Waiting for a Kick

According to my pregnancy books, I should be feeling the baby soon. There have been times in the past few weeks where I have thought I was feeling the baby, but I haven't been sure yet. I can hardly wait to feel it!

Our Final Decision

Since our big appointment is next week (I can't believe my pregnancy is half over!), we had to decide whether we are going to find out the gender of the baby. Our final decision is that we are NOT going to find out. Now that it's settled, I am kind of excited about not finding out.

My initial feelings about gender were that it was for sure a boy. But, there have been a few times here and there where I've had dreams that it is a girl or where I've accidently called it a girl, so I'm not sure what that means. Also, I was 100% sure Kristin was having a girl, and I was wrong, so maybe my initial feeling about me having a boy is also wrong. I guess we'll find out in October! :)

A Visitor!

Sarah is here in Appleton with me this week, and I am so excited to have her here. It has been so fun to show her the nursery (even though it is pretty much empty) and all of the baby things we've bought so far. Our plan is to just hang out and shop for baby things and have her help me plan the nursery.

Big News

My sister, Sarah, informed me that on the baby name generator website the names they recommend change depending on the order you enter your names into it. So, of course I had to try our names in the opposite order, and guess what name came up for a girl...CLAIRE ERICA! Can you believe it? It is a sign.

The boy name was Jake Johnathan, but who cares. It came up with Claire all on its own!

Updated Boy/Girl Name Poll - PLEASE REVOTE!!

We are very sorry, but we had to delete the girl/boy name poll because we wanted to add more names. Unfortunately, we couldn't edit the poll because people had already voted. So, if you don't mind, please re-vote for your favorite name from our updated list for if it is a boy or a girl.

By: Pete

Big Purchase Over With

We ordered the crib. Here is a picture of it:

By: Pete

Baby Name Generator

Speaking of baby names, I found a website (http://www.blazonry.com/name_generator/babyname.php) where you can put in your name and your spouse's name, and it will tell you what you are supposed to name your baby. Based on this website, we are supposed to name our baby:

Eli Robert or Addison Megan

I don't know about the girl name, but I'm pretty excited that it said "Eli" for a boy, since we are strongly considering Elias! If you do this with your names, don't forget to put your middle names! If I hadn't put in our middle names, we were supposed to name our child:

Troy Keaton or Makenna Denise

Pretty funny, huh? Obviously I am not getting a lot of work done today...

Baby Name Ideas

Please post some baby names that you like for us to see.  I seem to be very picky and can't find one I like.  No Ben, we're not naming the baby Ben or Norton or anything related to your name.

By: Pete

Some Practice with Samuel Robert Peavler

This weekend, Christine and I visited Kristin and Rob in Greensburg, PA to see their house and new baby boy Sam.  I was really excited about coming, not only to see Kristin and Rob, but also because of the fact that Christine and I are having a baby in October, and it would give me a chance to test my skills.  Let's just say I passed!  

This sounds cheesy, but I was fascinated with Sam, and realized how long it has been since I have held or even been around a newborn.  He is a really cute baby, and this weekend made me really excited to have a one of my own.  It's a lot of work which I knew was a part of the deal, but it's also really fun.  Sam slept most of the time, but when he was a wake, you could tell he was working very hard to understand his surroundings.  He would sit and stare at you while you held him probably trying to communicate to me that I am definitely going to be his favorite uncle, which I wasn't surprised or worried about........Drew.

Overall, my point of this entry is to say that I was having a hard time comprehending what this whole thing was going to be like for Christine and me, and  this weekend was a great test run for and gave me a greater idea of what's to come; and what's to come is really exciting.

By: Pete 

Our Story

Once upon a time, there was a girl and a boy. Both of them became very fond of one another. As time passed, and the girl and boy fell in love, the boy asked the girl to marry him. She thankfully said yes and the two of them were married on August 25th 2007.

I failed to mention that prior to the girl and boy getting married, they felt it was appropriate to buy a house and a dog who they named Smith. So far things were all going to plan....

When the wedding was complete and the honeymoon too, the boy felt it was time to challenge himself further by accepting a new job in his hometown of Appleton, WI. With the girl on board, the two of them moved to Appleton, bought a second house, and shortly thereafter a second dog, Abe.

Now, the boy and girl's stress levels began to rise and their lives seemed anything but in control. And yet, their love continued to flourish in their new home in Appleton. Still having not sold their original house in Bloomington, MN, the boy often joked about his busy and stressful life that he brought on himself by saying, "Now all we need to make things complete is to find out the girl is pregnant!!!" Little did the boy know that what he thought was a far-fetched attempt at humor would soon become as real as the two dogs, two homes, and his beautiful new wife. 

Around the beginning of March 2008, the girl began feeling unusually sick. The boy, as observant as he was, thought nothing of it. However, the girl had other thoughts in her mind.... It wasn't until the middle of the night on March 6th, 2008 that the boy was awakened by the girl who was soaking in the bathtub holding a foreign white object resembling today's thermometers. The girl screamed out, "BOY, get in here!! What does this say?". The boy jumped out of bed, having been sleeping soundly for hours and dreaming about his next big sales lead he would find at work that next day, stumbled into the bathroom where the girl was still holding the foreign white object that resembled today's thermometer and soaking herself in the tub. The girl again exclaimed, "What does this say?". The boy sheepishly responded, "...um...I don't know." "It says I'm pregnant!", the girl answered back. There was a brief but intense pause before the boy spoke his next well thought out response, "I'm going to bed now...".

It was at that point that the boy and girl, who spent their youthful beginnings together without a care in the world, realized they had become "true" adults. No other milestone in the history of the girl and boy can top the news they had come to realize that strange, exciting, scary, blissful, tearful, panicked, confusing, but mostly exciting March 6th night. 

This story brings us to where we are today. To avoid any further torturing suspense for our readers, the boy and girl are Pete and Christine Hoffman. On October 23rd, 2008, Christine and Pete's family will have gone from the little boy and girl in love from the day they saw each other, to a man and a woman who own two houses, two dogs, and a newborn baby something. How things can change in such a short time. The stress and repercussions of our past decision have brought us to where we are today, and, to be honest, we wouldn't change one thing! 

By: Pete

Cravings

I'm not really sure if this counts as a "craving", but I can't seem to get enough tomatoes.  I mean, not real tomatoes, but things with tomatoes in them.  Usually I hate tomatoes, and I still don't like real tomatoes, but I have been eating many more things with tomatoes than I usually do.  I was at the grocery store yesterday, and I was almost embarrassed as I was checking out because literally every item was made of tomatoes (tomato soups, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, salsa, etc.).

New Cousin

Today is an important day for our baby, because today our baby's first cousin on the Hoffman side was born.  Our baby already has seven cousins on the Duerst side, and now it has one on the Hoffman side too.  We are so excited that they will be so close in age!

First Ultrasound

Here is our baby.  Don't be alarmed if you think you see a horn.  Pete asked the doctor if it was, in fact, a horn, and she reassured us that it was not.

Thanks for the idea, Kristin!

Since I have been obsessed with Kristin's baby blog throughout her pregnancy, Pete and I decided that it would be a good idea to follow her lead and start our own baby blog.  Although it is going to be hard to live up to her writing skills, I will do my best.

I am now officially in my second trimester, and I have to say that everyone was right and I am all of a sudden feeling SO much better.  My first three months were not very pleasant...I spent most of my time feeling like I was going to throw up, but never actually following through with it.  Now, I feel great!  Well, at least I feel great 99% of the time.

We had our second appointment yesterday (which was overall uneventful, except for the highlight when we got to hear the baby's heartbeat), and we scheduled our 20-week appointment for June 3rd.  This means that I officially have just under a month to convince Pete that we should find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.  At this point, I think Pete is winning the battle.  When I hear him talk about it and see how much his heart is really set on keeping it a surprise, I can feel myself giving in.  :)