Christmas Time

Well, I'm sure some of you are surprised to see a new post so close to the last post but SURPRISE!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and I hope you all did too. Jonathan didn't really get into unwrapping presents this year but he has enjoyed playing with all his new toys. Click here are a few pictures from Christmas

Almost 9 months

Jonathan will be 9 months old in about a week. The time really goes by too fast!!! He is crawling all over the place and nothing seems to slow him down now. He is pulling himself up on EVERYTHING! He even used an upside down laundry basket to help him walk across the living room the other day. He says "dada" really well(and he has been for a couple months) and he's been working on "mama" but so far we've only been able to get "nana" out. It is so much fun to hear him "talk" which is what he does most of the day. He has one tooth but based on his lack of sleeping at night I think he's working on some more. If you ask him if he's a big boy, he'll throw his arms up over his head and smile - it's really cute!

We are really looking forward to Christmas this week. I will post Christmas pictures sometime this coming weekend - don't hold your breath but I will try to get them posted soon after Christmas. Here are some new pictures of Jonathan. I hope you enjoy and I hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Helping Mommy!
He found the pots and pans!

"Is there anything else I can get out?"


The bib drawer

"Hello"


BIG BOY!!!

"Hello Frosty!"

A few random things...

Jonathan is over 7 months old now! Where does the time go??? We've been having lots of fun with him and his personality is really starting to show! We had him weighed on Monday and he was 19lbs 5 ounces and 27 1/2 inches long. He is still tall and skinny! He is saying "dada" regularly but we've yet to get a "mama" out. I'm sure it's coming soon. He is trying really hard to crawl but he doesn't have it quiet yet. He loves his daddy and gets really excited anytime he sees Brian. It is the cutest thing in the world to me=) Jonathan is also working on sitting himself up. He is also eating puffs and crackers. He loves to sit in his high chair while I work in the kitchen. The biggest news we have right now is that Jonathan has been sleeping in his own bed in his own room. We've all been sleeping much better since that changed has taken place.

Family Pictures

These were actually taken about 2 months ago now but I haven't posted them yet so... here you go!

6 Months

Jonathan is 6 months old now and I can't beileve how much he's changing!!! We had his check up yesterday and he wieghed in at 18 lbs 2 oz and he is 27 1/4 inches long. He is tall and slender. The picture on the bear rug was taken two days ago. The nurse at the public health clinic has similar pictures of other babies she treats and she asked us to send her one of Jonathan. So, next time we go in, Jonathan's bear rug picture will be on the wall too!

I'll have to get some more pictures of Jonathan soon... he is sitting up and playing by himself really well! He loves books, the cats and his daddy! He still doesn't nap very well but he is a pretty happy baby so that's okay. We got him a high chair on our last trip to Anchorage and he really likes it. He can sit in the high chair in the kitchen with me while I cook or do dishes and he's just as happy as can be.

New Pictures

I have posted a bunch of new pictures to my facebook so I thought I should add ehte links to the albums in here. There are pictures of... Jonathan's First Glacier Cruise Jonathan's first time swimming and A few other miscellaneous pictures from late this summer I will also add a little video of Jonathan in the pool... by the way... he LOVED it!!!

VBS

Vacation Bible School is over for 2009. I think everything went really well and we ended up with 38 different kids. Not as big as some years but we had 15 kids that have never been to our church before. I have posted a lot of pictures on my facebook... here is the link to the first set, second set

And since I can't get the rest of the pictures to load right now... here is Jonathan the gardner and Friday's decorations. Friday's story was the Resurrection so the teacher was supposed to be dressed like a gardner.

Four Months Old

Jonathan is now four months old. Time sure is going by fast!!! He had his well baby check on Wednesday and he weighed in at 15.5 lbs and was 25.5 inches long. He is very healthy and she was really impressed with how much he was doing physically. He has started rolling over and he reaches for EVERYTHING! He really like to be where ever we are and he loves to be involved with what we're doing.

We are coming up on Vacation Bible School next week and I think we're almost ready. We've been having work nights, every Monday night for the past month and I feel like the decorations are coming together... I guess we'll know by this time next week.

are a couple videos from last week. Brian's mom was playing with Jonathan during a VBS work night.

Pictures Pictures Pictures

Pictures from the boys' dip netting trip to Chitna - they didn't get any fish this day but the seemed to have a good time anyway.
Pictures from the 4th of July and other miscellaneous times in July (including our first try at eating cereal).

Here is a video of Jonathan "talking"... I think it's pretty cute.

Teen Camp

I realized that I didn't post any pictures from Teen Camp so here they are...

The kids had so much fun and the preaching was fantastic! All the kids have already asked if we're going back next year. The best news of all is that we had three teens from our youth group accept Christ as their personal Savior. Praise the Lord!!!

June Pictures

I've decided that I will keep posting my pictures on facebook and just put a link here. Otherwise, it takes too long to upload them to both places and I don't ever do it.

So here are some new pictures from June.

Driving with Daddy

There are more pictures from this trip on my facebook page... here is the link

Anniversary Drive

It is so nice to have time off in the summer!!!! I love Brian's new work schedule and I couldn't ask for a better "job" right now! Since our anniversary was on Wednesday this year, we didn't do anything that evening (because we had youth group), but Brian took us all on a wonderful outing on Thursday. We drove about 350 miles and it was so fun! We left here and drove to Chitna and then all the way to the end of the road to McCarthy. We didn't go to McCarthy or Kennicott but we go information for when we go back next time. I have pictures of the day posted on my facebook account. (Ashley let me know if you can't see these and I will take the time to post them on here)
Just copy and paste and you should be able to get to them...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126708&id=644116250&l=ee9dd7a9ff

Pictures

Easter Sunday





This is last Sunday after church.

May Already???

I can't believe how fast time is flying by!!! Jonathan is 5 weeks old today! It seems like yesterday that I was sitting around praying that he would hurry and get here. He is doing great! He is getting closer to having a little bit of a schedule which is really nice for me. He is holding his head up pretty well these days, he loves riding in the truck (most of the time), he likes to be outside and he has been smiling a lot lately. He also likes to fight going to sleep which I'm guessing will only get worse as he gets older.

I'm so far behind in posting but since he's starting to wake up from his nap I'll post pictures later.

2 Week Check Up and New Job

We took Jonathan in for his two week check up on Tuesday. The dr says he's doing great! He has gained more than a pound since his weight check last Monday putting him at 9 lbs 5.5 oz. I can't believe how big my baby boy is getting! He has also grown a half an inch since he was born. The dr said his is healthy and very strong.

We drove to Anchorage today (5 hours) and he is GREAT!!! He slept most of the way and we didn't have any problems! I'm anxious to see how he does on the plane on Saturday...

In other news... Brian got a new job. It is technically a temporary job but it will hopefully roll into a full time position. This is a great opportunity for him and we are all really really excited!! He starts on April 28th so we've had to make a few changes to our vacation plans but it will all be worth it. His new schedule will be 7 days of work, 7 days off, 7 days of nights, 7 days off. We are REALLY excited about the 7 days off=)

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from this past week.

Jonathan Daniel Fickes

Brian and Becky welcomed Jonathan Daniel into the world this afternoon at 1:16. He weighs 8lbs, 4 oz and is 21 inches long.

No News is...

No news :)

We went in on Friday morning, they dr wanted to do a non-stress test and an ultra sound and then they gave me medication to induce labor. They monitored me for two hours after I had the medicine and then sent us home. We had to be back around 7 that evening for the second dose of induction medicine. Turns out, the nurses have change over at 7pm, so we didn't see anyone until 7:30. Then there were two ER calls the dr had to attend to before he got to us. So at 9 pm we got the second dose of medicine. They monitored me for two more hours. I was having contractions but they were pretty light and not patterned so they sent us home. The dr thought that we'd be back before morning but I didn't have but just two or three contractions during the night.

Saturday, we hung out at Brian's parents house most of the day and I was having pretty good contractions but they were still not patterned and they weren't getting any stronger. So far today, I've have TWO contractions. So, we are at home relaxing and trying to keep my mind off of how over due I am.

We are planning to go back to the clinic in the morning and seeing what the dr is planning to try next. Hopefully we'll have some good news soon. Thank you for your continued prayers.

41 weeks!

We have an appointment in the morning at 10:15 and I'm so excited. We're finally going to meet our baby boy! I can't wait to hold this precious miracle in my arms and thank God for him!!! Tonight I started thinking about how "real" everything is now and I starting crying thinking about how good God is!!! This time last year was really tough on me and I'm thankful to be so close to holding a baby of my own. I know the wait will all be worth it very soon.

I will post, or have someone else post for me, when we're actually in the hospital and then again after he's born.

Update

I had my dr appointment yesterday and it went well, he said I was at 3 cm. I had been at 2 cm for the past two weeks so I was glad there was a change. He also stretched my membranes and said that should help the baby come soon. We'll see... I had a few contractions on Wednesday and couple more last night but nothing significant yet. I have Jamey (my brother-in-law) ready to update here and on my facebook as soon as we head to the hospital and then again when the baby has arrived.

40 Weeks!!!

As of today, I am 40 weeks pregnant! God is so good! What a miracle to have this little boy growing (and growing and growing and growing) inside of me! We can't wait to meet him and hold him in my arms instead of my belly. I have an appointment this afternoon so I will try to update again after that. Here is a picture from Tuesday night.

"At least another week"

That is what the dr said at our appointment yesterday... I was kind of bummed, but that's okay. Our dr is out of town from today until Monday evening so I guess it's okay that we probably won't see our baby until at least lake next week.

It's done!

Brian finished the trim last night and he and my parents moved the furniture back into our bedroom. Brian and my dad also hung the curtains for me! Here are a couple before and after pictures.

What a day...

We had our 37 week appointment yesterday. The dr checked me and I am 50% effaced and a finger tip dilated. So at least something is changing, so there's the good news!

Here's the not so good news...
Brian and I started rearranging our room when we got home yesterday (so the pack n play will fit) and when we started to move the bed, we noticed that the floor was all wet behind it. Brian eventually found the leak (it's coming from a hose that is connected to the washer), but we're going to have to replace the flooring in our bedroom. The carpet is ruined, as is the carpet padding. We are also going to paint the room now too. Brian wants to paint before the new floor goes down (he's so logical). Unfortunately, there is a little mold growing on the wall where the water was coming in so he'll have to clean that up before painting. Then, he is going to paint it with white Kilz and then the light tan color I picked out. We are going to put the same vinyl wood flooring in our room that is in the baby's room. It goes in so quickly and easily that it is the best fix for now.

We thought we could just sleep on the living furniture but at 3:30 last night (when we were both awake and uncomfortable) we decided to go ahead and move the mattresses to the living room. After that, Brian slept much better... I was wide awake to I played on the computer for two hours until I was tired.

I am going to include some pictures of the damage and the way we get to live for a couple days. Normally, I would NEVER post pictures of my incredibly messy house but I figure you'll all understand that we were in the middle of a disaster and that's just the way it is. Please note, it's not normally like this.

Baby Shower #2

Last Sunday, I had my baby shower at the church. It was lots of fun, the food was yummy and there were lots of people. Here are some of the pictures

The Baby's Room

It's not done but here is a preview of the work in progress...

Like I said, we still have some work to do... I have to put all the little clothes away and get the curtains hemmed and hung up. I also need to find some thing or make some thing to put up on the walls... maybe my creative friends will have some suggestions for me:)

Mirror Mirror on the Wall... Who's got the biggest belly of all?

I do! Well, at least I feel like I do. Here is the latest picture. I don't look the greatest but at least you can see how huge I'm getting. I hit 36 weeks yesterday, so only about 4 weeks to go... YAY!!!

50 Days!!!

50 days!!! 50 days!!! I know I keep say this but... I can't believe it! People told me three weeks ago that the last 10 weeks drag by and it feels like it takes forever... blah blah blah! I feel like this whole pregnancy has flown by so fast. It feels like just a couple weeks ago I was telling people that we were pregnant and now we only have 7 weeks to go! I'm sure the closer I get to the due date and the more uncomfortable I get, the slower it will go for me but as for now (most days anyway) I feel like it's all a whirl wind.

Last weekend we went to Anchorage and came home with so much stuff!!! It is all still in boxes around our house but hopefully will be set up and in place by the end of this weekend. If the baby's room is done or at least to the point where it is presentable, I'll try to get some pictures to post.

Last night we had our second childbirth class and I am really enjoying it. It is nice to have some form of education as to what to expect. I've been reading a lot but for me, it is really nice to hear someone talk about it. Last night was particularly fun because Brian got to wear the empathy belly. That was hilarious!!! I wish I had taken my camera, but I didn't so you'll just have to use your imaginations.

I sure can't wait to meet our son!!!

My Kitties

Moo and Midnight are such sweets cats! They have been our babies for the last three years and they really don't understand what is about to happen to their peaceful little world! I just had to share these pictures...

Since they were kittens they've liked to sleep on the heater. They used to be able to fit on the top together, now... not so much. I guess Moo thought is was her turn on the heater:)

Moo is not usually the cuddle bug you'll find on Brian's lap but yesterday she apparently needed some "daddy time"

Watching the football game on Sunday afternoon.Midnight, who is normally sitting with Brian, was pouting I think...

New Belly Picture

I don't have much to report other than the fact that I only have TWO months to go!!! I finally remembered to have Brian take a belly picture last night but they just were not coming out right. So, I decided to try to take one of myself this morning. Believe it or not, this is the best picture including the ones from last night.

So, there you have it... my ever growing belly! I get really excited thinking about holding my sweet baby boy in just a couple months. I still freak out (a lot) thinking about all the things we have to get done before his arrival but Brian is so good at calming me down and talking some sense into me. He is so good to me... I think that's why I married him :)