Introducing Reagan Lily!!

She's here!! Reagan Lily arrived Friday, July 31, at 9:18 p.m. She weighed in at 6 lbs 13.7 oz and measured 20 inches. We are so excited to finally have here with us. After a few days in the hospital we arrived home late Monday afternoon. The first week has been quite an experience. I ended up having a c-section so have had to try and recover from that while trying to take care of Miss Reagan. Jim was home all week which was such a blessing. He is a great dad already and I can tell the two of them have something special going on.

We are working on the night time routine. She can sleep great during the day but doesn't really care for sleep as much at night! Oh well... such is life and we'll get it figured out. Due to the limited sleep we haven't really left the house. We've been lucky that Jeff is still living with us as he made sure we had dinner every night this week.

Since Reagan is currently napping I should try and catch a few minutes myself. Below are a few photos for your viewing pleasure:

It's getting so close!

We finally are feeling like we are in the final stretch! Three more weeks and hopefully baby Murray will be here! We are still amazed at how fast this all has gone. For those that don't know we had an opportunity to see our little one's face last week as I had an ultrasound to check just how big this little girl is. The result was that she is a big one!! Supposedly a week and a half ago she was already 6lbs 10 oz!! Oh my goodness!! No wonder my belly sticks out so far!! haha!! But we are happy to know that everything looks great as far as she is concerned.

We have the nursery all set and ready for her to arrive! A big thanks to my mom for helping me get everything organized a couple of weeks ago! We now just play the waiting game.

We still can't believe we have finally made it to this point. While we have been waiting patiently it is still hard to believe that from here on out at any point we could be saying hi to our daughter!

We have been trying different ways to prepare Peanut for a little one. This week I used my sisters old baby doll as a test. We placed her in the bouncy seat and then put her in the carseat on the floor for awhile. I thought Peanut did a great job. Of course Jim pointed out it will be different when there's a crying baby in those things!! A good point, but I still felt good that when things are calm he will be fine.

Below are pics of the nursery. Enjoy!!

Five more weeks, not that we're counting!

So we feel like were in the final stretch. We have all major things that baby will need and are finishing putting the room together. It's all in there it just hasn't all found a final resting place. But we have five weeks right?? Of course if you ask most other people they don't think we have that long. A lady today told me, "I give you three more weeks." I just laugh it off... all these people couldn't possibly be right.. could they??

We went to the doctor last week and everything seems to be progressing well. We will get a second ultrasound next week because I have been measuring a little ahead of schedule. I say it's just because she has nowhere to go but out. But seriously.. five more weeks and you may have to roll me to work. I really don't think about how big I've gotten until I get on here to update the blog. I about had a heart attack last night when I looked at prior post photos compared to this one. No wonder Peanut doesn't like to cuddle up with me on the couch anymore... where could he possibly lay?

We took an all day parenting class a week and a half ago. We opted for the all day instead of the five week sessions. I think we made the right choice. We got enough info to feel more confident in the process and never got bored. I feared with the five week class that we would have ended up dreading class nights. I didn't learn much that I hadn't already read in my books but it helped fill Jim in on some things. :-)

It is hard to believe that it is July already! Get excited, baby Murray will make her appearance soon!!

A bit overdue

Somehow four weeks have passed since our last posting. We apologize for the lag in updating. Time has gotten away from us!! As you can imagine, not only have we been busy but our little lady has been busy growing!! The theme this week has been that there is no way I am making it to my due date. There had to be at least five total strangers say this to me. One even asked if I was having twins!! I replied that unless the second one was really good at hiding there was no possibility of there being twins in there. :-) I know that with this heat and humidity I wouldn't mind a slightly early arrival but it's really not up to me.... she's holding all the cards!


Baby continues to be doing great! She is giving me lots of kicks and rolling around. She likes it when I wake up at night... she seems to think this would be a great time to play. I'll have to let her know that this will not be a trend to continue when she makes her appearance!


Aside from getting ready for baby's arrival, Jim and I have been busy traveling the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago we headed up to Ft. Wayne for a cousin's wedding. It was a family packed visit as we saw most of my dad's side of the family at the wedding, stopped in to see my Grandpa's new place after the wedding and then headed to my aunt and uncle's lake cottage for a Mexican fiesta dinner with the Indy cousins before heading home. It was great to get to see so many people!


Last weekend we headed to Detroit for a college friend's wedding. It was great to catch up with friends we haven't seen in ages. The wedding was the day after our five year anniversary so it was kind of fun to attend a wedding and remember our special day too! Out of pure luck we were able to dance to our first dance song at the reception. Another highlight of our trip was the sign in the picture. I was super excited to see a street named Schoenherr in D-town and couldn't resist taking a picture of the awesome shout out to the family! Who knew such a cool street existed?

This weekend is our final crazy weekend (we think) until baby arrives! We have two weddings in Cincy tomorrow. You read right... two!! Then Sunday I will head to Indy with my sis for another shower and Jim will head to Washington DC for his final conference where at the end he will be an FSA! I just want to say that I am so proud of him and all that he has done in the last six years working towards this goal. Sadly, I won't be joining him but will be thinking of him!

We hope everyone is doing well! 8 weeks until Baby Murray arrives!!!

The word is out...

So while Jim and I thought that we could keep our mouths shut about what our little bundle of joy is... we decided it was too much and we were too excited to remain silent any longer. So for those that have not yet heard the word, we are having a little girl!! We are more than excited to welcome our girl in just 12 weeks!!! 12 weeks... we can't believe how fast it will be here!

We have been quite busy lately it seems.. doing what we aren't all that sure but time is flying!! The baby's furniture has arrived and we couldn't be happier with it! We are still working on figuring out what mattress to get but once we have it all put together we promise to post a picture.

Baby is growing more everyday. Our last doctor appointment went well and we seem to be right on target for our August 6th due date. After the few days of upper 80 degree weather we had at the end of April, I'm pretty sure I will be more than ready for her to arrive on time!

We had our first baby shower last weekend in Chicago. It's so much fun going through all the stuff for baby. We have been slowly trying to figure out the best place for everything. Who would have thought a baby could use so many things!!! I couldn't resist and made Jim test out the baby carrier. I think he looks like a pro!!

Today we took the tour of the hospital. Aside from the fact that I am not a huge fan of hospitals...(ironic since I work for one) it went really well. The labor and delivery rooms were very nice. It was comforting to know exactly where we will be and the flow of events. Now we just have to tackle that childbirth class.

We are enjoying every moment of this experience and can't wait to introduce you to our little girl!!!

Spring is finally in the air!

One word summarizes our last few weeks: BUSY! We have finally completed all major work in the house that we had planned for this year. The last of the flooring was installed on Good Friday and our new bathroom vanity was put in last week. After a month of our upstairs being a bit of a disaster area we finally spent yesterday putting it all back together. The new challenge will be getting rid of all the dust. Every time we think we have it all cleaned, we discover more!! I am starting to think a visit by a professional would be nice. :-)

We have also fit in a trip to Chicago the weekend before Easter. We had so much fun in the car we decided to travel again the next weekend to Indy for Easter. It was great to see everyone we saw during those trips.

After all that time in the car we really started thinking about a new car. We loved our Escape but with the impending arrival of our little one and the fact that we can easily fill the back end with just Peanut and our stuff, we started to think something a little bigger would be better for us. Now, I know that many of you out there are advocates for a Minivan but Jim and are not there. There is just something about it that neither of us was willing to go for. Maybe it's our attempt at maintaining a little feeling of youth. So after much research and planning we ventured out to Performance Toyota and bought a Highlander. While we've only had it since Saturday, I love it! It gives us a lot of space but doesn't feel like we're driving anything much bigger than the Escape.

With the weather finally taking a turn in the right direction we are excited to spend more time outside. As we were watching the news yesterday morning, my man Lester Holt said to tune in to the NBC broadcasts this week as they went Green in honor of Earth Week. So that got Jim and I thinking about how, if you were really going to be green, wouldn't you not even watch TV? This led to Jim pondering if we could go without TV. We both thought surely we could. So, we have decided to take this week off from TV. We will let you know how it goes but we are pretty sure it will be great!

Now on to Baby News! As you can tell, baby continues to grow! Always a good thing!! The movements have become quite obvious and Jim has finally gotten to experience the joy of our little one's kicks and punches. We have also found entertainment in watching Baby Murray move. It always leaves us with a feeling of awe and amazement at what is happening.

When we were buying our car, the finance guy commented on how we are an Actuary and an Accountant and that hopefully our child will like math. I think Jim might be thinking of starting flashcards to ensure baby has a heads up on the math thing. :-)

I continue to feel great with no complaints. It is so hard to put into words how excited we are for August to be here. We can't wait to meet this little one!

22 weeks already?

Where in the world does time go? We have been quite busy getting things ready for Baby Murray.

Baby continues to grow as evidenced by my growing mid-section! :-) Peanut is finding less space on my lap to lay down which at times has driven him to sit with Jim for more comfort. Poor dog doesn't get that his whole world will soon be turned upside down.

I have really been able to feel baby move and can't wait for it to get stronger so Jim can feel it too! It's always a pleasant reminder that someone special is growing stronger!

Jim spent most evenings last week upstairs painting the nursery before we had the new flooring installed this week. I am happy to say that both the paint and floor are awesome and I totally love the room! We went with a neutral green so that we can reuse the room if we have more kids after this one. We have ordered the furniture and it should arrive mid to end May.

Our next project is new carpet for part of our upstairs which will be installed next week. It will be so nice to have something new.. some of the carpet has seen better days for sure!

We had a great time at the games in Dayton for the tournament. We couldn't have asked for better games.. but perhaps better seats. We were stuck up in the last row. ugh.. I think it was around 70 steps up to our seats. So tried to be strategic in my bathroom breaks and only go when absolutely necessary!

We are heading up to Chicago this weekend to see Jim's family and Indy for Easter weekend to see my fam. Here begins our somewhat hectic spring/summer. On a side note the weather was gorgeous here today: sunny and warm. The forecast for Opening Day for the Reds on Monday though? High 40 with off and on rain/snow flurries.... SNOW FLURRIES?? In April?? I really thought we were out of the woods for this cold weather. I guess I shouldn't complain though, it kind of beats 90+ and humid.