Speechless... (Super Double-Post)

POST #1:

We made dinner plans with our friends awhile back, as we thought it would be an excellent break from all the painting, nailing, sanding, drywalling, flooring, etc.

The plan was for sushi around 5pm and we were meeting at our friend's house.  And when we walked in the door, all my friends from work were standing in their living room:

Jaw, meet floor.  Yes, they all snuck around and planned a surprise baby shower for John and I.  It is, hands-down, the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me.  We got great gifts from great friends and it was a night I'll never forget.

As I write this, I'm realizing we didn't take pictures (we always forget to do that!), but they did take a video:

The awesome party favors...

We played a game where everyone places a bet on the sex, birthdate, and weight.  The general consensus is that it's a girl, born toward the end of January, in the (I think) 6-7 pound range.  My family also thinks it will be a girl.  I'm 51-49, leaning toward a girl - it seems like most of the SCI babies are girls, LOL.

The gifts...

Thank you, to all my friends, you're all honorary aunties & uncles!  Feel free to babysit whenever I want.

REGISTRY NOTE:  We made our registry at Babies 'R' Us and I guess a lot of what they have online, isn't actually in the store.  So if you're thinking of setting up a registry there, it may be better to go to the physical store to do it (and probably more fun!).  Almost all my friends said when they went to get something, it wasn't in stock.

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POST #2:

It feels like we've been working non-stop on the house renovations and the nursery.  And while we still have a long way to go, things are progressing nicely (though time is going by much faster).  The kitchen and dining rooms are mostly done, we need to reattach the trim & molding, and stain & hang some doors.

The nursery is a whole other beast.  John installed the hardwood floor all by himself (I tried to help, but sometimes two people = too much);  I opted to paint the dining room.  We painted the nursery walls (blue for sky, green for rolling hills) to prepare for the forest theme.  As John is reattaching the trim & molding, I'm beginning the mural.  I'm cheating a bit and using some appliqués for some of the the animals and painting the rest of the animals, trees, pond, etc.  Have I ever painted a mural before?  Of course not!  I'm hoping I didn't bite off more than I can chew.  I did simplify my grand design (by quite a bit, actually), but even so, this seems pretty daunting.

Work in progress:

I really can't wait to be finished with the nursery.  I'm keeping all the baby stuff in my home office, away from the pets; and right now, it looks like I could be on a show called "Baby Hoarders."  Wall-to-wall piles of baby things in a confined space, with no organization.  [Embarrassing Photo Not Available]  Ugh!

Before we left for our surprise shower, we received a box of goodies from my sister, Auntie Dana:

Thanks, sis!

BABY UPDATE:  No news is good news.  We're expecting a scan later this week - hopefully a nice profile shot (fingers-crossed).  We've got our names picked out (we had them locked-down months ago, actually).  I like to tease people by giving extremely difficult hints, and so far no one has come close to guessing the right names - and we won't let you know if you're right or wrong.  Go ahead, guess:

Boy name is biblical, starts with a "J", and isn't John (good luck - there are tons of them!).

Girl name starts with an "S", mentioned in a song from the 60's (any other hint would give it away).

Until next time...

100 Day Countdown!

The pace is quickening a little TOO fast - counter says 100 days to go!  We're talking double digits - like, tomorrow!

Really, we're anticipating a week or two before that, but we'll take a milestone where we can get it.

So the overwhelm-ness is starting to sink in.  It's very sly.  Crafty even.  But as all the various aspects of our lives slowly start to ramp up all at once...

• Work?   Swamped refocusing after an acquisition and reorg
• House?   In various states of being remodeled or touched up, though I haven't touched the outside in months (oops)
• Car?   At least that one's checked
• Baby Prep?   We need to buy WHAT now?
• Travel Prep?   Yahhhh.....

And how much time do I have again?

100 days!!!


But then I think of the little baby growing however-many thousand miles away - or I read someone's blog with their kid's first Halloween, and I smile.  BIG.

Meanwhile, as if life isn't quite crazy enough, we've started on Paleo this week.  Today is day 4, and going OK.  We really didn't plan this very well, but we're adapting.

I've done Atkins a couple times with good immediate success, but didn't stick with it long term.  Carbs proved to be the dominant lifestyle - though I know they're poison.  But so yummy!

Morgan is doing this with me this time, though, so we have mutual support and don't have to worry about separate meals.  All the cooking is a big obstacle.  I can cook pretty well, but I just don't like it - usually despise it actually, unless I'm going all out for a holiday or something.  So there's that to get over.

A big difference now is I'm more interested in feeling good, with weight loss just a side bonus (HOPEFULLY!).  So perhaps this motivation will be more successful!  (Until we get to India and live in a mall for 2 weeks - Morgan found their website today, and they have a Cinnabon!)

36

Well, today's my birthday and it's been a week of fantastic gifts!

A new lease!  Something much safer to drive than the old car.  Baby will be able to ride in comfort, style, and safety.

The Jeep has a remote start and heated mirrors for those tough, icy New England winters and 4WD to get out of unplowed driveways.

I couldn't resist trying the car seat out!


We also went on a mini (and expensive) baby shopping spree and got a lot of small items that, when you really look at it, add up to not much...if that makes any sense: cloth diapers (for cleaning), wipes, thermometer, onesies, socks, small toys, wipes, kids movies that we can tolerate, aspirator, bibs, towels & washcloths, wipes, carseat mirror, hats, more receiving blankets, wipes, fleece pads, quilted waterproof mattress covers, bottle starter set, bottle brush, and a few more packs of wipes. Once unpacked, it looks like you barely got anything.

We also bought the nursery set that I've been wanting (pretty much since the moment we got the positive so many months ago).  We got an excellent deal online at Albee Baby (http://www.albeebaby.com - use coupon code "15OFF") - much cheaper than Amazon.  We did end up having to get the bumper on Amazon though.

Lambs & Ivy - Enchanted Forest Collection (illustration, not our actual nursery)

And lastly, the best gift of all...

...a clean bill of health!  Not the greatest looking scans, but as long as our baby and lovely surrogate are healthy, who cares?

Best birthday ever!!!

Deal of the day (10/13)

Deal of the day (for U.S. customers):

Head on over to kids.woot.com

Bumbo floor seat (in blue) with a play tray for $36.99

It comes with the $10 play tray and is still less than the cost of the seat by itself.

It''s much cheaper than Amazon, Babies 'R' Us, or Target!

You can use your Amazon log-in, & it's $5 shipping.  The cool thing is, anything you buy on woot.com has free shipping the rest of the day!

22 Weeks!!

I can't believe it's been 22 weeks already!  That means - realistically - we're probably only 14 - 16 weeks away!

Baby should be about a pound right now, and about 10 1/2 inches!!!

We're finally applying for our Visas - hope to have those by end of the month.  Looking at flights, but don't want to commit yet.

Work has been busy, with two recent long trips in a row - plus working on the house and trying to find a new truck for Morgan, I barely have time to think.  Whispers of things to come, I suppose.

Fall is setting in - the trees are turning, and it's really pretty out.  I haven't actually gone outside in months (see above), but it's nice from the windows and in the car.  :-)

Actually photo - but from 2008 (again, see above)