Beach to Mountains

We have had a very active fall this year. A few weekends ago we went to the beach with Andy's family. The next weekend we were off to Linville, NC for a wedding. This little one will have well documented travels!

First a few pictures from the beach...

And here are a few pictures from the mountains...

Issues

Hi everyone...

I am sorry for the terrible formatting of these blogs! I want to keep folks posted...but Oh my goodness, it drives me crazy sometimes! I work to make them look just right, then post them and the formatting is all off... Drives me nuts! So, I am trying to just not look at the posts for too long to avoid frustration! Anywho... Just had to get that out there! I love things like this to look beautiful, so am always sad to see when it doesn't look how I would like for it to. :)

That's all!

The Growing Belly!

Here is a chronicle of my growing belly...

Here I am at 12 weeks.

Here I am at 16 weeks...moving into the prego jeans

Me at 19 weeks:

The actual belly at 19 weeks.

Me at 22 weeks...over 1/2 way there!

Belly close up at 22 weeks!

I could only hope that the belly will shrink as quickly and reliably as it has grown! We are getting really excited about meeting the newest Schmidt!

Update

Time is flying by and its past time for an update! We've had a busy month with different activities and travels. I'm a month into my fall semester and working hard! I have one class that I adore and two that I am not a fan of... I will not name any names! My internship is well underway and I have met lots of students and faculty... That has been lots of fun b/c many of them have had such wonderful things to say about Andy! He is a standout to me...I'm glad to know others feel the same way about him! Go babe!

Andy has been busy busy busy with work as he is now a manager. He has lots to juggle and from what I understand his days and weeks are just moving right along. He's getting settled into his new office and responsibilities.

We've done some travelling and seen some friends. This is Birmingham in August...

This is Sam Paige and I together...

Here we have mom Paige and baby Luca who can charm your socks off! Look out ladies!

More recently we were able to make it up to Chicago to see our friends Pish and Nicole. We got to see their new lives and spend great time together. We did lots of eating and talking but also had an excursion to pick plump raspberries and some of the best apples you will ever taste. Here are some highlights...

This is some of what we've been up to in the last month.

Feelin' hot hot hot...

Well, the papers are all turned in and classes finished for the summer. Whew, that feels good. So, I've been spending my time giving the house a good cleaning and studying for an exam required by the UNCC counseling department that I will take on Monday. Gus has been hard at work too, soaking in all of this unbelievable heat! Here's an update from our house...

To the right you will see a picture of a nifty device that Andy got for our house. You can see that it is 11am and the indoor temperature is 77 degrees, and outside it is a scorching 100 degrees! That basically guarantees that I will be inside.

But that is not the case for all of the Schmidts...

Here you see a picture of Gus voluntarily scorching himself on the deck. Hopefully he will not be out there for long, but this is how he chooses to spend his time. Even when it is 100 degrees at 11am.

Almost there!

I am so close to being finished with summer school... and not a moment too soon! I knew that it would be a challenge to take a full load of classes during summer school, but thought, "I'm not working, I can handle this". Well handle it I did, however I had no idea how much writing I was in for! To date this summer I have written approximately 99 pages of assignments in the form of weekly reflections, discussion postings, observations, cultural autobiographies etc. etc. Whew, I am running out of things to say...believe it or not.

Needless to say, I have not been bursting with creative ideas of postings for the blog. But that is really a summary of what's been going on in my life the past few weeks. Two more days, one more paper, and then I plan to relax and not think about anything...at all...nothing.

Go Baby Go!

Yesterday morning we went to the doctor to hear our baby's heartbeat! It was a bit nerve wracking because it took a minute to find it, and had my friend not warned me that it takes a few minutes I would have been very nervous! But, the doctor found it and reported that it was a "good strong heartbeat"! Go baby Go! As I was falling asleep last night, I was marveling at the thought that God has created this little life and is sustaining every single heartbeat...then I thought...Oh, he does that with me too! This adventure has been one blessing after another.