A Sneak Peak

So at 37 weeks, I feel like I look like a slob. I can't get my normally perfect hair to do anything, and I feel huge.

37 weeks

I am not a huge fan of bump pics, but lets compare 20 weeks to 17 weeks later...

20 weeks

There is a difference. At my last couple appointments I have been measuring about 2 weeks behind. I am keeping my figures crossed that means small baby!

This weekend, I spent some time working the the nursery. Don't let that fool, you it is more like a large walk-in closet with a window and no door...

This is the wall where the crib will go.

Since the room, is about 5.5 feet by 6.5 feet, it is really cramped. Decorating a room with out the largest piece of furniture is a little tricky, but that is what a tape measure is for!

I thought it would be nice to put a cute saying on the wall, but we have that stupid popcorny walls... So pictures it is. The banner is going to go all the way around the room, hopefully I can find matching paper.

Wall to the right of the crib.

 This wall still needs some work. Above the window, the banner will continue, but will have the baby's name centered over the window. Below is a wire box shelf, where we will store extra bedding, toys, blankets, and things we will need more accessible than in the basement.

Wall to the left of the crib

This wall, is also were the door is, and below the light switch is a little stand for books and the iPod dock. There is one more wall, but it isn't finished yet, maybe this weekend.

Dresser, not in the nursery

Of course baby needs a place to put all its clothes, diapers, socks, and miscellaneous baby items. This is in the living room, it doesn't fit in the nursery.

Well there it is, our mostly finished nursery, for a mostly finished baby!

Happy Birthday! Goals and All

Birthdays are big deals to me. I try to act all cool, like it isn't a big deal, but I am kind of Big Deal. So this year, with all the baby stuff going on and my birthday also marking four weeks to baby, I was more tentative about having a celebration. In other words, I didn't talk about what I wanted for my Birthday.

This ended up causing a little bit of fiction at home. I feel like Brody forgot it was my birthday... He did though get me some sweat pants and a hoodie that fit, even with my pregnant belly! Wahoo!! I have considered keeping them by the door, so I can just strip and put them on as soon as I get home...

Well per my annual tradition of a goal list for the year, I thought I might should look at my goal list from last year...

12 in 2012

Have 10,000 fitness minutes (workout minutes)

Organize the Basement

Re-furbish the hutch

Learn to plan the Piano

Finish one of the 3 afghans I have started (Tumbling Blocks, Granny Square, or Tree of Life)

Get B and totally awesome Christmas and Birthday gift

Finish B's Doctor Who Scarf for Halloween

Put pictures in our picture frames

Finish our front room curtains

Organize the kitchen

Sell at least one of the re-furbished chairs

Encourage and support B through school so he can graduate sooner!

Umm... Let's see here...

1. 10,000 fitness minutes... I was on track until baby inflamed my sciatic nerve and I was told to stop running and only do light walking...

2. Basement... Really needs to be done, and soon!

3. The Hutch, is probably in the same condition it was in this time last year.

4. As for the piano... I need a teacher

5. I am almost done with the Tree of Life afghan! Goal is to finish it before baby.

6. I did get Brody a totally awesome Christmas present and birthday, anniversary, and Valentines! I rocked that on this year.

7. Oh Doctor... Maybe next Halloween...

8. Finish the curtains... nope.

9. I have started to put pictures in frames! I need pictures to frame though...

10. Organize the kitchen... This gets done like every three months...

11. Sell a refurb chair... I can't part with them yet... 

12. Encourage Brody, I like to think that I do this, but you would have to ask him.

This year, my goals are simple, personal, improvements.

1. Grow and Strengthen my Testimony

2. Read at least one education book for every "fun" book

3. Learn to drive in the snow/stop being scared to drive in the snow

The Great Crib Debacale

When we first found out we were expecting, one of the last things on my mind was the crib, and where to put the baby. I figured it would all work its self out. Well, boy was I wrong!

It all started with a room that is too small, and a giant (but totally awesome) crib. This lead to months of sleepless nights, and many tears shed over this ridiculous situation, that we don’t really need to resolve until April or so.  I feel really bad for Brody, he tried so hard to help me solve this.

This summer we got a crib from Lilli, Brody’s sister.  It was a really nice crib, converted from a crib to a toddler bed to a full.  It didn’t fit in the room except under the giant window.

Remember Brody's Zucchini baby from September?

 It was also a drop side, which is something I wanted. Anyway, we had the crib set up for a few months, and I started thinking about where a rocking chair would go. We want it in the room with the crib. BUT with the crib perpendicular (Parallel to the giant window.) it was the only thing that would fit comfortably in there. So Brody and I started looking for cribs but our baby budget was disappearing faster than we thought it would.  I was trying to just suck it up, but I couldn’t. A baby needs to be rocked to sleep in its sleeping space. Babies, just like us, need a different space for different activities, play space different from sleeping space.  Then in out birth class someone was talking about where is the best place for the crib, and gave us this list of do's and don’t's. Brody was reading through it and then agreed that the crib shouldn't be under the window and that we really do need a rocking chair. So we started going through stuff and selling things on craigslist to beef up our budget, and then my MIL found a crib for 30 bucks and so we got it.

We got it home and set it up, and I looked at it and started to panic. It was a plastic drop side, that was BROKEN. Brody told me he would fix it, and ordered the free part the recall replaced. We got back from Christmas and the part was in, so Brody replaced it. It sat for a few days and it festered within me. The only part that was replaced was the bottom of the rail, but the top was still held together by two plastic parts. I couldn’t handle it.

Crib Number 2

Brody, worked so hard to fix the crib. He even manufactured a part at work to replace the plastic. He is so good! But my crazy pregnant brain, couldn't get over the fact that the crib was recalled and broken. (Seriously, I would be crying over this 'malfunctioning crib', and telling Brody I am sorry I can't help it.)
I felt that we could find something way better and up to standards and we could just eat the $30. Brody couldn’t. He kept trying to “fix-it”.  So of course more tears, and sleepless nights…

I started to research cribs, I learned a lot about the safety standards, materials used now versus 20 years, ever 5 years ago, and even got pissed off at the government just like I would in high school. I also learned that companies lie hand over foot about what their crib is made of and what paint they use.  We stopped looking at cribs in our budget and was ready to ask my dad for some money for the crib. We even were planning a trip up to Spokane to look at cribs. That’s when we learned about all the lying companies are doing these days. So we stopped looking at traditional wooden cribs and started looking at iron cribs actually manufactured in the US. I started talking to my dad about it, and started considering borrowing a Grand for a crib. Then I started to feel guilty for asking my dad for money, especially since we have never had to borrow money from my parents. So, we decided to look again, this time we went to Consumer Reports.

I really enjoy reading what Consumer Reports has to say about products, maybe because I am an engineer. At Consumer Reports we found out about Ikea’s cribs.  Interestingly enough they never came up in my research, but scored 81 out of 100 on consumer reports and they were in our budget. They even have more good reviews than bad, they are made out of solid hardwood, and they are super cheap. We picked one out, and my dad picked it up, we didn’t want to pay $45 in shipping. He will be bring that along with a rocking chair when this baby decides it is time to meet the world.

Our crib.

Now that a decision has been made, I am completely fine. To be honestly, I am a little concerned with how calm I am...

100 posts!

Wow, three years, and finally post number 100! It has been a blast, and maybe in this next year with the baby, we might double that number.

Christmas 2011

Winter Storm 2010

Our crazy Cat

Graduation 2011

We lost our tree

Ashley visited Texas

Great memories with the Wagstaffs

Brody's long Hair

A homemade beard to stop the need for growing one

Stays at the Davenport

Ashley visited Florida

Ashley got braces

Winter storm 2011

Happy and Sad family memories

First baby clothes

Then there was three

Baby news

Effie's

Today we went down to the valley to go to Costco to stock up on a few things before baby comes. We forgot to bring some cash with us to get hot dogs afterwards. So we drove around for a bit for a ma and pa burger joint someone had suggested to Brody. We couldn't  find it, but we found Effie's.

It was very similar to a place we had gone on a double date with some good friends of mine, Tugboat Annie's in Olympia.

We split the burger and some fries, and boy we are stuffed! We only ate half of the burger.

Christmas

We stuck around for about a week before heading to Olympia for about 9 days. Our drive over was uneventful, although we left about 2 hours later than we planned. We left Friday, and Saturday my little sister threw me a baby shower.

It was a small shindig, and some friends that live over on the westside were able to come. Some I don't get to see that often too! We had fun, I also learned that geometry can come in handy when trying to guess how many candies are in a jar.

I got some great baby things, including things I didn't think of, namely bath stuff. Also some fun toys and a couple of outfits.

I also got the best surprise! When my sister called to ask to throw me a shower, she asked what I wanted. Joking, I told her I wanted an ice cream cake with an airplane being piloted by a giraffe. Since, we don't know the gender, I couldn't decided between two themes, airplanes or jungle/giraffes. So, we are going with both. Alice was able to get the cake decorator to fulfill my crazy pregnancy desires.

Totally awesome baby shower cake!

Sunday, we all went to church for the Christmas program. It was really good, and dad was even there. We only stayed for first hour, but I was able to see some of the people I was hoping too. I also got some very unwanted child birthing advise... I guess that comes with the territory.

Also, a friend of my mom, gave me a sweater than my mom had made. It was very unexpected. She had a baby boy a couple months or so before mom died and mom had given her a sweater, with a hat and socks. At the time she caught me, we didn't know how many sweaters mom had made for her business. I have received some blankets my grandmother collected from my aunts that my mom made. This sister, wanted to pass this set on to us. She told me about how she was always impressed by what my mom could create and the knowledge of the Gospel. I will treasure this sweater, and will use it to tell my children about their grandmother, and the compassion and service of this one sister.

Christmas, was interesting this year. It was different, but good. I was able to surprise Brody with a set of ratcheting combination wrenches, and he surprised me with an All-Clad skillet!

After Christmas, my sisters and I went through some of my mom's crafting and business stuff. We were able to claim sweaters, blankets, socks, and hats. Brody and I also went looking for a traditional rocking chair. It took us all morning one day driving around the Olympia area, but we finally found one!

Overall it was a good trip and we enjoyed being able to spend some time with my family for happy things.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed local, and went to Brody's parents. The food was good, as always, and we enjoyed family.

I made pies, a peach pie and a pumpkin pie! The peach was a new recipe, turned out alright and my pumpkin pie was great as always.

Peach Pie

This year's pumpkin I think was the best, because the pumpkin was from my mother in-laws garden. We saved some seeds and hope to grow some more this year. Maybe we will be able to start a new tradition and have an heirloom pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin Pie

After Thanksgiving we headed north to Spokane for a little Babymoon. We stayed at our favorite place, the Davenport. Enjoyed some good food, shopping, and sleeping in a bed that is amazing! One day we will be able to afford the bed set.

Halloween

Well I haven't posted in a while, so I am going to take a handful of posts to catch up.

This year for Halloween, I finished the costumes I was going to do for last year. We went to our ward's Halloween party. We don't get trick or treaters so we don't do much. We enjoy Halloween, but never get invited out to things. On Halloween we just stayed in and watched Young Frankenstein. I had never seen it before, and enjoyed it.