Christmas has come and gone... preparing for the NEW year, and our NEW life!

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas!!! Since I was a little kid, it seems as though the month of December and Christmas comes and goes faster than any other month! This year especially, the month flew.. as we count down the days until Ty gets here! On Dec. 23rd I had a doctors appointment, they did an ultrasound to make sure that everything is still on track and to measure the little guy. They are guessing him to be right at about 5 pounds as of 3 days ago! Thats right on with where he should be! He only has a couple more weeks left until we can finally see him, and I can hardly wait! Work is getting tough. Not that I gained a huge amount of weight so far (20 lbs. to be exact) but imagine just gaining 20 lbs over 8 months..and its all centered around your lower abdomen. If you haven't been pregnant, take my word for it... its a huge adjustment. Cutting my toe nails and shaving my legs is a luxury theses days! And its not a pretty sight! So working days in the ER, especially busy days, will flat out exhaust me! But its ok, I only have 1 more month left... and since for nurses at a hospital 12 hour shifts are what we work, its not even 7 days a week. 3 days is full time, and thats plenty theses days!

On a different note, I got a new MacBook laptop for Christmas from the greatest husband ever! Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to snoop around the house and try to secretly find out what Im getting for Christmas! Usually I have an idea (Im a pro, I've been sneaking since a young age) and this year... I thought I was getting BOYZ-2-MEN concert tickets! HAHAHAHAHA. Im not going to lie either, I was excited! (are they even still a group?) But when I opened that lap top up, I was speechless! Thanks baby, your the greatest! <3 Well time to wrap this up... i'll post a 34 week pregnancy pic up later!!!

Nicole at 34 Weeks.


Ty's Room all Done. THANK YOU DUSTIN!!!!!!

Ollie talking to brother Ty

Picture from my new camera...


I just wanted to add that I also had an Awesome Christmas. Nicole and I really do have the greatest family and friends. Sunday night we went to Best Buy to pick up my new camera. I have been wanting one for a few years and just didn't want to spend the money. So as a late Christmas present Nicole and I went and picked up a Nikon D3000 with 2 different lens. It is SO NICE and the pictures are amazing. You will be seeing more from it shortly. Well hope everyone had a great Christmas and we wish you all a safe and blessed New Year. 2010 Already!!!!!!!!!!!!

Almost Time

Well Nicole and I went to the doctors on Wednesday for I think or 31 week visit. That is just crazy to me. It seems like just a month ago or so we were driving to sarasota to our first appt. The appt. was great and the Dr. said everything is perfect and that Nicole is right were she needs to be.

Ty's due date is February 5th. Nicole starts her maternity leave on February 1st. We asked the doctor how far past the due she lets people go before inducing them. This led to Nicole telling her that she starts her maternity leave on the 1st and the doctor said if we wanted to we could schedule it for the 1st. This will eliminate the crazy drive from venice to sarasota (which I was kinda looking forward to) and it also gives Nicole a full 12 weeks with Ty before going back to work. We are so excited.

Dustin finished up the mural in Ty's room and it is absolutely amazing to say the least. I will post up pictures when I get home later. If anyone needs a mural done or wants some artwork for the house PLEASE check out: www.designsbydn.com

You will not be disappointed. As you can see on his site and the pictures of Ty's room, Dustin has an amazing talent.

My birthday was on the 6th of December. That night we went down to my moms for some BBQ Pork and to just hangout and play cornhole. It was a great time. And on Thursday Dustin and Vanessa had us over for a birthday dinner. Dustin made his chicken pasta stuff and it is almost better than his artwork. One of my favorite things to eat now a days. Hanging out over there with Dustin, Vanessa, Derek, Tiffany, Nicole and myself I realized how lucky we truly are. Nicole's family is amazing. I always here people bitch about there In-Laws and well I can not relate to that at all. I have THE BEST In-Laws anyone could ever ask for. They have helped with so much in the past 8 years. It will be impossible to ever repay them but I think when Grandpa Joe and I get to take Ty to his first baseball game that will be a good pay back!!!! I am so thankful for my Mom, She has been an amazing mother and has always done all that she could to make sure we had what we wanted growing up. Even if it meant her working 2 jobs to make the extra money. As a kid you don't realize what that means. You just want the newest and coolest thing. Well as an adult I understand all that my mom had to do and I thank her for that. My Dad and both brothers now live in North Carolina. It will kinda suck for them not to be here the day Ty is born but they will be down at the end of the month.

I also realized what amazing friends, both old and new, Nicole and I have. As you have read our relationship with Dustin and Vanessa is really more like an extended Family. They are like brother and sister. Dustin is such and awesome dad and has taught me alot about being a new dad. What to expect and "what not to expect." haha Vanessa has really been a huge blessing to Nicole. Now instead using google for every question and freaking herself out, She just calls Ness. Both of them are amazing parents and we feel very fortunate for them to be apart of Ty's Life.
As well as Derek and Tiffany who also are like brothers and sisters. They are very genuine friends and will help out with anything they can. Ty is going to have alot of Aunts and Uncle's who are amazing people.(Dustin and Vanessa are going to be IN-Laws we decided Lily and Ty are getting married.)

One friend I haven't said much about is my Best Friend Reid. Reid and I met about 10 years ago while working for the same company. We instantly hit it off and became really good friends. Over the years Reid and I became like brothers. He was the first to know that I was going to ask Nicole to marry me. Then Him and his wife Kim took me to go ring shopping. He was one of the first people I told about Ty!!! He will definitely be one of the people in the waiting room while Ty is being born. So a huge thank you to you and your family Reid. I love you guys and we are so happy to have you and your family be apart of Ty's Life. (and I can't wait for that first fishing trip with him!!!)

well I have rambled enough. Just sitting at work thinking about all this and thought I would share it.

And last but most important Thank You to my amazing Best Friend,Wife, Mommy to be Nicole. You are the biggest blessing in my life and I love you with all my heart. Thank You for all you do and for being the amazing person you are. only about 6 more weeks baby!!!!!!!!!!

Tis' The Season!!!

November has come and gone, putting is closer to the due date!!! 9 weeks left! In November, I had 2 baby showers (one for work, hosted by a great friend (Rickie) & one for other friends and family given by 2 of my aunts!! I had an amazing time at both, and thank you very much to those who came and for all of the gifts! Ty's one lucky baby already!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! We had dinner at my parents and really enjoyed the time with my family! For some reason, this year especially I felt more aware of the things I was thankful for. I know everyone hears me do my fair share of complaining about working in an Emergency Room, but being there has opened my eyes to a lot of things, and I think has helped me not take anything for granted. This year, I felt more than ever before, thankful for good health! For not only myself, but for the health of my friends and family.
Having to tell someone 2 days before Thanksgiving that they are loaded with cancer, from her brain to her spine and suggesting to her that the wedding she was planning for herself and her fiance scheduled for this coming January should be rescheduled for a much sooner date really put things into perspective for me!
Also made me thankful for my parents, that they have devoted their entire lives to giving me the tools in life I need to be who I am today. Taking care of children who you know don't stand a chance in this life (may sound harsh... but also true) because of the way their parents choose to raise (or not raise) them is absolutely heart breaking!
For my husband, whom I know will never hurt me in any way because of disagreements we have in our marriage!
For my sister, because I know when that day comes when our parents are gone, and she is all I have left, she will always stay by me and never let me be alone on holidays. To see older people when they have nobody else, be taken to an ER the day before major holiday's is also hard to watch, knowing that the reason they are being dumped is so that others taking care of them can "enjoy" their day with out having a "burden" to take care of.
Lastly, thankful that God has chosen Drew & I to be parents. I never realized how hard it is to have a healthy successful pregnancy. At least once a week, we tell someone in the ER that they have had a miscarriage. Now being pregnant that is harder than ever. You really don't realize how fragile pregnancy and new life is, it should never be taken for granted. And should be cherished very gratefully!
On a happier note, we were for the 2nd year in a row part of the Venice Christmas Parade! Drew's shop had a float in it! Iy was a lot of fun! Ollie was not a part of the parade this year, he gets a little freaked out by all of the lights, and music and people! (not a surprise for those of you that know him)
Lastly, we have about 9 weeks to go until Ty is here... Wahoo :) So excited!!!! Dustin is coming to the final stages of his room, which looks more and more amazing with every session that Dustin completes : see pics below :

7 months down and 2 months to go!

28 weeks and counting. This has been by far the fastest 7 months of my life. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was taking 3 pregnancy tests to confirm our hopes :) Things are starting to all come together, I have my work baby shower this Wednesday being thrown by a fellow nurse at work (Rickie) who has become a great friend. And then my family/friend shower the following weekend, which I am also looking forward too!
Ty's Uncle Dustin has been hard at work in his room, painting an amazing mural! (See pics below that Drew has posted) His room is slowly starting to fill, with blankets, diapers, toys, bedding, gifts, etc. Its all seeming a little more real every day! We are so excited we can hardly stand it! I start next Friday with my every 2 week doctor appt's. as opposed to every 4 weeks!
I am fortunate enough to work with amazing people (Stacy & Vickie) who always do Ultrasounds for me, so I can see the little guy moving around in there as often as I want! In addition to the excitement that Drew & I have, this pregnancy as also showed me that I have amazing friends. Thank you to my fellow nurses, doctors, tech's, Ultrasound Tech's, and director at work who have all become little 'Mother Hens' to me and protecting me from the crazy people out there and all of risks that come with working in an Emergency Room; they won't let me lift people, push stretchers, or take care of certain people with particular diseases to avoid the risk of me getting sick! Ty and I really apprciate it, we love you!
To Vanessa, who is constantly reassuring me that everything is fine, and that although she worried about all of the same little things while she was pregnant... its normal and EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE! :) And also for lending your husband to us to allow him to create Ty's room.
To Dustin, for taking the time to do Ty's room... its awesome!
To our families for the constant support, and help! And to all of out other friends who are always checking up on us, to see how I am feeling and to make sure everything is right on track!
Also to Drew who remains to be so patient throughout this whole process with me and my pregnancy emotional ups and downs! Your the greatest and I can't imagine going through this with anyone else! I LOVE YOU.
I am done rambling now, 2 months to go wahoo.. and Im thinking it will fly by with the Holidays right around the corner!
Drew will post picture tonight when he gets home of my 7mo. baby bump!
Drew and I on our date in St. Armands Circle

Ty's Room being created

Here are photos from start to now of Ty's room being created. We had alot of idea's and one was to make sure it wasn't your typical teddy bear baby room. Not our kid. So me being the extreme board sport athlete I am, it was only right that we tied that into his room some how. We want him to be very well rounded and do every different sport that he wants to play. Now Ty's Grandpa Joe is all about Baseball. He played baseball, watches baseball, and even coaches high school baseball. Over the years he has even turned me back into a team sport guy and I am really enjoying watching baseball. So we had to be sure to tie that into the room as well. These pictures don't show the baseball stuff we have for Ty's room, but we have a mini bat engraved with Ty's name and 2010 MVP, a Tampa Bay Rays mini batting helmet (my team) and a New York Yankee's Ball on a mini bleacher seat(Grandpa Joe's team). One of our very close friends Dustin is painting a mural on Ty's wall. He is an amazing artist and we are so excited to see this done. Here is where it is at now.

What it use to look like:




First round of Paint:




Dustin Working his Magic, and bead board up:

Phase 1 of the artwork.

The Wave started:


I will add to this post as more gets finished.

October

Well this is going to turn into a picture post. We had an awesome Halloween with great friends. It started with some pumpkin carving with the crew. I only have pics of Nicole's pumpkin and my pumpkin because we didnt bring the camera with us. We went trick or treating on the island with the crew for Lily's first Halloween. But this turned into watching Dustin, Vanessa and Lily have there picture taken by 40238783674 strangers because they had the best costumes EVER!!!!!!!! We hung out with Derrick and Jess at their new house and ate dinner. Then called it a nite.
My Pumpkin

Nicole's Pumpkin

Nicole and I in our last minute costumes

The Crew

BEST COSTUME EVER!!!!!!!!!


Dustin started painting Ty's room. That will be another post.

Nicole and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary with a short trip to Orlando. We just relaxed, went to Sea World and walked around Downtown Disney. It was an awesome trip and taking time to just hang out in the pool and relax with each other was so nice.
We did manage to get close enough to the dolphin pool at Sea World to pet some dolphins. One even longe up on the ledge right in front of us, however I was busy bobbling the camera and missed the picture:(

Us and some Flamingos




Now we are back to work and reality. And we are hoping that hurricane Ida hangs out in the gulf so Dustin and I can surf all day Tuesday and let Nicole, Vanessa and Lily relax on the beach.
We are so thankful for all of our close friends and family. Thank all you guys for being such amazing people.

Our NOT so smart dog...Ollie

Nicole washed the bed quilt the other day and it was still a little damp, so she laid it over the baby's crib to finish drying. Today we were both off and went down to the beach so I could catch a little surf on my longboard. When we get home I hear Nicole yell through the window to COME INSIDE NOW!!!! I walk in to discover that Ollie had decided to some how jump into the crib (which has no mattress in it yet) God only knows how long he had been in there, poor guy couldn't figure how to get out!!! Crazy dog...but this is why we love him!

New To This...

Well Drew & I are new to this whole blog thing, so bare with me as I get the hang of it!!! Drew has already gotten everyone up to speed on the last 7 years or so of our lives, so I guess I can take it from there and add a little more detail about marriage & pregnancy over the past 2 years! First off, marriage and pregnancy has been an amazing experience...and I couldn't have done it with out Drew, my best friend! Besides being the best husband that I could have ever asked for, he has been such a positive support in my life through everything...school, marriage, pregnancy, work, etc. the list goes on. For those moms out there you all know that pregnancy from the day you find out to the day you deliver is such a roller coaster of emotions, fear, excitement, anxiety, happiness, to just name a few....and through that as you could imagine your body is trying to figure out where the heck you are coming from...leading you to be the "not so pleasant to be around" person all the time.... and even though he has never been through that either Drew has been so understanding and patient. I truly am blessed with the best husband, parents, sister, dog, friends, and new baby Ty!
Overall the pregnancy has not been ANYTHING to complain about! I was slightly nauseated in the beginning, but again nothing to complain about compared to other pregnancy's I have heard about! The first trimester was one of much anxiety for me, because it is such a fragile time for the baby. i breathed a sigh of relief when I hit that 15-16 week mark..going into the 2nd trimester I actually began to feel more pregnant! And now at 25 weeks...its so awesome to feel him moving in there! I can't help but laugh and smile sometimes when he gives a nice hard kick! Drew thinks he's doing some kick-flips in there... and my dad thinks he's sliding into home plate!!! HaHa! (i have a funny feeling that between Drew and the beach, and my dad and the baseball field I'll never see Ty) but I couldn't think of 2 better men for him to be spending his time with, both important men in my life, both role models to many. Ty doesn't even know how luck he is to have Drew and my dad in his life! Well I have rambled enough....and to be honest I want to make sure whole long entry even posts on our page before I bore you some more... so lets see if I can actaully get it on a page! :)

How we got here today...

Well i was never a fan of blogs untill recently. After reading a close friends blog, I was inspired to start one and have some documentation of our lives. So I called my wonderful Bride and she informed me she tried to start one the day before but got frustrated setting it up.

Well let me start with I am Drew Danielo. I am 28 years old and met my best friend/ wife 7 years ago. I was 21 at the time and she was 17. The night that surfaced at her parents house was a scary night. We dated for 3 years and I asked her to marry me on a family vacation in Park City, Utah. I asked her Dad about a month before the trip. The drive from my house at the time in Ellenton to Venice seemed like it took 10 hours that morning. Joe afterwards told me he knew I was either asking him that or needed help with Financial stuff. He told me those are the 2 main reasons I guy would need to have a private talk with his girlfriends Dad. Luckfully for me I couldn't ask for a better set of In-Laws. Joe told me he had no problems with me asking Nicole and if I ever did anything to hurt her. Well you can figure out what he said. So after ring shopping with my best friend Reid, I was on a plane going to Salt Lake, City. I asked her to marry me on February 15th.(Valentine's Day would be to typical for me) Her first words to me were "DID YOU ASK MY DAD!" After she knew I did She said yes. So after she finished school We got Married On November 3,2007.



The wedding was what I thought would be the best day of my Life. We have had an amazing marriage that gets better everyday. We decided it was time to add to our wonderful family. So we began trying to have a baby. After a few months it seemed having a baby was harder than I thought. On May 31st I was running a skateboard contest at the local YMCA thru my shop. Nicole came over with some freinds and her family was there and it was a typical skate contest. Very fun and exciting but made for a long nite. I got back to the house around 9:30ish. We talked for a few minutes and then Nicole said I have something to show you. I said YOUR PREGNANT and she showed me the Pregnancy Test. It was Positive. This would know be the Happiest Day of my life.

I had so many thoughts and as excited as I was it hit me. I am going to be a Dad!!!!I was extremely Excited and at the same time a little nervous. We only told her parents and sister and my mom. Nicole wanted to make sure everything was ok before we spread the word. We all managed to keep it as quiet as we can. After the 1st doctors visit we were free to tell. So within about 10 minutes of us leaving I think all of Sarasota County knew what was going on!!!!

Fast Forward 25 weeks and here we are today so excited for our little Ty Joseph to arive. We chose Ty because it is not a super Popular name and has a little southerness to it. Joseph came from Nicole's Dad. He has obviously been a huge part of Nicole's life and since I met him 7 years ago he has made a huge positive impact on my life and been a serious mentor to me.

Nicole and I are very thankful for both our Families and thank god everyday for blessing us with the lives we have with Amzing Family and Friends. Thank You to all of you who have been around since the begining and all the GREAT FRIENDS we have made over the years. You know who you are. Nicole and I will both be posting on this Blog to share our stories and document our happiness together. Here are some pictures to get you upto date with the Baby.

This is Nicole at 12.5 weeks


Nicole at 14 weeks


Nicole at 16 weeks


Nicole at 20 weeks


Nicole at 24 weeks


The picture that made it clear. It's A Boy


Thank You Baby for being my best friend and an amazing wife. I love you with all my heart and soul and look forward to a life time of fun and happiness with you. You truly are my soul mate.

Me with my amazing Wife/Bestfriend/Mommy to be


I LOVE YOU
Drew