Click, Click, Flash!

Check out the link on the right to see our recent family photo session! :)

tick tock, tick tock

I am so tired these days. I'm having a really hard time focusing on work when all I want so badly is for this baby to arrive. I know, I should enjoy this time while I have it because once this baby comes the silence will be gone forever! I had my 36 week doctor appointment yesterday. No progress has been made as of yet... meaning I'm not dilated. The baby's heartrate was 155. He or she has definitely dropped at least a little bit which is so very nice because I'm able to breathe a little easier! :)

Over the past couple of weeks I've been so lucky to have had two baby showers! One thrown by some very dear friends of mine and another was a dual shower at work with my friend Meredith who is due a week before me. How lucky we are! Here are a few pictures from the first shower on 2/28.

This is my friend Michelle, she made the cute tiered cake with the little pregnant lady on the top!! It was so delicious too. She is so stinkin' talented... love this girl!

Everyone was encouraged to decorate a onesie. Oh my gosh they are priceless!! It was such a great idea and it will be a wonderful memory from the shower each time the baby wears one. How sweet! :)

Ah yes, the belly string game... let's guess how big you are! This is Ellie, my cousin's daughter, trying her string on for size. She did a good job guessing!

My wonderful friend Valerie made a cute-as-can-be diaper cake! We will definitely be using those here soon! Thanks Val, you're the best! :)

And last but not least, are the amazing party planners! I know these girls put a lot of work into making it a beautiful shower and I can't thank them enough!! I am so incredibly lucky to have such great/amazing/sweet friends!!! :)

Welcome baby Max!

We have a new baby in the Rings family!!! Meet Max Benjamin, isn't he the cutest little thing?!

One proud papa!

He found his thumb already! :)

He weighed a whopping 6lbs 15oz! Tanya had just about given up that this baby was ever coming out. Her due date was 10/16 and had to go in to be induced on 10/22 (late at night). Luckily there were no complications and little Max was born at 6:07am on Friday 10/23. I'm bummed we haven't gotten to meet the little guy yet but look forward to a weekend with the family in just over a week. You better believe I'm taking a TON of pictures. :)

I had a doctor's appointment this past Monday for our own little baby Rings. Everything is going great so far. I've been feeling pretty good lately, eating like a horse, still having trouble sleeping and catching my breathe at times but otherwise great! :) Baby's heartbeat is 160. Last time it was at 150... seems to be climbing! I will have my 20 week ultrasound on November 16th. We are so excited to be able to see the baby!! Finally! Normally at that point we would find out if the baby's a boy or girl but sorry to disappoint because we aren't finding out! It's a surprise for everyone! :) Although I have a strong feeling, at this point, that it's going to be a girl. Could be the heartbeat that's leading me to believe that... could be that I feel karma is going to come back and bite me in the butt for being such a rotten hormonal teenager to my parents! Never-the-less we will be happy either way, boy OR girl!

So without further ado, here I am at 17 weeks...

No fat jokes, please! haha, just kiddn':)

weekend update

This past week has been a whirlwind. I guess I should start with last weekend... we made a very quick day trip to Pittsburgh to attend my sister in law Tanya's baby shower. It was a very nice party and I'm so glad we got to see Ben and Tanya one last time before the baby is born. She's only two weeks away from her due date.

Of course I had to get a belly shot, who knows if we're ever pregnant again at the same time! So this is me at 13 weeks and Tanya at 37 weeks. She looks so good for being 37 weeks pregnant! I look like I'm just a wannabe. haha. :)

Work has been ca-rrrrrrrrazy busy, but good. Yep, nothing more to be said about that!

Today we attended the wedding of Matt's cousin Dave and his gorgeous bride Christy. It was such a beautiful ceremony and they are such an adorable couple.

Aw, I just love weddings. :) Congratulations Dave and Christy!!! Love you both!

And here is where I tell you more about my problems. :)

So in the midst of all of our busy-ness I've been dealing with some annoying health issues... yeah I have more than just morning sickness! It seems that almost every night I lay down to go to bed I start having problems breathing, can't catch my breath, yawning constantly to get oxygen, taking deep breaths every couple of seconds, my lungs feel so incredibly tight and it makes me panic a little... this usually makes it really hard for me to fall asleep at night... as you can imagine. There have been numerous occasions where I've woken up at 1 and can't go back to sleep until around 4 because of this breathing thing. It's awful. I've had this 'problem' for quite some time now (waaaaaay before I was pregnant so that has nothing to do with it). I've tried to do my own remedies to help take care of this, like drinking tea before bed to try and help me relax, take a nice warm shower, you know things like that. I just can't seem to shake it. Nearly every night it happens, I don't know what causes it. I talked to some other people in the healthcare field and they thought it might be stressed induced which I could totally believe and there for a while I thought that's what it was, my job has been super stressful, I've got a lot on my plate, worried about the pregnancy.... well I'm at the point where I feel like I'm in control of what's going on with my job, and since we've heard the baby's heartbeat I'm feeling better about that stuff but yet I'm still having trouble catching my breath at night. What on earth could it be?! All of a sudden I've developed asthma that only hits me at night??? Ahh, it's so frustrating and exhausting. Well I've finally decided to go see my doctor about it and thankfully my appointment is tomorrow. I can't wait to hopefully get a solution to this!

Ok and that concludes me telling you about my problems. Thanks for listening. :)

last but not least

This past weekend was the last of our graduation parties. Saturday my cousin Nate had his high school graduation party. It was SO great to see the family! I really only see my Dad's extended side of the family at major family functions... so it's hard to catch up on life when you only see them every 6 months, so it was wonderful to be able to chat with the cousins and grandparents. Congratulations Nate!!!! Love you!:)

My dear friend Valerie also graduated this past Sunday from Otterbein. That girl has come along way. I am so proud of her and all she has accomplished... AND she's going back to get her MBA. Congratulations girl!! You rock! :)

So in the midst of catching up with my cousins and hearing about all the cute stuff their kids do and how my cousin Kylie is expecting again (with her 4th child!!!! yowza! ) I began to think, what do I have going on, I mean really? I am extremely happy with my life but I guess I'm just needing a challenge... something to push me to do SOMETHING. So I've decided I'm going to run a 10k. It's not HUGE news but it's something I'm looking forward to. I figured I can run 5k's no problem, I run 4- 5 miles average and feel pretty good... why not run 6.2?? Exactly, I'm just going to gear up for it and do it. I'm actually really excited about my little decision. :) haha, I lead such an exciting life!!!! The earliest 10k I can find around here is October (or after) time frame... but there are 4 milers. (kinda weird but whatever) So that's what I'm gonna do! Run a 10k! whohoo!

And now I leave you with some crazy pictures from our fun night at the Park Street Festival this past Friday night... hope you enjoy :)

This would be me, Stacey, Meredith, and Christy

Sweatin' to the Oldies???

kisses!

Meredith looking like a purana (sp??)

Matt's dancing because he wants some 'street meat' as we call it. (i.e. gyros) hahaha!

and last but not least... our entertainment of the night... Stacey & Meredith singing their ghetto fabulous song. Good job girls!

Birthday, Graduation, and other fun stuff

I was by no means excited for my birthday this year. Alas, it was bound to happen whether I wanted it to or not. I am now a part of the '29 club' (as Kathy calls it). Oh yes, it has happened. 29 and holding! My family and friends were super wonderful to me this year.

My Mom, StepDad, and brother Glen all came over on Monday and we had dinner together. Something we don't do nearly enough. They were too sweet and got me a Camelbak to go with the NEW BIKE Matt got me for my birthday!!! It rides beautifully and I love it... what a gem! :) I definitely plan on using it as much as possible this summer... the bike and the Camelbak!

Tuesday, my birthday, Matt's Mom and StepDad brought me dinner. Matt's Mom made me a really cool wreath made out of wine corks. It turned out really awesome! She is so talented! It's fun to look at and see corks from the places we visited in California...brings back good memories!

Friday evening my dearest best friend Kathy threw together a little party with some friends to come over and celebrate my birthday. We grilled food, drank some wine, relaxed by the fire... it was a great time! I have the best friends... thanks everyone for coming!! :)

Saturday was my brother Glen's high school graduation. Wow, that just sounds so weird! My baby brother is all grown up! He plans to go to OSU Marion in the fall and study to be an xray technician. I'm proud of you Glen and I love you very much!

Glen and his cute little girlfriend Ashley

Sunday went to visit family and celebrate Matt's cousin's engagement! It was our first time meeting Christy and she was super sweet. Too bad I don't have any pictures of the cute couple. But I am super happy and excited for them!! Congratulations Dave and Christy!! :)

After our family luncheon we ventured out to Schiller Park with Jonathan and Kathy to watch The Three Musketeer's. Every weekend in the summer there is a play put on by local actors. Jonathan and Kathy's friend Bill is a lifer at this stuff :) so we just had to see him in action.

(that would be him i.e. Bill on the right)

Kathy enjoying the vino... and the show!

Very fun and we will definitely be going to the other shows later this summer!! If you've never been you must go check it out!

So after that busy week and weekend.... I need a weekend from my weekend!

Fun Stuff

This past weekend was the Race for the Cure . It's one of my favorite event's in Columbus. Every year for the past 8 or so year's I've ran in it and this year was no different. I remember in the first few year's it was held at The Ohio State University campus and there were just a few thousand people to participate and it didn't seem crazy, overly crowded. Now it's held in the downtown and area there were over 45,000 people there!!

Talk about crazy! It's such an inspiration just being there! All of the breast cancer survivors and tons of people running 'in celebration of' and 'in memory of'... definitely pulls at the heart strings. I love doing it and hope to continue for many years to come!

So I'm kind of excited that I just won these shoes from a fellow blogger. There's a cute little blog I follow called When Tara Met Blog. It's so fun! She randomly has these contest give aways every now and then so I put my name in this past time and voila!

I've never owned a pair of Keds so I'm excited to get them. Can't beat free shoes!!!! :)

In other fun news, we're going to be an aunt and uncle again!! Matt's brother Ben and his wife Tanya are having a baby!!! AHHH! So exciting, I can't believe it! She is due October 16th and they're not finding out if it's a boy or a girl. I love surprises! We're so happy for them and can't wait to meet our new little niece or nephew!! Congratulations Ben and Tanya!

Way to go!

My little brother Glen achieved his Eagle Scout! I couldn't be more proud of him for sticking through it. So many people came to see this exciting honor take place and it honestly brought tears to my eyes. It's amazing how few people come to accomplish this huge task of achieving the eagle scout. What an extradinary award! Here are some pictures from the event.

My great uncle Paul gave a speech... it was very touching and I learned alot about his childhood. What a great man he is!

Congratulations Glen! You deserve a huge pat on the back for a job well done. :) I love you bro!