Getting there...

Here are some pics of the nursery... We still have a few things to do - closet doors, bedroom door, curtains and decorations, but you get the idea! Hopefully, we will post some completed room pics next weekend! Have a happy Easter everyone!

Family, friends and fun

There are few things, if any, in life that are more important than family. Family is always there to support you, guide you, comfort you, help you and love you unconditionally. Sometimes, it's easy to take for granted or forget how important those people are in our lives and this weekend, I was once again reminded of the wonderful family I am so fortunate to have!

My Mom, my aunts, my sister, sister-in-law and cousins hosted a baby shower for me this past weekend in Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful shower with no stone left unturned. From flowers, to favors and food, everything had a homemade, personal touch. I cannot possibly thank enough the wonderful women of my family for being so kind and generous! My little girl is so lucky to have you!

The cake had my Mom in a tiz because they tried so hard to make sure everything was purple and green and the bakery screwed up the cake and I got pink. Regardless, it was a beautiful cake and it tasted good! That's all that matters!

In addition to my family, I am amazed at the generosity of my guests. It is my belief that friends, true friends, come in a real close second to family and I hold my friendships in just as high regard as I do my family relationships. Most of my closest, dearest, most wonderful confidantes I met before I was a teenager. I've known these girls for almost 30 years (some of them) and we are still thick as thieves! I couldn't ask for a greater group of friends! Sara, Fawn, Jen, Amy and Ang, thank you so much for being there for my day!

All told, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love for the wonderful people in my life. I am a better person for knowing all of you! Thank you!

I also want to thank my wonderful husband for putting up with me, but most of all for toting all of our loot home and carrying it in the house! Thanks honey! :)

Here are some more pics from the day!

One down...four to go...

With only 8.5 weeks left in the pregnancy, we are trying to get everything in order and ready for our little bundle to arrive. Part of that is getting her nursery ready. After much trepidation, mind changing, tears, anxiety and a rash of other emotions, we finally decided on colors, flooring and all of the fixin's. We started our little project a few weeks ago. We painted her room in deep lavendar and painted all of the trim white. My parents visited this weekend to help us install the flooring. We finished the nursery, but still have the hallway, master bedroom, guest bedroom and office to finish. We LOVE the new flooring and are really excited to have it finished in the rest of the house, but for now, the nursery is our priority. We still have to paint and install baseboard molding and hang the door and closet door and, of course, decorate! :) We'll post more pics when it's finished, but until then, here are some before and after shots to give you a feel for our direction!

Before:

After:

T minus 13 weeks...and counting!

Not that I mind being pregnant... In fact, this pregnancy has been very easy and I hope that if we decide to have another child, it goes as smoothly. BUT, I'm getting VERY anxious to meet this little girl! We have her crib, her mattress, a bookshelf, a lamp, paint picked out... All I need is the baby to sleep in the room and rock in the chair! Not to mention that her wardrobe is quickly growing. I'm trying to be good and I'm trying not to buy her TOO much stuff, but sometimes, I just can't resist. For example, I HAD to buy the outfit below yesterday because it was simply too cute to pass up. And, now that I have it, I can't wait to see her in it!

I mean, look at those cute little silver shoes... How could anyone possibly pass those up?

Other than that, things are moving along swimmingly. Everything in upstate NY is still going good and we're looking forward to spring!

Just for reader enjoyment, here are a few pics of the baby bump!

The verdict is in!

Well, it's official - well, 90 perecent official! We are expecting our little girl to arrive on May 8! Everything looks great. She's right on target for growth. She has a strong heartbeat. And, of course, she was being stubborn about getting her picture taken, but we did get a couple of cute shots! We found out that she has long toes and fingers... And, I'm pretty sure she looks like me... :)

The Return of the Sock Monkey!

I was trying to figure out what I could use for a picture for this blog post, since we had our regular checkup appointment on Tuesday. This one didn't include an ultrasound and I'm not sure how to grab audio of the heartbeat, so I was searching for a picture to use, when lo and behold, someone came to the rescue!

As you will note in our last post, we are referring to the little one as the sock monkey, since we're convinced that's what he/she resembles in the ultarasound pics! Well, my very dear friend, Julie, surprised me this morning with our little nugget's first stuffed animal - The Original Sock Monkey! I'm so excited that he/she will have this as the first stuffed animal and will know that's how we referred to him or her! Thank you so much, Julie and Ed, for the wonderful gift! We absolutely LOVE it!

As for the doctor appointment... Everything is going well. The baby is great. I'm great. We detected a strong heartbeat (that made me laugh every time I heard it). Only six more weeks until we can find out the baby's gender... Of course, I've been trying to do predictions based on everything possible!

More to come!

The chapter after next...

Not only do we need a good reason to get rid of the random Asian picture representing Wisconsin on our last blog (we're not exactly sure how it got there), but we also wanted to share with you the very first pictures of our little bundle!

I know it doesn't look like much now and if you look closely, we're not sure if he more closely resembles a sock monkey or a clown, but we're just happy to know that there's something in there with a strong heartbeat and the stubbornness of his father. He didn't cooperate with the ultrasound tech too well. She was trying to position him to get a good measurement of the back of his head to do a Down Syndrome test. He was very active though. We got to see him rub his eyes. He got the hiccups and I'm convinced he was waving at us at one point. After about 30-45 minutes, the tech decided to try another method, which provided the perfect picture they were looking for...

Doesn't look like much of anything to use, but I suppose it provided them with what they needed. I keep referring to the baby as "he," but I'm using it as a general term. We did, however, see something protruding from between his legs, but it's still too early to tell!

Our next appointment is Nov. 3 and we won't be able to find out the baby's gender for another nine weeks. Don't worry, we'll post as soon as we know!

Hope you're all doing well!