Our little Christmas present

Cohen Maddox Jonas was born on December 22, 2010 at 3:50 pm. He was 8 lbs 3 oz and 20 3/4 inches. He is an absolute blessing, and we are so in love with him. Although it is hard to spend Christmas away from our families in Minnesota, this guy is a great reason as to why we can't be there this year. Merry Christmas everyone! We love you and miss you!

Love,
Dan, Katie and Cohen

Baby Jonas: Arriving Tomorrow! :)

I can't believe that our baby boy will be arriving tomorrow! We are so excited and thankful. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We will update as soon as possible.

Love,
Katie and Dan

Lakers/Wizards and Heat/Wizards Games

Life just doesn't slow down...even when you're 39 weeks pregnant! It's true! Well, it is for me anyway. I do get tired easily and need to take several breaks. I sit wherever possible and crash on the couch when I get home, but I can't pass up a Lakers game ....

 The jersey still fits!

Thank you Andrew Gerding for this picture. Haha...I had to post it.

Dan and his cousin, Andy, at the game

Kobe

Dan was able to go to the Heat/Wizards game with his cousins, Patrick and Andy. Here are some pictures...

I guess if this guy ate this entire cheeseburger, everyone at the game could go to a burger place and get a free burger. They guy ate the whole thing! Haha...blah!

That's all for now!

Love,

Katie



10 Days to go...

Really? Our little guy will arrive in 10 days or less! It is a little hard to believe that we are finally there. I am so ready! Well, I think so anyway. I'm ready to meet him and see what he looks like, and  I'm ready to hold in my arms instead of my belly. :) Overall, I am still feeling pretty good. I  feel a bit achy,  and my hands and feet are swollen. I get tired very easily and don't feel like doing anything when I get home from work, but I guess that is all normal!

I made no progress at my appointment last week. It was somewhat disappointing, but as long as he is doing well in there I won't kick him out! He definitely gets his patience from his Dad and not me. Hopefully we'll find out something interesting at our appointment on Tuesday. I'm also hoping that we will know what time they scheduled me to be induced on the 22nd. They said last week that it was too early to schedule it with the hospital.

On Friday, our work had a baby shower for us. It was very nice and thoughtful. We had cake and ice cream and some people got us gifts. We got a lot of nice clothes, some gift cards and a few other miscellaneous items. It was fun, but I just don't really like being the center of attention. Blah. Plus, it was suppose to be a surprise, but someone spilled the beans a little before. So I had to act surprise, which is not something I am good at. Anyway, I am thankful for those who took the time out of their day to celebrate with us.  It means a lot to us.

Let's see..what else is going on here. Not much really. Just taking things one day at a time. The goal now is to keep this little guy in until Wednesday.  With the Monday night football games and the Lakers game Tuesday night and am not allowed to have him until Wednesday. I'll try my best, but I make no promises! :)

Not the best picture, but this is what I usually look like on a lazy football Sunday! I'm in no mood to try to impress anyone! And I got a haircut. It was intended to be longer than this, but the woman just kept chopping it off. It will be easier with the baby comes, but my hair was the longest I've ever had it. Oh well, it's a nice change of pace.

Hope you all are doing well! For those in Minnesota...hope you had a nice weekend with the snow! :)

Love,
Katie

Baby Shower...Vikings Game...

Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one! I think I was quite the trooper (staying up past 9!), but I was absolutely exhausted. Thanksgiving dinner was great. We had so much food! I tried to get a little bit of everything without stuffing myself, but that was easier said than done! Dan's family arrived here on Thanksgiving. Their plane was delayed, but we still had plenty of food for them when they got to the house.


On Saturday, Dan's cousin Christina hosted a baby shower for us. She did an amazing job, and it was a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures...

Cute cake and Delicious!

The whole group! Thanks to all of those who helped out with the shower. Dan and I really appreciate it!

On Sunday, we went to the Vikings/Redskins football game. We got there early to tailgate with his cousins, which was a lot of fun. We don't really get to just hang out much so it was a good time. I was happy that I could still somewhat fit into my Vikings jersey. :)

Dan's brother, Tom, me and Dan

The tailgating group...

Andy Gerding..."Let's take a funny one!" I have never known him to want to take a picture, so the fact that he said that was pretty hilarious!

We watched the game from a suite. A little different  from what we're used to but still fun. The food in there was great...especially the ham. Haha. I have a thing for carved ham if you weren't aware! Here are a few pictures from the Suite...

Touchdown!! Adrian Peterson!

Thank you to Dan's family for coming to visit and to everyone who made this a great weekend!

By the way, Baby Jonas is still cozy in my belly. Only 3 weeks to go though!

Love,

Katie

Happy Thanksgiving and a Baby Update!

Happy Thanksgiving!! I am so thankful to have such an amazing family , friends and life. I love you and miss you all!

Life has been pretty low key here. We've been busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and visitors and of course for the baby. I can't believe that we only have 4 weeks to go! I remember when my friend, Kellie, only had 4 weeks to go and I kept thinking she could have her baby any day. Now that is me! Exciting, but a little scary too. I have packed my hospital bag...somewhat. I have a checklist so I can throw in the last minute items. We still need a few things for the baby, but we are getting there. We did a hospital tour the other day, which was exciting. The birthing rooms are huge, the recovery room, well not so much. I guess it isn't a place that I want to stay for long anyway. 

We had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. According to the ultrasound Baby Jonas is measuring 6lbs 10 oz! He is a couple weeks ahead of schedule. My doctor said that she would like to induce me on the 22nd if he doesn't come by then. I know that being induced is tough, but the thought of having him here by Christmas is so exciting! I'm so excited to meet this little guy! I'm hoping he comes on his own sooner rather than later! Dan even had some concerns about when the Lakers come to town on the 14th. He said that if I didn't have the baby by then he wasn't sure if he should go to the game....what?! Dan!? Missing Kobe?!? What a sweetie. :) I don't think I would let him do that though! We would have a doctor appointment that day so hopeful that would indicate whether we were close or not. Unless I am in labor, I would assure him that it would be ok to go! And cross my fingers that if I do go into laborI am not one of those people who has the baby in an hour!

Well, Dan's family is on there way here! It will be so much fun to see them. We have a busy and exciting weekend ahead...a baby shower, the vikings game and of course eating lots today! I better finish up cleaning and cooking. Here's the latest picture of our little one.  In case you can't tell his head is on the right and you should be able to see his nose and mouth. They his little hand is toward the left of the picture.



Love,

Katie

Adorable Babies!

Look at these sweet little ones. Anyone recongnize these two? :)

Dan

Katie

Aww..so excited to see our little guy...7 more weeks!

Baby Update

There isn't really too much new with the baby! I guess sometimes no news is good news though. I am 32 weeks now, so there is only 8 weeks or so left to go. My doctor appointments have been pretty uneventful so far as well. Typical... measure the belly and me asking some questions! We are going to have another ultrasound at my appointment on the week of Thanksgiving. I'm excited to get another glimpse of our little guy. I can feel him getting a bit cramped in there, but he still moves around a lot. I am feeling really tired lately and often go to bed by 9. Other than that I think I'm doing well! I have been trying to get things ready at work for when I am out, but things are so busy that I've had trouble finding time to focus on it.  It is stressing me out just a bit.  I am sure it will all get done! We are still working on a name for the baby, but I think we are getting closer. :)

There just isn't really too much going on here! The weather is getting chillier, and I'm ok with that! I think I want to set up our Christmas tree soon! :)

One last thing.....The Recliner! I have definitely been getting a lot of use out of it, and we have only had it since Friday. I made Dan sit in it for the picture though! It's not the greatest, biggest chair, but it works perfectly for me! And Dan mostly fits in it.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Katie

Vikings Game!

Last Monday we went to the Vikings and Jets game in New York/New Jersey! They actually play in New Jersey even though they are a New York team.  We could see Manhattan from the stadium though.  I think Dan was itchin' for some New York pizza! Anyway, Dan really wanted to go to the game. I wanted to go too, but seeing as I cannot stay awake past 10 I knew it would be difficult. Even though it may have not been the smartest idea, we bought the tickets and decided to go. Dan bought the tickets on Stub Hub and the tickets were sent overnight via FedEx. They "arrived" on his birthday. They were supposedly slipped under our door. Well, we knew that they do not go to people's individual apartments to deliver things, they always leave it at the front desk. The package was no where to be found. He was so upset! There wasn't really anything we could do that night. On Friday, Dan talked to people from FedEx and Stub Hub and things weren't looking good. So I called our apartment complex. I knew people were entering apartments to spray for bedbugs (eww) so I thought I would check to see if anyone had been in our apartment.  It just so happens that the person I talked to saw the package! It was delivered to the front desk of the wrong building. I told them to hold it and that we were coming to get it! We picked up the package and good thing I called when they did. They had written "return to sender" on the package. We got the tickets...woofda! I love how the FedEx guy delivered it to the wrong building and then lied about it! Always go with UPS!! :)

Anyway, back to the game! We got there early to check out the stadium. We stopped to do a taste test for the new diet mountain dew flavor. None of them were very good!



Here is a picture of us waiting to get into the stadium. My jersey still fits for now. Not sure if it will went the Vikings come here at the end of November! The stadium was nice, but the food was not very good. It was like the same things all around the stadium.  It was kind of disappointing. I got a hot dog and some crinkle cut fries and Dan didn't get anything! You know it's kind of bad when Dan doesn't get anything to eat at all! 

Here are some pictures of the players warming up...

It was fun watching them warm up until the rain came.  Our seats were under an overhang so we didn't get wet during the game. It was just frustrating that the game was delayed! The game was a lot of fun and I'm glad that we went. The second half was much more fun than the first half! It would have been a little better if they won! Oh well! Here is a picture from during the game.

After the game Dan had a 3 1/2 hour drive back to our place. He did such a good job. I slept the entire way once we got out of the stadium area. We got home around 4:30am. He took a two hour nap and went to work the next day at 8am. Such a trooper. I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday, so I got to sleep in an extra 45 minutes.

Thank you to my wonderful husband for a great weekend!!

Love,
Katie

Atlantic City

Last weekend we drove to Atlantic City. It is about 3 1/2 hours from our place. We didn't have to work on Monday, and Dan booked a room for like $50 a few months ago. We weren't sure if we were still going to go, but I'm glad we decided to! Dan's friend, Dave, met up with us. He lives about an hour from Atlantic City. It was so great to see him. The next day we drove up to where he lives and had lunch with him.

Atlantic City was fun. I always enjoy seeing the ocean and walking on the boardwalk. They have  some outlet stores there, and of course gambling is pretty fun.  Sadly, though I lost..... $7. I had fun though, so its ok! Dan won playing Craps (I was sleeping at this point). He always seems to win enough to pay for our hotel room and then some. Good Deal.

Such a beautiful day!

One more post to come...I've been a bit behind on updating this! 

Love,
Katie

30 Weeks!

I'm in my third trimester and only 10 weeks left until we meet our little boy! So crazy and exciting. Not much is really new with us in regards to the baby. He is getting big. When we went for our 28 week ultrasound they said he was measuring a couple weeks early. I am hoping that means he will come before Christmas, but we'll see. He is moving around a lot and I can feel him jabbing into my sides. I used to say to Dan that I wish he could be pregnant for a day so he could understand what it was like. This is when I wasn't feeling well and exhausted. Now I say it, because I wish that he could feel the baby moving around. Such an incredible feeling. Anyway, everything is going well with all of us!

Dan and I went to birthing classes this past week. The instructor was pretty boring, but I still feel better about labor and delivery. I think Dan learned a lot and he said he is really excited to meet the baby! We had 3 hour classes on Tuesday and Thursday. There were 7-8 couples in the class. Our last class was on Saturday for 5 hours and only 3 couples showed up! It was by far the most interesting session and too bad they missed it because they didn't graduate and get their certificates! haha! :) 

Names..we haven't picked a name yet. Dan keeps calling the baby "Dean". I'm not sure where he came up with that. I can assure you that we are not naming our baby that, but its just funny that he constantly calls him that. "Good Morning, Dean", "How are you doing, Dean", "Hi Dean!" Haha. Anyway, we I have some names that I am leaning towards, but Dan doesn't really give me any hints on what he likes. We'll figure it out in 10 weeks or so. Any name suggestions or ideas are welcome!

Love, Katie

Happy Birthday Dan!

This past Thursday was Dan's birthday!  It started off with some McDonald's for breakfast, work, Buffalo Wild Wings for Lunch, work, and a birthday dinner at Carrabba's. (Sounds fattening! haha) I ordered him a cake and had it sent to the office...a smores brownie cake. I thought it was perfect for him. He is a hard person to shop for, but I always try to make his birthday special because he deserves it!

The cake...MMM...looks pretty good. Tasted pretty good. Dan was excited to eat the rest at home with a big glass of milk. Too bad I lost the rest of the cake! I carried it out of the restaurant..I know that for sure...and then we got home and it was no where to be found! I am thinking I set it on top of the car, and it fell off when I drove away. I felt terrible, but Dan reassured me that it was ok.

The group pictures we took at dinner...I had to post them both because Dan's aunt, Heidi isn't in one, and Dan's uncle, Jim isn't in the other! :)

Overall, I think he had a pretty good birthday. Thanks to the Gerdings for celebrating with us and thanks to everyone who called him and sent cards. I know it meant a lot to Dan!!

Love, Katie

The Baby's Crib and 27 weeks!

Hi All!

I am exhausted so I'm going to make this quick. Just wanted to post some updated pictures. We are slowly accumulating things for the baby. We have his crib ready to go!

I love the blue and green together! It looks brighter in person...guess you'll have to come see it!

We received a high chair for the baby shower, but returned it in MN so we could buy it when we got back out here. We finally re-bought that. Dan's aunt, Brigitte, sent us some great books! There were a lot of Dr. Seuss books and Disney books. That was very exciting. I think that's all that is new with the baby gear. We are slowly getting there! We still have a lot on our list that we need to get. And there are several things that I want, but don't need. I sat in a recliner the other day...ahhh..it was so comfy! Dan said that Football on Sundays would be even better if we had that chair. We made need two! Haha :) We'll see!

We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow morning (28 week appointment). We're so excited to see the little guy on the ultrasound. I am nearly positive that it is our last ultrasound before he arrives! I'm sure that we'll have pictures to share tomorrow! Until then, here is a picture ...27 weeks. And the view from our balcony!

Love,
Katie

25 Weeks

Not too much to say today! I'm at 25 weeks...only 15 to go! The baby is moving like crazy. Dan and I went out to lunch on Saturday. I told him that I would hit his arm everytime I felt the baby move. We'll it didn't last too long because I was like constantly touching him! :)

Woo...

Dan's Aunt, Heidi, bought the baby a few things. Everything was so adorable, I just had to share! I think that Dan was a little jealous! There are little packs of Jordan booties too! :)

These are adorable 6 piece outfits and some duck slippers.

Preppy little Polo outfit. I believe Dan made some comment about how he wishes they made this in adult size. Could you imagine Dan wearing this...ahhhhhahhhahahahah!

Love,

Katie

Have you ever wondered...

.....what a Chevy Malibu looks like without a bumper?

Well, here you go! And if you wondering if the bumper of a Chevy Malibu can fit into a Rav 4 (Dan's car) well, it sure can!

I think most of you know by now, but for those of you who don't...someone hit my car last week. I was on my way to workout.  A car that was coming in the opposite direction drifted into my lane. It is all a bit of a blur because it happened so fast, but he broke my mirror and the scraped up the back left side of my car. He then, of course, tore off my bumper.  I was fine, and so was the baby. I was more just shocked and confused. No one who saw it happen stopped to help. Finally some woman stopped asked if I was ok and then called the police. I called Dan to tell him what happened. The poor guy couldn't even understand what I was saying because I was a bit hysterical. Then an ambulance, a fire truck and two police cars showed up. I didn't think it was THAT serious. I think all of that overwhelmed me a bit, plus the 10 people who were asking if I was ok! The guy who hit me said he fell asleep. Scary...it could have been worse. Well, Dan eventually came to get me and my car is sitting at the "collision center" waiting to be fixed. So much drama with a new car! But we're all ok, and I've learned how to file my first accident insurance claim...

A Weekend With Mickey

Dan and I spent Labor Day weekend at Disneyworld. Like always we had a blast. Usually , when we go we are running around like crazy. It is obviously a little harder for me these days, but I think that I was a trooper..until the last day. My feet were hurting so bad! After a little convincing we rented me a wheelchair! It was great. Dan was a little embarrassed pushing me around, but it was either that or going back to the hotel. We did all of our favorite things. Well, I couldn't do everything, but I didn't mind resting my feet and waiting for Dan to go on a ride or two.

We got up early on Saturday morning and headed to Hollywood Studios. We got some pictures with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Donald and Daisy when we walked in and then headed to Toy Story Mania. We got some Fast Passes and then went on the ride. I am disappointed to say that Dan beat me all 3 times we played. I think my baby bump got in the way! :)  Then we just walked around for a bit and eventually went to Epcot for lunch. One of our favorite places to eat is at Epcot in China. They have the best Orange Chicken. Mmmm! We did lots at Epcot. Dan's friend, Lauren, who he worked with on his College program met us there that afternoon.  We saw the show Captain EO. Some of you may remember it if you visited Disney back in the day.  Dan remembered from when he was a kid. It is a 3-D show starring Michael Jackson. Dan still loved it., and I agree. We ended up going to see it 2 more times on our trip. Anyway, we then went to a new restaurant in Italy to eat. They had some great pizza! Then went to Downtown Disney for a stop at Goofy's Candy shop. Yum! You can pick a treat (caramel apple, pretzel rods, gingerbread man, rice krispie treat or marshmallows), have it dipped in some sort of chocolate and then topped with your favorite toppings. It is one of our favorite things to do! I got pretzel rods, dipped in white chocolate, sprinkled with coconut and drizzled with milk chocolate. Dan got a gingerbread man, dipped in milk chocholate, sprinkled with coconut and drizzled in dark chocolate. I think Lauren got a caramel apple, dipped in some kind of chocolate with cinnamon and sugar. They were all really good! We spent the rest of the night shopping!

In Mexico with Donald

Outside the Captain EO show!

Lauren and Dan with their treats from Goofy's.

Sunday...we got up early and got to Magic Kingdom when they opened. I love their opening show. It always makes me a little teary-eyed when all the characters come out! Anyway, we got into the park, got some fast passes for Space Mountain (for Dan, don't worry I didn't go on it). We went on some other rides, got some pictures with characters, ate, got pineapple floats :), then went back to the hotel room for some naps. Then we went to meet my friend, Laurie and her boyfriend, Branden at the Polynesian hotel for dinner. We just ate a quick service restaurant there, but it was really good! Then we went back to Magic Kingdom to watch the parade and fireworks. We stayed until Midnight riding rides and shopping. It was a great day

My shirt was a big hit. It says "Embrace your bump" and it has Mickey wrapping around holding my bump.

Dan, Me, Lauren, Laurie and Branden waiting for the firewors to start.

Monday...we again got up early. Surprising, huh? We headed to Animal Kingdom. Our first stop was the Safari. It was so much fun. The animals were all over and really active.  Then we went on the Safari again! Then we went to see some characters. We met 8 characters (Mickey, Minnie, Thumper, Goofy, Donald, Chip, Dale and Pocahantas) in a half an hour. It was great. We did a few other things...Expedition Everest, Rafiki's planet watch, (to visit Laurie at work) and watched the Lion King show, which is a must see everytime we go. Here are some pictures from the Safari!

A giraffe scratching his head on a tree..ha

Mama and baby elephant...so little!

Ostriches make Dan laugh....they are pretty silly looking.

Then we headed out back to Epcot, where we picked up a wheelchair (my feet were thankful!), ate orange chicken again at China, watched our last two shows of Captain EO and then back to Hollywood studios where it started to downpour! I held our umbrella over Dan and I while he pushed me in the wheelchair. Not an easy task, but it worked out..kind of.  We watched the Beauty and the Beast show and then went to the final show of the American Idol Experience. We rounded out the night by one last round at Toy Story Mania. We headed to our hotel and to bed to wake up early... I mean early! Our flight left Tuesday morning at 7:20 am so we had to be on the Magical Express at 4:15am. Wooo...that was our vacation in a nutshell! What a weekend!

Love,
Katie