Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is a shot of both of our bellies after eating for 2 days straight. I'm not sure who looks more pregnant:) We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

In baby news, now that we know we're having a girl I've been thinking a little bit more about the baby's room. I was pretty sure that we're going with neutral stuff anyway but my nesting instinct is starting to kick in and I started looking this week. Anyway, I found this great set that I like at Target (pictured below) and have been thinking about for a couple days.


This is the office/den that will become the baby's room. Hmmm...this might take a little work because all the stuff in the room need to find a new home in our 2 bedroom house. We are going to keep the couch in there but I will be doing a lot of cleaning and purging of stuff over Christmas break.

Bring on the Pink!

We are having a GIRL!!!! This morning we had our sonogram appointment to check up on things with the baby and hopefully find out what we are having. Well our baby showed off her private parts well. We are thrilled that the baby is looking healthy and cute in utero and excited to start planning for a girl. The funniest part of the whole thing is she was very very active during the appointment and we even had to get a second sonographer in the room to look at her heart because she wasn't cooperating. They kept telling us we have an onery baby. Ha ha, I guess it serves us right. But it does convince me even more the movements I've been feeling in my tummy were the baby for the last couple of weeks. Here is a picture of the girl parts...

Now it's time to start thinking of a name. We'll keep you posted and once we decide what the name is we'll share it. It would mean a lot for us to have friends and family praying for our baby girl by name.

Top 5 reasons to have a girl....

1. Maybe just maybe our little girl won't be forced know all the names of every Wisconsin sports star before she turns 5.

2. Girls smell better than boys.

3. Bows, dresses, ribbons, frills, etc...

4. Girls are super cute.

5. Pigtails.

Pennyrile Exclusive Interview with Matt

A lot of recent activity on Pennyrile has been devoted to catching up with Anne and her anecdotes and pregnancy happenings. Well, many readers have asked for information on the whereabouts and events related to the life of Matt. So we now have an exclusive interview that took place recently with Matt. Here is the full transcript of the interview:

PENNYRILE: Matt, how are you doing? We haven't heard much about you in the blog world.
Matt: Oh, I am actually doing great. I've been having a great fall season, really enjoying apple cider, the leaves changing, and my wife getting fatter.
PENNYRILE: Yeah, about your wife...any thoughts about how the blog seems to revolve around her?
Matt: I'm glad you asked. There's some speculation going around the World Wide Web that I have resentment for my wife or feel some hostility towards her. That's not true. That is absolutely not true and I want these rumors to stop now. I expect more from your journalistic abilities than to allow this nonsense to be spread about.
PENNYRILE: OK, let's move on from that subject. What has been going on at your job?
Matt: Well, I've been writing some code. Then I compile the code. Then I run the code to test that it works. Then the code gets released. That's about it. Also, I have been considering bringing slippers to wear at work.
PENNYRILE: We've heard that you have recently acquired a new pair of slippers. Can you give us any details?
Matt: First of all, let me say that I love slippers. I mean, I LOVE them. I wear them all the time and I recently wore a hole in my old pair. So on a trip to Kentucky, Anne and I were at an Outlet Mall in Indiana and I saw a pair of amazing slippers at the Bass Outlet store. So I bought them and I am falling in love with my new pair.
PENNYRILE: Any comments on the sports world?
Matt: Yes, I have lots of them. First of all, the Packers absolutely destroyed the Bears last week. Make sure you write this down....the Packers KILLED the Bears. It was awesome. Also, college football is stupid because they decide their championship game by computers and human votes rather than using a playoff system. Finally, the NBA is better than college basketball. Done.
PENNYRILE: Christmas is coming up...any thing you're asking Santa Claus for?
Matt: For the record, I do not believe in Santa Claus. But I do have an Amazon wish list that contains various books, DVDs, CDs, and even a computer game. Only one more question please, I have to go back to checking on my Fantasy Football team.
PENNYRILE: Sure, of course, Matt. And again, we thank you for your time. OK, any clues you can give us on possible baby names?
Matt: Yeah, I can give you the scoop. For a boy, we're leaning towards Frodo and for a girl, we're thinking of Anne Jr.

18 Weeks

Here are some more FAQ's that I've been getting a lot of...

1. How are you feeling?

I am feeling really good these days. I still have some mornings when I throw up but after that most of the time and day I feel great. I am just getting over a cold I got on Friday so that's been a little draining but other than that I'm good.

2. Have you had any food cravings?

Matt has gone to the food court at the mall about 10 times to get me the Ham Explosion Combo from The Great Steak and Potato. I used to eat that when I went to the mall with my mom when I was younger and now I want it all the time. I probably haven't had it in years but I crave it now. I also have wanted gum a lot lately and fruit and veggies. I'm glad that I'm craving something healthy:)

3. Have you felt the baby move yet?

According to the sources I've read I should be able to feel the baby move between 16 and 20 weeks. About a week or so ago I started feeling some weird pressure in my lower stomach once or twice every day or two. It's almost like something is swimming in there. Most of me wants to think this is the baby but I also have had lots of weird feelings since I've been pregnant so it could be anything. I probably won't believe I actually feel the baby until its huge and everyone can see it moving through my clothes.

4. When do you find out what it is?

Monday is the big day to find out if we're having a boy or girl. We're really excited to find out but mostly just praying everything looks good and healthy. So, if baby decides to be modest but healthy we'll take that:)

17 Weeks

Well here I am at 17 weeks. I actually feel like this shirt makes me look a little smaller than my 15 week picture. I'm not worried though because in a couple months I'm sure I'll feel like a giant. Overall, things are going pretty well. I've been feeling a lot better and until this morning hadn't thrown up for over a week. I'm not sure what baby was trying to tell me this morning. Anyway, besides the weird burn in my throat now I feel pretty good today.

Last night was a big night for us because we switched sides of the bed. Matt has been dying to get on my side of the bed since we got married but I haven't given in. One time this summer we switched and I woke up in the middle of the night and made Matt switch back. But now that I'm suppossed to be spending as many of my sleeping hours on my left side as possible it made more sense to switch sides.

I'm looking forward to Monday the 24th because that's when we find out if we're having a boy or a girl. Yippeee. At the beginning of the pregnancy I really wanted a girl and Matt wanted a boy but at this point we actually have no feelings either way. I can think of positives for both and am just super excited to find out.

I don't think anything else is giong on in the baby arena.

Happy Veterans Day

Thanks to all the men and women who have served our country!

We had an assembly at school today honoring local veteran's and it always makes me a little teary eyed. I'm a little jealous that other schools get the day off but in reality it's better for me and the kids to have school today with a special assembly. I forget that if it weren't for the United States military I would be living a much different life.

Wilmore, KY

Our group at Asbury

We just spent a fun 3 day weekend in Kentucky @ Asbury Seminary with some friends of ours from church. Our pastor, Andy, has been involved with a semi-annual weekend seminar for the last 3 years for pastors. They have focused on building up churches and people through some form of intentional discipleship. Because of these weekends Andy came up with the idea to focus on themes in our small groups at Quest. Anyway, when the seminar ended they received some extra grant money and were able to continue it. Instead of inviting all the pastors to continue only some of the pastors went back with some non staff from their churches (there were about 35 people total). Hence the reason we got to go this weekend. It seems like the three weekends that we are invited to attend are more focused on how to be a missional church. I enjoyed what the speakers had to say but was actually more challenged personally by some scripture that was mentioned throughout the weekend.

Besides spending time in meetings and sessions were were able to relax, enjoy the beautiful weather and visit Shakertown. Shakertown was a very pretty place and also pretty intriguing. The Shakers were an interesting denomination. The most interesting thing is they didn't ever associate with members of the opposite sex. They didn't believe in marriage or pro-creation. The only way they got new members was by adoption or adults joining their communities.

Cheesy pose at Shakertown. Maybe our next Christmas card picture?

Matt giving John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, a hug.

Webshots

I finally got around to updating our Webshots page with all the pictures we've taken since August. If you're not on Facebook (which you should be) you can check out our pictures there. Or if you want to see ALL the pictures we've taken since I only put the best on Facebook you can look at them.

Felicity

Last night I finished watching the TV series Felicity. I pretty much have had a love/hate relationship with the TV show for the last 3 months of my life. For the uninformed, Felicity was 4 seasons long and chronicled the life of Felicity and friends as they learned what it meant to be adults and attended college in New York City. My favorite part is that Felicity was in college the exact same 4 years I was (Fall 98-Spring 02). I loved seeing the clothes they wore and remembering all of my similar clothes. Felicity is ridiculous and addicting all in one big swoop. I probably swore it off 5-10 times because it got too dramatic for my taste. But, I can never ever turn down a free TV DVD series on loan from a friend. It's such a great time sucker.

Derek Jeter Wins....At Being The Worst

Stats experts have concluded that Derek Jeter is the worst defensive player in baseball. I don't like Derek Jeter, so this made me happy.

My theory is that in about 20 years, Derek Jeter will go down as the most overrated baseball player of all time.