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!

Halloween 2009 - Weekend Recap

Truth be told, we really aren't much of Halloween people.  I do like to get my dog costumes to wear, but that's really just for any occasion.  I figure next year when we have a little kiddo, We will be more into it.  And actually, the only reason why I really liked getting dressed up when I was younger is because I wanted the candy!

Saturday morning I carved our pumpkin.  I wanted to do a dachshund face, but after consulting the picture that I had, I decided it was too hard.  I went with this instead:

It's a cat (with green eyes).  I got this pumpkin carving kit several years ago (when Reid and I were still dating) and I hadn't used it.  It was actually really easy and the little tools it came with worked super well.  I plan on using it again next year!

Funny story about carving the pumpkin.  I was bringing the pumpkin inside from our front stoop and of course I grabbed it by the stump.  As I was carrying it through the living room, the stump broke off and the pumpkin crashed to the floor.  Uncas in the other room asked if I was ok.  I said that I was carrying the pumpkin by the handle and it broke off.  He replied "It's NOT a handle!!!"

Mama in action carving the pumpkin

Sammy supervising pumpkin carving

 Front of our house

While I was excited to pass out candy to the trick or treaters, someone else in our family, doesn't really care for Halloween.  I think Sammy was super confused to why the doorbell kept ringing.  He would bark and bark, and sometimes run to our side door.  Poor dog - it was a long night for him.

Sammy waiting for the doorbell to ring.

Sitting on Daddy's lap with his costume.

We had a lot less trick or treaters than last year.  In a way, because of Sammy, it was a good thing.  I don't know if the cold weather was keeping people away or the flu.  We ended up with lots of candy leftover :-(

The rest of the weekend was fairly low key.  Uncas finished up a little project in the bathroom (molding on the ceiling) and I did some studying.  Sunday we had Josh over to watch the Vikings/Packers game. (Go Vikings!)

This weekend marked my 22 week.  I am sure some people could care less about these weekly belly photos, but too bad.  These are for my mom :-)

 

A quick story about that shirt - I have a couple of shirts that my mom bought for me back in August.  At the time they were very big, but I knew that they would come in handy one day.  On Saturday I saw this one in my closet and that - wow - that is going to be too big.  And then I tried it on.  Yeah - I guess it's not really that big anymore, because it seems to fit just fine . . .