The Little Bean Sprouts

Sunny Spring Break

2009-04-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we decided to do a last minute trip down to Cali to visit family and friends for Neal's spring break. All of the family down there hadn't yet met Hudson so we thought it would be a good time to see everyone and have Hudson meet the rest of his family! He did suprisingly well on the 11 hour drive there and back, although the way home was a little tougher and he was clearly getting tired of being in his carseat.

We started our trip in Sacramento where Neal's Grandparents, two sets of aunts and uncles and many cousins live all very close together. We stayed in Mark and Lavonna's pool house (thank you so much) so Hudson's frequent nighttime feedings wouldn't disturbe anyone in the house. We had a nice visit with everyone there and enjoyed some beautiful weather.

Then we drove to San Francisco to stay with Shane and Kristen, Neal's cousin and wife. We had so much fun with them. Neal learned how to kiteboard (kind of) and Kristen and I tried to brave 30-50 mph wind gusts on the beach the first day... we lasted about 15 minutes then headed home =). Then we got to spend a day walking around the city on one of the most beautiful days i've ever seen in San Fran, warm about 70 degrees and virtually no wind.

Shane and Kristen

Shot of the Bay Bridge on the beautiful clear day

The next day we had the pleasure of visiting my BF from HS Liz and her Husband Josh and new baby boy Tucker. We had so much fun with them, swapping baby stories, delivery stories etc. Then we went out for a delicous lunch ( thank you guys again for treating us) and frozen yogurt before heading back. It was so fun seeing the boys together and I can't believe how fast they grow and change!

Two very unhappy boys in their car seats!

Sittin with Tucker at lunch

Aren't they cute??!!

Me, Liz and the boys. Who would have thought when we met at age 14 that we would be having kids together!!

We then headed down to San Jose and were able to see my Aunt Karen, Uncle Charles and cousins Alex and Madeleine. It was so great to see them and we had so much fun! We went to Santa Cruz the first day and had such a great time that we went back the next day and Neal and Charles played hours of beach volleyball and were surprisingly a good team together. It was so nice to relax, visit and soak up the illusive sun. It was very hard to leave and we want to thank everyone for accomidating our last minute visit and making it such a fun and memorable spring break!!

Karen, Madeleine and Hudson catchin some rays on the beach

My Hubby tearin it up on the V-ball court

This was warm compared to the Oregon Coast he usually swims in...

Family shot, We love you guys!!

Ok that pretty much sums up the trip, now it's back to real life. Neal is still in school and I start work on Monday =(. Pray that I can keep a positive attutude!

Hudson Nathaneal, our baby boy

2009-03-14T00:58:00.001-07:00

Ok so I don't need to use my disclaimer that I am utterly horrible at keeping up my blog. Since my "bump update" I have had my baby boy Hudson Nathaneal Douglas on January 2, 2009 at 10:08am. He was exactly 3 weeks 1 day early and weighed a whopping 6lb 11oz and was 19.5 in long. Whew there are the stats!

All went well with the delivery my water broke at 10pm January 1, so all in all my labor was only 12 hours. He was a little jaundice when he came out so we stayed in the hospital for a total of 4 days 4 nights. But since then he has been wonderful and healthy. He is such a content little baby, we are very very blessed. It is safe to say that Neal and I have a new love in our lives! I have a lot of pictures on my facebook account, but I thought I would post some here in case you didn't see them =).

He is already 10 weeks old and it turning into quite the little man. He has been rolling over from tummy to back since 8 weeks and is holding up his head well. He wants to stand on your lap all the time, I think we'll have an early walker on our hands but we'll see! We have lots of smiles and coos coming our way and sleeping is getting much better with a record of 7 hours in a row last night, Praise God!! We love love love our little boy and are so excited to see his little personality coming through already.

Hudson at 4 days old

1 month old

two months...

We are having so much fun with our little guy! Here is an album of picts to catch you all up, it's amazing how fast they grow and change.

Hudson picture collage

Baby bump update

2008-11-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

It has been quite some time since I have updated my "bump" pictures. I think we've already established that i'm not very good at this blogging thing but I try. We have had an awesome last month. Baby boy is still kicking and rolling around in there all the time. His latest thing, well actually it's been like the last 4 weeks, is that he frequently gets the hiccups! They'll last for maybe 5-10 min or so but it's so cute!

Kristi at 27 weeks, Neal at 62 weeks.......

Me at 30 weeks!

Two weeks ago we worked on the nursery. God has totally blessed us beyond what we had hoped for in a crib and dresser. Neal and I were convinced that we were going to have to buy used on craigslist and we were completely fine with that. Cribs and dresses are so expensive, used and new. We decided to go to one last place and look so we went Burlington coat factory because randomly they have baby stuff along with a lot of other crap. They had a dresser and crib on clearance there that we purchased for less than we were going to spend on one used crib on craigslist! Praise the Lord that he not only answers prayers but he goes above and beyond our expectations! Both pieces are hardwood and not particle board and we still got a screaming deal on them. Anyway that was huge for us and it started a huge project night for us of painting the baby room, removing all the extra furniture and putting all our new treasures in there!! So much fun and thank God for amazing friends that sacrifice their Saturday nights. God is so good and we praise him for all of our blessings! The nursery isn't quite done but i'll post picts of it soon!

Yea for the Beach!

2008-10-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well in true "me" fashion this post is almost two weeks after the event happened. October 3-5 we went to Rockaway beach with our best friends the Thorns for a weekend of fun and relaxation. We stayed in and watched movies, played games the boys skim boarded and we even got a glimpse of the illusive October sun.

It was a great weekend here are a few random picts from it.

This one is of the boys skim boarding and yes it was very cold, Oregon coast+ October =FREEZING!!

On this trip I rediscovered a really fun game, Taboo! I havnen't played that game in forever. We played like 3 rounds of it trying each time to mix up the teams. First boy girl, then opposite couples and finally couples. Everyone won at least one round except Chris. In his words "he was the weakest link".

Well all is well with the little bean. We feel and see tons of movement which is so fun and never gets old! I'm 26 weeks now and it really is going fast. Alright sorry if this was more than you wanted to know, bye for now.

My very first princess Birthday!!

2008-10-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

So it wasn't the princess birthday party that you have when you are 6 but it was just as fun!! My birthday was last Thursday and Neal and I started out the day just being alone together. We slept in, he skipped class =), we went out to a HUGE breakfast (and ate the whole thing), then went and did some shopping. After all that we came home to get ready for a surprise birthday dinner. When we arrived at our destination we had three drag queens run out and surprise us!! It was so much fun.

They had clothes for Neal and I also so everybody could be in character, we even had gift bags full of costume jewelery, boas and wigs. Once we were all dressed the guys slapped each other around, posed for a few picts and strutted down the catwalk which was kinda scary. Then we all sat down for a civilized dinner together and afterwards had amazing banana cupcakes which were to die for. Thats when things got a little crazy and Natalie tried to stab Chris. Actually the picture just makes it look like that but it really looks like she is stabbing his arm. Then she and I got to go for a 5 mile birthday walk and the guys did the dishes. It was such a prefect night, one that none of us will forget.

Princess Birthday Party

OH BOY, OH BOY!!!!

2008-09-23T20:49:00.001-07:00

Well it's official, WE'RE HAVING A BOY! Much to Neal's surprise (because he thought it was a girl) the ultrasound revealed it all. We had our ultrasound on September 4th and it was so much fun to get to see our little man wiggleing around all over the place. The ultrasound tech commented on how active our little boy was =). Everything looked great and our due date is right on for January 24.

We are still talking about names, boy names are so much harder for us to come up with than girl names. But it is so fun for us to call him a "him" and not an "it" anymore!

We so enjoyed seeing him move around and be his own little person! In fact we liked it so much that this weekend Neal rented a portable ultrasound from school (one of the perks of being a medical student) and took it home so we could look at our little guy again. Nat and Chris were over and got to watch him with us. He is so cute and sooo active and we even caught him sucking his thumb!

The latest development was last night when we got to SEE my stomach moving when he kicked. It really does look like a little alien moving around in my stomach. We are having so much fun planning and dreaming about being parents. Thats all for now, I really will try and be more regular with the posts as things come up. Lots of love to family and friends.

3rd Anniversary!!!

2008-08-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well, Neal and I have made it to the three year mark! We had a great day together, even though I had to work until 7pm and Neal had traffic court =). But don't worry, by using his powers of persuasion he was able to get out of his ticket ( or he went to a class and the cop dismissed it, thanks for the tip dad). I was surprised at work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers that were brought in by the cutest delivery boy ever, followed by a homemade masterpiece of chicken tetrazzini ( yum). Then we watched The Office reruns to catch up on our fourth season and then went to dessert at Pix Patisserie. But of course we forgot our camera in true Douglas fashion. All in all, we had a great anniversary.

Baby bean is doing well. We had an appointment August 8th and everything checked out fine. The heartbeat was strong and we even heard the baby kick, even though I didn't feel it at the time. The ultrasound to find out the sex is scheduled September 4th so you can expect a report then! In the last week or so I have been able to feel some kicks at night which is very exciting and even Dad was able to feel it for the first time 5 days ago. Here is pict of my belly at 18 1/2 weeks and growing larger every day. Maternity clothes are becoming more and more of a necessity.

My sista is comming to town on Friday for the long weekend so it will be a weekend filled with fun and family! Looking forward to our next post when little bean will have a sex!

Our little world traveler

2008-07-31T23:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been way too long since we last posted. To all our loyal fans (Keri) I apologize. We had an awesome time in Europe and I hardly even noticed we were pregnant, minus losing about half my dinners =). When we left we were 8 1/2 weeks and when we returned we were 12 weeks.

Feeling much better when we returned we had our second OB appointment and after we heard the heartbeat racing away at 160 BPM we felt excited and relieved to share our news with the world! Calling everyone monday July 14th was such a fun and special time.

Telling our news to my coworkers was another fun experience. My friend made me a special hat with the words "special delivery" written all over it and over the course of the day people slowly began to catch on. It was such a relief to be honest and open with people and to let my own excitement begin to grow!

Now that I am in my second trimester (weird) I am feeling a lot better. Nausea is subsiding, food is sounding better and energy is starting to return. Although naps are still a welcome luxury, or should I say "siesta". My husband has been nothing but elated since I told him and his excitement grows along with my belly.

These are exciting times for us and we look forward to our next OB appointment with Dr. Drake on August 8 at 11:15 when we get to hear the heartbeat again! We will post again after that and hopefully be able to make more regular updates!!

July Blog Pics

Little Douglas Bean

2008-06-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Surprise! Our "Little Bean" has sprouted and was discovered on May 22, 2008. While we were surprised (to say the least!) we are very excited and cannot wait to see what is to come.

On June 2 we had our first ultrasound with Dr. Drake and all looks well. Little Bean's heart beat was at 113 bpm and the little one is growing just perfectly.

Kristi has been a bit sick and suspicions are up at work. So far... mum's the word!

Neal is ecstatic and cannot wait to be a dad! Finals are this coming week and he's busy making sure that his head is full of useful information before things get really crazy.

Benson and Stella are blissfully unaware of what is in store for them.

We love to look at www.babycenter.com to see the Bean. We're at 7 weeks now and are looking forward to July 14th when we have our next ultrasound. The Bean will be 12 weeks and we'll be able to share our happy news with the world!

Until then, we are looking forward to a 3 week trip to Europe (and yes Kristi will have to forgo the wonderful German beer). Little Bean will be a world traveler sooner than most!