Baby Update

I had a doctor's appointment today and all is going well - baby is measuring right on target and I'm feeling as well as can be expected in Vegas, in the summer. I close my eyes when I step on the scale, and I avoid all discussion on weight gain, but that's just to spare me the agony. :)

I am 27 weeks, but I thought my doctor said today that I was 28 weeks on Sunday... I'll take the 28 weeks. I had an ultrasound about 4 weeks ago (a second one to check on one of the chambers of the heart - it looked good), and the baby is still a boy. So, I felt ok buying some boy stuff and getting fabric for his bedding and room. I am doing the bumpers, sheets and crib skirt and some pillows and curtains. I am hoping my sister in law will help me paint this really cute pattern from one of the fabrics onto the wall - she's good at that stuff.

I went with a more modern baby room again - nothing really baby blue or baby-ish. Claire's room has bold colors and polka dots with other patterns - not a bit of pink, I'm afraid. But this time we know we have a boy, so I can go with blue and brown. It should be cute, I think. I tried to sew a lot over Memorial Day since I had the day off - so nice! I still feel like I am working a lot - I need to stop doing some of these volunteer boards and officer positions, it adds up and is a lot of time.

Anyway, my sister also finally announced that she is pregnant too - she is due in November, not sure yet what she is having. So my sister and sister in law are both prego - these kids will all be within 3 months of each other. I just wish we all lived as close as their birthdates will be.

Girls Trip to Chicago

I was lucky enough to take a recent trip to Chicago with some of my best friends - girls that I used to travel with quite a bit, but since I've been married that hasn't happened. So I figured before I have a newborn again, I better take this chance to go. None of us had ever been to Chicago so it was a new experience for everyone. I hope I didn't hold back my friends too much - I don't know if it's being pregnant or getting older but I was just plain tired! I just can't get by on 5-6 hours of sleep a night, which we did a few times. I'm not sure when I will get a trip like that again, and I'm grateful to Matt for being a single parent for the four days I was gone. I am so glad I went - but I was definitely ready to come home to see Claire and Matt. Here are some pictures from the trip - we also went up the Sears Tower (it was alright), toured historic Lincoln sites in Springfield, IL (3 hours away), and ate true Chicago style pizza and hot dogs. Yum!

Welcome to Chicago!


The road was closed for incoming traffic so we got to take this cool picture of a city street


One of our stops was Millennial Park - this was a cool sculpture where you could see the reflection of the city, and yourself inside, pretty cool


We saw Mary Poppins, which had the original Mary and Burt from the Broadway cast. They were fabulous and we loved it!


Statue of the American Gothic painting, which we also saw in the Art Institute Museum that we toured. Turns out this is a farmer and his unmarried daughter - I always thought it was his wife

Four Years

Today is our fourth wedding anniversary. We heard on the news that today - 05-07-09 -is being called "Odd Day" and that they are holding a contest to see what the day should be about. We vote for a big party for us :) We thought about getting married on 05-05-05 - at least I did. But then our anniversary would be on Cinco de Mayo every year.



Part of me feels like time has flown by - but the other part feels like we should be married longer to have one kid and another on the way already. I guess that's what happens though - life moves so fast and you have to take a step back every now and then to get a better view. I just know what I love being married, I love having a family and I can't wait for it to grow again soon. Matt has seen me at my worst, things I would have been mortified to experience with him when we were dating, yet he's sticking around. That's a nice feeling. I know it's only four years, but it's a start and I can't wait to write something about our 44th anniversary someday.

Are We Campers?

Both Matt and I grew up going on regular camping trips, so we decided to try to answer that question by spending a weekend camping with my sister and her family up in Utah - about a four hour drive North. The forecast called for rain - we dared mock weather.com - and it rained all night Friday and most of the day on Saturday. We had a great time with the campfire - eating outside, cooking food on the grill. Camping is all about eating, at least to me. But nighttime was no picnic - we had a new tent, Claire had a new sleeping bag, but it wasn't enough to fight the rain, the crazy animal sounds all night and morning, and a close encounter with a wild animal in our campsite that we are hoping was a deer or a dog from a neighboring campsite. Not to mention my bladder is now the size of a pistachio and the flush toilets (thank goodness) were a few minutes down the road. Claire did not sleep - needless to say, we did not sleep.


So, maybe we're campers, but not with a toddler? The jury is still out. We might be brave enough to try again this summer - but whoever is pregnant at the time has the ultimate veto power when it comes to camping. We might be staying home...

Here are some pics mostly of Claire and McKinley - they had so much fun together. Claire got in trouble for something, I can't remember what exactly - I put her in timeout. McKinley came up to me, very polite and diplomatic, and said - "be nice to my friend Claire Bear, she's my cousin." How can you say no to that?