21 weeks & Jason's 33rd birthday!!!

The weeks keep passing by ... here is my 21 week picture. We took this around 7am before leaving for our flight to Raleigh, NC, so I am not 100% awake :-)

We arrived safely at RDU airport around noon today - after we grabbed our luggage and picked up the rental car, we met Jacob and April at Firehouse Subs for a quick lunch. After lunch we made the drive to Danville.

Jason's 33rd birthday was today, and I organized a surprise dinner for him at Lone Star Steakhouse. Jason thought that just my mom, Dad, he and I were going to dinner, but when we arrived he was greeted by about 20 other people! I've never been able to surprise Jason for his birthday before, and was so happy that he was able to celebrate with family and friends. Here's a pic of the "birthday boy"... he's looking pretty good for 33 yrs old, huh? :-) Happy birthday, JASON!!!!

We are looking forward to a fun and busy week of visiting friends & family, as well as having two baby showers this weekend. We're also hoping to do some relaxing, especially Jason, who has been working very long hours lately. But most of all we are thankful to be home!

A surprise gift & a "Marine Dad"

On Wednesday, a surprise present arrived at our door. I could tell from the box that it was the Pack-n-Play that was on our registry, but I wasn't sure who it was from. I wanted to wait until Jason got home to open the box. When we moved the box inside from the porch, I noticed that the "SOLD TO" field said Gayle Daniel, so I assumed it was from my Mom & Dad. We called my parents to say thank you - but my Mom informed us that the gift was not from her, she simply ordered it for someone???? I also think my Mom secretly got a kick out of this because I can be very hard to surprise (I am a self-proclaimed "snooper") :-) We were quite confused, but since we called to thank them while we were in route to Cracker Barrel for dinner, we had to wait until we got home to find out who the true gift giver was.....

Once we returned home, we tore into the box & discovered that the gift was from my aunt Cindy, uncle Wayne, cousin Kristin & Popey!!! Here are a couple of pictures of the Pack-n-Play ...on the top there is a changing area and a "newborn napper" which will be great for Easton to sleep in when he first comes home from the hospital. Thanks Cindy & family - we love it!

Jason had to wear his dress blues for work today, which is a rare occasion..... I decided that he should pose for a picture in front of the crib. So here's a pic of Easton's "Marine Dad." For some reason he won't smile when he's in his dress uniform - I think it's an unwritten rule or something. :-) But regardless, doesn't he look sharp????

20 week update

We're at the halfway point - 20 weeks down, 20 more weeks to go! Of course it's time for my weekly picture. Jason didn't get home from work until almost 10pm, so I am looking a bit tired and my hair is tore up from laying on the couch & watching TV. But we're not taking these for my hair right? It's for the belly, so here you go:


I visited my OBGYN for my monthly appointment today. Everything looked good - Easton was moving around as usual, and his heartbeat was strong at 150 beats/minute. My doctor measured my stomach and said my measurement was 21, which was right on track. I've also finally put on a few pounds, but I am still not quite back to my pre-pregnancy weight. At least we're moving in the right direction, and my doctor seemed pleased with our progress.

Jason had a few days off this past weekend, and on Saturday we did a little shopping. Several friends & family members have recommended that we check consignment stores for clothing and other baby items. I've never been much of a "thrift shopper" myself, but I figured it was worth a try, especially for items like clothing that are grown out of so fast. There is not much to choose from in the Port Huron area, but a web search turned up all types of shops closer to bigger cities, like Troy & Detroit.

I of course made a spreadsheet of the locations/addresses and we hit the road on Saturday. The shops had the cutest names, like "Cutie Patootie" & "Funky Frog". I must admit, I was SHOCKED at the quality and selection. We purchased 2 nice, warm snowsuits, 2 pairs of khaki pants, 1 pair of jeans, a Hawaiian shirt, a plaid long-sleeved button down shirt, a sweater with the cutest patches on the elbows, a pair of Mickey pj's and two long-sleeved onesies. All of the items were really nice brands, like Baby Gap & Children's Place.

And guess how much we spent?????? Only $50! I felt like we robbed the stores! Just one snow suit would have cost what we spent on all the items below:


We've made some more progress on the nursery - as mentioned in a previous post, our nursery bedding arrived. Over the weekend we decided to wash it and get it ready for the crib. It came out of the wash a bit wrinkled, so Jason IRONED the sheet, comforter, crib skirt and bumper! He's an excellent ironer (I guess he picked up that skill in the Marines). :-) Jason also surprised me by putting all of the bedding on the crib! He claimed he was using the bathroom (I thought he was gone a LONG time, but didn't want to question him) but then he said "look in the baby's room" and I saw the crib, all decked out and ready for Easton!

In other nursery news, I stopped by a sporting goods store today. I wanted to find a baseball jersey that we can personalize with Easton's name to hang on the wall. Not only did I find a nice navy jersey, but I also got a pair of white baseball pants with navy pinstripes, a navy batter's helmet and the best part, a set of all 5 bases!!! Everything was a "steal" and on clearance since baseball season is ending (get it, steal???) :-) I plan to hang the bases on the wall in the shape of a baseball diamond ... the pants and jersey will most likely be placed in a shadow box. And I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the batter's helmet yet - maybe turn it over & fill it with diapers???

Other than that (which is a lot now that I type it!) we're anxiously awaiting our trip home next week. We have two baby showers scheduled, and of course want to visit with all of our friends & family members. Can't wait to see everyone!!!

19 weeks pregnant & Easton's nursery bedding

Below is my picture for week 19. My stomach is really getting "out there".... it's hard to believe we're almost halfway there!

In other exciting news, our nursery bedding set arrived yesterday! I had been searching for a baseball bedding set, even prior to knowing that we were having a boy (I just wanted to be prepared) :-) Surprisingly, finding JUST baseball bedding & accessories is rather difficult. There are all types of mixed sports sets with soccer, football, basketball & baseball, but we only wanted to go with a baseball theme for Easton (after all, his name is found on baseball bats!).

I found a perfect set online, only to find out that it had been discontinued. Luckily, I don't like to take "NO" for an answer, so I continued to search sites like Craigslist & EBay. I stumbled across the EXACT bedding set that we wanted on EBay that was new and still in the original box. I made my bid & won it for 60% off of the retail value!!! So not only did we get the bedding that we wanted, but we also got it super cheap. Can't beat that, huh? :-)

The set included a comforter, bumper, sheet, 2 window valances, a pillow, hanging diaper bag and caddy for the changing area. All of the pieces range in light blue to a deep blue (almost purple color) and have the "Baby League" theme, which include baseball bats, hats, jerseys & ball gloves. Here's a picture of the comforter:

Another interesting bit of information: at the top right corner there is the #7, which was Jason's baseball number when he was growing up. Bottom left you'll see a #4, which has always been my lucky number. And on the shirt (bottom, middle) there's the number 3, which represents the number of people soon to be in our little family! Pretty cute, don't you think? :-)

Our final Tigers game (maybe?) and interesting grocery shopping experience:-)

Jason and I attended the Tigers vs. Rays baseball game today at Comerica Park. It was a bit chilly, the high was only 64 degrees. Luckily the sun was out, so it wasn't too cold or uncomfortable - but I still can't get used to such cold temperatures in AUGUST! Which reminds me, snow will be here before we know it .... ugh, that's a whole different topic.

Anyway, the game was quite slow-moving until the 7th inning - then the Tigers came back with a 3-run home run & won the game 4-3. This was the last pair of the season tickets that Jason and I had purchased, so it's technically our last game of the season. UNLESS - the Tigers make it into the playoffs, which is very possible. Then we might have to shop around for more tickets :-) We just love baseball, can't you tell?

A funny (but unrelated to baseball) story ... I honestly think Easton took over the grocery shopping last week ... I usually stick to my list and only buy what is needed, and have been very picky about buying healthy foods. I've even switched to organic milk and eggs since finding out I was pregnant. BUT, when I got home from the grocery store last week I had all of these "kiddie foods" in the bags. I had two boxes of those Flavor-Ice Popsicles that come in the plastic tube, KoolAid Koolers (kind of like CapriSuns & only enough drink for maybe 3 sips!), Soft Batch chocolate chip cookies, several packs of small fruit/gelatin cups (like you'd put in a child's lunchbox) and mini-powdered donuts! All items I haven't eaten since I was in elementary school! And to make matters worse, I didn't have anything you could consider a meal, just a bunch of random canned goods, cheese & the fore mentioned bread & eggs. My only explanation is Easton overtook my mind while I was grocery shopping and got all the items that HE really wanted. Too funny!

Awaiting Baby Jones Scrapbook

I began working on a scrapbook almost immediately after finding out I was pregnant. I wanted to document the events and happenings while awaiting the arrival of "Baby Jones". It is still a work in progress, but I wanted to share what I have completed thus far - it has been A LOT of hard work (and quite expensive, who knew scrapbooking supplies cost so much!?!?) but I am very happy with the progress I've made. Here is the scrapbook so far, beginning with the cover:

The Story Behind The Name

Several people have complimented us on our name selection (thanks!) and asked if it was a family name or how we arrived at our choice. I thought I would post "The Story Behind The Name" ... I think it's a great story, hope you enjoy!

We wanted a name that was unique, but not too hard to spell or pronounce. Easton is a name that I have loved forever - growing up with 2 brothers I saw them at baseball practices/games constantly, and I recall seeing the brand "Easton" on one of their baseball bats. It was a black and silver bat, and the name "EASTON" was written across the end quite clearly - that image is still vivid to me, and looks a lot like this:

When I was a young girl, I decided that I liked the name and would one day name my son Easton. Thankfully, Jason loved the name when I mentioned it to him, so we decided months ago that we would use it if we had a boy. We are hoping that we have a future Major Leaguer growing in my belly, but even if he doesn't like baseball he's still got a strong, unique name. However; anyone that knows my family or Jason should know that baseball is something we all love, so odds are the baseball passion continues to the next generation. I foresee a lot of baseball practices and dirty uniforms in our future :-)

We chose Archer after one of our Tunstall High School teachers. Jason and I met in Mr. Archer's class when I was in the 10th grade and he was in the 11th. We were just friends at the time. Mr. Archer was one of our favorite teachers and he taught drafting and architectural drawing classes. I must admit, Architectural Drawing was not my strong suit, but Jason was actually pretty good at it.

Funny story: for our final exam we were asked to draw a RANCH style house and I proceeded to draw an elaborate two story house with a twisting staircase, I just loved those winding stairways and had to include it in my final. For those that didn't catch the issue, a ranch home is supposed to be one story, not two stories :-) Mr. Archer knew that I tried so hard, but just didn't quite have the talent (and obviously had problems following directions!). I believe I ended up with a B in the course, which I definitely didn't deserve, but he rewarded my determination and creativity. Mr. Archer's support and faith in his students has followed us to this day, and we will never forget him. We can't wait to tell him that we are using his namesake for our son's middle name - he will be thrilled!

We will call our son by his first name, Easton, and we hope he likes his name as much as we do. We are looking forward to one day telling him the story of how we chose his name!