First movements!

The past few days, I have been noticing a new muscle "twitch" in my stomach, always in the same place around the same time of day. I think it must be the baby! Granted, I dont KNOW with 100% certainty, as I have never felt it before, but it sure feels like the little feeling everyone keeps describing.

I told Jesse I thought I felt it, and he scrambled across the room, and kept his hand on my stomach for about 15 minutes, determined to feel it himself. Hehe, I dont know that it is strong enough to be felt by him, but he insists that he pushed up against something and then it moved. :)

Only 10 more days until we find out the baby's gender!!

Baby Avery Reese

Baby Avery Reese made her (difficult) entrance to the world on Thursday, December 14, 2006. Heather went into the hospital Thursday morning already dialated 3 cm, and the doctors went ahead and broke her water to help progress her labor. Things moved slow throughout the labor process up until she reached 6 cm. Both her and Chris's entire families surrounded Heather, praying and cheering on little Avery to come out. After a little bit, the doctor came back to check and said she was ready to push! She dialated 4 whole cm in only 30 minutes! Heather had to push for about 45 minutes, and little Avery was stuck. The doctor had tried to turn her, using the forcepts and even the suction-thing on her head, and she would not turn. They began to prep for a c-section and the doctor was determined to try one last time. He grabbed her with the forcepts, and out she came! You can see she has some scratches and bruising on her face and head, from the rough delivery, but is a beautiful baby. She has dark hair like Heather, and Chris's blue eyes.
Jesse just kept staring at her as she slept...I dont blame him- we all were just staring!
Chris and Heather tried to get her to wake up so we could see her blue eyes, and Avery was not too happy about that. :)
The happy and proud new family!
Congratulations Chris and Heather! Your little miracle is absolutely beautiful, and we thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with you both.

Family Christmas 2006

I always look forward to Family Christmas. You see, ever since us kids were little, my mom's family realized that it was too difficult trying to get everyone together for Christmas day year after year. And yet, we really missed the years we could not all get together. So they changed plans and set the new plans in stone. Every year, on the 3rd Saturday in December, we all meet at my grandparent's home and have Family Christmas. Other holiday plans are always made around this very special date!

This year, we changed the plan slightly, and had Family Christmas at my aunt's house in Dallas. As always, we had a great time. The focus shifted slightly, with the addition of the two new babies this year. We had a new "baby" generation to play with and enjoy. The aunts and uncles still had their secret santa drawing, as did the married cousins. I was the only person in the entire family to guess my secret santa on the 1st go-around. :) After all the presents, and of course, TONS of food, we all played "The Name Game" for what seemed like hours. It was hysterical! A good time was had by all, and I am already looking forward to next year.

Julie and Jennifer are two years apart. While my mom was shopping for Jennifer, she asked Julie to help pick out something Jenn would like. On the same hand, Jennifer was helping Aunt Darenda pick out something Julie would like. Can you believe they picked out the exact same thing, at the exact same store?? Great minds think alike!

Now, the baby pictures begin. I know, I know- I couldn't help it! They are about 2 and a half months old, just so cute, and so DIFFERENT! Hard to believe they are cousins and only a day apart.
Savannah Lynn (note the baldness)

Kalia Grace (where did she get all that hair??)

Jennifer holding Savannah, while brother Jacob holds Kalia
Times like these remind me how lucky I am to have such a big, loving family. Even though we live apart and only see one another a few times a year, it is always the most special of times.

Christmas Cheer

I tried to decorate my desk at the office so when I have to go in, at least the atmosphere is cheerful! Our company is also having a Christmas decorating contest, and though I will not win, the festive feel of the office is definitely an improvement!

Jesse's funny idea...

While we were posing for our Christmas photo, Jesse came up with some goofy idea for a picture. He knows I am very self-consious about my growing tummy, and decides to have a contest and see "whose is bigger." So on the count of three, we both stuck them out as far a s we could, and my sister caught us with the camera at the perfect time! Dont worry, we are not using this on our Christmas card, but I thought it was pretty funny and had to share. :)

Christmas at the Shulse home

Merry Christmas!

I love this season, and decorating always makes me smile from the inside out. Granted, we are still growing our Christmas collection, a little every year, but it IS growing, slowly and surely.

Our mantle, with the nativity scene, and our stockings "hung with care"

The only snow men we will ever see in Houston, Texas
Santa with his presents
Our Christmas tree

(I still need to get a tree skirt...)
The lights, garland, and bows on the outside of the house
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Long time, no post!

There has been so much going on lately, and yet I have failed to share it all with you! Granted, some is boring and not very exciting, but there have been plenty of exciting things happening too!

Let's get the boring out of the way first. Work has been keeping me insanely busy, with deadlines right and left on multiple projects. I have also managed to train another new employee while still juggling my work. She is nice enough, though kind of quiet.

We have had some health problems in the past month which have not been fun. Jesse has been training for the Houston marathon and managed to destroy his feet and back in the process. He has been in physical therapy for a month and is starting to feel some results. We both came down with the allergies/flu-type symptoms, which knocked us out for about a week each. NOT fun. And to make it all worse, I have still been getting morning sickness and losing weight (not that you can tell). Throwing up is nasty, and when you do it on a normal basis, it is even worse. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

On to the good news!

Jesse took on a new part-time job, on top of his regular job at the golf course, which has also been keeping him (and me, on occasion) extremely busy. He is installing Elfa shelving for The Container Store for the entire Houston area. So far, he seems to like it, and the extra money is GREAT. I'm worried that he is going to wear himself out, but he is very adamant that he needs to do this right now to prepare (our bank accounts!) for the baby. I'm very proud of his dedication and his desire to provide so deligently for our family.

Speaking of the baby, things are progressing right along. We had our first ultrasound November 1, and if I had a scanner I would post the cute little picture. It truly was a miracle watching such a tiny human being squirming around on screen, knowing it was growing inside of me. Very cool. I have started to show a little bit, and it's kind of annoying, to be honest. I just look chunky- not quite pregnant. My pants are all fitting much snugger, yet I cant fit into maternity pants (and dont really want to at this point). I will admit- I thought Jesse was going to be the one who struggled with my changing figure, and yet it has been me- he has been totally supportive. Hopefully it will be better once it actually looks like I'm pregnant and not just chunky!! We will go back on January 2 for our next appointment, and will find out the baby's sex at that time. Get your votes in now... :)

The holiday season is in full gear, and we are having a great time. We spent Thanksgiving with my family, and had a great day full of food, fellowship, and even poker! Yes, I WON for the first time ever!! (I'm not still gloating, I promise...hehe.) We will go up to Dallas this weekend to celebrate my mom's extended family Christmas with all my aunts and uncles, which is always a lot of fun. I'm excited to see my new 2nd-cousins (Savannah and Kalia) since I have not seen them since they were born in Aug/Sept. We will spend Christmas with Jesse's family. It is fun to watch his neice and nephews get excited about Christmas and open all their toys and games. I can tell this will be a great holiday season to remember!

Heather's baby shower

Heather and Chris are due early December, and we celebrated the upcoming birth of baby Avery Reese with a baby shower last weekend. It was fun to see Heather finally "getting big," since she did not start to show until almost 5 months! I thought it was ironic that she wore a blue shirt, since it was a girly (pink) shower...always a sense of humor!

We all helped to make a square for her quilt, as we did for Lauren. The nursery is going to be pink and brown, and as always, Brittany put together a beautiful quilt, made with the squares from all of us.

Avery's first Aggie football jersey- you know that present is more for Chris, than Heather

or Avery!

I just liked this picture...I dont remember why she was laughing so hard, but it is great that she is so happy. :)
Another close up of the quilt. My square is the top row, right in the center.
Erin got matching outfits for Lauren's daughter, Hayley and the soon-to-be baby Avery. Since Heather and Lauren have always been best friends, they just know Hayley and Avery will be best friends too. Either way, they will have a cute picture together in their green onesies!
It is always fun to get together and giggle with these girls. I'm so excited for Chris and Heather, and I cannot wait to meet baby Avery and get her initiated into the group.

my CEO's 50th birthday party

The CEO of my company recently turned 50 years old...in style! She threw an outrageous party at the Paraiso Maravilla off Chimney Rock. The place was very nice, though there were not enough chairs for everyone. They had top notch appetizers and finger foods, but I think I only tried a few that were recognizable. There was also an open bar, which is very strange for my strict, Baptist CEO! It was strange to see people you work with all dressed up (we had to wear 'after 5 attire' in either black or white), drinking, and boogying down on the dance floor! Jesse was out of town and unable to go with me, so I spent most of the night drinking Sprite and laughing as people danced all funky on the dance floor. I did manage to get a few pictures, though they turned out pretty dark.

This is my CEO and her boyfriend beginning the dance trend...

(I was on the 2nd floor looking down to get this picture)

The birthday cake...probably larger than my wedding cake...
Me and a couple girls from the office, Jean and Ana.
Chris and Lori 'getting down' on the dance floor! It was a fun evening, though not my favorite event ever. Perhaps it would have been different if I was able to have a drink or two and relax some, but that was not the case.

I stayed long enough for people to know I was there, then I headed home to have some Taco Bell and a cheesy chick flick- now THAT is my kind of night!

The first heartbeat

After continuing to be quite ill for a few weeks, I spent half the day on Sunday and all day on Monday throwing up every little thing that went into my system. I tell you this, not to make you in turn lose YOUR lunch, but to explain why we had to go see the doctor this week. Not to worry- that is not my story! However, I did have to go to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon for the first time.

While at the doctor's office, the nurse did not think they would be able to find the heartbeat, since I am only about 9 weeks along. However, when my doctor came in, she was determined to try. She brought in the doppler, and applied the (cold) gel to my tummy, and begin moving around and listening carefully.

As she pushed on the left side of my stomach, she smiled and said, "Ah- there it is!"
I kind of jumped a little, and said, "really??"

Unfortunately, my jumping caused her to lose it. So then I was extremely still, trying hard to not even breathe.

She pushed a little on the right side of my stomach and found it again. It was beating so quickly, and was such a sweet little sound. I was enjoying it when all of a sudden, from across the room, Jesse giggles (yes, giggles) and says, "Sounds like a boy!"

Needless to say, we all started laughing and it was lost again.

It was so cute to see him get excited, and get to share in the first heartbeat of our little one. Finally, something to be excited about!! Hooray for little miracles along the way!

We will still go back on Nov. 1 for the real exam, and will have the first ultrasound at that time. Yippee Skippee!

My 24th Birthday

My birthday was on October 9, and I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did I manage to NOT throw up all day (quite an accomplishment), but I felt peaceful. I was able to go into the office to get some work done, have lunch with a friend, and then dinner with my family at the Olive Garden. All in all, it was a very nice day!

My parents gave me the "matching" Willow Tree figurine of the pregnant woman, to go with the "New Dad" figurine I gave Jesse the day we found out we were expecting.

Jesse got me a beautiful new "Mommy" necklace from James Avery, along with a dozen orange roses. He has really surprised me with his new sentiments, since learning of the pregnancy. What a sweetie!

My family knows that I have been trying to save money for new bedroom furniture, including a new mattress and box springs. All of my sisters and my parents gave me money to help hurry the process., which I quickly added to my envelope.

We celebrated with his family a few days later, doing a joint birthday party for me and our nephew, Jansen. It was a lot of fun hanging out, and watching Jansen get so excited about his birthday presents. (Ah- remember when birthdays were FUN??)

I had a lot of friends and family send emails, leave messages, and call to wish me a happy birthday, and it meant a lot from each and every one of you! Thanks to everyone who helped make my day so special.

Julie's Senior Homecoming

My baby sister is growing up. Too fast!

Julie is a senior in high school this year, and it is so strange how her growing up has really made me feel old. I love watching her grow into the strong, independent and beautiful person that she is, but it is so hard at the same time!

She had her final homecoming dance on October 7, and I went over to "help her get ready..." which basically means I get to sit, watch, and "ohh...ahhh" a lot. Julie went with a sophisticated look this year, and I really loved the way she pulled it off.

Here she is, completeing last minute preparations before her date arrived to pick her up. Check out the CUTE shoes that tie the whole outfit together! Can you believe she also found a matching purse that completely matched the shoes, at Target? What a stylist!
Susan and I posing with Juls...unfortunately Sarah couldn't make it in town that weekend, but she was there in spirit. Holder girls forever!
Big Brother Jesse is always so supportive and encouraging, taking a part in Julie's life, and wanted this picture to "get it in ink" that he was there.
Julie and Jon, before leaving for more pictures, dinner (at Dave& Busters- how fun!), and of course the dance. Don't you love their matching outfits? They are just buddies, but they sure looked handsome together for the dance!
And to think the beautiful girl started out...like THIS! HA! Gotta love the "before" pictures!
I will miss sharing these special times with my sisters. Once Juls graduates in the spring, the dramatic high school dances will be over, and so will an era of memories with my sisters. Ah, good times, good times.

Happy News

Jesse and I found out on September 13, 2006 that we are pregnant with our first baby.

We had decided to get off birth control back in June, but were still using other methods of protection until all the hormones were out of my body. This was our very first month with nothing, and lo and behold, we are pregnant!

I had read all kinds of things saying how sometimes the mother can feel the implantation in the uterus, and that it might be accompained with some bleeding. Though I did not have any bleeding, I did feel some sharp pains in my abdomen one night, and casually dismissed it as PMS. However, for the next week or so, I feel a wierd, non-painful cramping in my abdomen quite frequently, which was strange considering I rarely cramp with my periods. I kept saying to Jesse, "Something is different..." and he would nod and smile, and go on with life. Finally, after over a week of me saying it, he said, "If you're so sure, take a test!" So I did...three times. All three were negative. Jesse calmly says, "Do you think maybe you want it so bad that you are imagining these 'feelings'?" Ummm...NO. I decided to wait and see if I started my period, and be done.

The day before I was expected to start, I was working from home, and I just kept having this nagging feeling that wouldnt go away. Jesse was at work, so I told myself if I took another test and it turned out negative, he would never have to know! So, I took one. I sat in amazement as it showed up positive! I still was not convinced, so I took another one, and it was positive again.

I had to take Jesse's grandmother to one of the local hospitals for some tests that day, and when she went back to get her test run, I walked over to the gift shop. They had the WillowTree collection, and right in front was a "New Dad" holding this little baby; I decided that was how I would tell Jesse. But first, we had to speak! See, I had been slightly emotional (again thinking, PMS) the past few days and had mouthed off to him the night before, pretty rudely. So, I sent him a text message, knowing if I called him, he would hear it in my voice, and just apologized and told him I loved him. He replied back, saying he loved me too.

I wrapped the "New Dad" in a gift bag and had it in my office with me when he got home. I walked into the living room to see him and he immediately came over and gave me a big hug. I apologized again, and then handed him the gift bag. He said, "Mel, what is this for?" I said, "It's my apology gift for being so emotional and rude lately." He hugs me again and says, "It's really not a big deal, babe..." I said, "Just open it."

He began to open the box, and didnt notice the name on the box or the little card that read "New Dad." When he saw the figurine inside, he just stopped and stared at me. "Seriously??" I smiled, and said "Seriously." He just started hugging and kissing me and even got a little emotional himself! (Shocking, I know!) I showed him the two tests, and told him I still wanted to go get the ClearBlue kind that say straight up "Pregnant" or "Not pregnant," so went right then and there. Sure enough, as you can see in the picture, "Pregnant" popped up right away.

The Friday before we left for Mexico, I went to the doctor and confirmed. She said everything looked normal, and gave Baby Shulse an approximate due date of May 25, 2007. We will go back on November 1 to meet the real doctor, have the first ultrasound, and listen to the heart beat. I'm sure it will all become a lot more real after all of that.

Please join us in praying that everything will be okay with the baby, and that it's development continues to thrive. Also, if you would not mind saying a quick prayer for my morning sickness, I would sure appreciate it! I will post updates as I know things, but I'm going to try to not become obsessive about this- so if I get annoying, just say so!! I'm just excited and want each of you to share in this rollercoaster with me; you are all so important to me, and I know you will be important to Baby Shulse as well. :)

Our Mexican Vacation 2006- part II

This may be my last post for awhile...I'm so frustrated with Blogger!! I have tried to upload these pictures probably 9 times!! Errrrr. Anyway, on with the post.

Once again, here is me enjoying the hammock on the patio balcony of our casa. I spent a good deal of time in this hammock, and as you can tell from the nasty pictures, I was pretty dang relaxed!!
Here we are, all sunscreened/oiled up, ready to go kayak and snorkel. Don't you love the one-arm-out, picture-taking ability of my talented husband?
Jesse returning from snorkeling around the bay.
One of our many Scrabble matches. Jesse won 8 times, I won 2 times, and we tied once. Can you believe he beat me that bad?? I know...I can't either.
This is Jesse with Canela, one of the many friendly dogs who lived there on the beach. Canela would literally stay on our patio all night, wait for us to wake up in the morning, follow us down to the beach, and wait by the back stairs when we left the casa. I think she adopted us!

Our Mexican Vacation 2006- part I

I am pretty late in posting, but do not take that as a negative sign!

We had a BLAST. We really did not do much, other than hang around the Casa, kayack and snorkel in the bay, nap, and play Scrabble. It was wonderful. We both were able to fully relax and catch up on some much needed sleep, as well as quality time together. The house did not have a t.v., and the radio it had was only in spanish, obviously. Some prior guests had left a few CDs, but we had not heard of any of them. Since we went during the low season, I think there were only two other couples/families on the entire beach. It was QUIET. The ocean provided the background music, while the leaves from the surrounding jungle made the melody. Very peaceful.

I'm having a hard time uploading more than 5 pictures at a time, so I'm going to have to give you pictures in installments. :)

This first picture is me standing in the ocean, looking back and taking a picture of a few of the cabanas. Ours was the one on the far right, with the four lounge chairs. I spent a lot of time on those chairs!
Yes, those are my feet, relaxing in the hammock on our patio. We had the top unit, so the view was fabulous!
This was the entrance to our Casa- Case de Canciones means "House of Songs," which was certainly appropriate!
Another pretty picture taken from our patio balcony.
One day, we visited a lagoon in Akumal called Yel-Ka (pronounced something like Jul-Ka). It was a very quiet, secluded place, full of vegetation, wildlife, and the lagoon itself. We snorkeled around (as you can tell by the mask lines on Jesse's face), and it was very different than snorkeling in the bay. There are warm spots and VERY cold spots...so you are swimming, and all of a sudden your body breaks out in goose bumps, then a few seconds later, you go through a place warmed by the ocean water, and the goose bumps subside. Weird. Supposedly, people usually see a TON of fish that are very different from the fish you see on the reefs, but we did not see all that many. Maybe it was the time of year. Regardless, it was fun to get out and see something different.

More pictures to come in the next entry!

Mexico here we come!

The long awaited vacation is finally here!!

Jesse and I leave on Saturday morning to fly to MEXICO! We have double-checked all our plans and arrangements, and it is really going to happen. The trip is paid for, other than the rental car, so we just get to go and relax. Monday we created our day-by-day meal plan, and I went shopping for the non-perishables yesterday. We will pick up the rest at one of the Mexican Marketplaces on our way. We have a small suitcase full of food, one large suitcase full of clothes, and another large suitcase full of snorkeling gear, sunscreen, towels, flip flops, and FUN. I cannot wait to get there and take nap in one of the hammocks. The weather shows a chance for rain all week long, but no hurricanes or anything scary. I'm hoping it does not rain everyday, but even if it does, I can withstand rain in MEXICO over rain in HOUSTON any day! We have planned to go visit the Mayan/Tulum ruins while we're there, so I hope one day is at least nice enough for that.

I will post pictures when I get home. Yippee Skippee!!!
(Can you tell I'm slightly excited?)

MEXICO...HERE WE COME! :)

Baby Kalia Grace

(I thought this had already posted, but it turns out I saved it as draft and didnt post!)

Baby #4, Kalia Grace came into this world on September 1, 2006 at 4:50 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz, and measured 19 inches.

Ashleigh was induced Friday morning around 6:00am, and had normal labor all day long. She said the pain was not as bad as she had imagined, especially once she was able to get the epidural. (Apparently that thing is a miracle drug, and any woman would be crazy to pass it up!)

Kalia has more hair than any baby I have ever seen in my life. Seriously! Ashleigh was teasing her saying she would need a haircut as soon as they got her home! However, with all the long, dark hair also came long, dark eyelashes. A dream come true for any girl!

Ashleigh had MAJOR heartburn throughout her pregnancy and was popping Tums as if they were candy. According to her, there is an old wives tale that says the more heartburn you have, the more hair the baby has. I have never heard of that, but it sure seems true in her case.

Isn't she a cutie? Safe and comfortable on mom's chest.
Poor thing, she was still pretty tired when we got there to see her.
I absolutely love this picture of Rick (dad) and Kalia. This is one for the wedding slideshow! She had literally been crying as we all held her, even when grandma held her, but as soon as she was in Dad's arms, she calmed right down.
I think she Rick wrapped around her little finger already...

Fun, fun! At last! All four babies are here, safe and sound. Heather and Chris are due in December and maybe they will be the start of another round. They are expecting a girl too!

Congratulations Rick and Ashleigh. Kalia is just precious!!

Baby Savannah Lynn

Baby #3 arrived last Thursday, August 31, 2006.

She was due to arrive August 20th, and they finally decided to induce when she would not come out on her own!

Michelle was induced Thursday morning around 8:00am and her labor progressed as normal. She had her epidural around 4.5 cm dialated, and said the rest was smooth sailing. Savannah had dropped as she was supposed to, andMichelle's body was getting ready as it was supposed to. By 4:00pm she was ready to push.

They tried pushing for almost two hours, and finally decided it was best to go ahead and have a C-section. Turns out that Savannah was "sunny side up" with her face up, rather than down. On top of that, the way her head was turned, her little head kept butting up against Michelle's pelvis bone, rubbing bone on bone. There was nothing they could do to get her out vaginally.

A few hours later, after getting ready for the surgery (which was more traumatic for Matt than it was for Michelle), Savannah was born.

She was a rather large baby, which can be expected being a week over due, weighing 8 lbs 5 oz and measuring 22 inches long. But oh-so-cute!
The new proud parents: the happy Humber family!
Savannah looks a little drunk or something in this picture. I dont think she liked the flash on my camera.
I'm so excited for them, and I know this is the first of more to come for the Humber family.
Congratulations Matt and Michelle!