Danielle's Surprise Work Shower (Mom)

When I got to work today, I had a busy morning ahead, but it looked like the afternoon was shaping up to be slower paced and more relaxing, just the way you want a Friday afternoon to be. But then, it started. The guys kept bringing me these ridiculous projects and telling me that they were in a huge hurry for it. So I ended up taking a really late lunch at which point I was no longer hungry. Then I went back to my desk and spent the afternoon desperately trying to keep up with the strange requests.

Then all the laundry guys started making their way to the training room talking about a meeting they were having. And then a few minutes later, Brad pops around the corner and says, "Hey Danielle, we're going to have a little training going on in here and I was hoping you could come and take notes for us." So I found a notebook and pen and made my way back to the training room. The door had been shut behind him so I opened it, and lo and behold, there were all of my coworkers in a fully decorated room!

And of course I stared crying right away because it was so sweet! The room was decorated so nicely... tablecloths on all the tables, balloons and streamers all around!

And then I noticed Paulie hiding behind the girls! Aww! He kept the secret from me and the girls were able to sneak him into the office without me knowing!

So we spent the next couple of hours eating pizza and chips and dip. And there were shower games... guess how many kisses are in the giant baby bottle and guess that baby food! haha The guys were very good sports considering this was the first ever baby shower for most of them and most of them have no experience with baby food.

After games, they gave us lots of wonderful presents! A pack and play, diaper genie with refills, car seat base, and portable high chair! Then they had an ice cream sundae bar (do they know me or what!) for dessert. :)

It was a wonderful shower! Here are some pictures...

Me walking in the door:


I remember saying "you can't do this to a pregnant girl" (because I was crying... and pregnancy makes you super emotional) and Brad started laughing and gave me a hug


Aww, Paulie was there! That made me very happy!


The baby food game! Done the manly way... with plenty of beer to wash down any yucky tasting foods.




Opening presents


The office gals! Jackie, Me, Julie, Loretta


Me and Paulie

The Scene Is Clear (Mom)

Last night Paul and I took a class at the hospital for infant CPR. We were happy to find out when we arrived that they actually taught us CPR and choking procedures for Adults, Children and Infants. While it's scary to think about, it does make me feel good to know what you're supposed to do in those sorts of situations.

In other news my dreams keep getting stranger. The most frequent baby dream I have is that I forget to feed the baby! Then a couple of nights ago I dreamed that I was being chased by transformers up a rocky mountain side and I was trying to protect Kiowa. Then we met back up with Paul in an ocean side tent village where we kept running from the transformers. Yeah.

32 Weeks (Mom)

32 Weeks

Pregnancy Observations: Pregnancy has this magical effect on people around you... it makes everyone really friendly and eager to help! Strangers strike up conversations with me everywhere I go these days. I've had offers to let me cut in line at grocery stores, people holding elevators, strangers offering to help me carry things, etc. This is something that I think I will really miss. :)

I'm quickly learning how to ask for help. This has been challenging for me in a lot of ways. I like being able to do everything for myself. It's humbling to have to ask someone to get something off of a shelf because I shouldn't be on a step ladder, or asking someone to carry something that normally I wouldn't have a problem with. But the fact of the matter is, it is getting difficult to do some of my every day things and I do need the help. I'm thankful to have so many people around me that understand this and completely insist on doing things for me. Like at work yesterday, I was just asking people to walk papers around the office for me because my ankles were hurting and swollen and I wanted to stay in my chair with my feet up as much as possible. And Paul took me for a walk through our neighborhood the other night and it took us twice as long as it usually does because I just can't move very fast! haha

I'm still feeling great... just moving a lot slower and having some soreness and swelling. Things I can totally deal with! But it makes me even more eager for our little boy to arrive!

Nesting, Dad-Style (Dad, of course)

Danielle and I are in full-blown baby preparation mode. Painting the nursery is an obvious example of this, but that's just the first phase. We've also purchased (or "invested" as the saleslady kept saying) in a king-size bed for ourselves. This accomplishes at least two things: 1) When the baby decides to try out his new lungs some late, winter night, we can now move him into a bassinet in the center of our bed comfortably; and 2) When family or friends come to visit, they can now stay in the queen bed set that we transferred from the master bedroom into the guest room. Of course, there's also just a sense that our home is starting to feel more cozy. More ours. We've painted three of the four bedrooms now, so each has our own personal flavor. We've got three beds total in the house and a queen air mattress to accommodate guests when we entertain, or, in a few years, when our kids have slumber parties.

To top it all off, Danielle has already finished much of her Christmas shopping, two months in advance! She has wisely deduced that she will not be able to perform our traditional last-minute shopping spree during the holiday season due to her not-so-travel-friendly belly and has been proactive in getting it done while she still can. Atta girl!

As for me, I'm wrapping up some things I needed to get done prior to baby time. I've completed a couple of jigsaw puzzles in recent weeks. I'm nearly done with the entire "Star Trek: The Next Generation" television series. You know, the important stuff. More importantly, I'm preparing myself mentally by re-reading old children's books and watching cartoons. I'm trying to determine whether we should break out the Star Wars toys in the first year or wait until he's gained a full appreciation for that galaxy far, far away. I've got a couple months to figure that important question out. I'm sure I'll manage.

And that's about all I can think of. Operation Baby Maker has just about come to fruition. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge my wonderful teammate, Danielle, who has pretty much done at least as much as I have during this time of waiting. When our little bundle of joy finally arrives, she'll deserve at least half the credit.

Daddy Out!



Too bad he won't be around for Halloween this year!

Nursery (Mom)

The project for this weekend was the nursery. Saturday morning, Paul and I drove over to Home Depot and picked up painting supplies and had to finally settle on the colors we would use for the nursery. So at the last minute, we decided to go with blue and yellow. We did use low VO paint, (Mom, that's for you) and I stayed downstairs while the painting was being done... so don't worry! :) Dorothy came up around lunchtime and together she and Paul set to work on painting the nursery. While they were working on the nursery, I took care of sorting all the papers that had taken over our dining room table over the last several months and getting them filed away in their proper places.

The nursery turned out PERFECT!!! I absolutely love it! It feels warm and cozy and perfect for a baby. And it's making us even more excited to bring our baby boy home!

Before pictures:




After!!!




Of course we've already rearranged the furniture in the nursery since we took these pictures, so the crib is on a different wall. And our dresser should be in within the next three weeks! Then it will be complete!

But our work weekend didn't stop there! All the baby clothes that we have so far have been washed, sorted by size and hung in the closet. About half of the stuff that had been inhabiting the nursery closet have been moved to the basement. We were given the curio cabinet that was Grandma Bishops, and that has been cleaned, put into a spot and filled with pretty things. A new shelving unit has been put into the basement to help accommodate our growing need for storage. Ah... it feels so good to get so much done in just one weekend!

The Daycare Blues (Mom)

The daycare search is well underway. So far we have interviewed two different daycare centers and two home daycares. We have a good idea of what the pros and cons of each are, and we definitely have a favorite in each category. And really, I see one solid front runner.

Doing these searches finally made it hit me that I am going to have to leave my little baby with someone else. I mean really, when you do these searches, you are looking for someone to stand in for the two of you while you’re away from your child. And come on, no one else can love your child the way you will, right? So yeah, what a huge decision to make! When I start to actually think about it, I get pretty emotional about the whole thing, and I know those first few weeks back to work are going to be really hard.

But I also see the other side. I know that it will be good for me to come back to work for a while. I love my job and I don’t think I’m quite ready to give it up yet. Of course maybe I’m just telling myself this to make leaving my baby easier, but hey… whatever works right? And I know that it will be really good for the baby’s socialization to be around other babies and kids and adults so much of the time. But it’s still very hard to think about right now….

30 Weeks (Mom)

I can’t believe we only have 10 weeks to go (maybe even less) until our baby boy arrives. It just doesn’t feel like very much time and still I feel so unprepared in a lot of ways. But Paul and I both work better as we get close to deadlines so I’m sure everything will get done! Let’s see, I think I’ll make a list:

• Pick out and buy paint
• Paint nursery
• Clean out nursery closets
• Sort and hang baby clothes
• Sort and find a new location for maternity clothes
• Set up new baby items as we get them
• Move our bed into the guest room to make room for our new king size bed
• Rearrange playroom to make room for baby toys!
• Perhaps buy a small bookshelf for the nursery???

Okay, I feel better now.

But of course that’s just the logistical side of being ready. Emotionally and physically I feel a lot more ready for this baby to be here! I just want to hold him so badly and snuggle his sweet little face and breathe in that new baby smell from the top of his head. I think Paul and I are both just looking so forward to having him here that sometimes 10 weeks feels like such a long time to have to wait for him. We talk about how fun it’s going to be to just sit and watch him and play with him and hold him and… ah… we are just SO excited.

We are also totally excited about our baby’s newest cousin arriving in just a few short days! Diana and Jeremy are in India right now picking up their little girl, Jada. We cannot wait to meet her and welcome her into the family! And with Elise and Garth expecting a baby in March, we are just so excited to watch our family continue to grow! What a fun time in life!

In other pregnancy related stuff:

This past weekend we had maternity pictures taken! My cousin Philip was nice enough to bring all his equipment out to our house and take the pictures for us! I am very excited to see how they turned out!

And our shower is only a month from today! I’m getting very excited about it!

I’ve been having all kinds of crazy dreams lately. Things like forgetting to feed the baby because he’s asleep and I don’t want to wake him up and being chased up a hill by bad guys with guns. I’m telling you, these pregnancy dreams can get intense!

I have another doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and then I start going every two weeks instead of every four weeks. We are also going to have one more ultrasound done at 37 weeks to see just how large this baby is getting as he is measuring two weeks ahead of schedule!

Thankfully my back has not been bothering me much for a while now. I’m starting to get sleepy a lot again and I move quite a bit slower than usual, but those are things that are expected and really don’t bother me! But I feel absolutely GREAT most of the time!