The Name Game

So, since Baby P finally let out the big secret that she's a girl I have torturing myself trying to come up with the perfect name. See, if it was a boy we knew 100% that he would be Declan Leo. The Mr. and I both agreed on Declan years ago (long before a baby was in the plans) and love the name, and Leo is his dad's middle name, Grandpa and Great-Grandpa's first name. It was perfect. So, for the first half of the pregnancy we threw around girls names and both approved of Anika, but of course, now that it's time to actually commit to a girl name I just can't do it.

Do I still like Anika? Most definitely, especially since the Mr. and I both have 3 syllable first names that end with an 'A' it is fun that it fits the mold. However, I am terrified that people will mispronounce it all of the time. We like the pronunciation of Ah-nick-ah, but I've already encountered people who try to pronounce it Ann-ick-ah or the dreaded Ah-neek-ah. Is it worth the risk of having to correct people on a regular basis? I've tried to come up with another girl name that I like as much and I'm having a very hard time. Turns out I'm very picky....for instance I stay away with anything that ends with an 'ee' sound because our last name does as well and needless to say it ends up being way too many ee's if it's in the first name as well. That and the other issue is that I come from a large family, supersize actually, with 57 first cousins. Yup, that's right, so a lot of names are already taken. For instance Addison, love it, but already used.

So, any suggestions? Throw them my way. If not, we'll keep throwing around ideas and probably, at the end of the day baby girl will be Anika. Anika Noelle to be exact. Guess we'll see what happens!

The Big Announcement

Our baby finally cooperated!

We're having a sweet baby GIRL!

And let me tell you, we were shocked. From the beginning we were both positive that this little one was a boy, but it looks like we had a sneaky little girl all along :)

Bump Update

Well I totally failed at getting a 26 week bump picture, but I still have a few old ones I haven't posted yet. Here we go!

Week 20

Turns out my week 20 picture is being weird and I can't get it to upload correctly. So, just picture me with a slightly larger stomach...and for some reason my butt sticking out because that's obviously a flattering pose, duh!


Week 22

Week 24

Ultrasound Round 2

Baby: 2 Parents: 0

Looks like our little one is going to be the best behaved kindergarten student out there. He/she is still breech and just sitting in there with his/her legs crossed. The Mr. and I couldn't help but just laugh this time around.

Good news is that our nurse practitioner is awesome and told us to make sure to schedule our next appointment (28 weeks) with her again and we'll sneak in for another quick ultrasound to see if he/she has flipped. She made it sound that as long as baby is breech we won't be able to tell what the gender is so we're crossing our fingers that he/she will flip head down in the next four weeks.

What a stinker!

Round Two

Okay, sweet babe. You have a second chance to spread your legs, please be a trooper and do so for your mom and dad! We so badly want to know what to call you. It's getting pretty old referring to you as an 'it.' So, pretty please cooperate right around 4 pm today. K? Thanks.

Mama

Uncooperative

At 20 weeks in utero, my child has already shown his/her stubborn side. We were so excited for our ultrasound and within the first couple minutes the ultrasound tech made a comment that our sweet babe had his/her legs crossed with a hand between them. In other words, there was little to no chance of finding out the sex. After about a half hour she had my get up to empty my bladder in hopes baby may move in the process. No such luck. So, here we are, 21 weeks and no clue if we are having a boy or a girl. I've begun to accept the idea of having to wait until delivery, however, the Mr. not so much. He very much still wants to find out. So, I have a call into the doctor's office to see if we can have another scheduled, and if not, we have a back up plan of paying for a 3d ultrasound. Guess we'll see what happens!

Related to the ultrasound, I was able to read the radiologist's review of the images and it turns out I have an anterior placenta. I have to say I was pretty relieved to hear that because although I feel baby move occasionally it's definitely not near as much as I thought I would. The anterior placenta helps to explain it though. The only time I really feel baby is when I'm laying down for a longer period of time, but never when I'm standing and very rarely when I'm sitting. I guess he/she is just aiming most of the kicks right into the placenta. Good news though is that the other night when I was laying in bed, baby was pretty active and luckily the Mr. was able to feel one strong kick. I was so happy that he was able to share in that.

In other big news of the week, the Mr. stepped foot in a Babies R Us for the first time ever! This may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, for him it totally is. We didn't start a registry yet, but it was pretty nice just walking around with him as we looked at all the different 'gear' and discussed the different things we would need. We tested out some rocker/gliders and decided that we're going with a white crib since we're going to refinish a dresser we already own and though white would be easiest to color match. He seems to be getting excited about working on these projects. First step: clean out the spare bedroom. Oof, that is NOT going to be fun. Needless to say it has been our dumping ground for miscellaneous stuff for the last four years, oops!

Today is the Day

Well folks, today is the day! The 20 week ultrasound is finally here! By 2:30 this afternoon we should know whether we are having a son or a daughter, our Declan or our Anika. I am so excited!

"Um, honey? I think something is coming between us."

That's right folks. The Mr. commented for the first time tonight that he is now definitely noticing the belly when we hug. I guess it's official, I have a bump :)

Update...with overdue pictures

19 weeks tomorrow. I have to say this pregnancy has flown by so far. I can't believe I only have 11 more days to wait before I find out if we're having a son or a daughter, only 8 more days until we're half way done! So crazy and so very exciting. I am still overall feeling great. This last week has actually been the roughest of the whole pregnancy and that is only because I feel as though I could sleep around the clock. I also scared the husband with the first hormonal crying fest. What made me cry? Trying to explain that I was just that tired. Poor guy handled it like a trooper. Only other complaints are just aches and pains of my body expanding. Early last week I was greeted with an incredibly sore tailbone are that I can only think to credit to changes in my pelvis. This morning I woke to all sorts of aches and pains but I think those are due solely to staining the deck yesterday.

Okay, now for the pictures. Please forgive the unkept state of my bedroom in the first couple and my extra stylish pajamas, I made a pact with myself that pictures from now on will be taken in actual clothes so I don't look like such bum. Oh and all of these are approximate dates, I'm horrible at remembering to take these pictures.

Week 14

Week 16

Week 18 (taken Saturday in the middle of the day so there is actually decent lighting, yay for small achievements!)

Last but not least, a belated 16 week appointment update. Everything was still looking great and the babe's heartbeat was a steady 144 bpm.

Oops

I guess I haven't updated lately at all. In all honesty, life has just been very low key lately. Don't get my wrong we've kept busy with all sorts of different activities but nothing 'big' has happened in quite a while. I am very much enjoying it.

Pregnancy update: the days just keep passing by. The belly bump is starting to make an appearance and it's starting to feel more real. As for symptoms I still can't complain. I have experienced some less than enjoyable constipation (what? there's no such thing as too much information on my own blog right?! haha) and heartburn is starting to make an appearance. Besides that, it's just the aches and pains of my body expanding to make room for the little one.

The Mr. and I did make our first baby purchase which I'm pretty excited about. I had my heart set on a Chicco car seat and after reading reviews I was crushing on a Baby Jogger stroller but hadn't seen one yet to confirm that opinion, however I happened up on a deal on Amazon I couldn't pass up. Britax just released a new car seat (the B-safe) and stroller (the B-Agile) and if you bought both of them you received a free extra car seat base (valued at $79) and a snack tray for the stroller ($20). I monitored the prices and was able to pick up all four items for $352.00! So far the reviews for the new seat and stroller are phenomenal but seeing as they were just released for sale this week I'm going to keep them in their boxes for a little while until more reviews are posted after people are able to buy them. With these items taken care of and my parents saying they want to buy the crib we almost have all of the 'big ticket' purchases taken care of. It is such a relief!

It's Official

The first trimester is done! It feels so good to know that I'm a third of the way through the pregnancy and that much closer to snuggling my son or daughter.

We had out 12 week appointment last week. The Mr. came with my once again and I am so happy that he wants to be involved in each doctor appointment. We were able to hear the heartbeat, a strong 160 beats per minute, but I'm going to whine for a bit because they didn't let us listen for long. Honestly, I could have laid there all afternoon listening to the whoosh whoosh of our little one's beating heart. I don't know if I've ever heard a more beautiful sound.

My birthday is coming up in a few weeks so the Mr. is starting to ask what I want. We were throwing around a few ideas last night and I'm torn between something practical like the fancy rocking chair I think I want (I say think because I have only been admiring it online, I still need to try it out) or something just for me, like replacement diamond earrings since I lost one or tickets to see Adele. Ah well, he has ideas, not it's up to him to figure it out I guess!

11 Weeks

Wow, we're already almost done with the first trimester! I have to say it absolutely flew by. Looking back I had prepared myself to have a first trimester filled with horrible nausea, throwing up constantly, and complete exhaustion and I truly experienced none of it. I've definitely been more tired than I am normally, but not to the point of needing to go to bed way earlier or take regular naps. I think I took only 3 naps over the last 6 weeks and I couldn't be happier to say that.

With that said, we made the big reveal this last weekend to both sets of parents. It was really nice to be able to talk to my mom a bit about how her pregnancies were. Turns out I just come from very good pregnant lady genes because my mom claims to have had pretty much symptomless pregnancies! I was so happy to hear that because I was really starting to worry that maybe something was 'wrong' with my pregnancy since it has been so easy.

My one real symptom finally sent me to the store today. Oh yes, that's right, mama needed some new bras. I even had a couple of friends at work today comment that I was looking rather voluptuous, haha. However, I am a total bra snob. I have bought nothing but Victoria's Secret since I was 17 and trying on bras at Target just showed me that you definitely get what you pay for! Needless to say I came home with a couple that once I tried them on at home (because I didn't feel like going for round 2 in the fitting room) I discovered they will be going back to the store tomorrow. Wish me luck finding something that works!

The Mr. and I did start the bump picture tradition last week, but they haven't been uploaded yet so I'll try to do a post with pictures sometime soon. The bump is definitely starting to make an appearance!

Party Time is Over!

Whoo hoo! Normally I am down for a good party and I don't mind hosting at all, but I must say it is such a relief to have this party over with! Even though I have had, what I would consider, an easy first trimester thus far the added work and stress of hosting 60 people Saturday night was not treating me well. The party came together fabulously, my sister and I did a great job (if I'm allowed to give myself a pat on the back). We turned the Mr.'s man cave of a shed into a beautiful 50th bash. I am kicking myself now for not taking pictures, if I can track any down I will share for sure.

I think the most stressful part of the whole party was trying to keep this baby a secret still. One more week until we tell the parents and all hell breaks loose, which at this point I am really looking forward too. This is where I confess that I am a horrible secret keeper, on top of that this was a pretty large family even with approximately 30 of my aunts and uncles and I had a pretty hard time keeping my mouth shut. They all wanted to make small talk and chat about what was going on in my life, etc and of course there is this HUGE thing happening that I need to keep quiet about. On top of that many of my mom's sisters who I am actually very close to know that I will have at least 1-2 drinks at a family event so trying to come up with reasons why I wasn't drinking wasn't going so well. I am pretty sure at least 3 of them figured it out but at least they were nice enough not to question it. I am so excited for the people I love to know about the little babe, but I am absolutely dreading how crazy my mom is going to be about the whole thing. Next weekend will be a doozy for sure!

Quick Update

I've been slacking. Live has been absolutely crazy lately, not only have I been coping with the first trimester exhaustion, we are throwing a surprise 50th birthday for my mom on Saturday (complete with 60+ guests) so things around the house have been chaotic.

However, my dear Mr. just made my heart grow at least three sizes. It's been hard to figure out what is going through his head about baby, but I just got a text from him that as he's driven by garage sales at work today there are a ton of cribs and baby stuff. Now, don't construe this to mean I trust him to buy baby stuff from garage sales since I have a feeling we have completely different standards, but at least I know his heart is in it. He's going to be such a good daddy.

Introducing Baby P!

We had our first ultrasound today! Baby P is measuring at 7w4d so they'll probably be changing my original due date. His or her little heart is beating at a solid 150 beats per minute and his or her little body resembles the cutest little blob I've ever seen.

Baby is the blob on the left and the blob on the right is the yolk sac. We were even able to see the developing cord. It's so amazing and I am so grateful the Mr. was able to be there with me.

PS: Why don't women warn one another of the trans-vaginal ultrasound? They always make ultrasounds look so nice on TV!

The First Prediction

Two posts in one afternoon?! Say it ain't so!

I had to document that the first gender predictions have been made. The sole gentleman coworker I have (who I refer to as my work grandpa because he is just that old) told me he hasn't been wrong in his last 25 predictions and he thinks baby will be a boy. However, the other person we were talking with at the time said she thinks it's a girl. I'm leaning more towards the work grandpa's guess since that is what the Chinese gender chart says as well. Too bad we have to wait until August to find out!

7 Weeks

I have the best of intention to have the Mr. take the initial bump shot but it never fails that we forget until we're crawling into bed for the night. I think I will set an alarm on my phone so we can take one tonight. Seven weeks is a good starting point, right? I definitely have the early pregnancy bloated belly thing going on. So excited for when the babe is actually large enough to create a bonafide bump!

Turns out the Mr. and I are both awful with secrets. We are still holding strong on not telling our parents, grandparents and extended relatives about the baby until at least Father's Day, but we've spilled the beans to our close friends (mine more than his, a girl needs support right?!) and siblings. I feel kind of guilty about this, but it all comes down to the fact that we just can't trust the grandmas to not tell the whole world! I'm scared enough to tell them on Father's Day because that is only 10w5d and I can guarantee that my mom especially won't be able to keep her mouth shut until the 13th week. Guess we'll see what happens! Oh, and quite a few of my coworkers know as well, but when you work in an office of women that is just bound to happen. This entire paragraph was pretty much just meant to justify that what I did was okay, am I completely off base? Not like I can change it now anyways.

6w3d

It's official, I had my first baby related dream last night! I'm not normally a dreamer so it was absolutely crazy how vivid it was. I was at my ultrasound appointment that is scheduled for 8 weeks and the ultrasound tech told me that I was actually 12 weeks pregnant and it was a boy. Absolutely ridiculous because I know I couldn't actually be 12 weeks and that you can't tell the sex of the baby that early but my subconscious must not be totally convinced!

In other news, I am still being blessed with a nausea free pregnancy. I get little bouts of upset stomach, but as soon as I eat something it goes away. I know it's still crazy early, but I'm hoping it stays this way!

Oh, just realized I never updated that my 7w3d ultrasound was pushed back to the 8w point because the ultrasound tech's schedule changed. So there's that.

Mixed Emotions

My sister-in-law's father passed away tonight after a courageous 4 year battle with A.L.S. He was an amazing man who will be missed by many. My heart just aches thinking about what his family is going through right now. So my brother and sister-in-law could be with her family tonight I babysat their daughter (along with my other sister-in-law), needless to say we made sure she had more than enough auntie love and gave her lots of extra kisses as we snuggled her to sleep. Her papa was one in a million.

The good news I wanted to write about the other day when blogger was unfortunately down. I had my first OB appointment last Thursday and it went great. I am so sad my CNP can't deliver the baby because we get along just great, but I am definitely going to make sure I see her for a lot of my prenatal appointments. The most exciting part of my appointment is that my CNP is a firm believer of early ultrasounds so she decided that we'll fudge the truth about the accuracy of my dates. So....we get to see our baby for the first time a 7 weeks 3 days! I can't wait! I'm trying my hardest to get rid of my fear that I will miscarry. I have no reason to think I will, but every pain I feel makes me think that is what is happening. Guess all I can do is hope and pray that our sweet babe sticks with us. Whenever I'm scared I have the hubs kiss my tummy and tell the baby to hold on tight. Obviously I know that it won't make a difference but at least it puts a smile on my face. He's going to be such an amazing daddy.

Still excited, but...

Today has been a doozy of a Monday. On day 2 of a horrible headache, forgot to pack Tylenol and it seems that my entire office is made up of ibuprofen people (PS: it's pretty impossible to try to hint that only Tylenol will do without announcing you are pregnant) and a particularly hard to deal with client is on his way into the office because he's mad at me. Is it 4:30 yet? Pretty please?

I Could Not Be Happier

Enough Said

Oh Yeah

Things are trucking along now! Landscape plan is completed so the Mr. is doing some work re-routing sprinkler heads and then we'll get with the planting! The deck should be started in the next week or two, and invitations to my mom's 50th bash are sent out. The next couple months are going to be great.

The best part? I'm officially two days late for aunt flow. The Mr. is being a trooper dealing with the daily (who am I kidding, hourly?) updates and I decided to test tomorrow morning if things stay the way they are. I can't believe my dreams may finally be coming true.

Getting the Gears Turning

The Mr. and I are both taking work off tomorrow to meet with a landscape designer. This designer was actually a regular at the gas station I worked at when I was a teenager. He would stop in every morning and evening to fill trucks and feed his crew so I got to know him and his guys well. He owns a company that installs and maintains decorative ponds in yards, but he also does general landscaping as well. Actually, I referred my parents his way about a year ago because they have a decorative pond/waterfall in their backyard which needed some maintenance. Designer guy swooped in and saved the day. Actually, saving the day is an understatement. I am forever grateful to him. He has come out in his spare time to help with trimming of shrubs for free. Such a huge help to my dad who just can't keep up with that stuff anymore due to his MS.

Anywho...he's coming out to our place tomorrow morning to help us brainstorm some ideas for out 2 acres of wide open nothingness. Seriously, our yard is pretty sad. Beautiful for it's size, especially now since the grass outnumbers the weeds (success!), but it has nothing going on. Once he does some design work for us, we have to do the hard work. It's definitely not in our budget to have people come out to landscape for us, but with a little sweat, and probably a decent amount of bickering through the process, I believe we can totally do this. Especially since my sister and brother-in-law have volunteered to help. Yay!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Things are going to be changing at our household. Well, some things have actually already happened but there are more to come!

Last week we said goodbye to the motorcycle. It was a sad, sad day but we know it was the responsible choice. The bike had been a part of our happy home since September 2009 and although we loved it dearly it still didn't get the love and attention it deserved :) We quickly discovered that we didn't have free time to just go for a ride, and a motorcycle isn't a feasible travel option when you always seem to have stuff to bring to your destination. However, I may have been known to just carry things inside my jacket a time or two! Anyhow, with children in the plan for the near future we knew the bike would just get less and less use so it was time to get rid of it. Luckily we were able to take it out shortly before the new owner picked it up and I was able to get a cute lil pic of our niece going for a 'ride.'

Next up: A deck! The Mr. and I made a trip to the Home Depot to get the exact materials list so now we just need to go back and order once we're ready. It's the goal to have the footings in this weekend and then start building Friday the 6th. I am so unbelievably excited! I love the idea of being able to spend many summer evenings on our new outdoor living space. Best part of the deck is that it will be the size of my kitchen, living room, and dining room all rolled into one. Oh so fabulous!

Back to Reality

We are officially back from vacation and back to reality. Can I get a big ole "boo!"? That's how I'm feeling right now. I want to throw a fit because I don't want to get back to reality. But, guess what? We're throwing a big party at our house in less than two months and we have a lot of work to do so it's time to get with it. I promise that I will do a San Francisco wrap up complete with a few pictures, but in all honesty, my cat is sitting on my lap as I write this so I can't get up to grab the camera and upload my pictures. Lame excuse, right? I'm sticking with it.

Try, try again.

Well, not pregnant this month but trying to think positive and now I know I can drink as much wine as I want in San Francisco this weekend. Still pretty bummed though. Hopefully April will the the lucky month!

Yellow Songbird's Saturday Snapshot

In honor of my dad's 53rd birthday today I thought I'd take part in Yellow Songbird's Saturday link up. So without further ado, here's a picture circa 1989. Congrats dad on the awesome short shorts and tube sock look :)

Remember when....

....I made that list of things we need to get done in our yard before we host a family event at our place in June? Well, it is going to be even more difficult to accomplish now since the Mr. has been shipped off to Grand Forks, ND to work. Boo! That means we have some crazy busy weekends in store which is further complicated by the fact that we're both in a friend's wedding on May 7th which means our weekends for the next month are packed with wedding festivities. I know I'm probably the only Minnesotan who feels this way, but I already miss winter a bit because life is so much slower paced.

Looking to the positives, our San Francisco trip is next week already! I already have a night trip to Alcatraz booked and a tentative list of other must do activities. I'm so excited to have another vacation with my love already. However, I have a feeling there will be no more vacations for a while after this so I better enjoy every second!

What's that?

Ok, so now that pregnancy is a possibility I second guess everything that is happening with my body. It's so weird! I've been crampy (sorry, best description I can come up with) today and instead of just thinking "oh, weird cramps" I automatically think "didn't I read something about cramping being a sign of implantation?" I want to think that maybe I'm lucky enough to have gotten knocked up in the first month, but I really don't want to get my hopes up either.

*keeping fingers crossed*

Holy Yardwork Batman!

The Mr. and I finally took down our Christmas lights yesterday. I know, it's about time seeing as Christmas was three months ago but in our defense it is Minnesota and no outside activity, besides shoveling, is required until the snow melts. However, taking those suckers down was definitely much quicker than I expected and in future years I don't think we'll be waiting until March.

While outside tackling that project we walked a lap around the house making note of what we want to do with our yard. We've been in our house for over 3 years now and the outside is just pathetic. Sure, the Mr. built his gigantic shed and we put in a sprinkler system and are still trying to grow grass but when it comes to landscaping we have done diddly. Then, it occured to me that we're throwing a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom. At our house. In June! Holy crap we need to get moving. We're talking about all of my aunts and uncles (which in a central Minnesota German farming family equals over 50 people) and family friends. That is a lot of people that are going to be seeing our house for the first time so we need to get cracking on making it presentable. So, our list so far includes:

- get grass growing better (aka overseed and fertilize)
- build the deck
- build a porch
- blockwork in front of porch with potted plants
- blockwork along side of shed
- fix up retaining walls

In other words, this is going to be a busy (and expensive) spring! Oh, and did I fail to mention the Mr. is probably going to be working out of town so all this needs to be accomplished on the weekends?

Finding Motivation

I have been feeling so darned lazy lately! There are things I want to accomplish, know exactly what I need to do to finish the projects I have on my mental list, but when I have the time to do it, I just want to kick back with my Kindle and do nothing. It stinks! I should be so much farther on sewing the bags than I am right now. Tonight, the Mr. and I picked up a new headboard that we found on Craigslist. It is kind of disappointing so far because it's not what I expected, but I'm still hopeful that some black spray paint will help transform it. I'm so excited to make our bedroom more 'grown up' feeling and I think the headboard will be a great first step.

One of my coworker friends announced today that she is pregnant, again. She has a 13 month old and is now due in September. I am so very happy for her and so, so jealous all at the same time. I have a deep seated fear that I won't be able to get pregnant right away. Logically, I know that it very well could take a few months, but I really don't know if I could handle it! Guess we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

Babies on the Brain

Why is it that when you want something it seems to be happening to everyone but you? It's absolutely amazing how many pregnant people I know right now! I am so happy for all of them but am thrilled that hopefully it will be me soon as well.

I'm starting to get pretty worried about just how many people know that March is the golden month. The month when I'm finally kicking the pill. I wish I could have kept my mouth shut about it but I'm just so damned excited! Definitely worried though because if we can't get pregnant pretty much right away there are going to be a lot of people who know. Which definitely stinks. However at least my girls will be there to pick me up if that's the case, cause lord knows I won't handle it too well. As long as we continue to keep my mom and the mother in law in the dark I'll be fine. They are both way too much to handle about the whole baby thing and there is no way I could handle them knowing, it would be suffocating. That, and the whole entire world would know. Pretty ironic, huh? I write about this and post it to the internet but I'm more fearful of what my mom would do with the news.

Making Plans and Kicking....well nothing

Girls road trip to Chicago is done and over. Great experience but torturous drive home. Leave it to us to end up driving through a blizzard on our way back. We left Chicago at 7 am and I didn't get home until 7:30 pm. Thank goodness for good company for the long car ride. Slow and steady the whole way through.

It was a great relaxing weekend with my favorite blonde "sisters." Plus, I scored some amazing new clothes and my first ever pair of boots. Yes, I am that late to the trend and finally bought adorable boots. The best part is that I scored them for $60 at Nordstrom Rack and when I went home I discovered they are originally $240 boots! I love a good deal!

One more picture just for funsies, this is my "little sister" and I looking classy:

Of course, I got home from this little trip and needed to try to schedule another one. Luckily, the stars aligned and the Mr. and I scored cheap tickets to San Francisco to a friends wedding in April. I was finally resigned to missing the weekend because whenever I checked flights were well over $400 a person but I checked again yesterday and they came down to $309! Needless to say I convinced the Mr. it was a must have and we booked last night. I don't think he's super excited for the trip since he's not really a 'lets go explore the city' type of person but he's being a trooper because he knows how much I want to see my friend on her special day. All this means I need to start finding activities for us ASAP because we'll have 3 whole days to ourselves and I want to make sure he enjoys himself. I have been to SF 3 times now but my time is usually spent shopping and I know that won't thrill him. So, if anyone has guy friendly Bay Area activities let me know, I need them!

Now we just need to figure out this whole baby thing. We are getting so close to our original off the pill date and it's starting to terrify me. I know that I want a baby but it's starting to freak me out a bit that it could happen so soon! Should we wait till we're a bit later? Will we regret spending our 20's raising babies? I really don't know and my mind flips back and forth just about every day. Decisions, decisions.

Good things to come

There are many things on my to do list right now and the next few weekends are full of social obligations leaving little to no time to do them!

Currently, I am in the middle of sewing five more bags like these ones:

It's so rewarding when they are done, but man alive it's putzy! The last time I made a group like this they were for my bridesmaids so I didn't even get the reward of a purse for myself in the end. This time, I made sure that wasn't going to happen. There's a beauty in the mix for little ole me!

On top of that, I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to redecorate our bedroom. I know we can't afford a nice matching bedroom set so I'm searching for pieces that coordinate. Before new furniture comes in I need to paint one of the walls, which will be quite the project since it's a deep red now so it'll need primer as well as a few coats for gray I'm sure. In other words, a definite weekend project (if not two weekends!) and there isn't an open one until at least March at this point.

With all that said, I am so excited for the next couple of weekends. We have a wedding this weekend for one of my many cousins, but I'm really looking forward to it. I enjoy weddings on a whole new level now that I've had my own big day. Then next weekend, three friends and I are road tripping to Chicago. I haven't visited the city since I was about 8, so even though it's only two nights I know it's going to be great!

Enough rambling for tonight, I think bedtime is approaching quickly. It's been a rough week.

Finding a New Normal

This is an odd one for me. No worries, there haven't been any drastic changes in our lives. For the first tine in a long time there isn't anything 'big' happening. No wedding to plan for, no time consuming holidays, and the honeymoon is officially over. So, we are left with big ole empty evenings that need filling. Don't get me wrong, we can relax and bum around with the best of them. And according to my coworkers we're supposed to relish every last minute of that exact 'bum around' time before kiddos come into the picture. The problem is, I feel so darned lazy if I do that, it seems like I should be doing more with my time. So, how do I fill it? Sure I could start some new hobbies, like try to amp up my sewing projects, but then what happens to it once we do have a kid?

I suppose I'll just wrap this up by saying, I sure am happy my dilemmas are so trivial.

It's been awhile......

Wow, a lot has happened since August. The Mr. and I were married October 23rd, and it was absolutely perfect. Our day turned out just fabulously and it couldn't have been a better day. I am so happy that we both truly enjoyed our day and had fun.

Now, a few months later, we're just back from our honeymoon to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and, surprise surprise, it was a great vacation. It was the Mr.'s first time out of the country and his first time in the ocean. I was so honored to be able to experience those with him. He was happy as a clam swimming in the ocean, but wasn't too keen on the saltwater :)

With all the wedding/honeymoon craziness out of the way, we've been trying to find a new rhythm to our life. I have been inspired recently by a handful of blogs and am really trying to challenge myself to try new things. For one, younghouselove.com has lit a fire in me to become more of a do-it-yourself'er. The Mr. isn't too keen on all of my ideas but we're compromising on a variety of projects so it's all good! I've also gotten into another sewing kick, but this time it's all for fun! I made all the ladies of my wedding party an Amy Butler Birdie Sling as a thank you gift and they were such a hit everyone in my life wants one now! So, I've started another round of 5, and two of them are getting purchased! The rest are gifts, but a whole bunch of others have showed interest in purchasing them, so I may start making them to sell, guess we'll have to wait and see.

I really want to become dedicated to this blogging thing, so if anyone actually happens upon my little blog, please feel free to leave some tips. I'm pretty clueless about this whole process. All I know is I love love love to read blogs and would love to take mine 'a step further,' if you will.