Week 18 - Lookin' Good

We'll it's week 18, here's what's happening to the large sweet potato this week!

Since most everyone ('cept me, of course) hasn't seen our little cute pregnant lady in a few weeks I thought I'd post a picture of us before headin' out to church this morning. Em's fully in the maternity clothes now and looks very nice.



The big gender day is only 10 days away! My gender announcment movie is almost complete too. :)

Have a great week everyone and try to stay cool in this ridiculously hot weather,

Ty

Week 17 - A birthday, a floor, who could ask for more!

Today is Emmy's Birthday! Happy 27th, babe!

She got some great stuff for the baby including the Snoogle and that one "needed" item, the Kate Spade Baby Bag that I got for her on ebay! She also had her first maternity massage at Massage Envy close to our house. She and I had chicken lettuce wraps from P.F. Chang's together for lunch on Friday, and then registered for all our baby stuff yesterday and today. So all in all it was a nice baby/birthday weekend.

As far as registering, we've registered at Target and at Babies-R-Us. A link directly to our registry is shown on the left column, right below the countdown (and below on this post). It's currently a work in progress as some stuff may be changed and many things are yet to be added. Most of this depends of course on the gender which by the way is only two weeks from Wednesday!!! Yeah!



This is what's happening with the "large onion" this week!

The floor is done! I can't believe it, I really can't. Unbelievable amount of work. Here's some pictures of the finished products. I wish all of you could be here to enjoy it with us!




Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ty and Emmy

Power Storm

As many of you probably read or heard on the news, about 1/2 (400,000 homes) of St. Louis is without power. Fortunately, we only lost power for about 4 hours on Wednesday Night. It was some kind of storm. It had a "gust front", which is an area of intense winds that push forward out ahead of the actual storm that produced winds that were in excess of 80 mph. The National Weather Service suggested that the Tornado sirens be turned on, even though no tornadoes had been sighted, just because of the intense damage that the winds were doing.

Emmy and I, as weather spotters didn't have anything to report, the only thing I saw was that our deck chairs were blown from one side of the deck to the other. But around the neighborhood many Bradford Pear trees didn't make it (they're typically pretty weak, so they often go first).

Here's a shot of some mammatus clouds after the storm. Mammatus usually form on the back side of strong to severe storms, and form because very moist, cool, unstable air aloft falls into a stable dry region of warmer air. The rising warmer air prevents the unstable air from falling, therefore these "pouch-like" clouds form. Neat looking huh?

Weather: Hot!! Cardinals: Not!!

How can you win 6 straight games, then lose the next two 15-3 and 14-5?

To sum up the baseball game yesterday in one word it would be: Unbearable.

Unbearable because of the weather (98 degrees at start time, 95 degrees at the 6th inning when we left). We were better planned than most; personal fans, cooler with ice, and wash cloths soaked in cold water. I've never seen so many people give the "hungry wolve" look when Emmy and I were wiping down our faces with the wash cloth. Yikes.

Unbearable because the Cardinals had one hit (which should have been ruled an error, not a hit) and were losing 11-0, after 5 innings.

Here's some pics though, including the before and after of the Old Busch Stadium and the New Busch Stadium.

Old Busch Stadium versus the New Busch Stadium, what do ya think?

Albert Pujols getting the only Cardinal's "hit" that we saw last night!

Week 16 - We just keep rollin' along!

It's week 16! And the baby is now the size of an avocado! Here's what's happening. Em's still feeling very good, tired though a lot. I keep telling her that she's building a baby and that takes a lot of work :) She's started wearing her maternity clothes, which is really nice. She looks great and I can't wait until that little bump starts to grow some more.

We had a very exciting night Friday by making our 1st baby related purchase. Babies-R-Us had a sale and we collectively decided on the Baby Papasan. Oh, of course, you know who had to get it on the mix with her approval.....AP!! Get out of there!!!



It's my last week of freedom, as the MBA classes start back up next week :( The weeks really have gone fast.

The kitchen is done and all the tile has been laid (including the laundry room!) Here's the latest pics of the flooring adventure:

The finished kitchen and eating area.

Is someone just a little excited to put down the last tile....Yeah I'm ecstatic!!

Have a great week everyone. We'll post some more pictures of the laundry room and the Cardinals' game we're going to Tuesday versus the Braves on Wednesday.

Week 15 ...and nearly complete kitchen floor

Week 15 has arrived!! Here's what's up with the 'lil orange today!

It was a great week for us as we heard the heartbeat for the first time on Thursday. We also went to Babies-r-Us on Saturday and walked through the "Road to Motherhood " Tour. It was pretty cool, they had several flat screens set up with videos on what happens each month with the baby. They also had some classes on pre-natal nutrition, exercise and such. It just so happened that one of these classes ended (and the class walked right by us) as we were watching "Month 4 - Genital Formation". Yes, as embarrasing as it was, the whole class strolled on by as we were watching how it....well you know the rest of the story.

We also sat and talked with an ultrasound technician from St. Luke's Hospital about what they look for when trying to check what the baby is (obviously since we're going to be doing this at the begining of August), so a boy is a "turtle", a shell with a head, and a girl is three bright white lines when looking in that region on the ultrasound. Whatever it is, I know we'll be overjoyed.

We saw Pirates of the Carribbean Saturday Night, don't see it. It's generally disgusting; just gross. We saw people get up and leave because they couldn't take it any more. Emmy had to turn away a few times because of the _____ (fill in the blank) (squid, octopus, bird eating a guy's eye out, Johnny Depp chowing down on a thumb, etc.) And people had like 4 year old kids in there watching this! Oh no.... I really am turning into a parent with this kind of talk.

Today we went to Church and got our first "Expectant Family" Blessing after Mass. It was special. Just keep that baby and mama healthy, Jesus. We pray.

The kitchen is ALMOST DONE!! Yeah! Grouting is 90% done, just few more square feet, the appliances are back in place and functional (whew, we were running out of crockpot recipes and fast food places!). Just a little bit more grouting, sealing and painting of the trim and this one will be in the history books! But the laundry room is waiting :(



I personally would like to thank my unbelievable wife, who over the last three weeks has taken over all the "Sunday Responsibilities" (i.e. going to the grocery, Costco, and Target) all alone while I've been working on the floors. Dear, I know how much you hate going to the grocery store, so I just want to tell you that you're my Angel and I love you lots.

Have a great week everyone!

Ty

The "Swish Swash" Song!

You first have to go and listen to the song here. What a great song it is!

So this is what we heard today at the Doctor's....yeah baby! What an awesome moment, finally hearing, not just seeing, that what we as a family are so excited for. I wanted to tape it on my recorder on my cell phone, but hearing it just set me in awe and I was just mezmerized. Amazing that at just 14 weeks, that lil thing is ticking at 159 beats per minute like nothing else. Just fantastic. Doc said that Emmy's doing great all around.

A good day, a good day.

Next appointment (that I'm dubbing "The BIG Appointment" because we fully expect a gender confirmation) is on August 9.

Ty

All "Tiled" Out

As a kid, I often looked at the meanings of names of my friends. Some names, like Aaron, is from the Hebrew word "Mountain of Strength" or James which is derived from Latin and means "One who trips up another and takes his place". Pretty cool huh? But when you look up my name it's from the Olde English, "A worker of tiles", pretty darn booty if you ask me. Well folks, today I've lived up to my name sake. 11 hours of tile laying, over 15 boxes of tile laid and here's what we have an amazing transformation of our kitchen. Whew...I'm all tiled out.



Picture taken at 7:00 AM

Picture taken at 7:00 PM

Since fireworks are completely legal here in Missouri we're going to sit at the end of the driveway and watch all our surrounding neighbors blow some stuff up. It's crazy around here just about everybody goes out of control. Have a great night and look for some baby information on Thursday's blog...and something in the mail later this week!

Ty and Emmy

Week 14: 1/3rd the Way Home!

The First Trimester is now behind us!!

The baby now has a much reduced risk of miscarriage and the pregancy symptoms that Emmy had (which were limited to sleepyness only) should now start to subside. We have a check-up on Thursday in which we are expecting to hear the heartbeat for the first time. Very exciting. Here's what it up the the ..... lemon! this week. Very exciting stuff, can you believe hair and eyebrows and thumb suckin' at week 14!?

We went down last night to the Arch to see Jason Mraz in a free concert under the Arch. There were really crappy fireworks afterwards (no patrotic music was played while they were going off?). If anybody from St. Louis is reading this, I apologize, but the Findlay (my home town) Country Club puts out a better show than the City of St. Louis. To their credit, they're probably saving the bigger show for Tuesday....but I'm sure that'll be nothing like this (it takes awhile, but about 8 minutes in they spell the letters of the big rock station in Cincy, WEBN, with fireworks!...whoa).

Anyways, here's some pics from the event with me and Emmy, her friend from work Elizabeth and the only pictures that turned out good of the fireworks.



Now for those of you who have been following the blog, you know that I'm in the mist of a MAJOR kitchen project. Today I've almost finished the cement board and was taping the seams when you know who came in to see me. Yes, I would say that we caught her "white pawed-ded" ( you know like "caught red handed")



How can you be upset at that face?



What a monster.

Have a great, safe and enjoyable 4th everyone!

~Ty and Emmy

The Great Reddington Timbers Flood of 2006

So the Kitchen floor renovation is going pretty well...except for last night. Yours truly, construction-aficiado numero uno, let his temper get the best of him. While trying to pry up the luan (loo-an) subfloor in pantry, which is a 2 ft x 3 ft closed space on three sides, I got a little angry and started wailing on my floor chisel to try and pry up the far corner of the luan.

Unfortunately for me and thanks again to our wonderful crappy builders (more on that later), I hit the cold water line to the washing machine, which is located right on the other side of the wall! Water was spraying out everywhere at me, and Emmy, who just happened to be in the basement, right near ground zero, also got sprayed with water. The only one who didn't get wet was Allie who high-tailed it out of there.

So Emmy is screaming a me, and I'm like "S$^%#t, F$%$#, Da$##!!" over and over. So I ran down, shut off the main value and so the Great Flood of 2006 ended, just as soon as it started. In all, only about a half a gallon of water actually got out. But the next problem was that this happened at 830P. So we call in the emergency plumber dude and he fixes the problem and takes our $168 dollars. Fantastic.

Now back to the builders. As plumber dude is cutting out a small piece of the wall to remove the damaged pipe, he's amazed at how close the pipe is to the wall. Less than a half an inch away from the back of the drywall. Well folks, that's because it wasn't installed right. The rule of thumb is that all water, gas, poop pipes should be centered in the wall, i.e. the center of the pipe should lie exactly 2" behind the drywall, since most walls are 4" wide. But Billy Bob, or Senor Jorge Bob, who built this piece did not follow the rules and yours truly finds this out with the new fountain that I put in the pantry! Again, Fantastic.

Here's some pics of the renovation as well as "Ground Zero".

It's not called an "Adventure" for nothing,
Ty



Looks a little different than the last one huh?



New Dishwasher coming Saturday, yeah!! See it here! So excited, trust me, finally a nice appliance!



Ground Zero, now patched and drying. Dang it!



Plumber Dude's work, nice burn mark on the floor joist!?!



"And over here, we have the lovely living room, dining room, spice rack room. It's the newest thing in suburbian living."

A Project Ends and Another Begins

Whew...It's done; and looks nice.



The next challenge!!



Have a great day!

Lucky Number 13 and a New Tiled Foyer!

Hey... hey we have made it to lucky number 13! The last week of the first trimester, the baby's now about 3" long which is the size of a Jumbo Shrimp! Check what else is going on this week with the babe here.

The first tiling project is nearing completion! Just need to hang the doors and repaint the trim and we are good to go.....onto the 10 times as big and difficult kitchen :(

Here are some updated pictures..






Everyone have a great week and keep an eye out for the "finishing" photo coming on Tuesday!

Ty and Em

Week 12, 1st Father's Day and the "Lawn Striper"

So it's my first Father's Day! It's so amazing that I'm going to be the Dad of a little being and Chief Supporter of the Pregnant Mommy. I'm up to the task and can't wait until New Year's Day!

Week 12 has arrived!! Only one more to go until the 2nd trimester will be upon us! Emmy is still feeling great. We've been out to Motherhood Maternity and Old Navy to get some new clothes once the "bump" starts to bump (not quite yet though). Our next Doctor's appointment is in a few weeks, and it is possible...possible that we could get a gender on that date...how exciting! Here's what's up this week with the little lime! Yeah lime!

On another note, all you nay-sayer's who made fun of my birthday present this year (the "Lawn Striper") I present to you exactly why I wanted it; a pristine "striped" lawn. Thanks Emmy for such a great gift, I love it. Here's how it looks today! (You can see it attached to the back of my mower) Awesome!

Everyone have a great weekend and Happy Father's Day to all father's and father's-to-be!

Ty and Emmy

...after the dust has settled...

Whew...the hole is plugged, the floor is level and the cement backerboard is mortared!!


It wasn't easy though, and this was supposed to the the tune-up for the kitchen!?! What a major project that will be. Check out the flooring pictures here. So now I will wait a few days to rest and let the floor cure, then the next phase begins...tiling! And yes, Dan, I do need a little luck on my side with the project.

~Ty

Uh, Ty...Why is there a hole in our floor !?!

Ty: "Well Emmy, you always said that you wanted a easier way to the basement... so I'm putting in an escalator!"

Emmy: "WHAT!?! I thought that I was the only one allowed to be crazy because I'm pregnant!"



Ok, Ok...here's the deal. Our great builders (Frank Zykan Homes), put the biggest piece of #%#$ crap 2" x 12" that has ever existed. Seriously, it's the crappiest board that's ever been cut. What happened is that the floor had a 1/4" to 1/3" ridge in the floor that I determined (correctly) to be caused by the previously mentioned bad joist board. So I need to shave the joist board down to make the floor level (porcelain tile floors must be level!!). So, that's why there is big hole in the floor. Tomorrow, I plan to shave down the joist, get two new pieces of plywood and back support the hole with 2" x 6"s. It'll be stout and safe...you have the Structural Analyst's Guarantee! (by the way, that's my title at Boeing).

Later....
Ty

Week 11 - A healthy baby and a new project!

After a busy week, we start another...

The babe's doing just fine, as we saw earlier on the ultrasounds. Emmy's feeling good and I'm tearing up the house. We rented the Lowe's truck on Saturday and brought in 32 boxes of porcelain tile, 12 bags of mortar (to go along with the 29 cement backerboards) and 4 bags of grout to put in our foyer and kitchen. Our tile type is called tuscan bone. It's going to be a big job (408 total square feet of our 1700 square foot house!), but will hopefully add value to the house and definitely will make it a little nicer for us. Here is the first of many pictures you'll see of the demolition/renovation!

Of course, I had to pose like a "tough-guy, construction/demolition dude".

Here's the week 11 update from on the progress of little boy or girl Frost! (here)

Everyone have a great week, stay safe and we love you!

Ty and Emmy

PS: I've also added some of my college friends' blogs to the left including Aaron Bricker's, Kevin Meyer's and T.R. Amrine's...all roommates from the infamous "IGLOO!"

10 Week Check up!!

Hey Everyone!

The ten week check-up went fantastic today!

Emmy and the little one are doing just fine. We got a good look at the punkin and... for the first time we have arms, legs, hands, umbilical cord, and a great heart beat...all the good things to make a little person. In the 3 1/2 weeks since we were last checked up, the baby has grown from 8.5 mm to 33.8 mm. That's over doubling in size each week!

Here are the ultrasound pictures with some additional notes that I've added.




Enjoy!!

~Ty and Emmy

Week 10 - What our baby is going to look like !?

Advances in technology have made it possible to see what our little baby is going to look like!

So we went and had some pictures taken....

From the manufacturer's website:
"Using a fandangled machine based on space-age technology and harnessing all the power of 1000 computers, INSIGHTBABY Company, can deliver exactly what your little one will look like. Using computer imagery of the mother and father's face, we can construct what a boy or a girl will look like in your likeness. So sit back and enjoy the amazing power of the XL-234s GENOGRAPHIC BABY IMAGERY SYSTEM!"

What our baby girl will look like click here!!

What our baby boy will look like click here!!


OK, OK....so it's Dave and Buster's morph machine. Emmy and I took them a LONG time ago in Colorado. Pretty funny...and pretty ugly too!!

Here's the Week 10 update from BabyCenter....click here.

Everyone have a great week... We love you all.

Ty and Emmy

What's in a Name....Game!

So a friend at work turned me on to the Social Security Administration's Website for the most popular baby names here. Being the enginerd of the Frost family, I decided to do a couple graphs that show the ranking of popularity of our names over the past 50 years. The years are across the bottom and the rank goes from 1000th most popular name to the 1st most popular name on the left(the more popular the name, the more toward the bottom the graph goes). So check them out below:

I got to tell you, this is pretty interesting stuff. Focus your attention on the girls, you'll see the name Olivia (the red line). Notice that during the mid-1970's there is a sharp increase in rank for that name (from about the 550th most popular name to the 200th most popular name). Anybody know someone named Olivia that was pretty famous during this time??? How 'bout Olivia Newton-John?? Yep, the "Grease" lovers all named their kids after her.

Now, look at Felicity (the dark green line). Everyone knows that dreadful show, "Felicity" with Kari Russell, that was on in the late-1990's. Sure enough during this time span there is a BIG increase in the popularity of the name, and sure enough as the show got more and more boring, the name became less popular. Then it started on a increase again in 2004 (perhaps because "Felicity" is now constantly on re-run on the Women's Entertainment channel), I only know this because Emmy watches it religiously.

So food for thought....What's in a Name!

Week 9 - We're all doing just fine!

Hey, hey...back from Ohio. Good trip, good people and most of all good food!

We're at week 9 of baby time and doing just fine. Here's what's going on this week:

http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/109.html

Pictures from our trip are posted at our Webshots site here:

http://community.webshots.com/user/tyfrost7

Everyone have a great week!

Sign our Guestbook!

Since we're moving forward with telling more people, we'd love for you to sign our guestbook. To do this, click the "Sign my Guestbook" link on the left side of the page. This will take you to a new website where you should select "Post" to post a new comment for us!! We look forward to hear from you all!

Emmy's Graduation Video!

Below is a little video/music compliation of Emmy's graduation on Friday. Sorry for the shakiness during some of it, I was sitting on bleachers and was nervous for her!!

Later... Ty

Week 8 - Still growing like a weed...

Our little baby is now 5/8 of an inch long, about the size of a kidney bean. All is well, Mom's feeling fine, with no indication of "morning sickness" yet.
Here's what's going on this week with the lil one: http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/108.html

Another busy week of work ahead, and then travel to Ohio for Memorial Day with Emmy's family and graduation of her cousin Chris from High School. Poor Allie gets to spend the weekend in the kennel :(

Emmy's Graduation!

Congratulations Emmylou! You're Awesome!

Our most favorite Mom-to-be has graduated from college with her Master of Science in Health Management!! Not only did she graduate with a 4.0, but she was honored with the Julie Mueller Graduate Award for Health Management, the highest award given by Lindenwood University for students studying Health Management! For this award, she had a speaking role at last night's commencement ceremony. Emmy read a scripture reading (Lindenwood is a Presbyterian affiliated school) in front of over 2,000 people and did a fantastic job!

Here are some pictures below from before and after (we were too far away for good photos during the ceremony). I did video tape all of Emmy's parts and will have it up on this blog soon.

For now, enjoy the pics!

The Current Frost Family

Emmy and Her Parents

There's been a Double Frost Master's Sighting!!

Took a lot of work to get to wear those "monkey suits".

Congrats Emmy!

Annoucement Movie

Hey everybody, I made a short movie with a poem to our little unborn one. It's set to music and is really awesome (in my humble opinion).

Check it out here below: