PIctures of Baby Ames

Ames Stephen McFadden

12/27/2011 -- 8 lbs 4 oz -- 19.5 inches

Blog? What Blog?!?

It was recently brought to our attention that we haven't updated this in a while. Honestly it had just got away from us. We've been busy for sure. But I guess we should just get used to being busy and not having time on our hands :) Here's a quick update on everyone:

Matt - Work is going well. Spends free time putting together bassinets, dressers, swings, strollers, etc. But he has got plenty of football time lately with some friends (Thanks Suzanne), trying to take advantage of the last few free weekends.

Suzanne - School is DONE!!! At least for the next month :) She just finished her last test of the semester yesterday (Tuesday). It has been very challenging and we are proud of the fact that she's been able to balance work and school all while "manufacturing a child". It's been rough but time for a little break. She will be starting her maternity leave starting this Friday. So hopefully she can get a little relaxation in before baby is here. She has been extremely uncomfortable lately and has trouble getting around sometimes. She is ready for baby to show up whenever it's ready :)

Baby ______ - Is running a 24 hour karate dojo. Apparently trying to punch or kick it's way out right now. We just had a check up today and everything seems to be progressing well to this point. Head is down at this point and has been, so hopefully he/she decides to stay that way. We'll try to do a better job of keeping everyone updated when we actually remember to update this :)

Other than that, we've just been decorating for Christmas and missing everyone. Hope to see everyone sooner than later. Love you all.

Baby Showers, Birthing Class & Weekend Fun

Our weekends have been full lately. Two of the last three weekends we've been in Andale and Olathe for Suzanne's baby showers. Needless to say they both went great and were a lot of fun. We want to thank everyone for everything they did to make them both special days. It was great to see everyone and be able to share that time with you. And the gifts were pretty sweet too :)

This last weekend we had a birthing class that was an all day affair. We started at 8:30 and left the hospital around 6:00 that night. It was an in-depth class discussing and explaining the birthing process and what to expect during labor. It was a lot of good information and helps you feel a little more confident in the process. At least you don't feel 100% lost, just partially :) We got a tour at the end of the day and now will be looking at possibly doing a couple classes on infant care, etc. We're both excited and obviously a little anxious for the big day. Not too far off - at 34 weeks today! We've had a couple check ups recently and everything seems to be going well at this point. After this Wednesday we'll start to go every week until Baby is here.

And lastly, at the end of our day long class, we got to come home to watch K-State continue it's dominance of Texas. We hosted a little get together and got to watch the game with some family and friends. It was a great weekend all in all.

We are blessed to be able to spend the time that we do with all of the people in our lives and don't take it for granted. We'll try to stay up on this a little better. Hope to see everyone soon.

Ok, so right now the blog is being difficult and not letting me upload pictures. So once I figure that out, I'll be posting some pics of the showers. And if any of you can tell me why I can't upload this I would appreciate it :)

House Work

We've been busy lately and haven't taken the chance to update our blog. Obviously. So we'll try to catch you up on the highlights of what's been going on. First off, we've been working on a few different rooms in our house (think nesting phase on steroids) and have seen some progress over the last month or so. We finally got around to painting our dining room and found a good deal on some furniture for the room. And we're finishing our basement. This one will be a long term project but we've been able to knock out a wall and start framing. Probably be a while before I pick back up on this project but it's started. No going back. I'll get pictures of that process up once we have some more progress. Baby's room in the next to be worked on.

Before.

After.

Baby/Pregnancy Pics

Quick update on how Suzanne is doing with the pregnancy. Long story short - she's already counting the days. She has terrible heartburn, sleeplessness, and baby is currently taking kick boxing lessons (apparently). Suzanne's ribs are taking the beating. I'm sure some of you can relate. I naturally feel terrible because I can't do much to help most of these things, as some of you others can also relate. But everything is progressing well to this point. We've had the sonographer tell us baby was measuring 25 weeks at 23 weeks, and other nurses make comments about how they expect a big baby, so we'll see how close they are in the observations. Obviously since we started this blog a little late in the pregnancy, we didn't get a chance to share some pics that we've had for a while. So here are the ones I have downloaded (sorry some are blurry):

Front 3D View of Baby's Face

Side Profile Pic of Baby

12 Weeks

23 Weeks

29 Weeks

Welcome To Our Blog

Well here it is. We've been meaning to start this for a while now. We really enjoy keeping up with all of you through your blogs (it's part of our nightly routine), and we'd like you to be able to do the same. Your blogs help us feel like we've a part of things even though we're not around. We'll try to keep you all updated on the baby, how things are going for both of us and any other things that we'd like to share along the way. We're always open to suggestions as to what we need to add or change to this blog so please let us know. We'll try to keep up with the postings. And you all make sure to do the same :)