What's It?

So, now we know what we're having! Aren't you so excited to find out? I know you are!
We decided to tell our families for Christmas, and wanted to do it creatively. So, Elisha designed these shirts. First we arrived at the McCullough's (Elisha's fam). Mom saw Elisha's shirt, only after long conversation, and Dad saw Jason's, but neither saw the opposite shirt. That naturally made for some great confusion. After sorting it out, we showed the correct shirt (still not telling you). Christmas day we visited the Kendall family (Jason's side). Mom didn't see either shirt, but brother, Jeremy and friend Brandon, did. They kept trying to tell mom to look, but she kept on conversing. Finally she saw Jason's BOY shirt, and started to cry. She was forced to look at Elisha's GIRL shirt. Torturing was easy, but we finally gook off the pink GIRL shirt to show: it's a BOY!
We are naturally super excited, even Jason, as he really wanted a girl.
Congrats to Elisha's sister, Zjani, who is due the end of June and is also having a boy!

Belly's UP!

I guess we are really beginning to see a baby bump. It seems really obvious depending on the outfit Elisha wears. I really like being able to see some actual progress besides the Ultrasound which we had done recently. That's a story for a different post. Hopefully the baby will start kicking hard enough for me to feel it. So far Elisha thinks she has felt it move, but she's not sure.

You're invited!!!!

This Wednesday night we are hosting a game night at our place. We will be serving Jason's Christmas bonus (ham), and everyone reading this is invited to come. This is a family event in which we will be playing an assortment of games which may include Killer Bunnies, Kill Doctor Lucky, Category 5, Hand and Foot, Farkle, Nurse, Werewolves (if enough people come) or whatever game you would like to bring.

Oh yeah, and it's New Year's Eve, so I guess if you feel that you need an excuse to come you have one. This isn't a New Year's party; you are free to leave whenever you want, and you won't be required to kiss anybody you don't want to, unless it's part of a game. This would be a perfect activity to do before going out and freezing at First Night, or after you've already been frozen and decided that fireworks just aren't that worth it.

If you would like to join us we will be prepared to accept visitors some time around 5. You can come by anytime after that. Call Elisha or Jason for directions. You're welcome to bring a friend or family including kids. An RSVP isn't required, but it wouldn't hurt. If you come it would help if you bring a party snack to share, i.e. chips and salsa, dip, shrimp, buffalo wings, candy, drinks, or whatever. You should also bring your favorite game.

Christmas at my childhood house...

This Christmas my brother decided to decorate his house with all of our childhood decorations. He did this because he is so excited to become an uncle and he knew that I would love to see all of the decorations that were so important to our Christmases. I was very touched by this; it really made this Christmas very special.

Obviously this is the tree. You can't really see them too well but the bigger ornaments were hand painted by my mom and her sister for my first Christmas.

The Santa train was also painted by my mom and aunt, and it has been in our home for nearly every Christmas.
The candy cane and stockings were the last part of the set. The stockings are my favorite part. They have our names painted on them. It's hard to see, but the picture has Santa and Rudolph in a hot air balloon. This has been and always will be my favorite Christmas decoration.



These pictures have nothing to do with my childhood decorations. I just wanted to take a picture of the outside of his house. The first one was taken with the flash on so you can see how crazy the snow was. I guess we really got a white Christmas. The second one was taken two seconds later without the flash. The lights were pretty cool, but the bushes are the best part: My brother trimmed them into little box shapes and then wrapped them with a bow! They looked so cool.

Another Week Another Belly Picture

So, here's Elisha...again. She's getting a bit tired of the weekly pic, but hopefully we see a change. If anything, the hair is different! We found out what we're having, and will post that after Christmas, ultrasounds and all. Thanks everyone for your input!

Christmas at Our House

So our families have never been able to come visit during the Christmas season, and mom (Karen) asked to take some pictures so that she can see how we decorate for the holidays.

This post is for you mom!
Obviously, this is our tree. It's two days before Christmas and we only have 3 presents under there. How cool! Next year we will have one more. (You know, for the baby).
This is the fireplace area. I really don't know why our stockings aren't hung with care when we have a fireplace. Jason bought the stuffed reindeer thing on clearance. Isn't it cute?


This is the front of our house. The huge inflatable decorations were bought the day after Christmas (Jason likes to buy things on clearance the day after Christmas), and since we have them Jason wanted to use them, even though our yard isn't big enough for them. The top picture was taken right at the beginning of our snow storm (note the snowflakes), the bottom was taken the next morning. I didn't really plan on the snow for decoration, but it certainly adds to the look.

Jason's Belly

So I've been spending so much time paying attention to Elisha's belly that I think I forgot about my own. I've done a really good job of putting on sympathy weight. I'm pretty sure I have gained at least ten pounds since we found out about the pregnancy. My reasoning for this is that I'm eating for three now (the baby, Elisha, and me) so that I can see how much food I need to be able to afford.

Elisha bought me this shirt last year for Christmas so that I would have something Christmas-y to wear for the holidays. When I decided to pull it out this year I realized how bad I've gotten. I guess I will have to save it for next year.

Don't worry, I won't subject you to a weekly picture of my belly. I'm sure that it won't change as rapidly as Elisha's. Maybe once a month or so. I am going to try to lose those new 10 pounds by the time the baby is born. Some of you already roll your eyes when you see me buying even more candy at the store. Now I am asking you to not only roll your eyes, but make me feel real bad about the purchase as well. I will probably still buy the candy, and get mad at you, but I will also appreciate the support.

For the record, the shirt was a little tight when I got it last year!

Update: Elisha's Belly

So, I'm still waiting for that "BOOM" she's pregnant thing. I guess you could say that she is showing now, but I think the real difference between this week and last is that she isn't using her pants to hold her belly in.

I am really excited for Friday; whether she's showing or not, we get to go to the doctor and find out the gender. Finally, some proof! Okay so the heartbeat that we hear at the doctor's office is cool, but this should be cooler.

I guess we're half way there. That would be nice if I didn't keep thinking that that means we still have half way to go. Especially since the second half includes another semester of school.

I know that moms always say that their babies never stay babies long enough, but I think that my baby's been in hiding for too long. Although, I just realized that I better take Elisha out on a lot more dates in the next 4 months; soon that will be a thing of the past.

We're having a....

Boy! No, girl! Silly, we're not going to post it before we tell our families! Also, as of today, we don't know what we're having yet. We find out Friday afternoon. Jason says if you ask him, he'll tell you. Elisha says she's telling family first. So, hopefully, if it's killing you, you know Jason.
Elisha decided she will find out what the gender of the baby is. It'll add a new level of excitement. Any purchase advice would be great!

Update:

It's that time of the week again. We have just started the 17th week. I still don't see anything. People keep saying that it'll be like one day it's just there. I guess keeping a weekly update is kinda like the old "a watched pot never boils" thing.

I have said that I want her to start showing so that I can feel like something is actually happening. Well, next week the biggest event during the pregnancy that includes me is going to happen: We get to go to the Ultrasound where we find out the gender. The thing is, though, we're not sure if we want to find out. I'm certainly leaning toward it. Like I said, it'll be something that helps me feel that this is all real. Elisha is undecided, and of course, this is something we have to agree on.

I've heard good arguments for and against. By the way, "So you can be prepared," is not a good argument. From what I've observed I don't think you can ever be fully prepared to have your first baby.

Let us know what you think. Maybe we'll just do whatever the majority of you all think. If you don't share your opinion, you won't have anyone but yourself to blame when you don't know what color of clothes to buy our baby for Christmas.

Christmas Party

We had a fun Christmas party on Saturday, December 6th with a few friends. The turn out was great considering the last minute decision. (Awesome people who came: Tycee, Danny, Jared, Beth, Jess, Lyman, Jenn, Rebecca, Rachel, Amy, Elisha, and Jason). We have a tradition of making "gingerbread" (graham cracker) houses full of yummy candy. Of course, most of the frosting, crackers, and candy ends up in our happy bellies:) No night would be complete without playing Werewolves. What a blast! Congrats to Lyman for being the werewolf twice in one night - not at all common. Enjoy the video of our great time!

Is she showing? Update.

It's time for the weekly update of Elisha's belly. We took everyone's advice and changed to a tighter shirt; let us know if you think it will work. I still don't see anything. I'm getting really anxious to see something. I don't think it's fair for the dads. We have to wait for the doctor appointment in order to see any progress. The mom's basically get daily updates. Which, by the way, Elisha thinks that she felt it move for the first time over the Thanksgiving holiday. When do I get to feel that?

Thanksgiving.

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. For the third year in a row Jason's family came to our place to celebrate the holiday. It was really nice to be able to spend time with Grandma, my mom (Karen), and brother (Jeremy). During her time here mom went to go see Twilight without the rest of us. (She went with other friends.)
Elisha and Jeremy did an awesome job with dinner, as usual. I helped with the presentation. Everything looked perfect for about 30 seconds until we dug in!
After dinner we tried to teach Grandma how to play bowling on the Wii, then I tried to teach Jeremy how to play Guitar Hero. Neither attempt was very successful, but we had an awesome time spending time together.