Christmas in Chicago....

Our "Midwest Tour 2010" kicked off in Chicago this year.  We were able to be with my family before Christmas until Christmas Day and because of the baby shower my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin and Grandma were also in town a little longer this year so it seemed like we all got to spend a little extra time together which was VERY nice!!

We got to see some friends as well but most of the time we just hung out with family which is always the best part about Christmas especially being so far from family the rest of the year! 

Here are some pics from Christmas Eve, we used to always open all our presents on Christmas Day but I think when Tyler was little at some point and he just could not stand to wait we changed that tradition and started opening all our gifts Christmas Eve!

Getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner wanted to put up a picture of Libby in the kitchen where she spend most of her time, my parents said they needed to practice spoiling for their future grandson...haha! They really  just loved having a dog around since theirs passed away a few months ago and have already requested her to come back and visit....wish that was easier to do because she would love it as much as we would ;)

Here is my dad with the George Washington book that we got him for Christmas, Tyler going to give him a high five probably!

Tyler showing off one of his favorite presents an Elvis & Johnny Cash shirt, what could be better!

Mom showing off her new camera which she REALLY needed ;)  Just in time for the new baby to arrive!

Here is a Christmas Eve pic of the whole family, last year before a younger one joins the group :)

 A family pic :)

 A group shot, set up my camera and Tyler instisted that Libby be in the picture.  Was a little low and Libby didn't quite cooperate but nice to have a picture with everyone it it!!

 The pricess on one of her perches...she was so tired during this whole trip since she is used to sleeping so much of the day and with people always around didn't do that...something we were hoping would happen when the baby comes and glad to see that it will probably be the case :)

Christmas Day my mom's good friend Mag had us all over for dinner, which was so nice of her and the food was fabulous!  Here is a picture of me and Tyler in front of her tree, the whole time we were in Chicago Tyler would put his hand on my stomach and say "Hi Baby, I your Uncle!" So cute, he is soo excited about the baby and so good with kids espcially when then get to playing age, he will sit there for hours so very exited about that!!

Mag always has so many wonderful decorations, here is one picture of one of the very cute ones!!

Next up our Christmas in Fort Wayne which was wonderful as well!  We are so lucky that the last few years we have been able to get away for awhile to spend time with our families!!

Finally some pics of our little boy and 30 Week Photos

With our insurance we really only had two sonograms scheduled one at 7 weeks and the other at 20 weeks so we wanted to go ahead and have a 3D sonogram done.  Also, we wanted to make sure our little one was a boy since our doctor never got to show us ;)  It was very cool and he did show us that he was a boy....but had his hands by his face so it was harder to get some pictures of just his face. Oh well the tech said everything still looked really good and we saw that he had all his fingers many times ;) 

He is also becoming very, very active but of course wanted to sleep through the sonogram...haha!

Enjoy a few pictures of our little boy, exactly 10 weeks before his due date! Oh my lots to do before then!!

 Like I said here is a pic of his hand up by his face, love this one though he just looks like he is all cuddled up so comfy :)

 His umbilical cord was also up close to his head/face which she said was not in a bad spot(and not near his neck) just got in the way of the pictures sometimes...here is a good one though of his fingers....crazy how well you can see if you can get a good angle! So fun though...

 One more pic for you all to see...can't wait to meet him in 2 and a half months!

Here are my 30 week pictures as well so you can see how he is growing from the outside!

Baby Shower in Chicago

First I am sorry for such a lag in posts, please note I will be posting for the next 5 days or so to fill in all that I have missed ;)

I had a wonderful baby shower in Chicago over Christmas that was thrown by my mom, aunt, best friend Kerry and her mom.  It was soo much fun and I was so excited that so many people were able to make the shower even so close to Christmas!  Since we live in Texas and were driving had a "book" shower and most other gifts were mailed to me in Texas, it was so fun to receive them in the mail at home and wonderful to start building our little boys library of books!  So many people brought some of their favorite books from when they were little which was wonderful and we all had a little time remembering how much we all loved many of these books.

A picture of the dessert table, my mom and I made the cupcakes and were pretty proud that they matched the gluten free ones that we bought...haha!

 Kerry put up these cute onesies, love them and they were perfect decor!!

 Kerry and I who have been best friends since the age of 6 months and 3 months, I love that I have known her my whole life and can not believe we will both now have little boys of our own! Wish so much we lived closer so our boys could get to know each other as well as we do!!

 Mom's and daughters, our moms have also been wonderful friends for 30 years now! 

 A picture of 4 generations, well one has not debuted yet ;)  A wonderful picture of my Aunt Jannean, me, my grandma and my mom!

 Showing off one of the many books that I received at the shower...

 Another book, this one has a rattle in the side too...

 Growing up one of our (my mom, Kerry's mom, Kerry and I) favorite books was one called the Little Fur Family, just and adorable book which always made Kerry's mom cry since it was just so cute.  They could not find a copy in time for the shower so we had Kerry's son's and my mom read a few pages.  Moira, Kerry's mom started to tear up on command, pretty cute but hope to get one and have it be one of my little one's favorites too!

 A favorite book by just about everyone that was there...thank you Hartzog family ;)

This was a gift from my dad :) He found it this fall, so cute and will be soo true considering our little man will not only be the first grandchild on both sides but the first great grandchild on both sides of our family ;)  Although he is just following in his parents footsteps as that is the case for both Jared and I!

A picture with all of the family who were able to make it from the Burke side, was so glad they were all there to celebrate with me!

My friend Heidi made the trip all the way to Chicago from Grand Rapids, it was WONDERFUL to see her and have her come all that way especially since they just recently moved to Orlando so was not sure when the next time I would get to see her would be!

My mother-in-law and I ;)  She also traveled quite a long way to be there and was so glad she was able to make it!!

I had such a wonderful time and thank you soo much to everyone that came and all the wonderful gifts that I received!!

30th Birthday and 27 weeks...

Before we depart on our annual "Midwestern Christmas Tour" wanted to post a few pictures...the first one is Libby in front of the tree ;)

 Here is us trying to get a good picture with Libby looking at the camera, no such luck though...oh well ;)

 A little belated but for my 30th birthday we met some good friends at the Gaylord at their newer Italian restaurant. Very fun and great to see everyone especially before we all are apart for the holidays....special note to anyone in Texas, food was great but service was not towards the end...they take reservations for late parties but then don't leave their kitchen open long enough to accommodate.  Missed out on dessert but we were all so full I think it was for the best :)

 Everyone at dinner...

 John is holding up what he claimed as a "large shrimp"....still wondering if it was lobster or actually shrimp ;)

 Here are a few pictures of me at 27 weeks, all still seems to be going well just waiting for the results of my glucose test and hoping they come back good so I don't have to take the long test!  Other than that still feeling pretty good, we will see if I say the same thing after our 15 hour car ride to Chicago ;)

Can't wait though for time with our families for Christmas and also a baby shower in the mix...will try to post some pics while we are there!

24 Weeks!

I have missed a few weeks but here are my pictures from last week.  Finally starting to feel like I look pregnant and not just fat ;) Finally registered which was very fun and are starting to plan out the baby's room, although we witll have a lot to get rid of before we can get that all done and set up.  January is going to be as busy as November and December but oh well, all very exiting!!

Also, still feeling good but starting to feel a little more pregnant, welcome some heart burn and I am sure the next few months will be bring some more uncomfort but all so worth it!

Belated Thanksgiving Post!!

So I have already become that person I didn't want to me...slow to post and behind.  Ahh!! Needless to say things have been crazy lately, that's what happens at the holidays and last time I went to post it would not let me upload pictures.  Here are some belated pictures of Thanksgiving.  We started a tradition 3 years ago with our good friends Lynne and Aaron to go to the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving.  It has always been a great time and they made the trip back from London this year for Thanksgiving and for the game.  We had a great group to tailgate this year but it was freezing!!  About 30 some degrees that day which wasn't ideal for tailgating but the game was amazing.  The Cowboys played the Saints so I must say there were quite a few more Saints fans at our tailgate than Cowboys fans.  The game was awesome, the best professional game any of us had seen and I was happy with the result as were all the other Saints fans, go Drew Brees!!

Here is a picture of Lynne and Aaron before the game with their wedding umbrellas, Saints for Lynne and Cowboys for Aaron of course!

 Here are Jared and I before the game, I found it a great time to wear my Saints jersey but also all my old Purdue gear!

 Danielle and Colin also in a Saints/Cowboys relationship...seems that a lot of friends cheer on different teams than their spouses which makes me feel better as Jared and I have really no teams in common really.

 Jared and Kellen warming up in the car while tailgating...notice the gloves, I had bought a bunch of stretchy gloves for a $1 each and each and every pair was worn...along with anything else we could find that was warm!

 A picture at our seats inside the stadium...ready for the game to begin and finally warming up!

 Starting off the game!

 Saints have just scored a touchdown here! 

 Keith Urban was the half time show, he was great, this is a picture from the HUGE screen there, you often can't help but just watch the screen even during the game.

Despite the frigid temperature we had a wonderful time at the game and a great Thanksgiving!

Hope you all did too!!

San Diego...Final Day and a Half!

So we kicked off our final full day in San Diego once again with rain but we took the ferry over to Coronado Island and to the Del Coronado to have brunch with my mom's cousin and his wife. She is the hotel manager there so they took us to brunch and then for a wonderful tour of the property.  They had put up their Christmas decorations a little early this year which was wonderful to see.  Here is the tree in the lobby, reminded me of Marshall Fields and the Walnut Room back in the day.

 Family picture with everyone after brunch in front of the tree!

 After the Del it started to clear up a little and we went to Old Town later in the afternoon, took a few pictures there but I thought this one was pretty..and the weather was starting to get nice so I could not resist.

 Here are Jared and I before we caught the ferry back to downtown from Coronado

 The last day we were there had the best weather so we got up early and headed to La Jolla since I had told the family it would be so much better seeing on a sunny day.  Here is a picture of all of the guys and beautiful background...

 Jared and I in La Jolla, so pretty wish we could have that view here in Texas!

 Just a few more pictures of the pretty view and the waves crashing against the shore.

 We also got to see many of the seals on the beach sunning themselves, it was very funny to see how they inch themselves up the beach.  There were also a lot of younger seals playing in the water which was pretty cute.

 More pretty pictures...

 Jared walked out on the pier where the waves kept crashing over...just before that the lifeguard had closed off half this area and he managed not to get too wet.

 Jared down by the rocks...he would have gone all the way in the water if it wasn't so cold.

 Nice picture of Mom and Dad. Everyone but me got Del Coronado sweatshirts since it was so cold while we were there.  We looked like a walking postcard at one point on the trip ;)

 One of the seals managed to get up on this rock below, as we were watching more came up but any other males were "barked" away by this seal since he was there first...

 After my parents left for the airport Jared and I walked down by the other ships in the harbour.  Tyler had called these the pirate ships the whole time.  They were pretty interesting and there was a submarine there too that had just been taken out of active duty last year. 

So long to San Diego, we had a wonderful time even though it was rainier and colder than we expected.  We were still able to see and do just about everything we planned and had a wonderful birthday trip with my family!!