passed out in the recliner so we piled all of his presents on his lap to keep him warm. Jeremy and I had decided not give each gifts this year since we purchased a new sofa and got blinds for the whole house this fall. But, of course my wonderful husband got me something anyway - he gave me perfume at this family Christmas. So... I got him something too. He has been wanting an iPod for a while and I knew he was going to get Best Buy gift cards from other people, so I got one as well to go towards that. I also got his a couple of sweaters.

The gift I'm really excited to use is a milk frother from my parents. I get flavors steamers from Starbucks every so often, but now I can make them from home.

Christmas day we spent my aunt Jamie's where we had more soup. Jamie tried out this brat soup she got from a Rachel Ray cookbook - it was YUMMY! We brought the treats - Lisa and I spent her birthday making all kinds of stuff, including truffles that I have never made before. Anyway, I believe there were more treats then regular food there! It's alright - it's the holidays!

Each year at least one perosn gets a gag gift or picked on. This year, Uncle Jack, who is always full of mischief, picked on my mom. I guess at Thanksgiving this year (we didn't make it back, I just heard this story) Lisa and Jack took the turkey out of the oven and tried to get some juices from the pan with my mom's OLD turkey baster. The rubber part must have had a hole or crack because it didn't work. So what does Jack do? Pulls the rubber part off, put the tube part up to his mouth and used his mouth to suction the juice up and blew it onto the turkey. (I guess I'm glad I wasn't there to eat the turkey!!) So Jack saw my mom's obvious need for a new turkey baster and decided to get her four. One from each of her kids. She had fun opening all of them.

That night Bob and Michelle hosted their annual family Christmas. Again, we had soup (not complaining! I love soup!) and we had plenty of treats left to bring over. Each year we do an adult gift exchange where we all bring a gift and draw numbers to pick one. Jeremy got an ice cream maker and I got a bottle of red wine and a nice wine set.

Grandma and Grandpa both made it. Grandpa was a little tired, but I think he enjoyed seeing everyone. He has had a feeding tube in for a few months now and this was this first time I saw my dad feed him with it. It actually didn't seem like too big of a production. It's good that he's getting his nutrition that way. Grandma was more quiet this year, but we got a few smiles out of her. During the adult gift exchange I gave her a waded up ball of wrapping paper and she liked to look at it and said it had pretty colors.

When we got to my parent's, Jeremy and I were pretty tired and went straight to bed. I have been fighting off a cold this week and I think I may have gave a little bit of it to Jeremy. I am looking forward to the day that I don't have a raw nose and throat...