Week 25:

This week has been very exciting! Our parents generously purchased a brand new B.O.B. stroller for a baby gift. We are thrilled as we have been “eyeing” this stroller because it is rugged, versatile, and durable. Plus, the large wheels and padded five point harness make it perfect for tooling around on the many trails that surround campus. We assembled the stroller and took it for a test ride around campus and have been showing it off to our friends… even our non-parent friends are impressed by the clever engineering and tough design.

The baby is continuing to grow and move. K now sleeps with a pillow propped under her belly and routinely feels the baby kicking away! She received a giant bag of maternity clothes from a new mom on campus and is having fun with her new wardrobe!

Week 24:

We had a fantastic trip to the northwest. We had tremendous fun visiting our friends and spending lots of quality time with their daughter. We also traveled over 1100 miles in 5 days visiting the Oregon coast, Mt. Olympic National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, Mt. St. Helens, and the Columbia River Gorge. In between visiting the parks we found time for a nap on the beach, crossed paths with an old VOBS friend, saw a full scale replica of Stonehenge, butchered a rooster, and got way too close to some bull elk! The second trimester is turning out to be a lot of fun!

~click on the thumbnails for a few shots from our trip~

Week 23:
Greetings from sunny Oregon... yup, SUNNY Oregon. We are having a great time visiting our friends and the weather has been fantastic. We are finally in full vacation mode, enjoying big breakfasts, frequent coffee breaks, and lazy days strolling through the small town. We have enjoyed visiting Megan and Jordan and are enthralled with their 14 month old daughter. It has been eye opening to witness the daily joys of being a new parent as well as witnessing the exhausting schedule that accompanies it! We are getting ready to head up the coast for a small tour of the parks and wilderness areas in this area of the country.

Kara continues to do well and we had the fortune to visit Megan in her office (she is a Nurse-Midwife) for a quick listen to the baby’s heartbeat!

We had another ultrasound today and are posting a few more pictures... the baby's heart rate was 140 bpm and it was moving around quite a bit! It is amazing to watch the baby's tongue move, heart beat, and tiny arms wave! The detail on the ultrasound allowed us to clearly see the ears, all 10 fingers, and even the lens of the eye! As with all of the pictures on the website, you can click on the image for a larger version of the picture. Enjoy!

Week 22:

She is definitely eating for two! Kara’s appetite has exploded and she and I are eating equal portions now- I already miss the days when I would get to finish up the leftovers from her plate! She continues to feel well and her bump is getting ever larger.

The headmaster of our school is retiring (after 27 years with the school and 19 as head) and the school had a beautiful send off dinner and dance. Many of the guests were in tuxedos and formal gowns so we donned our finest and spent a delightful evening eating and dancing with rest of the faculty.

We will be heading to Oregon later this week to spend ten days with our good friends from the Blue Pickerel- Megan, Jordan, and their new daughter, Molly. This is the first time either of us have visited the Pacific Northwest and we are very excited to do some exploring. I am not sure about uploading pictures from the road but we will try to at least post some text.

Happy Father’s Day!

21 Weeks:

School is over and the crush of the last several weeks is fading away! The pace and quantity of activities has been overwhelming and we were thrilled when the students graduated on Saturday and the boarders headed for their respective homes. It has left our home, right on the quad, a much quieter place! With our new found time we are hoping to pull together the baby’s room. We have made a few recent purchases off Craigslist.org and will be rearranging our apartment in the next week. We have high hopes for the finished room but right now it looks a lot like we just moved- with boxes all over, mix-matched furniture, and piles in the corners. We will be sure to post a picture when all the work is done!

Also, check out our new favorite outfit. It is from my cousin Martha and her husband Jeff and reminds us of the polar bears from our Blue Pickerel Expedition!

Week 20:
Half way there! We celebrated our halfway mark with an afternoon canoe trip on the Charles River. It was a beautiful day to be outside and was also our first time back in a canoe since leaving the Bering Sea! As the picture shows, we brought along the dog. It took her a bit to settle down but she seemed to enjoy laying in the sun and lapping water from the river as we paddled. As the top picture shows, K has really started to "show." It is just in time for her to wear some of the cute maternity sun dresses before the end of school! Pregnancy land continues to go well and we are looking forward to another meeting with the doctor on Monday!