Family Fun

What an amazing week!  Last weekend was the last weekend I was able to travel.  Being 36 weeks now, I'm to stay in an hour radius of the hospital, just in case.  A part of me is so ready to give birth and meet this little one finally and a part of me is really fine with waiting a little longer :)  I guess it's good I've got about 3.5 weeks left. 

Last weekend Joe and I travelled to my aunt and uncle's in Michigan.  They are always blessing our family with their hospitality.  To stay there means great food, swimming, games, fireworks and lots of family catching up.  I was able to swim a little bit which was a blast.  I felt more like my more svelte self when you have lots of water to hold up this ever-growing belly of mine.  I also was the recipient of much generosity as my sister-in-law Jill helped hold a baby shower with the women of that side of the family.  If you were there and are reading this... again- thanks!  Now I know how many toilet paper squares around I am. (answer: 12, which equals about 48 in, wow)

This week I've been able to have my sister stay here at the house with me.  I have LOVED having the company and to get to hang out with her.  It's so much fun to see the woman that she is growing up to be and I couldn't be more proud.  She's been so helpful and up for anything!  We made Lava cakes last night and they turned out! (you know the kind that has the chocolate sauce center.)  MMMmmmmm! 

Well, I should run, I've got a dishwasher to unload, thank yous to write, a house to clean up, etc.  More later :)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch changes...

We have a crib!  Because of the generosity of so many family and friends in the form of gift cards we were able to go to Target and purchase the future bed of our little one!  We're looking forward to using this crib for each of the future Tiguesters so we're sticking with the green and white theme in the room. 

Preliminary picture of the nursery: 

Is it odd that the nursery green matches the blog color :) I promise more nursery pics as it gets closer to finished with better curtains and pictures on the walls.  It's nice to have all the big pieces in place though.  Also the pack 'n play that we received from my mom's family will go to good use as a bassinet in our bedroom for the first couple of months so I won't have the walk so far for midnight feedings.  Cool fact- the medium colored wooden bureau was used for Joe's grandfather's clothes when he was a baby.  How fun is that!

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See the difference between this sunny photo from last year and this sunset pic from last night?  We're very excited about our outside upgrade.  Trying to slowly bring our home from 1957 to today :)

The awning on the living room window comes down tomorrow and we're hoping to get some simple landscaping in next week.  It looks a bit bare at the moment but we're just so excited to be able to see the house now instead of it hiding behind the yews.  I think the front door looks so much better this way. 

Eventually a porch may be in the works, but that would be years away.

You need to...

You can find links for these on the right side of the blog:

1. Join our online baby pool!  We have quite a few guesses as to the size and time of birth already...
http://www.expectnet.com/games/Tiguester

2. Subscribe to our blog with your email address.  This will just send you an email when Joe or I update our blog so that you are reminded to come catch up on the latest.  This could be very important when we head to the hospital to have the baby!

Also, you've probably noticed the renovation in the blog's look.  What can I say, progress is beautiful :)

Mother's Day and Father's Day

It was so amazing to celebrate Mother's and Father's Day for the first time.  It's crazy that these days actually refer to us, I'm so used to it being for my parents and other people.  At St. Vincent's you get a special blessing on that day.  It was fun to stand up with my big bump :)  I won't go into it now but the blessing struck a chord regarding the intense relationship of the grave responsibility in raising a child and the terrific honor it is to be given such a blessing.
On Mothers day I was 27 weeks:

On Fathers day I was 33 weeks:

Happy Father's Day to all those Father's out there... especially the one of my little one due in just 6 weeks!

3D video up to watch!

Who does he/she look more like?  Mom or Dad?

Back on the Horse

So as some of your know, the mentality behind my lack of updates lately has been because of work.  Being a teacher means that so much of my time at home is spent working on lesson plans or grading (lots of grading).  I didn't feel right being on the computer to update a blog and slacking on entering my students' scores, problem is, you never really are finished with grades.  So now that schools is OUT I can get back to not feeling guilty while updating this blog :)  Wahoo!

I feel that I should come back with a bang... We had a 3D sonogram today and I have some great pictures and video of the Tiguester!!  We also found out that he/she is now 4 lbs 8oz and about a week ahead of average in size. :)  I'll post the huge lot of them on Picasa, but for now... (click on the pictures and they will beome much larger!)

In other news we have made quite the tour of the midwest in the last 4 weeks!  We were in the South Bend area for Kevin's graduation in May from ND.  I was able to stay the last week down in Loogootee with the other side of extended family and finished up in Noblesville at the old homestead and got to see some wonderful friends from high school.  I am seriously so blessed with the people I have in my life.  It's not always easy to make the long trips but I love getting to see everyone.  We have a little rest in weekend trips here for a little while until July 4th in Niles hosted by Uncle Joe and Aunt Terri.  I'll be the one "floating" in the pool like a beached whale by that point!

I could write lots more but i think for now I'll just work on posting a couple pics and hope to get the video working soon... I may put it up on youtube, we'll see!

Look at those baby lips :)

Recapping... Easter blessings

It's official - I'm as bad at updating this as I am updating my journal... where did that journal go anyway?  Actually, my goal was to get in a habit of blogging on Sundays after we take my pic but the last 3 Sundays have been a bit unusual and wonderful.  So back we go to Easter first and then we'll recap the other 2 last weeks in the next two posts.

Easter was, is, and always will be great.  I love being able to say "Alleluia" again.  It's silly, but going all of Lent without it makes me miss it and get excited to sing, "Jesus Christ is Risen Today."  Joe and I hit up the Holy Thursday Mass and Good Friday Service as usual too.  I have to say, those two experiences each year truly help make Easter Sunday a joyous celebration and not just another Sunday trip to Church.  Realizing what all goes into the Passion is what makes being Catholic so amazing.  There's value in suffering and a real connection to the cross of Christ which enables us to say our alleluia's with such great vigor when God's merciful love is showered on us.  I was especially struck this year as to how much I have to be thankful for this Easter, how amazingly blessed I have been.  I feel as if I've been given a life I don't deserve between great new friends, a fabulous family (both blood relatives and in-laws), a meaningful job, nice house, parents, brothers and sisters I wouldn't trade for anything, a husband who I adore and especially now the little wrapped present of a person in my womb who I just can't wait to meet face to face.

Take a second and think of how God has blessed you in your life... see what I mean!

St. Pat's, our Craigslist adventure and the picture for week 20 :)

St. Patrick's day was lovely, especially because the Peoria Catholic schools have the day off :)  This is mainly because so many of them are in the Parade downtown.  So I enjoyed morning Mass and a spontaneous morning nap on the couch because I never get to do that and because I sorta didn't have a choice when the eyelids closed.  I'm sure some of you understand!  That evening we spent a relaxed dinner with Joe's parents, aunt and uncle eating Reuben sandwiches and lots of other wonderful things. 

So earlier this week Joe found a great travel system on craisglist.  We've been trying to figure out what we wanted for a while now and was pretty psyched to find this brand at this price with only a year of light wear.  So we drove to Springfield to go buy it and are so excited about our first large baby purchase :)

Last, but not least is our picture for week 20 so you can see how big I am.  I told a mom at school this past week... sometimes I look down and just think, wow, I'm going to get bigger!  Baby's starting to kick me, I think.  It's so light right now and sometimes it's just like someone is rearranging my insides.  That might sound weird, but it's the best way I can describe what I'm imagining is baby somersaults.

God Bless!

First Day of Spring???

The weather was amazing last week and should be this coming week, but for the "first day of Spring" not so much.  Thus... the rain/snow mix we encountered Saturday and the windy cold from Sunday.  Here's some pics from P-town this weekend.

Half way there!

Ok, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that time is flying in regards to our little baby's arrival. All of a sudden we're halfway to Aug. 4th. The reality of what I'm half way toward is starting to set in... the responsibility, the wonder, the, um, pain?!

I do finally have a belly that says, "I'm pregnant" not just, "I went all out for every holiday in the past 4 months." I'm feeling better as well, the almost constant carsickness of months 1-3 is gone for the most part. I haven't had a "Preggie Pop Drop" in over a month. They are awesome by the way. Not a cure all, but it definitly helps! (I don't buy from this website, but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about, I found them in an alternative pharmacy here in town. http://www.threelollies.com/ )

I keep reading about what's going on inside me at this point, so far all Dr appts have gone well. Little One seems to be active, everytime doctors try to find the heartbeat we have to move around to stay with it :)