Baby Boom at Busch Gardens

Our local news wanted to do a story on all of the new babies at Busch Gardens. Guess who the management chose to be the spokesperson/representative for Busch? MY HUBBY!!! (Maybe they wanted to give him some extra practice with the babies since he's so close to becoming a daddy.) Here are some of the still photos from the event. He was on the 5:00 news last night, and he will be in the newspaper tomorrow. What a babe! I'm not talking about the flamingos. :)


Here's a link to some more pictures: http://media.myfoxtampabay.com/galleries/BuschBabies0708/

Happy Birthday, Hubby!!!

Yesterday was Phil's 29th Birthday! We had a fun celebration at home and then treated ourselves to a movie date. For a while we thought that there was a chance that our little squirt could be born on daddy's birthday, but that didn't happen. She'll be here soon enough! :)

Jackpot!!!

As I was walking through the neighborhood this morning, I came upon the perfect yard sale for a family expecting a little girl...THE HILLARYS! I couldn't believe how much stuff they had, and I had to walk back home to get the car...and my wallet. Here's a glimpse of the jackpot! We ended up with 2 shirts, 5 pair of pants, 5 complete outfits, 6 onesies, 6 full-body sleepers, 9 dresses, a bouncy seat (with a rainforest theme), a Bumbo chair, and a pool floaty. The grand total was only $30. It costs more than that to go out to dinner, fill up the car, or even buy just three of those dresses at normal price. Needless to say, I was VERY EXCITED! Being the Queen of Frugality, this was a shining moment! :)
Here are some of my favorite outfits. The only thing that will make them cuter is when they're being worn by our little squirt. We can't wait!!!

You Know You're "Growing Up" When...

You Know You're "Growing Up" When...

* You wake up at 7:00 and feel like you've really slept in. :)

* You research sales on diaper prices and drive to the appropriate locations to get the biggest bang for your buck (using three different coupons, and a series of manipulation, we purchased $24 worth of diapers for $2 yesterday...now that is EXCITING).

* You consider it a "good weekend" when you get the garage organized (notice the creative placement of the wheelbarrow in picture three).

* You spend your birthday money on a utility sink...and get EXCITED about it. Phil just finished this project, and it's a great addition to our garage.

Little Joys...

Back in college, Jessica Oosting (a dear college friend) and I always talked about "little joys." Think of all the little things that bring you joy within a day! Today was full of little joys: the first pineapple of the year was ready to be picked and devoured. It's a cheesy picture, but you get to see our baby pineapple and our giant baby.

We also spotted this unique rainbow cloud. It was next to the sun, which made it different than most rainbows. Needless to say, it brought us joy.

WATERMELON!

Phil and I have always referred to our living/dining rooms as the watermelon combo (we wouldn't dare use the word "pink" to describe our decorating choice). On Saturday evening, our dear friends, Sarah and Tory, came over for dinner (which appropriately included watermelon) and games. We quickly realzied that Sarah and I perfectly matched the watermelon rooms. It gave me a silly excuse to take a picture and thus create a blog post.

Nesting

We're nearing the end of our pregnancy journey and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little squirt. Phil had the day off, so we checked a number of "to-dos" off of our list. We hung a few things in the nursery (check out the ADORABLE giraffe swimsuit...thanks, Sara), read a chapter from our Good Night, Sleep Tight book about how to help our baby develop a sleep schedule (thanks, Rachel), and ran a bunch of errands. It was a GREAT day! At our doctor's appointment, on Monday, we learned that I'm 2-centimeters dilated, and that the baby has moved down to the -1 position. Our doctor predicted that I will deliver before our due date, but we're not holding our breath. She'll come when she's ready, and we can't wait for that day! :)

Surprise Shower at Busch Gardens!

Today was a special event for Phil. A few of his co-workers arranged a surprise baby shower, and I was lucky enough to be in on the secret. I was in Phil's office when he showed up for the "meeting," and he quickly figured out that something was up. The beautiful quilt was made by Ruth, Phil's partner, and we love the bright colors and the special touches. THANK YOU, RUTH...for the quilt and the wonderful shower. :)

The umbrella stroller will be GREAT for all of our little outings. Thank you, Lisa and Steve!
This outfit may be slightly large for our little peanut at this point (however, my enormous belly may suggest otherwise), but it won't be long before she's running around in it. Thank you, Birgit!!!

We feel incredibly blessed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of Phil's work "family." :)

Where's the FILTER???

Let me start by saying that I really enjoy being pregnant. Even though things are getting awkward, and my body is acting in ways that I never imagined, I still think that this is one of the greatest stages/honors of life as a woman. This picture was a couple of weeks ago, so you can only imagine that I've gotten bigger since then. In fact, I feel like I've grown more in the last two weeks than I have in the last two months combined. I've been SHOCKED, in the past week, to hear what some people say without thinking about how it's going to sound. Here are a few examples of the comments I've heard this week:

"You must be carrying twins.

If not, you've surely got a balloon in there."

~ A complete stranger at church

"Oh look...you've got little watermelons on your ankles.

Imagine what they will look like by the time you finally deliver."

~ My next door neighbor upon seeing me in sandles

"Are those blotches and discolorations on your face

a result of your pregnancy?"

~ Dental hygenist

(What if I would have said, "No...what do you mean?" That may have made her think a bit.)

"How much longer do you have?" When I said, "Just under a month," he responded back with, "I would have guessed a couple of days by the looks of it."

~Home inspector for our new windows

Which one is your favorite? Which one do you think is the most offensive? Thankfully, I don't take it too personally. I just laugh about it and think about the comments that I would respond with...if I didn't have a filter.

NEW Windows!!!

Our big project (home improvement) for the summer was replacing a few of our windows. The original windows were single pane pieces of junk that were more than thirty years old. As you can see, the aluminum frames were a bit outdated, and they fogged up on a daily basis. The old windows let SO MUCH HEAT into the house that we had to keep the shades drawn all day. We added a picture window instead of doing three opening windows, and we love it. Now we can keep the blinds open all day, and the new windows don't allow any heat in the house. They have some magic feature, with a non-visible tint, and they will be much more energy efficient. YEAH!
We also replaced our sliding glass door and the window in the nursery. Unfortunately, there are still nine windows that could be replaced, but we can only afford to do it in small phases. We're thrilled with the first phase. :) We must be "growing up" when we get so excited about new windows.

Scalloping or Jellyfishing???

For our anniversary this year, we decided to treat each other to one of our favorite outings: scalloping in The Gulf of Mexico. We've done this for the past three years, and we LOVE it! Unfortunately, this year was a COMPLETE BUST! Apparently, we missed the countless "red flags" along the way (no brake fluid in the van, low air in most of the tires, burnt out lights on the trailer, and dark clouds). That was only the beginning of our woes...
The water was infested with jellyfish. There were literally HUNDREDS of them, and we couldn't find a single patch of water without a lingering jellyfish. To me, they are the cockroach of the sea...disgusting and intolerable.
Phil, on the other hand, was DETERMINED to find some scallops. After a 2.5 hour drive to The Gulf, and a 6-mile boat ride to our favorite scalloping spot, he wasn't about to let the jellyfish win. He bravely jumped in the infested water in hopes of "limiting out" with a few pints of scallops.
These nine little scallops look sad and lonely, don't they? In the past, we've come close to filling the livewell (which definitely exceeds the limit and results in DAYS worth of scallops). Today was a different story. If we were to add up the cost of our trip (between gas in the boat, the van, and all of the little fix-up jobs along the way), each scallop would be worth about $20. That's quite a thought, huh?
Phil swimming through the maze of jellyfish. I stayed in the boat this year... as the photographer of such a blessed event.

As you can see in the background, the sky started changing color (which is even more evident in contrast with my STARK WHITE belly). Before we knew it, we were stuck in a MAJOR Florida storm. Within moments, we were soaked. Quite honestly, I was a bit scared. Being 8 months pregnant, and trapped in a thunder/lightning/rain strom, wasn't exactly how I pictured celebrating our first anniversary.
Phil kept us safe by finding a little island that shielded us from the storm. We hunkered down and let the storm blow over us. After about thirty minutes, we were freezing cold (a rare thing during this time of year), soaking wet, and ready to be on land. We couldn't take a picture while the storm was on top of us because it would have ruined the camera.
We made it out alive, and we drove through heavy rain on the entire trip home. Phil remained calm and collected throughout the entire day, and it endeared me to him on an even deeper level. While it wasn't the most romantic anniversary, we still had a great day together...and that's all that really matters.

One year ago...

One year ago, we started the greatest journey of our lifetime. The past 365 days have been amazing, and we have fallen so deeply in love with one another that we can't imagine what God has in store for the years ahead.

Okay...I give in!

"TAG...I'm it!"

This is for you, Brooke, Shannon, Kathi, and Kelly,...because I've been tagged by all of you. I give in.
Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged. You cannot tag the person that tagged you; so since you’re not allowed to tag me back, let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird/random/odd facts, habits and goals.

1. I have a "Life List." One of my college professors encouraged us to create a list of things that we wanted to accomplish within our lifetime. I created the list my sophomore year, at Hope, and I still have it. I've added many things and crossed many off. For the past five years, I've done this activity with my eighth graders, and it's fun hearing from some of them as they cross goals off of their list.

2. My dearest husband, Phil, made it one of his goals to help me cross things off of my life list. In the past three years, these are the things that he has done with/for me so that I can cross them off my list: Live outside of Michigan (June 2006), Complete the 3-day (60 mile) breast cancer walk (October 2006), Sky dive (April 2005), Have a garden with vegetables (Spring 2008), Learn to dance (Pre-wedding 2007), Leave a really big, unexpected tip (November 2007), Get scuba certified and go scuba diving (May 2007), Go horseback riding (October 2005), Get married (07/07/07), and Have Children (Date TBA very SOON)!
3. I tend to fit in the small percentage of crazy statistics. For example, I had to have my adenoids removed TWICE. That only happens to something like 30 in a million people…or something ridiculous like that.

4. I’ve run five marathons. My sister and I trained together and ran marathons in Detroit, Grand Rapids (twice), Indiana, and Finland. Unfortunately, those days are WAY BEHIND me, but I learned a lot from those experiences. My dad, who has run 19 marathons (including the Boston Marathon for seven years in a row), was/IS our inspiration.
5. I used to be considered legally blind. My prescription was SO bad that I had to wear glasses OVER my contacts when I read. I couldn’t read the alarm clock, or walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night, without putting my glasses on. I had LASIK eye surgery in 2002, and it changed my life forever. I now have perfect vision, and I would recommend LASIK to anyone.

6. I’m currently OBSESSED with collecting Coke reward points. Phil drinks Coke like it’s water, so I decided to start saving the caps and points. That’s how the obsession began. It’s gotten a bit out of control because I’ve moved the obsession beyond the walls of our home. I’m embarrassed (but not totally) to admit that I take bottle caps OUT of recycle bins in our neighborhood. If I see a 12-pack box sticking out of someone’s garbage, I will literally sneak up to it and remove the precious ten points. This obsession has earned us free Blockbuster movie rentals, tickets to the AMC theatre, and free popcorn and soda coupons. So, if you throw your caps away, STOP! Start saving them. I’ll take them off your hands if you don’t want to hassle with the whole system. :)

7. My least favorite household chore is cleaning the shower. I can tolerate everything else, but I hate cleaning the shower. This picture is when we moved into our house, and Phil did some repair work in the shower. What a guy!
8. Among the many things that we have in common, Phil and I both collected coins throughout our childhood. After getting married, we combined our collections, and it amounted to quite sum. In addition to all the foreign/rare coins, we had hundreds of Susan B. Anthony dollars and half dollars. This picture only shows a tiny portion of the collection.
9. I love sushi. Phil introduced me to the fabulous cuisine when we first started dating, and I’ve loved it ever since. Unfortunately, I can’t eat raw sushi while pregnant, and I’ve missed it terribly. That will be one of our first treats after the baby is born.
10. My Grandpa Hahn was among the greatest men I ever knew. He passed away a few years ago, but his legacy lives on in the lives of everyone who knew him. Phil never met him, but I see so many similarities between my grandpa and Phil. I know that they would have loved each other, and I miss him very much.

NOW... I tag Ann, Kim DeJager, Stacy Clack, Jessica (Yesser), Heidi Vissia, and Lisa Clouse (which means you actually have to start your blog, Lisa)!

Is this for REAL???

My sister just returned to the states after a trip to Athens, Greece. She took a picture of this sign because it made her think of her prego sister. I wonder what they serve at Cafe Snack Prego. One of the most frequently asked pregnancy questions is, "Do you have any strange cravings?" During my different stages of pregnancy, I would have requested different snacks from this cafe.

Early pregnancy (especially during the first trimester when I was sick): pancakes, eggs, French fries, red meat, peanut butter, and soup were the staples of my diet. Pancakes, especially, kept me alive for a few weeks. We ate them twice a day, and we went through several boxes within the course of a month. Phil was a creative chef when it came to preparing pancakes in several different ways.

Middle pregnancy: nearly everything tasted good, but I especially craved peanut butter, grapefruit, and McDonalds ice cream. I suppose that isn't limited to pregnancy.

Later pregnancy: Peanut butter (straight out of the jar), melon, hamburgers, spaghetti, and ice cream. At this point, I feel like eating nearly anything. I remember one of my friends (Anne Shank) describing the 3rd trimester as a difference of being hungry to being HUNGRY! That's where I am these days...all capital H-U-N-G-R-Y!!!

Overall, I don't have any overwhelming cravings that require drastic measures. I think the two most significant were/are pancakes and peanut butter. I have a new aversion to the taste of cilantro and the smell of chicken noodle soup.

Even though I'm getting bigger, and more awkward, I love the journey of being pregnant. I'm still amazed, on a daily basis, at how our bodies work and the miracle that happens through the transformation of pregnancy. The little things, like food cravings and aversions, are just one part of the adventure.