Falling into Autum

Well it's been just over a month since our last post so we thought that we'd update you on what is going on in the lives of the Okray's of Janesville.

Amber has officially started the 2012-2013 School Year and so far things are going very well.  She is only at one school this year (no traveling from building to building for the first time ever!) and is having a very good start to the year.  The K-3 students that she teaches are doing very well behavior wise and music wise and they ask everyday when she's going to have the baby and what the baby's name is going to be.  Kiddos are great!

Just as Amber is heading back to full-time work John is starting to slow down at Glen Erin Golf Course.  This fall has been pretty mild so the golf course is still open and doing pretty good business  but with frost in the morning and the sun setting earlier John's hours at work are a little shorter and less busy which is to be expected and is nice after the busy summer schedule that John works.

As fall sets in so does football season and even though the Packers aren't dominating this year we still love them and watch every game!  We were able to go to the Packers vs. Bears Game at Lambeau Field on Thursday September 13th.  The Packers won that night and it is always fun to go to a big rivalry game!  We were able to hang out with Amber's Aunt Dede, Uncle John, Cousin Emily and Cousin Jason at the game and got to see our friends Sarah, Matt, Megan and Avery after the game.  It was a great victory over the Bears and Lambeau Field was just electric!  Overall it was an amazing game!

Amber, John and Baby Girl after the Packers vs. Bears Game at Lambeau Field.

The next day we headed back to Lambeau Field to meet Paul (our wedding photographer who has become our family photographer) for pregnant belly pictures.  We had a fun time taking some fun and unique pictures of us with Amber and her baby belly.

Just a few of the preggo belly pics!

The day after that was a very full day!  Amber had her first baby shower in Appleton, WI given by her mother, grandmother and godmother.  It was amazing to see and hear the outpouring of love for our Baby Girl from so many family and friends.  Amber was able to see just how big her belly is (something she maybe didn't need to know) and after John and Adam golfed that morning they were able to come and say hello to everyone as well.

Beautiful and yummy cake!

Baby in a Baby Carriage Fruit Salad made by Amber's Grandma Betty

Amber and the cake.

Hooray for presents!

So many cute and pink baby clothes.

Handmade clothes and blankets by Amber's Great-Aunt Martha.

A clothesline of wonderful baby clothes from Amber's Aunts, Cousins and Grandma Georgene.

Blanket made by Amber's Godmother Janet.

Amie and Megan helping out with the gifts.

Amber and her cousin Nicole.

Amie, Cristina, Amber, Megan and Mallory (SNC Girls)

After some time hanging out with friends we headed to Mr. G's Bar and Grill in Appleton to celebrate Amber's Mom (Diane) 50th Birthday which was the same day as the baby shower!  We had a great time talking with family and friends and having some really good pizza and cake!  It ended up not just being a birthday party, but an engagement party as well because in the midst of all the birthday activities Diane's boyfriend Steve proposed!  Everyone was in shock.  Diane of course said yes and everyone started shouting and hugging and crying!  It was a great day all around!

Steve on one knee proposing to Diane.

She said yes!

The next week we were given some really great news about the house.  We are able to close on our house three weeks ahead of schedule on Friday November 9th!  That will give us some time to have a friend of ours come in an paint all of the rooms the colors that we want as well as have our furniture and appliances delivered and have cable and DirecTV ready to go for us.  We will have some help from family and friends help us the weekend before Thanksgiving move all the stuff from our apartment over to our new home and then hopefully we'll have about a week (maybe more) to get everything ready in the house before Baby Girl makes her big arrival!  We were able to go on a walk-through of the house the next week and we are very excited about how everything is looking.  With just less than a month to go before we move in we are all very anxious and excited!

Amber opening the door from the garage to the house for the first time!

View of the kitchen from the dinning room.

View of the living room from the entrance to the kitchen.

Main floor bathroom.

Office

Baby Girl's Room

Master Bathroom

Master bedroom closet

Master Bedroom

Hallway view from living room.

Mudroom/Laundry Room

Packer Room (in the basement)

Storage area (in the basement)

Guest Bedroom (in the basement)

Guest Bathroom (in the basement)

Stairs leading from the basement upstairs.

Extra Large Two-Car Garage

View of our house from the street.

During these past few weeks we've also made the decision to have a natural birth with our baby so we've decided that we'll be working with a midwife and giving birth at the Madison Birthing Center in Middleton, WI.  Everything is progressing normally and Baby Girl is happy and healthy.  We hope that we are able to deliver her without any complications or drugs in a very natural environment.

Baby Girl is growing!

This past Friday October 12th Amber celebrated her 29th Birthday.  We celebrated with ordering our new king sized mattress and box spring, having dinner at Olive Garden and watching the movie "Tangled" at home.  The very next day was Amber's 10 Year High School Reunion in West Allis, WI. We both had a great time.  Amber was able to catch up with a lot of friends from high school and we were both able to meet some fun new people that were significant others of Amber's friends.

Well that's all for now.  Hopefully our new post will be written from the living room of our new home :)  Until next time....Go Pack Go!

A Fun End to the Summer of 2012

About another month has come and gone so we thought we'd give you an update on our lives!

As we write this Amber is 26 weeks pregnant (only about 14 weeks to go!) and so far the pregnancy could not be running any smoother.  Amber is feeling great.  She will now start OB appointments every two weeks and chiropractic appointments every week.  Very soon we will start heading to birthing classes once a week for the next two months.  Lots of things ahead!

Since our last post we have made sure to live up this last summer of being a family of two humans and one cat because we know that very soon our family will expand!  

During the last weekend of July John had to work a lot during the Janesville City Golf Tournament, but Amber was able to head to Appleton for a few days to spend with her family and attend her family reunion.  She also did the Packer 5K Walk/Run with Mike, Mary and Michelle Okray (Amber and Mary walked while Mike and Michelle ran).  The cool thing about the race is that during the last part you get to walk around Lambeau Field.  Amber and Mary walked the 5K race in less than an hour (which was their goal).

Mary and Amber in the bottom right of the picture. (Mary in pink and Amber in green)

Michelle, Amber, Mary and Mike after the race.

John and Amber headed back up north two days later, however this time they headed to Stevens Point to visit with John's Aunt Nancy and Grandmother who were in town.  It was nice to catch up and chat for a few days with Aunt Nancy and Gram as well as with Mike and Mary.  We also got to visit with our good friends Greg and Ellen Kaye who recently moved to Stevens Point (technically Plover...) from New York.  We finally got to meet their son Charlie too!

Amber, Gram and John (Gram is making sure that we all know Baby Girl's in the picture too!)

John and Charlie (Greg and Ellen's son)

Amber and Charlie (Greg and Ellen's son)

The very next week we headed to Milwaukee to visit Amber's brother Adam and his girlfriend Becky for a few days.  We tailgated and went to a Brewer Game and then spent the next day eating our way though the Wisconsin State Fair.  We also took in the pig races, shark exhibit, walked through the animal barns and bought some fun stuff for the house in the exhibit hall.

Outside of Miller Park before the Brewer Game.

Enjoying the ball game.

Becky and Adam at the Brewer Game.

Pig Races at the Wisconsin State Fair.

John looking for a new car at the State Fair (he didn't buy it though)

We headed back home for two days (just enough time for a few workdays for John, an OB appointment for Amber and a vet appointment for Lambeau) and then headed up north again.  This time we spent a night in Appleton with Amber's family and then made the even farther trek to Marquette and Big Bay Michigan for the wedding of our friends Jen and Tyler.  They had a wonderful Catholic Mass at Jen's home church in Marquette and then had their reception outside at Jen's parents home on Lake Superior in Big Bay, Michigan.  We had a great time catching up with friends, taking in the beautiful scenery and dancing the night away.

Jen and Tyler after the ceremony.

John and Amie by Lake Superior.

Amie and Brian by Lake Superior.

Eric and Sam by Lake Superior.

St. Norbert 2006 Graduates (John, Eric, Jen, Amie, Amber and Nikki)

Amber and Amie by Lake Superior.

By Lake Superior.

Still taking in the scenery.

On our way home from Michigan we stopped for the night in Crivitz, Wisconsin to visit Amber's paternal grandparents and family.  We went out for a very yummy prime rib dinner and then spent most of the evening catching up and watching the London Summer Olympic Closing Ceremonies.  After a short stop at the Packers Pro Shop in Green Bay we finally headed home.

The next week Amber's mom Diane came to visit for a few days.  John had to work most of the time that Diane was in town, but that gave Amber and Diane a lot of time to chat, find some maternity clothes for Amber and find dresses for upcoming Baby Showers and Diane's 50th Birthday Party!  It was a nice and relaxing visit.

The next week we decided that we wanted to have one last hurrah before Amber headed back to work for the school year so we took a mini-vacation to Chicago and stayed with John's Aunt Nancy who lives in a beautiful high-rise condo right across from Museum Park by Lake Michigan.  We meet up with John's cousin Jimmy and his fiance Jen to take in a Brewers vs. Cubs game at Wrigley Field (Brewers dominated!)  We also took a walk by Lake Michigan and spent some time at the Shedd Aquarium.  It was very nice to have one last fun mini-trip to end the summer!

Infront of Wrigley Field.

Inside Wrigley enjoying the game (Jimmy and Jen had seats behind us and you can see Jimmy above Amber's head and Jen just right of John's head.  Double Photo Bomb!)

Finishing up our tour of the Shedd Aquarium.  That's a big fish!

So that basically sums up the last part of our summer.  As we said before Baby Girl is doing well.  We had another ultrasound on August 27th and things are still looking good!

Baby Girl's face

Baby Girl's profile

This ultrasound showed that she's still a girl!

Baby Girl yawning!  (So cute!)

And now pictures of Baby Girl and Amber

**I don't know where 24 Weeks went...

The house building process is coming along nicely.  Most of the outside things are finished so it is mainly inside things that are being worked on now.  We went to our builder about two weeks ago to pick out the last of the finishings such as flooring and countertops and yesterday the drywall was delivered to the house site.  We haven't had a chance to check to see if they were able to install the drywall yet, but as of a few days ago the insulation and vapor barrier was all up.

Here are some of the latest pictures of the house:

All framed and roofed.

Front Door

Front door looking into the house (fireplace straight ahead)

Framing within the house

Siding starting to go up!

Siding, shutters and trim complete.

Thanks for reading once again.  Until next time...Go Pack Go!