It's True!!!

For all those wondering "Are you serious?!?!"... Yes, we really are having a baby! Murray and I are so excited! We are 12 weeks pregnant and due July 14, 2009. So far, I have been a little nauseated but never thrown up so I think I am pretty lucky. Murray says I haven't been too emotional yet either so he is also pretty lucky! =)

We just told our families over Christmas. We put our ultrasound picture (proudly displaying our "little peanut") in a frame, wrapped it, and had our parents open it for their Christmas present. They were really surprised and super excited! It was hard to wait so long to tell, but we wanted to tell everyone in person and wanted to wait till after Kelsey's wedding was over. Plus Christmas just made it a fun time to tell.

So far everything is looking great. Heard the heartbeat again today at my doctor's appointment, and it is music to our ears every time! Murray is being super supportive except for today when he passed out through my entire appointment. In his defense he was up at 4am for rounds at the hospital. Haha.

We are really just starting to notice my belly changing, and it is so exciting. Murray asks all the time if I will show him my stomach. I was afraid he might be weirded out as I started getting big, but he is totally the opposite! He loves it. I don't know what he will do when we can start feeling the baby move!

I guess I really will have to start updating this more regularly because I am sure that more pictures will continue to be in demand. Hope this helps you all feel connected and involved in our pregnancy even though we may be many miles away. We feel so blessed and are excited to share this special time with all our friends and family.

A little catching up to do...

Well the Butlers have obviously been too busy for the blogging world. Haha. Things have been going well for the last couple months, but things haven't slowed down any. Maybe it will be our New Year's resolution to chill out some.

Since I posted last, Kelsey has had a bunch of nice showers and a beautiful wedding. I will post a few pictures of her fun lingerie shower and a couple from the wedding, but the majority of the wedding pictures will have to come later because we couldn't get a cd to burn with all the pictures before we had to head back to Chicago. So until I can get a cd of the wedding pics, just know that she was a radiant bride, and Smith is one lucky guy. Now she is officially Mrs. Hopkins. So weird!!! She and Smith graduate tomorrow night and will be leaving on their honeymoon to Mexico Sunday. Needless to say, I am a little jealous!

While she is in the warm sun, Murray and I are experiencing hopefully our last Chicago winter! It has already snowed several times this winter, and the snow is not going anywhere fast. I guess it will make for a nice white Christmas though. One of the last times we will get to have that probably!

Kelsey's wedding was also nice because I was able to see some friends that I haven't seen in forever. I had lunch with Amanda and Audra (and her sweet baby boy, Drew) one day, got to spend a lot of time with Adrienne who helped with Kelsey's wedding SO much, and saw Reena at the wedding. Unfortunately I missed Becca who left for NYC on she and Sam's "babymoon." Hope that once Murray graduates, we will be much closer and able to spend time with friends a lot more often.

Murray is officially finished with all his months away. It has been so nice to have him home! So this is what married life is supposed to be like. =) Seriously though, it was really a good thing for him to spend months away at potential programs because he did a great job, and he has already gotten offers from some places. Really nice to have the reassurance that the next 3 years are taken care of! He is just so smart, hard-working, and personable. Can you tell I am the proud wife?

We also were home for the wedding of one of Murray's best friends from high school. I will put some pictures from that too. It was funny to see him with all his high school buddies. So weird to not have experienced that part of his life with him. I definitely got to see some funny videos that they pulled out though! Never knew Murray could do such a good YMCA dance! Haha.

Murray went home for Thanksgiving with a lot of pushing from me. He felt bad that I couldn't make the trip since I had to work, but I was really glad he gave in and went to be with family. Plus it gave him the chance to spend time with his new love... don't worry- it's not another girl- his bow. He got a hunting bow as an extremely early "Christmas/birthday/anniversary/whatever else I can think of" present from me, and he had been dying to try it out. Unfortunately, not too many deer out that weekend, but he had a good time anyway.

We are going to be celebrating our 2 year anniversary next Tuesday. Crazy to think it's been 2 years and crazy that it hasn't been longer. Seems like we have been together forever, but it's still so weird that we have been married 2 years. Where did the time go?!?! We are going to eat at the Melting Pot that night. It is where he proposed to me and besides that it is SO yummy! I cannot wait! Plus, in January once the holidays are over, we have booked a private cabin in Gatlinburg for 4 nights. It will be so nice to just get away and have time together. I still can't believe I am lucky enough to be married to my best friend. He makes life wonderful!

We decorated for Christmas a few days ago so our apartment is very festive. We have our real Christmas tree up and all our presents wrapped. We will head home the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with our families because we both work all around Christmas. I cannot wait for Christmas this year! This next week cannot fly by fast enough!

I went with some girls from work downtown for the Christmas lights parade. It was pretty crowded so we couldn't see a ton, but it was fun anyways. We had a delicious Italian dinner afterward too. We nurses don't ever forget to eat! I put in a picture of a couple of my best friends from work- Katie and Kelly.

Well, I am sure you are tired of reading. I know there is a lot more that has gone on that I am forgetting to update you on, but hopefully this will hold you over for a while. I promise not to wait another couple months before posting again. Enjoy the pictures below.