Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Easter showers

Hopefully bring May flowers! This weekend we got a bit of everything: snow, rain, and sun! My parents flew up for the weekend and my baby shower. Unfortunately the very first morning we woke up to snow. Sorry guys! The day proceeded to be rainy and gross, but all the snow melted! Easter Sunday was a beautiful day, and of course the day they left was absolutely gorgeous.

The shower was so much fun. I was a little nervous because I don't really love being the center of attention. But a ton of ladies came. We ate, played games, and of course - opened presents! Travis and I are so blessed to have such wonderful, giving people in our lives! Baby Emily got tons of clothing, of course. She will be one very well dressed little girl! We also got some fun toys, lots of diapers and baby care items, and a Baby Snugrider that our car seat can snap right into and transforms into a stroller. So cool!

Easter was pretty successful, if I do say so myself. I offered to host it here since my mother-in-law was busy shower planning. Really, we didn't make that much because Trav's grandma loves to cook and bring stuff. So we made the ham, a cheesy potato casserole (family recipe I found in the Bear River Lutheran Church cookbook!), and a 24 hour ambrosia-type salad. Memaw brought a cold bean casserole, pineapple casserole, and two pies. Yum! Everything was so good and everyone was stuffed by the end of the night. I consider that a success!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the weekend. I'm not sure how that happened. My Dad did video record the entire shower, so maybe I'll post that if I get a copy. Then I can torture you all with 2 hours of present opening :o)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Pink has landed

Pink is slowly taking over our house. No, not the singer - the color! Travis finished painting the nursery tonight, and I'm so excited! After living for years with beige walls, let me tell you this: any pink is pink. Whether it's muted or barbie doll pink, it's still very bright! Once we get stuff up on the walls and the bedding set up though, I know it'll look great.

Last week was kind of interesting at work. All of the reps except me got to go to Las Vegas for our annual continuing education conference. I'm not sure why I was overlooked for this trip, but Vegas at 6 months pregnant sounds like zero fun. The city changes every year though, so while I'll likely have to go next year I'm sure it won't be in Vegas again. Since I was the only working rep in our territory during the week, I got to see clients on two days instead of just one. Woo hoo! Now it appears that this will be the norm for awhile since the others are getting so busy with hearings. I love client days and actually meeting the people we help so this excites me!

Next week is a four day week for us, yay! The company gives us Good Friday off, so Travis and I will be driving down to Duluth to pick up my mom & dad for the weekend! I'm so excited to see them and to have them see all the progress we're making up here. Then Saturday is my baby shower! (I'm pretty excited, can you tell?)

Here's my latest bump picture at 26 weeks:
Finding pants that fit is getting a little tough lately. Looks like I need to do some shopping!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

We have windows!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, we have windows. Not just hanging out in the house - successfully installed! Travis is finishing the inside trim as we speak. I don' t have pictures yet because they still look a little ugly at this point. Once they're finished then I'll post some. We have to paint the outside trim as well. The weather turned for the worse so Travis will finish the paint when it's a bit drier. Currently our house looks like it has a black eye because the new trim is bright wood. But eventually it'll go back to looking normal!

Next weekend: we paint! There is an end in sight to our nursery renovations, and then I can start "nesting". I'm quite anxious to begin this part of the process! Up until now, it's been all nit, grit, and ugly stuff going on in there. I'm ready for it to be pretty!

Here's my latest bump photo at 25 weeks. Don't get too excited about that short sleeve shirt - it's still pretty cold here! I had a cardigan to go over this. But I'm starting to get to the "hot all the time stage" so I like wearing layers. It is warming up a bit here in northern Minnesota. We've been in the 40's all week! Woo hoo! On sunny days it's even nice enough to go without a jacket. Look out, summer will be here before you know it!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

One check

We've got one more check off our baby to-do list. Closet doors! The nursery had sliding doors, and only one was functional. Not so great. So we planned to get new bi-fold doors to put up. Of course, nothing can be easy, right?

Once again, our special house makes things harder. Standard doors were too tall and not quite wide enough. Luckily Travis found some doors on a local auction website, so we not only got closet doors but a few extra doors too. I'm not sure what we'll use those for, but we got them all for $10 less than what one new set of closet doors would have cost. I'm ok with that! So first he had to trim off some of the bottom on the doors to make them short enough. Then he had to add more trim to the door frame so there wouldn't be a huge 3 inch gap on each side of the doors. Then he had to sand and paint it all. 3 weekends later, we have the finished product!

Aren't they pretty? Much better than what was there before, trust me. Did you notice the little special touch I added to them? Those aren't just any old closet door pulls:
Pink crystal knobs! Aren't they fabulous? It's ok, you can be jealous :o) I originally just wanted one, but found the pair on Amazon for $13. I think it looks way better with two anyway.

I have a new favorite food obsession this week. We bought some "Garlic Garlic" seasoning from Tastefully Simple, and it has a dip recipe on the container. 2 tbsp seasoning, 1/2 cup of mayo and sour cream each, mix and enjoy. OMG is this heaven. I suppose you could use it to dip veggies in, but I've only tried it with potato chips to date. It's so yummy! After you eat it you'll be able to ward off friends, enemies, and vampires alike: bonus! I've also been craving milk like nobodies business. At least that's healthy!

Here I am at 24 weeks in my jailbird stripes: