June 11th Appointment with OBGYN!

Well everyone, we had our next appointment with the OBGYN (Dr. Stokes) this morning. It went very well. It was a little scary at first because Dr. Stokes could not find the heart beat. So, we went to another sonogram and there our little baby was just flipping around in my belly and having a great time. Below we have a few more pictures since we were able to get another sonogram.

As it turns out, Dr. Stokes could not hear the baby's heartbeat because my blatter is pushing the baby up higher in my stomach then most women experience so he was basically looking for it in the wrong place. With the machine (no idea what it's called) we could finally hear the heartbeat after we new where the little rascal was hiding and we were able to record it on my cellphone. I tried to upload it to the blog but was unable to so, I will send it via email to everyone I have. If you don't get it and want to hear is just shoot me an email and I can send it to you. There is a lot of noise because I could not stop laughing because I was so excited. But if you listen to the whole thing you can hear it really well at the end.

Well we hope you enjoyed our first experience with the baby's heartbeat. It was moving at 135bpm this time and measuring at 7 sonometers (I think that's what he called them). So our little one is right on track and everything is going great.

Hope everyone is doing well and I am sure I will talk with you soon.

Love, Erik, Rebecca, Smokey, Dusty, Shadow, Ghost and "IT" (Baby Moden)

Aging, Changing House, Body and Baby!!!!

Well life has been a little wild here in Virginia. Lot's of stuff going on and it's pretty hard for Erik and I to keep up.

First, changes in our house. We finally decided to have new carpet installed because the old carpet was ugly and probably pretty nasty with two dogs and two cats. Here's what the new carpet looks like now.

Next, we decided to have new windows installed because the old windows were about 30 years old. In the winter the let the cold air in and in the summer they let the hot air in and we had to use 2x4's to hold them open, at least the ones that we were able to get open. Below, please view the beautiful before and after photos.

Before:

After:


Last, we started working on the nursery. We painted the walls and added beadboard and a chair rail.

Second, in the Moden household, Erik turned 30. To surprise him I sent him golfing with his friend Andrew and then had all are friends come over to the house that afternoon for a cookout. We had a wonderful time. Sorry, I was so busy having fun and coordinating everything I forgot to take pictures.

Last, Erik and I had are last appointment with Dr. Khan our fertility doctor on Monday and our first appointment with our OBGYN today. At the last appointment with Dr. Khan we had our second sonogram. The baby, my uterus and the heart beat all changed rapidly. The heartbeat jumped from 129 bpm last time (2 weeks ago) to 176 bpm on Monday. It was crazy to watch how fast the heart fluttered on the sonogram. Below you can see how much the baby has grown since last time as well and if you know me very well you can see how much I have grown too. I have already put on 8 pounds and am weighing in at a whopping 113.

Baby:

Belly:


Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I will keep you posted on my growing belly. Our next doctors appointment isn't until June 11th so we have a little while to wait this time.

God Bless!

Update from the Modens!

Well, sorry it has been two months since my last post but life has been crazy for a while. As most of you already know, Erik and I have been going through fertility treatments trying to have a baby. Well our most recent IVF treatment, I am pleased to say was a success and Erik and I are expecting our first child on December 15, 2009. We are 7 weeks and 1 day pregnant.

We had our first sonogram on Monday and everything looked great. They said that it (people make fun because I call the baby "it") is measuring at a good size and it's heart rate was 129 bpm which is supposed to be well into the healthy range.

The most exciting part was that we received our first baby picture and I have already found a place on the refrigerator for it.

We go back to the doctor on the 11th for another sonogram and then I am scheduled to see my regular OBGYN on the 13th.

We hope everyone is doing well and we thank you for all your prayers and support.

Happy Spring!

Skiing in Utah!!!

Well, it has been a while but life has been a little busy. It never seems to slow down but I am sure I am preaching to the choir when I say stuff like that.

This past weekend Erik and I took a couple of days off and went out to Park City, Utah with Krista and her husband Paul and some other friends to go skiing.

On day one, Thursday, Erik and I went to ski at The Canyons. This was my first time skiing in Utah and Erik helped me challenge myself of the double black diamond called the Yard Sale. From what I know about a Yard Sale while skiing it basically means that you whipe out and lose all your gear from your skis to you poles to your hat and goggles.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/2241493668_e1a21ea34a_b.jpg

Laugh all you want, luckily that did not happen to me.

After a nice lunch break, Erik and I decided to do some hiking to ski as well. This is where I called it quits.

Erik kept climbing,

And Climbing,

Until he finally made it to the top.

He did all this work and it only took seconds to ski back down.

We had a great time. However, to end the perfect day, clumsy Rebecca decided to fall on the ice entering the condo and jam her shoulder. So basically that was it for me and the skiing. My arm is feeling better so no need to worry. I know that you all are shocked and upset by this turn of events. The up side to this was that on Friday, I was able to go shopping and get a massage. Erik on the other hand decided to be insane on Friday and he went on a back country tour called the Interconnect Tour through Ski Utah.

http://www.skiutah.com/interconnect/

I will let him make another post with photos of that because he was there and can better explain his insanity. I do know he had a great time and that it was the experience of a lifetime.

On Saturday, we both took it easy. We lucked out and the Olympic Park was hosting the final races for the World Cup Bobsled tournament so we were able to go and watch them. It was amazing and cold. I was sure they were going to have to cut off some of my fingers aftering being out there for so long.

On the last day we went to Alta. Erik skied alone but I am sure he did not mind being able to ski all the harder runs that I can not. He took pictures that day too but again I will let him post them since he knows what they are.

We took the redeye home on Sunday night, which I will NEVER do again, but we survived. Now its back to the grind. We'll post some more soon. Hope everyone is doing well and that we can get to see you all soon.

Love Ya!

I've Been Tagged!

The Rules:


1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3) Explain the picture.

4) Tag 4 people to do the same.

(This is Andrea a friend of ours here in D.C. at our house for Erik's 28th birthday (2 years ago). We were roasting marshmallows (I believe it was Andrea's first time.) Sitting behind her is Dan another friend that lives in Hamilton with us.)

I am tagging Kate and Tim and Kevin and Genny!

Later!

A Rough Few Weeks!

Well, as most of you already know our first attempt at IVF was unsuccessful. However, Erik and I are still really optimistic. We met with our doctor last Friday and he gave us the go ahead to start a second treatment. The doctor's have been great and learned a lot from our first cycle.

Apparently, my body tends to over react to the medication and last time they had to continue to adjust my dosing. The doctor feels that these adjustments are probably the cause for the failure of our first attempt. With this knowledge they will be able to better regulate my response by adjusting the dosing before we start the cycle. The next cycle will begin in February. The "fresh" cycles take two months so we will know in April whether our second attempt was a success. I will try and keep the blog updated with our progress as we go.

On some other bad news, Saturday, the 10th, my grandmother passed away. Luckily, I happened to be in South Carolina for business and was able to make it to the Hospice center about a 1/2 hour before she passed so I had a chance to see her one more time. I had to leave for Montreal on Monday but was able to return to Georgia for the funeral and visitation on Wednesday and Thursday. The service was beautiful and everything went really well. My grandmother was an amazing woman and I will truly miss her.

Will update again soon. Hope every one's new year is going well.

Christmas & A Wedding!

Well, this Christmas was very exciting for us. First, we went to a tree farm in Round Hill and cut down our Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun but really cold.

For Christmas this year everyone came to Virginia and we had Christmas dinner at our house. Luckily, Erik's mom still cooked.

After Christmas we celebrated my brother Tim’s wedding to Kate. Below we have included some pictures from the Rehearsal dinner as well as the wedding.

Well that's all for now. Hope everyone had a great holiday.

Take Care!