Simply, an update ...

Our house and calendar have been bustling with activities over the last couple of weeks and a quick glance at the near future indicates that it will be more of the same!  On Friday, I had my monthly check-up with my midwife and although things went well, he indicated that I'm "measuring small" for how far along I am in my pregnancy so he's ordered another ultrasound in a couple of weeks just to be sure that the baby's growth is okay.  I seem to remember this sort of occurrence when I was pregnant with Alex..... (any indication that it's a boy? hmmm... well, my gut has always "told" me girl but that's off the topic!).  So I'll go for my ultrasound and another appointment with the midwife in about 3 weeks.  From there, I'll  meet with the midwife every 2 weeks.

I've been diligently working on readying the nursery.  With Tim's portion of the work done, it was time for painting and it's seems that the painting hasn't stopped in the last 2 days.  Today my task was to complete painting of the crown and chair rail moldings.  I also began a project a few days ago of constructing wall mount book bins to hang on the wall behind the closet door, which I was able to get painted today as well.  I'm hoping to have the moldings in place and the room somewhat put together by this weekend so that Tim can see an almost finished room when he arrives home from Virginia.

On Sunday we attended the Cub scout Blue & Gold Banquet where Alex received his Tiger Cub badge and 1 year pin.  We were very proud of how well behaved both Alex and Emily were during, what turned out to be a long banquet.  Of course, it helped that they ended the banquet with a 30 min. presentation by a magician!

That's all for now... check back again soon!

Looking for opinions

I've spent hours looking online for decorating ideas for the nursery (mostly viewing others' ideas on www.roomzaar.com), and I really like the idea of using vinyl lettering on the wall.  My current vision is to have the crib & a ledge shelf centered on the longest wall in the room.  Below the shelf will be a monogram of the baby's first initial along with the first name written in a different color & font over it (see photo from roomzaar.com at left).  Then I want to place a phrase on the wall above the shelf.  My question is, do you think that this font is too girly for a boy? (see below) 

I plan to use the same font for the phrase text and the baby's first name (like shown in the picture to the left).  But since we don't know if it's a boy or girl, I need to make sure that whatever text I use is suitable for both.  Also, which phrase do you like the most for both genders?

Let them be little ...

Play, Laugh, Giggle ...

A dream is a wish your heart makes ...

We made a wish and you came true ...

Honest Opinions/comments  (even if they're negative)?

The latest Preggo Pic!

Well folks, here it is.... I'm about 15 weeks away from the end of my last pregnancy and here's a picture of me and my baby bump!  The four of us are all getting excited about our impending arrival and I think it's been more pronounced lately because the belly's more noticeable now than ever.  Let the stretching begin!

Picturesque Home Ice

Anyone that loves pond skating will appreciate this photo I took this morning of our home ice rink.  Tim has spent hours working on the ice after each snowfall in an attempt to "clean" it up and get it smooth again.  It's a lot of work and when I looked out the window this morning while eating breakfast and saw the sun risen over the hills with its reflection on the ice and the glistening snow, I just had to capture the moment.

UPDATE - Getting ready for baby

Okay, so here's an update on our adventure of getting ready for the baby.  This past weekend, we slowly continued our attempt at moving things out of the office and to, well, whatever place we could find for the stuff.  Tim spent at least 2 hours moving and cleaning the freshwater tank from the impending nursery to a relatively permanent location in our bedroom.  I actually think this will be a better place for it, since he (we) may actually look at and enjoy watching the fish from our bedroom more than the glimpses we were getting while passing the office before!  The next step is to figure out an appropriate location for our computer server and to run the wiring to that location.  After that, Tim will patch a couple of spots in the wall and I can finally begin painting.

Which brings me to my next topic.... painting.  Emily and I spent some time this afternoon at Home Depot looking at paint swatches in an effort to determine which shade of brown would be the best for the baby's room.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I had two bedding sets picked out (one boy-centric, one girl-centric).  After hours and hours of searching the internet for just the right combinations of blue/brown and pink/brown, I thought I had it just right with the bedding that I mentioned in my last post.  Originally, I had anticipated that the manufacturers of the bedding sets would be able to provide me with fabric swatches.  However, I've been unable to get them and when it comes to picking paint colors, I feel most comfortable when I have a fabric of inspiration to work from.  Not to mention that, in this case, I need to pick a color that will go with both bedding sets!  UGHH!!!  So we trekked back up to Babys'RUs in hopes of finding something that I could live with.  I still love the girl bedding that I'd chosen and since that's available at the store, I'm sticking with that choice.  However, the "Baby Noah" design that I choose for the boy bedding is only available online so I've settled on an altogether different bedding set, which still has the brown tones but MUCH less of the blue (boo hoo).  I'm hoping to make the blue more noticeable by using a coordinating blue crib sheet and other blue accents throughout the room.  The latest selection in baby boy bedding is called "My First ABCs" by Kidsline.  Here's some pics:

Getting Ready for Baby!

Now that the holidays are over and life is beginning to get back to normal, I'm turning my focus on the next few projects for the year.  One of which, of course, is getting ready for the baby's arrival.  Today Alex & Emily and I went to BabysRUs to register for a few items that we will need for the baby.  Although we have a lot of things that are needed, some items are nearly 7 years old and are either in rough shape or simply not recommended for use (like the infant car seat that is only rated for 5 years because, according to the manufacturer, the plastic quality degrades after that length of time).  Anyway, the main purpose for creating a registry is to take advantage of the close-out program that the store offers, in which they'll send me a coupon good for 10% off my purchases from the registry.  Keeping this in mind, I've included things on the registry that ARE gender specific, so that I can buy them after the baby arrives and still get the discount!  

I have two sets of bedding picked out for the baby's room.  The plan is to wait until our little one arrives to purchase the bedding and use the bassinette until the bedding arrives.  

If it's a girl, we'll get this bedding:  "Butterfly Meadow" by Kidsline, Inc. 

If it's a boy, we'll get this bedding: "Baby Noah" by Bananafish

For anyone interested in taking a peek at the registry, it's registry #94774637 at BabysR'Us.

  

Winter Adventures

For those of you that haven't heard yet, Tim and I decided a couple of weeks ago to build an ice rink in our backyard this winter.  We ordered some greenhouse covering plastic to hold the water in and grabbed some boards from Dad P. to create the frame of the rink.  The weather has fluctuated recently with some below freezing weather but not long enough to allow for the ice to remain frozen in our rink until.... this morning.  Tim tested the ice and although it wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of an adult, it was strong enough for the kids!  Here's a video of our children spending their first moments on our home ice!