Happy Easter!

We spent the weekend at the cabin with my family. My mom made some Easter Eggs! My dad and I cut and removed some of the floor in order to put in a new sump pump in the basement. It was a lot of work, but it will be really nice when finished! We hope you all have a great holiday!

Brad's a Rockstar!!

So, this weekend Brad came over to help us install a new dryer (new to us, anyway -and it matches the washer) so that it is up to code and not a fire hazard (which is always good). However, all of a sudden he started just doing a bunch of the things on our "To Do List!!" He just kept saying, "What's next?" By mid afternoon we had a properly installed dryer, no gas leak in the water-heater (good thing Brad found that!), a new mail box, painted patched walls in the kitchen (I did that while Erik and Brad were downstairs) and, my favorite, shelves up in our Laundry Room!! Yippee!!

Note: Shiny New Dryer Vent Below

Erik and I also kept up the momentum that Brad brought to finish switching out all of our 'light buttons' to 'light switches,' clearing out the flower beds on the back and side of our house, cleaning the kitchen and clearing out more of the closet in the baby's room. We also enjoyed a walk together to a local coffee shop and finished homework (a week early because it's Easter break!). Overall, it was a very productive weekend. And the weather was great!

Nursery -Steps 3 & 4

Last week I put up the curtains that I shortened (I'll be making the crib skit out of the extra fabric). They are just plain brown, but I think they will look good with everything else.
We also put together the changing table we got from Erik's parents. We are happy to have furniture that is eco friendly in the nursery. The crib and changing table are made from renewable wood and chemical free dye. It's something little, but does feel good to be better to the environment.
Here is our son's nursery so far... more to come as we have the time (and money).

Nursery -Step 2

Ok, so I can't say that these steps are really in order or even what we would recommend, but it is the order we downloaded the photos in. So, Step 2...painting! We picked Herbal Garden from Behr as the color. I think it is a bit brighter in person than in the pictures (more of a leaf green, not sage), but you get the idea. I really like it a lot and can't wait to get the room together. Thank you to our friends who were able to help paint. I was a bit sad that I couldn't join in the fun but was happy to make lunch/dinner for our helpers! Thanks again! We love it. (they also painted the hallway ---I really LOVE that new color too!)

Cleaning the white walls...soon to show some color!

Thanks Carol! ...And Bill, for watching the kids while we stole your wife for the afternoon!

Thanks Carly!

Thanks Amanda!

We hope to put the changing table together tonight. Thanks Sue & Randy!

Nursery -Step 1

We got a crib! That is the first major change to the nursery, but we plan on painting this weekend. It's already making it so much more real...walking by the room and seeing a crib! I'm so excited! Nesting is pretty much in full force and Erik is not excited about it. Oh well! He'll be fine.
P.S. FYI -We don't know that we'll actually be keeping the bumper pad in the crib when the baby comes. It's just for looks right now. We know that it can be a hazard. Just thought I'd add that disclaimer.

Hadley Welcome Party

On Sunday we had friends over to our house to meet the newest addition...Little Miss Hadley! Just six weeks old...she is a blonde cutie! Hadley did great as the whole gang (young and old) came to meet her. We're glad it worked out for most people to come. It was nice to see everyone and have dessert together! Congrats again Brian and Miranda! She's precious!
(sorry we didn't get pics of everyone who was there)

Pizza Night.

Two weekends ago we went down and had pizza night with the Oborns. Shane made some homemade bread for our pizza crust and we all contributed toppings. We had some white sauce pizza and some red sauce. It turned out really good! It was also fun to see their boys and daughter, Raina. She is getting so big!
And since we were in an Italian-mood, we ended up watching our Italy Trip video as well. It was so fun to look back on our trip from two years ago! I can't believe it's been two years...but when I think about it, A LOT has happened during that time!

"Babymoon" in Florida!

Two weekends ago we went to FL with Erik's family. We're calling it our "babymoon" because money and vacation time are probably too tight for us to take another trip before this baby arrives. We loved Florida and are so thankful to Erik's parents for taking all of us! We spent time at Sea World, Disney and Discovery Cove. We even got to swim with a dolphin! The weather was actually pretty good for us (in the low 70's). We happened to hit the best weekend in FL in weeks! I'm glad it wasn't 50 degrees or even less when we were swimming with the dolphin!

We spent 15 hours one day and hit all four Disney parks!
(Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Magic Kingdom!)

We met up with Uncle Pete and Aunt MaryLou -they took us to Disney!
This is "A Bug's Life"

This one is for Kirk and Sarah! This was Epcot's version of Morocco!

Sea World!
(yes, we were actually there two days before the whale trainer was killed -crazy!)

Petting stingrays. Probably the highlight of the trip...Discovery Cove! And swimming with a dolphin!Yep. Wetsuits.For some reason I look about 8 months along in this pic!Feeding birds:

We had a great time! And loved it! We recommend it...except, maybe take more time to hit ALL of Disney than we did!

For those of you without Facebook...

I have been posting "belly photos" on Facebook, but here are the last few in case you're not on Facebook:

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20 -Half way!

It's crazy to think we're past the half way point already....but something tells me the 2nd half is, well, 'more involved' than the first. I can feel him moving around and kicking a lot more now though. In fact, he's kicking right now. It is such an amazing feeling. I love it! I can't wait until we can feel him kicking and moving from the outside. Erik really wants to feel him too! He asks me almost everyday if I can "feel him outside yet?" I did once, but Erik was in the other room. We're so excited to meet our little guy. Summer seems like forever from now though, especially with a MN winter! I think a lot of us start feeling this way mid February ...but, this too shall pass. Enjoy your Valentine's weekend!

Last of the Specialized Tests...

This morning we went in for the Fetal Echo Cardiogram. He's still a little wiggle worm and sometimes made it difficult for the tech to get to all the parts of his heart when she wanted, but she was eventually able to get everything she needed. The great news is that everything looks normal! They were very nice and explained everything to us. He has a normal healthy looking heart...all the chambers and ventricles. It still absolutely amazes me that they can look so closely at the inner-workings of his little heart! His heart is only about 1.5 centimeters in size right now. And it is so crazy to see it beating! I love it!

So, it looks like now we just have to wait to meet the little man! It might be a little weird after we've been through all of these specialized tests for so long. Now all the special treatment is over (which is bitter-sweet) and we pretty much just wait. But we can wait with some confidence knowing that so far all signs point to a healthy normal baby boy!! We are so happy for that! I wouldn't wish for anyone to go through this, but we have been so relieved now after each additional test. Thanks again for all of your prayers!