Christmas, Nursery and BIG babies!!!

I had a great Christmas with my Mom and Dad who arrived last Tuesday after a long drive from Ahoskie, NC. They made it in one day and were troopers! It was great having my mom cook all the meals :) My favorite part of the Holidays!!


Charlie and Dakine eyeing our Christmas turkey!!

My mom's one goal when she was here was to get our nursery done....which we pretty much did! It was a lot of fun decorating and finally getting everything orgainzed. I feel more prepared now and am anxiously awaiting Baby Welte's arrival.



It's hard to make "neutral" stuff not look boyish, but hopefully it will work if we have a girl!!



Charlie LOVED the mobile when I was putting it together, all they wanted to do was eat the stuffed animals....I am going to have my hands full trying to get them to not chew on baby toys!

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday where I got to see the baby for the first time since I was 17 weeks - it was amazing how much he/she has grown! The doctor said the baby was probably 3lbs 7ozs which is about 1 1/2 ahead of my "29" week status, so looks like Baby Welte is going to be BIG! Everything else looked great and I don't go back for another 4 weeks. Mom and Dad were in the room w/ us which was a really cool experience for them too. Mom was straining to find out the sex of the baby - but no luck!!! I still have no clue, I used to think girl, now I am leaning more toward boy. I know Brody wants a boy -- he bought the baby some gifts for Christmas that were clearly for a boy!!


Baby Welte at 29 weeks

Cute little face!

We have Brody's cousin Burton and his wife dropping in today so we are excited to see them for a visit. Mom and Dad left this morning for their trek back to NC. They were planning on stopping this time and enjoying the drive, checking out some beaches on the East Coast of FL. My mom will be back in the beginning of March for a few weeks to help us out with the baby!

Hope everyone had a MERRY Christmas & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Lights Paddle

We had our monthly paddle social last night and decided to do a "Christmas Lights Tour" along the waterfront downtown. We had some last minute cancellations - I think the 60 degree weather scared them off, but nonetheless, our regulars came out and enjoyed a really fun evening! Saint Petersburg does a really nice job decorating for Christmas and there were lots of sights and sounds to see from the water.

I went out and got everyone hot chocolate and donuts to warm them up when they got back! We'll definetly be making this event a Stand Up Fitness tradition!!

Baby Shower

I am home from Maryland!! I had a wonderful trip up North this past weekend - wonderful but COLD! I am a total whimp now with anything below 60 degrees and it was a toasty 22 degrees when I arrived on Thursday!

It was so great to see everyone - friends and family! Thanks to Uncle Jim and Aunt Barb for hosting us! I got a lot of great things for Baby Welte!!! Opening up baby gifts defintely is making this whole experience more real.....I had a few moments where I was like "wait, these are for me, for my baby, I am having a baby???...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

I was able to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen since high school which was a lot of fun and got to spend some QT with all my JMU girls! It was so nice to be surrounded by everyone I love and the time flew by as I was sitting in BWI airport way too soon.

Opening Presents!!!

Me with my Grandmas (soon to be Great-Grandmas!)

Got to see Kendall and Angie from high school - it's been almost 10 years!!
My JMU girls!
My big belly at 27 1/2 weeks!


I now have to prepare for the Fahey Family Christmas as my parents are heading down to FL next week for a warm holiday! Mom and I are really excited to decorate the nursery!! Then I think it will really feel like a baby is on the way!

New House, New Address

Here is our new address where you can send baby gifts...jk!!! (but really...)

427 21st Ave N
Saint Petersburg, FL 33704

Boxes & Evergreens!

Well we finally moved into our new place last week. The move was somewhat smooth, had a few issues w/ some pesky fleas in the yard. Not sure if any of you have experienced fleas but it's NOT FUN! Charlie & Dakine are both on flea meds, but they were no match for the army that lived in our new rental, so we had to have the house sprayed and are still finding some stragglers. It put a damper on the move, but we are settled in nonetheless. The house is right by a lake and dog park, so our doggies have enjoyed their morning walks. We even saw an otter in the lake the other day - pretty amazing!


Charlie has taken over the recliner!


Our newest addition, Dakine


Seriously he sits in that chair under a blanket all day!!!!


Our Christmas tree! It's a beautiful tree, mind you it's leaning (thanks Brody) w/ only like 10 ornaments on it, haha


Picture of our new living room!



Business has been very slow as the weather in FL has definetly turned to winter. With low temps and breezy conditions, Stand Up Paddling isn't exactly on everyone's "to-do" list. We are hoping that Board Sales will increase as Christmas approaches - anyone want to buy a board? haha. I am trying to hang in there and just bunker down til the season turns - I pray everyday for a more optimistic attitude but 26 years of being a glass is half empty girl is hard to break!

I am on my last week of my second trimester believe it or not. Starting next week I will be in my third!!!! YIKES - that means a baby is soon to come! Good thing I have a shower coming up because I have no baby items! I am hoping Jody is having a boy and I am having a girl so she can send me all of Lilly's things, :) I leave on Thursday for Baltimore for my Baby Shower. I am so excited to see everyone!!! Hopefully the weather won't be bad and everyone has safe travels!

Pilgrim Paddle

Well we survived our first big event! We had our first Paddle Board race this weekend, our Pilgrim Paddle! I woke up to 50 degree weather and was a bit nervous that people weren't going to show up, but despite the windy conditions and below average temperatures, we had a great turn-out and a hugely successful event. We had about 34 paddlers compete and even got a small spot on several of the evening news stations!

You can read more about it/see more pics on our business blog - http://standupfitness.blogspot.com/

Yay for us! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

As promised, here is a 25 week snap shot! Getting bigger by the day!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, we have lots to give thanks to this year!

Gators, Doctors & WEIGHT GAIN!

Well Brody survived his paddle adventure in the Everglades. He came home tired with lots of bug bites, but said it was a lot of fun. They got to see lots of alligators on the drive, he said they were just on the side of the road hanging out. The article will come out in January and if I get a hold of any pics from their trip, I'll post them!

I went to the doctor's today for a check-up and everything looks good. I have to go back next week for a my glucose test where they test for gestational diabetes. I heard the test isn't that fun as you have to drink some sort of really sweet drink then have blood drawn, so I'll be happy when it's over! Everything looks good with the baby, although I was shocked to find out that I have gained 9lbs since my last visit. Yep, that's 9lbs in 4 weeks. YIKES! I have gained a total of 20lbs total so far and I am hoping that I will go back to just 1 lb a week instead of my last month's 2!!! I'll post a picture of my growing belly, I just didn't have time to take one today!

Hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving! We have our race this weekend so I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

Weekend Paddling...

Brody logged lots of paddle miles this weekend as he was asked to lead the swim portion of the Ironman World Championship 70.3 on Saturday morning. Race organizers said more than 10,000 people turned out to watch the series season-ending event, which drew more than 1,500 competitors from 57 countries!! He had a blast and said it was crazy!





After that, we hosted a paddle and beach clean-up. It was a free event for volunteers who paddled to Spa Beach in downtown St. Pete for a trash clean-up. It was about a 3 mile roundtrip trek and everyone had a great time!

Brody on the Radio!

Brody was on the radio talking about our race coming up.....just fast forward to about 10:30 and you can hear him!

http://www.30aradioshows.org/stand-up-paddle-boarding/november-5-2009-2/

23 Weeks!

Well I am officially 23 weeks today! Hard to believe but Baby Welte will be here in just about 4 months to the day. Brody and I went furniture shopping last night as our current rental is furnished and our new one is not! I am actually excited to finally get our own stuff. We sold all our furniture when we left Hawaii so it's long overdue. It's amazing though how much stuff we actually need - I mean I don't even have pots and pans. So if you want to throw in a blender with any baby gifts, feel free...jk!

My friend Jen is coming in from San Diego next week. Her best friend lives in Jacksonville and she spends Thanksgiving with them, but she misses me so much that she is going to rent a car and drive here for a few days! I am really excited to see her! Brody will be going out of town on a paddle trip that weekend. He is taking the outdoor writer for the Saint Petersburg Times and they are doing a sort of adventure trip somewhere in the everglades. Hopefully they won't get eaten by any alligators!!!! The outdoor writer, Terry is going to do an article on the trip, so hopefully that will generate some buzz and get us some customers.

Moving and Kicking

I have caved and joined the blogging world. I'll try to update this to the best of my ability with all the exciting happenings in our crazy life down here in FL. We recently opened our retail store in Madeira Beach which is where I spend most of my time (at least until baby welte arrives!) It's been slow lately with the down season, but we are hopeful things will pick up soon!

We are moving to a new house in December. I am so excited to get settled! It's a lovely house and we were so thankful to have found it. And we aren't the only one moving - baby welte has definetly made it clear he or she is there! I have been feeling lots of kicking and moving around, especially in the mornings and evenings.
I am 23 weeks this week and am feeling pretty good. Here is a picture I have from when I was 21 weeks so you can all see my growing belly!