The Stork Visits. . . (Though not to our house yet!)

We were happy to welcome our newest nephew, Andrew James, to the family on Sunday, April 13th, 2008. We aren't quite sure where he got his dark hair but he sure is sweet. He weighed 8 lbs., 1 oz. and measured 21 inches long. Sorry for the delay in the annoucement. I was waiting for a picture to post so you could see what great genes run in my family.

Baby Andrew with his big brother Alex, sharing a nap
at the hospital.

My sister-in-law, Vicki, was a great champ for surviving what must be the longest labor I have ever heard of (4 days)! Now she is more than outnumbered in her house with my brother David and two sons to keep her company.

All I have to say...When are we going to have more girls in this family????? Between Lance's and my extended families, we have a total of SEVEN nephews. Only four nieces and three of those nieces are either teenagers or adults. Oh well, maybe we will have to be responsible for repopulating the earth with girls. :-)

Still waiting for the stork to make it's way to our house.

I Heart Good Deals

My friend Lindsay requested I keep making posts so everyone isn't left guessing as to whether or not our baby has decided to arrive. Thanks for the encouragement, Lindsay. I might as well keep blogging about our lives while we wait patiently for me to say to Lance "It's time."

Thanks to my other friend, Jenny, I have discovered the joy of garage saleing again. I went a few weekends ago with her and bought a HUGE bag of baby girl clothes for a very inexpensive price. Lance came home from taking Sofi to get a bath to find me sitting on the front porch grinning ear-to-ear with a large black garbage bag. I am very proud of my purchase. Once I washed everything up and sorted it, I discovered I won't really need to buy very many clothes until our little girl is past the 12 month size. And, most of the clothes were nice - a few Baby Gap dresses, Children's Place outfits and more gently used Carter's outfits than I would have ever purchased myself.

The problem is I now want to go garage saleing every weekend. There was such a thrill in finding a good deal, I can't seem to stop. Craig's List and the The Penny Saver have become my best friend. I even find myself wanting to go into stores just to peruse their clearance rack. I am sure many of you do this as well but for me this is odd. Our family tactic to save money is to just not go into stores. Luckily, Lance is supportive of my new desire to go to garage sales. As long as we don't have to pay full price for kids clothes or toys, he is happy.

Room to Grow

So, do you think I still have room to grow?

Baby and me at 38 weeks. I carry her really high. Can you believe she has already dropped some in this picture?

Sure hard to tell in by this angled shot. Notice the red cheeks. We are really cookin' now!

Cupcakes

Lance's birthday went well. We ended up bowling with some good friends and going to a Japanese Shabu-Shabu restaurant beforehand. I bought him a couple cupcakes from Sprinkles Cupcakes instead of baking a cake because I am just so tired lately that the thought of making a cake led to a nap even before I made the cake.

Because pregnancy has made me a real softy towards all animals (I cry every time I see a dog in a crate these days, as though a crate hurts the animal. Geesh), I couldn't resist buying Sofi her very own specially-made doggie cupcake from Sprinkles as well. Amazingly enough, she knew that the little cupcake was hers even before we told her. She was trying to grab it off of the plate as soon as we put it there. She almost swallowed the cupcake whole when we did finally give it to her. I sure love my hubbie and my beagle!

In Bloom

A few weeks ago Lance and I trekked down to Carlsbad to see The Flower Fields and to go to the outlet mall to buy Lance new work shoes. The day was overcast but the fields were still lovely. After we toured the fields and tromped around the mall for many hours, we had dinner at a quaint hole-in-the-wall seafood place. The crab legs were mighty tasty!

Reflection on My Pregnancy

I am almost 38 weeks along and am finally feeling the aches and pains I was told were quite common of the third trimester. I am not dying to get this little girl out, though. Just give me a week to finish nesting without school work and then maybe I will change my mind.

I have been reflecting lately on how much I have loved being pregnant. I guess having to go through years of infertility treatments and two losses make carrying a baby to term an absolute miracle to me. I will gladly take the swollen feet and hands, multiple trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night, morning sickness, horrible stretch marks, a scale reading that I thought I would never see in my life (unless I was weighing an elephant or whale and not my pregnant body), and any other worries and discomforts in exchange for a baby to call my own. I always said this when I thought we couldn't have children of our own and having experienced 38 weeks of pregnancy, my feelings haven't changed.

So dare I say it? I love being pregnant. Now let's just see what I say after labor and delivery....

One more thing. I love this picture. Anyone ever see the Friends episode where Phoebe was using her big pregnant belly for a table to rest her cereal bowl on? About three weeks ago, I discovered I too had finally reached this point. Using your belly as a flat surface to rest your plate or bowl on sure saves one from doing extra laundry!

Paljon Onnea Bubba!

Happy birthday to one of the kindest, most giving, hardest working, most intellegent, most positive and cutest men I know.

I am so glad Lance came into this world a few years ago today. I have always admired him for his goodness and am greatful to be married to him (Even with his tiny quirks like how he tells the same jokes over and over again or gets up at 3 a.m. to watch Star Trek :-))

Hope you have a great one, Bubba!

(I also hope our baby is as happy as Lance was in this picture when he was a few months old and has his adorable chubby cheeks.)

Mourning My Tree

Some gardner came by, per our home owner's request, to trim the best shade tree in our yard today. I think he did the worst job I have ever seen and butchered our poor tree.

BEFORE (taken in Feb. 08)

AFTER (Taken April 08)

I literally cried while he was doing it. Let me rephrase that - I became hysterical while he was doing this. I asked him to stop but he didn't understand English very well and promised me it would grow back in two years. This reminds me of a really, really bad haircut. The only difference is a haircut grows back in a few months. This will take years, if the tree survives.

I am so sorry, Tree. I tried to stop him. **Sniff, sniff**

One in the Oven

I remember reading that pregnant women have higher thermal kinetic energy than regular people. I was thinking the other day that this didn't apply to me because I didn't seem to feel warmer than Lance and still wore my hooded sweatshirt quite a bit.

However, when some thermometers reached 102 degrees today in the area, I then realized this was now a reality for me. Despite our best laid plans to go on a picnic for dinner, write my final research paper for this semester, and do loads upon loads of laundry, I spent the majority of the day in an air conditioned house in bed in front of our fan (wearing as little clothes as possible, I might add) and I am still roasting.

Today gave Lance's favorite saying "we got us one in the oven" a whole other meaning. I am SOOOO greatful I haven't been pregnant during the summer. I don't know how I would get anything done if I was!

What Every Girl Needs

A papa who cares enough to not only research and pick

out a stroller/carseat combo that is acceptable to both him and your mama,

but use his free time on the weekend to put it together.

AND

Shoes.

Because a girl can never have too many pairs.

(Imagine her closet when she is a teenager.)

Easter

You can always tell when I have downloaded the pictures from my camera. I tend to have many posts! We had our friend Margaret and her son Steve over for a relaxed holiday dinner Easter Sunday. Here are a few pictures.

Lance posing next to his Easter basket the Easter bunny left.

Me at 34 weeks with my new Easter sweater. I didn't buy
my traditional dress this year since I would only
wear it for a few weeks. I figured this sweater would be
cute enough to wear while I loose the baby pounds.