Baby Names!

Yaaayyyy! Jeremy and I picked out our baby names tonight. We have 1 girl name and 1 boy name. Soooo exciting! I am just glad we agreed on some cute names.
We have decided that we will find out the sex of the baby and tell people but we will not be telling the name. We want that part to be a surprise until we have the baby. It will be hard to keep the secret but I think we can do it.

I have also been calling around to daycares. That is going to be sooo hard. I am not looking forward to putting our baby in daycare, but I think it will be a good thing. So far Gibson City is very hard to find childcare. There are a ton of kids here and a lot of the daycares are full. Very frustrating.

We don't really have many plans this weekend. I hope to go visit my friend and Baby Holden.

It is really cold and the temperatures are dropping so we have been hanging out inside....trying not to go out too much.

Snow Day!

Today is a snow day for us! Well sort of. I actually brought some work home and was very productive this morning. I guess watching Rachael Ray and Price is Right makes me more productive!
All the schools around us are cancelled and it looks like the wind is supposed to pick up so blowing and drifting will be an issue for this evening and tomorrow. So I may be having a snow day tomorrow as well, although I won't be working as I only brought enough work home with me for today.
The snow is very pretty! The dogs have enjoyed going outside sticking their faces in the snow!

On a different note, I have had several people contact me and ask if I am on a commercial. Well, come to find out I am on a commercial! A few girlfriends and I visited a new Tapas restaurant in Urbana in October. There was a guy taping while we were there but we were under the impression it was just going to be our hands, etc...(not our faces). Well come to find out, I am on a V. Picasso commercial in the Champaign/Urbana televised area. He offered us all a pitcher of sangria if we approved of him taping us. I did not get to benefit from the Sangria as I found out I was pregnant just a few days before and was not telling anyone so I did not partake in any Sangria drinking. Once the baby comes, I will look forward to having both Sangria and Sushi!
So although I have not seen the actual commercial yet, a friend of Jeremy's recorded it and sent it to Jeremy's phone and I saw it on there. So I guess that is my most recent claim to fame!

My next Dr. Appt is Monday! I can't wait!

Hope everyone has a great day! It is nice sitting with the fireplace on, working in my pj's and watching daytime tv. I could get used to this!!! Come on June! Ready to have our baby and be on maternity leave for 12 weeks!

Almost 15 Weeks!

I am almost 15 weeks. My little Lilypie at the top of the blog is a day behind. Not sure why...
Today, when I went back to work after being off for two weeks, people really noticed a "little bump". It may be from being on winter break and eating too much but I can notice a little bulge beginning. My stomach was itchy the other night and I had to rub lotion on it, I think it is because it is stretching!

15 week bump picture.

***Some highlights***
-I am feeling a lot better than I was. I have not felt nearly as nauseous. I am still a little gaggy at times, especially when I brush my teeth and in the mornings but I feel a lot better than I did.
-Some smells still bother me, however, I have pretty much been able to eat most everything.
-I chug a huge glass of milk every night with dinner...I have always liked milk but not drank THAT much of it, but for some reason I want milk every night!
-I don't really have any certain cravings, just eat what sounds good at the time.
-I have not had to wear any maternity clothes yet. I did order a few Bella Bands this weekend to hopefully wear my regular pants for a while longer.
-My next appointment is Jan 11th. It is just a regular appointment and I hope to find out then when our scheduled sono will be to find out the gender of the baby! I am wanting to think of a good gender reveal to do with our family/friends.
-To my knowledge, I have not felt any movement yet. However, I don't really know what I am looking for as I have heard different things, so there could have been some and I just don't know it.
-I have been sleeping with a body pillow or a pillow between my legs for comfort. I am not too uncomfortable, just had a couple of nights where I was uncomfortable and the pillows seemed to help.
-Jeremy has been great to me about cooking dinner, doing things around the house and helping me out when I am tired. He was great about all those things before I got pregnant but I am more appreciative I think now that I am pregnant.
-We are convinced that Lucie knows here is a baby in my tummy. She is typically a crazy little girl but has been real calm around me and will lay her head on my tummy in the middle of the night when she sneaks up in bed with us. She also snuggles up with me every night on the couch.
-We ordered furniture this weekend...see post below.
- I have started to look online for bedding for both genders.
-We have discussed names but have not come to any agreements on anything yet. We are still undecided if we will reveal the name before the baby is born or keep that a secret between the two of us.

Below are a few gifts we received.
A teacher at Jeremy's school gave us this frame for our sonogram picture. Very cute!


One of my best friends, Erin, gave us this Willow Tree Angel figurine as a congratulations on being pregnant.

Random Post

***Second post within about 10 minutes, see post below also***

Jeremy and I's Holiday Break is coming to an end. It has been a good relaxing break. I pretty much slept in every day so tomorrow morning is going to be rough. And since it is soooooo cold here, we have been hanging out at home most of the day yesterday and today, other than going to Champaign yesterday to Babyland to order our baby furniture (see post below of our furniture). For some reason, I fell asleep on the couch last night watching TV before 7:00, Jeremy woke me up to go to bed and I slept until 7 something this morning, laying in bed until about 8:30. Today, I organized my closet to see what clothes I could wear while being pregnant and moved some of the other stuff to the back and organized all the maternity type clothes I currently have. I had a good friend at work and Jeremy's sister give me some really nice maternity items that will definitely help out. I also received a couple of gift cards for Christmas for Motherhood Maternity so I am looking forward to going shopping. I have not had to wear any maternity clothes yet but I am sure I will have to soon enough. I did try on a couple of pairs of maternity pants and wow are they comfy!!!!! Not so attractive but very comfy! I did order some Bella Bands online today as well.
Of course Dee & Lucie love it when their parents are home. They were able to do a lot of pheasant hunting with their Daddy over break. Here is a pic of my girls with their birdies. They each got one bird. The past couple of days it has been too cold for them to go out hunting.

They are quite the princesses!

And since our dogs live like Royalty, you will see them here cuddled up to each other on the couch napping while their Daddy watches football and their Mommy plays on the computer. These two girls do not know what they are in for when Baby Darnell arrives. They will still be treated like Queens, however, they will not be getting the most attention any more.


When Jan and John came over Friday, Jan and I went and did a little shopping and I got this picture for above our fireplace. I love it!! It is red poppies and it looks soooo good up there. I am adding a few hints of red in our living room to add some color. I still need to get a few red throw pillows and also some candles to go on my candle holders I got at Hobby Lobby before Christmas. I am sure I will add a few more things to the fireplace, I just don't know what yet because I don't want it to look too cluttered.

Off to London They Go!

This past Wednesday, Jeremy and I took a road trip just for the day to Chicago to see Darci, Kyle, Maggie & Hank before they left on Friday for their move to London. It was a quick trip but we wanted to be sure we saw them before they left. We enjoyed lunch with them and played with the kids while everyone was diligently working packing things up. They had movers there to pack everything and load it on the moving truck and they were amazing. They would carry 2 boxes at a time behind their back. I took a few fun pics while we were there. We are sure going to miss them and can't wait until we can visit them in London and introduce them to their baby cousin!

Maggie loves her Aunt Kim!

Magpie B. on the boxes!

It was so funny, Maggie decided she wanted to do a fashion show, so the cardboard boxes they had on the floor to protect it, we made her runway. And Lady Gaga was on the Ipod at the time and she was singing along....too cute!

Give Hank a computer, laptop, cell phone, anything electronic and he is happy!

Hank also loves his Aunt Kim!

Enjoying the sprinkled donut his Aunt Kim brought him! What more could a little boy want for lunch, pizza, donut, yogurt and berries:) And having a picnic watching his movie!

We tried to pack Maggie up and send her to London but she didn't want to go that way!

Pictures below...this is what it looks like to pack up your whole house and move to London. Some things were going Air and some things will go via Ship.

John and Jan came to stay with us Friday and they received the call from Maggie bright and early Saturday morning that they had made it to London. Maggie was so excited she was in London. So they have made it safe and sound and I hope we can talk to them soon!

Baby Furniture

Today was a very exciting day for us! We made our first big baby purchase. We got the furniture for our nursery. Below is a sneak peak of what we got. We got black furniture, the crib below is exactly what we got (sleigh crib). We got the dresser, but without the hutch part (it will come with a gallery rail, so it will look a little bit different than just a flat dresser. We also got a tall drawer chest that is not pictured. We wanted to get something that will last a long time and this furniture is really nice and sturdy. I will be able to put a changing pad on the dresser and we will have the tall drawer chest for lots of baby clothes:) It will take 6-8 weeks to come in and they were having a sale until the end of Jan so we decided to purchase it now. We will order bedding according to the sex of the baby...when we find that out!

I am also excited that Jeremy's sister gave us a Dutailier glider rocker with glider footstool. I will just purchase a new cusion for it and it will be as good as new. It is a really nice rocker. She also gave us many more baby items such as a brand new jogging stroller which we are excited about as well.

Happy New Year!

Jeremy and I are looking forward to 2010! One reason in particular is WE WILL BE PARENTS!!! Oh how we can't wait for June to get here!!! Only 6 more months:) It will be here before we know it!
2009 was a great year for us. To recap a number of things that took place in 2009...

In January we traveled with friends to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! We can't wait to go back again! It is beautiful there! We had so much fun.

Jeremy had surgery the end of January on his wrist/arm. He got a bone shortened and was out of work for 2 weeks, could not golf, fish, etc for a few months after. He recovered very well.

We found out we were pregnant in January, only to miscarry a few weeks later. It was a very traumatizing experience but we got through it and now we are expecting our bundle of joy in June! Can't wait!f

Jeremy applied for his first ever Principal job. He interviewed at 2 schools only to find out that both schools wanted him. He went with his gut on the better choice and here we are, in Gibson City, Illinois. He is Principal of GCMS Middle School and didn't think twice about his choice. So far the community has been awesome and he loves the school he is at.

With that being said, we had to find a house in district. (Requirement of being a Principal in this school district, you have to live in district) We looked around at houses in town and found nothing we liked so we ended up building a house that we love so much! It is bigger than what we need for right now but we will sure grow into it!

We listed our house for sale in Urbana and with no luck, it still has not sold. The good thing is, for the time being, as of January 1st, we have some good renters to live in it for about 5-6 months. We have taken it off the market for the time being and will relist it in 2 months. We blame it on the economy that it has not sold as it is a very nice house and Jeremy was the original owner.

I received a promotion at work as well. I became a Proposal Coordinator in the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My job consists of reviewing research proposals faculty submit to various agencies to make sure they comply with rules and regulations, follow guidelines, that the budgets are accurate, and I submit the proposals on behalf of the faculty.

We traveled to Kalamazoo Michigan and visited our friends Sean & Tiffany. They have since welcomed their new little guy Luke, whom we are dying to meet! We had a great time visiting wineries and just hanging out at their house. They have since moved back to Iowa, which we hope to visit them in Iowa soon!

I tured 32 and Jeremy turned 35 in 2009!

We visited our niece and nephew Maggie and Hank in Chicago a few times. Along with their parents Darci & Kyle. Today, they are flying out to London for a 3 year move. We can't wait to go visit them in London and introduce them to their new baby cousin!

We attended Illinois Football games as we got our season tickets again this year. I don't have much to say about this since the season was SAD!

We have moved into our new home and have settled in pretty well.

We celebrated the holidays with our families and had a wonderful holiday season. We were extremely spoiled.

Looking back, 2009 was a great year for us. Again, we are incredibly excited for 2010 as we already know we have several things to look forward to!