John has been quite busy with work at a surgical center in town. He's been trained in the Operating Room and is now on his own. He just started training in the post-op, which is much less intense. He normally works all 5 weekdays from 6:30 am to whenever! (He's gotten off as early as 12:30 pm and as late as 7 pm).

I've been busy preparing for the baby. The nursery is basically set up now. I know some of you have been asking for some pictures of the nursery. We went with the pink and chocolate colors. My mom wanted to make the baby a quit - she's so talented. She finished that and has been making a lot more than that! Below is The curtain she made and the pink ribbons she sewed on to our brown lamps. It adds a nice baby girly touch.

With leftover scraps she has from the quilt, she made this adorable wall hanging and machine embroidered cute little bunnies on is. She also made a little pillow!

Here's her crib. She made the bumper pad, sheet and bed skirt too.

Here is the quilt she made. Because our baby won't need it for a while, we hung it on the wall for display because it is so beautiful. I'm glad it matches the polka-dot changing pad cover I had ordered. Our baby is already spoiled by her Grammy. Thanks for all the beautiful things mom!

John and I have had a lot of fun the last few weeks with family and friends. I don't travel too well now due to all the contractions, but we've been able to have a lot of visitors. A few weeks ago my whole family was able to get together here in Las Cruces. It's been a few years since that has happened. Here's me with my two older brothers, Clay and Justin. We were able to celebrate their birthdays that night. Clay is trying to fill the baby kick - which she sure was because she was enjoying the Peanut Butter Birthday Pie. I think Justin was freaked out that I was going to re-act Alien or something!

My best friend, Michelle, and her daughter, Madi, were able to come stay with us for 2 nights. It was so fun! Here Madi and I are at a park near our house. She just turned 1 and has taken a few steps on her own, but prefers to have some support or crawl still.

Shortly after their visit, John's brother and sister-n-law came to see us all for a short while. I only got to see them for one short evening, but it was a great time! Here's us with their son, Jacob, that just turned 3 and their daughter that is 3 months - Emma. It will be fun to have our daughter so close in age to her cousin Emma!

I've been trying to figure out the correct way to use certain new baby related items such as the car seat, stroller, swing, and slings. One day I was trying on my sling to see how it felt and to boost my confidence in using it when the baby comes. After I tried it on, it was still hard to tell how it would feel with a little baby in it... but then I looked over and saw my poor little cat sleeping peacefully. I scooped her up and put her in the sling. She seemed concerned (as you can see by the look on her face) but comfy none the less!!! Poor Penny!

I've started to try to make some meals to freeze for after the baby is born. I learned from a Russian classmate while living in East Asia how to make a Russian soup called Borsch. I don't know how well it will do as far as nursing is concerned because it has garlic, a lot of onions, cabbage and every other gas producing veggie out there in it... but we'll see. Isn't is the most beautiful color? That's due to a beet. Maybe it's boring to you, but I thought it was a very pretty picture!

Here I am about to pop with only 3 more weeks left to go! (Which I now only have 2 more weeks!) Have I told you we've finally decided on a name? She is Kaylee Loree Dygert. We just like the sound of Kaylee. Loree is my middle name, my mom's middle name, and my Great Grandmother's middle name. She is probably over 6 pounds now. I had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago and they said she was about 5 1/2 pounds. She's still chubby - even her forearms are chubby! She's also still got a head of hair, they say. I can't wait to meet her! Life is FINALLY starting to slowly slow down and we are feeling more settled into our new place, so I think it's time for her to come, don't you? Plus, I can't imagine being much more uncomfortable most of the day. Oh to sleep on my back or stomach again!

We're back to America

That's right - as you all know by now- we're back to America safe and sound and have been for about 3 weeks now! Because we unexpectedly had to leave one week early at last minute, we didn't get a chance to update our blog. I thought I'd post a couple pictures of us in the Blue City and then share some of our pictures of us here in the States. Some of you mentioned that you really wanted us to keep updating our blog. Although it will be sporadic, I will try!

Here's John and I being cool getting ready to watch the new Chronicles of Narnia in 3-D in the Blue City!



Here is the sushi place we liked to go to every now and then. (Except I had to stick with cucumber and carrot sushi due to the pregnancy :(. Still pretty good though.) This was a bowl of rice that made all of John's dreams come true! "Normal man eat 2 bowl rice... you eat 4 bowl!" (Favorite quote from Korean waitress to John).



Can you read this sign? When we fly south to see the doctor for my contractions, we saw this from the taxi. It reads in huge letters, "Diarrhea Clinic". If any of you have ever traveled to this part of the world, you know this is a very necessary clinic!



Here we are in the El Paso airport right after we arrived. My oldest brother, Justin, ran to us and wrapped his arms around us. Man, we sure missed him, and it looks like he missed us too!!! He's one of our best friends too, so it has been a sweet reunion.



After spending a couple days in Las Cruces, we drove us to Farmington to spend time with Dana's family for a week and a half. We also got to visit the hospital there... twice! I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes and was told to go in. Everything was okay so they sent me home. A couple days later they were closer (2-3 minutes) and stronger and was told to go in again! They were not slowing down so they gave me some medicine to help. Now I can take it if I need it... but I'm just trying to really take it easy and drink a lot of water. I'm still having them everyday, but they are not putting me in labor, so I just need to be careful.

On a happier note, I did make it to my baby shower while in Farmington! My mom's good friends from my home church (also my friends too!) threw me a baby shower. It was the most beautiful and awesome baby shower I've ever seen!!! Here are the ladies that hosted the shower. (Left to right: Lonna, Kathie, Me, Cindy, my mom, Mary Lou, Susan, and Melissa).



Melissa and Mary Lou made me this cute barrette and hair bow holder. There was a pink and brown "Made in China" theme. See what I mean about the cuteness?



This is called a diaper cake. Not very appetizing! But so cute! It is in the shape of a cake and stuffed with rolled diapers. Everything in it is will be used by our little girl. Thank you Melissa, Kathie, and Lonna!

Below was the first gift I opened at the shower. It almost made me cry! The reason is because my Great Grandmother, Ma, made it for my baby. However... she passed away about 15 years ago. She gave it to my mom and said, "I want you to give this to your granddaughter someday." I got another sweater and some receiving blankets from her too.

I also got 2 "tummy time" quilts from my other Great Grandmommie that is 99. She's living in a nursing home and is legally blind, but that doesn't stop her from quilting! She did the tops and my mom finished them. So cute! (I don't have the picture here because it's blurry and I have a massive double chin!)

Here is a picture of me bragging to my best friend, Michelle, about the quilt my mom just started me. It's beautiful - she's almost done by now. I've gotten over my dislike of pink and chose pink and brown for the baby room. I'm excited about it.

Here's John at my parent's house starting to unload all the baby gifts. We feel so blessed by my family and friends for giving us these gifts and showing your love for us and Little Loree (still no first name, sorry!)

We then traveled back down to Las Cruces to start moving into the awesome home we're renting. We got to bring along my cat, Penny, that I got in the 5th grade! She's actually very healthy for an old lady. She's lost some weight and is getting that frail old lady body and has recently started to loose her hearing, but that just makes things funny! She did pretty good with the 6 hour drive and stayed at my feet. It took a little while to get used to our house... as you can see in the pictures. This was her favorite spot in the house (she still likes it). Our bathroom curled up on the ledge above the toilet. Weirdo!

We tried to allure her with her pillow and bed, even our bed, but she found her second favorite spot in the house. The laundry basket on top of the dryer. She especially likes it when I'm doing laundry. Again... weirdo! She's now eating really good and follows John all over the house. She's coming out of her shell. I think she really likes it here and it's fun to have her around. Thanks, mom and dad, for babysitting her for the last 7 years while I was in college and overseas! No hard feelings, right?

We finally went to Walmart the other day. I wasn't feeling too good and was having a bunch of contractions, so I sat in one of those little motorized wheelchairs!!! It was embarrassing, but fun at the same time. I didn't get any weird looks like I was afraid of. One elderly man said I needed to go faster - he says when he uses them he goes fast. So funny. We pretty much bought Walmart out because we had nothing. We were there for 3 1/2 hours! Here's John's basket and me in my chair waiting for checkout. Ha ha!

Here's what I look like today. I'm 7 months pregnant, just started my 8th month actually. Do you think I have any more room for 2 more months? I went to the doctor today and had an ultrasound to see if all of these contractions were making me closer to labor then I should be. I was fine and the baby was adorable! She's in the correct upside down position. She weighs 4lbs 10 oz, which is right on schedule. The cute thing is that she has super chubby cheeks!!! She also has some hair on her head already! We can't wait to meet her, but are willing to wait 2 more months so she can grow and be strong when she gets here.

Merry Belated Christmas!

I don't know about you, but we are partied out! We had a couple Christmas parties this year. We're still waiting to hear from the Medical College for our Christmas/New Year's party they want to throw the foreign teachers. It's somewhat of a relief that the hustle and bustle of Christmas is over, but it's also a little sad because that means our time here in this city is running out with less than a month left.

It seemed that there were a lot more Christmas trees out and about the city this year. Some of the trees were pretty and reminded us of home. Others (like the one here that was at our airport) made us laugh and want to give them lessons on "How to decorate a Christmas Tree 101"!

For one of our Christmas parties, Dana made Monkey Bread. It was her first time making it without mom. Although the cinnamon and sugar one burned a bit on the bottom (stupid toaster oven) it was still delicious.

The butter Monkey bread was even better in our opinion because we had way too many sweets to eat that day.

We got together with some friends and had quite the interesting potluck Christmas menu. In addition to the 2 loaves of monkey bread, we had whole wheat rolls and buttermilk cheese bread. We were "carbed" out! We also had German Green Bean Dumpling Soup, Shawarmas, Sushi, Enchiladas and Mac and Cheese! Quite an ethnic menu, don't you think?

Other than a picture of Santa on most windows in the city and the occasional Christmas tree, they don't really celebrate Christmas like we do in the States. A lot of people get together on Christmas Eve and get wicked drunk. A better tradition they have is they buy apples to give to each other that represent peace because the word for peace in this language is very similar to the word apple. We got a lot of apples this year. Here are a couple guys selling them nicely wrapped on the street on Christmas Eve. We saw many people selling them on that day on our way to go get some hot Kimchee Soup to help clear our sinuses (we're both fighting colds).

We did a lot of holiday cooking this year. Dana got together with her friend and they succeeded in making taffy! It's such a difficult candy to make, but it was nice to carry on this family tradition all the way in Asia!

For some reason it was a darker color than usual, but tasted the same. Yum!

We had a pleasant last Christmas here and hope you had a good one too. We hope you have a Happy New Year!

On to baby news... We flew to the capital yesterday for Dana's 6 month checkup. She had to take a test to see if she had gestational diabetes and check her blood to check for anemia. Both tests were negative, so that's good! The baby is growing well and kicking like crazy! Often you can see her belly move from several feet away! Other than the normal "uncomfortableness" of pregnancy, Dana is feeling and doing good. She'll enter her 3rd trimester in 2 weeks! So, this is her most recent picture at the end of her 6th month.

It's a....

Greetings from East Asia! We hope this blog finds you well! We have a lot of exciting and fun pictures and stories to share with you! Well, firstly most of you probably already know that we are having a baby girl! According to the most recent Ultrasound the baby is due April 8. We have been incredibly blessed with having a home completely furnished and ready for us when we return to the states on January 25, 2011. (Thanks Peyton for all your help!) Most of you may have seen our video posted on YouTube, but if not check it out with the posted video. To make a long story short we had the Doctor tell our friend what the gender of our baby was before we knew and she made cupcakes with either blue or pink frosting. We then had a big party and we split the cupcake in half to find out! (Talk about a rush!) We have attached some pictures below. Enjoy!

A picture of Dana at the end of her 5th month!

This is quite the interesting picture of John trying to ride on the back of his friends bike. John's behind is a little too big and can't quite get all the way on, so he does this really cool balancing trick and manages to stay on! This mode of transportation is actually quite common to see around our city!

John got asked to play in another basketball tournament which he gladly accepted. Their team lost the first two games, but to make it sound a little better the teams they lost to played in the championship game. They also had a three-point competition which John tied for second place!

John with some of his teammates.

Happy Thanksgiving!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and enjoyed lots and lots of delicious food. Every year it's always a mystery on how to do a turkey and this year we thought maybe its just not going to be possible. Well, we actually found one at a local import store here. We initially thought it was too big for our oven but we measured it out and it fit! So we had a friend/amazing cook, bake it and it came out perfect! Dana made her sister-n-law, Sara's, sweet potato casserole again by popular request. She also made her granny's pecan pie for the first time, which was delicious! (We used lots of imported food for that recipe, but well worth it!) We had a wonderful time of football, games and just good fellowship!

John got the honor of carving the turkey, and Dana got to help too!

Fall Has Come and Gone!

We hope that by now you have heard our good news of Dana being pregnant! Sorry it's been a while since we've written on our blog. Below is Dana's end of her 1st month picture and her end of her 4th month picture. (The 2nd and 3rd month pictures really weren't that exciting!) I definitely have a bump now! I'm really glad to be well out of my 1st trimester because eating was more like a chore or discipline. I also had hardly any energy. Because of these 2 things, I lost a bit of weight. Now my appetite and energy has improved and, although I'm still struggling to gain the 1 pound a week, I've been able to put on a little weight. I have gone to the capital a couple times to see the doctor - who, by the way, studied at UNM! Small world. He said it was okay if I continue to ride my bike around the city, which I've been doing very slowly. It sure does freak out my local friends though!

The baby is the size of a large mango - or about 5-6 inches from crown to rump. He/she is becoming more and more proportional and already has fingerprints and eyelashes! The baby can hiccup (which I can't feel yet) and yawn! One of the most exciting things is I've begun to feel a little movement! I can't wait until the kicks get stronger. It is so amazing that there is a sweet little life being created in there! We are going to the doctor again the end of November - right before Thanksgiving, so we should find out if we're having a boy or girl! We'll keep you posted.

We got to go to a nearby desert a few weeks ago with some friends and got to ride camels! They are actually quite cute animals! Dana got the green light from her doctor to ride them as long as she was careful. She held on real tight and had a blast! We rode up to the sight by a chairlift.

See the guy in the front with the funny yellow boots? These are actually called Sandy Slippers because they keep the sand out of your shoes. They were really goofy looking, but very practical. We were cheap and didn't get them, so we're still finding sand in our shoes! They should rent these out at white sands!

We've never been to a desert like this before with dunes and camels. Dana had the Aladdin song "Arabian Night" in her head the whole time. It was a really fun day trip.

Yeah for camels! (Dana can jump higher but didn't want to jiggle the baby too much!)

Fall is here, actually we think it's over by now. The temperature is well into freezing at night with highs in the 40's. We actually had some light snow this week too! This has to be the street cleaner's busiest time of year with the leaves falling all over the city. They just sweep them up in big piles along with trash and whatever else. The piles all over the city look so inviting to jump in, but then you remember how much sick trash is mixed in and the temptation is quickly gone! Another good thing is that the leaky sewage is starting to freeze, so it's beginning to smell a little better in the city!

John has gotten to do a lot of "out-doorsy" things the last couple of months since the weather has been so nice. He went camping with a friend overnight in the mountains nearby. He's been coaching a group of locals in Baseball. It's cute, they call him coach and everything! They are pretty good. He got to go on a hike at a nearby mountain with these friends a couple weekends back. It was right when the leaves where changing, so it was beautiful. The next 4 pictures are from that hike.

You can find cotton candy being made at the local squares (kind of like a park) in this country. This old lady was just working away getting this cotton candy made for us. She's pretty cute, right? Love the camo hat!

The mid-autumn festival was over a month ago here, but I know autumn is just starting to settle in at the States. At the square near our house, Dana walked around and enjoyed the fall decorations. This is a traditional boot with fall flowers all around. Pretty.

Like our costumes? This actually isn't for Halloween, but a murder mystery birthday party we had. John was Black Knight and Dana was Nurse Ratchet. It was the first time we ever played a murder mystery and it was pretty fun. We were not convicted, and Dana was the only person to guess correctly who the "murderer" was! (Well, he did put green food coloring in my drink!) We hope that you have a wonderful fall!