"Sweet springtime..."

The past few weeks have been amazing! Spring is finally in the air, which means flip-flops and sundresses have arrived! I am pretty happy we are expecting in the summer so I can enjoy all the advantages of wearing the long and short flowing dressing that are in season. I have only needed to purchase one article of maternity clothing, jeans! Everything else I just get in a size up.

Baby Boo has been super active and growing these past few weeks. He or She has past the one pound mark and is healthy and strong with a heart beat around 154. We are 24 weeks today and only have 16 weeks left; I can’t believe how fast it has gone by. We have been keeping very active with our yoga classes and lots of walking.

Some of my sweet Jacksonville friends made the drive down to visit us last weekend, Kellie and Lisa came down for a fun girls weekend. The weather was perfect on Saturday when they arrived so after lunch we headed to the pool for the first time this spring. Then went out for a late dinner on the causeway, Lisa and I sipped our virgin cocktails and I was a little envious of Kellie’s spicy tune roll. The visit was great and much appreciated as I was getting a little home sick.



"Sweet springtime is my time is your time is our time for springtime is love time and viva sweet love. " -- e.e. cummings

Love and Hugs, Justin and Mandy

Roller Stroller

A few weeks ago Justin and I ventured out on a lovely Saturday to the land of babies "R" us to start registering. I was so excited to start registering for this little one, after all how hard could it be… I mean when we were getting married that was one of my favorite parts of planning the wedding. So we get to babies’ r us and we are ready, ha, well we thought we were ready.

First off registering for someone you don’t know is hard, we are picking stuff out for somebody we know nothing about. And second, Justin and I realized we had no clue what we were doing. We stood in front of the feeding section of bottles, pumps, cleaning supplies, pacifiers and so much more for 10 minutes and then we both looked at each other and said lets come back to this section. Then we wandered over to the stroller section, we had this section down (we thought), we did our research, we knew what colors we wanted. So we found the stroller/car seat we both loved. We strolled around with it, played with it, looked at all the compartments and pockets, then we closed it up to see how heavy it was. Well when we tried to open it back up, we couldn’t figure it out. We are smart people, surely we can work a stroller…come on! Well that task took us 30 minutes, a lot of laughter and help from a sales person to finally figure it out. And once she helped us it was a breeze! So we continued for about another 30 minutes of registering and then called it a day, as you can imagine it was a little overwhelming for me.

Photo Caption: Justin putting together our stroller

Since I was not successful on the first round of registering, my mom came with me this week and helped me continue. And she so graciously bought us our travel stroller, so we can practice and also get the dogs accustomed to the change that is about to occur. After Justin put the stroller together, Lily was not very happy with this stranger object in her house; Max sniffed it then moved on. So we stroll around the house with it every day to get the dogs ready. Next week we will take the stroller and the dogs for a walk to see how they do. That should be interesting. Photo Caption: Lily checking out the car seat

Lots of love,
Mandy and Justin

Tap-Tap-Tap

This has been a very busy week for the little one! He or She has been very active inside. Justin was able to feel the baby kick for the first time this week, which was very exciting for both of us, I loved seeing his expression when he first felt the little kick. Now it has turned into play time with the baby every morning and in the evening. Photo Caption: Justin and I at our sonogram

We also had our second sonogram on Wednesday, this was the first time Justin saw our baby. The experience was amazing! I am still surprised that I haven't been very emotional when I see the little one on the screen, I just think it is so cool and I feel like I am watching someone on TV and this really isn't me experiencing this. Anyways, our tech Rhonda was wonderful, we spent almost an hour with her and baby boo, and got tons of pictures. Rhonda even did a 3D session for us, which was a wonderful surprise. I do have to say the 3D is a little weird, because they look a little funny.

Photo Caption: This is the 3D shot, it was one of the last pictures of the day, so I think the baby was tired of the photo shoot.

We are happy to report, we did not cave and find out the sex, and I am so happy about that! I honestly thought we might but when we got in there we both really did not have a desire to know. But that did not stop Justin from looking very carefully to see if he saw anything. They baby is very healthy and has a strong heart beat. All ten fingers and toes are accounted for, and apparently the little one has Justin's toes...the second toe is longer then the rest of them, which Justin has. Photo Caption: It looks like the baby is blowing bubbles which is appropriate since I love to blow bubbles, however it is part of the umbilical cord.

We are very excited about our new adventure and enjoying this new journey we are taking, and we are glad you all are taking it with us.

Love and hugs,

Mandy and Justin

"Momaste"

"Momaste" was the name of the prenatal yoga workshop I went to in January with my bump buddy Lisa. We learned so much that day, it really opened my eyes to the fact I had no clue what I was doing and I had some homework to do before the big day.

I knew when I moved down to my new city I wanted to find a prenatal yoga class Baby Boo and I could join. We went to our first class yesterday and had a wonderful time. It was nice to meet other expecting mom's, and it was great to hear all the positive energy about their different birth plans they had in store for their little one.

We are 20 weeks this week and growing strong. According to the baby books, the little one is the size of a small cantaloupe. And for all you baby bump fans and the loving friends who keep asking me to post pictures of the bump here is our 19 week picture for your viewing pleasure.

We miss you all!

Love and Hugs,

Mandy and Justin