Getting ready for baby September 29, 2010

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been getting more and more ready for the new baby.  My parents came here and worked all of last weekend getting furniture moved and put together.  Now, it is my job during naptime and times when Wendy is cooperating to get the baby’s room set up with clothes and accessories and decorations.  I loaned my newborn diapers to a friend in Florida and just received them back, so I’ve been busy organizing and taking stock of what I have and what I want to use for the new baby.  Of course, I still enter contests to win free diapers, and one from Bummis is offering one of their new Easy Fits.  So, to do that, I’m posting a picture of Wendy in one of their products, the Super Whisper Wrap.

Wendy in her Bummis Super Whisper Wrap and Teddy looking out the window in Baby Sister's room.

Of course, I forgot to mention that she isn’t wearing diapers except for during naps and nighttime.  So for this picture, she is just modeling a size small with no actual diaper underneath.  It’s the only Bummi’s product (a requirement for the contest) we have that had the chance of fitting her at almost-two.  She is pretty good at telling us when she has to go, which I think is pretty cool.  I just have to be really diligent about knowing where bathrooms are in stores and making sure she doesn’t drink too much if we’re going out of the house.

Zach and I have moved upstairs to the room with the bathroom, Wendy is still upstairs in her bedroom, and baby sister’s room is downstairs behind the kitchen.  I plan to use it mostly for naps and diaper changes during the day and at nights she will be in our room upstairs for the first several months.  Eventually, I’d like for the girls to share a room upstairs so the baby isn’t all alone downstairs.  Maybe that’s not as big a deal as what I think…I guess we won’t know until she arrives and shows us her personality.

Our guest room is downstairs behind the living room along with craft stuff and hopefully we’ll move the computer in there eventually.

Projects, projects August 10, 2010

As I was laying in bed last night, I thought about all the projects that have been accomplished at our house over the summer.  What started out as simply (ha!) building a deck off the back stairs of our house turned into several other projects.  My brother-in-law Mike has been really fantastic at building the deck.  His expertise and skills are really something.   I am absolutely amazed at everything.  I have had very little to do with the manual labor part of these projects, and I am in awe of the hard work put in by everyone who has helped/done these projects.  We don’t have enough money to pay everyone what they are worth…we can only offer Wendy’s cuteness and air conditioning.  (After all, it has been in the upper 90s-low100s on workdays.)  So here goes some pictures of our projects:

Zach replaced the old rusty non-closing door to the garage.

Zach, my mom and dad, and partly me dug the bed for the path to the deck stairs.

Zach and my dad installed a gutter on the side of the garage.

We bought a wrought iron table/chair set and set them up.

After extensive research by zach, we finally bought a weber spirit e-210 grill

Zach and his dad built a slide-across gate for the deck so I could have Teddy and Wendy out there in an enclosed space.

Teddy and Wendy on deck enjoying their space.

Zach and his dad battled black widows to replace the old rickety stairs to the front door with these beautiful, sturdy, even stairs.

We (Mike, Megan, my mom and dad, zach and I, pulled out the 50-yr old mangly bushes in front of the house, mulched, and planted newer, manageable, colorful plants.

Edit:

I almost forgot. Zach’s mom powerwashed the front of the house and I did the sidewalk.  Also, we paid to have someone fix our outside faucets, which, because of neglect when the house was unoccupied, had burst and leaked when turned on.  So that’s good.

And we are not done yet.  This weekend we plan to lay down gravel, sand, and pavers to create a non-muddy pathway to the deck stairs.  We also plan to put lattice around the edge of the deck to keep out the critters and Teddy.

Wendy is going to hate me for this one day...this is after her bath a few nights ago.

Oh, and did I forget to mention, we went in for my 20 week ultrasound last Friday and found out we’re having a girl!  Of course we would have been excited either way, but I’m glad Wendy will have a baby sister and baby sister will have a Wendy!

Our Williamsburg Weekend July 19, 2010

We visited Williamsburg, where my dad spends the weekdays for work over the 4th of July weekend.  We were so excited to get to see Mom, Dad, Jill, Scott, Ethan, Caleb, Megan, and Mike!  We were all in one house and we all seemed to fit somehow.  Wendy had her little toddler mattress set up in my dad’s walk-in closet.  Ethan and Caleb were in a little tent in Jill and Scott’s room (my dad’s room), Megan and Mike got the guest room, Zach and I and Teddy were in the computer room on the futon, and my mom and dad were on the floor in the living room (they insisted).  I wish I had pictures of all of this!  The cousins got along great together and Wendy wanted to do everything the boys were doing.  We went to the pool every day and Wendy was quite the little fish!  Jill’s blog has a lot of pictures to make up for the lack on mine.  We were also able to go to downtown Williamsburg to see the fireworks.  Wendy loved it.  She kept saying “Boom!” and “Big Boom!”

What is wrong with me?  I guess I didn’t take any pictures of this vacation.  Please go to Jill’s blog, http://www.blogworthymoments.blogpot.com to see some of the highlights.  I feel awful about that.  On a related note, I had a meltdown the other night because I felt I hadn’t done enough to document Wendy’s life as an only child before the next baby comes.  I had started a baby book several times, both a hand-held one, and a shutterfly one, but my efforts were halted and I never finished either of them.  I wish I had a better system for pictures.  I want Wendy to be able to pull a book off the shelf and say, “that was me with ____ when I was 1” or 2 or whatever.  Or “that was the time we went to ______”  Anyway, after that, I buckled down and finished the shutterfly album and it is on its way to my house now.  I hope it turns out well.  The thing I dislike about the whole digital camera world is that you can take a million pictures and then you have to sort through them all…you have to choose.  If you had a mechanical one, you don’t get to preview your pictures, and the only way to see them is to get them developed.  Then you have something to hold and arrange in an album however you choose.  Maybe this shutterfly thing will work and I’ll end up doing more of them.

I will leave you with a picture of me at 17 weeks:

and one of me with Wendy in my new (to me) Beco Butterfly carrier that I plan to use with the new baby.  I can tell it is a high quality carrier and will come in very handy when I have 2 little ones to tend to.  It is really comfortable, even with a 25 pound toddler on my front.  It does really well as a backpack, too.

Our Tennessee Vacation

I know this has been a long time coming.  This vacation was at the beginning of June, and I’m just now posting about it.  Regardless, we had such a good time in Tennessee with all the relatives…Rose, Paul, Sam, Andrew, Joquita, Butch, Laura, Chris, Gma, and Gpa.  Am I forgetting anyone we saw?  We started off the week at the Whalen’s house and had a cookout/pool party and a surprise 30th birthday cake for me!  I really was surprised.  They sang to me and there were balloons and streamers and gifts.

Zach and I were able to go to the Melting Pot in Knoxville to help celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary, which was on June 20th.

Then, we went to Dollywood.  We all had a good time.  I didn’t think that Wendy would last that long, but she did well from about 11am til 8pm!  Zach and Sam got to go do rollercoasters and rides with G-Forces.  I would have LOVED to do those, but being pregnant limited my ride choices.  I could basically do what Wendy could do, which was riding the pigs, ducks, bumblebees, the carousel, old-timey cars, and train.  We also saw a bird show.  It was a lot of fun for me to see her and Zach have so much fun!

Rose and Wendy

Zach and Wendy on the bees

After that, we got to go to Douglas Lake with everyone and stayed at a house on the lake.  While we were there, Wendy got to read books with her Ggma, play under the stairs, and walk out onto the dock with Paul.  We also got to walk in downtown historic Dandridge and eat at a yummy restaurant on the water.  Zach and I got to go on a hike in the Smokies.  It was really invigorating to be able to get out there, sweat, and be out in the woods for a while.  We haven’t done that on our own in a long time.

Random cemetery on the hike

Buildin’ a deck. July 15, 2010

We have been super busy this summer!  I can’t share all of it at once, but one of the main things happening is that we are building a deck off the back door of the house.  We’ve wanted one for a while, and we are lucky enough to have a brother-in-law who is a general contractor who agreed to build it for us for a lot less than what we would have paid otherwise, I think.  He has really done an AWESOME job so far, and with Zach and my dad’s help, it is getting done.  The hard part is that Mike lives in Baltimore, and it’s hard to get down here every weekend as well as work at his regular job.  So the process has taken almost the whole summer so far!  Hopefully they will be able to get it done next weekend with everyone working.   I am super excited to get some chairs and a grill out there…we get really nice shade in the mornings and evenings.

And now for a few obligatory cute pictures of Wendy!

Wendy diapered her legs in swim diapers after a nap one day!

She let me french braid her hair...Amazing.

Watch out, world...she even knows how to back up! We were able to borrow this from a friend.

You can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger…I know they’re kind of small.

Watch for an upcoming post of our trips to Knoxville and Williamsburg!

Update May 26, 2010

These are for you, Melinda and Megan! Oh, and if you want to see any of these bigger, click on them.

Mom and dad came through on their way back from their vacation

Wendy with her new garden set from Nana and Papaw

The gardening girls

Sorry, can't rotate this one...dad and Wendy

Wendy gets a ride on the suitcase

One of Wendy's new (to her) (Thanks, Melanie!) bathing suits

bathing suit model

She likes rolling on the floor, like Teddy, I guess!

Two buddies looking out the window

Climbing...the new fun thing

"Talk to the hand, Teddy!"

Getting ready to go for a walk. Notice the rocks in Wendy's hand. Her favorite "toys."

Oh, yes, and did I mention…

Wendy is going to be a big sister!  I am 10 weeks and due Christmas Eve, 2010.  Hooray!

More pictures of the white stuff February 7, 2010

I’m pretty sure schools (especially Stafford County) will be closed all week.  I watch the girls across the street on school mornings before the bus comes, so if school is canceled, the Whalens get the mornings to ourselves.  I hope we don’t start getting sick of each other:-)  UMW is at least canceled on Monday.  Several trees have fallen around our neighborhood.  Mainly evergreens and magnolia branches.  This cedar tree is just 2 houses down across the street.  It’s absence will make the whole street look different.

“You want somma this?”

As promised… February 6, 2010

These pictures accomplish 2 things: Showing the “before the snowstorm” backyard” and showing my “seriously in-shape husband” who decided to go for a run before the snowstorm hit and put a halt to running activities.  He’s a little bummed that the 4-miler is canceled for tomorrow, but it’s rescheduled to Feb. 14.

That was yesterday, right before the snow started to fall.  Later last night, it turned to sleet.  Now it’s back to snow again.  And still going as on 2:15  2/6.

W’s book of choice today while changing out of wet clothes? The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.  !

Ok. January 29, 2010

I haven’t been motivated to update my blog until I started reading Melinda’s blog, and now I feel like I should!  She does such a good job of keeping us all up to speed.  Thanks, Melinda!

I won’t even try to update from the last month and a half.  I’ll just try to post some pictures.

However, I will say that I finally joined the church choir last night.   have wanted to do this since last spring, but the time wasn’t right…7:30 practice time was right at Wendy’s bedtime, and things were pretty crazy.   Not to say they aren’t crazy now, but, I am so glad I’m doing this for myself.  It’s an awesome way for me to worship, I think it will be a great support group, and they sing some really nice music…not just “churchy” “cheesy” music.  They may not be the best singers, but the director treats everyone like musicians, so I think it makes everyone aspire to be better.

Here comes the randomness:

Oh wow, I can’t believe this worked. I’ve been trying to figure out how to put video in my wordpress blog for a long time, and I thought I’d have to buy some upgrade from wordpress. So now, beware. I may just post a bunch of videos. Here’s another one. Of Wendy. She is really busy, toddling around and talking all the time.

She insisted on wearing her halloween costume –

We thought crayons were a good idea until she started coloring herself:-)

These are the shoes we got for Wendy with the Christmas money from ggma and ggpa.  They are too big yet, but she is still obsessed with them.  Thanks, ggma and ggpa!

There i am.

Sorry I am not any better at taking good photos.  I just thought this one was funny.  Thanks for sticking through this random blog.  I promise I’ll do better at updating and being more coherent in my updates.  I also will post evidence of my seriously in-shape husband, maybe on the next blog.  And maybe some of the forgotten family member, Teddy.   Don’t worry, he’s still a part of our little clan…just a little less paid attention to.  Ok.  Must go retrieve the waking pumpkin…

Hello, look at me! December 18, 2009

Wendy thinks she is so cute in her little pigtails.  These actually stayed in through our whole trip to the store to get winter storm essentials.  We are supposed to get 5+ inches of snow tonight, which is a lot by Virginia standards. ( ***EDIT: as of 4pm today, they are saying between 12-24 inches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Zach just went out to get some bacon.  I guess that’s his form of survival food.  I won’t argue)

This means that I joined the mad rush to the store for bread, milk, and toilet paper.  But we actually needed those things today, so I don’t feel quite as bad.