Pink or Blue?

I love the hand to the forehead pose... he's a thinker already!

Here is our precious baby... BOY! I guess mother's intuition was replaced by 'father knows best', because Brad has called boy from the beginning. I, on the other hand, was seeing pink this whole time and it took me by surprise when I was proved wrong!

Baby boy measured 8 inches long, weighed in at a whopping 11 ounces... and I can already tell he is adorable. :)

Now that we know it's a boy the shopping has begun! Brad was a great sport as I dragged him around Saturday, first to a huge baby sale and then to Babies R Us to register. And although it has mostly been fun, it has also been a little stressful. Am I alone in this? I tossed and turned the other night because my mind was racing with so many thoughts: "Did I pick the safest travel system?" "What colors would be best for the nursery?"-- who knew the baby would bring so much stress before he's even born!

We are getting excited for our trip to Utah next week where we will celebrate Grandma Odie's 80th birthday and a baby shower for me! YEAH!

6 days and counting...

UPDATE: Just got a call that they need to reschedule the ultrasound... to Friday! Only 2 more days! YEAH!! :)

Only 6 more days until we find out if this little baby is a boy or girl. Finally!! I feel like I'm the only person who has ever had to wait until 20 weeks for the gender ultrasound.

Just for fun we put up a poll at the top of the blog. You have until Monday to cast a vote but you can only vote once so there's no chance of stacking the results (cough, cough... Brad)

Sunny San Diego

Last week I flew home to help out the family while my mom enjoyed a relaxing 4 day hospital stay. (No kids, no cleaning, no cooking, did I mention no kids- yeah, not a bad gig, right mom?! Oh, well minus the whole surgery part!) I must say I was looking forward to my week "off of work"... haha... not quite! Being a mom is hard work. Yes, I know all of you moms already know this! I think I came home more tired than when I left but all in all, it was a fabulous trip. I loved getting to spend a little extra one-on-one time with my siblings and get a taste of what awaits me in just a few short months. Although I am so grateful it is just 1 coming in September and not 4!

My 3 youngest siblings were on spring break during my visit so we made sure to stay busy during the days. The only pictures from the trip are from our beach trip. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time playing-- even though Taryn reminded me more than a couple times that I forgot her sand toys and she had to dig and make castles with her hands. Sorry Taryn, but at least I remembered the food and sunscreen!


On the way home, I earned major 'cool points' by making a pit stop at In n Out for some milkshakes. What a great day!

Easter weekend & Updated Belly Picture

We have had a wonderful Easter/Conference weekend. Holiday traditions have been a little hard to get into since we moved to Walnut Creek, being that it is only Brad and me-- no other family close by and no kids. I still think they are important to do, so we dyed eggs and prepared Easter baskets for each other. We kept it simple; in fact the dying of eggs was so simple I am afraid the extended Hardcastle family would be disappointed in my lack of preparation. (Wondering why? See this post!) So, this is the only picture I am putting up of our evening!

Only 3 weeks until we find out if this little baby is a girl or boy... which means for the next 3 weeks we will continue to speculate who is right.

Here is an updated picture of me a 4 months. It seems the belly is growing a little bit every day!


And wasn't General Conference absolutely AMAZING! What a wonderful weekend!