Happy Halloween!

From the Standefords and our little prisoner! She was a good sport and wore the hat for her mom. She sat outside with "grandma and grandpa" (we dressed up last night to hand out candy) in lawn chairs and waited for the trick or treaters to come. She was such a good puppy, but had to call it a short night since the words "Trick or TREAT" include one of her favorite words that make her go crazy. She would get really excited when she heard the T-R-E-A-T word. We have modified our lingo in a couple other areas too-including the R-I-D-E word and W-A-L-K instead we either avoid the word or use "W" for walk. She picks up on everything.

~

Tomorrow I'm going to Old Navy to see if I can be so lucky to get a Halloween costume for our little girl next year. Yes, I know...a year away-but CLEARANCE is a word that I can not live without! Jake has gotten used to this habit of mine-when he sees the savings he's OK with it. We money manage alike in a sense that we are cheap, but our way of thinking is a little different. I still want it, but on sale/clearance. He can usually live with out it. Oh well, I'll go before I get too much off subject!

Which do you like?

Of course I'm finding all options at the price that is not even desirable, but I need help with these three I really like and are in the budget. We are planning on either getting an espresso or black colored crib so keep that in mind. The room we are making the nursery already has white wainscotting, but blue walls-that are changing as soon as I get a handle on what color we are using. I love, love, love green, but is it too non-girl (like in the black and green). I also, if you couldnt tell, love the pattern in all three.

I like the purple, but not a huge fan of the overly used brown and ______(insert any color in here). If we had this one I would paint the top part of the room the same hue of purple, but way darker-no Easter colors here!

Look how cute and girly this pink and green (are these colors over used now a days?). I could paint the wall dark green-but we have the wall in our living room and accents of green. Is that too much?

Or this one, green and black-great pattern in my opinion. Girly, but not bright pink or purple. I think it has some kind of sophistication about it. Clueless on what I'd paint the walls-not sure green would look good-might be too overpowering. If you like this one the best-what kind of wall should I paint?

I'm very indecisive on these three and all Jake does is laugh! He's color blind so the green looks brown and the purple looks blue-he really is just concerned about the price. He has already said, "if our daughter is anything like her mother, she will change her mind a hundred times"...hope, he has hope for her! What a great daddy!

Even if you have never commented before, please on this one-it will be a lot of help to me!

Its a GIRL!

After my dream last night of finding out it was a BOY, I was so excited for Jake to have a little boy and teach him boy-things...I was convinced (and this was after my 65% girl/35% boy prediction the entire pregnancy). Side note: I switched back to my OB from before I was pregnant and was soo excited to see her since she was so kind at my regular visit in March. Shes young, has young children, and understands having your first child-unlike the OBs I saw before who were desensitized to the fact that first time mothers might have lots of questions, be really excited for visits, etc. Ok, So we were there and waiting for the ultrasound tech to call us back-anxious to find out! She coated my belly with warm (yes it was in a bottle warmer) gooey stuff and started going to town. With in 5 seconds I knew it was a girl and even said- I dont see a little thingy...to which she said nope its a GIRL! Initially mixed emotions went over me-becusase the dream a I had, then my eyes teared up with excitement and joy! What a wonderful moment that I can't really explain.

She is measuring with in a day or two of the original due date of March 7 so we're right on track from the ultrasound. Her (I love saying that instead of it) heart rate was 155 bpm, my blood pressure was 110/65, weight is total up 10 pounds which she was happy with. You can see from this picture below that she has her moms face profile and from another picture that she has my face shape too and is already so cute!

One concern the doc had was that the placenta is still a little low. She is hoping that the more I grow out the higher the placenta travels. At week 28 she is doing another ultrasound (that makes 4 and I hope our insurance is paying for all these...I will most likely get the award for the most ultrasounds, but who doesnt like seeing a precious baby in the making) to rule out that as a problem. If she sees that its still low it could interfere when I start to dialate which could cause bleeding, pain, cramping, etc. This could happen as early as 30-32 weeks. She said 85% of cases resolve themselves, but if I fall into the 15% she will put me on bed rest! Yikes, I dont really want to be on bed rest for 2 months. Hoping for the best and that the concern corrects itself before then.

Belly progress at 20 1/2 weeks! She is really starting to grow and is move all the time now!

After the visit we had lunch at McAlisters Deli-so good- and discussed our thoughts on names again for the first time not talking about boy names. Fortunately if we had a girl we were pretty confident in name selection since we had 3 on our minds. We started saying the options with our name and trying to find nick names we wouldnt like and would sway us from choosing. We want to make sure we have the perfect name before announcing too soon. So we are in the process of eliminating and selecting the best name for our little girl.

Jakes first comment after we got in the car, "so I guess I'll be painting the room, huh?". He's speaking of the already blue room we have and are planning on using for the baby-he knew the answer before he asked, but it was cute. Now I'm on the prowl for super cute, cheap, baby bedding and decor for girls-if you know of any websites let me know.

Registered, just have to wait now!

I registered for some classes that the hospital has to offer to expecting moms for free! I'm planning on breastfeeding so I signed up for a class in December. When I told Jake he thought it was a bit early-but you have to take whats available. In February, we are taking labor classes. It's a 2 week class on Thursdays for 3 hours each. I hope he survives (not with what we will be doing, but with amount of time), when I told him I wasn't sure if he was excited or indifferent. Needless to say, we have friends due around the same time as us so and delivering at the same hospital so I told him to call them and see if they were going to take the classes-in the event that he could at least have a buddy there doing the same thing as he is! And the last class is called caring for your newborn. I'm excited about this one, well all of them because they are free, but at least I'll have an insight before the baby is here on what to do-I think the fear of not knowing will start to set in close to labor. I know I'll catch on quickly, but knowing something in advance is always a positive thing!

Finished Product

Jake is so proud of his finished electrical project! The lights look great and have been nice lately since its been getting dark earlier. We are no longer living in a dungeon! The project has been done for a while now, but I just had a chance to take pictures of the finished product the other day!

He is now moving on to cleaning/staining the deck which is much needed before winter comes since the previous owners didnt do anything to it. We dont want it to fall apart so we are taking action now!You can see the 2 chairs we put at the end of the once empty area. Slowly, this house is looking more and more like our home! The picture doesnt do the lights justice, but you get the idea!

Thursday is Half Way

Belly Progress at 18 and 19 weeks. Looks like the 19 week picture is smaller than the 18 week picture. The dresses are 2 different types of material and the 18 week shows more curves.

Dresses are by far the most comfortable clothing I've found so far.

Thanks to my sister in law for letting me her maternity clothes-I found this cute dress to wear to the wedding Saturday! Next Wednesday we will hopefully have good news to share on the sex of the baby-permitting that he/she isnt shy...if he/she acts anything like mom or dad we will know!

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Haisley

I went through college and our dietetic internship with Maria and this past weekend she was married up in northern Indiana. We had a great time with some of the other girls that I went to school with, but never seem to be able to catch up with becuase everyone is so busy and all over the place. The wedding was in Plymouth and the reception at Amish Acres in Napanee....yes amish food! Family style fried chicken, beef and noodles, green beans, fresh bread with apple butter, homemade mashed potatos, roast beef, stuffing (or dressing as some people called it), and some yummy wedding cake. It was the best food ever! Well, I've been all for homestyle since the beginnnig of pregnancy-so it was awesome. The reception was in a barn looking restaurant and was decorated to match the barn perfectly as you'll see by the cake sitting on top of a log and the lantern centerpieces. It was all too cute! Maria looked stunning and she is one of the only people who can pull off the hat/headpiece netting thing below!

The fabulous RDs!

Finally Moving.

That is the baby, of course! I can finally feel it moving around in there. Now that I know for sure that's what it is, I have been feeling it slightly for the past 2 weeks, but I didnt want to get my hopes up if was just making it up. Yesterday at work it started and didnt stop moving until I fell asleep exhausted by the amount of movements our little one was making inside of me! It felt like a sudden change in pressure and that I was about to throw up-thats the only way I could describe it. Jake tried to feel for the movement, but he wasn't very patient and didnt get a chance to feel anything. I think now I'll be careful what I hope for after the baby kept me up for 2 hours moving around in there...I wish I wasnt a light sleeper! It's exciting to know that its moving around enjoy life inside the womb. I look forward, sort of, to when we can see movement from the outside.

Posting more pictures after tomorrow to showcase progress. Last night I worked out in a T-shirt and you couldnt even tell I was pregnant! I'm officially 19 weeks yesterday and so excited to find out what the baby will be and stop calling it "it" on October 27th! Holy cow this is going lots faster than I thought!

Rach, I'll post pictures of my old best friend discovered at 8 weeks...you might try it-invovling 5 pillows!

Boilers Win & Chitown!

Last weekend we went up to Chicago to visit the newlywed Dimitt family. We love going to Chicago in the fall-the weather is just so nice up there and there are tons of things to do. This time we ate Ginos pizza-so good, went to the Purdue vs. Northwestern game where the Boilers upset their undefeated season with an awesome game. Tickets courtesy of Jakes wide receiver coach from Purdue-Thanks Coach Rock!

In other Purdue news, apparently we are changing our motto from "boiler up" to "makers all". I'm not sure I really understand why or that I like it, but my facebook friends are on fire about it! It just doesnt sound right-I mean if somethings working...dont change it! We are missing the homecoming game tomorrow becuase we have a wedding up near Plymouth, IN. I'm looking forward to seeing my dietetics friend Maria, the bride, and eating the awesome food I know they are having at The Amish Acres-they better have homemade chicken and noodles!

I cant get my mind off Pizza King pizza! Something about the little fake pepperonis, lots of cheese and grease that is just so appealing to me. We had it on the Sunday before Labor Day and it was soo good, but I want it again. I didnt think I was really having any cravings anymore, but I think I was just hoping. Jake doesnt like cardboard and pepperoni as he calls PK, but I think its the price and that we dont have a coupon for it like we do Papa Johns. Someone please explain to him that they are different...even though they are pizza!

Orange juice is another-I never bought it before being pregnancy for several reasons relating to calories, how satisfying it is, etc. If we dont have it in the fridge I've been making special trips just to make sure I have it.

Things I havent been eating like I used to: peanut butter, oreos, and raisin bran cereal.

Well, I'm going to go order a pizza-luckily we have a PK in avon!

Jakes DIY Project

Our house has been in shambles this past week while we, I really mean Jake, does his real first DIY project. Our living room has no overhead lighting and that bothers me that its so dark at night or on days like this where its gloomy. It was one of the top things we were looking for in our house and this one had it in most rooms which was 30 times better than most of the houses we looked at. I couldnt believe the number of people who live in a lamp lit home 24/7. Dont get me wrong I like the way lamps have that sutle glow, but come on give me some light!

We started off with 2 estimates for the overhead lighting in the living room, a rough in in the office (the other room without lighting) and a ceiling fan in our screened in porch. The quotes....$2800 and $1200. Whoa! How they could be so different for the same thing-I'm not sure, but that didnt include the patch work for the ceiling since we have a two story house and no access to over the living room. We estimated the patch work to be at least $500, but we are horrible estimates because we had no clue the lights would have cost that much-our estimate was no more than $600. Of course, we're cheap!

So, based on the fact that the estimates were so high we decided to only do the living room right now and get the other 2 smaller projects finished later. Also based on estimates we knew we didnt want tons of holes in the ceiling to run wire and then have to patch it. Jake is briliant and comes up with the idea to have is co-worker, who is a floor guy that works at Lowes (hes probably killing himself that I wrote "floor guy"-I dont know his title though) pull up the carpet, padding and flooring upstairs in our 2 spare rooms which are right above the living room so they could have direct access. This meant cheaper and no holes! Well, that is if the flooring wasnt coming up...so Jake told me...minor problem (of course you know what I was thinking at that point). Here is what the spare rooms look like still:

And all those holes would have been on the ceiling needing patched up if we had not done this, but this is scarey! I'm still wondering how it is going to look 'just like it did before' as Jake has told me. At this point I think he is going to do the job well, but in the mean time our house has looked like this:

The once roomy loft with the carpet and furnishings from the spare rooms!

The living room, empty to avoid getting everything dusty when holes were drilled.

The kitchen, holding everything the living room had in it!

Preparation for the lights to go in. We decided on recessed lighting since it would make the entire area bright and we dont really have enough overhead space for ceiling fans.

Today, our living room is back together with all lights installed and a minor problem that should be fixed when Jake gets home today-one of the 3 way switches isnt working right. The spare rooms and loft remain as in the pictures above and should be back to normal on Sunday (I hope).

The project wasnt cheap for materials: $160 for trim and CFL lights, $250 for wiring, can inserts, extra tools we didnt have, and probably $50 I dont really know where it went, but it was a lot cheaper than the estimates given and it gives a little self confidence to my hub for doing something he isnt trained to do! I say a successful project! I'll post pictures when everything is 100% finished! So far it looks great and as Jake says "lights up like a Christmas tree".

Belly Progress

9/22/2010 Week 16

9/28/2010 Week 17-I've been really feeling the stretch this week!