January 22, 2012 ~ Our First Anniversary

Before we left for the hotel.  My mom and dad came down to watch Buffett for us....

They are the best!

 This was sent up to our room on the house.... The thought was wonderful... I just couldn't have any!  We actually took the unopened bottle home with us. We plan to have it to celebrate when Baby Cooper finally arrives :)

 The yummy truffles that came with the champagne.

 We ended up ordering room service for dinner.  The roads were covered with freezing rain and we were quite comfy in our pjs.  I had a delicious cream of wild mushroom soup with truffle oil and Cory had a burger and fries.  Totally our 'style' of anniversary dinner. :)

 This is the top tier of our wedding cake.  We managed to keep it for the whole year without eating it!  It actually tasted great!

Cory and I before we enjoyed our year-old wedding cake.  We watched our the video of our ceremony while we ate the cake.  It was so amazing to revisit that magical day. 

The first year of marriage was wonderful.  We had very few 'downs' and SO many 'ups'.  Living through life with each other has shown us that life can't be taken that seriously.... We have so much fun together.  Whether we are doing lawn work, laundry, are out to eat, watching a movie, etc.  We just enjoy each other's company.  We are so looking forward to our future as husband and wife.  We are also looking forward to being a mom and dad together.  Just knowing that we have created a life that will be a part of both of us is absolutely miraculous!  We know that life will throw us curve balls, but we also know that we have each other to help get through those times.  We are just so lucky!!!

Saturday, January 21, 2012: 20 Weeks

 There is definitely a small bump!  Baby Cooper continues to grow!

I can't believe we are already half way through this pregnancy!  The 2nd trimester has been heavenly!  I am not sleeping amazingly well, but enough for me to have enough energy to get through the day.  We will see how the 3rd trimester goes.... hard to believe that will be here in a little over a month!

Last night and today I have started to feel little flutters/strange feelings.... I am pretty sure they are Baby Cooper's movements/kicks.  I can't wait until Cory and I can feel them on the outside.  I know it will be a powerful moment for both of us.  My next prenatal appointment is on Thursday.  As always I am eager to hear Baby Cooper's strong, little heartbeat.  Every time I hear it, it brings tears to me eyes.  It just reminds me how miraculous and precious this little baby is.  139 days to go!!!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Buffett!!!!

Cory was off of work on Buffett's birthday so he did the honors of baking a cake for him.  When I got home from parent-teacher conferences I frosted it with a whipped cottage cheese 'frosting' and topped it with carrot garnishes and a '3' candle!

 The candle is still lit at this point and Buffett isn't quite sure what to do about it, so he stayed on the opposite side of the cake until I took the candle away!

 As you can see his first mission was to lick of the 'frosting'.  This caused the cake to go on the floor :)

 SO mad at myself for cutting half of his head off in this picture.  I LOVE his 'frosting' mustache!!!!

 Buffett clearly brings new meaning to 'licking your plate clean'. 

This plate is really special to me.  It was a plate that my mom and dad had ever since I can remember.  They would serve our birthday meals, first day of school meals, etc. on this throughout my brother's and my childhood.  Last year for our wedding, she wrapped it and gave it to us for our family.  It meant to much to me and gets me excited to use it with our future children/family!!!

LOL!  Licking his chops once he was done with his cake.

Happy Birthday little man!  You bring us such joy :) 

We can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with our sweet boy!!!!!

Introducing Baby Cooper

 Baby Cooper's spine/back

 Can't wait to kiss those little feet/toes :)

 An 'arial' shot... Top of baby's head and arms

 Legs and little butt :)  Who knows if there are private parts showing?!  It could go either way! LOL

 A 4D shot...One of only 2 that Baby Cooper actually cooperated for.  As you can see the arms/hands are still covering his/her mouth.

As close to a full face shot that we could get!

There are very few words to describe what it felt like for us to see the miracle growing inside of me.  Cory was like a giddy kid all day after seeing the baby.  I think it made it very real for him.  I have felt the effects of being pregnant all along, but he hasn't.  I think this made him realize, "Hey, I'm going to be a dad.... for real!"   

I can't decide what my favorite part was... seeing the heart beating, watching him/her give me a couple strong kicks, or watching the baby put his/her hands up to her face and waving as if saying hello.  It just made us both want June to be here NOW!  We can't wait :)

A visit with Frampa

My friend's Bridgette's shower was only 10 minutes from my Auntie Con's house, so I knew I wanted to stop by to spend some time with my dear Frampa. 

Frampa was in really good spirits during our visit.  I made him laugh and crack a smile on more than a few occassions.  I showed him my small baby bump and he loved that!  Cory and I also told him that if we have a boy, we plan to name him Reid Joseph.  He got very teary eyed.... Reid is his family name.  Joseph was his father's name, is his brother's name, is my father's name, and my brother's name.  Needless to say, he seemed very touched that our baby will carry on the legacy of his family's name. 

Two of my favorite guys in the whole world!  The last time I visited Frampa, Cory had to work.  Frampa told me that he loved Cory and what a great guy I had picked.  That meant more to me than just about anything.

Growing up, I always looked at my Frampa like he was a superhero.  He did everything right.  He was a wonderful dad, business man, friend, husband, and grandpa.  He always put everyone else before himself.  He is loving, caring, and incredibly funny!  His jokes and humor were my favorite thing about him when I was a little girl.  Now, when I look at my Frampa, I see a man that I am SO proud to have in my life.  He is truly one of a kind, a diamond in the rough, a true gem in this world.  He has always been so wonderful to me and I love him more than words could ever express!!!!!

Bridgette's Baby Shower

Me, Bridgette, and Dawn

On Saturday I attended my wonderful friend, Bridgette's baby shower.  She is due on February 10th with her first baby.  She knows she is having a little girl.  Her shower was HUGE!  Her aunt threw her a beautiful shower in Evergreen Park, IL at the VFW hall.  I bet there were 100 people there! 

Bridgette, Dawn, and I met when we went to Australia together.  Along with our friend Jodie, we were nicknamed 'Team America' by one of the scuba instructors at the Great Barrier Reef.  Jodie was under the weather, so we were missing 1/4 of Team America (we missed you Jodie)! 

To Bridgette,

We are all SO excited for the arrival of sweet, Madelyn Rose.  Can't wait to meet her!!!!

Christmas with the Reid Family

 My mom had a matching stocking made for Cory after we got married.  Can you see the tiny stocking in between ours?

This is Baby Cooper's stocking!  My mom will have one made once he/she is born!

 Our friendly and very tame Christmas morning visitor.

Cory was watching the deer, squirrels, and birds at my dad's feeders. 

 Navaeh and Nastadia LOVE Uncle Cory!  He taught them how to play some fun games on the iPhone and the Nook.  They were in heaven!

 Two of our nieces, Nevaeh and Faith.  Navaeh is such a great, big sister!

Faith sure is loved!

Grandpa LOVES his Faithie!

Nastadia likes to use Uncle Cory as a jungle gym :)

Our sweet, little niece, Faith with Uncle Cory!



Saturday, December 24, 2011: 16 Weeks

Not too much has changed since the last picture.  I feel like a whale.  I slightly resemble one as well!  LOL!  Cory tells me I am beautiful.. He is such a good liar!

Anyway, this was a rough couple of weeks with me getting pneumonia and the flu, but now that those are finished, I am finally getting to enjoy the 2nd trimester euphoria. 

In some ways I feel like the baby's arrival is SO far away and in other ways I think, WHOA, the baby will be here in less than 160 days.  So much to do, so little time :)

We have our ultrasound in about 10 days and we can't wait to 'see' our little one!  We will NOT be finding out the sex.  One of life's final surprises :)

Christmas Shenanigans in the Bloch residence

After celebrating Bobby and Cassie's nuptuals, we had great food and a stellar White Elephant Gift Exchange!  It was wonderful to be with family!!!!

 When my mom and her sisters get together... LOOK OUT!  They like to have a few cocktails and 'belly bump'!!  This is my mom with her sister Sharon.

 The other two sisters got jealous they weren't invited to the 'belly bumping' party so here they are...  all 4 of them in all their glory.  By the way.... They insist on doing this at ALL family weddings too.  LOL!!!!!

My cousin Lauren, my mom, and my cousin Mallory.

My cousin Lauren, her fiance Lee, and their dog Bernie (named after Bernie Brewer).  They are the next to get married!  I am honored to stand up in their wedding this summer!!!!

I tried every way to get this picture to be vertical... I guess it wasn't meant to be.  This shirt was one of the white elephant gifts... It is beyond shameful that Zach is wearing it in this family!!!! I promptly stole it from him when it was my turn and gave it to my husband, who was the only Lions fan in the joint!

My cousin Betty got these sweet finger lights in the white elephant.  They were later stolen by my mother.  She thought they would be a cool accessory to wear at Jimmy Buffett concerts! LOL

The final white elephant gift was for my cousin Lauren.  It was a speeding warning that my two aunts received earlier in the day for going 76 in a 45mph zone.  The police officer let them off because it was Christmas!  This is the first we are hearing of the 'pull over'.

As you can see there were many 'treasures' that resulted from the white elephant exchange.  My cousin Zach took a few of the loveliest gifts and made a 'war horse' out of them.  Impressive!

My brother is the only one missing.  He was still traveling from being at Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  Left to right: Betty, Donald, Cassie, Allen, Mallory, Lauren, me, Zach

I love my cousins!

Cassie and Bobby's Wedding Celebration

My grandparents (my mom's parents) built a beautiful log home in Land O' Lakes about 15 years ago.  They built it with the mindset that we would all come there for Christmas.  We made it a tradition that my mom and all of her sisters and their families would travel to extreme northern WI for the holidays....

Then all of the cousins grew up.... went to college...got engaged/married....had kids of their own, grandma and grandpa started going to Florida for the winter, etc.

Well, this year we decided to have a final hurrah!  ALL of the cousins and all of my mom's sisters and husbands were there.  My cousin Cassie traveled from Texas with her new husband.  They never had the opportunity to have a big, family wedding with Bobby's busy schedule in the military, so we decided to do a joint wedding shower/celebration and Christmas extravaganza.  It was such an amazing time for all!

They got some great gifts for their new home in Washington state.  They will move there when Bobby is all finished with his training.

You could tell this was going to end badly...

I told ya..... :)





What a fun time to celebrate a great couple!!