4:00 a.m.

My baby boy has begun to wake me up at 4:00 a.m. nearly every morning now. I am usually able to go back to sleep fairly quickly, but between getting up at least once every night to go to the bathroom and this new 4:00 a.m. wake-up call, I have not gotten a good night's sleep in a long time. Baby Frank is also most active during the day around 4:00 p.m. I wonder if he is trying to tell me something? I miss my sleep!

Snoogles, boppies, and pack-n-plays

This weekend, Frank and I decided to head out to Buy Buy Baby and register for baby gear. I have been researching baby stuff for the last couple of months, and I asked several of my friends with children to provide lists and recommendations of their must-have items, so I felt very prepared when we got to the store. Of course, once we were in the store, I felt pretty overwhelmed! We made it through in about 2 hours, and I think we registered for most of the stuff that we need, but it was absolutely exhausting. Frank cracked me up, because he had not heard of so many of the different things that we saw in the store. It is truly amazing how much stuff we need to take care of a baby. After the two-hour marathon shopping trip, I decided to create our Babies R Us registry online, which was much easier! But I am glad that Frank and I decided to go together and share the experience.

Frank's main job this weekend was to move all of the furniture out of the room we had been using as a gym and into our media room. Moving our treadmill was the biggest production--he ended up having to take the entire thing apart, move all the pieces, and then put it all back together. Thankfully, I tested it in the new room, and it did not fall apart! We are slowly but surely getting the house ready for Baby Frank. We also went over to Jason & Katherine's new house for dinner on Saturday night, and Mike and Ali came over as well. We had not spent time with them in a long time, and it was great to catch up! Then Sunday night we went out to dinner with Julie, one of Frank's friends from high school in California. She is a labor & delivery nurse at a hospital in Dallas, and she gave us a lot of advice about our upcoming special delivery.

Frank is home for the next two weeks (at least) working for his air force unit, and I am very excited to have him home!

3D sonogram

I got to see Baby Frank again today! My doctor volunteers at a pregnancy clinic, and he let me come in today to get a bonus 3D ultrasound. My doctor never actually made it to the appointment, so the director of the pregnancy clinic performed the ultrasound. Wow, was it amazing! She let me look at my baby for more than half an hour. He was not being very cooperative, as he was sleeping for almost the entire time with his little hands up by his face. He was curled up in a very funny position with his legs and feet up by his head. It was absolutely amazing to see how much he has grown and see so much detail. The sonographer measured all of his organs and body parts again, and everything still looks great! I had to scan these pictures in, so the quality is not as good as I had hoped, but you can still see some cool shots:

Adorable little face

All curled up!

Full-body shot

Still a boy!

22 weeks

Check out that baby bump! It is definitely growing bigger and bigger by the day. I am happy to be looking more pregnant and less like I have just gained weight. I had another doctor's appointment today, and everything looks great! Baby Frank's heart rate was strong, and he is measuring right on schedule. Frank, Allison, and I went to Houston this weekend to spend some time with my family and friends. Baby Frank got a few more adorable additions to his wardrobe, including his first souvenier from Thailand from his Aunt Kim. On Saturday I went to lunch and did some shopping with my good friends Katie, Lindsey, Marisa, Corey, Brooke, and Diana. It was great to see everyone and catch up! On Sunday, Megan and Andy brought their two adorable little ones over to swim at my parents' house, and it was great to catch up with them and get all sorts of parenting wisdom.

Baby Frank is kicking up a storm, and I can feel him move around more and more throughout the day. My sister got to feel the baby kick over the weekend, which she was very excited about. We talked a lot about our upcoming baby showers, and I am getting very excited for them and for Baby Frank's arrival. I am going on Wednesday for a 3D ultrasound with my doctor, and I am very excited to see Frank again!

Nursery sneak peek

Baby Frank's crib & dresser/hutch arrived today! We have to wait until the end of August for the glider/ottoman and bookshelf to get here, but I am so excited that this room is starting to feel like a nursery.

We also had another big milestone today...Frank got to feel Baby Frank kick for the first time! I have been feeling his kicks much more frequently, and stronger, the last couple of days, and tonight we went to a movie and Frank was able to feel it for the first time. It was definitely a neat experience! Frank took me to a wonderful italian dinner and to go see Eclipse--I think he gets the husband of the day award! It is so nice having him home.

Getting the house ready for Baby Frank

This week we ordered all of the furniture for the nursery--glider, ottoman, crib, dresser, hutch, bookcase, and side table. Surprisingly, several of the items are in stock and are being delivered on Tuesday! I was prepared for the furniture to take several months to get here, so knowing that the big items are coming this week has prompted me to get moving on several other house projects to get the upstairs ready for Baby Frank. As most of you know, because our bedroom is downstairs, we hardly ever even go upstairs, unless it is to use the treadmill. So we have been using the closets up there for storage and have not done much as far as decorating. I am using the baby as an excuse to clean out all of the closets, get organized, and decorate! This weekend I got to do to the not-so-fun part--cleaning out and organizing the closets. Boy do we have a lot more crap than I realized! However, I am happy to report that I have consolidated all of our stuff into our game/hall closet, and completely cleaned out the closet in the new guest bedroom and the nursery. We also picked out the paint color for the nursery. I brought home four different paint sheets, and, shockingly, Frank and I immediately agreed on the same color. In case anyone is curious, we are going to decorate the nursery in shades of blue, tan, white, and brown. The furniture is all dark brown wood and the walls will by painted a very pale shade of blue. I am so excited to get the room ready and make it fabulous!

Frank is working from home this week, and I am very excited to have him home and get to spend some extra time with him. Our big project for the week is to go register. Hopefully we can agree on strollers and car seats as easy as we agreed on the nursery paint color!

I am still feeling good, and I am trying to take advantage of my extra energy to get stuff done around the house and work out as much as possible. I know that as I get bigger I will start to get more and more uncomfortable, so I am trying to get everything done sooner than later.

San Francisco & Surprise baby showers

I am officially halfway through my pregnancy! I am still feeling great, and finally starting to really show! Frank and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to San Francisco where we visited with friends, went to a spectacular wedding, and had two surprise family baby showers. It was a fantastic visit, but it was way too short as usual! These two pictures are of us on the Egans' deck overlooking the hills of Novato. They have an AMAZING view!

On Saturday we went to Mike Byers' wedding, and it was truly spectacular. There were almost 400 people there, and the wedding was held at the bride's father's home. It was like something straight out of a movie complete with a huge tent filled with 40 tables & a dance floor, a gelato cart, a cigar bar, and state-of-the art port-o-potties. It was a lot of fun, but I was exhausted after about 6 hours of partying and I finally dragged the boys away from the cigar bar and we went home around 11. Thankfully I was the sober driver because there was a sobriety checkpoint on the way back to Seamus & Candice's house.



On Sunday, we went over to Frank's dad's house for a family fourth of july barbque that turned into a surprise baby shower! Frank's dad, his wife Denise, Aunt Rosabella, Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Ron, Uncle Andy, Jonathon, Wilma, and Daniel all planned a great little celebration for Baby Frank. They decorated Jose's house in lots of baby blue, brought a gorgeous cake, and spoiled us with tons of gifts! Baby Frank got his first swim suit, sunglasses, tons of cute clothes, blankets, and toys. And I got a gorgeous baby bag! We had a lot of great food and had a great day catching up with family. We had a fabulous time, and we are so grateful for supportive, excited family & friends. After the shower we went with Jon and Wilma to go watch fireworks. Here are some pics from the baby shower:










On Monday we headed over to Ariela's house for a big breakfast. It was great to see her and catch up before she heads off to Tufts for college in the fall. We are so proud of her, and I can't wait to go visit her in Boston! We then headed to Frank's mom's house for brunch and another surprise baby celebration. Frank's mom invited a bunch of his aunts and uncles, and Frank's sisters Mimi and Stella were also there. It was great to catch up with all of that side of the family, and they are all very excited about the baby too. They also brought a gorgeous, delicious cake, so Baby Frank definitely had his share of sugar this weekend! After the brunch we headed back to the airport and back home to Dallas. We had a fantastic vacation, and we are so thankful for getting to spend time with family! Here are some pictures from brunch at Frank's mom's house.