Mason's 4!

Today Mason turns the big #4! We got together at Beth and Drew's house a few weekends ago to celebrate his big day. We had some delicious beef brisket, crabs, and enjoyed a baked bean cook off.. still not sure who technically won.

Happy Birthday to the very special birthday boy!

Raisin' the roof!

Talk to the hand...cause I'm 4!

Is he licking cake off his fingers or trying to tell us he is really still 3 for a few weeks?

Cars themed slip n' slide

Poke...It's me!

I felt the baby move for the first time last night! I was lying in bed watching tv and all the sudden I felt a little poke in my tummy. It was so faint and so light I would have totally missed it if I had been moving around or talking. And then it happened again. And then I screamed bloody murder for Joe. I felt it once more while he was there but it was too light for him to feel yet.

I have had lots more little kicks today and it seems to easy to feel now that I know what I am looking for.

It's like someone lightly and slowly poking you from the inside who has been patiently waiting for you to notice that they have been there all along. :)

Another Iskow Wedding...

This past Sunday Joe's cousin Rebecca and her fiance Spencer got married at the Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda. It was gorgeous and sunny that day, perfect for pictures and the outdoor ceremony on the patio. But it was HOT HOT HOT!!! Rebecca was a gorgeous bride and it was the first time I met Spencer in addition to a lot of other Iskow relatives that Joe hadn't seen since he was little.

Aunt Paula and Uncle Larry Iskow

Cousin Scott
Definitely one of the best dinners I have enjoyed at a wedding. The only thing I couldn't eat was the red pepper crostini with goat cheese. And of course since I couldn't eat it, it looked like the best thing on the table and it's all I wanted! You're welcome Baby.

The Bride and Groom

Ceremony site

A rare oportunity for an Iskow family pic! We are just missing Michelle.

Grandma and Grandpa to-be.

Doggie Paddle

The pool is up and running for summer thanks to Joe! I didn't have to do any work on it this year.. he got it all done while I was at work. Our first order of business was puppy swimming lessons. Since we have 20,000 gallons of water sitting in our backyard, we felt it of relatively high importance that we guarantee our pup could swim just in case she got a little too close to the edge on her own. After bribing her with a few treats to get close to Joe and not sure how we were going to make it a fun experience, she just tripped and fell right in. Went straight under and while I was screaming she somehow rose to the surface and Joe nabbed her. This is her right after the near drowning being dog whispered.

I think I can do it!

Look at me go!

Relaxing after a hard swim. And also somewhat of an evil eye for what we just made her do, no?

I have mastered cute.

She looks like a grown up dog here, not much puppy in that face she's making!

Farewell "O"

Today is a very sad day for me. It marks the end of 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show. I start most of my stories with "On Oprah today..." or "Well, Oprah says..." and now what??? I am supposed to have my own opinion and thoughts on things??

Joe has rolled his eyes whenever I put on my recorded Oprah show at night, but secretly I know he loves her. And you know how I know how?? I was in the bedroom putting away laundry last night and came out to the family room to find this....


This is Oprah's last show and sweet sweet Joseph is listening to every word she says. I think the arm on the chin is the perfect touch.

Thank you for everything Oprah!

Two Face

Exhibit A.

A sweet little puppy waiting patiently for Joe to come back to the car.

Exhibit B.

A howling whining nightmare who has lost all her senses.

"I can't wait any lonnngggerrrr Joe!!!!" "I misssss yououuuuu!!!"

House of Responsibility*

It's been quite awhile since I posted anything I am ashamed to say. But I have been busy keeping a secret for a veryyyy long time! And nothing has been more exciting than my secret and thus nothing has been blog worthy! I am very happy to finally be able to say that I am pregnant!

As exciting as this is for us, it's also super scary and happened a lot faster than we anticipated. Which I realize is a huge blessing and we are so thankful that everything has gone very smoothly so far. I think we walked around in a state of shock for a few weeks just because it happened so quickly. We both thought we would have more time to adjust to the notion of it happening. But God saw fit for it to happen in His time and His way and now we are eagerly anticipating getting to meet this new life! And telling people has made it a lot more real!

I am 14 weeks tomorrow, which puts my due date at November 17th which is exactly one week before Thanksgiving. Our 8th anniversary is Nov. 14th so that will be a busy week for us!
I am hoping that this blog will be an easy way of documenting things over the next few months. I know you all might not want to know all the details, but one day I might be able to print this into a blog book and have some memories of this time.

Here is the page my doctor got while we were working together in the OR. I don't know why I did this or why I remember it so clearly, but I looked up at the clock right when he showed it to me and it was exactly 12:00.

I haven't had much nausea at all so far. For about 5 weeks I would get a little queasy if I was hungry and as soon as I ate it would go away. I wasn't overly tired either. Some days were harder than others especially at work, but I have had those days prepregnancy too! I have only actually thrown up once and it happened this week of all times when I am supposed to be past the 1st trimester sickness. Thank goodness I had some clean puppy poo bags in the car or else there would have been some grossed out people in the Hospital parking lot.

We told our parents at 8 weeks and showed them some pictures from our San Fransisco trip (which I am now realizing I haven't blogged about yet) and then put the picture of the above pager in as the last pic they saw. It was a lot of fun to tell them!

Here is a picture from our 9 week sonogram...a little fuzzy since I took the picture with my cell phone but you can see a head and little hand like he/she is saluting us! I had my second appointment today and got to hear the heartbeat for the first time with a doppler.. 140bpm and music to my ears! I still don't have a belly really and with the lack of pregnancy symptoms it's easy to forget that I am pregnant. Plus I still feel like I am duping people or something since I don't feel any different. But I am assured there is a baby in there!

9 weeks

So that's our secret! And I will close with a classic Joe quote in regards to this news.....

"We are on the baby train now, so we better get ready for the ride"!

*Kevin's nickname for our growing household of cat, puppy and soon to be baby