Nursery!

Teaguer came down last week for a visit as well as to build a wall and door on the loft so it can function as a nursery. We had a riot and I can't believe how quickly he got it done. He was even a trooper and painted the room when he realized that I'm not good at doing trim. Thanks Teague! Anyway, Ted and I have been working all day getting things decorated and organized and are finally at a point where we can show some pictures. There are still some fine details we'd like to take care of, but need to wait for another payday to get the rest accomplished. Below are the progress pictures for your enjoyment. We go for another ultrasound this Tuesday...I'll be 18 weeks on Wednesday! It's all about maternity clothes these days...


A "Before" Shot

I still have 5 more months of this?

Baby B is growing steadily and is getting more difficult to distinguish on ultrasound because not all of the parts fit on the screen at once! Here's a nice recording of the heartbeat--a healthy 145 beats per minute.



I ate a sugar cookie just before we did this ultrasound today and Baby B was on a sugar high moving all over the place. It's just amazing how big it's getting. Measured almost 9cm from head to butt...so add a bit more for the feet!



Apparently our baby is being delivered from outer space:



And is a giant...look at the size of that arm!:



And finally, something that truly resembles a baby:



Well, I'm in my second trimester now. 15 weeks along tomorrow and Baby B is right on track. In my case, it's true what they say: you start to get some energy back in the second trimester. Case in point: it's 8:23pm, and I'm still awake. Another example? I got on the treadmill Sunday for the first time since January. I'm so sore I can barely walk, but it did feel good to get some exercise. We went to Babies R Us on Saturday and started getting some ideas about what, in fact, the difference is between a "car seat" and an "infant carrier" and to try to figure out how to operate a stroller. It was pretty fun. I think we'll get the hang of it.

In other baby news, I got some test results back and it does not appear that baby B has any neural tube defects, so that's good. In bad news, the paint I ordered for the nursery looks more like "my old neon green windbreaker" than "Bok Choy." Hmmm. We appear to be back at square one in regards to room decor, which makes my nesting side go bonkers because I JUST WANT TO DECORATE ALREADY! The fam arrives on Friday, however, and Teaguer will be building the nursery wall/door, so that will be the biggest first step.

What else do we do with ourselves? We're still pretty much the same old Ted and Eilis, I just sleep more than usual. We have been laying low lately because I haven't felt the greatest and Ted has been super busy with school. We are starting to fill up our calendars with activities though.

Are You Sick of Baby Pictures Yet? You Better Buckle Up...

I know, I know, the kid's not even out of the womb. What can I say? We're excited over here! I had another doctor's appointment today with an ultrasound. This ultrasound tech was the coolest. She spent about 2 minutes taking the pictures I was there for and then about 30 minutes messing around showing me the baby from every angle possible. She was taking awesome 3D pictures which blew my mind...and then? She turns it up a notch with some 4D images...which are 3D pictures in live motion! I saw Baby B rockin' and rollin' and whatnot in there. It was so awesome. I tried to get her to let me take video on my phone but it's not allowed. T-Bone is totally jealous. BUT, she burned me a cd of about 30 images, some of which you can see below. Baby B is looking great and growing a mile a minute. Measuring right on time he/she was over 6cm long today! Crazy talk! I will be 12 weeks along tomorrow. Happy day!

Growing Like A Weed.



Baby B was rockin' and rollin' in there today. Ted says it looks like he/she is using a typewriter...he's already decided we have a novelist on our hands. You can see the wee one flick the umbilical cord a couple of times and then kick a foot out. Apparently my womb is good times. Who knew?

Finally Off the Couch.

I finally got up off the couch long enough to put the leaves from our wedding in a scrapbook. As you may remember, in lieu of a guest book we had guests sign pretty paper leaves and write messages on them for us. We got really great results with wonderful messages from friends and family as well as a few hilarious ones from anonymous nutballs. It's going to be so fun to look back at these years from now and read them again.

9 Week Old Prodigy

In the following video, taken today, you can see Baby B move his/her arms and head. How cool is that?? Wait for it...wait for it...it happens right at the end of the clip. The head is on the right side of your screen with arms and legs as you move to the left.



In this one you can distinctly see two little eyes peering at you. Borderline creepy? Yes. But oh so cool just the same. We're really growing something in there!
(We're really doin' it buddy!!--that's for Bek)



Here's a breakdown of what you are looking at:



I almost started crying when I saw those little arms move. I suppose that's not a good judge of emotion, however, because I cry when I hear a rap song with a good hook these days. :)
Kidding. We are so stoked over here.

Adorable!

My friend Becky sent me a belated National PA Week (October 6-12) present in the mail today. I was obviously not pregnant when she bought this, but it has arrived at the perfect time. How adorable?? It comes with a little pen so you can fill in the blanks. Love it! Thanks Bek!

Baby On Board!


Let's get up close and personal with my uterus, shall we? Ted and I have a "legume" growing. The new addition resembles an alien and is the size of a lentil bean. That little heart is going a mile a minute...as are ours.

Eilis's Daemon

Decorating Lot 152

I love Christmas. I love the music, the decorations, the gathering of friends and family, the symbolism. I love it all. Ted has a strict "no Christmas music or Christmas tree until after Thanksgiving" policy which I find quite reasonable. Once Thanksgiving is over, however, it's no holds barred. We got our Christmas tree on Friday night from a cute little nursery around the corner. We intended to tie it to the top of Ted's car like we did last year, but the guy offered to just drive it to our house for us since w were right around the corner. Sweet. We dragged all of the decorations out of our little storage attic and got to work. I was super excited to decorate our very first house together for our first married Christmas and I must admit it was everything I had hoped and dreamed. The house looks adorable and festive and we had a lot of fun listening to Christmas music and wrapping some presents to tuck under the tree.


Our fabulous little tree

We got a starter nativity set as a wedding gift and combined it with my Grandmother's old nativity pieces.


Inspector Morty makes sure the tree is within code this year.

I had the idea for a craft project about a month ago when I saw some really cute displays for a porch at Target. I had a feeling I could make them for a lot cheaper than the asking price, so I set up shop in the living room last night as we watched hockey and got to work. I used our old planters (which have been housing dead crispy flowers since this summer) and decorated them for Christmas. We also put out some simple white lights on the bushes and two trees in the front yard.


Starting my project

The finished project

Our cute front porch all decorated

Lot 152 all decked out!

We're having a Christmas party in a couple of weekends so I went all out decorating the inside of the house as well.





I hope everyone else is enjoying getting ready for the Christmas festivities!

Depicting the Latest.

Here's an update as to what we've been up to lately...in picture form:

First of all, a few weeks ago Ted had a boys' trip to Myrtle Beach with his boyfriends from hockey. Those crazy cats decided that it was a "mustache required" event this year, so they all set out to grow a juicy 'stache. Ted hadn't shaved since the wedding, preferring to kick it with a full beard at work and then shave down to the mustache once he arrived in Myrtle Beach. Shave he did, and when he returned home on Sunday I couldn't help cracking up and snapping this shot. The 70's cop throwback sunglasses really complete the look, don't you think??



We rented a cabin in the mountains of Asheville, NC with our neighbors for Thanksgiving. It was rad--3 bedrooms, full kitchen, fireplace, big screen TV, and a hot tub. Sweet. We got up there Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday. No one wanted to leave and we even contemplated putting our deposit down for next year.



A view of the gorgeous scenery:




Sign on the door of the corner store:




We took a drive one day and came across this pretty overlook:





Ted enjoys reading the graffiti on signs and we all got a kick out of this particular nugget as we looked closer:



The weather was perfect fall weather...a sweater and light coat was perfect for being outdoors. We found a great place to hike and got some cute shots along the way:





When we weren't out exploring we were playing games. Board games? Yes. But mostly? Nintendo. Yup. Old school NES. Paul and I got to reminiscing about the old Power Pad and the Olympic Track Meet game. All that's left to say is that we happened upon a used video game store and I'm about $60.00 poorer. The Power Pad? 8 bucks. Deal of the century. It works like a charm too...except I think I've gotten a bit too old for these shenanigans as I seem to have thrown my back out doing hurdles...

The Married Couple.

Ted and I are settling into the married routine and enjoying the post-wedding experience. I'd like to say that we have a lot of downtime now that the wedding is over, but to be honest we are busier than we were in the months leading up to the wedding! I think once Christmas is over things will settle down again, but Ted is convinced that we will be busy for the next five years. Oh Ted.

Here's a recent picture of "the married us."

Straightening Up.

We've finally got the house back into some form of order this weekend. We registered for a lot of new dishes and glassware for the wedding, but as the gifts began arriving we quickly learned that the glassware we registered for was too tall to fit in our cupboards. We solved the problem by ordering a hutch for the dining room. We weren't sure if it would fit and look good in there, but Ted put it together this weekend and we are both in love with it. It seems to really finish that room off. We're having a Christmas party this year and I can't wait to use all of our new fancy glasses!