Goofing Off

Michael being goofy and stuffing his bowling ball under his shirt at the beach! Elea is still a lot bigger- but he can get a little taste of what I go through! LOL... what a goober, but gonna be such a good Daddy!

Sorry, it's been a while!!!

Wow- so it's been 2 months since we have posted anything on the blog... Oops!!! Life has been interesting since the last blog... let's see:

On May 20th Michael had an accident at the church while racing with some of the youth and fell and fractured his skull. We tried telling him we knew he was hard headed, but he didn't have to prove it. He spent 3-4 days in the hospital and then was on bed rest for the rest of the month and well into June. I had to stay with him majority of the time and help him get around and use to daily activities again- so my doc wrote me out on bedrest. We made a great couple at that time- neither one of us could do anything!!! :)

Then Michael started doing really well and summer with the youth started... we've had a crazy schedule and lots of things! Camp Thursday, VBS, plenty of doc visits, a week vacation at the beach with the family, trips with the youth, etc...

Sorry we didn't post for a while- we have been keeping up with everything on Facebook though!

Elea Ruby

We got to see Elea Ruby again this week on Monday. It's amazing to see how quickly she is growing and developing. She decided to move around quite a bit again- kicking the technician and rolling over the minute we could get a good picture of her. She's already a fiesty one in the womb- maybe she's getting it all out of her system now- ha ha! She's changed her sleeping position/resting position to having her hands up at her chin.

We're going to try and scan a picture of her from the ultrasounds to put on here- but the scanner is in Michael's office. So, hopefully we'll get that done sometime soon!!! Stay tuned...

Just Growing

Sorry there were no posts last week we were on Spring Break!! We enjoyed the mountains and traveling to Raleigh to visit friends all last week... now we're trying to get back into the swing of reality again.

Elea is growing more and more each day... I am at the point right now that I seem to always be hungry and can never get full. So the weight will definitely be up when we go to the doctor again next Monday- oh well!

We have her crib set up, her room painted, and her bookshelves up with books on them. Of course she already has a ton of books- none are quite her favorite yet. We will post some pics more each day...

She is weighing in with pounds now instead of ounces and throwing out some dangerous punches and kicks. She loves and already knows when she is being talked about- if you start talking to her, especially her Daddy, she starts moving around non-stop!

It's a Girl!!!!

Michael and I found out this morning that we're having a GIRL!!! Little Miss Elea (said like Ella) will be here in no time at all. She was very active this morning and it took us a little while to determine what she was. We actually go back in 4 weeks for another Ultrasound- a couple of the pics the doc needed were hard to see and get b/c Elea moves too much! But I'm so glad she's moving around... although her punches are getting harder.

Her name will be Elea Ruby Rakes... Elea is after my gma named Eleanorah (hints the reason why we spelled it the way we did) and Ruby is after Michael's gma. We were very close with both of them and admired them so much.

Now we're busy getting the nursery ready- her nursery is a jungle theme and the walls are light blue and green (no pink). We registered today too- it's amazing how much stuff you need for a baby- we put lots of things on the registry, b/c we had no idea!!!

Stay tuned for more info...

A lil' scare, but all is well!

We had just a little scare this week- thinking something could be going on- but God is so good and everything is fine! We thought I may be in pre-labor, Braxton pains already, or a bladder infection- so we had to go visit the doc.

After testing and a full exam come to find out the baby has just positioned itself directly on top of my bladder and my bladder is pushed very low (alongside of my cervix basically- sorry if TMI). So it's just the joys of being pregnant, but I'm carrying low and b/c of the bladder that's whats leading to the pains.

So, baby and I are just resting and taking it easy for now! Only a few more days and I can stop calling it baby!

Running Rakes

We went to the doctor this morning for our monthly checkup and everything is still going GREAT! Weight gain is still going really well, baby's growing normal, and the heart rate is still 161. We tried to talk the doc into doing the ultrasound a week early, but he wouldn't. The doctor came walking in with a Gonzaga shirt on and Michael asked when we were switching doctors... ha ha.

The Baby ran around this morning trying to get away from the nurse. She tried to find the heart beat and when she went to one side you could hear it for a second, then the baby would run to the other side. We had to chase the baby down for a while before we could get it to stay still! Hopefully that's not insight into what's to come... ha ha- we'll be running around like CRAZY!

The nursery is probably going to be the Fisher Price "Jumping Tiger" set... we found more items that match it at Burlington Coat Factory- thanks to my co-workers!

By the next post we'll be telling you what we're having... stay posted!!!

Starting to Get Ready

We go to the doctor next Friday for a check-up! Not much has changed since last week- except that the belly seriously grows every day- or so it feels like.

Michael and I are taking the guest room apart right now and prepping for the baby's room. We are headed to King to pick up the crib and a couple of other items. We'll make sure to take some pics of the progress. It will be a few more weeks before we paint the nursery. If you're wondering why we're doing it so early... Michael will be busy with the youth from the end of May-the first of August... so as you can see, the next couple of months is all we have!!!

Stay Tuned...

Lil Rakes almost 5 months

Baby Rakes has really been growing lately... we enjoy reading about all the changes that take place each week and are amazed at everything that happens within a short amount of time. We are doing a lot better with sickness and everything else! Baby enjoys the nice warm weather that we had for a week- we took long walks with Goliath and Cornbread and spent a lot of time outside. We go in a week for another check-up but not to determine the sex until April 6th! It feels like forever until we get to that date- but we are really excited and can't wait. It will be much easier to call the baby James or Elea, instead of Baby. Next weekend we will go ahead and start cleaning out the guest room and get some of our baby furniture in place- YAY! Hopefully in a couple of weeks we will be painting the nursery and beginning the set up... so exciting! The Baby is enjoying himself and seems to sleep during the day while Mommy is teaching- but at night is very active, especially while Mommy is trying to sleep. The Baby does not like Thursday's when his Daddy is gone- this seems to be the day he moves around and causes the most problems... but as soon as Daddy comes home everything's okay! All the Rakes' are trying to get over a cold right now- so just keep us in your thoughts!

Nursery Confusion

Michael and I are trying to get a head start and go ahead and decide on nursery decor- we'll decide the details and colors once we find out the sex. But for now, look at the poll, visit the sites, and vote for your favorite!!! Thanks for your input and help!!!

Trying to get Better

Michael and I will try to get better about posting and putting up some pregnant April pics on here. We just went to the doctor on Monday for another monthly checkup and everything seems to be going great! The baby is measuring normal, my stomach is growing normal, weight gain is normal, and the heartrate is 160 this time (171 last time). Still sounding like a girl- but don't tell the proud papa that... ha ha. We think our doctor likes to torture us, b/c we go again in 4 weeks (which is 3 now) and were hoping for the ultrasound to determine if it is a James or a Elea. However the doctor wants to wait another 6 weeks to find out...he just laughed when we were like What?!?! Oh well, as long as the little one is healthy that's all that matters- but we gotta get busy on the decorating and getting stuff ready before summer.

Pregnancy is Like Puberty

If you've been pregnant I think you can understand the title of this blog fully! I won't go into too many details, but it is more or less like going through puberty all over again! You have absolutely no idea what is going to go on from one day to the next... oh my, sometimes from even one minute to the next. You wake up every morning to find a new symptom or something new going on in your body! I just found it interesting that pregnancy was so much like puberty- I wanted to write about it.

The Rakes' and the Little One

So Michael and I have decided that we would start blogging about our experiences and our little one... though, most of the time it will be me doing the blogging (ha ha). Anyway, we're really excited and can't wait to become parents. The first trimester went really fast and for the most part really well. There were plenty of moments and days where I wasn't enjoying being pregnant, but it never took the excitement and joy away. We wanted to share this experience with family and friends and since we're all scattered everywhere what better place to share than the www. Thanks Heather for getting us started on this site!