CONGRATS...

I have to write a quick little blog because I am so excited!  My BFF (first) and sister-in-law (second), Katie, got engaged tonight!  I am so excited and happy for her!  We love her FIANCE Joe and are so excited to have him around forever now :)  On that note, I am adding a couple pics one of me and Katie and one of the happy couple! 

Updates from Summer 2009...

Since becoming a mommy I have found I have a lot less time on my hands... weird! So, I haven't written much this summer, but I have taken LOTS of pictures. I thought I'd use some of those pictures to do some updates as this VERY fast summer comes to a close, which in itself is very sad.

In July, Trey got a belly button! That was fun and a milestone in a small person's life.

Steve and I went out for the first time by ourselves and left my parents and grandma home with Trey. It was for Jim and Amanda Scarlett's wedding downtown at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. We weren't worried about his babysitter's but we were sad to be leaving him alone- we checked in probably 3 or 4 times with them (and that was just during the reception, because we went home in between the ceremony and reception :) )


We took Trey to Imlay City for the first time for the Blueberry Festival and my 10 year high school graduation. He seemed really thrilled about it. My mom was even out of town for the night of the reunion, so Trey stayed home with just grandpa and great-grandma helped a little too!


A couple pictures from the reunion. It sure was fun catching up with old friends- I only wish more people had come to the reunion!



And, Trey's first trip to grandma and grandpa's church, and the church I grew up in. He was a big hit! We even had to stand up and show him off in the middle of the service. :)


We took our first vacation as parents in August.  We went up to Houghton in the UP for Steve's fraternity's 35th anniversary.  We also took our time coming home and did some geo-caching and went to Pictured Rocks and took a boat tour.  I had never seen them before, so it was pretty cool.  Trey really just liked the motion of the boat.  It put him right to sleep.  He was so good in the car on the 10-hour trip and really good the whole weekend.  We took him everywhere with us and everyone loved him- obviously!
Crossing the Mackinac Bridge- Trey's first time, not in utero.  I thought it was pretty neat we got the whole family in the pic with the bridge! :)
At the Sig Tau house for the family bonfire- Trey wasn't the only kid there, but he was the youngest at 6 weeks. :)
We got Trey his first Michigan Tech sweatshirt at the campus bookstore.  This is us on our first geo-caching trip with Trey- he liked it until he started to get hungry.  There were some very cool spots to geo-cache.  This one was in a very old cemetary outside of Houghton.  I think old cemetaries with VERY old headstones are neat, so we really enjoyed creeping around this one trying to be discreet while searching for our "treasure". 
This is a gorgeous sunset over Lake Superior we were able to catch at a scenic overlook.  We were hoping to catch it while in Munising at a waterfall geo-cache, but didn't quite make it in time.
On our Pictured Rocks boat tour and Trey's first time in the Baby Bjorn.  He wasn't real sure how he felt about it.  We had a great time touring the Pictured Rocks though.  I thought it was so neat!  It was one of those touristy things I've always wanted to do, but we never stop in our trips to get to Houghton or to the cabin.

August 18 was my birthday, which we kept pretty low key.  A small dinner with some friends and fam at Bar Louie.  Sure had a great time though!  

Here's a cute pic of my best birthday present, my little Trey B!

On September 1st, Steve and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary.  We went out for an AMAZING dinner at the Bistro Bella Vita, our favorite restaurant and where we got engaged almost three years ago.  I sure do love my hubby! :)

And finally a few pics from Labor Day 2009.  It was a fun weekend in Elk Rapids on Steve's parents boat- crowded and chaotic, but super fun.  For most of the time, we had 8 adults and 3 kids on the boat, but we always make it work.  We had fun in the sun and great trips out to Grand Traverse Bay.  The water was FREEZING, but we went in anyway.  What a great way to end a great summer!

Just a few Trey pics...

This is his special blanket from Nana and Papa- cousins Claudia and Jacob each have one as well.

He's REALLY good at sleeping... most of the time.

His first run in the bouncy seat... he looks so much different in it now :(

Trey's first trip to the Dry Dock- everyone at Butch's LOVED him!

Not too many words, mommy doesn't have that kind of time...  just some cute pics of our rapidly growing little man :)

Richard Stephen Boss III...

On June 26, 2009 we were blessed with the birth of our little baby boy!!!  Yes, after all the guessing games and wondering we have a BOY!  I can't hardly believe it.  I also can't hardly believe he is finally here.  For those who haven't heard, Baby Boss' name has a couple of different parts to it.  Officially and legally he is Richard Stephen Boss III, but to us he is Trey (because he's the third).  So Baby Trey arrived at exactly 2pm on June 26.  He was 8lbs 4oz and 22in long.  He had a rough start to life.  I was pushing for almost 4 hours (4 VERY long hours...), so he was stuck in the birth canal for a long time.  He was head down, but flipped posterior (which is deliverable, but makes it very difficult), which only added to his troubles.  He passed meconium while still inside, so his lungs had to be suctioned out immediately.  His heart rate kept dropping, so there was fear (mostly by me) of a C-section.  But, after all of that he was delivered.  He was completely blue and was passed immediately to the neo-natal team, who got him breathing and moving.  We were scared, but so glad they were there in the room and so thankful to the wonderful doctors and nurses at Spectrum.  Everyone was phenomenal!!!  Finally, after about an hour I was able to hold my little peanut!  SO HAPPY!  But, alas, he was then whisked away to the NIM (neo-natal intermediate) for his first day and night.  We were exhausted, but elated, but also worried and sad our little man wasn't with us.  We did visit him a couple times that first night, and after a visit the next morning from the pediatrician, our sweet little baby was delivered to our door! :)  What a great special delivery!  So, after a rough start and first day, little Trey was and is doing fine.  He is two weeks old today and I can hardly believe it.  We are adjusting well to life with our little man.  Steve is amazing with him, as I knew he would be.  It is SO awesome to see him as a dad.  And he LOVES his little boy.  Thank you to everyone for the thoughts and prayers and visits, we really appreciate it.  And, enjoy the pics of Trey Boss- :)  He's a keeper!

Preggo Pics...

Check out the pictures we had taken last week.  Dusty was our wedding photographer and he does such an AMAZING job!  We love his pics and he's great in general!  If anyone is looking for a great wedding photographer or any other kind of photographer, he's your guy!  Check out his site!

http://www.dustybrown.org

Our pics are under "client previews" and the password is "bump"

Enjoy!  We did! :)

Prepping for Baby Boss...

We are now within the 4 week mark awaiting Baby Boss' arrival.  In light of this, I thought I would add some pics of the preparations we've been doing here on Belfast for the baby.  These are pics of the nursery- which I can't wait to start using.  It was originally the blue that is already there, but the wall covered in primer in the pic below was a darker blue.  We added some really fun embellishments of our own- stripes and polka dots.  It's so fun in there.  One of the truly fun paint jobs you can do.  Trust me, dots would look silly in my living room!  We also tore up the carpet and got the hardwood floors underneath re-finished.  They look amazing!  The room looks a little empty in these pictures, but I assure you it is empty no longer.  Babies need lots of stuff and we've got it!  All I need now is for my dresser to finally ship, in the right color, so we can get it put together and I can finally put all my little things away in it!  I can't wait until we are finally finished in there.  We're almost to the end, just finishing touches left.  So... if Baby Boss does decide to join us earlier than later, we'll still be ready.  The countdown is on, 25 days...  Oh yeah, and enjoy the 35 weeks picture.  Now everyone can see the BIG baby bump!

Hmmm... I'm also not real sure what happened with the colors and underlines at the top there, but I don't know how to fix it!  Sorry!

Baby Pool...

We have started an online baby pool to organize everyone's predictions about when the baby is going to come and whether or not Bebe Boss is a boy or girl.  Enter the web address below into your browser bar and it will take you right to our game to make your prediction!  Have Fun! Only 6 1/2 more weeks... :)

http://expectnet.com/game.php

- game name (put in top left corner): bebeboss0609

The things I miss the most...

In honor of being over halfway through my pregnancy, which although it seems long, the end is quite in sight... it's actually going to be here before we know it.  Crazy!!!  Anyway, in honor of that, I thought I'd make a list of all the things I miss the most.

1. A glass of wine... okay, fine, a bottle of wine!

2. Brie and Feta and Gorgonzola... oh, the cheeses I'll eat.

3. Carpaccio from Butch's (my restaurant).  It's finally back on the menu, and now I can't eat it!

4. White russians, I've had a huge craving for them lately.

5. Seared tuna... mmmm...

6. Salmon... mmmm...

7. Man I'd love a beer right now.  Going to the beer festival with Steve last month wasn't very much fun, so many beers and no tastes in sight.

8. Being able to bend over at the waist.

9. Not having heartburn... I really miss the fact that I used to not have heartburn.

10. Ummm... a fairly normal sized bra... at least the size they still sell in a normal store.

11. My jeans that closed without a hairtie around the button.

12. Pants without elastic waists, although they are comfortable, even if they do go up to my boobs.

13. Mmmm... did I mention wine???

14. A cold ham and cheese sandwich.

15. Sausage and bacon... breakfast just isn't the same.

16. Being able to sleep at night without someone kicking me.

17. Coffee.  I didn't drink that much to begin with, but I miss having it.

That's enough for now.  I am more than happy to give all my favorite things up.  It's a short amount of time and a little amount of sacrifice for the outcome.  I'm more than excited for what is to come, but I will say I can't wait to be able to have all the things on this list again.  Especially numbers 1 and 13. :)

FYI...

Just an fyi, we did not and are not finding out what the baby is.  We are all about the surprise.  Even if we had wanted to know, little Boss wasn't cooperating anyway.  "It" kept its legs crossed the entire time, so they couldn't tell anyway.  

Everyone has their own opinions.  Claudia thinks its going to be a little girl named Kyla (hmmm???), Jake says a boy baby, my mom won't say anything but "she", and just about everyone else I know is convinced it's a boy.  Either way, as long as there are ten fingers and toes and it's healthy I'm good... although it is a lot more fun shopping for girl clothes... but, I already have all boys (Steve and Ripley) what's one more?! :)  

A mover and a shaker...

Hello mom, hello dad...  today we saw our little peanut.  It was amazing.  And what a wiggle worm!  That baby did not stop moving the entire time "it" was getting its picture taken.  It was really quite something and I loved every second of it.  I wish I could see pictures every day!  Soon enough, I guess.  Here is a sampling of some of the shots of our ultra-sound.  Enjoy!

Cabin in the woods...

From Dec 27-Jan 2 we were in the U.P. at Steve's family's cabin.  We had 10 adults, 2 kids, and 1 dog.  One dog who thoroughly enjoyed the cabin rules.  The fact that he didn't really have any restrictions on where he could lay.  So, he slept in my bed, Steve's bed, the couch, Katie's bed, Steve's parent's bed... and that is only when he wasn't laying on his blanket in front of the fire.  

Claudia's coat lost its zipper when we got to the cabin, so taping her into her coat was the best option.  When the duct tape ran out we moved on to the masking tape.  She loved it!  Jake also loved getting to take a bath inside in front of the fire.  We were having trouble getting the sauna hot enough for the kids to go out there for their baths.  Ripley loved it in the U.P.- he was able to run around and explore a lot.  As long as he didn't get stuck in the deep snow.  The snowmobiling was great while we were up there.  There was SO much snow and it fell almost everyday.  

We obviously spent New Year's Eve at the cabin- oh so exciting.  Towards the end it was all we could do to stay up until 12:00!  I know, REAL entertaining.  I played the bartender (what else is a preggers to do?).  We may not have running water or electricity, but we had pomegranate martinis and mojitos!  We did finally make it to midnight and tried to hear the ball dropping announcement on the (battery powered) radio.  We missed the drop, but celebrated it all the same.  

Some of the other pictures are cooking breakfast- everyone loves chocolate chip pancakes, and collecting our water from the Salmon Trout Creek.  It is quite the process for the guys, but it works.  There is a picture of our group outside the cabin before our snowmobile ride out to the cars- we are missing Katie, Carley, Claudia, and Jacob who had to leave early to get Katie back to work.  Everyone else- Steve's cousin Kim and husband Kirk, my parents, Steve's parents, the two of us, and Ripley all stayed a couple extra days.  And that last pic- yeah, Ripley did NOT like his snowmobile ride in or out, but at least on the way out he didn't try and jump off 3 times!

It was a great trip, once again, but it is always nice to return to our toilet that flushes and isn't outside (trust me, when it is 0 degrees and you are pregnant and have to pee in the middle of the night...) refrigerator, ice cubes, dishwasher, shower, king size bed, cell service... well, it's just good to be home too!