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! 

Christmas still lives...

There are a few pictures from opening presents at our house and our Christmas tree.  I thought our tree was particularly good this year.  We aren't real particular when choosing the tree, so it always amazes us when it turns out to be a really good tree.  We do love our Fraser Firs though- the needles last forever!  And they don't get all over the floor, which I love.  My cute shirt I got from Steve says, "with bump, not plump".  Everyone might as well know that I am not really just overeating or developing a belly from all the delicious holiday treats.  And Ripley certainly loved having the reindeer antlers put on him.  Can't you see how excited he is by the picture???  Steve got a new coat.  And the only other ones, besides the dogs, who got into any of our Christmas pictures were our most adorable niece and nephew, Claudia and Jacob.  Claudia was happy with her new American Girl doll and matching dress Nana got in Chicago when Katie ran the marathon and Jake was VERY excited by the "vroom-vrooms" we got him.  He barely put them down!  And, we also have the traditional Christmas Eve in front of the tree picture we always take after church at my parent's house.  My mom must have ended up with all the ones with other family members in them on her camera.  Again, all I have are us and dogs!  All in all, Christmas was a whirlwind.  We traveled all over the state, but hit all the parties, opened all the presents, went to all the church services, and ate all the food we possibly could.  It was great fun and I was left with that very sad feeling after it was all over.  Which, consequently, is part of the reason our tree usually stays up til mid-January (okay, not quite that long, but close).  I hate when Christmas is over and can't ever wait til the next year.  We are obviously very excited for next year because we will get to celebrate with our new little peanut.  It will be exciting and new and especially strange in my family.  It has been a long time (like 27 years) since there was a baby at Christmas.  And it will be fun to see the baby IN all the things we got for Christmas this year.  And to use the FABULOUS new diaper bag I got for Christmas from Nana and Papa Boss!  I didn't really think I was going to get it, so I was very excited!  Thanks be to all for making our Christmas this year so fun and memorable.  And to all... a good night.