New Orleans Baby Shower

This weekend I had my first baby shower! It was so much fun celebrating the upcoming birth of my baby girl. The best part was spending time with loved ones. I am blessed to have such a loving family!

Aunt Debbie did a wonderful job hosting friends and family at her house. Lisa and I drove in Saturday morning and headed back Sunday with a car FULL of presents!

Here are some pictures:

Mimi, Me and Baby Girl, and Lisa

The baby tree. The tree skirt was my baby blanket. So cute!

The favors

Me and my Aunt Debbie

Lisa made the most adorable diaper cake

I love the plaid shoes on top!

This weekend was a wonderful beginning to my 3rd trimester. I can't believe that I'm 7 months pregnant....

Thankful Thanksgiving

This year I have so much to be thankful for. I thank God that he is giving us a little girl in just 3 months! I was also very thankful for my week off of work.

I got to spend much needed time with friends and family. Ryan and I also worked on the nursery, did some Christmas shopping, and put up Christmas decorations.

On Wednesday, we got to see Aunt Nancy, Uncle Glenn, and Meredith. It was my first time to see them after moving back from Russia a couple weeks ago. Meredith spent the day at our house while her parents were out buying a new car. We spent the day playing with TJ, walking around the lake, making candy turkey's, and having love potion (just water and heart ice) on the back porch.

 The turkey model

A turkey parade!

On Thursday, we headed to Ryan's grandparents house. Meem had all the usual delicious dishes. This is my 6th time to have Thanksgiving dinner at their house and it is always a great time. Everything she makes is homemade. I don't know how she does it.

Part of the table after dinner. Look how much food is left over!!

2nd Trimester

Today I am 25 and a half weeks pregnant (to be exact). Ha! Today I have a doctors appointment, which is the last one of my 2nd trimester.

Ryan and I haven't been the best at taking pictures of my growing belly, but here are a few from the 2nd trimester.

 15 Weeks

 16 Weeks (4 months)

 17 Weeks

 18 Weeks

 19 Weeks

 23 Weeks

24 Weeks (6 months)

I love the 2nd trimester! I have felt so good and really enjoying this stage of my pregnancy. My favorite part is feeling my little baby girl move all the time. I love when Ryan gets to feel her kick too.

I have been busy getting registered and putting the nursery together. We already have the crib, bedding, and all the furniture in the room.

Fall and Thanksgiving Decorations

Here are a few pictures that I took around the house during this Fall Season 2010. In the next week, I'll be packing it all up and replacing it with Christmas decor! I'm enjoying my last week with all of the pretty fall colors that will soon turn to red and green.

 

Mom and Chris's Wedding

On Saturday, October 13th, my mom and her fiance Chris tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony and reception. The room of the Chateau Country Club outside of New Orleans, LA was filled with family and friends to support a lovely couple.

Signing the Marriage Licence

My mom and Chris are so happy together! We love having Chris apart of the family. He has been such a blessing to our family. Since my dad passed away, it is great to see my mom happy again.

Toasting to the Raggio's

It was such a fun night with dancing, great food, and flowing drinks. I spent most of the night making my rounds catching up with family and family friends. I was hoarse after a couple hours.

Dancing to our song

Lisa and Kyle

These are some of the pictures from the wedding. I didn't take any pictures since my mom had a photographer, so these were taking by Uncle David.

We're having a little girl!!

On Friday October 22nd at 4:00 we had the appointment to find out if we would be having a little boy or girl. An overwhelming amount of friends, family, and students thought it would be a girl. Ryan and I just wanted a healthy baby.

My mom was able to drive in for the big event and with Lisa staying with us, it was a family affair. In a small room packed with Ryan, Mom, Lisa, and the ultrasound tech, we looked at my little baby wiggle around for over an hour. The ultrasound tech looked at all the organs, took measurements, and let us know that so far it looked like it was a girl. She was only 90% sure, so we had to look more.

Our little girl was very lady like with her ankles crossed. We loved this but couldn't leave until we were 100% sure...it would kill me to have to wait and come back another day. We tried everything to get her to uncross her ankles and it came down to the other tech known as the "Baby Whisperer". Within 30 seconds of having the "Baby Whisperer" in our room, our baby unlocked her ankles and revealed to us that she was in fact a girl! We clapped, cheered, hugged, kissed, and cried happy tears.

I'll never forget that feeling of excitement.

Renaissance Festival

Ryan has been talking about going to the Texas Renaissance Festival for years. I had never been and Ryan has gone several times as a kid. This year we decided to go. Ryan's parents were up for it too, so we picked a pretty Saturday and headed north to the Ren (Freak) Fest!

It was a beautiful October Saturday. Ryan and his dad bought tickets for the King's Feast. This was a multi course meal, show, and all you can drink. At a price tag of $95.00 each, Ann and I decided to go walk around and people watch and shop while the guys enjoyed their feast.

One of the main attractions is the costumes. Both workers and pedestrians are dressed in all types of outfits from the Renaissance era. Most of the outfits were just wrong. Too many freaks were living out their fantasies in my opinion. We saw it all. There was also plenty of food, shopping, shows, and games/rides for kids.

We had a good afternoon at the Renaissance Festival! It was definitely an experience I will never forget.

Welcome October!

I love fall! It is a very welcomed season for me. I'm so over the Houston heat and love to feel a chill in the air. Fall also means football, cool nights, fall decorations, and fun holidays.

I've really been into watching football this year. This past weekend we had our friends over for the Texas vs. Cowboys game. What was supposed to be a good game for the Texas, turned out to be a disaster :( We had a fun time though. Hopefully, the Texans will still have a good season.

October is also the month of some more exciting things:

1. Lisa moves in with Ryan and I for two months during her clinical for Physical Therapy School the second weekend of October
2. We find out the sex of the baby on October 22nd!
3. Our friends Ivan and Bree and getting married on October 30th. Ryan is a groomsman in the wedding
4. Halloween

How We Spread the News....

Ryan and I hated waiting until our doctor gave us the okay to tell friends and family. I counted down each day until we told everyone.

We had our first ultrasound on July 14th which confirmed that there was in fact a baby in my tummy. I was only 6.5 weeks along!  After that, we couldn't help but start telling family.

That upcoming weekend, we made the trip down to both Ryan's grandparent's and parent's house. We gave each of them a framed ultrasound picture. Before unwrapping it, we told them that it was a souvenir from Italy. Our baby will be the first grandchild for Ryan's parents and the first great-grandchild for Ryan's grandparents. It felt so good to have the love and support from the both of them!

I bought a plane ticket to go visit my mom and the rest of my family in New Orleans. So, it was a week and a half later and I was so excited for my trip and couldn't stop thinking about how my mom would react. I knew that she has been waiting patently for a grandchild for years now. Here is where my "plan" fell apart. I had morning (all-day) sickness really bad. I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it to the airport and take the flight in the condition that I was in. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. Plan B: Call my mom and tell her. She was so happy! She was also disappointed that I couldn't make the trip, but didn't care, because she was going to be a grandma!

Now for how I told my sister and Kyle. Since they live 9 hours a way, I decided to mail her a package. Once she would open the package, she would know right away. She called me once she opened it and screamed louder than a toddler in Walmart. Here is what I sent her....

Everyone in our family has been so excited and supportive. Ryan and I are so lucky to have a family that so openly shares our joys with us. I've loved all the calls, cards, and little gifts!

Baby News: How we found out.

Since we decided to try to start a family this summer, I thought I would schedule a pre-conception meeting with a OB-GYN. I showed up to the pre-conception meeting by myself and thought that I would just be talking to the doctor. At this point, I had a very small suspicion that I could be pregnant. It was just this feeling that I had. The same that my mom felt when she was pregnant with me. I kept it to myself because I just new that things don't happen that easily. I also hate the feeling of disappointment.

After getting into my room at the doctors office, I was asked very brief questions and for a urine sample by the nurse. Humm...I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

As I waited for the nurse to come back in after I had handed over my sample, she finally came back into the room with tears in her eyes. She smiled at me and told me, "You are pregnant!". I was SHOCKED. I asked her, "Really? Really?" several times. I started to cry and she have me a hug. I will never forget that moment.

After the doctors appointment, I knew that my life was changed forever!

I had planned how I would tell Ryan for years now. Here was the plan: Ryan doesn't have any baby/childhood albums and I don't have many pictures of him growing up. I always thought that it would be nice to have one to show our kids someday. His dad gave me a box full of pictures all mixed up several months ago. I knew that I would make a scrapbook/photo album of his life. On the last page, I would let him know that he is going to be a daddy. I had made the scrapbook over the months and Ryan had no idea.

That night, Ryan had a quiz for a class and was really stressed out. I wanted to wait and tell him at the right time when his mind was clear. I figured I would have to wait until the next evening when he got home from work. It just so happened, that Ryan decided to work from home the next day. Perfect.

The next morning when he woke up, I couldn't wait to give it to him. I hated holding this secret! We were sitting on the couch and I told him that I made him something. He was excited as he went through all the pages of his life from birth, childhood, the teenage years, to our first years of marriage. When he turned to the last page, my heart was fluttering. Ryan was shocked when he read the last page. It took a while for it to sink in. He kept asking the same thing that I asked the nurse, "Really? Really?".

We shared a moment. It was an exciting a scary feeling, but we are both thrilled!

Things are definitely about to change.

Italy Souvenir

The best thing that Ryan and got from Italy was not a sketch of the Duomo or the wine from Tuscany. We loved coming back with some loot and great pictures, but this is better than any of those things. After coming back from Italy I went to the doctor and found out......that we our having a baby!

Wow.

What a blessing.

After the pure shock and amazement, we couldn't believe that our plan had actually worked. Was it the prayers in every Catholic church that we visited, that both of us secretly wished for a baby as we tossed our coin in the Trevi Fountain, or was it that the timing was just right? All I know is that our baby is a gift from God.

This is the best souvenir ever!

The baby is due on March 6th, 2011. Right now, I am 15 weeks pregnant. Everything is going great.

Details to come....

Back to School

Summer has come to an end and school is back in session. My students showed up to school a couple of weeks ago with new hair cuts, school supplies, and new clothes. With this fresh start, I'm sure they are ready to learn.... :)

This year, my classes are good and not too crowded. I even revamped my classroom. I am teaching Touch System Data Entry and Professional Communication. Fun Stuff! I really like teaching both classes.

Here is to a great new school year for students and teachers!

4th of July: Possum Kingdom Lake

We had a great 4th of July with the Tatum's lake house on Possum Kingdom Lake. Kyle's parents hosted a full house. They are so fun and are wonderful entertainers. My mom and Chris drove in all the way from New Orleans! We had fun in the sun, great food, and lots of time spent together. Kyle and Ryan put on a great fireworks display on the 4th.

Kyle and Lisa

Chris and Mom

Possum Kingdom Lake

The Lake House

TJ ready to rock the boat

Italy Part 4: Rome

Ahhh, Rome is pretty magical! We were both pretty tired by the time that we got to Rome, but knowing it was our last stop, we didn't want to slow down.

We stayed in the most amazing hotel called The Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri. Here is the link to the most incredible hotel! http://www.romecavalieri.com We spent a lot of time on our hotel grounds enjoying the hotel lounge, Turkish bath/spa, and walking the grounds.

Making a wish and tossing a coin in the Trevi Fountain

Our wishes did come true!!

The Colosseum

The Roman Forum

Ryan in St. Peter's Square holding the golden ticket to see the Pope

The Pope in Vatican City, Rome

Inside the Vatican


The Sistine Chapel was amazing. You aren't allowed to take pictures.