36 Weeks

Jackson's arrival is fast approaching and we are as ready as we can be. We have been very blessed with great friends and family have baby showers, and a TON of hand me downs, which has been so helpful.

A Big Thank you to all my soccer girls and parents who had a surprise baby shower for me, put on by Renee Fister!

Christy Sinclair, Emily's best friend since 5th grade, put on an amazing shower with Linda (Em's Mom) help at their house.

Amy Greig, Lauren Grubb and Cassie Musick had a shower in Kansas City at a beautiful loft downtown.

Miss Aimme's staff had a great shower with some wonderful gifts.

And Emily's school banded together for a shower last week and we scored a big jackpot with all the gift cards.

Also, a Thank You to Matt & Kirsten Graham on attending the weekly baby class with us, we learned a lot in the class and it was great to have good friends there.

Jackson's room is all put together, a diaper station on each floor is set up, strollers, high chairs, etc is all ready to rock. We are down to one month, and I have a feeling it will go very fast.

Jackson is ready to meet all his new family and friends!

Emily is feeling as good as to be expected being 36 weeks pregnant with severe gall stones. Her heals hurt at the end of each day, but other than that, she is good. Still goes to the gym 4 or 5 days a week. It really makes me feel lazy when my 36 week pregnant wife goes to the gym more than me. ha ha.

Again, thanks for everything! I will have a new picture next week. Keep on keeping on.

Why Floyd you ask.

An update for those who did not know, Myself, Justin and Mom purchased a new business: Floyd Glass. We are adding replacement Windows to the company and the new name is Floyd Glass & Window. So, the big question that everyone always ask, is why did you buy Floyd Glass and what do you know about Glass.

Currently we do not know much about glass. BUT, we have two employees that have been with Floyd for 10 years and will continue to work with us. The past owner bought the business not knowing anything about glass either. He did not work on glass, just ordered and set appointments. That is one of the things that attracted us to Floyd, we could jump right in and not feel over whelmed that we have to learn a whole new industry in a week.

As for windows, we hired Andy Saitz, who was the Sales Manager at a large and very respected window and door company, so he knows his stuff! We realize that it is who you surround yourself with that can make a company successful, and we have a great team.

This whole process started about a year ago. We had always talked about buying a business, but had to find the right fit. We all have owned business, so we felt confortable in that front. Mom knows numbers, Justin knows operations, and I know Sales & Marketing. With that base, we just had to find something that we all liked. We tossed around many many ideas and finally settled on Floyd.

It was particularly attractive to Mom since it is a service business, much like Culligan Water, which she sold 2 years ago. I liked it because it is a business that we can grow. It has an amazing name in St. Charles and has been in business for 30 years. Some of our customers for fleet vehicles include: City of St. Charles, City of St. Peters, MoDot, Fedex and Laclede Gas. The previous owner only spend $900 a month on yellow pages and that is all. Never networked, or left the office. There are so many different ways that we can grow the business, behind just replacement windows.

It has been a long and bumpy road to close on the business, almost not getting it, to getting it, then almost losing it. Friday after we signed all the paperwork, a ton of weight was lifted off all of our shoulders.

That is the business update: Emily is still trucking along, gall stones are still there, but holding on. we are 6 weeks away from our due date. Today we starting putting everything together, opening packages, etc. to get ready for Jackson's arrival. It is becoming more and more real every day. Baby monitors are set out, diapers packages are opened, the pack and play is set up, swings are out. 6 weeks is going to fly by.

keep on keeping on!

The Nursery.

I know the anticipation has been killing you all! :-). But our baby furniture finally arrived today and I can post pictures. As you can tell we went with the soccer theme.

All the stars are hand made stencils that match the stars on the bedding. Our neighbor does amazing work!

The book shelf was made by Pops, it is overly large and not the prettiest, but very useful. Kind of like Arnie (may he rest in peace)

Week 28 Update

We had our first ultrasound in 8 weeks, so Jackson has changed a lot. He know weights 2.9 lbs, and it is amazing to see the 4D ultrasound, and making out his eyes, ears and such. He is right on track for a 100% healthy baby. We are now in the 3rd Tri-mester and will be going to the doctor every 2 weeks.

The negative is that Emily has very large gallstones. They are basically stones, in her gallbladder. In a non-pregnant women they would just remove the gallbladder, but with Jackson on board they want avoid surgery at all cost. The good news is that there is no danger to Jackson, or to Emily, just pain: much like the cyst. The plan is to see if Emily can ride out the pain without it getting worse until Jackson is born, then a week or so after that she will be back at the hospital to remove her gallbladder. If it gets worse before April 27th, she will have to have surgery.

Here is an image of Jackson smiling from today.

As always, we will keep you posted. Keep on keeping on!

27 Weeks

We are now officially 90 days away from our due date, and one week away from the 3rd tri-mester. I am not sure why the 90 days was a landmark in my mind, really the 3rd tri-mester is a bigger landmark, but 90 days stuck out to me. Maybe just because it is easier to do the math.

Everything is becoming very much more real to me now. We are feeling Jackson move every day now, which is surreal. He can see light through Emily's stomach. The other day I took a flash light while he was sleeping and shined it right into her stomach, and he moved toward the light, and then I switched sides and he moved that way. I then moved it up and he quit moving, so I yelled at him and grounded him for a week as soon as he is born.

One of our baby updaters said that he is now sucking his thumb and is able to cry now and he will immediately recognize our voices when he is born. Guess I need to stop swearing now.

Emily is feeling 100% better. After she battled the flu, she quit puking, and is back at the gym 5 days a week now. For some reason her stomach keeps growing. :-) She is at the stage that sleeping is getting harder because she is uncomfortable. She always took up 3/4 the bed, and now she claims that Jackson needs more room. I have a feeling it is just a matter of time before I am sleeping in the guest bedroom.

Her side has been hurting and she went to the doctor yesterday and he thinks it might be her gallbladder or just muscle cramps. She will get an ultra-sound next Thursday and we will know more then. Either way there is no danger for her or Jackson, just a pain in her side.

The nursery is painted, but the furniture has yet to arrive, so I will post pictures as soon as it is all put together...I will tell you though: IT ROCKS!

April 27th, 2011 is a date that started so far away, and now is 90 days away....

Keep on keeping on!

23 weeks

We finally have a little baby bump! We are both very happy for Emily to be showing. The first 2o weeks or so, she was just sick and it never showed. Now, there is a visible reason that she throws up all the time.

Actually, pregnancy wise, she is beginning to feel much better. She battled a nasty cough for a about 2 weeks that turned into the flu, but, as always, she fought through it and is feeling much better now.

It is tough on me (granted not as tough as being pregnant: ha) seeing my wife be so sick and there is nothing that I can do to make it better. I have this instinct that when something is wrong, just fix it, but this time, I had to just let it ride.

We went to the doctor again today and everything is looking and sounding wonderful! So, we couldn't be happier. We will go back in one month for another ultra-sound, and then start going every 2 weeks.

The thought of, We are going to be parents, is becoming more and more real every day. Currently I am feeling very excited, but it is a long term excitement. Taking Jackson to Chiefs games, playing soccer with him, etc. So, I am struggling to get my mind wrapped around the first few years, and that is a little scary. Infants scare me. They are very cute, and no doubt Jackson will be the cutest, but they still scare me. So that will take time to adjust that I am not going to hurt, or kill my Son every time I pick him up.

I will have to admit that it is getting very old of having everyone tell us how different our lives are going to be, how much we have to slow down, lack of sleep, blah blah blah. In an attempt to not sound like a know-it-all, because I am not. But, we are pretty well prepared for all that. This was a planned baby, and many conversations went into this process before we decided we were ready. So, we do appreciate all the love and support, but we are full aware of how our lives are going to change. I feel so very blessed to have a Wife who knows kids, with a Masters is Early Childhood Development, it makes me sleep a lot easier that Jackson will have an amazing Mother.

We are a fast pace family with lots of things to do, and Jackson will be a fast passed kid and will be moving and shaking with us (I can almost sense the dirty looks and rolled eyes right now: ha)

The nursery is in motion. The first coat of paint is put down and our speciality painter will be coming in this week, or early next week to put the soccer finishing touches on it.

Our bedding, curtsey of Uncle Andy and Aunt Elise is an all sports theme. We looked for months and can not find a soccer themed baby bedding set. So, we will have this basic design and our artist will be painting soccer stuff on the wall. And then any baby soccer stuff that the make, we will probably own.

Aunt Meg has decided to make us a custom mobile, which is AWESOME. We have not been able to find a soccer mobile that matches the bedding. So, she will be taking a curtain and matching that. It is all the little things that excite me now. I saw a soccer pacifier and I almost cried. ha ha

Alright, that is the update for now. Thanks for all the love and support. Keep on Keeping on!!mrrrrr

IT's A BOY!

It is official. we are having a boy!

Here is the proof. The arrow is pointing to his boy parts.

And, on another note: Emily's cyst is 100% gone! Very happy about that, and Emily is happy that she will be able to run again. It has been tough on her going from training to a half marathon to walking slowly on a treadmill.

So, the nursery theme needs to be locked down, which we are pretty sure we are going with a sports theme with an emphasis on soccer, we just need to pick out the set we like. Lots to do. As always, we will keep you updated on our progress.

thanks for voting and keep on keeping on!