applejacks first pictures

applejack is what we choose to call the little nugget right now.

Its a long story. but a funny one. and it fits. (thanks Z&V)

Last Monday we had our 2nd appointment with the doctor and got to see more pictures of little applejack. I personally think its giving us knuckles or dancing. Just my mothers intuition kicking in I guess.

Either way the baby was definitely putting on a show for us.

If you want to see more pictures you can click here. We had one done at 8 weeks and again at 12 weeks.

We go back in October and at that point we will schedule our appointment to find out the sex of the baby. (because YES we are finding out the sex. Yes, we will definitely be sharing the news. and I plan on also sharing whatever name we decide as well. Sorry I forgot to mention that in my last post :) It should be the last week of October or first week of November when we find out! And I cannot wait!

Happy Monday

the juicy details

As soon as I told Freeland that I was going to post all the baby details everyone was asking about.. his response was: "I'm pretty sure they all know how this happened. what other details are there?"

So not to worry.. those aren't the details I'm sharing.. obvs. But I am happy to answer all your other questions.

So here they are: the (not so juicy) details

How far along are you? I'm currently 13 weeks & 3 days. So some would say Im in my 13th week.. while others would say that means Im in my 14th week. Who knows? Depends on what book you read or which doctor you ask.

When did you find out? We found out at the end of July (I will post more on that later) We had a blast telling our families. (more on that later)

And to clarify .. It was a huge surprise

And everyone was just as surprised as we were.

Camille's response cracked me up the most. Lets just say she scared Henry she yelled so loud.

Have I been sick? Yes, I have been sick. sick. sick. BUT its getting MUCH better.. so no complaints.

Yes, I feel like I have had every symptom known to man kind. Serious-ly.

My due date as of now is March 31st. But Freeland is pulling for April 1st.

For the first time in my life I go to bed before Freeland now.

I will keep working.

I do crave lots of things. But I feel like that's normal for me. Its just the first time I actually eat whatever I'm craving. (strawberry pop tarts, strawberry waffles, hot dogs (gross I know) ice cream, chocolate milk, Tim Horton's bagel sandwich, and Chinese food... just to name a few)

My hormones are out of control. But that just started about 2 weeks ago. Poor Freeland has seen the worst of it too. Lots of unnecessary tears from the most insane things. Half the time I'm not even sure why I'm crying myself. Its humorous afterwards though.

As much as I've NOT enjoyed being sick, exhausted, tired, emotional, and ummm gassy.. There are other things that I have enjoyed. Like my skin is better than it usually is. (which seriously isn't saying a lot) My toes no longer look like I have raynauds. (yay!) And of course I enjoy Freeland constantly touching my stomach.

Oh and yes, there is a little bump. It just looks like I had too many pop tarts though.

I think thats all of them. If I missed any let me know! Im happy to answer whatever. And I will post pictures from us telling everyone asap! :)

2 years plus 1 day

.Warmth., originally uploaded by Beeeeezzz.

Last night we celebrated our anniversary. And I'm almost too embarrassed to say how we celebrated. Mostly because of reasons I cant explain. More of an inside joke really. But its true.

We originally planned everything I said.. staying at home. enjoying a night in. remembering. celebrating. planning.

and then we realized. ummm hello? this may be the last anniversary for a while that we can actually go out and not worry about anything

so we went against everything we normally believe for celebrating our anniversary and went out. and then I went against everything else and did the most obvious thing ever. I felt like we were in 9th grade or something.

just dinner and a movie.

Not just any movie. But a movie that started at 4:30 in the afternoon.

and

Not just any dinner. But dinner at The Olive Garden.

Real original right?

I blame it on the hormones. I was craving it so bad. Then got there and couldn't even eat what I ordered.

But I can just see my family laughing now. (no offense to those who love olive garden. its an inside joke. I promise. I like it too)

It was nice to get out though. We realize we should enjoy every night out that we can while we can. And it was nice to reminisce over food someone else made & not have to clean the kitchen.. Or see the rest of our house that is a mess right now.

Afterwards we came home and finished off the night with a nice long walk with the pups. And I had my vanilla ice cream with gummy bears.

It ended up being the perfect evening.

PS: we saw cloudy with a chance of meatballs in 3D .. very exciting. I've never seen a 3D movie. Worth it. The glasses are amazing too.

2 years later ..

picture by Nam Nguyen

Here we are.. Celebrating 2 years of marriage.

Obviously this year looks a little different than last year when he surprised me with a trip to New York

But I wouldn't change a thing.

Im looking forward to our traditional low key celebration. We will probably just fix food at home or order out. Then take a walk, dance to the song we first danced to as husband & wife at the wedding, look through our slide show, pray through the upcoming year, set goals, encourage each other, and be all uber-romantic.

Then this weekend we will continue the celebrations.

The only thing missing - some wedding cake to eat! Maybe I will make some cupcakes!

Oh and of course there's the traditional gifts. Its cotton this year. So we're buying baby bedding instead of getting gifts for each other.

Speaking of THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your incredibly sweet comments. We loved reading through them (and I loved finding new blogs & readers). We definitely feel very loved so thank you so much! I promise to answer any & all of your questions asap.

Now off to celebrate!

breaking news ...

Brooke & Freeland

sittin' in a tree

l-a-u-g-h-i-n-g!

First comes love

then comes marriage


THEN COMES A BABY IN A BABY CARRIAGE!!

packing

Oh what a week. Im thankful today is Friday. SO THANKFUL.

Im packing up soon and heading out to Texas for my best friends wedding. I cant believe its already here. I'll be gone for the week trying to help in any & every way that I can since Ive been so far away the rest of her engagement. Then Freeland will be joining me next weekend.

Im so thankful he gets to come. Even if its basically only for 1 day. It wouldn't be the same without him there. I know my family will be glad to see him too.

And while Im gone Landon is coming to visit Freeland (which Im so sad I wont be here to see him too!) But Im glad Freeland & Landon will have lots of time together.

So now I just have to get up and actually make myself pack.. which means I actually have to unpack from the last time I was there. (yes the suitcase is still sitting next to our bed and hasn't been touched since I got home a month ago!)

PS. A few of you requested to see the toilet Drew made for us camping.. here it is! (he's not actually using it.)

our labor day camping trip

Labor Day weekend was such a nice break! Not only did Freeland have off on Monday but his class also had their test moved to Friday (so they didnt have to study for it all weekend!) It was such a treat to be able to have a break with him where he didn't have to study the entire time!

So in honor of the 3 day break we took full advantage of the nice weather and went camping down in Allegheny Park. (with Sarah & Drew.. and Josh & Tonya everyone else was out of town or had family in town) Yes, this is the same place that we went last year and nearly died. (okay that's an overstatement .. but it was miserable)

Thankfully this time was a 1000 times better.

Here are some pictures from our weekend. The first spot we went to was packed with lots of families so the guys left and found us another spot where we were by ourselves. We planned on staying just one night but decided to stay 2 instead.. we were having too much fun to go home.

putting up our tents


getting everything ready


some couples brought comfortable things to sleep on :)




our humble abode for the night


the boys working hard to cut firewood and build us a fire

I should note that Drew is the ultimate resourceful camper. He is like a Macgyver out there. Seriously - he even build us a toilet to use so we didn't have to squat. How wonderful is that!


Drew starting a fire (with a button, toothpick, and rubber band. just kidding)



Then all the boys went fly fishing (on ministers creek I believe)





and Freeland caught his first trout of the season!

Then they came back and it was time for din din! We roasted hot dogs, snacked, and of course made smores!





Then we sat around the fire and played games



It was the perfect night! Freezing cold! I loved it.

I loved it so much when we woke up in the morning I suggested we stay another night. After some major convincing (and a secret ballot vote) we all decided to stay. (well not all of us but thats another story for another time!)



after a quick drive into town to get breakfast and more food for that night we all came back. The boys fished more & we all hung out.

Then when they got back they got the brilliant idea to cut down a dead tree instead of just going to find firewood. (boys) the problem was that they had to climb all the way up other trees and jimmy rig a way to push the dead tree down. It lasted over an hour


i dont know if thats drew or Freeland


drew up in the trees


both of them after successfully knocking it down


the girls made the fire that night .. the boys were impressed!






freeland made everyone his favorite camping food. (Shells & Cheese with Tuna)
*note we found that table out there.. we didnt bring it with us

Then we stuffed ourselves silly again with food, played games, and stayed up as late as we could make it.

I had such a blast camping! It was fun to just hang out with friends without any distractions!! Now Im looking forward to going again once the leaves start changing even more!

picnics on the beach

So seeing as its now pretty much fall - its only appropriate that I begin to tell you about what we did with the rest of our summer.

First off, in June, we had a bittersweet picnic out at the peninsula with all our girls group (and the hubby's). It was bittersweet because I loved getting to hang out with everyone.. and the weather was PERFECT! But I did NOT love having to say goodbye to a few girls who were moving because of rotations/residency. There were tears.

I love our girls group. LOVE IT.

I love that there are girls going through the same thing as me and can relate to the ups & downs of this time in our life. I also love that all our husbands get along are friends too.

I honestly cant imagine life without them. (cheesy - yes. but its true) I think this transition would have been much harder with out all of them.

So here are some pictures from our get together. I loved looking back at them. (although it made me really miss a few of the girls) It was hard to just pick a few. But here they are. They pretty much speak for themselves.






isnt she the cutest thing you have ever seen?


all the boys hanging out


the other 2 boys hanging out


Back (left to right) - Becky, Camille, Elizabeth, Bethany, Me, & Sarah
Front (left to right) - Lauren, Sarah, Aubrey, & Christie











A few of us stayed around after and hung out. Of course the boys made up games to keep themselves busy:







then we decided to sit and watch the sunset



which btw - this is the first time I have ever seen the sun disappear like that before. I loved it



Thankfully, I did get to go to Cleveland this weekend for a baby shower in honor of Lacey & Elizabeth.. which also allowed us to see Lauren too! It was great getting to see them & celebrate all together again.

Now Sarah & Addy just need to come visit so we can do it all again!

paper heart (take 2)

"Whats a perfect date?
Take somebody to Applebee's and get them hot wings"

Love it.

Just like 500 Days of Summer & Away We Go this isnt playing in Erie and Im having to wait to see it.

PS: Im posting this from starbucks right now as Freeland studies and I sip on my PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE!!! Heaven on earth!