Dad's Turn to Post Some Pics

I figured it was my turn to show everyone some pictures of my little treefrog.

Bella spends around 90% of her day is this general area. Doesn't matter if she's eating, sleeping, or having the brown frowns. She loves her Momma.

Some of you might not know this, but Bella is a kung-fu master. Kicking, crazy kung-fu-ninja hand motions and lots of screaming. Bruce Lee would be proud.

Sandra and Isabella came up to visit me at work last week. Sandra and I had a nice lunch at Lupe Tortilla's while Bella slept, and then I feed her for first time ever. . .in my cubicle. Sweet.

Friday Isabella and I played Halo 3 while Mom ran errands. She was my moral support when the going got tough.

We went out to eat with our friends the Kerkers and the Conrads on Saturday and were able to give the Conrads a little more practice for when their little bundle of joy arrives. Which is literally any day now. Chip and Juli . . .you guys are next, right?

Sandra and I will try and keep everyone up to date on the going-ons around the Burkhalter household as often as we can. Thanks again for all of your prayers. We love you guys!

Woo-hoo!

Isabella's crib is complete!

Now all I need to do is repair the nursery wall that I had to tear out because of a leak. Yea for home repairs!

A free moment to post a few...

we took a stroll around the block. i thought she looked so tiny in her stroller!

chillin'

mom, you must be crazy!

2 weeks old

Isabella had her 2 week appointment today and she's doing well! My mom stayed with us last week and Jason's mom has been here this week helping us adjust to this new life! Thank you Betty and Barb! I'm feeling better every day. Jason and I have been tired, but we always seem to have the energy to stare and smile at our baby girl...

Isabella Simone Burkhalter

We just wanted to quickly post a photo of our girl and say a quick hello! Life has been busy!

Isabella came into this world weighing a healthy 7 lbs 7.2 oz and measured 21 1/4"!

she is her father's daughter! i have to say she has her mommy's nose though!


thanks again to all of you who have prayed for this big moment. baby and mommy made it through without complications!

more to follow...

Tomorrow is only a day away...

Woo-hoo! Jason and I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 5:45! At least we don't have to worry about traffic. I anticipate not sleeping much tonight anyway! I appreciate all the well wishes and prayers thus far. And thank you to all of you who have listened to my venting and achey complaints...and pregnancy scenarios that you probably could have gone without hearing about. It's been fun to share this experience with y'all. We're truly blessed to have friends and family that are as excited about Isabella's arrival as we are.

We're ready to roll...

bag is packed...

music is ready for isabella's debut! she's dancing to the music as i'm typing this! you may notice the new music playing...i've added some songs from the cd that will be playing during the whole delivery process. i still included led for the beginning and end...when isabella is either still in my tummy or on her way to the nursery and i'm being "fixed." hopefully, i have timed the music right to have coldplay's "fix you" during that! ha!
the nursery is a work in progress. i have a lot of frames to hang on the walls...
i need to do something with the sad excuse for a table and some kind of window treatment...

and the infamous crib will be placed here. i hope to have a canopy hanging above :)

I wanted a picture of the car seat in the car, but the rain won't stop! So, don't worry...I didn't forget about how she's making it home! Until then...

Crib Update

A quick update. . .

The main structure of the crib in now assembled and one side rail is partially complete. The adjustable mattress supports have been installed and I finally checked to make sure that the mattress fits. A smarter man probably would have checked that a while ago. Thankfully, as the picture shows, it fits. Should be mostly complete (with the exception of the final sanding and painting) by tomorrow. Woo-hoo!

Thanks to all for the compliments. Much appreciated.

Hangin' out

I really wanted to get some friend time in these last few days before a new addition to the fam will be taking up a lot of our time! I was able to do so and caught some of it on film...or should I say memory card. And Jason and I had a nice date Sunday night. I had been craving Papa's Seafood so we went there and then went to see "Bourne Ultimatum." I highly recommend seeing that one! It was as good as the others. After our last visit to the movie theatre, I didn't think I was going to be up for a movie. Thankfully it wasn't as long as the last movie we saw and I brought a pillow for my back. Also, we were first to sit and we had great seats where I could prop my feet up on the railing. The only thing missing was some ice cream...mmmmm, ice cream.

we had a fun game night at peri and jay's apt. a delicious dinner was included...thanks guys! the last game we played was "mad gab." oh my goodness...i love it! it's so much fun!

KUMP POOH DURG AIM

amanda, connor and i had a nice lunch. he was trying out some tomatoes...

not a big fan!

the girls hangin' out in the nursery. DIAPERS!

parents-to-be

last belly shots of us together!

It's not nice to brag. I'm not nice.

Let's just say I want to show my appreciation...Jason usually doesn't ever really seem to surprise me when it comes to building or fixing things. There is nothing he can't do! I have to say I'm still so very impressed by my husband. As most of you know has has been working really hard this summer on our bathroom and now Isabella's crib. Here is an update...

the shower has been "done" for some time now. we are using it already w/o glass for now. jason was ready to install a new tile floor and continue work on our bathroom, but i had something else in mind...

THE CRIB!!!!!!!!!!

here he is sketching the outline of the posts


our garage has turned into quite a dusty workshop for jason. you can barely see his golf clubs covered w/ dust. he didn't use those but maybe twice this summer :(

pieces coming...

together!

Jason, you are amazing.

6 dias mas...

Yea, it's Friday! This week is going by much faster than the last thank goodness! We had a good doctor visit Wednesday. Everything seems to be going fine. Isabella is ALMOST 6 lbs.! And we think that 2 of those pounds are in her cheeks! It was so sweet to see her face among these huge pillows of cheeks and her little lips were pouting! She had the hiccups and her little mouth was moving up and down....so precious! I was just giggling at the sight. Also, we were informed she had a little bit of hair, but not a lot. I was pretty much expecting that. So, I'll have to stock up on the headbands with attachable bows!

hopefully you can tell what's what...her face is lying on the right side

8 more days...

Tomorrow it will be a week before the big birthday! Honestly, I'm wondering if Isabella and I can manage to wait that long! I've actually started feeling much better with the exception of a couple of bad nights this weekend. I have a lot more energy and am moving around a lot faster...well, not that fast. Of course because I feel this great in the morning, I tend to over do it and am achy by the afternoon! Isabella seems to be wanting out, too. She has been stretching out like crazy and putting the pressure on! I had started packing "the bag" yesterday but didn't finish and last night after I had retreated to the bedroom I started feeling like she could come any minute! I started feeling some unusual pains, but I didn't think it was anything too serious. I just prayed to God to direct me to call the doctor if it was necessary...if not, I have a doctor appointment today and just didn't think it was necessary. So, in fear that I indeed needed to go in, I got out of bed and finished packing my bag and scanning the checklist of what I needed. I was a little amused by myself. Jason was playing some game on the pc with earphones so he had no idea what was going on. Thankfully the pains subsided and I am feeling great this morning. The appointment is this afternoon and I will have one last ultrasound and then pre-op work.

I've really been thinking a lot about this upcoming birthday and how it really isn't going to be me and Jason anymore. Yes, of course our lives are going to change and I knew that, but it's reeeeeeally setting in now! I think about it and realize the last nine months have already prepared me a little. Friday and Saturday nights have been spent at home for the most part. We really haven't had any of those phone calls, "What are you doing tonight? Let's meet up for dinner and drinks." And it's been too long since the gang has had a karaoke night! With all of that being said, we're getting together with friends during this last week of...pre-baby, diaper bag, pac-in-play...pre-babysitter! And I have requested a date from my husband for Sunday night :)

In conclusion...JASON AND I ARE SO EXCITED FOR THIS NEW CHAPTER IN OUR LIVES AND CAN'T WAIT TO MEET OUR SWEET BELLA GIRL!

Mad Skillz

I just wanted to show some of Jason's photography at its finest!

it's me w/ a well-dressed man.

i wanted a pic of brooke holding hudson's texans jersey!

The Holts

We had a nice dinner with some friends last Friday evening...long overdue! But Nate and Brooke have been a little busy...they have a new baby boy! His name is Hudson and he's oh so cute!

yeah, we need a boy!!!...okay, i need to slow down. one baby at a time!

nate dogg and hud-dogg

brooke is diggin' the boots we gave hudson! yeehaw!

hola!

BP Shower

Jason's co-workers threw him a sweet shower last Friday. It was nice to see him get some attention and open gifts! We had a nice catered lunch, talked baby and talked shop!

this was a musical card and everyone was laughing about how they tried to muffle the music when signing it so jason wouldn't hear it!

vicki is explaining that some goodies will arrive in the mail!

jason loves opening gifts in front of people...haha.

such an awesome gift for isabella...a u.s. bond!

taking a break...

oh, and he's so happy...cigars!

and more cigars...

y mas...

happy papi!

he also received a box of "it's a girl" cigars to share!

thanks gang!

me and ray-ray...he's skinny and i'm bellylicious!