Baby Shower #1 - Colorado Springs, CO

Mom & Dad

I'm not hiding one under my shirt... I promise!!

My dad's bowling-ball-baby

Baby & Me

The "Diaper Cake" that my mom made me... so cute!!

Me and Grandma-to-be

Kyle and I FINALLY got some time off together this week and were able to go to Colorado Springs to spend some time with family. We both have to work on Thanksgiving, so we decided to do an early Thanksgiving with my parents and go down for my little brother's "Sweet 16".... and my mom threw me my first baby shower! Busy busy busy weekend!! We had a lot of fun bowling for my brother's birthday, playing games with the family, watching movies and relaxing. The baby shower was fantastic, and I got to see a lot of neighbors and family friends. I even got to reconnect with a "long lost friend" from high school that I haven't seen in 9 years.... so much fun!!!

This Thanksgiving week marks the end of our little one's 27th week... 7 months here we come! Time has gone by so fast I just know that he or she will be here before we know it! The baby moves all the time now, and has started it's ritual of keeping mom up at night, something that will continue for awhile I am sure! I am feeling really good, just starting to get more and more tired as I get more and more uncomfortable. I am finally starting to be noticeably and definitely pregnant (YAY!!), and I no longer have to try to convince people how far along I am, though I still get a lot of worried looks and "You are so small!" reactions. If that is your reaction to the pictures as well, be assured that my doctor is not worried at all and the baby is doing wonderfully! My belly measurements are perfectly normal for now!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, more to come later! Thank you again to my mother for the fantastic baby shower!

Love, Baby & Me

It's a BOY!!! ..... or a GIRL!!!

Hooray! We finally made it past our 20 week ultrasound! A lot has happened since our last update! The baby looks great on ultrasound and is growing according to schedule even though mom's weight gain is a little behind. It was really hard to decline finding out the sex of our little one, but we got through it... and Kyle was even a little disappointed when we left! The baby was hiding it's face for the majority of the ultrasound so we didn't get any really great pictures, but we got to see him/her sucking their thumb and swallowing.... and then hiccupping! It was amazing! Kyle had been trying to feel the baby's movement for a couple of weeks and was very discouraged (the baby would stop moving as soon as he put his hand on my belly.... of course). The ultrasonographer was poking and pushing at the baby to try to get some good pictures, and the baby was so upset by the time we were done that it was kicking like crazy... and dad finally got to feel it move!

Baby is moving all the time now. It seems like it sleeps when I am active and is active when I am trying to sleep/rest ... a good indication of the months to follow I suppose! This weekend marks the beginning of our 22nd week, time seems to be flying by so quickly! We are slowly chipping away at the nursery, but we are still missing a lot of the essentials. The decorating part is pretty much done, as you can see from the pictures, but we still have a lot of work to do, and a lot of things to buy!

That's all for now, more pictures soon! Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Baby & Me

Hey, hey Baby!!

Here they are, the first ultrasound and belly pictures! This ultrasound picture was taken at about 14 1/2 weeks along, baby is progressing normally, may even be slightly bigger than normal at this stage. (Kyle was a large baby, so keep your fingers crossed for me!) Everything looked great at ultrasound, all of the baby's systems are progressing normally. We got to see it's little heart beating and it was moving quite a bit on the ultasound, though I have not yet felt any movement... soon though hopefully!!

This week marks the beginning of our 18th week. I feel huge already, but I had only gained about three pounds as of my last doctor's appointment two weeks ago. Our 20 week ultasound is coming up fast... Kyle is still not budging on not finding out the sex of the little one... sorry grandmas!!! The 20 week ultasound will look intensely at the baby, measuring all the bones and organs to make sure that we are progressing as planned. In the next couple of weeks I should start to feel movement, and Kyle is looking forward to being able to hear the baby's heartbeat at home with his stethoscope... then we won't have to wait so long in between!

Even though we will not find out the sex of the baby, we do already have names picked out. I am either carrying sweet little Madeline Rae, or Lane Willard. We are so excited and can't wait to find out!

The nursery is coming along nicely, Kyle calls it "The Winnie-the-Pooh Memorial". In the next few weeks we will be able to put together the crib & rocking chair and I will post some pictures.

Mom and baby are doing well, I am starting to get sore feet and an aching back, but I am not complaining (at least I try not to most of the time!). We are so very grateful for how easy this pregnancy has been and thank our lucky stars for all of our blessings this far.

Love you all!! Kyle, Ashley & Baby

Okay Okay Okay! We'll start a blog!!

Here we are, newborns to the blogging world!! After hearing all of the complaints and comments from family and friends that we live too far away and really, REALLY need to have a blog... we gave in.

Introducing the newly-wedded Hammonds, with baby on the way! Our lives have been pretty crazy this summer, and it doesn't look like it is going to slow down anytime soon! Kyle just started his junior year of vet school and I am working full time as a nurse's aid at a Rehab facility. Right now we are busy starting the nursery and trying to slowly prepare for our newest addition. I am just finishing up my 15th week... everything is going well so far, the time is flying by! We had our first ultrasound done last week and he/she looks great! And in case anyone is wondering, we are not going to find out the sex of the baby... just to torment our mothers!! Just kidding! Our official due date is February 15th, can't wait to meet the little one!

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by! We'll be in touch soon!

Love, Kyle & Ash