Summer Time Fun

Caleb is now over a month old, wow how time flies. The weather has been hot, and we have been doing the usual (soccer games and long walks in the stroller) Once 4 weeks past, I was able to go swimming, so we took Caleb in the (cool) hot tub for his first swim, which he liked much more than his bath time in a tiny tub. Caleb weighed in at 9 lbs 12 oz on tuesday, so he is probably close to or over 10 lbs at this point and changing every day. He has started to pay attention to toys a little, and is seeing new things every day, it is fun to watch him and his expressions as his tiny world gets bigger by the day. Next weekend we will be making our first trip away from home, Doug has a soccer tournament in Vail, so we will be making the 4 hour drive and staying in a hotel for the first time since Caleb's arrival (should be interesting). If all goes well, we might try a small camping trip in a couple weeks.

3 1/2 Weeks and Growing

Thank you everyone who has left wonderful comments on our site, I will keep adding more photos so keep looking. We are all doing great, I think we have a pretty good routine down and we are getting adequate amounts of sleep. Caleb had his 2 week checkup last week (actually at 3 weeks), he is growing well. He weighed in at 9 lbs and is really healthy, not much sign of the minor jaundice that he did have. We went to a wedding as a family and have been attending more soccer games as well as taking some long walks in the stroller.

The family at Mike and Tara's wedding in Windsor, Grandma Cindy got to babysit for the reception portion of the wedding. Our first time leaving him for over an hour.

Exercising my tongue yet again

I don't like bath time at this point but being wrapped in the hooded towel isn't so bad.

My first smile caught on camera in daddy's arms.

2 Weeks Old

The first two weeks have come and gone, my parents were a great help while they were here for a week, then Caleb and I got to fly solo for most of the next week. The first week we spent most of our time resting and watching sports on TV, between the World Cup Soccer games and the OSU Beavers making it to and winning the college world series. We have been out a couple of times to Doug's soccer games, a couple of stores and restaurants, some barbeque parties and our least favorite, trips to the doctors. We have also been putting the miles on the stroller, since walking is about all that I am able to do for a while. I am looking forward to the magic 4 week mark when I can go swimming or at least get in the water again. Doug and Caleb took one trip in the not so hot hot tub, Caleb only up to his thighs, but a good start. Here are a couple more photos for those of you who are checking and thank you for all the great comments.

I only got my legs wet, and as you can tell I was too tired to care

My vibrating bouncy chair, which I spend quite a bit of time in, mostly sleeping.

Welcome to the World Caleb Douglas

Doug and I are happy to announce the much anticipated arrival of our son Caleb Douglas Brannan. He was born June 16, 2006 at 3:41 am. Weighing in at 8 lbs 2 oz, and 20 1/2 inches long. The entire labor process was about 9 hours and everything went really well, he is very strong and seems to be a very healthy baby. One of the first pictures after his arrival below.

He's already found his fingers

I think my head is round again

Exercising my tongue...or am I hungry again

Being held by Grandpa Roger

Grandma Janet and the glider chair can always calm me down

My first tummy time experience, I got a good workout...hence the red face

By the way, Congratulations to Janel Campbell, she is the winner of the baby pool with a guess of June 16th in the afternoon.

Week 38 and 2 to go...Maybe

Just a quick note and some pictures of the almost completed nursery. I still have some organizing to do, Doug has a partial closet to clean out and we have a few more things to put away, but we are getting close. Not much new as far as the pregnancy this week, I saw a different doctor last week so I would have another familiar face if for some reason my doctor could not be at the delivery. The weather has been hot around here for the past week, so I am starting to get a little more uncomfortable and have to retreat to the basement for some much needed scrap booking time. We hope everyone is doing well and it won't be long before you will see pictures of the baby instead of me...yeah!

Memorial Day Weekend and Week 37

Week 37 has officially arrived, along with that weekly trips to the doctors office, and the anxiety of "it could be any day now". At our last doctors appointment things are still looking good and progressing as they should be or possibly on somewhat of a fast track. I still weigh in at an additional 17 pounds, and my belly measurement is a week ahead of schedule. The exciting news is that I was also 1 cm dilated, and 40% effaced, so there is definitely no turning back now :) The nursery is almost completed, and my last day of work was friday, so hopefully I will have at least a week to get everything ready and a little time to rest up before the sleep deprived nights begin.Even with this information we decided to take a chance and get one last trip away before that baby comes, so for Memorial Day weekend we ventured 3 hours north to Glendo, Wyoming for some fun in the sun and boating, which is sure to be less frequent once our new addition arrives. The above picture was taken in the canyon at the North end of the reservoir.Doug insisted that we include this picture on the blog, and I suppose it does fit the bill as the belly shot for the week :) The weather was almost perfect, a little windy at times, but we're in Wyoming!
Doug took a couple turns on the wakeboard, and had a few really good runs, it was good to be back out on the water, at least for some of us. Climbing down the ladder and dunking in for 5 seconds was the extent of my water weekend.

A parting shot from Glendo, Doug successfully landed his 360 several times in our last couple hours at the lake. Unfortunately, this photo is not of one of the successful attempts, but rather an interesting glimpse of an attempt gone wrong and the amazing things you can get your body to do...if you are gutsy enough.

Completed Bathroom Remodel

OK I know, not what you expected or wanted to see, I know you would rather see my expanding belly, but to us this was important too, and we never got a chance to do belly shots this week. We finally finished our bathroom remodel project after several delays with the vanity. So this is the finished product and just in time for my frequent night time trips. The first picture is looking in from the master bedroom.
Another shot but from the hallway entry.

Oh and by the way it is week 36, so about 4 weeks to go. On a related note, congratulations to our friends Ray and Loren Mathews, who have gone on this first time pregnancy tour along with us, on the arrival of their son Quint (Raymond Mathews V) this weekend. Also a congratulations to Jamie and Jamie Caplinger on the arrival of their daughter Laela Caplinger on May 11th. As far as we know we are next in line, something like 10 down and it's our turn.

Week 34, 6 Weeks to Go

As promised here are a couple recent photos, we spent the morning planting the garden and transplanting some vegetables. Hopefully we have seen the last of the snow and freezing temperatures for the year. Nothing esle too exciting to report, we see the doctor again next monday and then start to see her once a week. Things are really getting close now. We still have a lot of work to do on the nursery, but luckily I put the finishing touches on the bathroom upstairs this week while Doug was in La Junta for work. I have three more weeks of work, then hopefully will have a couple weeks before the baby comes to get things organized around the house and be ready for the baby's arrival. We hope everyone is doing well and we'll update again soon, as things start to progress rapidly.

By the way the deadline for the baby due date guessing game is May 18th so get your guesses in if you want to participate. Scroll down to the post from February 1st to add your guess.

Anna's Baptism & 33 Weeks, 7 Weeks to Go...Maybe

Last weekend we spent 4 days up in Gig Harbor Washington, for our niece Anna's first birthday and baptismal ceremony. We lucked out and the weather was beautiful for a weekend of playing and seeing family. The first picture is the group of us (Jim, Me, John, Doug, Cindy, Anna and Jennifer) on Jim's hotel room, which was a houseboat docked at a pier in Gig Harbor.
This was my last trip too far from home, and happily everything went well.


Saturday was Anna's baptism, Doug is Anna's godfather, and I was a proxy for Jamie Caplinger, who was due with Anna's first cousin any day in Florida. Anna was all dressed up in her beautiful dress, although it didn't work so well for crawling or walking. Anna learned to walk the day before we arrived, it is amazing how she was developing new skills everyday, and gives Doug and I a picture of what our lives will be like a year from now.
Anna's first birthday was the Saturday before, so we celebrated her birthday with a big BBQ party.

We had a doctors appointment this past Friday, everything is going well, the appointments pretty much consist of the same things as they did in the beginning, but we are trying to ask a few more questions as the big day is getting closer. The baby's heart rate jumped around from the 120's to the 140's as he moved around in my stomach. I have gained 13 pounds at this point, and other than a few muscle cramps and joint popping I feel really well. Last night I had my last shower with a bunch of co-workers, friends and some of Doug's families. There were a few guys there including Doug, which put an added touch to the shower. We received a lot of nice gifts and many needed diapers. Luckily we have finally finished the bathroom project (pictures in the next blog) so we can start organizing the nursery. Time seems to be flying by as it may only be 5 or 6 weeks until we have a new member of our family, hopefully we are ready.
Sorry there isn't a new belly picture, but I promise it is still there, and I will post another one next time.

30 Weeks, 10 To Go

I apologize for taking so long to update the blog, I was hoping we would have some more exciting pictures to share, but yet again all there is is my growing belly. I would still consider myself on the small side for 30 weeks, but I am getting rounder and a little more uncomfortable moving around and sleeping. I had gained a total of 11 pounds at our last appointment, but am putting on close to a pound a week right now. We had our 30 week appointment last friday, everything is still really good, we found out that the baby's head was down into position as they say, but who knows if it will stay that way with a little time left. Grandma Cindy went with us to the appointment to hear the heart beat, which was once again sporadic and high with a lot of movement. We picked up the crib and changing table from Doug's co-workers and have set them up in the nursery/garden/junk room at this time. I would have posted pictures, but we don't have any bedding yet, so it isn't too special looking.

I had a great time at my two showers in Oregon, thank you to everyone who was able to make it and for all the greatly appreciated gifts. We also received our travel system last week, which we promptly put together and pushed around the house every once in a while. Unfortunately, our bathroom remodel project is still in the delayed mode so no finished product photos of that either. We decided to give up on that for a while, as much as I love going to the basement to use the restroom everytime :), but we started re-organizing to start preparing for the baby's arrival in about 2 months. We have finished our child birth education classes and have done our hospital tour, so some would say we are ready, but I don't feel that way quite yet. We are excited to meet our active little guy, but also a little nervous about it. It seems as though he mostly sleeps at night and active during the day, we can hope that he keeps that routine somewhat once in the real world :)

If everything continues to go well, Doug and I will be off to Seattle next week, for Anna's first birthday and baptism. I have gotten the clearance from my doctor at this point and we are looking forward to what will be my last trip for several months.

26 Weeks, 14 to Go

Doug and I took a trip up to the mountains the end of February for what might be our last weekend on our own. Doug cashed in some choice hotel points and we were able to stay at the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, near Beaver Creek for the weekend for free. It was the most luxurious place I had ever been, although we fit in with most of the crowd pretty well. We didn't see any celebrities, or famous people while we were there. For those of you familiar with it, this the same place that the Kobe Bryant scandal took place a couple years ago.

The first picture is of the lodge, we were in a 2nd floor room (top story) in the middle of the lodge overlooking the pool. Our room was the size of the main floor of our house (750 sq ft). The second picture is one of the views from our room across the valley and into the mountains. The weather was beautiful the entire weekend, and we really enjoyed the heated outdoor pool. Doug spent half of one day boarding at Beaver Creek, with pretty good conditions.


As far as baby stuff goes, we had a doctors appointment on March 3rd, nothing too new. I have gained about 5 pounds, and all of my measurements are right on track. The baby's heartbeat and movements continue to be strong. I also did a glucose test, I haven't heard anything back yet, but the baby was pretty excited about all that sugar in one dose. We start our childbirth prep classes this tuesday, I sometimes think I don't even look pregnant, I will probably be the least showing person in the class! The only negative thing so far is that I am starting to get leg cramps at night time, which aren't a big deal but not my favorite thing at 2 am.

We have started getting some gifts, and are getting excited to start in on the nursery room. One of Doug's coworkers has generously agreed to give us her used crib, changing table and high chair (all of which are in almost new condition). It is so much fun to see all the cute outfits, and baby things. The nursery is in no way set up, but with the accumulation of baby stuff, it is starting to take shape.

We are still working on our main floor bathroom, a major shipping accident with our vanity cabinet has significantly delayed our progress. And speaking of babies, our new aquarium has apparently been blessed by the fertility gods and we now have some sort of fish babies, which is pretty exciting for us.

I have a couple of baby showers scheduled at the end of this month and am excited to go back home and to see everyone who will be in town over the weekend. Oh and for those of you who have asked, we are registered at Babies R Us and Target. I posted links to those stores at the top left of this page.

22 Weeks, 18 To Go

More belly shots for all those who have been asking. I think these pictures make my belly look larger than it is, but it definitely is growing. Our checkup at the doctors following the ultrasound went well, everything in the ultrasound report was good, the baby is the perfect size, so the due date is not going to change. The last couple of weeks our little baby has been very active, I think it already wakes me up at night. At some times during the day it is constant movement. Doug has even been able to feel the baby move. The baby seems to be very protective of it's space already, pretty much where ever you touch my belly, you can feel a movement. Our doctor did another doppler reading to get the heart rate. He was really active at the time so his heart rate was pretty high. She said it was a sign of a healthy baby when their heart rate increases or decreases due to environmental stimuli. We have our next doctors appointment on March 3rd, so more updates then.


We are continuing with our aqua aerobics classes this month, but starting next month we will be taking our first birth prep classes which interfere with aqua aerobics. We had a great weekend up at Steamboat with Doug's sister Jennifer, her husband John and our niece Anna (you can see some of their pictures with the link to the left titled Caplinger Family) We also spent time with several other members of Doug's family and got some quality ice fishing in at Stagecoach reservoir. I caught my biggest fish (hardwater fishing). It was 19 1/2" rainbow trout and weighed in at just over 2 pounds. Of course this will only be believed as a big fish story other than by the few that were present since there are no photos to prove anything.

Guessing Game

Doug and I would like to have a contest to see who can most closely guess the birth statistics, there will be a prize in it for the winner after the baby is born. The gender has already been revealed, but who knows the doctor could be wrong. I think the best way to put in a guess that everyone will be able to see is to use the comment link below this particular blog. The baby is officially due on June 18, 2006, so we will take guesses until May 18th. Please indicate in your guess the gender, the date and time of birth, and the baby's length and weight. Please select other under the identity section and fill in your name, unless you are a blog user, so we know who the guesses are coming from. Thanks for participating and good luck.

Halfway; 20 Weeks, 20 to Go

Well we are over the halfway mark, and on the downhill side. Things have been going great, other than not being able to sleep on my stomach, I can hardly tell that I am pregnant. We started doing aqua aerobics this month and most of the women in the class think that I eat a big hamburger before class every night, but that I can't possibly be 20 weeks pregnant. We had our first and possibly only ultrasound yesterday, so I can share pictures of the baby instead of myself this time (don't worry I haven't changed since the last photo). Knowing that we had an ultrasound the question that everyone has been asking!!!!! Drum roll please. It appears that we will be having a boy, but nothing is 100% until the big arrival day in June. With that being said there is a disclaimer for knowing this information; BLUE is not the only COLOR that boys can wear, decorate with, or play with. Just in case the doctors diagnosis is incorrect , we are still planning on using mostly gender neutral themes and colors.

The upper half of the baby's body including a bent knee over the stomach, the left arm on the side, with the bones visible (white lines near bottom of picture), fingers from the right hand just above the chest and the head.

A shot of the right foot and toes.

The ultrasound was an amazing experience, being able to see the baby so clearly yet it is still so small. Neither Doug or I were able to take our eyes off the moving screen as the tech moved around and the baby changed positions. Everything seems to be looking good, and the measurements of the baby exactly coordinated with my gestational day. Unfortunately, the tech can not reveal any problems that she sees, only the good stuff. We have our 20 week appointment with our doctor this Friday, which is where and when we will find out the full scoop on the baby's progress.

I will update again after that appointment and maybe add a picture of my belly.

New Aquarium

We'll get back to baby in a minute, but here are some photos of our new 75 gallon aquarium and the oak stand that we built with the help of Carmen's parents while they were here for New Years. The stand is done except for some door handles, and the tank is done except for some additional plants and most of the fish, which are still swimming in the small ponds to the right.

The whole tank set up, sorry about the light reflection.

The inside of the stand, filter etc.

A closer view of our lava rock reef and a few of the plants

17 Weeks, 23 To go

We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and that the new year is starting off well. We have had a busy December, and a great Christmas. The week after Christmas Carmen's parents came out for a visit. We enlisted their skills and support in building a new aquarium stand for Doug and my gift to each other (a 75 gallon fish aquarium). We also took them on a cold adventure up to Walden to do some serious hard water fishing, the water was hard, but the fish were not serious about taking the hook for any of us. We caught a total of 9 fish between the 4 of us and lots of hours freezing in the wind. The trip overall was fun and we saw a few big horn sheep up close.
After my parents left, we had our next doctors appointment at 16 weeks. Everything is looking and feeling good, I still have not gained any weight, but am definitely starting to grow. The picture above is from the 17 week mark. At our last appointment the baby's heart rate had dropped to 145 bpm, and we heard some "swooshing" as the baby swam around. I am feeling a lot better, and rarely have any sense of nausea. We have our next appointment for Jan. 30th to do an ultrasound and hopefully get our first glimpse of the baby and maybe it's gender. We will keep everyone posted!

Week 13, 27 to Go

Yesterday marked the start of week 13 of my pregnancy. So far so good, I have felt pretty well the entire time, and have successfully crossed over to the second trimester, which means all the bad stuff is supposedly behind me. I am not showing and in fact have lost a few pounds, but everything seems to be going well. We had our 12 week check up last week, and both Doug and I heard the baby's heart beat for the first time. The doctor said it sounded strong and healthy and had a heart rate of 165 bpm. As far as I know it is a little too early to determine the sex based on the heart beat because it continuously slows down, but all you old wives tale believers, feel free to start making your guesses. We are planning on finding out the sex and will share it with everyone when it comes time. Probably about 8 weeks from now. We have not had an ultra sound yet so I don't have any fun pictures, videos etc., but when we do I will do my best to post them on the blog as well as the ever popular belly photos.

The Next Generation

Well as most of you are aware, we have big news for everyone's holiday season, we are expecting our first child in June 2006. The big announcement came out over Thanksgiving week, while we vacationed to Oregon. We had a great trip and couldn't have had better weather, which is pretty remarkable for Oregon in the winter. The following week most of Doug's family found out the good news, as we travelled to Steamboat Springs, CO for Amber and DJ's wedding, which is where the above photo was taken. It snowed the entire time we were there, the boarding was great on the Champagne Powder for Doug and others, but pregnant women were not allowed to join in on that fun! Both Doug and I are very excited along with a little nervous about becoming first time parents. We already know that this baby will take a lot more responsibility than our current dependents (fish). The upcoming addition to our family was our real reason for starting this web page, so from now on it will probably take on a little different form, but we hope everyone will check back often for updates as we go through this little adventure.

Happy Halloween

Our carved pumpkins, I did the ghost house, with the ghost in the back and Doug did the other two. Happy Halloween to everyone.

Trip to Los Angeles

As many of you knew, our trip to the Cayman Islands for our honeymoon had to be rescheduled at the last minute due to hurricane Ivan, and as a result we had flight vouchers to use before the end of the year. After much debating we decided to make a trip to L.A. to visit a couple friends and catch our one and only Beaver game of the season. The trip started out pretty good, the sun was shining, and hey we weren't working :) We spent most of the day driving down the coast from LAX to Huntington Beach, where John Sanders lives, stopping at the beaches and other sights that caught our interest.

The following day we drove north to Hollywood, to see some sights and eventually make it to the staples center for the Nuggets/Lakers first
preseason game. We mad a quick stop at the Mann's Chinese theater for some poses with famous footprints and autographs. Photos at left are Carmen by Mel Gibson and Doug by Johnny Depp and if you have really good eyes, both of us with the HOLLYWOOD sign on the hills behind us. After a moderate hike to the top of Mt. Hollywood (where the Hollywood sign is), we made our way through the fancy houses to downtown LA. We were amazed how many downtowns there were, when you looked out across the Los Angeles area. As you can tell in the pictures Doug was sporting his Melo shirt all day, luckily I don't think many people caught on to the Nuggets significance until the game,

On friday we drove north again, up to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Here in Colorado we bought season passes to a six flags park, which meant we could go to any park in the country for free. I had been there 12 years ago, although not much was the same, and it was a first time for Doug. The weather was beautiful up there and we breezed right through most of the lines, until we couldn't go on any more rides.

Saturday brought a turn for the worse, along with the Beavers pathetic attempt at putting a football game together, the sun rarely came out for the rest of our trip. The sunny southern California atmosphere became a lot more like the dreary drizzly Oregon coast in the winter. We had fun, although the game was a blowout, and Doug met up with Andres, a guy whom he played soccer with at OSU, who he hadn't seen in 3 years.

Due to the weather, the rest of the trip was somewhat uneventful, we caught part of a surfing tournament at the beach, and watched some NFL at a local bar just off the beach, and just relaxed for the remaining days. Unfortunately, when we got to the airport we found out our flight had been cancelled, and the quickest way home was a reroute through Atlanta. So we spent 12 hours flying across the country and back again for the conclusion of our trip.