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Name this movie..."Wax on, wax off...wax on, wax off". Jeremy and Andrew better not let us down. Mark felt Asher kick for the first time last night. It was no Chuck Norris round house kick, but what is??? Now, this is not a discipline he hopes Asher continues after his birth, but for now it's really neat!

Much love,
Mark and Allyson

We shall call him....

As for Mark, we'll call him old. We just got a Wii Fit (Allyson's birthday celebration continued this past weekend!) Mark tested it out with a Body Test. It took him through a bunch of crazy analysis. It then proceeds to put a spotlight on your Mii (console profile of myself) and begins a drumroll. 'Your WiiFit Age is...38.' 38?!?!? Really? I've got more work to do than I thought before the baby arrives.

We went to the doctor this past Wednesday. Everything sounded (heartbeat) and looked good! The doctor encouraged us to be extra careful with the flu bugs going around. Allyson will be getting a shot soon. Mark has been working on the baby's room...it's coming along and we can't wait to show you before and after photos. All we have left to do is finish up the last coat of paint and lay the flooring. The baby showers begin in early October, so we will be heading to Bloomington tomorrow night to finally register.

Now that Allyson officially goes by 'Master', she is finding her afternoons and evenings to be much more enjoyable. She is already almost done reading a book and enjoyed some QT with her mom over the weekend. Here is an updated photo of her...no doubt the baby is growing!!



Sorry we have not been so frequent with the blog posts. It's been a little crazy. We go back to the doctor in a month and then begin visits every 2 weeks. We know it won't slow down (possibly ever), but so glad to be able to share with you when we can.

Love and miss you all!
Mark and Allyson

By the way...in case you can't read Hebrew...our boy's name will be Asher Mark Thompson. The name Asher means 'blessed' in Hebrew. We know how blessed we are and always want him to know the same. Mark is self-explanatory. Thompson was a given.

22.5 weeks:)

This week (22 weeks) our baby boy is the length of a spaghetti squash. I (Allyson) just happen to love spaghetti squash and just might go to the store tomorrow and pick one up to make for dinner. This might be slightly weird since they are comparing my baby to it this week, but I think it is ok:) Lots of exciting things have happened this weekend/ week.

#1 I turned the ripe old age of 27 on Saturday and spent the entire day being spoiled by Mark. It was great. I never lifted a finger or cooked a meal. He even took me to a girly movie (The Time Traveler's Wife...which I highly recommend). The only thing that would have made it better would have been a Buckeye win, but we won't talk about that. Thanks to all of you for all of the cards and surprises that came in the mail...I loved them all!

#2 I finished my Master's degree on Monday at approximately 3:30 pm. Who is counting, right? I can honestly say that it was one of the best feelings in the world. I rewarded myself by getting a professional massage (which a great friend bought for me as a gift a couple months ago). I was saving it for the perfect moment and I finally found it. I also started the newest Nicholas Sparks book because I haven't read a book just for fun in a while. It is so nice!

#3 We are almost settled on a name. I have a good feeling that by this time next week we will be able to share it with everyone. You might like it, you might not.....but we are sure you will love him so it won't matter:)

#4 Mark is traveling back and forth from pastor's retreat during the middle of this week. I am sure it will be a nice break for him.

#5 My mom is coming this weekend! I am definitely excited about this one because it has been too long. It also starts the first of many weekend guests and weekend traveling to see friends and family which have both been much overdue.

#6 We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Just a regular appointment that will probably last about 5 minutes, but hearing his heartbeat never gets old.

I think that is about it for now. Love and miss each of you. We will update a bump picture next week!
Mark and Allyson

21 weeks...

21 weeks! Can you believe it? We don't know where the time has gone. Some fun things have been happening in the past couple of weeks. One is that I (Allyson) have started to feel him moving around. You still can't feel him by putting your hand on my belly, Mark can't wait for that, but I am definitely aware of him. We started making some head-way with his room as well. The closet is completely cleaned out and Mark put the first coat of paint on the wall. I can't decide if I like it or not. I like it about every other time that I walk in there. We will see after another coat. Since I have such a great husband, he has already offered to paint again if I decide that I don't like it. The paint color is called basil and is an olive green color. As my brother told my mom one time, it might make me in the mood to color Easter eggs. If I decide that is the case, we might need a new color.

Life has been pretty hectic for me in the past month with starting school and finishing my Master's degree. Only 10 more days of the Master's and life will hopefully slow down a bit. I am sure the time will fill up with something else, but I am going to enjoy that first day of not stressing about what paper needs written or how to fix my portfolio.

Still no news on the name. We are still trying decide between 2 names. We promise to let you know just as soon as we know!

Here is an updated photo of my growing belly. I think it gets bigger by the minute. Joy...hopefully this shirt will satisfy you, it can't get much tighter:)

Love and miss each of you!
Mark and Allyson

What's in a name?

Well...for one thing, a lot of time. We have narrowed it down to 3 possibilities. Hopefully, we'll have a name to share with you by next week. We know there will be some who like the name and some who don't...we will like the name and that will be all that matters. :)

We are starting renovations in the baby's room this weekend. We have spent the past couple of weeks cleaning out the junk. We ordered a blanket from the bedding set we want so we could buy some paint for the room. The room we are converting into a nursery was kind of our catch-all room. We had visions of making it an office a few months before we found out Allyson was pregnant. We painted all the trim and closet doors black. I know it sounds strange, but it looked really neat. Well, the office never materialized after that. And now, we have to re-paint all the trim and doors along with the walls. Oh well...we're looking forward to it! (Mark's looking forward to it. Allyson will be content checking the progress until it's done.)

Allyson hasn't changed much lately, but we will post a new pic soon.

Love,
Mark and Allyson