A Holly Jolly Christmas

Lance and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Here is a picture of us from Christmas. As you can see, Jenna is growing rapidly!


On Christmas Eve, we went to Lance's parents house and celebrated the holiday. In the holiday tradition we took a family photo. This is the whole group of us.

As for Jenna (and any future siblings she may have), she had a big Christmas. Grandpa and Grandma Rentchler (Christa's mom & dad) bought the Hofmann grand kids a petal tractor. Yes, there are two tractors in the picture, the Schenk's got their petal tractor too. Ciara seed to enjoy hers, though her feet were a little short to reach the petals just yet.

Ultrasound & Dr. Appointment

Yesterday, we had our 31 week doctor appointment. This appointment was preceded with an ultrasound. We had a 3D/4D ultrasound and it was amazing! We reconfirmed the fact that we are having a little girl. She was sucking her thumb and had her hands at her face a good while, then she moved her hand and put her foot up in her face.

Her heart rate was 142 and she was weighing in at 4 pounds 2 ounces (putting her in the 61st percentile). This time the lady guessed my due date to be February 10. I will stick to the original date, February 13, since it’s only an estimate anyway.

The doctor said the baby is still measuring big. At 31 weeks I am measuring 33. Meanwhile, we are getting the baby’s room ready, finishing up things for Christmas, and getting ready for the baby shower. Our next appointment is on December 29, we will have another appointment 2 weeks later, then we start the weekly visits. She’ll be here before we know it!

Afghan

I received a beautiful afghan from a cooperator's wife on Wednesday and thought I would share a photo of it.

For those of you who don't know about my work, I will explain. I work with ~35 farming operations with financial & tax planning. I prepare Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Cash Flow analysis, track grain production and sales, and use the information to create comparative analysis. So, I can tell the "cooperator" (a fancy word for farmer or farming operation) how his farm income and expenses (per acre) compare to the county average, the area average, the state average, or compare based on size (acres) of the farm. Then we take this information, analyze it one-on-one, and make farming decisions for upcoming crop years. Anyway, these folks pay a fee (anywhere from $750 to $2500) for this service.

A cooperator's wife brought this afghan out and gave it to me during a farm "tax planning" visit Wednesday. She said she made it especially for me and the heart pattern was because my baby was due so close to Valentine's day. It brought tears to my eyes, that someone who pays to have me around their farm would think that much of me to make a blanket for my baby.

Baby Class

Our class for birthing and baby care turned out to be pretty good. If nothing else it has sparked lots of conversations.

We have started counting down and up now, instead of just counting up. It seems like the last 30 weeks have just flew by, I bet the next ~10 will go even faster....especially with the holidays.

We finally have our tree up over the weekend. So I guess one could say, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." Lance and I were commenting that next year we will likely have a crawling toddler that is pulling herself up, which should make Christmas a lot more interesting next year!

Past 2 Weeks

It's been quite a while since the last post and for that, I appologize. Here is an update on the happenings during that time...

We had our Dr. Appointment on November 26. Jenna checked out well. Dr. measured my belly and said she is measuring big. He wants to do a second ultrasound to see how she is doing and if we are going to stick with our original due date. I will let you all know how that turns out on the 15th of December.

Lance and I had a nice evening on our anniversary. We went out to eat and then went to shopping to finsish spending gift card money from our wedding. That was lots of fun!

Thanksgiving was kinda quiet this year due to quite a few sicknesses in the Hofmann Family. Lance decided to plug in the VHS player at his parents and we started watching videos of Lance and Ivan from the mid 80's. It was quite comical.

Lance had a nice birthday.

The baby showers on Saturday and Sunday were very nice. We took lots of pictures. The three young ladies that were due within 2 weeks of each other finally go together. They are sitting in the order their daughters were born. The little sisters are in reverse order of due dates, all within 9 days of each other.
Front Row (L to R) Carla & Ciara, Barbara & Aubrey, April & Kate
Second Row (L to R) Christa (girl), Lisa (unknown), and Bonnie (girl).

We keep telling Lisa she has to have a girl too, just because she has to be like the rest of us. I guess we will find out in February.

New exciting news, Lance and I are taking birthing and child care class this weekend. I will let you know how it goes when we get done this evening.

Until next time...which hopefully won't be so long.

S*#% - the 4 letter S word

I looked out the window at work today and said a dirty 4 letter word that started with S. I couldn't believe it either - SNOW! It was snowing! I guess winter is here.

Getting Ready to Celebrate!

Today starts an 11 day stretch of celebrations. We have...
Christa's Graduation from H&R Block Tax school (for work) tonight ,
an annual meeting dinner for Christa's work tomorrow night,
some good friends (The Wessel's) are coming in to visit from Tenneessee to see the Rentchler clan Friday night,
Friday is also the mark of 28 weeks, our third trimester,
the American Legion is having Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night,
Wednesday is our doctor's appointment to check up on Jenna's progress,
Wednesday is also our 3rd wedding anniversary,
Thurday is Thanksgiving,
Friday Lance turns 26!
Saturday I am invited to a baby shower,
Sunday I am invited to another baby shower,
(both mommy-to-be's are due within 9 days of me).

We get to celebrate a little bit of everything with all sorts of family and friends! It looks like Lance and I have plenty to be thankful for this year!

Weekend Visitors

Lance and I had a very nice supprise over the weekend...his Mom and Dad came to town to visit us at the apartment. They helped us move in August 2007 and hadn't made the trip south to see us again. Since we are up there every few weekends, that's not really a big deal; however, we did enjoy having a little company.

I learned one more important lesson over the weekend, all you can eat buffets are not a lot of fun while you are pregnant.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. By act of Congress, this day is set aside out of respect for and in recognition of the contributions our military service members have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world. Our country is forever indebted to our veterans and to those who laid down their lives in freedom's defense.
I would like to say thank you to those of you who are veterans; those who have family who died in service to our country; or have family who are currently serving in military duty. On this day, may we all take time to remember the valor, loyalty, dedication and selfless sacrifice of our veterans.

May God Bless America and our Troops!

Shadow

I have been going for walks lately during my lunch hour. I came to the realization today, that even my shadow looks pregnant.

Dentist Appointment

Yesterday was election day and a holiday for University of Kentucky. Therefore, I decided to schedule my dentist appointment so I didn't have to take more time off work. When the hygentist called me back, she pointed at my belly and asked me what's this? I told her it was my little girl!

I should first note that I do not mind going to the dentist and had no cavities to report. I am not so sure that Jenna knew what to think about me being at the dentist office. She was moving and squirming the entire time the hygentist cleaned my teeth and when the dentist was checking them, too. She was quite entertaining.

Big Weekend

What I had planned to be a quiet productive weekend, turned into a busy, yet productive weekend. Friday night I did the dreaded cleaning out of the closet. I put away most of the maternity clothes that are short sleeved and got out my long sleeved wardrobe. (Go figure, we always get nice weather after that). My Dad went with me to Baby's R Us and transported the crib home and carried it up the stairs for me (thank-you Daddy). Then I was so excited I put it together, matress and all!
Saturday morning I got to watch Ciara. She was a good girl and we got along well most of the morning. I guess I got some good practice in before my baby is born. However, I made a very important realization...I do not want to get pregnant again right away. I was pooped after 4 hours.
Sunday was super productive. I finished a counted cross stitch picture I have been working on for a couple years. I also finished making all my christmas cards. I get tomorrow, election day, off as a holiday, so I am hoping to get my picture framed. I will post a picture once I get it framed.

6 month Dr. Appointment

I went to the doctor today. Nothing too exciting happened. The doctor pushed on my belly and said she was haning out on my right side. He goes to listen to her heart beat and she wouldn't stay still for him. At first he said 140 then she moved and he went hunting for her again and he then said 150. I don't think she liked the dopplar wand pushing in on her space. Everything checked out okay...next appointment is Nov. 26.

Starting to get Ready

Lance and I have been wanting to do some shopping to get ready for the baby. Last night was the big night. We went in Baby's R' Us and she got a crib, changing table, car seat, and stroller. Lance decided to start putting things together. I guess he thought working on a stroller should be like working on a car. You must lay underneath it to get anything done.
I didn't really notice how he was working on it until he said, help I've been run over!

Most the other stuff we had to order, so our shopping trip will be more fun in a couple weeks.

Happy Birthday Kaity

Lance and I would like to wish our niece Kaity a happy birthday. She is 5 today.
She carved pumpkins and sent us a picture. The pumpkin on the left is Kent's. It has one tooth just like he does. The other is Kaity's.

It's hard to believe that when I met Kaity for the first time she was 5 months old. Its even harder to think she had just turned 2 when she was flower girl in our wedding.

Uncle Lance

Lance went over to Ivan and Angel's today. Kaity and Angel were carving pumpkins. Somehow Angel got Lance, Kaity and Kent to pose for a photo, so I thought I would share a recent photo of our niece, Kaity (will be 5 on the 23rd) and nephew, Kent (9 mo) with Uncle Lance (almost 26).
Aren't they adorable!

Our weekend

We decided at the last minute to go up to the house over the weekend. Lance did some spraying for Ivan, so I couldn't have much to do with him. Especially since he had chemical splashes all over his clothes when he got home. I got bored Saturday afternoon and decided to bake. I made 2 loaves of pumpkin bread and a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to make something seasonal! They are yummy if anyone is interested in the recipe, they made Jenna jump for joy when she got a taste!

Sunday evening we decided to stay at the house, so this morning we went to town to vote (absentee). I voted for the first time ever! It's hard to think that if this were 1908 instead of 2008, I would not have had the right, simply because I am a woman.

She Has A Name!

We have decided on a name (and the spelling) for our little girl. Her name is going to be.....

Jenna May Hofmann

My Belly is Moving

I have been feeling the baby move for probably a month now. I have noticed she has been getting stronger with her movements. Monday night I laid down to go to bed and guess what, she found (what I assume to be) her feet. Always before the movements have been below or right at my belly button (which is slowly disappearing). Monday night there's movement about 3 inches above my belly button. She was doing it yesterday while I was at work and I could actually see my belly moving!

Sharing Ice Cream

I mentioned Covered Bridge Festival over the weekend. Here is a picture of me holding my neice before her 9:00 meal.
She kept scooting down my lap, as part of my lap is being occupied by her cousin.
I shared some ice cream (with mommy's permission, of course).

This picture is after Carla fed her straight from the cone, but the reaction & consequence is pretty well the same. She wore more than she ate!

Isn't she adorable?

In 4 months

It was brought to my attention that today exactly 4 months shy of our due date. So, I guess that means in 4 months we will either be holding our daughter, in the hospital in labor (odds are not that great that she will come on the due date), or will be anxiously awaiting her arrival.

Covered Bridge Festival

Randomly, on Saturday Carla called and we ended up going up to our house to go to covered bridge festival on Sunday. We went to the bridge at Mansfield and had a very nice, warm day.

Ciara was a very good girl for a day of "shopping" and stroller exploration. It was very nice to get so spend some time with my sister and to get to watch her as a mommy. It got me that much more excited about meeting my little girl in February.

We stopped at McDonald's for supper on our way home. I ended up sharing my ice cream with Ciara. Carla got some pictures of her reactions, which were comical. I'll see if I can share a picture.

Kick Daddy...

I have been experiencing my little girl move for several weeks now. I must compliment how much stronger she is getting. Lance has been wanting to feel her movement and so I have been coaching her to kick Daddy. Well last night she did just that. We were getting ready to go to sleep and he wrapped his arm around my belly and she kicked him. Lance pointed to a part of my belly and asked if she moved, I smiled and asked him if he felt it and sure enough....he did....then he tried to coax her into doing it again.

Corny Cornpicker

Daddy read his daugher her first book tonight. She learned about Cornelius "Corny" Cornpicker and Johnny Tractor. This is a classic children's book published by John Deere. This follows her combine ride in Grandpa Bob's combine last weekend after her mommy and Grandma Jo canned 49 quarts of applesauce (for babyfood) .

Thought for the Day

First I must say thank-you to Kristina (a friend from Purdue/California) for this daily thought....

"Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So - if you give her any crap, you will receive a ton of s***."

...I think I have finally accomplished all the above!!!!

Outside looking In...Inside looking out

A view from the outside looking in and the inside looking out ...

Several people have asked me if I "look pregnant" yet. I figured I would show you all how my belly has grown into over the last 20 weeks. In my opinion, yes, I look pregnant. However, I may just be saying that because I hope people don't think I'm just fat.

Results are in....

We are having a GIRL! Congratulations to all of you who guessed correctly! Little Ms. Hofmann was very active and a little shy during the ultrasound. We didn't get the anatomy shot easily, but we did get good proof. She is 12 oz and in the 59th percentile. Everything looked normal and she looked good. She jerked her head once during the ultrasound. I felt the movement very stong. I told Lance that I felt that and the lab tech said she did too.

Ultrasound Today!

Today we get to see images of our baby for the first time! Lance and I are very excited! The only change in the guessing game is that Grandma Jo (Christa's mom) has submitted her guess for a boy. That leaves us at a 52% guessing boy and 48% guessing girl.

4 days & 50/50

Christa (Mommy) ............Lance (Daddy)
Janet (Lance's Mom) .......Ivan (Lance's Brother)
Janet's cousin ....................Carla (Christa's Sister)
April (Family Friend).......Barbara (Family Friend)
Mike O (Family Friend)...Annie (Purdue)
Angie (work)......................Hannah (Angie's Daughter)
Holli(Angie's Daughter)....Melissa (Christa's Friend)
Ron (work).........................Angel (Sister-In-Law)
Kristina (Purdue)..............Kaity (Niece)
Delores (Christa's Aunt)...Bonnie (Family Friend)

5 Days... and 59% (boy) to 41% (girl)

Christa (Mommy) ............ Lance (Daddy)
Janet (Lance's Mom) .......Ivan (Lance's Brother)
Janet's cousin ....................Carla (Christa's Sister)
April (Family Friend)........Barbara (Family Friend)
Mike O (Family Friend).. .Annie (Purdue)
Angie (work).......................Hannah (Angie's Daughter)
Holli(Angie's Daughter).....Melissa (Christa's Friend)
Ron (work)
Kristina (Purdue)
Delores (Christa's Aunt)

Place your bets by adding a comment or sending me an email. I will update daily! Remember, you have a 50% chance of being right!

Make a Guess!

We are still taking guesses on rather our baby is a boy or girl. I should give a little explanation to Lance & my guess. Lance says we are having a girl, because Ivan (his brother) had a girl first. I am guessing we are having a boy, on the 50% chance that Lance is wrong, then I get to be right!

Christa (Mommy) ............ Lance (Daddy)
Janet (Lance's Mom) .......Ivan (Lance's Brother)
Janet's cousin ....................Carla (Christa's Sister)
April (Family Friend)........Barbara (Family Friend)
Mike O (Family Friend).. .Annie (Purdue)
Angie (work).......................Hannah (Angie's Daughter)
Ron (work)

Place your bets by adding a comment or sending me an email. I will update daily! Remember, you have a 50% chance of being right!

Anatomy Ultrasound Countdown...7 days

We have 7 more days until the anatomy ultrasound appointment. We are very excited to get to see images of baby Hofmann. Meanwhile, we have been doing all kinds of silly tests to see if we can figure out what the gender of our baby might be. The results so far are....
Drano = boy
Chinese Lunar Calandar = girl
Old Wives Tails (test #1) = boy (57% chance)
Old Wives Tails (test #2) = girl (62% chance)

So basically, we are as certain of what the gender of the baby is now, as we were before all the silly test.

We are taking a poll. Anyone who is willing to take a stance and guess the gender of our baby before the results are known, we would love to hear what you have to say. (Remember, you have a 50% chance of being correct).

Lance (Daddy) = girl
Christa (Mommy) = boy
Janet (Lance's Mom) = boy
Ivan (Lance's Brother) = girl
Janet's cousin = boy
Barbara (Family Friend) = girl
Carla (Christa's Sister) = girl


To get your guess posted, you may either add a comment to the blog...or send me an email. Happy guessing!!!!

Belly Button

Lance thinks my belly button is his direct path of communication with the baby (which is really cute to see). Over the weekend he pulls up my shirt and starts talking to the baby. Then in mid conversation, he says "your belly button is getting HUGE. Have you looked at this thing lately?" Then he decides he is going to stick his finger in it. He then says "Look! This thing swallows my finger!" Meanwhile, my face is red and I am actually taking time to look at my belly button. I told him it was the baby's fault and we both started laughing. I think it's cute the things men notice.

Drano Recipe

This baby gender prediction method has been around for decades, and makes it's rounds regularly on the web as a potential way to find out what gender your baby is.

The recipe /tools needed to test this method..
Glass Jar
Plastic Container with 3 oz. marked
2 Tablespoons CRYSTAL drano
3 oz of pregnant lady urine
Lots of fresh air
2 budding scientists

First, take 2 tbsp drano and place in glass jar and place outside. Send the pregnant lady to the bathroom to pee in the plastic container. Send the two budding scientists outside to pour the urine into the draino. Stand back to watch and see what happens. Please note: if there is any wind, you want to be upwind, because this concoction stinks!

Results:
If the mixture darkens to a brownish, black or dark blue color within the first 10 seconds - It is a boy. If there is no darkening or color change after 10 - 15 seconds - It is a girl.

Baby's Moving

Mommy has been feeling Baby Hofmann moving around for the last several days. The first few times it happened, I was thinking "hmmm that's an odd feeling" wondering if it was the baby I was feeling move. Now, I am sure it's the baby. Lance is a little jealous because I can feel it and he can't yet, so he keeps trying to encourage the baby to kick me. I'm sure glad our baby hasn't started listening to daddy yet!

Purdue, Wedding, & Draino

We had a very busy weekend. I went up to Purdue on Friday to do some recruiting for open positions with my job. It was a little strage to go back to campus after a year away, but was nice to catch up with a few of the professors and students.
Our buddy John Hedrick got married on Saturday. Lance was a groomsman, so while they were getting dressed and ready for pictures, I went to a couple university bookstores. Didn't find a whole lot because the first home game just ended and there were thousands of people in the book stores. At least everyone was in a good mood because Purdue beat the socks off Oregon.
Supposedly, there is a test pregnant women can take to find out if the baby they are carrying is a boy or a girl before the ultrasound. From what I've heard you mix Draino and urine and the color the draino turns indicates the gender of the baby. I am thinking about trying it out to see. Has anyone heard of this before? Has anyone tried it? I'm debating it, but I have to do my homework first to find out what ratio of each is needed and what the results tell you. Look for a Draino update in a few days.

4 Month Dr. Appointment

We had our 4 month dr. appointment this morning (9-3-08). The baby's heart rate was 148 (good for the baby's age), my weight gain is on track, and baby measures a little big for 16 weeks. We will find out if they are going to stick with our original due date (2-13-09) at our ultrasound appointment on 9-29-08 (late afternoon). By the end of the month, we should know rather we are having a boy or girl!!!!! Other than that, all is well!

Labor Day

We had a very busy Labor Day holiday weekend. We went up to the house and mewed grass and worked around there on Friday evening and all day Saturday. Lance helped me pick green beans-almost 3 five gallon buckets full. I worked on processing them while he went and did a few things on the farm. He went over and visited Ivan, Angel, Kaity, and Kent. Angel gave us the cutest onesie.


On Sunday, we went to Lincoln Park to visit my Mom and Dad and the camping crew. I got to see my neice, Ciara, and meet Aubrey, who is 20 days younger. Three daughters of the camping club, Carla (my sister), April, and Barbara were all expecting within 2 weeks of each other. All three had healthy little girls. Now, Carla's sister -me, April's sister - Bonnie, and Barbara's sister - Lisa are all expecting within 9 days of each other in February. So we took belly pictures of the three of us somewhere between 18 and 16 weeks. I didn't end up with a picture, but I know there is one on the Hemp blogpage, which is linked.
Monday, I had a full day of canning green beans. Remember those 3 five gallon buckets...


I ended up with 45 pints and 7 quarts of green beans after a full day of work canning.

Baby's first Teddy

Lance and I took a vacation over the weekend. We started in Chattanooga, TN by going to Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Incline, Point Park, and several Civil War sites. Tropical storm Fay set in, so we decided to head up to Nashville for the last day of vacation. In Nashville, we were going to go on a dinner cruise, but with the rain, we didn't figure it would be a whole lot of fun. So we went to Opry Mills mall to kill time before supper. Lance had an idea that we should buy the baby a souvenir and it's first Teddy bear. So we found the Build-A-Bear store and made 'lil Hofmann his or her first teddy.

A prayer for twins

According to my sister-in-law, Angel, my neice, Kaity, has been praying for me and the baby every night. Kaity has been facinated with twins. While Angel was pregnant with Kent, my 7 mo. old nephew, Kaity was hoping for twins. Evidently, Kaity asked Angel when I would have my "special x-ray" to see if there are two babies and if the baby is a boy or girl. Angel has a feeling Kaity may secretly be praying for twin cousins!
I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday 9-3-08. I guess at that appointment I will schedule an ultrasound to find out if baby Hofmann is a boy or girl and to make sure there is only one baby!

The Cat's Out of the Bag

Lance and I decided to share the news about our little Tyke after our dr. appointment on Aug 4. At the dr. appointment we got to hear the heartbeat (164 beats per minute) which was an awesome experience.

We told both sets of grandparents with their past and upcoming birthdays. Lance's mom got a birthday card which said something sweet about Grandmas. They were really excited for us, in fact, she even teared up with the news!

My dad got a bib stating "My Grandpa drives Red Tractors" with a picture of a Massey Harris 44. He asked if we were trying to tell him something, I said "read your card." My mom was so excited she immediately told me to start looking and get my name on the list for day care...Congratulations would have worked too. Now we are in the process of sharing the word with our families and friends.