John gives the best presents.

Everyone in the House is Cold but Me.

I just melt when the brothers snuggle.

We're Going Green

The Cucumber Crush looks really light now compared to the Desert Cactus.

Here Comes Treble

The Ste. Gen Band Boosters and students threw John a shower last night in the band room. He was so surprised, it was awesome. He got a lot of great gifts for the baby including a hand sewn quilt with musical sayings on it, a little jacket that says "Drummer Girl" and a shirt that says, "My Daddy is the director of the band." There were a lot of people there, including so many students. They really like John down there. Who can blame them?

Second Shower

There was a second shower thrown for me and the baby, and man did we make out with some good stuff. I was and still am overwhelmed by everyone's generousity. It was a very memorable day.

These are two pictures Amanda supplied. Both these gifts are from Aunt Linda. The one on the left is a hand crocheted baby blanket made out of the softest white yarn, and the picture on the right is of the bouncing baby holder thing.

My face is flush because I was surrounded by gifts and children, and friends, and it was a warm day for November, and I'm pregnant which means I am a million degrees at all times. There are times when John is more cold than I, and that, my friends, is SO strange. I'm the one who is cold in the middle of summer. He's the one turning on the air conditioner in the car in February. I think sometimes he's wondered what I've done with his wife.

This is the crib on the left, and this is the changing table on the right that we purchased. John won't let me put the crib together until we have the painting finished, and the changing table is on order, should arrive in one to two weeks.

The progression is going much slower than anticipated today. Guess it's easy to talk about how much we'll get finished, when there's really very little "we" doing anything, and more of "him" doing everything.

O'well, I'm off to make turkey tetrazini for dinner while he continues to paint.

Sequence of Events

Well, I almost blew the whole NaBloPoMo thing yesterday. We ran all around and then watched the Mizzou game, and I didn't think once about blogging until we got home last night. Our clock said 12:00p.m., the clock on the computer said 12:02 p.m., but luckily for me blogger is behind and I got one crappy line in at 11:59 p.m. and that's really all I needed. I would have been bummed to ruin it, especially after I asked Becky to blog for me on Thursday. (thanks, Beck.) So, after watching that much anticipated and highly exciting game last night, John can finally wrap his head around something else, so we are working big time today on the nursery. And, since my blogging yesterday was crappy, I hope to give you many updates throughout the day of some of our progress.

The first picture is of the baby's room; clean slate. The next picture is of the extremely light colored green John is painting the diagonal part of the ceiling. Next up is the purchasing and putting together of the baby's crib and changing table, and more painting. John is doing all the painting since I'm not supposed to smell the fumes, but it's weird to not be working together. We do everything together, sometimes much to his chagrin.

Go Mizzou!

Our Kid Is Going to Hate Us.

Look what John found in his closet at his parent's house.

happy thanksgiving! i'm stuffed, how bout ya'll?

This makes me laugh.

New Addition

I had another ultrasound yesterday. This is a picture of her face. You can (hopefully) see her eyes, nose, and mouth, and maybe her shoulder. Pretty exciting. She is still a girl, she weighs 5 pounds 1 ounce, which puts her at roughly 7.5 to 8 pounds when she is born. She is head down, which is good. I was worried about that, since I feel a lot of side to side motion, but I guess that's just her butt and feet.

I will have to admit to being pretty excited after seeing her yesterday. It's not that I forget she's in there, but it just makes it so much more real to actually see her. And even though I am relieved that her head is down, that can only mean one thing; she has to come out in that direction, and that makes me nervous.

We're having a baby.

OMG

This pregnant lady means business in her new kitchen.

Final Kitchen Update

We are pretty much finished with the kitchen, for now. There is still one more door to hang, plus two drawer fronts, the toe kick around the bottom of the floor cabinets, and that pesky spot above the corner cabinet. We have successfully installed everything else, and that feels pretty darn good. It has taken us longer than we expected and to be honest, it was harder than expected, much harder than refinishing the hardwood floors, but it is very pleasing to see the way it looks now.

In other good news, we made $175 on craigslist today. Woo Hoo!

Now...we can start working on the nursery.

Foliage

It's amazing what I can find when I look at other's blogs. Not only did I find that cool survey thing that I posted yesterday, I also found this photo album maker. I feel like a little thief, and I love it. Since I know nothing about writing html, I'll take some help making my blog more interesting anywhere I can.

This is a collage of pictures I took last week while deer hunting. It wasn't a particularly successful deer hunting session, given that I didn't see any deer whatsoever. I took a nap, had a miserably hard time sitting still, and took some nice pictures. Plus, I was using my cell phone as my clock, and what do you know, at 9:30 a.m. John's dad called. Guess I should have set it on vibrate. No wonder I didn't see any deer. Plus, I felt like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in my overalls, (Becky did say I looked 'puffy')and my legs were so sad to be carrying around my baby, my back pack and John's gun. Needless to say, I'm not deer hunting this weekend. I would say "there's always next year" but I guess not, since we'll have a 10 month old by then.

There were all these saplings in the woods, and each one looked so similar, but so unique at the same time. Some of the pictures are more blurry than I would have liked, but the idea is good, I think. I saw the headline from the St. Louis Post Dispatch this morning saying they thought this was one of the more vibrant years for fall colors, and I would have to agree with them.

Look what I found

Opinion Polls & Market Research

This should make Household Debates much more interactive. Cool. Now I have to pick a fight tonight. ;) Stay tuned.

Major Progress

This modern day wife couldn't be more impressed with her husband's dishwasher installing skills.

My Humps

This is week 33 for me, less than 2 months to go! The baby is kicking around a lot now, while I'm writing this in fact. I'm slower to get up and down, in and out of chairs and cars, and bed. Sometimes when I get up in the morning I have to take a step or two at 2/3 or 3/4 standing position because it doesn't feel like my pelvic bones can support my belly. I have new little brown spots on my face, and I'm trying hard to not get stretch marks or varicose veins. Pregnancy is aging me. I have also officially covered up my grey hairs. Last year this time I felt like my grey hairs were a rite of passage, and made me seem somehow more wise, or at least look more wise. Now I feel like my whole body is going to pot, and at least I can fix one aspect by dyeing my hair.

A couple belly pictures ago I felt bigger than I looked. Now I feel the opposite. I mean, look at that belly! It's out of control. Huge. Ug.

Peanut Mod

This is the baby bedding we picked out. It's green with elephants on it.

Baby Shower #1

The girls at work threw me a shower last Monday. They are all so nice. I received lots of great stuff, clothes, lots of little stuff that you never think about needing, and two handmade baby quilts. I felt so blessed.

Just in Case You Were Wondering...

Yes, I did go deer hunting, no I didn't get get one, and no, it's not that uncommon.

Bored? Click here.

See! I'm not the only one who likes to eat bone marrow.

Still Deciding?

Click here to take a survey to help you place your vote one year from now.

Last month I took a photography class through Forest Park Community College. It was a 4 week class about Photographing Children. I was actually looking for a Photshop class, but came across this one in the book and thought it might appeal to me. It was a great class, but I was the only one in the class without a child of my own to photograph, so I borrow other's kids. One of the things I did outside of class, was send the same pictures to 4 different developing stores to see which one developed the best pictures. I found Snapfish and Costco without the white border to be the best. I also think I like glossy finish as opposed to matte. I thought Walgreens was the worst. The teacher gave us the name of a couple professional developing places in town, and I'm anxious to take these pictures there also.

7 Years

Today marks the 7th anniversary of the day my mom left us. She was really good at being feminine, and tried very hard to help me be a little less tom boy and a little more girly. I know she would be excited about the prospect of me having a girl. I can still remember the outfit Abbey came home in. It was pink and ruffly and lacey and if that dress didn't scream "mom picked this out" I don't know what dress would. She bought Hannah a similar dress when she was about 1. So, I bought this dress in honor of my mom, or rather, as a gift from my mom to the baby. It's red velvet, and this is the dress she will wear when she comes home from the hospital. It's probably not as fancy as mom would like, but I'm doing my best over here.

Happy Fall

Bundle

It's amazing how quickly a picture like this turns into a picture



like this. This is Sara and Chuck's second child, Alaric Sebastian. He was actually born on Oct 16th, which was a while back. He's so cute and tiny. This first night after I saw him and held him I went home and had a thousand little dreams about him.

John and I had our all day long Lamaze class today. So much to think about and prepare. Can one ever fully be ready for such a big change?

Countertop

Today our good friends, Sue and Russ came over to help us install the countertop. It took longer than expected, as everything with this project has, but we did get it put together and in place before the end of the evening, while watching some great Mizzou football at the same time. Soon, and I mean very soon, we will attach the countertop to the cabinets, and finish installing the dishwasher, and hook up the disposal, and put the faucet in. Our dirty dish pile is ever growing, and I refuse to do any more dishes in the bathroom.

Kitchen Update

Last weekend John did all the electrical wiring for the kitchen. This weekend we install the countertops. Very exciting.

Gripe Water

I'm starting another year of NaBloPoMo with a bang today.

Here's a list of things people with kids should never say to people without kids:

1. "I can't wait for you to have kids so we'll have something to talk about together again."

2. When you tell them you're pregnant: "I noticed you've gained some weight."

3. When you vent to them: "Before you have kids problems like yours seem really important don't they?"

4. "I don't even recognize my vagina anymore."

5. When you ask them what it's like in that particular stage of their child's life: "You'll see."