Progress on our Kitchen Remodeling

It's amazing what 2 men (Ryan and Dad Zeman) can accomplish when I spend 8 hours at work. Ryan and I did all of the preparation work, yet we needed to call in the real handyman from Wisconsin to help us finish. Dad was such a hard worker and we are so appreciative of all he did to help us. We are NOT FINISHED! We still need our new counter tops placed and new light fixtures to be hung, but we sure did make progress. Mom Z. was not feeling well, but helped when she could. They even used their vacation days to come to St. Louis early to help us...what sweethearts. I think we worked them too hard because they ended up getting the flu on the way home.

The First look at Baby Peterson

Baby Peterson's tiny body parts!!

Our first ultrasound at 18 and a half weeks was amazing! Little Peterson has all of his/her fingers, a strong beating heart of 150 beats per minute, weighs 11 ounces, has big muscles (says daddy), and is the size of a zuchini. Yet he/she was moving around like a bouncing bean and kept turning his/her back to us and putting his/her hand over his face (camera shy?). The 45 minute ultrasound was too short, yet we enjoyed every minute and were amazed the whole time.

Boy or Girl you ask....it will be a surprise for all!

Official Due date: August 3rd, 2007 (yet the computer estimated July 29th)

Little Flutter!

Little bubbles felt...yep it was the baby moving!! Could it be from the chocolate ice cream? peanut butter? or Graham Crackers and milk?...that I love to eat (of course right before bed).

18 and a half weeks and I already have a little belly!! Maternity clothes are my friend along with my nursing scrubs!

Sisters... pregnant at the same time!

Tricia, my older sister is pregnant too!! We are so happy for them. Their baby is only 6 weeks younger than baby Peterson! How cute is that! It has been so fun sharing experiences with each other. Just hope she feels better soon.

The Zeman girls spent the day baby shopping, planning baby showers, and trying on hand-me-down maternity clothes etc. Wow, there is a lot that we need! (glad we have a house). Really enjoyed the weekend with the ladies.

Valentines Weekend at Trout Lodge

What a wonderful valentine's weekend! We spent the weekend with our good friends Erin and Brian, and of course with each other!! Erin's sister works at the YMCA camp so she invited us...what a sweetheart.

These are just a few of the activities that we did...
*2nd place in the Newleywed game, *Carriage ride, *Facials (for the girls), and Wine and music for the guys, *fireplaces, and board games, *class on how to give backrubs and... *How to make and EAT fondue (yes, we ate all weekend), *Chocolate and wine tasting (of course I just observed), *mini golf, *Prime rib dinner, *hikes (we bundled up, and a *Live Band

Overall, fun, active, relaxing and romantic weekend!

156 beautiful beats!!

Yes, we heard the baby's heart beat! I cried, Ryan teared up for joy and then we giggled in amazment. What a wonderful sound to our ears. No pictures yet, it was just a doppler. At the beginning of March we will have our first ultrasound. I think I am just starting to show...well maybe, I think I want to show because it is fun, but no one but Ryan and I think it. But I did wear my first maternity pants because my waist is thickening. I am nesting....yikes, I want to get everything done (now that I am in my second trimester, I have some energy back...thank goodness!) Ryan only has two weeks of this semester left so he is "slowing me down." :) Your continued prayers are appreciated!

The pictue with the beautiful wallpaper (that is the baby's room, and the wall paper is going to be taken down soon) is from the end of Nov. The front view is from the end of Jan. See I am showing! Hee, hee

Baby Shower for Aimee

Aimee and JP are expecting their first child any day now. But first we had to celebrate with a baby shower. Our husbands went out for dinner and beer while the ladies did what ladies do at baby showers. Low key and relaxing. We can't wait for Celeste to be born...awaiting her arrival! (JP even got involved in the games: putting on a cloth diaper with eyes closed)--what a dad he will be!

Oh no... not the willow tree!!

An ICE STORM hit St. Louis! Here is the damange to our willow tree in our back yard...we are very sad because it provides us privacy while on our deck. We went with out power for about 12 hours which allowed us to go out to eat and shopping (Which was fun!)... we were fortunate to get our power back, because many didn't.

Church Mardi Gras Party

In celebration of the money that was raised in the church Capital Champaing, St. John is building a Generation to Generation building (for the kids!!). Ryan and I were on the planning committee for the Mardi Gras Party. Ryan was a greeter and I led the face painters. Cajun food...shrimp...we went all out. Fantastic time.

Happy New Year!

Ryan and I went out for dinner and then spent the night with our friends from seminary. Had a little sparkling "grape juice" as they enjoyed some cheap champagne! So here are a couple pictures of the future pastors wives trying to be sexy! Ryan and I actually rang in the new year this year...there is no one I would rather be with!

In my upper 20's!

I am officially in my upper 20's, not mid 20's. Life is good and I am blessed in so many ways. We celebrated with family when we were home for Christmas and then for Happy Hour with some friends. Ryan made my birth "day" very special for me! He gave me a Willow Tree Pregnant lady and the Willow Tree nativity.

We are EXPECTING!!!

Wow, that felt really good to say considering we have been keeping this secret to ourselves since Thanksgiving Day....Yes it is true, we are having a baby!!!!

He/she is the size of a bean when we shared the news with our families!! "He" is now approximately 9 weeks old and according to babycenter.com he has a heart beat already!! This is amazing! We go to our first doctors appointment January 3rd, so will have more details then.

As you can tell by the amount of "!!!!" in the paragraph above we are every excited! We shared the baby news (as you can see in the picture) with our families over Christmas and now we can share the news with the world. Please keep "her" in your prayers as she is growing quickly!

Christmas with our families in Wisconsin!

We had a wonderful time visiting with our families over Christmas. We had a busy 4 days but had enough time to visit with our immediate familes and both sides of our extended families. Lots of good food and laughter. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

Our Christmas Tree

Yep, it's a big ole tree that we cut down at Eckerdts Farm in IL and doesn't it look fantastic in our house!?...except where Ryan gave it a trimming because he was nervous that the tree would catch on fire and we would be part of the statistic of houses that burnt down or people that died. Well, we never made the stats and that is good!

Winter snow in St. Louis

It came down as ice and sleet and then finally the beautiful snow. It came down so hard schools and work were shut down. Ryan and I enjoyed a hot breakfast on a weekday which rarely happens and a walk in the neighborhood as we were "snowed in"...plus, we shoveled for the first time..."way exciting for a new home owner." The weather remains in the lower 30's so the snow is not melting, so we are able to enjoy the white snow instead of the dirty brown snow. Ryan is traveling this weekend for meetings for the National Youth Gathering coming this summer. A weekend to myself...

Finding the perfect tree

It is our tradition to go to Eckers Farm in IL is cut down our Christmas tree. This year my sister Jenni and family (Chris, Noah and Annika) were visiting from Wisconsin so they joined us for tree cutting.

Noah, who is three, thought every tree was "just right" and was a great help in finding the "perfect tree." We cut it down and now it stands in our living room (gosh it is bigger in the house than in the fields). When the visitors left, we decorated the house and tree and slept by the tree on the pull out couch that night, which is our tradition once the tree is lit.

We also went to Our Lady of the Snows to see the Christmas lights. It was so cute, Noah and Annika got dressed up as angels at one of the booths. How adorable! We had a fun filled day of hiking, picnicking (65 degree day), to tree hunting and light seeing!

New opportunity

A new opportunity has arose and I accepted the chanllenge. I am the new Admissions nurse at Heartland Hospice. New company, new rules, new employees, yet closer office (no more driving over an hour plus to get home) and best of all back to visiting patients! I am excited to work for Heartland and plan on providing all my patients with love and compassion.

We are Thankful on Thanksgiving Day

We did not travel to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and we missed celebrating with our extended families, yet we still got to eat turkey and I didn't even have to cook.

On Wednesday we attended Thanksgiving service and enjoyed a romantic dinner. On Thanksgiving day we enjoyed our day going spinning (at the YMCA), going on a 3 mile hike along the river (beautiful day, maybe 65 degrees), raking leaves, fertilizing the grass (of course, that's what everyone does on Thanksgiving day) and then spent the afternoon and evening with the Winsborough family. Bruce is an exceptional, gourmet cook and we had the priviledge to consume the food. The food was scrumptious and the company was splendid.

Wow, another year that I didn't need to cook. Maybe it's a challenge to see how many years I can go before stuffing my own turkey.