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!

Growing and Building!

Well it's been about a month since our last post so I thought that I would update you on the progress of the baby and the house!

First a baby update:  On July 5th we had an appointment with our new OB Dr. Okocha.  She is very nice and really made us feel at ease after our old doctor left for Australia.  We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat again and were assured that everything seems to be progressing well with Amber and with the baby and we were told to schedule our 20 Week Ultrasound.  On July 16th we went in for our ultrasound and were able to find out that Baby Okray is a girl!  We are so excited!  Amber cried and John fist pumped :)  It was wonderful that she was willing to co-operate so that we could see her in all her womb glory!  At the end of the ultrasound she was punching at the ultrasound machine (we think that she was annoyed will all the movement!)  She is currently about 12 oz and growing like a weed and everything is looking good so far!  Anyway, here are some pictures of Baby Girl Okray:

 It's a Girl!  (no boy parts to be seen)

 Heart is looking good!

 Waving at Mom and Dad

 Profile of her beautiful head.

 Whole body profile.

Moving around a little bit.

John's Pre-Father's Day Cake!

 Now pictures of Baby Girl Okray and Amber:

 We swear that we do not make him do this!  

After each picture session Lambeau has gotten into the habit of sitting on the weekly picture.  

He's such a great cat!

Halfway there!

Finally have to use pregnancy clothes...

Now the house update:  They have been officially building our house for 1 month and 4 days and they have made A LOT of progress.  Since digging the basement on June 14th they have poured the basement, added the gravel for the driveway to come as well as framed the house and garage and added the egress windows.  We don't have pictures of this yet, but as of yesterday (July 17th) they added the framing for the roof!  Things are progressing very well and we are very excited to see all the progress so far.  Here are some pictures of the process since groundbreaking.

 Materials ready for basement framing and pouring.

 Basement is poured (hard to see, but it is)

Materials are ready for framing.

House is in the process of framing.

Anything else...well since our last post we celebrated our 3-Year Wedding Anniversary on July 4th.  We celebrated by heading to our favorite Mexican Restaurant El Jardin where we had a wonderful dinner and drinks (non-alcoholic for Amber) and then meet up with some friends to see the Janesville Aqua Jays Waterski Show and then fireworks on the Rock River.  

The Saturday before our anniversary we went over to our friends Sue and Jerry's house for a party and Freedom Fest Fireworks.  Freedom Fest is an annual festival at New Life Church in Janesville that has awesome fireworks!  The fireworks are shot off across the street from our new home!  Which Amber is very excited about, however, John is a little nervous about...I guess we'll see how things work out next year when we're able to see them from our house!

Amber has been working summer school where she is teaching math and munching on books to 1st Graders.  She's enjoying the experience as much as possible, but is ready for this hot weather to be over with!  Only 7 more summer school teaching days left and then she'll get to rest for the month of August!  Also, Amber was able to get together with her "Music Girls" at the end of June.  They were together for 24 hours and only stopped talking when they were sleeping!  A tradition that the "Music Group" will have to continue every year!

 The "Music Girls" (Amie, Mallory, Cristina, Amber and Justine)

Now in a goofy pose!

Well until next time!  Go Pack Go!