33 Weeks

Only 7 weeks until the due date and there's still plenty to do before our little one's arrival. Here's the plan of attack: I will be in Chicago until my 36 wk appointment, and hopefully they will clear me to fly. The next day, I am flying to Phoenix to settle into our new summer home only .5 miles from both mine and Brandon's work. Meanwhile, Brandon is driving our car out to AZ with all of our baby stuff in tow that same weekend. He will then fly back to Chicago for two weeks to finish finals. As soon as finals are done, he will fly to AZ and start his summer internship while we wait for our little girl to come. We will be in Arizona until mid-September and then back to Chicago for our last year of law school!

As much as I feel like we have a lot to do, there is one thing that is done....the name! This part was easy. Her name will be Rachel Faye Hale. Do you like it? Not that it will change anything. :) There is a lot of family tradition that comes with the name...

She will be the ninth generation of Rachel Hale's. In fact, there has been a Rachel Hale alive since 1767! On Brandon's side, the tradition is that a Hale son names a daughter Rachel and I love the name, so it was simple. Here's the generations -

1. Rachel Johnson Hale (the first, who took on the name Hale through marriage in 1767)
2. Rachel Johnson Hale Savory (born 1798)
3. Rachel Johnson Savory Hale Hoagland (born 1829)
4. Rachel Susan Hale Clark (born 1857)
5. Rachel Louisa Hale Tuttle (born 1891)
6. Rachel Hale Christensen Cunningham (born 1927)
7. Rachel Kay Hale Gonzalez (born 1959) - Brandon's aunt
8. Rachel Elizabeth Hale Murray (born 1985) - Brandon's sister
9. Rachel Faye Hale - Brandon's soon to be daughter!

There's tradition with the middle name as well. My middle name is Faye and my mother's first name is Faye (although she goes by her middle name, Elaine) and my Grandma Thompson's name is Faye.

Anyway, we're really excited to be parents to a little girl soon! See pictures below - all taken in Utah two weeks ago.

Picture taken with Faye Thompson, Faye Elaine Parker (mom), pregnant me, Nancy Hale (mom-in-law), and Bonnie Allred (Brandon's grandma aka Pookie)
Picture with Rachel #7 and #8. Brandon's aunt, Rachel and Brandon's sister, Rachel. Don't get too concerned that there will be any confusion - we'll distinguish them by calling our baby "Rachel Faye" when we are with the Hale family.
This is my, "I love the sideshot" sarcastic smile. Here's me at 31 weeks:

Ticket Issued for Playing Soccer in Chicago Park

I am posting a Fox News clip of my co-workers who got tickets for playing soccer in a park after work on Tuesday. Apparently it is against the law to play ball in Chicago Parks due to grass wear and tear - crazy! A nearby homeowner called the cops when the group arrived. I was not there (I have a pretty good excuse and didn't want them to confuse my belly with the soccer ball), but Brandon was there as a substitute for me, so he got in on the action when the cop showed up and started issuing tickets but was not able to meet Fox News when they did the interviews since he was at school.

Still waiting for Spring in Chicago

Picture taken in Utah. Happy Easter everyone! Check out this cute picture of Brandon and our niece, Kennedy. He's going to be such a darling dad. I miss you lots, Brandon - come home quick!

Picture taken in Chicago. It snowed quite a bit this week to celebrate the first day of Spring! But the sun came out a little bit for Easter weekend, which was much needed.

p.s. The ultrasound went great last week. It's definitely a girl! Wa hoo!

These pictures are way awkward! But here it is...here is my belly. I bet you are digging the little maternity shirt with a skirt (it was only $5 at Old Navy and I will wear anything that is comfortable at this point). I am 26 weeks...translation = 6 months. We bought our crib and dresser last weekend :) and bought my first few baby girl items a couple weeks ago when Nicole and I went out to the outlets. On March 17 I have another ultrasound and I'm looking forward to them telling me that they are 100% sure that it's a girl.

Brandon must feel bad that all the posts lately are about the baby. Geez, she's not even here yet. :) Brandon has finals this week and then will celebrate with a spring break trip home to Utah. He is still studying extremely hard and continuing to do well in school. The other piece of big news is that Brandon cut the bowl cut this week. Hip, hip hooray!

New Haircut & Pictures

Brandon gave himself a new haircut. It may look familiar - he had the same haircut in sixth grade and it is known as the "bowl cut". I told him that he looks like a girl :) and keep asking when he is going to give himself a second haircut to fix this one. He's still having a good time with it, so I think it will last a few more days. The best part is that people aren't sure what to say - they don't want to draw attention to it, so "nice haircut" is not an appropriate comment unless they are sure he is joking. Yep, it's all a big joke - he'd love to start a trend if anyone else is up for the challenge! The back is my favorite - it's a little choppy, but I am very impressed that he did it all by himself. Brandon always keeps me laughing.

I also posted pictures from Lauren's shower and our San Francisco trip in December.

Brandon's new haircut...it's a bowl cut.

Side View 1

Side View 2

Baby Shower for Lauren & her twins (boy & girl)

Theme: Two peas in a pod

Chad & Cindy's Wedding in Oakland, CA

Me & Mom in the wedding outfits

Family Trip to San Francisco after the wedding

The beautiful Oakland Temple

Brandon & mom - view from the temple grounds

The Golden Gate is right behind us - if you can believe it!
It was so foggy, so we went back the next day.

Brandon & Cade with all our luggage - what a joke!

It's a Girl!

It's a girl, folks! We are VERY excited. My mom says that I am not excited enough - when I asked her what she used measured my excitement, she said it is measured by the amount of baby things I buy. :) ha ha ha. If that is how it is measured, then she wins for sure because she just showed me at least 15 outfits that she has already bought for baby Hale. This first time Grandma is very excited! We still have about 4 months to go, so I don't feel too behind yet. We will be more inclined to make purchases after another ultrasound when they can say they are 100% sure. At our 20 week appointment, baby Hale was crossing her legs and would not let us get a peek! They said that they were 85% sure it was a girl from what they could see. I don't mind so much since pregnancy is going so well. I am feeling really good (a little on the large side...I know, you probably want me to post pics of the belly - that sounds so weird!) and she is moving all around.

Happy Valentine's Day!