My Decade Recap

I saw someone else do this in their blog and thought it would be very interesting to see how far I have come in 10 years.  December 31, 2009 also marks my 10 year anniversary moving to Minnesota!

2000 – New to MN.  Working at TeamExcel as a Jr. Recruiter/Sales Assistant.  Got a part time job working Lands End Inlet in Richfield.  Living in Burnsville. 

2001 – Started working at The Musicland Group in May.  Met my favorite New Kid – Joey McIntyre in June while covering the receptionist desk.  Still working at Lands’ End.  Moved to South Minneapolis, just a couple of blocks from Lake Harriet.

2002 – Sill working at MLG.  Started hanging out with the MLGrlz – a group of 5 of us who all worked in HR, right around the same age.

2003 – Moved from MLG to working at Best Buy Corporate HR.  Met Reid at Lands’ End in April – we were just friends.  My best friend Lisa got married in Oct and it was the first and only time that I have been in a wedding (other than my own).  Attended my first play-off game for the Chicago Cubs – they lost L Starting dating Reid sometime in November (neither one of us remember the exact date of our first date).  Went to a lot of concerts.

2004 – Switched jobs in March to Telemasters, Inc.working as a Program Assistant.  Finally quit Lands’ End.  Moved to a different apartment located in Edina with a roommate.  In July I survived my first trip the Boundary Waters and I loved it! October I bought my Honda Civic which I still have.

2005 – Still working at Telemasters.  Moved to a new apartment in South Minneapolis on France Ave – no more roommate!  Took a long road trip to New Orleans with Reid in early spring.  In July I started my first blog.  Reid didn’t think I would really keep up with it, but I did, so for Christmas he got me a digital camera, so I could upload photos.

2006 – This is a big year.  In March I got engaged!  Reid and I moved into a duplex in South Minneapolis, just a couple of blocks from Lake Harriet at the end of May.  In August we got married at the Rose Gardens at Lake Harriet in a small ceremony.  In September we had a BBQ reception.  In November I switched jobs and started working at the University of Minnesota in the Office of Continuing Medical Education.

2007 – It was a pretty quiet year for the most part.  At the end of May Reid and I took another trip to the Boundary Waters.  It was a little bit more intense than the previous trip, but looking back now, I have very fond memories.  I also turned 30 in June.  That was really about all the exciting stuff that we did.  Mainly because we were busy saving money and paying down debt.

2008 – This was quite the busy year.  In February we went to Mexico on vacation.  It was great to be gone in the middle of the winter.  In April I became a Godmother to Caiden who was born on April 4.  At the end of April Reid and I bought our house.  It needed a lot of work, so we started many home improvement projects.  In the summer Reid’s sister gave birth to a baby girl, Anna and my brother also had his first child, Saffron.  But the biggest highlight of the summer was bringing home our puppy, Sammy Nimz in June.

2009 – That brings us to this year.  Another big year full of change.  This spring I decided I wanted to go back to school for Early Childhood Education.  At the end of June I gave 2 months notice to my work and then we found out that we were expecting a baby!  In the fall I returned to school after 10 years.  In November my Grandma Blume passed away.  And now we are getting our house ready to welcome our baby next year.

As I look back, it’s really amazing and exciting to see how much I have grown throughout these 10 years.  I remember that when I first moved to Minnesota I really struggled to find myself and where I fit in.  I never thought I would stay here for 10 years, in fact, during that first or second year, I was making plans to move to a warmer state.  I am glad I stuck it out here.  Right now I can’t imagine living anywhere else!

I have a feeling that the next ten years are going to go by really fast.  I am so excited to become a mom and I look forward to starting a new career.  There is one thing that I know for sure – I hope to not move out of this house in the next ten years!  I did enough moving this past decade!

Baby Pool

I have tossed around the idea for sometime about doing a little baby pool for Baby Nimzlet. Today I finally took the time to set one up online.

There will be a fabulous prize to the winner of the pool, so take a shot at guessing the date of birth, gender, time of birth, length, weight, hair and name. I have put the link in the side of the blog, but you can go to Baby Nimzlet Pool if you want to guess right now.

Good Luck!

Christmas 2009 Recap

Here's the thing - Christmas day this year sucked for me.  It didn't seem like Christmas at all.  The lesson that I learned from this - if they are predicting that the weather is going to be bad - I will just cancel travel plans and make plans to be home.  What we did instead of this was play the "wait and see" game.  Bad choice, because instead of planning a Christmas meal and how Uncas and I should spent Christmas day together, I just sat and wondered if I would be traveling.  Well, we didn't travel and I felt completely lost on Christmas day.  The first time in my life I did not spend Christmas with any family. 

We did go see a movie, Up in the Air who stars one of my favorite people - George Clooney.  We also had Christmas dinner at Champps, a local sports bar - I know - merry Christmas to us!  While I was quite thankful to be spending the day with my husband and I acknowledge the fact and that I am very blessed, Christmas still sucked.

But the rest of the weekend took a turn for the better.  Maybe it's because we ended up spending lots of money.  Shopping does make everything better!  We now have a dresser for the baby's room and a new dining table and chairs.  Uncas needs to stain the dresser for the baby's room, so no pictures just yet.  As for the dining room table - we weren't even planning on buying one, but we found one that we fell in love with.  We won't have it for another 6-8 weeks, so again no pictures.

Another thing that makes you feel good is doing hard work.  We decided to finally paint our dining room.  It's literally the last room in the house that hasn't been painted.  In fact, we spent this weekend taking down wallpaper glue.  This week we'll be finishing it up before Uncas's parents come to visit on New Year's Eve.

All in all - the holiday wasn't a complete disaster.  My parents will be coming to visit in early January, so we can celebrate with them and we'll see my in-law's this weekend to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with them.  And one other highlight from this weekend - Saturday marked 30 weeks!  That means I just have 10 weeks left (probably closer to 11 or 12) till we meet our little baby!  I can't wait!!!!

Merry Christmas from Minnesota!

Stuck in Minnesota for Christmas

My favorite Christmas present this year!

Should We Stay or Should We Go?

That is the big question of the day.  Should we attempt to drive to my parents for Christmas tonight or should we wait and see if the storm of the century really hits in the next couple of days?  We are going to make a decision after Uncas gets home from work tonight, but only time and weather will tell.

Until then - we are all ready for Christmas.  Here is a picture of our tree with all the presents:

And here are the gingerbread cookies that I made last week:

Not much else has been going on around here.  So, here are some cute puppy pictures from the past week:

Cuddling with Daddy

Helping Mama with crocheting.

Another Milestone

I don't know that it's a very exciting milestone, but sadly this morning I took off my wedding ring;-(  I have noticed it getting tighter lately, and I just don't want to take the chance that it gets stuck on my finger.  I have other rings, but that particular ring finger is really small (despite the fact my wedding is currently tight), so all my other rings are too big. 

Uncas has talked about getting another ring for me to wear.  I don't really care if I am actually wearing one, although after having one on for 3 1/2 years, I feel strangely naked without it!

End of Semester

Today marked my last official day of class.  Tomorrow I have one final left and I am done with the semester - hurray!  I have been putting off a lot of things these past couple of weeks, so I can just focus on school.  I can't wait to clean my house, wrap Christmas presents, bake some cookies, and just think about and prepare for this little baby that is kicking me as I type!

I don't really have too much new to say about school.  It's been a great semester and I have said it before, but I will say it again - I really enjoyed my classes.  I look forward to going back to get my licensure, but truth be told - I don't know exactly when that will be.  I honestly can't make a decision on if I will return to school next fall until after the baby is born.  But the good thing is that I know when I am ready, I know what I am going to do and that makes it a lot more appealing.

In other news - I did have Uncas take "real" week 28 pictures.  I can't say they are any better because I look really tired in them, but here they are anyways:

In still other news - Sammy is not really enjoying this colder weather.  I can tell he is tired of being inside, but he just gets so cold (particularly his paws), so unfortunately there isn't much to be done about it.  I think this weekend we'll have to take him to the pet store for a little field trip.  Here is a picture of him cuddling on Daddy's lap while Daddy plays some football on the Wii.

And finally - each year for Christmas my best friend Lisa and I do an ornament exchange.  I love it because as the years go by, my tree is starting to have more and more unique/fun ornaments.  Today I got mine from Lisa in the mail.

Does anyone know how to flip the picture?  It wasn't like this in Picasa!  Sometimes I really hate Blogger!!!

Anyhow - despite the picture being flipped, I think you can see it.  Unfortunately Lisa will have to wait 10 more days until she gets her ornament, because I am not sending it to her.  I hope (weather willing) to give it to her in person!

Ok - I should probably get back to studying now . . .

28 Weeks

Officially tomorrow I will be at 28 weeks, but Uncas will be helping a friend move and I don't want to forget to take a belly picture.  So, I took some this morning.  They aren't the greatest, and hopefully tomorrow we'll remember to take better ones.

Sometimes I don't think I look that big, but when I just see my bare belly (sorry, won't be posting any pictures of those), it looks huge to me!

I am having some challenge finding clothes warm enough for me right now.  Fortunately my dear husband has given me a few things from his closet.  Today I am wearing his shirts, which are super comfortable and warm!  At night you can find me wearing his huge UMD sweatshirt while watching tv.  I think I will actually be able to wear it until March because it's so big.

So - here I am - third trimester.  12 weeks left, although, let's be honest - I am expecting at least 13 more weeks, especially if this baby is as poking as its father is in the morning! 

Behind

I am really behind on posting this week.  I think after the really busy past few weeks, I have sort of crashed and burned.  Although yesterday I felt like my energy was picking up a little bit, but now with the extreme cold here in MN, it makes me just want to bundle up and lay on the couch.

I do need to post a few more pictures from the past weekend.  Here are some of Saffron with her lovely "Blume" hair-do after she woke up from her nap on Sunday. 

Here are a couple more - one with my brother and Saffron and one with me and Saffron:

And finally - I took this picture of Tina and Snoopy sleeping together on Saturday afternoon.  It's so cute and it makes me want to get another dog for Sammy, so he has a cuddle buddy too, when Uncas and I are not around.

In other news - this is my last full week of classes.  Hard to believe the semester is coming to a close.  I have to say, surprisingly, I am a little sad.  I really enjoyed both of my classes.  Currently I have A's in both of them (go me!), and just have two final tests to get through.  I am not too worried and plan on studying this weekend. 

I will say that I am glad that the semester is ending, because this week it got COLD!  I have still been walking to class because it's good exercise, but man, when it's 2 degrees out with negative wind chill - it's tough.  And I can't walk as fast before, in fact, I feel like I am waddling lately, so it's a little slow going.

Which brings me to my next topic - baby stuff.  I thought that when you are pregnant, you are suppose to run warm all the time.  Well, I am still waiting for that "heater" to kick in.  I think mine is broken.  I wouldn't say that I feel hot or even warmer than before I was pregnant.  Maybe it will kick in when I am in the the third trimester.

And speaking of the third trimester - I reach that milestone on Saturday!  I can't believe I have made it that far.  Sometimes I am still amazed when I look down and see that growing belly of mine.  The weight gain has slowed, which is nice.  It only appears to really be in my mid-section.  I hope to continue walking every day on our treadmill once classes are done.  I think it's made a huge difference this fall.

At the beginning of the week I was thinking how great I am finally feeling while pregnant, although I shouldn't have thought that quite so soon.  The past few days have been rather uncomfortable.  I do see the light shining at the end of the tunnel, which is good.  I remember in July thinking how far off March seemed.  Now I feel like there isn't enough time to get everything done by March!  I wouldn't say that the time has gone by super quickly, although the past month time has seemed to pick up.

Lately I have been thinking more and more about the actual labor.  I know some friends (hi Jacqueline) who have horror stories about it and then other friends (hi Laura) who have had very fast, and relatively uncomplicated labors.  I suppose it's only natural to be thinking about it, especially at this point in the pregnancy.  Next week at our next prenatal appointment, we'll be touring Labor and Delivery.  I am looking forward to it, primarily because I have never spent the night in the hospital.  In fact, I don't even know where to go once I am in labor!  I can't say that I am terrified of labor or even scared, but it's unknown to me, so I keep trying to envision what it will be like. 

Anyhow - I need to get some brownies out of the oven now, but I want to end with one last picture.  This week my sister and nephew sent Baby Nimz it's first Christmas present.  I was so surprised and touched when it came in the mail, it brought tears to my eyes.  It's an evergreen tree that we can plant in our yard!

Visitors

This weekend my brother and his family are visiting.  They make this trek from Madison, WI every year around the same time, so they can do some Christmas shopping at MOA (Mall of America).  While Derek and Jeanna and Saffron head to the mall, Uncas and I stay behind with the dogs - we know what's it like to go to the mall this time of year, so we try to avoid it at all costs.  Here are some pictures from the visit so far:

Saffron and Jeanna

Saffron in the dog bed.

Snoopy and Sammy sleeping on me.

Sammy, Snoopy and Tina by the heater spot.

Coasting Downhill

It's hard to believe that I only have 2 1/2 weeks left of the semester. It has really flown by quickly. Last night I finished up my big paper, and I will be turning it in today. The only thing I have left now are my two finals. Neither should be very difficult. I have to say that classes this semester were a lot of fun. I liked my professors and the course content was really interesting. Very different than my undergrad experience. Of course I know that my own maturity probably has a lot to do with the experience this time around.

I already spoke to one of my professors about making accommodations for taking the final. For my Psych class, we take all tests in the computer lab. I love it because we pick the time we want to take the test (I almost always sign up for the first time slot) and we get our results instantly after we finish. But, with my growing belly, it has become more and more uncomfortable for me. Last week when I took the last test, my back was absolutely killing me. The test didn't take me longer than 30 minutes and the uncomfortableness didn't impact my grade (I got an A!), but I know that the final is a longer exam, so it will take more time. The course coordinator couldn't have been sweeter about the request. I have a few options, so I know we can figure something out.

And speaking of the belly and this baby - I am under the 100 day mark! According to my countdown, I have 95 days left (although, I am convinced that I will be delivering past the 40 week mark, so it's probably more than that). In a couple of weeks I will be in the 3rd trimester. I still can't believe I have made it this far. Most days I still can't believe I am really pregnant and going to have a baby! It amazes me how much stuff we have accumulated so far for the baby, and apparently we still need more!

Well, the baby is currently kicking me and reminding me that I need to get to class to turn in my paper!

Thanksgiving 2009

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We changed things up a bit this year and drove to Minocqua, WI (northern WI) to celebrate Thanksgiving with Reid's grandma at her house.  Reid's parents and sister with her family were also there. 

It was pretty low key and our entertainment was Anna, our 16 month old niece and Sammy.  The first thing Anna said when she arrived on Thursday was "puppy!" and continued all day long and this morning.  Sammy loved kissing and chasing her around.  Eventually, I think Anna started calling Uncas "puppy".  Those two really hit it off and it was a lot of fun to see Uncas play with Anna.

My mother-in-law did a fabulous job with Thanksgiving dinner (and with breakfast on Friday morning).  It's hard enough to prepare a big meal, but doing it at a strange kitchen makes it even more challenging, but she pulled it off.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Grandma with Sammy.

Apple pie and pumpkin pie - yum!

MIL taking a break from the kitchen.

Uncas with niece Anna.

Cuddling with Anna.

Tasty Turkey

MIL cuddling with her first grandchild

Anna helping sort through baby clothes

Four generations - Abbie (Uncas's sister, Grandma (Rita's mom), Rita (MIL) and Anna

Abbie brought me a bunch of baby stuff.  A huge box full of 0-3 month clothes (boy/girl/neutral), blankets, 2 breast pumps, 3 carriers, a car seat cover, bibs, hats, socks, and even more, but I can't remember it all.   Most of it went straight to the car, but I did go through the box of baby clothes.  Anna was helping me, when she saw me taking out the clothes.  Although her idea of "helping" consisted of picking up an outfit on throwing it on the ground.  I did have her model a couple of items (see picture above with bib and hat). 

With all the traveling that we do, I would have to say we have been fairly lucky with minimal mishaps.  Today, however, we had a little bit of excitement.  Uncas drove his car which is a VW Golf.  We stopped for gas at a small town in WI and happen to pull into a full service gas station.  The attendant filled up his car with gas. 

Major problem with that last statement; Uncas's car takes diesel. 

He specifically told the attendant that, but when the guy came to take the payment, Uncas realized the mistake.  Good thing he didn't start the car!  So, we had to wait about an hour for them to pump out the gas and then fill it back up with diesel. 

Everyone was super nice there, and we were able to wait inside their little shop with Sammy.  Fortunately Sammy was on his best behavior (I think he was utterly confused by the whole situation).  So after it was fixed, we went on our merry way.

Ten minutes later as we were driving something hit the windshield and put a huge circular crack in it!  We just looked at each other in disbelief!

The rest of the drive was uneventful, but we were never so glad to be home!  In the grand scheme of things, they were pretty minor incidents, although after the windshield thing, Uncas promptly asked me if I had my seat belt on! 

As I sit here and reflect on the holiday, I will admit that I am one of those cheesy people who likes to go around the table and make people say what they are thankful for.  I didn't this year because I know my FIL and husband would just roll their eyes.  But let me share with you what I am thankful for this year:

I am thankful that I was able to quit my job and pursue something that I really love to do.

I am thankful for my adorable puppy who makes me smile and keeps company during the day.

I am thankful for my friends and family who are constantly a source of support, inspiration and laughter.

But this year I am most thankful for my awesome husband and this little baby that grows inside of me. 

Catching Up and 25 Weeks

It's been a while and to be honest, I just haven't felt like blogging this week.  It's been a long one and I have to say that I am looking forward to Thanksgiving.  Thank you to all the nice comments and thoughts and prayers.  Even though traveling wasn't the most comfortable, I am so glad we went down to IL for the funeral.  It was great to spend time with family, and I was even able to see a couple of my close friends who came to the wake.  A HUGE thanks to my cousins (Michelle and Chad) for letting Reid and I "crash" at their place.  And another HUGE thanks to our friends Jessie and Rob for taking great care of Sammy while we were gone.

My mom and Saffron at the wake.

Here is a brief recap of our last week, which was surprisingly busy:

• Last weekend our friends Andy and Ella welcomed their beautiful daughter Eliza into the world.  On Wednesday evening we were able to stop by and meet Eliza.  As we were driving over to their house, we realized in a few a months we would be in the same situation.  It freaked us out!
• Tuesday we had another prenatal appointment.  I have to say that I really enjoyed this one.  I think in large part because about half of the group wasn't present.  The smaller group worked much better for discussion.  I also sat next to some different women and had a chance to chat with them which was fun.
• Thursday was Uncas's 30th birthday.  It was pretty low key, but we did have a few friends over for cake and ice cream.  Uncas took the day off of work, so he spent much of it playing football on the Wii.
• Friday I had my glucose test.  I am praying that I passed it because I really don't want to have to go back and take the 3 hour test - and not because of the time, but because they take blood from you 4 TIMES!  The woman drawing blood from me this time wanted to know how I was going to give birth if I didn't like having my blood drawn.  I would prefer labor over giving blood any day!
• I hit 25 weeks on Saturday!  I can't believe I am nearly in the third trimester.  Today Uncas and I headed to Babies R Us to register.  I also have some things on an Amazon registry.  I can't believe that we are getting closer and closer to March.  I know with the holidays, time is going to fly.

Here are a few pictures from the week:

 Baby Eliza

 Uncas's 30th B-day Cake

 Belly Pics - 25 Weeks

 Cute Sammy pic - sleeping with his rawhide

 

Grandma Blume - May 30, 1912 - November 13, 2009

Early this morning my Grandma Blume passed away at the age of 97.  She lived a great life.  It still amazes me - 97 years old!  She was one of the nicest people and loved to laugh.  She loved sweets, which is where my love for all things sugar must come from.   I have such fond memories of playing and staying at her house when I was younger.  She always was willing to play a game of War (the card game), or Crazy 8's or Old Maid.  She always had candy in her candy dish and cookies in her cookie jar.  She had the most amazing collection of salt and pepper shakers.  But most importantly, I always remember laughing with her. 

The picture above is the last picture that I have of us.  It was taken this past May.  I always made it a point to stop and visit her every time I was in the Chicagoland area.  The last time I saw her was in August when I told her that I was expecting her 10th great-grandchild.  She was very happy for me.

It's sort of a tough time for me.   Her body was failing her and she was ready to go.  She had made her peace and I am comforted that she is out of her pain and suffering.  But at the same time, I still feel sad and very emotional about it.  We are heading to Chicago for the wake and funeral this weekend.  I am looking forward to spending time with my family (and some friends) and remembering and celebrating her life.

Below is a picture of my Grandma with her two children - my dad and my Aunt Mary.  It was taken 3 1/2 years ago at my wedding shower.  I love this picture of them.

Baby Pictures

Sorry that I have been MIA.  I haven't been feeling the greatest the past week, mainly due to lack of sleep.  And to be honest, not much exciting has been going on.  Uncas went hunting this past weekend.  While he didn't "catch" anything, his dad did get a deer on Sunday morning.  He is hoping for better luck this coming weekend.  I stayed home and cleaned, did homework and hosted book club.  This weekend my parents are coming in town to keep me company, do some shopping, and of course, it's that time of year to bake Christmas cookies!

The title of this post refers to our most recent ultrasound.  Yes, we actually had another ultrasound scheduled for this morning.  The results of our first one back in October showed that little Nimzlet had more fluid than normal in its kidneys.  This is a pretty common finding in ultrasounds, and often the problem just corrects itself. 

This morning's ultrasound went really well.  They are still finding slightly more fluid than normal levels in the kidneys, so we'll go back at 32 weeks for another ultrasound to monitor the baby.  At this point Uncas and I are not worried.  Everything else on the baby is looking great.  We had an awesome tech and she gave us lots of pictures.  Here are some of the best:

Baby sucking its thumb - takes after Mama!

Cute little toes!  The second toe is measuring the longest - takes after Daddy.

And my favorite picture:

Yawning!  Apparently it was up too early today!

Despite the yawn, I can assure you that little Nimzlet was quite the active one today.  Even the tech could feel it moving around as it kicked me!  We still do not know the gender as the tech had us look away when she checked between the legs.  Last week I was convinced it was a girl, but this week I am leaning back towards a boy again. 

A Place to Sleep

We have been slowly working on cleaning out the nursery for the baby.  We started early because we have had to get rid of some furniture (love Craigslist!) and shuffle some stuff around in the upstairs bedrooms.  By Monday night, the room was empty of all non-baby related furniture!

 

Please ignore the blaze orange hunting jacket of my husband's in the closet - it's only temporarily being stored in there.  The tall white storage units will probably go in the closet.  I have started collecting all of our current baby stuff in and on them.

Picture of kids playing musical chairs.  Given to me by my grandma.

My parents generously offered to purchase the crib for us.  Due to the coming holidays and all the craziness with that, they decided it would be easiest to just order it now.  The crib came in this week and last night we picked it up from the store. 

When we got home and hauled it upstairs, we opened it to make sure we had all the pieces.  And then Uncas declared "I'm just going to put it together now!"  So he did!

Uncas reading the instructions.

Sammy supervising from my lap.

It only took Uncas about an hour and a half to assemble the whole thing.  I was on hand to help hold stuff periodically, but really it was all Uncas.  Sammy was around too, watching for a while, sniffing around and licking Uncas's hand as he was attempting to screw stuff in.  That was very helpful!

And now we have a crib for the baby!

 

 

We still need a mattress and so many other things to complete the room, but it's definitely a start.  We probably won't do much more in the room until after the holidays.  Even though the baby won't even be sleeping up here initially, it's nice to have one of the "big things" out of the way!