birthday bowl

We decided not to do any major parties this year due to the uncertainty of a little girl's entrance. But Graham & Andrew's birthdays are just 5 days apart, so it's still fun to have a special celebration for both of them. We decided to go bowling with some friends. Since G loves all things balls, we thought it would be a hit. And it was! He immediately picked his ball (and yes, he seriously carried around an 8 lb. ball by himself. he's a brute!) and went and waited for further instructions!

As much as I would love this baby to come, I knew flinging a 10 lb. ball down a lane was probably not the best way to make that happen. :) So G & I got our own special bumper lane and I pretty much just helped him roll it down the lane. It was fun, he loved it! He loved seeing the pins get knocked down, or if it went in the gutter at the end, he'd say, "aww, missed!"

Lots o' fun for the birthday boys!

2+9 and still so fine

Happy 29th birthday to my dear sweet hubby!

Things I am thankful for in him this year:

• renewed commitment to getting back to consistent dates AND following through!
• being such a great daddy to Gman. Every morning G wakes up and asks for "a dad" (as he calls him!) When I tell him he's at work, he immediately says "come home". Yep, every day. He gets so excited on weekends when daddy is home all day!
• taking care of our home and family in the little, mundane things - taking out the trash, keeping our budget & savings on track, shoveling, taking care of car stuff, changing lightbulbs....all things I refuse to do. :-) But he's SO good at them, I wouldn't want to get in his way.  
• loves Graham so much, so I can't wait to see how a little girl wraps him around her little finger!
  
  
  Hope your day is extra special, please give me a little grace this year as I'm not feeling up to much party planning these days. Maybe our little girl will decide to share your birthday. In which case, you'll be extra neglected, but I will make make it up to you next year. Except that would be Eden's 1st birthday....so maybe the next year......?? :-)
• You're always #1 in my heart, babe, don't forget it.

all boy...............

I have come to fear hearing a certain word in our house "ready............................"

what this means is that a ball (or other object) is about to be chucked across the room or some other great "activity" is about to be commenced. Hearing it a couple of days ago, I went in the living to discover this........

(thankfully he had the smarts to put the thick cushions down first at least!)

But seriously, apparently you don't have to teach little boys these things. :)

ready......................

 

 go..................

and that is a seriously good time in his playbook. :)

ready or not...........

Well, at my dr's appt this week (35+weeks), my dr. calmly told me to get ready for a January baby. Excuse me?! I am pretty sure you just absolutely jinxed me by telling me that! I have to keep telling myself this little girl might not show until middle of February, but I also better have been my plans in place! So my nesting kicked into high gear and I got all the laundry done, the house cleaned, Graham's instructions all written out, a bag packed, lists made, Eden's room close to being done....another 27 reasons why she probably won't make an appearance, right? As my neighbor put it, she'll wait until something has exploded in your microwave and the fridge is leaking, and someone gets the stomach flu............so true. :)
But wow, I would be estatic for her to make an early arrival no doubt!
The last few days I've been feeling a lot of cramping around my belly. But since I didn't go into labor on my own with Graham, I don't necessarily know what to expect. :-/ I've been told this can go on for weeks.

But since I am 3.5 cm. dialated, the dr. told me I better not dally once labor truly hits!

So the boys disappeared into the basement yesterday and I eventually went down to see what they were up to. A last minute painting project for Eden.....

 Graham was loving it!

 A little peak at her room....this might not be her room for too long, so it's not super extensive. We are using the same bedding we had for Graham, but adding in some girly touches! Definitely not pink & purple, but I'm ok with that. :) Her name will probably be put on that wall when we get to it!

 Some oldies, but goodies! I have had this painting for a long time and the blanket has been in Andrew's family since he was little.

Oh yes, the one thing we absolutely still need is some room-darkening curtains! I am hoping to find them in red to bring a little more color! Hopefully I can get out to Target soon or else it will be blanket "curtains" first!

the babymoon.....that almost wasn't

So thankful that Andrew made it happen for us to have an overnight get-a-way before Eden arrives!

I have always wanted to go to a bed and breakfast and it has just never happened. So we looked for a B&B in our area and found a quaint one, the Inn at Mt. Chestnut, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, which was perfect for what we wanted. We had set up our check-in for 6 pm. We arrived to a empty, locked B&B. :-/ That wasn't good. So we called (and listened to the phone ring inside the home!) not good. Our plan was to use a Christmas gift of gift cards for dinner and a movie before we came back. So, we left a message and continued on with our plans. The hours ticked by with no return phone call. Getting more sick to my stomach and upset as the night went on! After the movie, about 10pm, we decided to head back out there one more time, no luck. So we started working on Plan B. We started looking into other hotels as well as considered driving back home. We were about to start towards a hotel when we FINALLY got a call from the B&B. She could not apologize enough. Said she had never had this happen before (I had the email confirmation with me, so I knew we had set up the correct day/time.) I was so upset by this time that I didn't really feel like running back there! But then she offered us about 50% off our room, so we decided to go. So, about 10:30pm or so, we finally got into our room. After that, things got much better. It was a lovely place, we had a relaxing evening, and a delicious breakfast in the morning. And of course ended up paying 1/2 of what we had planned, so in the end, it all worked out! The owner was very nice and I would still recommend staying there!I hope we have more future stays in B&B's, it was so cozy!  

Light snow was falling the entire time we were there and since it was tucked into the woods, it was so beautiful! 

 We stayed in the Key Largo room which is beach-themed. Reminded us of our beach house!

 hmmm, nice face....anyways, 35 weeks, almost to the end!

  lovely.

We are so thankful for this sweet girl in our life. She has become Graham's favorite babysitter and we were so thankful that we could leave with confidence that G was well taken care of. In fact, after we brought her home on friday, Graham told us to go buh-bye so he could play with her! It is such a comfort knowing that Graham loves her. Thanks, Kristin, you're the best!!

(Steeler party following our little trip, hence the Steeler gear!)

So now we've had babymoon #2 and sweet little Eden can arrive at any time. :)

why didn't I think of this before?

After living in Pittsburgh for a year and a half, I knew a certain something HAD to be added - rain boots. I've dashed thru too many puddle-filled parking lots, tramped thru too many muddy pumpkin patches, and worried too many times whether my shoes would recover. So with some of my birthday money, I was able to hit a great sale and make my addition. What I DIDN'T expect - that they are also the perfect snow boots. I am pretty sure I have now worn them every single day since our most recent snow dumping and I love it! Now, granted, they aren't essentially warm, but they do keep my pants & feet dry and I know that all they take is a wipe of a cloth and they are as clean as new. So, I sure am thankful I finally made this (duh!) discovery! Now I just need some for the Gman. These ones are on his birthday wish list. :-)

six ago

6 years ago today, the journey of A + K became officially official!

(the pic says March because that's when our engagement pics were taken.)

I have a lot of friends from college who remember us dating briefly, then breaking up and then a couple of years later were quite surprised to find us married. :-) So here's the story......
Andrew & I met at our college in Wisconsin around 2000. We both had different groups of friends, but we did have several classes together over several years. Apparently I caught his eye. :) I had no idea and he kept it tight-lipped except for a few close friends. Well, my senior year (his junior) my church group needed a good guy leader and he was suggested and I was sent to ask him to join us. As I was asking him, apparently he was trying to keep from wetting his pants. :) Long story short, we began spending every Sunday together with the rest of our group, including a 4 hour drive in a very small car. We got to know each other quite well! We started dating in January. But it only lasted for about 3 months. So I graduated and moved to Minneapolis and started teaching, Andrew returned to school for his final year.
Cue....one year later..............
Despite living in separate states, one year later, our paths crossed three.weekends.in.a.row! It ended up being the beginning of the beginning. We spent that summer writing letters (me in MN, him in NC). Yes, real letters. Through the mail. By the end of the summer we had progressed to talking on the phone (I know, not too crazy are we?!) It worked out for him to come to MN to visit for a week before he was heading out for a 4 month PR traveling job. Well, by the end of that week we knew it was the real deal and were ready to truly commit. Sadly, he did leave on the road for 4 months, a very long 4 months with unpredictable schedules for him and bad cell service!
January 11th, he left NC on a 24 hour road trip to MN!
Arriving January 12th to a......SICK me. So any fancy plans were cancelled as we hung out in my apartment. But he gave me a journal that he had been writing in every day while we were apart. On the very last page was a very special entry. It said............ will you marry me? And I said........... yes!
5 months later we were married and our journey together has been exciting and sometimes unexpected.

Happy 6th Engagement Anniversary Babe! 

the 3 snowmen

This guy does NOT seem to bothered by freezing cold weather (unlike his mommy!) He had SO much fun building his first snowman with daddy. Since it was 20 degrees, I made him come in after about 30 minutes and he was not so happy about that!

New Years Goals

My list is quite simple this year:

• only spend 7 weeks of 2011 pregnant (that means March - Dec. is out) :-)
• have baby
• recover from having baby
• figure out our new normal as a family of 4
• love to pieces my hubby & babies for the rest of 2011

I SHOULD be able to complete that list, right?

23/33

Our little man is 23 months today. I can't believe in one month he'll be two!! Definitely working on some party plans and ideas!
I just recently posted some of his latest and greatest...so for today, well, here's how his morning went.....

• woke up at 7:30, oatmeal and a clementine for breakfast.

• watched Potty Power while mommy took a shower. (yes, if tv will potty-train him, I'm all for it) :) Thanks to my friend and neighbor, Christi, for passing that on to me! We still have a long ways to go, but I've realized now that it's a marathon, not a sprint and so I have much more peace of mind when looking at it that way!
• played with new toys while listening to new cd, Songs that Jesus Said, by the Gettys. We love it!
• Built forts with mommy using all the couch cushions. My poor furniture will never be the same, and it's his new favorite thing!
• had a few meltdowns resulting in 2 timeouts. Possibly still recovering from staying up way too late on New Year's Eve. :-)
• lunch - peanut butter toast and applesauce.
• nap - badly needed. :)

As for mommy.......

Well, I've hit 33 weeks! This is the first time that I am starting to feel like it's getting close. 7 weeks (or less!) just doesn't seem so far away. Though when I think about being preggo for 7 more weeks then it feels like forever. :) I have definitely hit that "ugh" stage. feeling very large, bulky and uncomfortable!
Last week someone told me, "wow, you're 8 months? You're tiny". And then someone else told me (on the same day), "wow, you've really gotten big in the last few weeks". I won't tell you which statement was made by my dear husband. :-) but someone MAY be sleeping in the doghouse - if we had one.
It is very uncomfortable to bend over and pick up little toys all the time. So it's not getting done as much as it probably should be! Though it is helpful to force me to teach Graham to consistently pick up his toys. It's definitely easier to do it myself, but there is no doubt that he is fully capable of doing his portion as well. So that's a good thing! I also keep reminding Andrew that the last 2 months of pregnancy and the first 3 months of newbornland does not mean that life has changed forever! There will be a time when he gets his more efficient, energetic, and helpful wife back. :)
Much to my sister's chagrin, I have not hardly taken any pregnancy pics, so this one will have to do!
Wow, this girl kicks! Her movements have seriously been painful at times and while I remember Graham moving a lot, I don't remember them hurting. Oh boy, an active little girl soccer player on the way?!
I am most surprised about my lack of swelling. With Graham, I couldn't wear my engagement ring after about the 5/6 months mark! My rings still fit with no problem. Though I do wonder if that is partially because I lived in a much warmer climate then. But I am thankful anyways!
I also don't remember any real braxton hicks contractions with G, but have definitely started to feel a few uncomfortable pinches in the last week or so. Hopefully that's a good thing!
My dr. is not going to allow me to go past 40 weeks due to Graham's large size. So that is comforting to know, that at the MOST I will only go 40 weeks. I know the waiting game at the end if the worst. So, crossing my fingers to go early of course!!
At Christmas, my SIL gave me a lot of clothes for Eden for 0-9 months. Such a blessing! Now I am getting excited to see some girly stuff! Of course, I can't pass up picking out a few items for her myself! Got this little dress set with a gift card and the jean jacket was $6 at Macy's and then I got back a $10 coupon from their weekend promotion. How cute are they? :)

So here's hoping for the next 7 weeks to go by quickly. :)