The Baby Is Moving!

Tonight was the first time Dawn was able to feel the baby moving! She said it felt like butterflies in her stomach. We look forward to many more moments like these. Thanks for celebrating in these milestones with us!

17 Weeks down, 23 to go!

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

It has been almost 18 weeks since our baby was conceived and 14 since we found out. We are amazed at how much we have grown and learned over the past 14 weeks about what is really important and what we value most. It has been an exciting journey. Our baby weighs about 5 ounces and is the size of a turnip.



He/she can move his/her joints and sweat glands are starting to develop. We are hoping the baby gets Justin's sweat glands and Dawn's joints! We also learned that the baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone. Pretty amazing!
We are also starting to look into all the "equipment" our baby is going to be needing once he/she arrives and at times it can be a bit overwhelming. For now, we are taking things one day at a time and enjoying each one.

Every Pregnant Woman's Dream!

Dawn and I attended the Grilled Cheese Invitational on Saturday in LA. We had a blast sampling different grilled cheese sandwiches. Dawn's favorite grilled cheese of the day was a cheddar, bacon, fried egg, and tater tots on shepherds bread. While Justin couldn't decide between the one with Chinese barbecued pork, pickled onions, and provolone on egg bread or the one with mozzarella, strawberries, bacon coated with brown sugar, cayenne, and chocolate reduction drizzle. The later was an explosion of sweet, salty, and spicy flavors.


During the Invitational a random band decided to parade through the center of the festival. The parade was filled with people on stilts and a variety of people in costumes playing random instruments. Only in LA would you experience this type of parade. Dawn really wanted to join in, but I held her back since she has a "condition."

This was one of Justin's top choices, the one with Chinese barbecued pork, pickled onions, and provolone

The sandwich pictured above is the one that made the Grilled Cheese Truck famous around LA. The sandwich is mac and cheese with pulled pork stuffed between sour dough bread. This is an epic sandwich that is a party in your mouth.

Doctor Appointment

Today Justin and I met with our Doctor to listen to the heartbeat. Again, good news! The baby's heartbeat is steady (still pretty fast, which is normal) and very strong. No ultrasound today but we can look forward to another one in a few weeks, which will show our baby "much bigger than last time." She also told us our blood test came back normal meaning the baby has no known birth defects or chromosomal abnormalities. All good news for us today! Dawn is slowly gaining weight and the Doctor also said she is right on track. Our reports this week say that our baby is about the size of an apple and is now breathing in the amniotic fluid to help develop his/her lungs. His/her legs are now growing to be longer than the arms and even though cannot open his/her eyes can sense light. They even said that if we put a flashlight up to my belly the baby would squirm to the other side to avoid the light. Too bad we can't feel the baby too much yet, otherwise we would try. Maybe in a few weeks.

We went out for a nice dinner to celebrate and start talking about names, how life will change once the baby is born, and how thankful we are for such a healthy baby. Any advice or information you can offer us about parenthood we are open to hearing as we learn what it means to travel this new journey together.

Thanks to all for the continued support and prayers.

Lindsay came for her Spring Break

Our dear friend, Lindsay came for a visit and we were able to spend some quality time with her catching up and enjoying good food, weather, and conversation. She looks beautiful and is always nice seeing people from "home." Here are a few pictures from our time together and we can't wait to hang out again when we come to Michigan for Alina & Rick's wedding this summer. There is something special about being around someone who can finish your sentences and can read your mind without you even speaking. We welcome all other visitors! One of our friends asked Dawn if she knew Lindsay because "you sound the exact same when you talk." Dawn was happy to know that she still has her Michigan accent and was proud to hear that she hasn't conformed to any new lingo/vocabulary just because of the move to California. We are trying to keep our Michigan roots while living our new adventures in California.

Baby Bump

Earlier this week our baby decided to make a new appearance by way of the "bump." Dawn can hardly fit into her pants and people are now noticing our little one just by looking. Here is a picture taken at around 14 weeks. We plan to go buy some new clothes in the next week or so to make things more comfortable for Dawn. Every little bit of growth is a blessing as that means our baby is continuing to grow. The baby is about the size of a woman's fist, which is hard for us to imagine and already has most all of his/her working organs. This week the baby will begin blinking and growing eyelashes and eyebrows. Pretty amazing. We just hope the baby is born with a full head of dark hair like his/her mommy and daddy.