A Wonderfully Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, Matt's family decided to skip the hassle of preparing a large meal and headed up north to spend the night at Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino, just north of Santa Fe. I had my doubts about spending the holiday in a casino, but it actually turned into one of my favorite Thanksgivings.

Snow in Albuquerque on Thanksgiving morning! The perfect beginning to a great day.

I enjoyed a relaxing morning under a blanket watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while Matt woke up before the crack of dawn to go duck hunting, in the snow. The only mishap of the day came when the truck they took to go hunting broke down and I missed Matt's 5 phone calls. Oops! He waited in the Walmart parking lot for over an hour, by himself, on Thanksgiving, for his Dad to rescue him. Everything worked out though, and we made it up to Santa Fe just in time to meet the rest of the family.

The hotel's buffet was huge and we were able to pick from Asian, Italian, Mexican and the traditional holiday items for our Thanksgiving feast. I tried duck and lamb for the first time, but decided I prefer turkey.

The 3 of us at 23 weeks on Thanksgiving Day

After dinner we spent some quality time together playing dominos, relaxing and talking about babies. It was a great time and I wouldn't mind if it became a Danner tradition.

We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for, including a loving family. I'm looking forward to many more holidays together.

Dreaming Away at 22 Weeks

The other day, my Mom and i went to a Women's Conference at a local church.  The first session was great and I was enjoying all the attention my baby bump was getting. We went home that night and I gave birth to a sweet baby girl. The next morning my Mom and I went back to the second session of the conference and left sweet baby girl at home. Half way through the morning session I began feeling guilty for leaving a newborn at home alone and I expressed my concerns to my Mom.

"Don't worry," she said. "All new moms go through this phase."

And then.... I woke up!

Matt and I have both had some weird dreams about the baby. Most of my dreams involve the baby coming super early and us going on with life as usual. In Matt's dreams, I have the baby and hide it from him. Maybe he has fears of not bounding with the baby? What are our subconscious trying to tell us?!?

We had a blast at our first ultrasound a couple weeks ago. The "Little Brat," as the tech called him, was 15 ounces (a little on the chubby side) and hyper! He was moving so much that we weren't able to get all the measurements we need and will have to go back in a couple of weeks, which is fine with me!

22 Weeks!

Whether Baby D is a boy or a girl is still a surprise, but after seeing the ultrasound, I have a little feeling that we will be bringing home a blue bundle of joy. But what do I know really?

Half Way There!!

We've made it to the half way mark!

I'm a little bit embarrased to post this weeks photo because I look HUGE! Oh well, here it is.

20 Weeks/5months!

We only have 5 months, or 20 weeks to go. Yikes! When you break it down like that it's actually a little scary. There is so much to do and prepare for with Thanksgiving, My brother's wedding, Christmas, New Years, Matt's Graduation and Bar Exam all thrown in there. Poor little Baby Danner, we don't have that much time to spend on preparing for his/her arrival. I don't think either of us really know how to properly change a diaper. Matt did learn how to properly burp a baby when holding a friends baby the other night. He'll be a great dad.

Last weekend we started doing a little baby shopping. We cruised the Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory, which is surprisingly huge. We oohed and awed over the super cute nursery sets and I fell in love with one in particular.

We then ventured into the stroller section which left us a little overwhelmed. There are so many different kinds of strollers with varying prices. We left wondering what kind we really needed. There is seriously so much to learn about baby's and all their needs.

I just ate dinner here, I don't think I'm really that big. It was a wierd camera angle.

For the most part, I am continuing to feel pretty good. I had a little faint/dizzy spell yesterday that had me a little worried but it passed. Other than that, my only complaint is being extremely hot. It seems like as the weather cools off, my body temperature increases. Being someone who could never be warm enough, this is new.

There we go... I think this is more acurate

We're off to enjoy some quality time with family this weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend!

19 Weeks!

Were almost half way there!

18 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

My belly is growing and everyday finding something to wear becomes more of a challenge. This weekend I went through all my winter clothes and said "See you later" to most of my favorite sweaters. Hopefully we can be friends again next year.

We visited the baby doctor again last week and everything checked out well. I've gained 5 pounds which means Baby Danner is growing and on the move! Not only did we hear the heartbeat, but the doppler was also able to pick up sounds of the little guy moving around. I've felt a lot of movement again this week which is so fun and a bit distracting. Matt hasn't been able to feel it kick yet but I'm hoping he will soon. It's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

Crazy to think that next week, we'll only have 5 months left. I can't believe how quickly these weeks have past!

The Air Up There

After 25 years of living in the 505 and attending the Balloon Fiesta, Matt has never had a chance to ride in a hot air balloon... until this year.

One of the pluses of my rather long week was sharing this opportunity with my hubby, who totally deserves a fun little treat after living and dealing with my pregnant self. In return, he said I could share his photos with you.

This was taken with the camera on my phone, right before he took off.

There he goes!

One of those little bitty dots is me, waiving safely from the ground

Looks like it was a beautiful ride!

This was a competition day so the balloons all took off from other locations. Their goal was to drop bing bags on targets on the field.

We live in such a pretty place

They ended up landing in a neighborhood full of trees, right next to the river. It was hard to keep a visual on them. The car I was in got to claim "FOS" (First On Sight). This is a big deal among the chase crew and everyone else was pretty jealous.

When we finally found them, they were just hanging out in someone's back yard waiting for us.