Heading West

goodbye blog

2009-12-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

So I have given this a lot a LOT of thought and I have decided to stop blogging on Heading West. I will, however, be combining my personal blog and my photo blog into one custom blog this winter.

Now this was on my goals list of 101 Things, but I was a little hesitant to even make the goal in the first place and I certainly didn't expect it to come this fast. But I have found after having Connor that the blog has become more of a burden than an outlet for me. I'm constantly feeling like I have to blog when I really don't feel like I have the time for it, although I do have a lot to say and a lot of photos to post. But I don't want it to detract from enjoying life. I don't want to feel like I need to share about certain events instead of just enjoying them for what they are. And many times, I feel the need to post about something on both of my blogs, which is not productive and really just redundant.

So I believe that combining the two into one will still give me a good outlet personally as well as professionally. I'll be blogging my photo sessions still, but also personal photos (read: pictures of Connor) and antecdotes.

I feel this will be beneficial in a couple of ways. First, I'll be blogging much more often and on just one blog. Second, it will allow my business clients to see the personal side of me. I know for me, my favorite blogs that I follow from professional photographers are ones where they often post personal photos and stories along with their professional work. So I'm hoping to achieve that more personal connection with my photography clients too.

However, having said all of that, I am still going to use this blog occasionally. I set up my 101 Goals on this blog and I want to see all of those goals to fruition, so when I have achieved a goal, I will be posting it. If anything, that will just hold me accountable for my list.

After the holiday season, I am going to get to work customizing a new blog, so I will post the address when I get it up and going! Until then, you can keep up with my on my photoblog.

Thanks for reading!!

Edited to add: I just went back and read some of my old posts (can't believe I've been blogging for two years!) and I have really gone downhill in the funny department. It totally reinforced my decision!

Time to do it

2009-12-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

I read this quote today from one of the people I follow on Twitter, and it really sums up what is going on in my life right now. I've got so many big things on my mind, and I have a feeling life is going to be really different in a few months, but only I can make happen what I truly want to happen...

"Thinking about it isn't good enough. If that's all it took, everyone would have everything they ever wanted. It's time to DO it."

It kind of reminds me of that scene from "A League of Their Own," when Dottie is leaving the team before the playoffs. She says "it just got too hard."

Jimmy tells her: "if it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

Goal #43 and #44 - Check!

2009-12-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

43. Back up everything from hard drive to external hard drive
44. Organize photos on hard drive and external hard drive

---CHECK!!!

I have no idea why, but the week before my maternity leave ended, I got super super motivated and started clearing out and organizing our hard drive and external drive.

Oh my goshhhh it felt so good to do that!! Now everything is not only backed up on a separate hard drive, but everything is in neat little folders by date, both personal photos and documents and business ones for my photography business.

I LOVE when things get organized. Clutter = no good. It also made me motivated to continue to organize after the holiday season is over and I have some free time!

Connor's baptism

2009-12-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

What a special day it was yesterday! Connor was baptized at our church, Christ the King. He wore a precious little sweater outfit that my brother Brian wore when he was baptized, which was also special since B is his godfather.

He slept through the whole mass and woke up at the end.
He was fine throughout most of the baptism (two other babies were also getting baptized that day).

He didn't even mind the water at all. He actually stopped fussing when the water was poured on him...
"This is excellent!"

Then he started getting cranky. And he fussed through most of the end of the ceremony.
We thought he was just getting hungry as it was getting close to three hours since he last ate...

You can't tell but he's screaming here

But apparently he wasn't hungry because as soon as the whole thing was done, he stopped crying and hung out for another couple hours until he was actually hungry. At least he was in a good mood for pictures!

Evan's family
My family

chillaxin in the bumbo

2009-11-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

Connor is getting so strong!! I have been trying to put him in his bumbo seat for a while but he was pretty wobbly. He's finally getting the hang of it at 10 weeks!

I'm sure it doesn't help that he has a big head :) Hard to hold up, ya know.

Westlake family get-together

2009-11-25T13:51:00.000-08:00

Several of Evan's family members on his dad's side of the family were in town from out-of-state this past weekend, so we had a Westlake family get-together at his parents' farm. We don't get to see that side of the family much, so it was really fun to see everyone.

His dad has one brother, who came, and 5 sisters, 3 of whom were at the house, plus several of their kids and their families. Lots of people!!

Of course Connor had on a super cute outfit and then pooped all over it, so he is wearing a yellow onesie for all of the pics I took. Eh well, he is still the cutest thing ever, even if he doesn't look too macho in these pics...

I love Connor's face here...with Aunt Alayna

family pic
Audie and Connor still aren't too impressed with each other...

Garrett loves to cuddle the babies! It's so cute, he sits up on the couch and says "I hold the baby!" and holds out his arms...lovin my boy's chubby cheeks!!

Two-month checkup

2009-11-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Connor's 2-month check up!

He got some shots and was very brave, poor lil guy. I didn't cry along with him, but I was close! He did calm down almost immediately and went to sleep because he was so tired, so at least that was good. I hope his little thighs aren't too sore later.

As for his stats, he is:

13 lbs, 4 oz ---85th percentile! (was 20th percentile at 1 month)

23.5 inches long --70th percentile (was 50th at 1 month)

He's a growing guy! As my dad says, "future 6'5 shooting guard!" haha.

Connor William is two months today!

2009-11-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

oh my goshhhh I could kiss those cheeks for HOURS. seriously.

my baby turns two months old today! we are falling more and more into a routine and it's really great. (just in time for me to disrupt it by going back to work. ha.) He usually eats around 8 or 9, goes to sleep until around 2 or 3 and then sleeps again until about 6 or 7. And the really nice part - besides only getting up once to feed him - is that he has been going back to bed right after eating without me needing to rock him or anything. So he's been going to sleep on his own, yessss!

Also he has rolled over twice so far. Evan saw it the first time and we both saw it the second time. It was so cute!

His two month check up is next week, so we'll see what he weighs then. He is definitely getting big!

a penny saved is a penny earned

2009-11-12T06:37:00.001-08:00

So I had a good shopping week with sales and coupons and I'm pumped about it! I love getting good deals!

I got the items in the above photo...

one pack of Huggies wipes
three Target Up and Up wipes packs

two Cover girl lip glosses
two Clearasil face washes
three packages of Kleenex
one package of Scott paper towels
and one package of Scott toilet paper...

for a grand total of....$21!!! yayyy me!

Warm Weekend

2009-11-09T14:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we took Connor on his first walk in Washington Park. It was so amazing outside all weekend, we loved being able to get some fresh air, especially since we've all been under the weather.

Evan and I both caught colds last week - mine wasn't bad at all, Evan's was a little worse. We both knew it was only a matter of time before Connor got sick and he is now. He's not bad, just a little stuffy. And there's not much we can do for him besides run a cool mist humidifier in his room at night and try to suck the snot out when we can.

Not too much else has been going on. This week is a fairly busy week for us. I turn 26 on Wednesday (augh!!) and tomorrow we have a class to attend to learn about getting Connor baptized. My brother has to attend with us since he's the godfather. He texted me yesterday and asked what he needed to wear. How cute is that? He's taking his role very seriously and wants to be properly attired!

B, as we call my brother, is really funny with the baby. He came over a couple of weeks ago and was holding Connor all awkwardly and freaked out when Connor started fussing, all "ahhh what do I do now?!?!"

On Friday, Connor turns 2 months! He will have to go in for his 2-month appointment and get some shots...not looking forward to that!

So I only have 3 weeks left of maternity leave and I'm having so many mixed feelings about it. Anxious is probably the top of the list! And I'm sure every single new mom feels like this, but I can't imagine anyone else taking care of my baby but me. Adding to the stress is that we still aren't sure about childcare yet. I'm hoping that once we get everything figured out and find a really good place to care for him, I'll feel better about it all...

First Halloween!

2009-11-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

Baby's first Halloween!
Since we called Connor "Sprout" when he was in my belly, we decided to dress him as a vegetable for Halloween. We originally thought a carrot would be cute, but then we saw this amazing costume at Babies R Us, so we got it.

The only bad part was that it zipped up the back, so it was a little hard to get him into it...

The baby emerges!

I'm totally partial but I think he's the cutest thing EVER. My favorite is the little "sprout" head :)

We took him to a couple of neighbors' houses and had lots of visitors before we ended up at Johanna and Drew's house at the end of the trick or treating. Connor didn't seem to mind his costume too much. We had a lot of fun with our little peapod :)

Evan's family

my parentsConnor with the girls

7 weeks postpartum

2009-11-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

So I'm finally starting to feel like I'm not a fat cow anymore, which is awesome. It's my goal to be back in all my old clothes by Christmas, and I think that's totally attainable.

Here are the stats:
Total weight gain for the pregnancy: 42 pounds.
Today: I am 13 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight.

Not too shabby!

And since I'm totally OK with not being exactly down to my pre-pregnancy weight, I figure I have about anothe 10 pounds to go.

Last week I was able to get into my first pair of pre-pregnancy jeans, but since they were too big on me, it's not as cool as it sounds. But it's better than wearing maternity jeans I guess!

And today, I was able to get my actual skinny jeans on, although not zipped all the way. Still, baby steps here!

At first, the weight practically fell off, but then I hit a little plateau a couple weeks after giving birth. Now I've moved past the plateau and continue to lose, thought not quickly at all. But that's too be expected I guess. The bright side is that my clothes are finally feeling like they are starting to fit more, and that means something!

Next week I'm going to start working out for real. My plan is to do an exercise DVD 2-3 times a week and do my ab roller and squats another 2 days a week. I need to start firming up in addition to losing the pounds!

Wish me luck!

Growing baby, hopefully shrinking mommy

2009-10-21T15:47:00.001-07:00

So I've been SUPER busy with photo sessions and some freelance assignments (yes I'm working on my maternity leave, so what? ha) which is why I haven't updated lately, although there has been lots going on!

In short...

Growth spurt for Connor last weekend...cut out one of his feedings the last couple of nights. Hope it continues! I can get used to getting more sleep for sure.

Went to his one-month checkup last week. Stats = 8 lbs 13 oz - yay! 21.25 inches long. 20th percentile for weight, 50th for height. I have a feeling he'll be upping those numbers at the next appointment. He is growing fast.

Connor is pretty much out of newborn clothes now and into 0-3 months. Which is good but also not so good because he doesn't have many 0-3 month outfits! He has a TON of 6-9 month and a lot of 3-6 month, but not so many of the smaller outfits. I need to go shopping...

So it's been 5 weeks and I still feel like a fat hog. I feel like I look pretty decent when I look in the mirror but when I try on my old clothes, they are WAY too tight. I have started working out very lightly - think ab roller, crunches and squats. I think this week I will start using my exercise tape though, I'm feeling pretty good and can probably handle some more intense exercise. Gotta be looking like a hot mom asap!!

For more on what I've been doing lately, check out my photoblog!

Connor: One Month

2009-10-13T18:21:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe my baby is one month old today! I feel like it's really flown by mostly because of the fact that the first couple of weeks we were really just trying to figure out what the heck we were doing.

He's really doing great and starting to get bigger. He has grown out of a couple of his "newborn" outfits and is too big for the newborn Pampers diapers too. (which is a bummer because they have a stripe on the front that turns blue when he pees, and it's really quite helpful!)

I think he had a little growth spurt this weekend because he was crazy hungry and more fussy than usual. And last night, he had not one but TWO four-hour stretches...he ate at 12:30 a.m., 4:30, and 8:30. Hollerrrrr!

I fall more and more in love with this tiny creature every day and am starting to forget what life was like before him. He's my little buddy...

My Lil Pumpkin

2009-10-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

We visited the Apple Barn in Chatham this morning for a dose of fall. We got some apple cider for later and ordered an apple cider slushy and cinnamon roll to enjoy on the way home. Deliciousness.

Connor enjoyed it thoroughly...

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

2009-10-06T08:26:00.001-07:00

So while I'm thinking of it, I can't forget to post about a very special day today...

Two years ago today, October 6, I married the most amazing guy ever who I am SO in love with and is the greatest husband and father I could imagine!!

To celebrate, we are going out for a drink and then hitting up Dublin Pub to get a horseshoe tonight, which seems to be our tradition now. Then I hope to get to watch some of our wedding video too! The grandparents are getting quality time with the baby so we can have a night out, which I'm so excited about! :)

Happy anniversary to my husband! I love you!

More cousins!

2009-10-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Connor got a new first cousin this past weekend! Audie Reagan Hale was born on October 3 to Evan's sister, Aimee. She also has two other kids, Garrett and Evie. (You may remember my post about Evie's birth last year...)

This is Connor's THIRD cousin born within 5 weeks of his birth!! As mentioned in my previous post, my cousin Jill's baby Brody was born 2 weeks ahead of Connor. Audie was born 3 weeks after, and actually, just two days before Audie's birth, on October 1, Evan's cousin Adam and his wife Sara had a baby girl named Alyx!

Babies everwhere!

Lil Illini fan

2009-09-28T14:36:00.001-07:00

Even though my team lost, I still bleed orange and blue...

On Saturday, we watched the Illini lose brutally to Ohio State (not surprisingly) while we were at my cousin Sherri's house. My cousin Jill's family was in town, and Connor was able to meet his new cousin, Brody, who was born two weeks before him. Not only is Brody older, but he weighed more than a pound more at birth, and he made Connor look miniature!!

Mommy like

2009-09-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

So it's really interesting, even in just 2 weeks, to notice what baby products are really useful and what we haven't used much.

I put the Moby Wrap on my registry and received it as a shower gift. At first I wasn't sure how much I'd use it, although I really liked the concept. But for the past two mornings, Connor has slept soundly against me while I'm able to do stuff on the computer or around the house with both hands.

(not me)

I had felt like I was constantly putting him in his bouncey seat when I needed to get something done because holding a baby isn't so convenient for doing anything that requires more than one hand. But he seriously loves being all curled up in this thing and it's awesome for me too...

Now this, on the other hand, I was skeptical about.

(not Connor)

I thought that swaddling with a blanket was just fine and this was totally useless. Well, he breaks out of the blanket so easily (obviously he's going to be a tremendous athlete) and then I get worried about the loose blanket around his face when he's sleeping and I'm not right there watching him.

So we went out and bought the SwaddleMe blanket last night and it rocks. I definitely think that it's the main reason that he slept so soundly for so long last night. It is going to be a part of our night-time routine for a while now!

The first two weeks...

2009-09-25T06:02:00.000-07:00

Connor is 12 days old today and it's both flown by and dragged on. (maybe it's just the nights that drag on?)

I have to admit, this is way way harder than I thought it'd be. Not so much the actual caring for the baby and everything (and Connor is a really good baby so far) but I think the baby blues have hit me more than I thought, and I just don't do well with no sleep. I never have.

The first week was a little trying because he got jaundice and had to be attached to this "blanket" for 24/7 until his bilirubin level went down, which it thankfully did after a few days. But with the jaundice, he was extra sleepy, but being on the blanket, we had to make sure he didn't get dehydrated, so we were having to wake him constantly to feed, which totally sucked. And we were also having to supplement with formula for a couple of days, which I think threw him off a little - both getting formula to eat and eating from a bottle.

But now we're back in action and he's being exclusively breastfed again (another thing that is way harder than I thought it'd be! You'd think breastfeeding, being the natural thing and all, wouldn't be difficult, but it really is).

He was kind of being a stinker about sleeping at night, and didn't really want to sleep in his crib, and he broke out of his swaddle all the time. But last night we took the plunge and bought one of those SwaddleMe blankets and it is amazing. He slept for 4-5 hour stretches in his crib last night!! A miracle. We still didn't get perfect sleep because we checked on him quite a bit, but I think once we learn to ignore the little noises he makes in his sleep vs. his actual cries, we'll be getting much better sleep. If anything, it was amazing for us both to be able to sleep in our own bed together for the whole night.

Evan has been the perfect dad and has been such a huge help. I think sometimes that he's better at this than I am! He finally had a breakdown the other night though (compared to my 213943 breakdowns so far) when I awoke to Connor crying around 11 and Evan said all frustrated and tired "I just want to take a shower but he won't stop CRYING!!"

My mom has also been amazing and not only helped with the baby but also done some housework for us like taking the trash out and doing laundry. Things that I have had no energy or motivation for whatsoever! She has also been taking the "late shift" with the baby on occasion, staying up with the baby in between feedings so that Evan and I can both sleep. Which has been glorious. One of those evenings, I actually got 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep and felt like a real person the next day for the first time since having him. It's amazing the things you take for granted sometimes!

Hopefully now we can continue to adjust more and get into a better routine. These past two weeks have been a little rough on me, and I'm strongly considering changing my decision to have lots of kids. One or two is sounding pretty appealing right now...

Connor's birth story

2009-09-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been able to do much of anything for the past week that didn't involve baby, but it's been so worth it, even if it's the most exhausting thing ever!

I wanted to catch up first though, so here are the details of the birth of Connor William!

We checked into the hospital at 5 p.m. on Saturday, the 12th, and the nurse gave me Cervadil around 7. Cervadil is this stuff which is put on a little screen that they insert behind your cervix to help "ripen" it and hopefully get it ready for labor, aka help you dilate a little more.

Well my body didn't react well to it. My parents came to visit and around 8 I think, and I had to ask them to leave because I was getting so uncomfortable. Come to find out, the Cervadil had actually kicked me into labor hardcore, and I was having contractions less than a minute apart, so basically one right after the other, and it was pretty painful, not to mention that it would start to really stress the baby out if it continued.

So they pulled the Cervadil out and gave me some medicine to slow the labor down, along with a ton of fluids, which also helps slow the contractions. It worked, but the labor didn't stop, so I was basically considered "in labor" from that time on and contracting about every 5 to 10 minutes. I couldn't really sleep through them, so they gave me some pain medication that allowed me to sleep for probably about 2 hours straight, and I got maybe 4 hours of total sleep that night. Delightful.

The next day around 7 a.m., my doctor came in and checked me and I was still only dilated 1 cm - GRRR. But she broke my water (which was the weirdest feeling ever) and started the Pitocin. They told me I could request an epidural at anytime, and after I felt a couple of the contractions, I definitely wanted it right then, but because of the timing, the nurses were switching shifts, so mine didn't come in for a while, and then the anesthesiologist was busy too, so I went through about an hour of contractions before I got the epidural (which felt amazing and didn't hurt whatsoever). I definitely enjoyed the numbing feeling that came over my whole lower body, and I could tell I was having contractions after that because I could kind of feel that my stomach was hardening, but I couldn't feel the pain at all. Definitely the way to go!
So my doctor kept checking me throughout the day and I wasn't really progressing very fast, until my doctor came in around 3 I think and said I had jumped to 8 cm dilated from the last time she checked when I was about 3 cm. She checked around 4:30 and said I was 9.5 cm and then finally came in around 5:15 and said "it's go time!"

Our parents were all in the room at the time, so they all left when the doctor came in to check me and since she wanted to start pushing right away, they were waiting anxiously for word about what was going on. Evan finally was able to run out and tell them, and I did feel bad because in the end, they didn't get to see the baby until 8 p.m. and couldn't hold him because he was a little "stressed."

So anyway, I digress. I started pushing then but we ran into a problem when the baby got super stressed and his heartrate dipped way down when I started pushing on my back. So they had me turn on both sides with the same results, so finally they decided that I would need to push on my hands and knees for a little while because in that position, the baby was fine. Lovely.

We ended up trying again to go on my back and sides, but again, the heartrate went way down, so I ended up pushing this kid out on my hands and knees, halfway hanging off the bed for TWO HOURS. So basically I pushed as hard as I could for 30 seconds - in 10 second spurts - about every 2-3 minutes for two hours. And possibly the most awkward part besides the positioning was that I couldn't really even feel my legs until the last 20 minutes or so, so it was quite interesting to keep myself propped up for this task!

The doctor was close to using the forceps or vacuum to get the baby out because he just wasn't coming, but I had a burst of energy at the end and somehow got him into a good position to get him out. And FINALLY, his little head was coming out and they flipped me over and I pushed another couple of times and omg this kid was pulled out of me and it was the craziest thing I've ever experienced and I got to watch it on this big mirror from above - which I wasn't sure I'd want to watch, but when the time came, I definitely did.

And they laid him on my chest while a billion nurses cleaned him and sucked goo out of his lungs and tears just streamed down my face...
It was the most surreal feeling in the world to look at this goey, scrunching, crying little person and think that I just pushed him out of my stomach! Words can't even describe. And while the labor was a little ( ha) longer and more challenging that I would have liked, or that I even expected, I think it makes it even more rewarding that our little miracle is here with us now.

Here is Dr. Brown, my amazing doctor who was so encouraging through the whole thing...

(yes I do have popped blood vessels in my face from the pushing, thanks for asking)

And the first family photo of our new little family of three...

Evan was the best birth coach EVER and I couldn't have done it without his support. He stood by my side holding my hand the whole time and motivating me to push harder, made sure I had chapstick and ice chips when my mouth got dry about every other minute and was just amazing all around. Our nurse even commented "you guys just work so well together, I don't see that often where the husband and wife do this so well together." It was a very nice compliment.

(I only got snippy with him one time - before I got the epidural, I had just had what felt like a pretty painful contraction and he looked at the monitor and said nonchalantly, "oh that was just a little one" and I snapped "well it didn't FEEL LITTLE." ha.)

And finally, my little guy, I think a day after he was born...He looks so precious swaddled up! I am so happy with the name we decided on too. We had a list of favorites (Connor was always my favorite, but I never told Evan that :) ) and we discussed a few of them when he was born, after we got to see what he looks like. Evan's two favorites were Connor and Sawyer, and when I told him I really wanted Connor, he agreed immediately. And William is Evan's dad's name, so he gets his middle name from his grandpa...

So meet Connor William...

I promise to be better at blogging from now on - this first week has been a whirlwind, but I have lots to write about!

too excited to sleeeeeep?

2009-09-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's the fact that my mind is going a hundred miles an hour or that I just can't get comfortable or what, but it's about 3:45 a.m. and I just can't sleep.

(side note: that Disney commercial where the kid says "we're toooo excited to sleeeep!" is the best ever. just thought I'd throw that out there.)

(second side note: I have that old school Matchbox 20 song "3 a.m." in my head. Ironic, isn't it)

This whole not sleeping great thing seems to be typical these days, although usually it's closer to 5 when I wake up and can't sleep. I'm hoping that maybe a little break will allow me to fall back asleep in a little while.

So our trip to the doctor yesterday afternoon yielded no more news - there haven't been any changes since my Week 36 appointment...grrrrr.

Which means that instead of going in on Sunday morning for the induction, we now have to go in on Saturday at 5 p.m. so that I can get that cervix gel that will hopefully dilate me just a tad more and prepare me for induction. The doctor said she would be pumped if I was even one more cm dilated on Sunday morning and is then planning to break my water when she comes in around 7 a.m. and get the party started.

After that, depending on how things are going, they'll most likely start the Pitocin so we can get this kid out!

For some reason, I'm starting to get more nervous now. I think because it's so planned out, I have more time to think about things and worry about timing and everything. Like I feel more pressure now to have everything done and ready to go before we hit up the hospital on Saturday than if the labor just came on by itself.

And when it's all said and done, I really can't believe we're going to be holding our baby in our arms in 2 days! It feels like a dream.

Speaking of dreaming, I'm starting to feel a little drowsy again - yesssss! Hopefully I can ignore this back pain and huge lump on the front of me and get some more sleep....

Due date + one day

2009-09-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

So apparently TLC had a "Bringing Baby Home" marathon today or something, but of course I've been captivated by it and lying on the couch watching most of the day and bawling through each birth, just thinking of the amazingness of it all and what we're about to experience.

Yes I've been very productive today.

Well I am now officially one day overdue and Sprout is officially not listening to his mother because I told him he could only come late if he came today (9/9/09), but it's not looking promising at this point...

In the meantime, I'm trying to just enjoy my time off before he arrives, and I'm trying to remain motivated to get some things done, but I really feel so tiiiiired. So screw it, I think I'm allowed a couple days of rest and relaxation.

Only five more days at the most until I'm holding a cuddly, scrunchy, gooey little Sprout in my arms and I CAN'T WAIT! :)

Transformation

2009-09-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Remember that house we bought back in March to fix up?

Take a look...

before

after

kitchen before

kitchen after

dining room before

dining room after

hallway bathroom before and after

living room before

living room aftermaster bedroom beforemaster bedroom aftermaster bathroom beforemaster bathroom after
bedroom beforebedroom after"bonus room" before
"bonus room" after

Pretty exciting to have the place completely renovated and finished...

...not to mention SOLD! That's right, 4 days on the market and the house has been sold!! We close on Friday, not too shabby...

Eviction date set...will he come before or not?

2009-09-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

So no more changes this week at the doctor's either.

I have been officially scheduled to be induced on Sunday morning, September 13.

I have to admit, I was a little (kind of a lot actually) bummed yesterday after our appointment. I had really hoped that things might have progressed a little more, but I guess not.

I do realize that I still have a week and a half before the induction, so I'm still holding out hope that he'll come on his own before that! I don't have any really good reasons for it, but I don't want to be induced if I don't have to, and I don't want to be late because #1 I don't want him to get too big! and #2 I'm so excited for him to finally be here!!

I did tell Evan last night that after a few kids, we'll look back and be like "why did we want him to come early? We should have slept more while we had the chance!"

But I'm starting to look on the bright side and know that it's all going to happen just as God planned, so we'll just have to wait and see what's in store for us! I'm also very grateful that we're having a healthy baby and that I'm healthy and that everything has gone so well for us over this whole pregnancy. We're very blessed!

So let the waiting begin...

No updates this time

2009-08-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

The title says it all.

Dr. says nothing has changed except the baby's size, and he is definitely growing. Hopefully not too big though!!!

This week is now dubbed Operation Get Myself into Labor. Still holding out for sometime between the 5th and the 9th.

My cousin Jill had her baby on Sunday! He was six days late, and it's crazy to think that they could be as little as one week apart (or less I supposed, but that's unlikely for me I think!)

I hit Week 39 tomorrow - wow! My next doctor's appointment is Wednesday. My dr. mentioned that if he is late, they will most likely schedule an induction for the 13th, since that's when she's at the hospital. She's also there on the 9th, so maybe I will try to convince her to do it that day :) 9/9/09 - seriously, how cool?! My other cousin Sherri has a 5/5/05 baby, it'd be a sweet trend to carry on.

I feel a bit rambly in this post, but I don't care. This weekend was pretty rough on sleep (I know, I know, it's only going to get about 230943 times worse) and I'm really just ready to have my body back from this small creature who has been holding it hostage for the past 9 months. I can't wait to lie on my stomach and back again.

This weekend we ran a gazillion errands and I think I'm officially in nesting mode as I stocked up on everything I could possibly think of that I will need in the next couple of months to try to minimize the amount of errands we'll have to do, and I formulated a plan for tonight to get Sprout's closet and the hall bathroom organized.

Counting down from 8... stay tuned.

Week 38

2009-08-26T08:19:00.001-07:00

Sprouuuuut, come out come out wherever you are!

Actually, I know exactly where you are - elbowing my bladder with your foot in my ribs. Quite cozy.

OK, so I really can't complain, because I feel pretty freakin good for being 13 days away from my due date. I am a little restless at night and of course get up to go to the bathroom typically twice in the night, but overall, I have been sleeping way better than I expected. I have also noticed that when I am a little more active - as in, trying to walk as much as possible - that my back hurts less, so that hasn't been bad lately either.

I really don't think he's going to come for at least another week, but I know it's totally possible, and so every little tiny thing makes me stop and wonder if it could be labor starting.

I do hope he waits about another week so that my maternity leave can take me through Thanksgiving. My bet right now is Labor Day weekend though. I guess we'll see...

The bags are packed, the carseat is installed and all his tiny adorable little clothes are washed. We're ready to meet our little miracle!

Week 37...

2009-08-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Baby,
You are wearing my poor little body out. Could you please come out soon? Preferably sometime between August 25 and September 6. You only have my permission to come late if you come on September 9 because 9/9/09 would be a cool birthday.
OK great, thanks.
Love,
Mom

______________________

So we had our 37 week appointment yesterday and everything still is the same. I was hoping for maybe a little more dilation but nooooo. I think I will start trying to walk myself into labor this weekend :)

I didn't really want to go early, but at this point, I feel like we're past the "early" stage, and I'm totally in the discomfort stage and ready to be thin again! Well and not to mention that we're totally excited to finally meet the little guy!

Our doctor said that she is not a betting kinda lady, but if she was, she would bet that he won't come early, just based on everything right now. But like she said, you really can never tell. The weeks really are going pretty fast and another 2-3 weeks isn't too long at all, but I am just praying that he's not going to force us to evict him at like 41.5 weeks or something.

My pep talks with him to stay small seemed to work, so I guess I will have to start encouraging him to come out soon!

In other news, we hit up the fair last night for some amazing fair food with Johanna, Drew and Steve (my cousin). Between all five of us, we pretty much dominated most of the things they had to offer, including dippin' dots, corn dogs, funnel cake, gyro, walking taco, lemonade shake-up, Jamaican jerk chicken, and I can't even remember what else, but there's way more. It was delicious and I even managed to keep the heartburn to a minimum - score!

Evan's sister moved in at U of I yesterday, I'm so excited for her and can't wait to go visit! I remember those early days of just seeking out anyone you know to hang out with before you actually meet new friends, and trying to find your way around campus. Ohhh college, I miss you sometimes.

Today we're FINALLY putting our 1st street house on the market - YESSSSS!! It's been a long time coming, longer than we had hoped, but we decided to totally update it and sell it instead of renting it (hopefully it sells anyway!) But I have confidence that it will sell because of the fact that it's totally updated and looks really nice, and because of the tax stimulus. Keep your fingers crossed!

Other than that, I'm looking forward to an ENTIRE weekend of NO plans - ahhhhhhh bliss. I have a ton of photo editing to get done before lil guy arrives and thank you notes to write from my shower, but other than that, I'm going to relax and rest - maybe even take a nap one day?!

Baby Shower #3 - the "family" shower

2009-08-18T11:40:00.001-07:00

I had my third and final baby shower on Sunday, and it was so great! I can't believe what an amazing week it was with three wonderful showers. We are so blessed to have such incredible friends and family, and Sprout is one spoiled lil dude already!This one was thrown for me by my sister-in-law Aimee and my two aunts, Janice and Corinne. It was mostly family that attended, although a few family friends came too, including my life-long friend Barbara and her mom, who I haven't seen since our wedding since they live in Lombard! I had no idea they were coming, and my mom and I were so excited to see them!

my mom and I with the cake

everyone playing a nursery rhyme game that I failed miserably at, haha

this was so cool! it's a diaper cake made by Evan's mom and sisters with a Cardinals theme. There was a onesie, blankets, bottles/sippy cups, a pacifier and of course diapers!

My cousin's daughter Gretchen, who's 9, is in the process of making the baby an AMAZING baseball quilt, but it's not quite finished, although she did bring it to the shower to show us. This quilt was made by my Aunt Janice, and I love it - it totally coordinates with the baby's room even though she didn't plan it like that!

A sweet "learning home" from my cousins Jill and Sherri. We also got a jumper, a bouncer, an activity center, lots of cute clothes, and tons more!

with Evan's cousins Caitlin, Madalyn and Maggie

and my aunts and cousins

I can't believe we're sooooo close to meeting our little guy. I am 37 weeks today, so only 3 weeks until due date! We'll see what the doctor has to say this week on Thursday... I am also very excited to hear about my cousin Jill who is due in one week! I still can't believe our kid is going to be so close in age with his first cousin and two second cousins on different sides of the family. It's pretty cool.

Week 36!

2009-08-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

So we had our 36-week appointment yesterday and it went great! The doctor said the baby is for sure in the head-down position and she's almost positive that he's facing my back, which she said is the best position for birth. Holler to that!

His heartbeat was also crazy strong, like usual. I love to hear his heartbeat, I don't think there is one time I haven't gotten teary-eyed from it!

And she was finally able to feel around and estimate about how big she thinks he is - she said 5 pounds and between 2 to 3 ounces at this point! Yay for a small Sprout! She said if he goes full-term (40 weeks) that she guesses he'll be between the 6.5 to 7 pound range. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that!! So far it is looking good that we might be able to do a natural birth and not have to do a c-section, which we're really hoping for!

AND the doctor said the baby has definitely dropped and I am 1 cm dilated already! (if that is TMI, I don't care because I'm very excitedddd by that! :) ) She said between that and the fact that I am having somewhat "intense" Braxton Hicks contractions (not painful at all, just maybe a little uncomfortable sometimes), that I am in good shape for giving birth soon!

I am starting to get less anxious and nervous for the birth and more excited, which I am glad about. I think it helps that we are finally feeling like we have some things for the baby after a couple of showers and the baby's room is almost done, so we feel just a little more prepared.

Of course they can never predict when the baby will actually come, but Evan and I wouldn't be surprised if our little booger was here 2 to 3 weeks from now, before his due date. I am still hoping for a September baby though, so that would be 2.5 weeks from today. I guess we will see!!!

Baby Shower #2 - the "work" shower

2009-08-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, all of the ladies in my office got together to throw me a "work" baby shower. It was really fun, and we had some incredibly delicious food! And everyone was SO thoughtful with gifts for the baby!

I am continuing to be overwhelmed by everyone's excitement and generosity with the baby!

Everyone picked out such adorable outfits, bibs, socks and baby stuff for us! Here are a few pictures from the shower...

I just LOVE these bibs! There is one that says "I love Daddy" and "I love hugs" too. Of course the "I love Mommy" one is my favorite :)

opening presents...
Sweet little bear outfit and burp cloths!Me and my former boss, who just retired. I was so glad she dropped in for the shower!The lil outfits with animal feet are my favorite :)

Baby Shower #1 - the "friend" shower

2009-08-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first baby shower, thrown for me by Johanna and Kristin, my two best friends in the world (besides Evan of course)!

It was such an amazing day, I seriously can't get over how wonderful it was to see all of my friends and celebrate Sprout's impending arrival. I get emotional still thinking about it! I reveled in everything for the entire evening yesterday after we got home as I looked through all of my incredibly thoughtful gifts again and put everything in its place to get ready for Sprout!

We had such a good turnout at the shower, which was held at Kristin's parents' house, and I'm so glad several of my friends traveled from out of town to be there for it!

U of I/Alpha Gam girls!

Springfield girls (minus several who had to leave early...)

Kristin and Jo (and their moms) thought of seriously everything. The shower colors were green and blue and everything turned out so cute! I love the cake...
And Kristin's mom and sister painted this piggy bank for us, which matches absolutely PERFECTLY in Sprout's room. Mr. Pig is now sitting on top of Sprout's bookcase...

(me and my mom)

Speaking of books, another aspect of the shower was that all of the guests brought a baby or children's book to start Sprout's collection, an idea that I LOVED. I love to read and can't wait to read to the baby all of the time. We got some fabulous choices of books and no duplicates surprisingly enough!

And wow was everyone so totally generous and thoughtful with their gifts. I was so overwhelmed by it.
Evan and I, and the baby, are so incredibly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives!

Lots of gear for our future Illini! :)

Kristin and her mom picked out the CUTEST "diaper bag" and accessories, I'm in love with it! Stylish, aren't I? ;)I love froggie stuff! We got the most adorable froggie towels and robe from Kristin's sister Amanda, and also a hooded froggie towel, washclothes and bath toy carrier from Evan's mom and sister. Sprout is set for bathtime!

I think this is Evan's favorite present :) My friends Kristi and Katheryne got the baby a red wagon, which Evan promptly put together the minute we got home. Ironically he had just said not even a week earlier that we really needed a wagon eventually.... They read his mind!

We can't wait for everyone to meet the little guy!!

Maternity Photos

2009-08-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from the maternity photos we had taken last week, and I'm not even sure why! I think I might have it framed in Sprout's room though.

Check out my photoblog for many more beautiful pictures taken by my friend Betsy!

Coming soon I think...

2009-08-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hitting Week 35 today and entering the home stretch!

(and the crowd goes wild!)

Last night I was laying in bed taking a quick rest and I said to Evan "the baby really feels a lot lower to me." Whe I got up, Evan took a look at my tummy and confirmed that it even looked lower.

I began to read about "dropping" and it seems to be very consistent to what I'm experiencing now - more swollen feet/ankles, less heartburn than before because the baby is lower, a lot more pelvic pressure and discomfort when I walk, especially if I am making my way to the bathroom, etc. I'm 99% sure that the baby has dropped at least some of the way and it makes me nervous just thinking that he could possibly be getting ready to arrive! (I'm beginning to think Evan might be right about him coming a little early).

I read that first-time moms usually experience dropping about 2-4 weeks before delivery, and I am really hoping Sprout holds out for at least another 2 weeks so I can get through the photo sessions I have scheduled as well as both of my baby showers! After August 16, everything is fair game, little guy.

My doctor explained what a Braxton Hicks contraction is during my appointment last week and I've definitely been feeling those. I had a more-intense-than-usual one this morning actually. So it seems like our little guy is slowly getting himself ready to make his grand appearance!

Tonight I have designated as "getting ready for baby night." We are going to make a birth plan, start packing our bag for the hospital, do a load of the few outfits we have so far for Sprout just so we at least have some clean clothes for him if he comes early, and make a list of a few meals that we can prepare and freeze to have on hand after he comes. I also want to put together a list of email addresses of our out-of-town family and friends to email after he's born, and start looking into birth announcements too. It'd be great if I could buy some envelopes for them and address/stamp them before he's born too.

If you can't tell, I prefer to be prepared for things and get anxious when I'm not :) I like to think this is also part of the nesting stage...

Pregnancy: Week 34

2009-07-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Wow it feels crazy to type Week 34!!! It's so close, yet still pretty far.

Yesterday we had our 34 week appointment and everything still looks great. The doctor determined the baby is upside down ready to blast-off by palming my lower belly and grabbing his little head. She also felt around my upper belly and declared "here's his butt!"

Evan tried to feel the head last night and apparently Sprout wasn't a fan because he squirmed like crazy. Hopefully he doesn't have a totally lopsided head now!

He's still moving around like crazy though, although I can tell it's getting quite tight in there. Evan thinks he's going to come early, mostly because he can't figure out how Sprout is going to grow much more with me being "miniature-sized." (Evan's words). I think I'm going to get my September baby. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking.

At least we hit our first milestone of Sprout waiting until after Geri's wedding to arrive. The second milestone is August 16, which is my last baby shower, and also the weekend I have photo sessions scheduled up until. Really, anytime after the 16th is juuuust fine. But I do want a fully developed baby - I like my babies like my steaks... fully cooked, not medium rare. :)

Aside from that, this weekend is our first "free" weekend since MAY and I'm so excited to finally stay at home a full weekend and get some stuff done around the house. I have a photo session tomorrow morning, and that's all that is on the agenda besides a couple of fun things like possibly getting my parents out on Evan's parents' boat and meeting up with my friend Emily who I haven't seen in a while.

This week, we got some maternity pictures taken of us by my friend Betsy, which turned out super cute. I'm going to post a few on my photo blog in the coming days, so I'll link up when I do.

Have a great weekend!

Just Practicing!

2009-07-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

We got our glider this week, and it matches perfectly with our other furniture, which makes me oh so happy (it's dark brown, although it looks more black in the pictures). The room is coming together nicely...

Table Rock 2K9

2009-07-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings blog readers, it is your long-lost blog author!

I am well-rested and starting to relax after a wonderful week-long vacation to Table Rock Lake last week! Despite not being able to partake in my usual Table Rock activities - namely drinking and skiing - I had a fabulous time, and it was amazing to get away from all things work for a whole week.

I only had one day where I felt a little under the weather, and I think I got just a little dehydrated - although Evan was convinced I was going into labor - but other than that, I felt even better than I anticipated and walking up and down the hills of the resort wasn't too taxing.

If you may recall from posts last year, we stay at a resort called Caboose Junction Resort with Evan's entire maternal side of the family and we rent out the entire place.

Group shot

This year, we stayed in the trailer with Evan's parents, which was really nice with me being all huge and stuff.

We spent most of the time on the dock laying out, floating in the beautiful water, boating and eating.

Me with sister-in-law Alayna and cousin Madalyn

on the dock on our last day

We had a rousing game of washers going one night, which Alayna and I dominated, beating teams of Evan and cousin Jackson, as well as Uncle Tom and Evan's dad Bill. Yep girls rule, boys drool. Ha.
On the way home from Table Rock, which is about six hours away, we stopped outside of Springfield, MO, to hit up Lambert's, the home of the Throwed Roll. I'd never been before and LOVED it.

I had a bacon cheeseburger, which was excellent, but they also come around with "pass-arounds" ( I think that's what they're called), which are just basically side dishes they deal out if you are so inclined to taste. I thoroughly enjoyed the fried okra and the bacon/potato dishes. And of course there are guys that walk around and throw rolls at you whenever you want. I got two rolls, and caught them both. I was a little nervous because word on the street is they make fun of you if you drop it, but I'm quick on my toes (or hands in this case).
A great end to a fab vacation....and the beginning of the end of summer!!

Savoring the days, counting down the days!

2009-07-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

So I really just haven't been in the blogging mood lately. There is a lot going on right now, and I'm trying to catch my breath before the summer's gone and Sprout arrives!

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday and everything continues to look great. All of my tests are good, and Sprout's heartbeat is good and strong. So good that the doctor commented: "he's an active little critter, isn't he?!"

The answer to that question is: yes, he never stops moving!

But I'm measuring still right on time, which I love. Only a couple more appointments and they'll be able to estimate how big he'll be at birth. I'm very much anticipating learning that!

We had our last class in the 3-part series at Memorial on Wednesday. I've enjoyed every class a lot. During this one, we got to watch one of the nurses give a newborn a spongebath to learn how to bath the baby during the few weeks of life.

This particular baby was born breech so his legs seriously stuck straight out at about a 110-degree angle from his body. It looked hilarious. He had also just been freshly deprived of his manhood and OW did that look sore. Evan and I decided that our moms will have to come over for bath and changing duty for the first 2 weeks because we don't want anything to do with that sore area nor the umbilical cord stump, which really grosses me out.

(I never knew about this weird fear I have of belly buttons because normal ones don't bother me at all. But pregnant belly buttons and umbilical cord stumps freak me out.)

On the other hand, the model bath baby was soooo super cute and it just made me melt with excitement about getting to meet Sprout. (And I'm a total sissy now and could feel my eyes welling up the second he started wailing unhappily at getting his bath. Gr. Pull yourself together woman.)

In other news, we have a pretty busy next couple of weeks and then the calendar drops off drastically in mid-August, when I have elected to stop doing photo sessions and cut way back on other freelance work, and it's going to be total bliss having more free time to focus on Sprout's arrival. And I am SO crazy excited for my baby showers! I'll definitely be posting pictures.

Meanwhile, I'll catch ya on the flip side.

Dragggging

2009-07-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to drag these days.

Sprout is supposedly going through a growth spurt and I can tell. My back is much tighter and I just feel physically tired, even after a good night's rest.

I'm really really really looking forward to vacation when I can just relax and rest as much as I want. Hopefully it will be just what I need to get me through these last two months of baby on board.

Last night we attended our second class of the 3-part series about childbirth at Memorial. Our first one was last week, and we watched a very graphic video of a birth. I'm seriously still trying to figure out how this thing is going to come out, and as my belly gets bigger, I get more nervous.

The lady in the video popped out a 6-pound baby and it looked HUGE coming out of her. Yikes.

No turning back now I guess! I keep giving Sprout pep talks about staying on the little side. I told him I would fatten him up as soon as he comes out if he could just stay under 7 pounds for me...

Last night in our class we covered a lot about what happens during actual delivery and the hospital stay. It was very informative, and sounds quite messy. I'm glad to be prepared with this knowledge now rather than when it's happening though.

We got to tour the maternity wing and a labor/delivery suite. The nurse showed us a huge ceiling mirror where we can catch all the action if we so choose. By that point, I'm sure I will want to watch because I'll be so anxious to meet the lil guy, although the thought of it now pretty much terrifies me.

Thank goodness for epidurals.

I also attended a class yesterday by myself called the "Whys of Cries" about calming your baby. I learned so much and am so glad I went. I caught Evan up with everything we discussed, and I'm hoping we might be able to find a copy of Dr. Harvey Karp's video called "Happiest Baby on the Block" for him to see because we watched it in class and I really liked it. I have read a lot about Dr. Karp's methods but actually seeing it was really helpful.

I am at 31 weeks this week and can't believe I'm actually in the 30s now. So close, yet so far. Really, I can't even believe it's JULY. I need a time out, Zach Morris-style, to catch up on life.

But the end of the craziness is getting close, though not quite in sight yet. We still have two more weddings to attend, vacation and a bunch of photo sessions in between. Then around the second week of August, I can finally start to take it easy and I also have two baby showers, which I am SO excited about!

P.S. is it sad that the nurse asked the class last night "what is the one thing you haven't had in nine months?" and Evan and I thought "alcohol"? (that wasn't the right answer).

4th of July 2009

2009-07-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

We spent our Fourth of July in Robinson, like we do every year, at my aunt's house. As you may recall from last year's posts, the area she lives in is coincidentally called Westlake. Good name :)

There is an E. Westlake Dr. so of course I had to get a photo with my belly by the sign! Evan also had brought his shirt that says "New Dad, September 09" on it (a present from a friend and we love it!), so this is my new favorite picture. Definitely going in the Baby Book.

We had the biggest number of people attend the festivities this year - it was a full house! (My cousin and I are the big mamas in the middle. She is expecting 2 weeks before us!)

Boo to rain all weekend though. We usually lay out and play on the lake, play games outside, etc. But it rained from morning until night on the 4th this year. Grrr.

We celebrated my cousin's son's 7th bday, which is on July 5th.

We made a couple of Wal-mart runs, ate a ton of food and we resorted to playing washers in the basement. I must say, I am getting pretty good at this game. Regardless of the rain, it was still wonderful spending time with family! Hope everyone else had a great 4th!

Heifer

2009-06-30T08:21:00.001-07:00

I mentioned to Evan this morning that my weight gain had kind of hit a plateau these past couple of weeks, thought I'm not sure if that's good or bad? (we'll see what the doc says on Thursday).

Evan seemed to think it was good since I've been pretty much gaining about two pounds a week the last few months, and my front side is getting quite heavy on my little frame.

"You definitely would be winning the rate of gain contest though," he said.

The what?

"County fairs have contests for steers and heifers, where you weigh them in February and then again in the summer when the fair is, and whichever one gains the most in that time wins," he continued.

So I'm a heifer now huh?

Thanks, honey, for that comparison.

According to the Greene County Rate of Gain Contest rules, steers have to gain at least 2.2 pounds per day.

I guess I'm not too far behind... :)

*disclaimer: I suppose I have been talking about my weight a lot here lately, but in reality I'm really not concerned with it at all in a negative way. It just interests me to see how much I'm gaining and where at the moment. Bring it on!

(PS I still haven't hit my freshman year college weight.)

(that's sad.)

Beached Whale?

2009-06-25T06:43:00.001-07:00

If there is anything worse than trying to find a swimsuit that fits right when you're not pregnant...it's trying to find a swimsuit that fits when you are pregnant.

But I did it. I bought a swimsuit last night from Motherhood Maternity. And it's...dare I even say it without cringing...a one-piece.

BUT it doesn't look like a one-piece, thankfully.

Here's a pic:

(disclaimer - this is not me)

The good news is that it's decently comfortable, black is always a flattering color compared to others and it covers everything very well. Coverage is always appreciated at this time.

The bad news is that I look like Shamu in it.

Sigh.

Jai Ho

2009-06-24T04:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we got to celebrate a wedding Indian-style. We've never been to an Indian wedding before and I'm not sure we'll have the chance again! So we decided to try to take part in everything we could, including the groom's celebration on Saturday morning!

We drove up on Friday afternoon to be there for the dance festival, or Ras Garba. We unfortunately had to miss out on the henna party on Thursday night but the henna looked so cool...

Here is the beautiful bride decorated in henna!
Me and my friends, the bridesmaids... I even got to wear an Indian shirt thanks to Amanda, the bride, who let me borrow hers. I was so excited!
It was a full weekend of dancing and luckily, Sprout and I were totally feeling the beat. I even stayed out on the dance floor until midnight on Saturday at the reception! I know, I know, I'm a baller. I'm really rockin these sober weddings now.

On Friday morning, like I mentioned, we took part in Aakash's (the groom) ceremony before the actual ceremony. We basically had a dance party in the parking lot for an hour while Aakash was pulled around by a horse-drawn cart. Then the groom's party made its way to the entrance of the hotel, where they were greeted by the bridal party - family and friends - as they did more dancing and celebrating of accepting Aakash into their side.

On Thursday, we learned a crazy dance with these sticks (don't know the actual name of them). It involved hitting the sticks together in a 5-count dance before twirling onto the next person and repeating the dance. I took a billion pics of people dancing, which I'll post on my photoblog soon. In the meantime, here's Evan getting the hang of it :) He looks pumped to be participating...(Aakash the groom is to the left of him and friend Meredith is clearly having a glorious time in front)

Father's Day, a day late

2009-06-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

I didn't get to post yesterday because it was a crazy hectic weekend, which I will discuss in the next post, but in honor of Father's Day, here are a few sweet pics with my dad from when I was little!

I love both of these baby ones...

Future Illini!Father/Daughter dance for Girl Scouts - called "Date with an Angel". With my best friend Johanna and her dad. Don't you love our hairstyles? :)Happy Father's Day to all the dads in my life - my dad, my father-in-law and of course my husband, who will be a dad in less than 3 months and couldn't be more excited about it!! :)

"And a bottle of Ski..."

2009-06-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

I passed my blood test on Friday!

The test was sucky, and it was definitely NO fun giving up my entire Friday morning to do it, not to mention get my blood drawn 4 times, but at least I passed and don't have to worry about gestational diabetes.

The rest of our weekend went swimmingly. We got up bright and early on Saturday to drive down to Sparta, Illinois for Butler and Betsy's wedding. We just had to stop in Lebanon for some Ski for Evan to drink. Apparently around Lebanon is as far north as you can find this drink, which tastes like a combo of Sprite and... a bunch of other stuff that is hard to describe.

Anyway their wedding day was beautiful! Head on over to my photoblog for some photos!

I have to say, not drinking really hasn't been a big deal for me...except at weddings. It is seriously really hard to be a sober reception-goer because everyone else is drinking and dancing, and not only do I feel a little silly dancing when I haven't had a cocktail but I feel ridiculously silly dancing with this huge belly. Sigh.

(I did get a few dances in, including the dollar dance).

(Butler kept his distance, dancing ass-out, so he wouldn't come in contact with the belly).

Sunday was no time to relax either as we headed back to Springfield and hit up the 10th anniversary party for Evan's bank. It was at the Firefighter's Lake Club, which is a pretty nice place, and they had it set up all carnival-themed with lots of games for the kids, food and even a cotton candy machine! Score!

This week - tomorrow actually - I hit the third trimester of my pregnancy and I can hardly believe it. Only three months to go!!

Pregnancy: Week 27

2009-06-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Evan's sister Alayna took this photo of us at her graduation party on Sunday. I just love it.

Next week I will be entering the 3rd trimester- I can hardly believe it!! Sprout was feeling heavier than usual this morning, and my back was noticing. My sweet husband gave me a backrub though and I feel better now :)

Total weight gain from the time I got pregnant is about 26 pounds. Yikes. I have been feeling big lately, and I can't imagine what I'll feel like at the end of August. Like a swollen beached whale, most likely. Fortunately at least so far, most of the weight seems to be hanging out around the middle and not in my legs, arms or face.

My belly is measuring exactly what it should be, according to the doctor, so that's good.

I did get some not so good news on Monday, when the nurse called and said I had failed my blood glucose screening test. By ONE stupid point. Which means I have to go to the lab tomorrow and take a glucose tolerance test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes.

I will have to not eat or drink anything, arrive at the lab around 8, drink this big thing of liquid that I've read is worse than the first test's drink and then get my blood tested every hour for the next 3 hours. ugh. While I'm not looking forward to sitting in the doctor's office for 3+ hours, I'm more not looking forward to not being able to eat ALL morning!

To top it off, next week is when I go in for a shot since I have rH-negative blood type. I can't remember if I've written about it before, but basically the vast majority of people have positive blood types, which means Evan probably does, which means Sprout probably does, and I have to get this shot to make sure my body doesn't see Sprout as an intruder and attack his blood.

The doctor said it's really not a concern for the first baby, but maybe more so for subsequent pregnancies, so I have to get a shot at 28 weeks, and again after birth to tell my blood to simma down and be nice to the babies.

So basically aside from worrying about this stuff, feeling slightly blimp-ish and being very emotional lately, I am doing really really well! I have been sleeping better than ever, besides getting up once a night to pee, but other that that, I sleep straight through the night every night. I hope it lasts!

There is also no greater feeling that Sprout moving around in my belly. I like to talk to him when he's kicking. We have found out that he LOVES strawberries. He kicks like crazy everytime I eat them.

One day he was a little sleepy or something, and I always get a little worried when he doesn't move a lot because he usually moves so much. So Evan had me eat a strawberry and Sprout went nuts. It's pretty sweet. Pun intended.

Well...wish me luck as I am tortured by bloodwork and starvation tomorrow morning!

Gettin my nails did

2009-06-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday I awoke bright and early to voyage up to Chicago for my college friend Geri's bachelorette party. Geri is getting married on July 25, and I'm shooting the wedding! (insert nervous face :) )

We hit up the Mojo Spa in Chicago for some pampering. I got the most amazing pedicure, which was desperately needed, and not only do my feet look and feel amazing, but my cankles are gone for the time being too! Double bonus!

After the spa party, we headed downtown to a hotel for snacks and games and opening presents, before walking to dinner this pub I can't remember the name of. Something like Old English, or English or something. I had a delicious fried egg, cheese and bacon sandwich.
I opted not to join in on the bar crawl, and instead my cousin Jill's husband took a cab with me back to their place, where I was crashing for the night. I got up bright and early again to head back to Springfield for my sister-in-law Alayna's high school graduation!

(as a side note, I did have a mini meltdown in the car on the way home when Geri texted me that I had forgotten my makeup in the hotel room. LOVE these pregnancy emotions!)

Alayna was one of two valedictorians, and their combined speech was awesome!The rest of the day was spent eating and hanging out with family. I love days like that...Cousin Avery wore an Illini dress, where Alayna is going to school in the fall! I L L...
Proud parents...

Now I'm gearing up for weddings for the next THREE weekends in a row, followed by our annual long weekend trip to Robinson for July 4th, then another wedding, then our annual week-long vacation to Table Rock, and then finally our last wedding of the year! It's going to be a crazy one, but it will also fly by, which is good since we can't wait to meet Sprout in September!

Check, check and check!

2009-06-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a triple blog post about three accomplishments I can cross off my 101 list! They are all a little outdated - I just haven't gotten around to blogging them yet, so I'll pile them all together.

19. Have dinner at Pao with Evan - CHECK!

For Valentine's Day, we decided to try out Pao for the first time. We had plans to go there sometime in early January, but Evan ended up with the flu, so sushi wasn't sounding too appetizing to him.

Actually sushi never sounds appetizing to him because he hates it. The one thing in the world that I like to eat and he doesn't.

Pao was a little different than I expected. It was more laidback; all of the servers were in jeans and casual attire, and the atmosphere was really comfortable. I expected it to be more "fancy" if you know what I mean.

We split the crab cakes as an appetizer, and they were pretty good. They were a little too spicy for me, but the taste was still really good.

I ended up ordering cream cheese/scallion/smoked salmon sushi rolls - yummmm -and Evan got the stuffed pork chop. It was one of the biggest servings of stuffed pork chop we'd ever seen, so that was impressive. Evan also gave the Japanese beer, Saporro, a try on the suggestion of a friend and enjoyed it too, although I haven't found a beer yet that Evan won't drink.

It was a pretty packed house, and even though it was Valentine's Day, I get the impression that Pao is always pretty busy. Overall we really liked it, even if it wasn't one of of usual hotspots. I will probably always prefer bar food over upscale dining because I'm weird like that, but I'm really glad we got to try it.

34. Take Evan’s grandpa out to dinner for some quality time - CHECK!

We had planned to take Evan's grandpa to dinner for his Christmas present, and when we found out we were pregnant, we thought it'd be the perfect time to break the news. Unfortunately our plans were thrown off a little because we celebrated our nephew Garrett's birthday the night before our planned dinner, and since his grandpa was the only one at the celebration who didn't know, we figured we'd tell him our good news then before someone else leaked it out!

Regardless, we still had a great time at dinner the next night at Los Agaves talking about the baby and our plans, and listening to his grandpa tell us stories from the olden days - I could listen to that forever!

28. Plan a night out to dinner with both sets of parents - CHECK!

On April 26, we accomplished goal # 28 - get our parents together for a dinner out!

We've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I wanted to wait until the morning sickness had passed me by so that I could fully enjoy our meal. We chose Westwoods because we all LOVE it, and on Sundays, they have a wing special with their numerous flavors of wings.

Yummmm.

It was a very pleasant evening, and we were glad that our parents were able to get together and hang out. And dinner was delicioso!

I totally underestimated my new appetite, and ordered 6 bacon ranch wings - my favorite! - and also had some of the appetizers that we ordered. So when Evan's mom offered me a couple of her wings that she wasn't going to finish, I totally dove right in!

I'm sure his parents were impressed because I usually eat like a bird compared to the rest of the family! :)

It was a good night though, and we're glad that both sets of parents live so close that we can do things like that!

And unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of any of those events - totally forgot, but I still get to check some more off the list!

26 Weeks...and growing

2009-06-04T06:23:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling large and in charge these days.

I think there is a certain point of pregnancy that is perfect - you're showing a cute little bump enough so that strangers will ask when you're due, and you're still feeling great and feeling like you look pretty darn good for being 'with child.'

I think I've surpassed that point.

I know, I know - I still have a long ways to go. About 3 months. Which is a long time when it means that this 2 pound, 14-ish inch creature will most likely at least triple in weight (praying that he won't quadruple in weight!!)

But I'm starting to feel fat. I have a mom butt. (Nooooooo not the MOM BUTT!!!) (sigh.)

The beauty in all of this is the unwritten rule that you absolutely are required to tell pregnant women they look fabulous at any and all stages of pregnancy, no matter if it's the truth or not.

My friends are all "you look soooo cute!"

Strangers and acquaintances always ask "when are you due?" and my answer is then automatically followed by an enthusiastic "well, you look GREAT!!"

Must be the mom butt. Attracts positive attention every time.

#72 - check!!

2009-06-01T11:19:00.001-07:00

72. Enter a photo into a competition --CHECK!

So it was a small competition, but I think it counts nonetheless!

The Springfield Arts Council holds a city-wide exhibit every couple of years called "On My Own Time" for professionals in the area to showcase the work they do on their "own time" if you will.

Prior to the city-wide competition, many workplaces hold their own competitions with judging and everything, and the winner of each category then competes in the Springfield competition.

I decided to enter this year for fun, and the judging for the UIS competition took place last week, and I found out when I checked my email this morning that my photo won SECOND place in its category!!

Of course it would have been nice to win first, but I didn't think I would place at all after seeing some of the wonderful photographs competing next to mine in the gallery! I was very excited!

Here is the photo I chose to enter. I called it "Divine Light: St. Peter's Basilica" and it's from our September trip to Rome... It's one of my favorites from the trip :)

Rolling with the punches

2009-05-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I decided to use some shampoo and conditioner that are almost gone in order to use them up.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten why they weren't used up.

I used this particular brand all through my first trimester, and yesterday as soon as I began washing my hair, I wanted to puke, not to mention all day when I would get a whiff of it, a wave of nausea would hit me.

Ugh. Poor choice.

I think I might never use that brand again ever.

While we're on the subject of pregnancy, Sprout is growing like crazy and moving around and kicking like he owns the place.

He's most active in the mid-morning, around lunch, around dinnertime and in the evenings in general. I think he's active during the night too because when I get up 8 times a night to empty my shrinking bladder, I can usually feel him. Luckily his movements aren't strong enough yet to keep me up, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will stay that way for a while.

He is quite feisty though, and a couple of my friends were able to feel him kick the other day, which was pretty cool. His kicks are getting higher in my tummy, although there's still a lot of lower movement and I can definitely tell now when he sucker-punches my bladder, which is the weirdest feeling.

I also occasionally get a big hard spot just to the right of my belly button like he's headbutting me, but I'm hoping it's a rear or a knee or something - Evan is worried he's right side up instead of upside down, but I'm pretty sure he's kinda hanging out diagonally at the moment (at least that's what it feels like). He definitely prefers the right side of his little habitat.

Since this stuff is probably only interesting to me and Evan, and our moms who don't really read this blog, I'll stop rambling now :)

Oh but as a side note, we have decided not to do a "theme" room but are going to kind of make our own with bright colors using the blanket from Target, and I actually have a vision now and am excited, hopefully it will look as good as it does in my head!

So life has been extremely busy, which I expected as we entered the spring and summer season! We have two weddings down, five to go, and it's been fun so far. I've also been enjoying garage sale-hopping and I'll have to do a post about the cute baby stuff I've snagged for majorly sweet deals. Tomorrow is my second Friday off for the summer, and three-day weekends are the BEST. (or four-day weekends like last weekend!)

This weekend will pretty much be my last weekend with not too many plans as June and July are CRAZY and then August will be filled with getting ready for Sprout's arrival and baby showers!

I'm so excited to meet the lil guy :)

bling bling/ cha-ching!

2009-05-26T07:10:00.001-07:00

So my best friend of FOREVER, Johanna, had some big news this weekend!!

#1 - She got engaged!!!

Drew, her fiance (!), texted Evan on Friday night asking if they could come by our house. Evan was immediately suspicious because as he said "we're really boring, so they're either engaged or bored out of their minds." So since we were heading home at the time, we stopped and got a bottle of champagne to celebrate, just in case ;)

Well he was right, and Jo showed off her pretty, sparkly ring as soon as she came in the door! We were ready with the champagne and a stack of wedding books that I've been saving for her foreverrrr!

Their weekend got even more exciting yesterday when they...

#2 Bought a house!!

I think the most exciting part of that for us is that it is literally two houses down from the house across the street from us! We can't believe they will be our neighbors soon!!

Jo and I have basically experienced life together and have thought of each other as sisters since neither of us has a sister (do I feel a tear coming on?). We attended the same preschool, gradeschool, high school and college, and now we will be living on the same street - crazy!

Their house is so nice too and has this awesome bar set-up in the basement, which is perfect for all the entertaining I'm sure they will be doing! And I'm pumped that it will be so convenient for us to just saunter across the street to socialize.

They are now planning for a wedding for next summer and I'm already planning the bridal shower in my head! :)

Congrats Jo and Drew!!!

Hop til you drop

2009-05-20T07:55:00.001-07:00

My niece Evie decided that crawling just isn't cool.

There must be a better way to get around, she decided, so she looked around for inspiration. She decided a certain outdoor creature had the right idea...

Decorating the Nursery: decisions, decisions!

2009-05-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

OK so I always thought I wanted a super cutesy baby nursery for the longest time. Something like froggies and ducks, or Noah's Ark, or something like that.

My dilemma began when my mom was browsing HGTV's Rate my Space online and found this room. Which I LOVE.
I don't so much love the theme or anything, but the colors. The bright orange, blue, red, green - it's so different and fun. I just love it.

Well, it turns out that those colors really are different for a baby's room, because I can't even find anything remotely similar! Silly me for getting my heart set on colors like that. Just out of curiousity, last night I emailed the place that the bedding is from - it is custom-made - and was hoping that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be as expensive as I was expecting.

I about fell out of my chair when I saw the cost.

Back to the drawing board.

So I have been browsing tirelessly online for other bedding sets that I might like, from online stores to places like Target and JC Penney and Babies R Us. There are a lot that I think are really cute, but not really any that I have completely fallen in love with.

Here are a few that I like...

Cute colors, and I like the animals

Ditto

I saw this set at Babies R Us for the first time this week and think it's adorable. I never thought I'd want a sea theme, but the colors are really bright and I think it's very cute.But then sometimes I think that maybe a themed room is not for us, and have been toying with the thought of creating my own nursery based off the colors in this blanket that I found at Target. I could paint the walls in several of the brighter colors and find other stuff to match. (They have crib sheets to match, but I'd need to find a bumper and dust ruffle.)
So far, this is the most stressful part of the second trimester in my opinion! Maybe I am just too indecisive, but I want to really love whatever we pick for the room for a long time...

Any opinions are appreciated. Bright colors, something modern maybe or Under the Sea/Jungle/etc. nursery for Sprout?

Battle against the raging emotions

2009-05-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

So I have been reading about all of the crazy emotions that pregnancy brings and wondering why I wasn't feeling absolutely insane for a really long time. And then last week, it completely hit me all at once and I have just been a psycho roller coaster of emotions in the past two weeks, and I feel tears coming on for no reason whatsoever about every 10 minutes and I try to reason with myself but it's totally in vain because there is absolutely no logic about it. I also have little to no tolerance for annoying or stupid people these days.

aurrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

In other news, we went to register for Sprout last week and had a fabulous time doing so, although by the end Evan admitted he was burnt out on making decisions about baby stuff.

We still have several things to choose, including bedding, a carseat, a swing and some things like that, but it was great to get the process started and I love everything we picked out so far!

We also signed up yesterday to attend several childbirth prep classes at Memorial, where we found out we'll be delivering. We are going to do a three-part series that includes a tour of the birth center and maternity suites as well as a breastfeeding class. And I'm going to go to a class by myself called "The Whys of Cries" about calming a crying or fussy baby. I'm looking forward to them!

So I technically celebrated my first Mother's Day on Sunday. I got to stand up and church and be blessed and everything. Evan even got me a gift - a photography book I have been wanting for a long time. I just started reading it and am inspired already! (Speaking of, my photography has been going great so far this season, check out my photo blog to keep up!)

Now I'm just trying to make it through this week before Commencement on Saturday and finally summer will be here, which meansssssss.....4-day work weeks!! Working longer days Monday-Thursday is OH SO WORTH IT to have Fridays off, in my opinion. On my first Friday off, I plan to totally relax, hit up some of the Sherwood garage sales at our neighborhood's annual sale and get a pregnancy massage!

I will just keep looking forward to that to keep me from crying in the middle of a press release or throwing my computer at the wall in sheer annoyance...

Pringles are calling my name...

2009-05-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Well Evan made his first late-night run for food last night.

He was playing basketball at Calvary with some guys and got home around 9:30, where I was laying in bed, starving and craving sour cream and onion Pringles like my life depended on it. I hadn't had much dinner, and we ate at like 6 anyway, so I was really hungry.

I was kinda surprised, but he didn't even make a face or complain at all - he just picked up his keys and came back approximately 12 minutes later with a huge tube of Pringles.

Ahhhh my knight in shining armor!!

Pregnancy: Week 21

2009-04-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

I officially have fat ankles.

Or more like one fat ankle.

I officially have a cankle.

I was lying in bed last night and decided to read the Week 21 chapter of my Pregnancy Week by Week book. I hit Week 21 today.

I came upon a big section about swelling, especially in the lower legs and feet, and how common it is (75 percent of women get swelling apparently?).

I was all, "what the heck is this section doing in Week 21???? Doesn't swelling happen in like the 8th month or something when you're huge?"

Yeah, apparently not.

I decided to examine my own limbs, only to discover that my ankles were huge!! Where did that come from?! My right ankle also was WAY more swollen than my left, interestingly enough.

The book says swelling is worse at night, and I tried to convince myself that my ankles looked smaller this morning, but Evan, being the sweet husband that he is, was quick to point out that they were still cankle-y.

Not only that, but my belly button is starting to make its grand appearance as an outtie. Sick sick sick. I despise outtie belly buttons.

Seriously, I didn't think stuff like swelling and outtie belly buttons happened until way later!!

Maybe they can both be attributed to the fact that I have now gained approximately 18 pounds, when the book says my weight gain should be between 10-15?

That's how I roll.

Pun intended.

Pregnancy: Week 19

2009-04-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am:

Loving not losing my cookies anymore

Loving that I can look at food and pictures of food without feeling like losing my cookies

Loving my growing belly

Loving feeling Sprout wiggle around in there (and can't wait til Evan can feel too!)

Loving taking walks in this nicer, warmer weather

Loving wearing maternity clothes - so comfortable!

Loving planning for a baby boy

Loving having the appetite of three horses and eating constantly

Loving this stage of the 2nd trimester!!! I think I've almost forgotten how sucky Week 6 to Week 16 was! (almost).

Sprout's first outfit

2009-04-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist ordering this outfit online from the Children's Place. I saw it on sale last week and when we found out we were having a boy, I had to go for it!

Not only is it totally so cute, it is also orange and blue!

It's a....

2009-04-10T10:16:00.001-07:00

...BABY BOY!!!!!
We had our second ultrasound this morning and got to see all sorts of cool stuff going on with the baby, like his different heart chambers, his brain, kidneys, arms and legs, etc. It's seriously amazing how you can see all of that through an ultrasound!

The ultrasound tech of course knew right away what we were having when she saw the "area" and didn't tell us until the end, although she kept us on our toes, asking questions like "so do you have girls' names picked out?"

She finally showed us a clear picture and asked us what we thought. I said "well it could be a girl, but it looks like it's sticking pretty far out to me..."

She said "oh yeah it's sticking pretty far out!" and whispered to me "Tell him it's a boy!"

Evan was elated of course and quickly said "It's a boy?!"

I was pretty surprised, although I had more of a boy feeling this morning, strangely enough! But we are SO SO SO excited and can't wait to start looking at nursery furniture and decor and baby boy clothes :)

The doctor also said everything looks PERFECT, and we are so thrilled by that of course! She told us to go out and celebrate tonight because everything looks so good with the baby. That was so nice to hear!!

I really hope we have a little Evan look-alike. So far, he at least has Evan's long, skinny legs... :)

Boy or girl???

2009-04-09T05:09:00.001-07:00

Week 18 has arrived.
I'm really starting to pop out preggers-style and not beer belly-style now...
I went back through some of the previous week's pictures and it's really amazing how fast the baby grows. In the past month, it's gone from the tiniest, barely-noticeable protrusion to a definite bump! It's been really fun to document.

Tomorrow is our next ultrasound and doctor's appointment. At 18.5 weeks, it is the big day when they *should* be able to tell whether the baby is a boy or girl!!

I'm trying not to get my hopes up just in case they can't tell, like if the baby decides not to cooperate and spread 'em, but I REALLY hope they can! I'm dying to find out!

Boy or girl...any guesses?

Evan is staying true to his instinct from the beginning that it is a boy. I am leaning toward girl. Neither of us have a really strong feeling either way though, and really we both don't care at all either way, so we're just really excited!

First Success at CVS

2009-04-08T06:50:00.000-07:00

So I'm a huge fan of financial blogs and have become especially intrigued with several blogs run by moms about being frugal. My favorite is moneysavingmom.com. These people are downright intense about their budgeting, coupons and sales!

I don't think I'll ever get as good as they are because I just don't have the time to invest in it at the moment, but I have been reading and learning for months about different ways to save and I finally put my lessons to the test the other night!

I'd gone to CVS one or two times before for small purchases with coupons, but I was ready to take on a big one. CVS has a program where you sign up for a CVS card and that allows you to get the best prices on items as well as earn back "Extra Care Bucks" (ECB in frugal mom linguo) with certain purchases.

Evan and I have been very slowly stocking up on some baby supplies that are on sale so that we have a small stockpile when the baby is born. Thanks to one of my financial blogs, I discovered that CVS was going to be holding a sweet deal this week with Huggies and Johnson's baby products.

I'm not gonna lie, I was on a total high for like a day after this purchase and can't wait to try something like this again.

We got all of this....
...for $16.13 out of pocket. (One pack of diapers alone is usually $10-$12, and that Maybelline Foundation was $7.99, to put it into perspective.)

Here was my master plan:
If you bought $25 worth of Huggies and Johnson's products, you got $10 ECB back.
We bought 2 packs of Huggies for $10 each and 2 Johnson's products for $3 each for a total of $26.
Since I knew this was coming, I held on to some coupons I had printed off a few weeks ago. I used a $5 off Huggies, $3 off Huggies, and 2 $1 off Johnson's to bring the total down, plus I used $5 ECB from a previous purchase. Total = $12.63

Then we did a separate transaction to buy the TP on sale with a $.25 off coupon and the Foundation, which I desperately needed, and used the $10 ECB from the previous transaction for a grand total of $3.50 out of pocket.

Before sales and coupons, our total would have been more than $50 after tax. And we paid $16... cha-ching!

It might seem really complicated because it did to me when I first started reading about it, but it seriously took like 10 minutes of planning before we actually went shopping. And it could have been a way better deal if I hadn't needed to buy the foundation at full price. Regardless, well worth it!

In the STL

2009-04-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our weekend getaway to St. Louis was a total success, and definitely one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in WAY too long!

We left Saturday morning and were able to check in to the Drury Inn by Union Station early. We walked to the City Museum, where we had free tickets thanks to our package we bought at the CTK auction.

Our friends assured us that it wouldn't be weird for us to go to the museum by ourselves without kids or anything, but we discovered they were lying. Regardless, it was a beautiful day and we decided to enjoy ourselves climbing around outside through the tunnels and airplanes and going down the slides. I'm seriously still SO sore from this. Yes, I'm weak.

My favorite part was climbing through a rainbow-shaped tunnel, which meant that you had to turn around to feet first to go down the other side. Evan didn't contemplate the situation before he started climbing and ended up getting stuck."Maintenance to Outside Tunnel 53. We have a large hillbilly who needs to be extricated..."

After the museum, we headed to the Botanical Garden, which was beautiful!! We walked around for about two hours or more, and it was so peaceful.
(View more pictures from the gardens on my photoblog).

That night we had dinner at the Schlafly Taproom and hung out at Union Station for a bit. Sunday morning we attended Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica, which was breath-taking and reminded us of all of the churches in Europe.

And the rest of Sunday was spent SHOPPING! I got some more maternity clothes, yessss. We also meandered through the country on our way home and stopped to see Evan's sister's family in Greenfield.

We drove up to Jacksonville for a pizza dinner with his sister Aimee and her kids Garrett and Evie, which was fun until Evie had a little accident, so then we peaced out, although we couldn't get the smell out of our heads the whole way home :)

Perfect weekend overall, and a great way to celebrate Evan's 24th birthday, which was yesterday! I'm just glad that he is now one year younger than me instead of two...at least for another seven months...

#100 - CHECK!!

2009-03-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

100. Purchase a property for real estate/rental purposes -- CHECK!

We have officially closed on and are the new owners of a house located on South First Street in Springfield!

We became aware of this property several months ago -back in December actually - that was a foreclosure and was actually in pretty decent shape considering. After months of working through the system with much help from both of my parents, we finally reached an agreement with HUD and got the paperwork approved to buy it!

Last Friday was our closing, and we took a little tour through the house last night for the first time as its owners. At first, we had plans to rent it, but now we are looking into putting it on the market for a while to see if there is any interest to buy it.

It's a 3-4 bedroom, 2 bath house with a nice, big living room, and it's just going to look so much better after we're done with it. Evan and I are both really excited to take on this project since it's been something we've wanted to do for a while.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

The living room. I should have taken the picture from the other way because there is a nice, huge window on the front...

The kitchen. If I zoomed in, you'd be able to see that whoever painted it this lovely green color blatantly disregarded the rule about taping around the cabinets and windows before painting...

What will become the dining room...

The bathroom in the hallway. The other is in one of the bedrooms.

One bedroom, which contains a walk-in closet and 2nd bath.

And the fourth "bedroom"

The fourth bedroom is actually a small room located in between two bedrooms at the back of the house. Now, it's a little inconvenient because you have to walk through another bedroom to get to it, but on the plus side, it's a whole other bedroom and would make a great nursery or office space. We are debating tearing out a wall to make a big master "suite," which would leave the house with 3 bedrooms then, or leaving in the extra room as it is now. Any suggestions? I'm leaning toward leaving it because as a buyer, I think I'd like the extra room...ah decisions.

Stay tuned for updates...

Mini Sessions at Westlake Photography

2009-03-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't seen my photoblog as of late, I wanted to point out that Westlake Photography is launching our spring photo season with Spring Mini Sessions!

They are 25 minutes and include the CD of images from the session.

A Spring Mini Session is perfect for spring family photos, Easter or First Communion portraits in the park or surprise portraits of the kids for Mother's Day or Father's Day!

For more information, check out my photoblog, and feel free to pass the information on to anyone whom you think might be interested! :)

Thoughts on Pregnancy: Week 15

2009-03-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today I went shopping with my mom and bought my first maternity clothes. I've been looking at some stuff but wow is Springfield severely lacking in the maternitywear department. I hope I can find some (cute) things when we go to St. Louis for our little weekend getaway in two weeks!

I did get a few basics though - black pants for work, a black dress and some shirts. I'm happy with my purchases and hopefully they last me a while; I tried to make sure they had "growing room," if you will.
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I've been craving, and therefore eating, so much candy, chocolate and cookies that I think my kid will be on a sugar-induced high for the first few years of life. I swear, I was never a sweets person before - I lived on chips and salty snacks - and now I'm singing a different tune. (and reason #347 I think it's a girl now. Little girls are sweet right?)
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My doctor informed me that I have a small pelvis. This didn't surprise me. It did give me some alarm though, when she continued on to say that I need to have a smaller than average baby in order to have a natural birth. Like in the 5-6 pound range. I was 6 pounds, 13 oz. and she said that was a good weight.

I really don't want a C-section. (Unless the other option is no epidurals). So when Evan kneels down to talk to my stomach now, I tell him to remind the baby not to get too big. I'm really hoping the baby is like some species of fish that only grow as big as their environments. Small pelvis/small mommy = small baby.
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I'm currently in that totally awkward stage where you probably wouldn't know I'm pregnant if you didn't actually know...but you would think to yourself, "Wow hasn't she just put on the pounds since I last saw her..." It'll be nice to move from the beer belly stage to the pregnant belly stage, the one where strangers don't hesitate to say "oh when are you due?!" I'm thinking that could be a while though...
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The nausea has cut down as far as frequency, but still hasn't disappeared. In fact, the other day, I threw up more one morning than I ever had before. I totally don't understand it but whatever. This pregnancy thing doesn't last forever...
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There is seemingly a total baby boom in our families. My cousin Jill is due about two weeks ahead of me, Evan's cousin's wife is due at the end of October, and Evan's sister Aimee is due in the middle of October (yes, her third in 32 months-quite the Fertile Myrtle we have on our hands!)

I'm really excited about it all because I'm glad our kids will have cousins close in age to play with and be friends with as they grow up. I'm good friends with all of my cousins but the closest one to me is two years older and there is a pretty big age gap between most of the other ones. It'll be a lot of fun to watch them all grow up together.
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Three weeks until we find out if we're having a boy or girl - I CAN'T WAIT!!

And the belly grows...

2009-03-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

According to my Pregnancy Week by Week book, Sprout has doubled in size from week 11 to week 14, and will now continue on a major growth spurt during the second trimester. I've been taking weekly belly pictures to put in a new pregnancy journal I got called the "Belly Book". I can't believe how much bigger I look in just two weeks!

I really thought I was starting to pop out last week, and it definitely seems that way judgin by the pictures... although everyone at work says I don't look pregnant at all. I guess that's a good thing most of the time, but when you're pregnant with your first, you WANT to look pregnant! Guess I have time for that in the coming weeks...

Week 13...

Week 14...
Week 15...

No exciting 3 seeds...

2009-03-19T09:22:00.001-07:00

I filled out my NCAA tournament bracket this morning.

As I mentioned last year, I usually pick teams based on how well I like the name of the school, while still obviously taking seed numbers into consideration.

This year, I was very disappointed in the 3 seeds. I like to send a 3 seed far into the tourney, but this year, they just weren't calling out to me. Neither were the 2 seeds actually.

I ended up picking Louisville and North Carolina in the championship, with NC winning by 9 points. I put Michigan State through to the Elite Eight, to show the Big 10 some love.

I did pick a lot of upsets, mostly 9's beating 8's, but I picked one 12 over 5 (not Illinois!), one 11 over 6, and one or two 10 over 7. I like upsets, and since I wasn't thrilled with this year's bracket, I decided to get a little risky.

Let the Madness begin!

Facebook to St. Pat's Day and everything in between

2009-03-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

My parents are now both on Facebook. It's really strange to me. My dad even pokes me and writes on my wall. My mom is still learning.

My mom called me the other night freaking out about her homepage.

"All I can see is a page that says what all of my friends are doing!" she said.

"Yeah that's the new Facebook homepage," I told her.

"Well how do I get rid of it?" she demanded.
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We took Gus to the vet for the first time on Monday. He wasn't opening his right eye Monday morning, and we could tell it was still bothering him when we got home from work, so we decided to take him to Lake Town Animal Hospital.

The vet found an ulcer on his eye, poor guy. She sent us home with eye ointment to apply twice a day, and I'm taking him back for a follow-up tomorrow.

Two attempts to apply the ointment at first were total FAILS. Gus is stubborn and acts like he is being severely tortured like no cat ever has before. We barely had the ointment ready to squirt out before he was closing his eye, flailing around and making pathetic "mraaaaaaaaawwwwwwww" noises.

At first, the medicine was just getting around his eye so all we had is hope that he somehow blinked it into his eye. Last night we tried Plan B: we swiftly wrapped him into a towel to constrain him, held him on his back, squeezed his eye open and popped the ointment in.

Shockingly, it worked extremely well. I think more so because he was so confused at what was going on that he didn't have time to react. We are very sneaky and resourceful like that.
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On Friday night, we attended the Zac Brown Band concert at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. It was a fabulous show, and I really like their sound. We had seats in the second row, and man was the music LOUD. Hope Sprout was kicking to the beat.
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Saturday I had my first experience with a sober party holiday. We met our friends downtown at J.P. Kelly's around 4 for St. Patrick's Day festivities. I am pleased to announce that I actually had a GREAT time.

We hung out downtown for a while before going to Shamrock for a drink and then trying out the new bar Brickhouse on the West side for dinner. I was very impressed with the Brickhouse and actually like it a lot better than the Corner, whose food I have been less than thrilled with.

I of course was the designated driver, and actually enjoyed driving everyone around. I have to be good for something in my pregnant state right?

Thoughts on Pregnancy: Week 14

2009-03-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Sure morning sickness totally sucks, but you'll be feeling tons better by the second trimester.

If I could count how many times I have heard that. People have even told me that the DAY they hit the second trimester, they felt much better.

"You'll be feeling better really soon," I was promised.

Liars. All of them.

#82 - CHECK!

2009-03-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

82. Paint the living room --CHECK!!

FINALLY we painted our living room last weekend! I think I hear angels singing hallelujah...

I've been wanting to paint the living room and adjoining hallway of our house pretty much since we moved into the house in August 2007, and especially since we got our new living room furniture at the beginning of the fall.

Evan was not thrilled by the idea though, mostly because he dislikes all things painting.

And it didn't help that I couldn't assist with this project because apparently I'm supposed to stay away from paint fumes with Sprout in my belly.

Luckily we had our trusty assistants that offered help! My mom, my brother and Evan's uncle Stan came over to lend a hand (that's why Stan was over with Grant.)

We chose a very neutral color, but one a lot deeper than the off-white that occupied our wall previously. I loooove the way it turned out, and I think it makes such a different in the room. It's much more coordinated and homey now.

The photos are totally not obvious at all because it wasn't a drastic change, but here are some before and after pics...

Getting the party started...I helped with this part :)

TA-DA! After pics...

A Brush with Fame

2009-03-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration :)

Evan and I were ambushed by News Channel 20 last night when we stopped by the Volunteer Fair at INB. They were wanting to interview some "young professionals" and we realized there weren't too many of us around. So we got picked. And I picked Evan to talk.

To watch the interview, go here. They spelled his name wrong on TV (Westlike), and I told him his country accent must make his A's sound like I's!

I also got in a couple of quick shots (I'm wearing a red coat and looking at brochures.)

After Evan's interview, I had a lovely chat with Sara Vincent, the reporter, who was quite pregnant. She is due next month, I found out, and we exchanged tales of morning sickness and first trimester woes.

Ah, the bonds of pregnancy.

Launching Westlake Photography!

2009-03-03T10:22:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited about the launch of my new photography business and Web site today! Westlake Photography is officially official!

To check out my new site, go to http://www.courtneywestlake.com/. You'll find numerous photo galleries, an "about me" section, information on my sessions, portrait pricing and packages, my new contact information, and more!

I also created a Facebook fan page, which I'd love you all to join as well and become a fan! Here's a link to the fan page.

I cannot wait for spring to arrive, when I can get my portrait season off to a start! If you or anyone you know is looking to have family portraits or high school senior portraits done, please get in touch!! :)

Baby lump

2009-03-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

Evan's uncle came by on Saturday (reason for trip to be noted in upcoming post) and brought his 4-year-old son Grant with him.

After they left, I received an email from Evan's aunt, Grant's mom, Melissa saying that when they got back home, she asked Grant if he understood that there was a "baby in Courtney's tummy."

She said his eyes got really big, and he responded "Yes, but I didn't see the lump of it..."

Week 12

2009-02-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

I just want to say that I am SOOOO SICK of feeling sick!!! argghhhhh.

I also have changed my mind. After losing my cookies the last couple of mornings (as my dad calls it), I really don't think there is a big difference between throwing up and feeling like you're going to throw up. Unless it's excessive, projectile vomiting of course. But a little bit of morning sickness puke is not really worse than morning sickness pukey feeling, in my experience. They both suck.

I digress.

This week I hit Week 12, and I am keeping my fingers crossed (and toes too) (yes I really can cross my toes, ask me to see it sometime if you're interested) that in the next 5-10 days, this pukey feeling will magically disappear, and I can start eating like I've never seen food before. I really can't wait for that.

I think it will be a looong time before I'm able to enjoy Ritz Bits, peanut butter and banana muffins again - my morning sickness go-to foods that will probably remind me of nausea for the rest of my life.

On the upside, I had an absolutely fabulous weekend with very little sickness. On Saturday, Evan and I attended our church Christ the King's auction fundraiser for the first time and had a blast. I love auctions. We bid on several things, and ended up winning a weekend get-away to St. Louis. It includes a hotel stay, gas money, money to Cheddar's and tickets to the Botanical Gardens, City Museum and Magic House. (I think we might have to skip the Magic House lest we be accused of being child molesters. Anyone want 4 Magic House tickets?) I'm really excited about the whole trip, and I think we're planning on taking it in April sometime, before our summer season gets too busy and (hopefully) when I'm feeling better.

On Sunday, we attended Evan's parents' church for this little concert put on by a group called The Chosen Ones. It's a whole family that apparently travels around the country performing Southern gospel type of music. They were very entertaining, and I really enjoyed it.

So today is Ash Wednesday and I can't decide what to do or give up for Lent this year. I thought about giving up alcohol, but decided that's not really fair :) I am leaning toward finishing one of my 101 goals - reading all of the Gospels. And completing it during Lent. I am actually already almost finished with Matthew and am learning so much, both about the Bible itself and about the Catholic religion.

My friend Professor David has been reviewing the chapters with me and answering all my questions. He is good about pointing out various passages and explaining the history and meaning of them as it relates to the Catholic religion. It's very enlightening and helps me to understand many of the practices in Catholicism that I hadn't given much thought to before.

So after I just typed all of that, I realized that completing the Gospels would be a very good thing to do for Lent. Done and done.

And less importantly, I'm ready for the first delicious fish fry of Lent too! Bring on the walleye!

Thoughts on pregnancy: Week 11

2009-02-20T06:51:00.000-08:00

This week apparently marked week 11 for me on the baby journey.

I have had a ton of thoughts bottled up since we couldn't share our exciting news for a while, so I'm pumped to actually get to talk openly about pregnancy thus far...
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For those who aren't familiar with pregnancy, you might believe the morning sickness is a little bit of throwing up in the morning, and then you usually feel better the rest of the day. I admit I thought this for a very long time.

And then I got pregnant.

For the first four weeks, I was fine. I was more than fine. I was hungry for everything, drinking tons of water and just generally feeling great, aside from the fatigue which made me want to go to bed at 7:30 every night.

Then Week 5 and 1 Day hit. I felt nauseus. But I wasn't puking and thankful for that. Then the days wore on. DRAGGED on. I felt sicker each day, and though still not throwing up thankfully, I was pretty much nauseaus from the time I woke up until bedtime. ALL DAY.

I've heard some of my friends and family compare their pregnancies to having the flu for 4 months (or longer) straight. Again, thankfully, I did not throw up like they did. My first trimester, instead of resembling a four-month-long flu, has been like enduring a 3-month-long terrible, awful hangover. Without the fun that Captain Morgan provided the night before.

I am tired, all I want to do is lie on the couch or in bed and sleep, I feel sick to my stomach the entire day. It is pure JOY.

My mom was sympathetic. She said wisely "well you got yourself into this!"

Evan was sympathetic too. He kept asking me what sounded good for dinner (nothing) and asking if I would go to the grocery store with him (um NO).
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Getting up religiously between 4 and 5 a.m. every morning to go to the bathroom is already starting to get old...
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You know how moms of babies and toddlers always have cheerios? Escaped cheerios are just lurking everywhere -their cars, couches, beds, you name it.

Well I feel exactly like that, except that I am always packing crackers and banana muffins. For when I get "fussy." And in my case "fussy" means "feel like I'm going to puke everywhere in about two minutes."
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They say that morning sickness is a good sign. It means your placenta is developing well, and everything is forming like it should be. Well my placenta better be absolutely excellent.

I have another theory though. I believe that God invented morning sickness to distract pregnant ladies from the fact that it is going to be a long, looong time before we get to enjoy a delicious concoction of Captain and diet Coke or fruity Cosmopolitans or white Russians. And it's totally working. Thanks, Big Guy.
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I am just about unable to zip up most of my jeans and work pants these days. But I wisely purchased a bella band, which has been great. I also wisely kept some of my "fatter" pants from my college days, so I now have a few new pairs to grow into as my belly grows. Such foresight.
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Dear Perfect Complexion,
Where did you go? I miss you. I need you. Come back. Please.
Love,
Courtney

Exciting News!!

2009-02-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

I guess there is a little teeny tiny piece of information I left out about our Valentine's Day weekend in my last post...

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!
We went to our first doctor's appointment on Friday morning and had our first ultrasound. It was unbelievable!! The baby is only a little more than an inch long and already so formed! This sonogram picture is actually terrible compared to the print picture we were given, but we had to use Evan's work scanner to scan it in. As you can see, Baby is facing left and you can see the outline of his or her little nose and mouth.

At first, Baby just chilled out but then he or she started waving his arms and legs around for us; it was incredible. And the heartbeat - wow. The most amazing sound ever! It was so fast and so strong!

We were so relieved that everything looked great with our little one. I am due on September 8, which is awesome because I've always wanted a fall baby! One of my friends pointed out that we could actually have a 9/9/09 birth date, which is pretty cool.

So we're so glad to finally be able to tell everyone because it was SO HARD to keep the secret!! I haven't been feeling well, and I've been exhausted on top of it, so it was also difficult to act well all the time too.

And even though I've been sick, it was all totally worth it to see little Sprout (what we've been calling the baby :) ) swimming around and waving at us! We can't wait to meet him or her!!

Valentine's Day, romance-style

2009-02-15T17:05:00.001-08:00

So I've been teasing Evan for a while that he's not too romantic, but he definitely showed me his romantic side on Valentine's Day yesterday!

Evan thinks Valentine's Day is really ridiculous, and I can understand that. He realizes, though, that his wife still deserves to be shown a little love :)

Yesterday morning, he got up and made me pancakes for breakfast. He wasn't sure how to make heart-shaped ones, so he opted for Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes. I appreciated the effort. After breakfast, he ran a bubble bath for me, which I've always wanted him to do! It was so sweet. He even brought the radio in for me, so I could soak in the tub and listen to some tunes.

We had a relaxing rest of the day, getting some stuff done around the house and running errands. Evan even bought me my favorite lunch - McDonald's :)

For dinner, we had reservations at Pao, which we had never been to before. (Actually it is on my list of 101 Things, so now I get to mark off another one! I'll blog more about Pao later in that post.)

After dinner, we headed home and watched Fireproof again. I seriously love this movie, and it was my Valentine's Day gift from Evan. I didn't even have to tell him I wanted it!

So I guess I have to take back my comments about my un-romantic husband, because he was extremely sweet and thoughtful yesterday and put a lot of thought into making my Valentine's Day special.

I love you Evan :)

Turning Two

2009-02-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

Last night was birthday party time!

With Thomas the Train!

Our nephew Garrett turned two yesterday - TWO! augh! Remember my blog about his first birthday? Well he had an amazingly beautiful day yesterday on his special day with sunshine and temperatures in the 60s, which was so enjoyable in February.

We got together with the family at Evan's parents' house to celebrate with a pizza party. The whole party was themed for Thomas the Train because Garrett is obsessed with it. He says "choo choo!" and "Thomas!"

What's that, Garrett? You're embarrassed by your Thomas hat?!Don't worry, all the cool kids are doing it!He was also a little shy about the Happy Birthday singing and covered his face the whole time...The Thomas cupcakes and ice cream were a hit though.I've never seen more presents revolve around the theme of the party. He got Thomas the Train clothes, a book, swim trunks...and this awesomely sweet giant pillow from the coolest aunt and uncle ever! I think he liked our present too...

#84- check!

2009-02-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

84. Buy a China cabinet -- CHECK!

I've had my eye on a certain China cabinet available at Ashley Furniture and Barney's Furniture for a while now. I finally got sick enough of all of our wedding China taking up half the guest closet and having all our pretty glassware packed up in boxes from two years ago, and we decided to "splurge" and get the cabinet.

It worked out well because Barney's was offering a weekend of no tax and free delivery the weekend we bought it.

It was a little bigger than I remembered, but it's not a big deal because our kitchen is fairly large for a house this size and we had a HUGE space to fill! I absolutely love it and am so glad we have it now. I get impatient, but it really is worth it to buy furniture and fill our house in baby steps when we have the money to do so...

(Excuse the reflection in the glass)

Fireproof, and other life updates

2009-02-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

So I've been totally neglectful of the blog, and I have no good excuse.

Life has been really nice lately. Our weekends and evenings are slow, and work is getting really busy for me. Because of our current hiring freeze thanks to the idiocy of our now-removed governor and his poorly-planned state budget, I am now doing many of the duties of a co-worker who retired at the beginning of the new year. (I'm very jealous of her by the way.)

It is actually working out pretty well so far though, because her primary duties included writing press releases, and I'm finding that to be very enjoyable and challenging, in a good way. Press release writing is not really in my background, and it's interesting to now be making up quotes from people instead of striving to get their quotes accurate.

In other news, how about the Super Bowl last night? Evan and I went to my parents' house to watch the game and had a delicious spread that included meatballs subs and spinach dip and veggies, mmmm. I was less than impressed with the commercials this year - I didn't catch them all, but I didn't really find any of the ones I saw very entertaining. Nothing like the old Pepsi commercials or even that talking baby who is creeped out by the clown he rented!

The game, on the other hand, was pretty exciting for once! I did start to feel for, and therefore root for, the Cardinals because I always like the underdogs, but I was told by my friend Professor David that I needed to cheer for the Steelers, so I was glad they won :)

On Saturday night, I had a date night with my husband. We went to dinner at the Blue Moon in Dawson, and I ordered the extremely delicious Moon Fries for the second time. We then rented Fireproof because I have been dying to see it, and have been encouraged to see it by so many people. Evan, for some reason, thought that the movie was about the Apocalypse, (??) and I had to tell him that it wasn't. I think he was disappointed until we actually watched the movie, and it was SO GOOD.

It's definitely one worth watching and even buying, in my opinion. There are so many lessons in it and it definitely gives you a lot to think about, although probably mostly if you are married or engaged, but aside from the marriage lessons, there are some really great lessons about God too, and it's just an engaging movie altogether.

On that note, I have to run. We're meeting with our accountant tonight - gotta love tax season. I hope we get lots of money back!!

I like marble...

2009-01-28T12:36:00.000-08:00

So American Idol is back. And stranger than ever.

The highlight of the season, in my opinion, came last night during tryouts in Florida. There was this guy who was obviously extremely...different...and the camera showed him just oozing with awkwardness and talking about all kinds of science-y stuff, but of course he said he was SO into music.

And of course, he completely tanked the audition.

But before he sang, the judges asked him where he saw himself in 10 years. As Simon put it, "in your wildest dreams."

He responded... "my wildest dreams? whoa. Ummm living in a simple house. With nice floors. I like marble..."

The look Simon gave him was similar to the look Vince Vaughn shot in Wedding Crashers when the lady snapped to her ex-husband, "you shut your mouth when you're talking to me!"

Such entertainment...

Go go go Joseph!

2009-01-19T13:32:00.000-08:00

On Saturday for a little something different, we went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Hoogland Center put on by the Springfield Theatre Center with our friends Kristin and Brian.

I was so excited because I had seen the show when I was much younger in Chicago. It was the show with Donny Osmond playing Joseph, so of course, Springfield's show really couldn't top that, but they did such a great job, and I just love the show.

I was probably like 10 or 11 when I saw it in Chicago, and my mom bought me the soundtrack tape. (Yes, tape, not CD.) I listened to it over and over and over.

I told Evan that I pretty much have the whole show memorized, but I don't think he realized the extent of it until yesterday morning when I began singing excerpts from each of the acts. (I guess I was pretty obsessive with things when I was younger, like I mentioned before with the Beatles too.)

(Aren't all kids like that? Or maybe I'm just strange...)

So anyway, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Hoogland Center gets two thumbs up from Westlake and Westlake!

My New Favorite Song

2009-01-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

Evan got me the "I Can Only Imagine" CD for Christmas that is comprised of Christian songs and I love it. Being Catholic, I hadn't heard some of these "Protestant" songs before, and I am obsessed with Shout to the Lord - I listen to it over and over now.

I have the Darlene Zschech version on my CD, which I love, but I also like this version that the Top 8 from American Idol sang last season...

#36 - Check

2009-01-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

36. Sponsor a needy child through my photography business -- CHECK!

This came together just perfectly and I am SO excited. If you have followed the blog for a while, you've seen my posts about my friend Shana and her project Jump for Joel, which helps to raise money, among many other things, for very special kids at an orphanage in Kenya. (Read my previous posts here and here, and visit Jump for Joel's Web site here. You can also watch videos on their youtube page here - warning: it will probably bring tears to your eyes!)

Anyway, so a while ago, they started a sponsorship program for the education of the high schoolers at the orphanage through Shana's home church, and recently, they've opened up the sponsorship program to everyone with the goal of getting each child sponsored.

$15 a month pays for their schooling, food and other basic needs.

Well, as I've written before, I'm such a huge fan of helping the less fortunate who cannot help themselves, namely children and animals. I am SO blessed and feel that it's such a small thing to do, and though Evan and I already have a monthly giving plan set up, I decided that giving through my new photography opportunities would be awesome.

Enter Jump for Joel and specifically, my newly sponsored child Ashreen!

What Shana tells me is that she is about eight years old, in the first grade and has three other siblings. She has had a pretty rough life and both of her parents have passed away. She is one of the more reserved children at the orphanage.

And oh my, she is beautiful!

I am so thrilled at this opportunity and can't wait to start writing letters to her. And I'm glad the opportunity to complete this goal came up so quickly!

Goal 100

2009-01-09T14:21:00.001-08:00

I added a new goal to my 101 things list. If you recall, I left two open spots because I just knew I was forgetting something, and this was something big.

I decided to add #100 Purchase a property for real estate/rental purposes. This is a goal that Evan and I have been talking about from the beginning of our marriage, and even before, and I can't believe I didn't think of it when I was making the list.

So I have added that new aspiration, and now have just one more goal to add to complete my list...

#49 - check

2009-01-04T08:16:00.000-08:00

#49. Clean out my wardrobe of clothes I haven’t worn in 2 years ---CHECK!

I was in a cleaning/organizing/productive mood yesterday. We had to ditch our original dinner plans thanks to Evan coming down with the flu so I decided to knock off the first item from my list!

I had a little help along the way...
And in going through all my clothes, I realized I wear ENTIRELY too much black. My mom says everyone probably thinks I'm in mourning, ha. Maybe I should add a new goal to the list to not buy clothing in black for a while, eh?
I started out with my dresser drawers... (don't be jealous of that pink sparkly top. It's hot).
The give-away pile grew as I tackled the guest closet, where Evan and I keep a lot of our clothes that we don't wear on a regular basis. Or, for me apparently, don't wear ever. I ditched a lot of dresses and skirts that I bought in my early college career....

And finally, I rummaged through our storage bins in the basement to find a few more things that had been there for a while. Here is the complete give-away pile!
Now my plan is to first hit up Plato's Closet and see if I can make any bucks off of this stuff before I take the rest to St. Martin de Porres.

Then it's time to find a few more items to update my wardrobe post-college! And to try to stay away from black for a while apparently...

101 Things - Day Zero

2009-01-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

101 Things to do in 1,001 Days

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days? Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
2. Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

My Start Date: January 2, 2009
My End Date: September 30, 2011
And finally, my list:

The Beginning
1. Document everything on this list and photograph as many as possible

For Me
2. Complete scrapbook of wedding and honeymoon photos
3. Plant flowers at our house
4. Visit the local farmer’s market and buy fruits/veggies
5. Go see a play at the Muni
6. Get a quilt made of our old college t-shirts
7. Stretch every day for a month
8. Visit my grandmothers’ graves
9. Create a simple family tree scrapbook starting with our grandparents
10. Read at least 3 books on my bookshelf that I haven’t read yet (1/3)
11. Take a bubble bath once a month for a year (3/12)
12. Buy a new dress
13. Go one full month without biting my nails
14. Register to vote with my new last name
15. Eat at least one fruit and one veggie serving a day for one month (0/30)
16. ~~Buy some new makeup that compliments my fair skin~~
~~17. Have a baby~~

For My One True Love
18. Play a round of golf with Evan
~~19. Have dinner at Pao with Evan~~
20. Spend a morning or afternoon hiking in Carpenter Park with Evan
~~21. Go on a picnic with Evan~~
22. Plan an overnight get-away to Evan’s cabin, either alone or with friends
23. Karaoke with Evan in a town where no one knows us
24. Have a candlelit dinner with Evan at home
25. Go to Six Flags or another theme park and ride the rides with Evan

For My Friends and Family
26. Have friends over for a homemade pizza night
27. Hold a holiday potluck meal with friends
~~28. Plan a night out to dinner with both sets of parents~~
29. Have a baking/cooking day with my mom
30. Meet the Rehbergs for a night at the Korn Krib
31. Get together with friends at Hill Prairie Winery on a Sunday afternoon
32. Take our niece and nephew sledding
33. Go to or rent a chick flick with my girl friends
~~34. Take Evan’s grandpa out to dinner for some quality time~~
35. Write a letter to my parents telling them how much they mean to me

For Others
~~36. Sponsor a needy child through my photography business~~
37. Use my photography and/or writing to help the APL
38. Make 2 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child each year (1/2)

Organization
39. Clean out my gmail account inbox
~~40. Clean out and organize our guest closet~~
41. Print all photos and put in albums to date
42. Complete all other past scrapbooking projects
~~43. Back up everything from hard drive to external hard drive~~
~~44. Organize photos on hard drive and external hard drive~~
45. Buy a safe for personal documents and photo negatives
46. Organize all film negatives
47. Digitize my parents’ negatives
48. Scan some of my parents’ old photos
~~49. Clean out my wardrobe of clothes I haven’t worn in 2 years~~
50. Update my list of addresses for friends and family

Never Stop Learning
51. Read 30 novels I haven’t read before (1/30)
52. Make a list of 10 books I really want to read
53. Read those books (0/10)
54. Read the four Gospels (1/4)
55. Read Genesis
56. Listen through my Spanish CDs all the way through
57. Learn how to mow the lawn
58. Make dinner four times in one week (does not include frozen pizza)
59. Develop a favorite menu of dishes to make on ongoing basis
60. Read Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities
61. Learn to drop a ski
62. Read a book about the basics of the Catholic religion
63. Learn a new word and use it in a blog post every post for a month
64. Learn to play the entire song Let It Be on the piano

“The art is not in making money, but in keeping it…”
65. Save an emergency fund of 3 months’ worth of expenses
66. Invest in a second mutual fund
~~67. Get a rewards credit card and use it to our advantage~~
68. Contribute at least $2,000 to Roth IRA in 2009 and 2010 each

Creativity
~~69. Start a portrait photography business~~
70. Join WPPI
~~71. Upgrade to a new DSLR camera~~
~~72. Enter a photo into a competition~~
73. Submit my children’s book to 20 publishers
74. Publish a photo essay in Springfield’s Own magazine
75. Book at least ** portrait sessions in 2009 (I'll save my numbers to share when I reach it :) )
76. Book at least ** portrait sessions in 2010
77. Open a studio or office space
78. Attend the WPPI conference
79. Join Senior Portrait Artists
80. Write three chapters of a book (0/3)
81. Combine personal blog and photo blog

Housekeeping
~~82. Paint the living room~~
83. Paint the guest bathroom
~~84. Buy a China cabinet~~
85. Either paint yellow bathtub or switch it out for new one
86. Paint office
87. Buy new TV stand for living room
~~88. Print and frame Europe photos to hang in the house~~
89. Paint the master bedroom
90. Replace window hardware in both the living room and master bedroom
91. Turn the guest bedroom into a nursery when we are expecting

Adventures
92. Visit Yellowstone National Park
93. Spend a relaxing weekend at a bed and breakfast with Evan
94. Go see a movie at a drive-in theater
95. Spend at least a few hours at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Museum
96. See New York in the winter time
97. Tour wineries in northern California
98. Take a day trip to New Salem

The End
99. Start a new 101 list when I am finished with at least 90 of these goals

Added Later
~~100. Purchase a property for real estate/rental purposes~~

~~101. Get my wedding dress cleaned and preserved and stored away~~

More than two years of "resolutions"

2009-01-02T09:22:00.000-08:00
Evan expressed some surprise and initial disagreement when I told him about this list of goals I had created and that I wanted to post it on my blog. He told me that it seemed like a private thing, so I contemplated his points, but then I realized that the only way to fulfill your goals is by being held accountable for it. And what makes you more accountable than sharing your goals with the world and documenting each success along the way?!

You probably have heard of the 101 things in 1,001 days project. The premise is that one year is just not long enough to complete new year's goals and resolutions. 1,001 days, however, gives you plenty of time and several seasons to fulfill all your aspirations.

This is different than usual resolutions that usually include: lose weight, travel more, read, spend more time with family. This list has to be concrete and specific. How are you going to lose weight? How much weight? Where do you want to travel to? When? What do you want to read? How often do you want to read? What do you want to do with your family?

I deliberated with my list long and hard. I wanted to write down things that I truly wanted to do, not just things that I could say I did or be happy to cross off the list. I wanted to set goals that I was sincerely motivated to accomplish, from indulgences to work to quality time spent with others.

It was much harder than I expected.

I actually ended up two short. As I neared the end, I did this on purpose. I wanted to leave two spots open that I could add in the next few months as more goals became clear to me.

I will be documenting each item as best possible, as outlined in my first goal. I am continually going to update my master list, so I have decided to give it its own post

So without further delay, in my next post, I bring to you my list.

Happy New Year's Eve 2008

2008-12-31T10:35:00.001-08:00
I can hardly believe that 2008 has just about passed us by! I've been reading all of the "looks" back at the year, and some of them feel so recent while others I read and think "that was THIS year???"

We usually try to plan something kind of big for New Year's, thanks to all of the pressure to do something really really cool on New Year's Eve, but this year, we decided to take it easy and attend a small gathering at a friend's place. Though I should evidently feel lame about this, I'm really looking forward to it.

2008 was a great year for us as we celebrated our first year of marriage, went to Europe and did so many other exciting things, including pursuing my interest in photography. On my photoblog I highlighted all of my favorite portraits from this past year, so check it out!

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone - I'm looking so forward to what the next year holds for me!

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

2008-12-26T08:14:00.000-08:00
I hope everyone's Christmas was as wonderful as ours! We hit up the usual Christmas Eve children's Mass at Christ the King with my family and then had dinner at my parents' house before jetting to Buffalo for another Christmas Eve service with Evan's family. Then we went to Evan's parents' house for dessert and opening presents!

Garrett, almost 2, was really into presents this year and it was fun to watch him. The only present he wasn't too sure about was Elmo slippers that Alayna got him. It must have been the big monster eyes or something, but Garrett backed away with a terrified look on his face the second he opened them. He was not impressed when we all started laughing.

He did get an Elmer Fudd jacket that he proudly wore on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...

Evie liked her new hat!!

On Christmas Day we spent the later afternoon and evening with Evan's mom's side which included an adult gift exchange game that we do every year. Evan and I ended up with exactly what we wanted, so we were happy :) We came home with an Illini cup and cooler set and a game of "hillbilly golf" as Evan calls it.

Earlier in the day, we went to my parents' house with my mom's side and it was bustling as well....

The whole gang

Me with my new coat!
My cousin's son Hagen
Evan and I with the wine my cousins gave us. They are two of our favorite wines from the wine tasting night we did at CTK...

Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my break!! I love this time of year...

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T07:29:00.001-08:00
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

Hope everyone enjoys this wonderful day to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Christmas Quiz

2008-12-15T16:12:00.001-08:00
The true cold has finally hit. The cold that is so cold it takes your breath away the moment you step outside. The cold that freezes the tiny amounts of moisture in your nose within a few seconds.

I usually hate that cold, but this year it's a little refreshing. (That sentiment will last about until the day after Christmas).

We've been thrown right into the craziness of Christmas season, along with everyone else these days. We held our Second Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party on Friday night, and it was even more of a success than last year. We attended Evan's holiday work party on Saturday, and at UIS, we have our campus-wide party and Chancellor's holiday luncheon this week.

I'm really looking forward to this week, and especially next since I have the whole week of Christmas off! So in the spirit of the holidays, I decided to complete this "holiday quiz" that I found on another blog...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper

2. Real or artificial tree? nothing but REAL for this girl!

3. When do you put up the tree? The Sunday after Thanksgiving - the Westlake family Christmas decorating day!

4. When do you take the tree down? Ummm after Christmas?

5. Do you like eggnog? No

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I can't remember a specific, absolute favorite, but the karaoke machine we got when I was maybe 7 sticks out in my mind...

7. Hardest person to buy for? This year, my brother and Evan's younger sister

8. Easiest person to buy for? For me, Evan, because I just buy him boring stuff that he needs.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, we registered for it for our wedding! It's the Willow Tree Angel set, and I love it!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail! I love getting mail, so I will always mail ours.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? none

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Right around Thanksgiving, usually after. This year, I went out on Black Friday, I'm really re-thinking that choice for next year though.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can remember. My family usually all makes lists and tells each other what we want though.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? CHEESY POTATOES! My whole family fights over who gets the last bite every year.

15. Lights on the tree? Fo sho! Color lights in our house.

16. Favorite Christmas song? I have tons! I start listening to Christmas music in July! The top of the list includes Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas, N'Sync's Merry Christmas Happy Holidays, the First Noel and Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We stay in the area since pretty much all of our family is here. We go to Christmas Eve mass with my parents and then out to dinner. Then we go to Evan's parents' church with his family and back to their house for dessert and presents. On Christmas Day, we eat with my family and do presents, and then go to his grandpa's for more food and presents!

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Can't everyone?

19. Angel or star on top of tree? We don't have an actual topper so we have a "filler" topper - a musical bear angel ornament. It's slightly strange.

20. Presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Both! Growing up, we were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve that was always an ornament. Now we do presents with Evan's immediate family on Christmas Eve too.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The rudeness of some people while shopping, and the traffic.

22. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love Santas and snowmen. I love red and blue Christmas stuff too. I have a bajillion favorite ornaments!

23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? CHEESY POTATOES! Didn't we already cover this?

24.What do you want for Christmas this year? A Canon 5D Mark II :) Just kidding. No, actually I'm serious about that. But I don't know if Santa will think I've been good enough... I'd really just like some stuff for the house and some new clothes. I'm an easy one to please!

Merry Christmas!

A love letter

2008-12-10T09:09:00.000-08:00
Dear Debit Card Number Stealer in Chicago,

Nice try. I'm flattered that you wanted to share our account with us, I really am. But we actually work hard to earn that money, and we just can't be giving it away at this point in time.

Thanks to the diligence of our beloved Illinois National Bank, you only got away with one $10 Toys R Us purchase. Too bad, so sad. Enjoy the cheap toy.

I hope you were left to pay for those multiple charges you tried to make after our card was cut off. Paying for something yourself - it's really a novel idea. You should try it sometime.

Happy Holidays,
The Westlakes

I Can Haz Bath?*

2008-12-04T15:17:00.000-08:00
Note: please disregard the hideous yellow bath tub. We still haven't given the 1960s their tub back yet...
(*If you, like my husband, had no idea what this meant, go here)

Tis the Season

2008-12-01T12:27:00.001-08:00
We had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday weekend! We spent time with countless friends and family, ate WAY too much, shopped a little and got our whole house decorated for Christmas!

I braved the crowds on Black Friday for the second year, and even with my calm attitude and having all the time in the world to wait in lines, I was a little irritated at the general public's lack of intelligence and manners. I hit up both Walmart and Kohl's with no more trouble than a long line at Kohl's. It was totally worth it for the sales though.

I then attempted to go to the mall, which was a huge Failure. There were literally NO parking spots, and when the people at Walmart were behaved better than the people at the mall, I knew it was time to head home.

We had three Thanksgiving meals this year, and I don't know if I have ever eaten so much in two straight days. On Thursday, we went to my parents' house with my mom's side, then to Evan's grandpa's house with his mom's side. On Friday night, we went to Evan's parents' house with his dad's side. Lots of family time and lots of eating!

Saturday was a lazy day, which was nice because we had some time to lay around and watch SHG play for, and WIN, the state championship game! It was fun to see.

Sunday was our annual Family Christmas Decorating Day. We got our tree at Lowe's and spent several hours decorating the house and the tree. I seriously LOVE Christmas. Also, I had never before seen Christmas Vacation ( I know, I know, weird right?), so we borrowed the movie from some friends and watched that last night.

At first, I was thinking 'what IS this? this is not funny!' but when Aunt Bethany made an appearance, the movie started to get more entertaining for me, and I have to admit when she began singing the Star Spangled Banner at the end, I was cracking up.

Anyway, I'll leave you with some photos of the newly festive Westlake homestead...
(All the women on my mom's side of the family collect these Santas and now I'm obsessed. I'm up to eight now - EIGHT!)

Gas prices

2008-11-26T05:11:00.000-08:00
I made Evan slow down the other night so I could get a picture of this - are you serious?! $1.59 a gallon!!!??? I can hardly believe that gas was almost THREE DOLLARS more PER GALLON only a few short months ago!

I never thought it would come down this much...I hope it lasts but who knows!

Chasing the sunset

2008-11-25T14:39:00.000-08:00
OK so this photo totally doesn't do it justice AT all, but the other day I was driving home from work and saw the prettiest sunset ever. Well, in Illinois anyway.

So naturally I spent the entire drive home with my lil point-and-shoot trying to get a photo, almost running into cars or driving off the side of the road.

It was this amazing orange and red coloring by the sun and expanded into blues and purples - indescribable!

Best trivia question ever

2008-11-24T16:04:00.001-08:00
Evan and I played in a Trivia Night for the Young Springfield Professionals Network on Friday, and one of the categories was something about people's characters in movies and T.V. shows.

Well, one of the questions was: "In the movie A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles spend the better portion of the movie chasing around one of the Beatles' family members. Which Beatle and what family member?"

I was all like "Paul's grandfather!!"

(Who's that little old man?
What little old man?...hahaha)

My life the past week

2008-11-20T14:38:00.000-08:00
It seems like the second my side businesses have started to slow down, the insanity of the holiday season starts to pick up!

Last weekend I had my first semi-relaxing weekend with few commitments in a long time. Evan and I hung out at home on Friday night and I coerced him into watching Hard Day's Night, the Beatles movie that I absolutely am obsessed with. I have a ton of Beatles movies, all on videos of course not DVDs. My friend Kristin and I used to be able to do the dialogue from the train scene word-for-word. We can still manage a pretty good re-enaction of it though!

"Who's that little old man?"
"What little old man?"
"That little old man"
"Oh that, that's my grandfather"
"That's not your grandfather, I've seen your grandfather, he lives in your house."
"Oh but that's my other grandfather"
"How do you reckon that one?"
"Well, everyone is entitled to two grandfathers and that's my other one"

Love it. I could keep going, but I'll spare you.

So anyway, on Saturday Evan traveled to Bloomington with his sister's family to watch their cousin Madalyn play for the state championship volleyball match with A-C Central. I had a photoshoot to do, but I got to watch the streaming video online. They took it to 3 games, but ended up with second place. It was a great run, and second in state is pretty freakin good!!

We met up with friends at the Corner that night, where Evan and I enjoyed a delicious nacho appetizer and some of our friend Amanda's horseshoe pizza. (yes it is just as good as it sounds).

Sunday was an absolute riot. On Wednesday I got an email from one of the photographers for the SJR asking if I would be interested and willing to help out the APL with photos. Well, she came to the right person, because I would never say no to helping the APL when I'm able to!

They were having their Paws for Claus fundraiser, or something like that, where people come in and get picture of their pets, and sometimes the whole family, with Santa. I took more than 1,000 pictures in four hours, and it was a blast. People were bringing dogs in with Christmas sweaters on, I was doing my bird call whistle about every 10 minutes, and we even had a few cats who were scared out of their minds of course. Actually the most freaked out animal was a golden lab who though "Santa" was the pure evil and barked and growled menacingly every time he came within 5 feet.

Sunday afternoon was spent with a shopping trip at Old Navy with a 30% coupon thanks to Coworker Grant, and then at Evan's parents' house for a delicious meal of ribs.

This week I got my first tour of Robert Morris College while interviewing them for a story for the Business Journal, and we also attended a client appreciation event for Sikich at the Inn at 835. I had to wonder if they do that regularly or if it was a comfort kind of thing since the economy is so poor right now, but either way, I had some good apps and tasty wine.

Yesterday at work, I did a story on Shana Stine, who I have blogged about before, and several other members of Jump for Joel who set up a model of a Kenyan shanty in the PAC lobby at UIS. I stood and talked with Shana for a little while about more of her experiences in Africa at the orphanage, and I am just enthralled with her and her stories! Jump for Joel is starting a sponsorship program, and I am looking into sponsoring a child through the money I make doing writing and photography. The opportunity excites me! Now I just need to pick a child....

Tonight Evan and I are heading to the grocery store to stock up on food and buy all the ingredients we need to make our dishes for all of the Thanksgiving meals we will be partaking in! Did I mention I'm really looking forward to next week??