5 Months (23 Weeks)

I had my 5 month check-up today and they did the big ultrasound. Everything looked great with me and the baby. Baby has all working parts and looks good, measuring at about 1 lb 5 oz so far. The baby was moving constantly and didn't cooperate for a good profile shot, but we got some great pictures of hands and feet and one face on that's a little scary, but oh well! Of course the doctor avoided the boy/girl area so baby's gender will still be a surprise in April!! Enjoy the pictures. Head and spine shot

Waving hi. This is why we couldn't get a good profile shot, the baby had its hands in front of its face the whole time.

Really long foot

Scary face shot :)

California

This past weekend we took a trip to California with the whole Baumgarten clan to visit Brian (Shannon's brother) and celebrate his college graduation and commissioning into the US Air Force. We flew into LA Thursday evening and went straight to Brian's house in Hermosa Beach to have dinner and celebrate Steven's 17th Birthday (December 15th). Friday we went to the ceremony at USC. It was very cool to see Brian in his element, uniform and all, with his fellow ROTC buddies. The ceremony was to commission Brian and three of his classmates from Cadets to Lieutenants. He is now officially in the Air Force and will be heading off to pilot school in Texas in April. He also graduated from USC with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, but USC doesn't have a December Graduation Ceremony. The weather was great, mid 70s each day and we began each morning with a long walk along the beach. Our condo was about 50 feet from the beach, we couldn't see the ocean, but we could hear it! It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend! A perfect way to head into the Christmas Holiday.

The graduates and their Commander

The award Brian received. He has worked so hard, we are very proud of him!!
The baby bump has become very obvious!

Proud parents

Brian and Kim

Beach Volleyball

It was so hard to leave the beach and come back to Denver!

Christmas Decorations

We finally finished putting up all of our Christmas decorations and it only took two weekends! You would think that meant we had tons of decorations, but really it was a result of intermittent time spent on them, but they're up and we are enjoying them! The fireplace is Kole's favorite, he always turns the fire on as soon as he gets home. Enjoy the pictures!

Nursery

After we recovered from all of the cooking and eating, the four of us (Kole and I and his parents) got back to work on Friday. Actually Dick and Kole got back to work to finish paining the nursery and getting the crib set up and Janaan and I went to get a pedicure, after all, I can't paint! The paint looks great, they did a wonderful job and we love the crib. The crib was Dick and Janaan's present to Kole and I for baby Harms, and it seemed only right that we get it set up while they were here to see it. The nursery is off to a great start, but is far from finished. Turns out it is a little more difficult to paint and decorate for a surprise (since we aren't finding out if the baby is a girl or boy) then I though it would be, but we're figuring it out!

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the walls are brown and white and the furniture will all be black, the drapes are temporary!

Thanksgiving 2009 - Firsts and Lasts

This Thanksgiving was wonderful! Kole's parents flew in on Tuesday evening and we kicked off their visit with dinner at CB and Potts as it was some of the Baumgarten family's only opportunity to visit with them. Wednesday was full of shopping for paint, light fixtures and of course groceries and then home to paint and cook. Kole and his dad hung the new light fixtures and painted the nursery while Janaan and I started to prep for Thanksgiving. Thursday morning we all rose early to continue cooking and getting the house ready for the big dinner. We had a total of 10 for dinner including the four of us plus my parents, Steven and the Eruchalu family, but we had enough food to feed 20. This was the first Thanksgiving Kole and I have hosted, the first we've spent without Josh and Kelsey who were celebrating with Josh's family in North Carolina and the first Dick and Janaan have spent with us in Colorado. This was our last Thanksgiving as a couple before we become a family of three. We would not have had such a successful, wonderful meal had it not been for all of Kole's parents hard work as well as the contributions by everyone else. We are so thankful for our family and friends and are honored they chose to spend Thanksgiving with us at our home. We love you all!!The Harms busy cooking, they worked so hard!!We had two turkeys this year, traditional and deep fried. Thanks Dad!!Thanks to my mom, sister and Jenn I was able to set two full tables, a tough feat for someone who was born without the creative gene!The pictures just don't do the amount of food we had justice. We were able to have almost everything at each table so we could sit and pass food like a proper family. On the menu: deviled eggs, spinach pastries, turkey: traditional and deep fired, mashed potatoes, gravy, green been casserole, candied yams, two types of stuffing, salad, maque choix (creole corn dish), rolls and cranberry orange bread. For dessert we had cranberry bread pudding, pumkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie, and magic cookie bars.

Grandpa Dick in training holding a sleeping Obi

Steven was the dessert superstar making the pumpkin and apple pies and pumpkin cheesecake! I forgot to get a picture :(

The boys (and Phina) all watching football with full tummies

Hosting was a lot of work, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Shannon

House Updates

During Kole's parents Thanksgiving visit, we all decided it was time for the remaining brass "eye sores" in our kitchen to go. We had replaced the light over the island a while back and the remaining lights over the sink and table were not a pretty sight. The four of us spent about an hour in Lamps Plus the day before Thanksgiving and agreed the new ceiling fan and kitchen sink light pictured below were made for our kitchen. Thanks Dick and Janaan!!

4 Month Check-up

I went to the doctor yesterday for my 4 month check-up, I am 16 weeks and everything looked great! No fun ultrasound pictures to post, but baby's heart rate was 156, all my levels look good and total weight gain so far is 10 lbs. The weight thing freaked me out a little bit, it's a little more than average for this point in pregnancy, but I wasn't able to exercise for almost 2 months because I was so sick, so hopefully I can get back in a good routine and be on better track for average weight gain at my next check-up. I did find out that I am A- blood type and if Kole is positive, which his mom is pretty sure he is, but is going to check for sure, then chances are the baby will be positive which can cause problems so I will be treated accordingly with medication a little while later in pregnancy. That's about all I have to report, I've been feeling much more like my normal self lately which is a huge relief!

Shannon

Baby Brother

I can't believe my baby brother went to Homecoming!! I just had to post these because I think he is so handsome, and it just blows me away that the little baby brother I hoped and prayed for and got to help take care of is in the last two years of his high school career, how does that happen!?!

Shannon

Halloween Fun

I got to celebrate Halloween a little early with my favorite little girl. Lex and I went to the pumpkin patch where we got lost in the corn maze, met a very pregnant cow who took a liking to Lex, and picked out a couple of pumpkins for carving. She came over a few days later and helped me put up our Halloween decorations and we carved one of her pumpkins. We had so much fun laughing and talking and we enjoyed the toasted pumpkin seeds with Marjie when she came to pick Lex up. I miss not seeing her every day, but I cherish the time we spend together!

Lexi drew the face and carved the pumpkin all by herself, I watched and toasted seeds. She had visions of a big pumpkin eating a litte pumpkin and she did it!


All light up

Shannon

New Addition

We are so excited to announce that we will become a family of three in April!! Baby Harms will be 12 weeks along in a few days and is doing great. Shannon was feeling pretty crummy the last several weeks, but is finally starting to feel more normal. We are having fun talking about names and who this little one will look like and we can't wait to meet him or her in April!

Park City, Utah

This past weekend we flew from Denver to Salt Lake City and drove to Park City to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery with Dave and Debra (Shannon's dad and his significant other). We were very surprised at how different the Utah mountains looked and felt compared to our mountains here in Colorado. The elevation doesn't reach above tree line very much so the mountains are covered from top to bottom in trees and many of them were changing color, the reds, oranges, and yellows were like nothing we get here in Colorado, it was such a nice treat! Park City is so different from our mountain towns in Colorado. Debra has a condo in the Deer Valley Ski Resort just outside of Park City and she was kind enough to let us all stay with her. Our friend Liz came up from SLC to hang out with us and have lunch on Friday, it was so great to see her and catch up, we miss her and her husband Eric! We also got the chance to meet Debra's daughters and her three sweet grandchildren who came up for dinner one night. We did lots of walking/hiking around, driving through the gorgeous mountains, relaxed and ate great food. There wasn't a cloud in the sky the whole weekend and the temperature was in the 80s. It was a perfect stress-free weekend getaway. Enjoy the pictures!