And The Fun Never Ends...

It's only been 3 weeks since our last blog, but we've been going non-stop since then!

First, we went to CIM Ball, which is really just prom for Kellogg grad students.Apparently the thing to do is to show up with your Kwest trip group and have some sort of theme accessory. We went with Jason's Moroccan group and ended up with mustaches and glow sticks. Why mustaches? Don't ask me, but being a good sport I went along with it - despite it looking ridiculous. Other groups wore jorts with their suits (Guatemala), or Cleopatra wigs (Eqypt), and one group even had a pirate theme going although I'm still not sure what trip they had been on. All in all it was a good time, we took a trolley from Evanston and hit up a few key Chicago landmarks for some picture opportunities before heading to the prom. The best part of the night might have been when Jason's roommate from the trip randomly "Iced" some guy on a trolley that pulled up next to us. If only I had video - or even a picture - of that one, we'd be the youtube hit for sure. Here are some pics from the event....

Next we headed off to Ohio for Nick & Brandi's wedding. It was outside and despite being a little chilly, went off without a hitch. The reception had a beautiful view of fountain square and a great band/trio/group played throughout dinner. Then the real music came out and Nick danced to his favorite song "The Cupid Shuffle" and then all the girls came out (including me and nugget) for "Man, I Feel Like a Woman". If nugget ever sees pictures of me dancing during that song she'll probably be scarred for life, but it was good to know I still have a few moves! Here are a few pictures...

Last weekend we made our annual trip to Kuiper's Family Farm for apples, pumpkins, and most importantly donuts! We invited a few other couples to join us - all of whom have kids who are about a year old. It was a great time and the donuts did not disappoint...

Oh and somewhere in the middle of all that we also had a quick one-night trip to Columbus to visit Angie & Matt Wooster in their new house in Columbus! It's a beautiful home, with and even more beautiful backyard, and made Jason and I jealous when we came home to our lil' condo in Chicago. Here's a shot of the four of us and the boys drinking their sangria from those fabulous glasses...

And there's my 30-week shot. Looking at the picture compared to the 26 and 21 week shot, it doesn't look all that different, but believe me, I'm bigger! I'm starting to feel all the weight now and it's gotten a little harder to move around but I still really can't complain. Our last doctor visit went great. I had the big glucose test, where they make you drink this fruit punch-like liquid then wait an hour and draw blood to see if you've developed diabetes. I passed, so no diabetes for me, and everything else looks good too! Nugget moves around a ton now, and while it looks and feels pretty creepy (not sure I'll really get used to being kicked from inside), it's also very reassuring. Apparently she's about 17 inches long, and this is about as long as she's going to get height-wise. The rest of her growth from here on out will just be adding weight to that tiny frame of hers... let's hope she doesn't end up with Jason's tree-trunk thighs!

We're Still Here!

In my defense I did give fair warning that I'm not good at this whole blog thing yet. However, I suppose since a month has passed since my last post, it's about time we had another one. So what exactly have we been up to? Well, Jason has been having the most fun. First, he spent a week in Morocco on his Kwest trip with 30 other Kellogg students, came back just in time for a bachelor party in Cincinnati and then headed out to Vegas with a few friends. The fun is over now though as he heads back to school today. Here's a few pictures from his wild adventures...

While Jason was in Morocco, I took the week off and had my mom come into town so we could start baby shopping! Holy cow do babies require a lot of crap. Even armed with our Baby Bargains and the ConsumerReports Best Baby Products books, we were still lost during our first stop at Babies R' Us. There are so many options from cribs to bottles and strollers to pacifiers, who knew it would be such an ordeal to make a decision about something as basic as a blanket! We were lucky enough to have some much needed guidance during our second shopping trip - a big thank you to Donna, who stayed with us for nearly 3 hours in the BuyBuy Baby making sure we scanned everything we would need. Every salesman in the store was on a first name basis with us when we finally left! Since then I've been taking suggestions from everyone as well - the more help the better! If you have a favorite baby item, let me know!

Other exciting events over the past few weeks include me golfing at a work outing (I only looked slightly ridiculous with this baby bump on the course), a girls night out - really a mom's night out as the other ladies all left their kids at home with their husbands for a change, an EY celebration event for team JPower, and a reunion with all my old friends from Maytag. Here's a few pictures from the month including another baby bump shot - 26.5 weeks! 

We'll try to update more frequently from now on! Hope everyone is doing well!

Getting Started...

I swore I would never have a blog, but with the arrival of our little "nugget" getting closer every day, and so many of our dear friends and family living outside of Chicago, I suppose it had to happen. I have no idea how often we will write or what we will say, but it will mostly focus on our little nugget and will hopefully be a good way for us to keep everyone updated on how things are going. So, first things first. If you haven't already heard....

It's a Girl!

And a very healthy and happy one so far. We had our big 20 week ultrasound last Thursday and we're pleased to hear (and see) that she has all her fingers and toes, a beautiful heart, and everything looks great. It's kind of amazing what you can see - for instance did you know that she already has a fully functioning bladder? Yeah, she pees right in there, and the tech can see it all working. Weird. At the very end we tried to do some 3D ultra sound pictures, but they ended up looking a little too fake. She looked like Han Solo coming out of that carbonite stuff in Star Wars. It's sort of like those hidden photo's, if you stare at it long enough you'll start to see her. It was, however, very reassuring to finally see such clear amazing pictures of her and know that everything is going well. 

I'm already almost 22 weeks, and it feels as though the time has flown. For the most part I've been a very boring pregnant woman; no morning sickness, no tiredness (still up until 10pm or 11pm and then up at 6am for those Angie/Liz workouts, on occasion), no crazy cravings or food aversions, and no terrible mood swings (although we'll have to ask Jason for confirmation on that one). I think for the most part I'm actually more sane and normal than before I was pregnant. Go figure! I do feel very lucky though and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the next 18 weeks go just as smoothly. 

Here's the first shot of my "bump" - those elastic pregnancy jeans sure are nice!