The Nesting Instinct

We sure have gotten busy this past month or so. In my second trimester, RT and I had started a list of things that we wanted to get done around the house before the baby was born. During the holidays, we looked at that list and realized we had NONE of it done!
We knew January was going to be a busy month, but we really had no choice. All of a sudden our weekends were filled up, but in between those times, we managed to get quite a few things accomplished:

• Scrape the popcorn off the hallway ceiling downstairs


• Paint the ceiling


• Sell the Mini Cooper


• Buy a bigger car


• Install a new front door


• Paint the front door


• Clean out the downstairs bedrooms


• Have a garage sale


• Change out light fixtures


• Change out light switches & plates


• Paint the nursery


• Install new curtains in the living room


• Build a shed in the backyard (work in progress)

To do:

• Stain and glue postcaps on stairway


• Replace and install new door to the garage


• Paint kitchen cabinets and change all hardware


• HAVE A BABY!!!

Book Club Revisited

Last year, I started a book club with a friend. It started out really great with quite a few gals--in fact it seemed like there may be too many. After the first couple of meetings, things fizzled out and some started dropping out. I really enjoyed the club and the gals in it, but things in my life were just too hectic at that time. I went to Florida for a month, got pregnant, and just had too many things on my plate. I stopped going, even though I was keeping up with the reading, and finally just lost touch on it all.

One day at work, my boss and I started chatting about books and she suggested we start a book club. Since I still wanted to be involved in a book club, I was all for it! We invited all the other girls in the office to join, and after a few weeks, it was down to Wende, Kaila, and me.

We met for the first time at our house last week. I chose the book, The Help. We had such a good time! We all agreed that we wanted to read books that were more on the "lighter side" but we ended up having some pretty deep discussions about a lot of serious issues that night! So, it looks like a new club has been born!

Now, with the upcoming birth of our baby, I hope life doesn't "get in the way" and I can commit to this club. It feels good to have some female companionship again!

Yikes!

August 31, 2009 and February 9, 2010

The countdown is definitely beginning. The other day at the gym, a lady looks at my trainer and me and says, "You're definitely slowing down, but you're form still looks good." As the pressure in my pelvis increases, it is harder to walk longer distances. Overall, I feel pretty good. It is getting more difficult to eat; as soon as I eat something it feels like it has no where to go, so I haven't been eating so much. The baby seems to be moving around a lot, but she's supposed to be less active soon with less room to be squirrely. Our doula says to mentally change our due date to March 25 rather than March 11, that way if she's "early" we'll be pleasantly surprised rather than frustrated if she's past the 11th. I think that's a great perspective to take. It alleviates some pressure because we're feeling the time crunch with so many things to still take care of.

An Addition to the VW Family

Well, the logical choice after we sold the Cooper was to get something practical for our "growing family". Now, you could take this two ways. First of all, the obvious--with the baby coming a 4-door car with lots of trunk space is a must-have. Or, to add to our VW fleet--we've got the '66
VW single cab, the '71 VW bus, and now our VW Jetta!

Since we were in Fresno for the two baby showers this past weekend, we thought it would be ideal to buy a car while there and return the one we were borrowing from my parents. How convenient and ideal would that be? After much research and debate, we looked at a couple cars after the first baby shower and did some test driving. We were really sold on one, but thought we should sleep on it, do MORE research, and come back with a strategy and a firm price.

As RT dropped me off to the second shower, he went back for negotiations. I was enjoying the baby shower and dreaded going back to the dealer for negotiating, haggling over a few dollars, and paperwork!

I called RT to come pick me up when the shower was finished. He and my hostesses loaded up the shower gifts. I walked out to the parking lot, and to my surprise and delight, there she was! RT did a great job with sticking to his guns and getting a fantastic deal. One more major thing off of our checklist.

She drives like a dream, and there is so much room, it's amazing to us after all these years with a smaller car! BONUS: The seats have a pneumatic pump feature so I can raise the seat up so I can actually see over the dashboard! What a concept!

Cookie Craze

I have two baby showers coming up, and I thought I'd make something special for my guests. I know my hostesses are already providing favors, but I wanted to try my hand at decorating cookies anyway.

I figured I needed about 60 cookies...boy, did I not know what I got myself into. I was sick and tired of onesies and buggies after all that. It really is time-consuming, tedious, and precise! My sister-in-law started a sugar cookie business. She makes some really intricate designs. I don't know how she can do it. Kudos to her!

All in all, I thought they came out pretty decent and tasted pretty sharp, too. I used a recipe from the maven Martha Stewart (the secret ingredient is lemon, which makes everything taste so much better!).

After all the baking and icing, I had to stuff the bags and do all the handcrafting. It's not so bad when you do it in batches. What else does an 8 month-old pregnant gal have better to do?

Round Two of Showers

I was very honored to have two other special friends offer to host a baby shower for me. Marta and Christine wanted to host one for me, and we decided to do one that focused on the staff at my former elementary school where I taught, Ann Leavenworth Elementary. They were so kind in that they gave me a choice when to have this shower and instead of making two trips to Fresno, we decided to do the shower the next day!
I think I was more excited to be catching up with old friends and seeing my former colleagues than actually attending the shower, besides I really hate all that attention especially when you're opening gifts and everyone's staring at you!!!
I had such a good time. The decorations were a beach theme...very clever and so cute!
I was so touched to have Marta and Christine do this for me, and to have so many friends join in on this special day. Thank you to a great bunch of ladies! These students whose lives you touch everyday are so lucky to have you!

It's Raining Baby Clothes!

My good friend, Kristen, offered to throw a baby shower for me. I was lucky enough to have so many friends and my sister help out--my friend, Elaine, Kathy, and sister Naomi. The really special part about this shower was that it was held at the same location as our wedding reception--at Kristen's parents' house, a truly beautiful and breathtaking location!

It was a very special time with family and close friends surrounding me and this little bundle of joy. Everything looked so elegant, classy, and beautiful. The brunch was delicious and cake and strawberries were yummy! I do remember being so hungry and getting second helpings of the food while Elaine was trying to clear my plate...I said, not yet honey!

So many special friends, whom I hadn't seen in a long time came. My mother-in-law made the trip down, my niece, and my mom were all there. The one person missing was my sister from Florida.

We received lots of goodies for the baby...a lot of cute, adorable little girl clothes. I know how fun it is to shop for little baby girls. I must confess that for a while I was starting to become obsessed with it, too!

Thank you to everyone for making this day so special!