Quilting Retreat '07

The Stack and Whack Quilt I made for BB!


A faux chenille baby blanket for BB

(It looks much differently after it is washed and all the edges fray)


Naomi, Erin, Sarah, Ariel (the lamb) at the "Walking in God's Garden" Dinner

Oh Baby

I realized today that I have not once blogged about how my pregnancy is going since I broke the news. It seems like that is all I would be interested in blogging about since it is constantly on my mind, but somehow it slipped through the cracks.

So today my entry is devoted to my baby.

I will be 12 weeks tomorrow, which means I am now entering the second trimester (which I have heard is the "golden trimester.")

So far, baby has been VERY gracious to me. I have not experienced a moment of naseau or vomiting, which in my case is the best possible present I could ever receive. I am the person that waits for two days to throw up when I have the flu because I detest the sensation so strongly. The "symptoms" I have experienced are food aversions to heavy/greasy foods and overly seasoned foods. I am also pretty sensitive to smells, and have been more tired than usual. My belly is just starting to grow now, and is at the size that hints to the outside world that I have been putting on a few pounds, rather then brewing a little one. ;)

My first prenatal visit is scheduled on Mom's birthday, April 3rd. We are VERY EXCITED to hear the heartbeat for the first time!

While I am on this subject, I think it would be fun to share with you the names that people have taken to calling the little one.

My brother Ben gave the babe the first name: Baby Sue (since he is postive it will be a girl)

Erin- Tootsie, NFP (Tootsie was the original name, but we realized that should it be a boy, that would not be a very flattering name. So at about 1am sometime during the quilting retreat, she renamed it NFP. This originated from the method of "birth control*" we were using called Natural Family Planning. *Let me make it clear that this baby is not an oopsy)

I have taken to calling him/her: BB, Little Babe (BB stands for Baby ______. Both the girl's name and the boy's name we picked out starts with B ;)

Please feel free to come up with your own nicknames! These are the fun things that will go in his/her scrapbook someday and will be fun to look back on!

In closing, we have been beginning to prepare the nursery. We cleaned out Jared's office recently to make room for BB. Last week we bought paint, and have plans to start preparing the walls tonight. Hopefully we will be able to paint this weekend! Things are starting to happen, and it is getting very exciting!

We Have a Nursery! Strange!

Yesterday I picked up several paint color samples from Menards for the nursery! Then I spent about a half an hour mixing and matching colors until I came up with two different combinations that I just loved. One is a six color slide from aqua blue, to purple. The other is a combo of pastels: orange, yellow, green and blue. I showed both of them to Jared and, of course, he liked both of them instantly. After arriving home last night, we taped both of the color combinations up on the wall, and we simultaneously turned to eachother and agreed instantly on one over the other. The hues of aqua/blue/purple just didn't look right. The orange and yellow in the other combo just looked so bright and cheerful, and very gender nuetral! When we realized we had decided for sure on the color scheme for our baby's room, we just looked at each other, smiled and then hugged.

I checked today in the Menards ad, and it is just our luck that they are having a $5 off sale on all of their Dutch Boy paint this week! We are picking up the paint for OUR BABY'S ROOM in about 2 hours! Yay! This is becoming a little more real...

Vagabonds

This week Jared and I have been aimless wanderers. We have floated from home to home using our hosts for food and lodging. And we loved it. Since returning home from our cruise on Monday, we slept at our own house one time (Monday night). From there, we started on our journey of drifting from place to place. We did not return to our house until last night when we realized that Monday was bringing cold, hard reality with it. This week was Jared's vacation, and we really enjoyed it. I still had Emma with me, but it really was a fun week and went by pretty fast.

On Tuesday the weather was gorgeous, with 60 degree weather and the sun shining bright. I believe this was the day that inspired the vagabonds within us. We went to Abby and Ben's, grilled some brats and drank pink lemonade. We ate their food and then slept in their bed that night. I think that by Wednesday morning Abby and Ben guessed our game, and kicked us out. Did this dampen our wandering spirits? No! We had plenty of other places to hit up!

It was off to Gary's. This was an especially good spot to land for awhile. We were able to trick him into taking us out to eat several times, offer us unlimited lodging, and never want us to leave. We really had him in our clutches. We even charmed him into bringing us all (including Emma) to the car show on Saturday. Mwaaa haaa haaa haaa! On Friday night, Jared weasled his way into the Moritz home, and lived like a king. By Saturday, Abby and Ben decided they had not had enough of us and invited us to go dancing for St. Patty's day. We ate at a bar and grill (YUM-O), and of course, tricked them into paying for all the food (Ha ha ha!) And then followed them back to their house, where, of course, we were offered a warm bed and promise of hot breakfast in the morning.

Yeah, it was a good week.

Bermuda, Bahama, Come on Pretty Mama!

Well we are back from our glorious Bahamas cruise! It was WONDERFUL! The sun was shining everyday and the temperatures hung between 80-100 degrees! We ate until our pants were too tight and relaxed until we needed to move again! And the best part? I GAINED ONLY 1.5 POUNDS! Not too bad if you ask me! Plus I have an amazing excuse for those lbs, since a baby is growing inside of me rapidly!



I started out on the first two days with a very nice pinkish tan after laying out in the sun. However, on the third day, I went back to my room to admire myself in the mirror and gaze at the new layer of tan I was positive I has just aquired, but my eyes were met by red blotches of heat rash scattered all over my body! This trend continued for the remainder of the cruise, so by the last few days I just stopped trying to tan altogether and did not worry about tan lines. This was actually very liberating. Now I was COMPLETELY worry-free... what a true vacation should be like!

We stopped in Freeport, Bahamas, and went snorkling and sailing there. The colors of the fish were amazing and soooo beautiful! Then two days later, we stopped in Nassau, Bahamas, and shopped the day away! Every night for dinner we went to the formal dining room and ate 4 course meals that were better than the most expensive restaurants we have been to here! We watched two amazing broadway-type dance shows, one of my favorite parts.

Here are some of my favorite photos!




Soft Serve! Ben's running TOTAL: 52 cones


Dancing the night away to 80's music

Welcome to the Bahamas!

Bahama Babes!


Puttin' on the Ritz!

Week in Review

SUNDAY
3:45 am- Ford serpentine belt shreds to pieces
10:20 am- Mazda throws serpentine belt
2:30pm- Jared gets a ride home from work with co-worker, Ford rots in NWA parking ramp
4:45 pm- Dad fixes Mazda

MONDAY
8:30 am- Jared replaces Ford serpentine belt at work
2:45pm- Ford has severe troubles accelerating and has general loss of power
4:00pm- Ford is misdiagnosed at CarCare

TUESDAY
All day- Jared and Richard replace mass airflow pump (or something like that)
Evening- Ford still rotting

WEDNESDAY
All day- Jared and Richard replace fuel pump, fuel gauge, test exhaust line and catalytic converter
11:15pm- Ford still broken, but Jared drives it home, check engine light appears

THURSDAY
All day- Ford rots in our driveway

FRIDAY
3:45am- Ford dies by 35E
3:50am- Jared calls AAA to tow it to the shop
4:10am- Gary arrives to drive Jared home to pick up Mazda
4:35am- Jared drives back to where he left the Ford, it is gone
4:37am- Jared calls AAA, they don't have it
4:39am- Jared calls police, they impounded it (yes in the 45 minutes he was gone)
6:00am- Jared arrives at work 2 hours late
5:30pm- Arrive at impound lot and pay $160 to get our car back
6:00pm- AAA tows Ford to Ford dealership to get fixed
7:00pm- we go home

SATURDAY
3:30am- Mazda throws a pully, Jared barely makes it back into the driveway
3:35am- Naomi runs downstairs after hearing the garage door open, Jared breaks the news
3:35- 3:42am- TEARS
4:15am- Gary picks us both up, we drive Jared to work
2:30pm- Jared gets a ride home from co-worker (who can't believe his story at this point)
Present- both cars out of commission, Gary offers his RELIABLE minivan for the next few days until we leave to go on our much needed CRUISE VACATION.