How much is worth it to you?

This weekend, like so many before it, flew by. We got lots done - the closet in the baby's room is no more (woo hoo for Kyle, my one man demolition team!!) and we attended an eight hour childbirth class yesterday.

Kyle and I moved all around the house this afternoon while he demo'd the closet and I cleaned the house. As a result, Zoe was sometimes not as well attended as perhaps she should have been.

Over the past couple weeks, Kyle has spent some time most evenings rolling coins. I am always amazed how quickly those little disks can add up. Well, pennies do add up very very slowly ...

Midway through the afternoon, I realized that Zoe had been missing for a few minutes. I searched upstairs before heading downstairs. Before I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw Zoe, reclined amidst several piles of coins! Now, our dear puppy has an unexplained affinity for paper. I would not have been shocked to find her eating the empty paper rolls, but no! Our little one picked up a roll, ate off the wrapper and scattered the coins ... over and over and over (and over and over and over) again ...

It was all I could do to not laugh out loud. But I did say loudly to Zoe, "Your Daddy is NOT going to be happy with you!" Of course, Kyle heard and started downstairs. When he saw the mess Zoe made, he almost fell down the stairs laughing!!

Now, we picked up all of the coins and the remains of a few shredded wrappers. Unfortunately, we are not certain whether Miss Zoe ingested any coins ... and to be frank, I'm not frugal enough to comb through puppy poop to find out.

- H

Some Photos ...

We have new photos of a few things for Baby Thiel's room:

The Window Shade.



The Pillows.





The Quilt.



The Stroller.



Woo Hoo!

- H

100% Dais Free!

Let me 'splain. (Not sure why I just had a Lucy and Desi moment.)

Our bedroom is, strangely, shaped like an L, and the base of the L is raised approximately 8 inches above the rest of the room. This creates a platform upon which two nightstands and a queen size bed fit. Despite its apparent appeal to at least its creators, if not the previous owners of our home, we do not care for this item we refer to as "the dais."


For some time, we have been talking about (and putting off) discovering what is underneath the dais. We had some concern that the dais was a focal point of necessity rather than desire - er, that should we destroy the dais we might be left with a pipe (or some such) snaking around the floor of our bedroom.

On our list of things to (hopefully) do before the baby shows up is replacing the flooring on the second floor of our home. As such, uncovering the mystery of the dais has been a looming task.

This past weekend was a) gloriously a holiday weekend - three whole days!, b) a weekend of no work for either of us (!) and c) a weekend of dais exploration and destruction!! On Saturday, we ran tons and tons of errands, but late in the afternoon, Kyle peeled back the carpet and tore into one corner of the dais. He poked his head into the hole and was pleased to report that under the platform appeared to be a largely intact subfloor and no exposed pipes!

And then the demolition began. Kyle sweated and hefted and grunted, and I cleaned and painted and cooked. From my inexperienced perspective, the platform was assembled with an equal weight of nails and wood - which even I know is way more nails than necessary. However, but for two large pieces of plywood lingering on our second floor landing, the dais is gone and our room is again in a usable state!!!

Oddly, the absence of the dais is somewhat disconcerting to Zoe, but I know she'll adjust. We already have!

- H

Update

Yesterday, I went to the Dr. for my bi-weekly appointment. Not much to report, the Dr. thinks my weight in on target (although I'm way closer to moving that next 'big weight' on their scale which is very hard to stomach). My belly is measuring 30 cm, which is apparently in line for our 30th week of pregnancy. My blood pressure is 'good' (never can remember those numbers, or to be honest their meaning, but she said good).

For now, these appointments are fairly mundane - no ultrasound, no fancy pictures or bloodtests - but she does amplify the baby's heartbeat each time, which is fun to hear. I have been surprised to notice the type of noise change over our pregnancy. It originally sounded like a woosh-woosh rather than the typical ga-gunk-ga-gunk. (Gotta love onomotopeoia!) Now - it sounds much more like the ga-gunk of a 'regular' heart beat.

That's about it for now. My work is going well, and Kyle is sprinting toward his next work deadline. We will both be glad to have that one behind us!

- H

And the letters just keep coming!

Our newest alphabet additions are: H, L, and M! We have such fun opening each new submission for our wall. They are wonderful!!





(The L has a little ladybug button perched on it. Too cute!!)



Actually, M is waiting in Kansas City for either us or a ride to the 'Gateway to the West'. We're excited to give it a new home in the very near future!

- H

Ah, Fajitas!

One additional comment of thanks ... our trip to Houston was wonderful, but whirlwind. I think I'm just now stopping to breathe for the first time since our Friday arrival in Houston.

On to the thanks ... we ate dinner with my dad at El Tiempo on Washington. YUM. (Thank you Dad!) I honestly had forgotten that the difference between pretty good fajitas and gosh darn good fajitas is tremendous. I can find pretty good fajitas here in STL, but gosh darn good fajitas ... they're elusive.

:)

Home again

Heather and I have returned from a long weekend in Houston visiting family. A great time was had and we returned full of tex-mex and not quite ready to get back to work. Since it is Heather's first (semi) Mother's day I just wanted to take a moment to wish all of our Moms and Grandmothers a very happy mothers day and thank them for their love, support, and affection.

While in Houston we did manage to stop by Ikea, and picked up a rocking chair, tiny hangers, and some storage boxes for the nursery. We stopped by Fed-Ex Office (you are welcome, Chad) and shipped the boxes to ourselves, thanks to Continental's pricey bagage policy. So in a few days we will be able to set up the new chair, hang the tiny hangers in the closet and put the storage boxes on the freshly painted bookshelves. There was no time for meatballs - maybe next time!

K

The Last Third!

Yesterday started our 28th week - which means that we are now in the third trimester of our pregnancy.

Last week I went to the doctor for a follow-up glucose screening. I failed the preliminary glucose screening at our last appointment (by 4 points, darnnit!). So, I returned for a more intensive screening to determine whether I have gestational diabetes.

The longer test involved giving up an entire morning at work - and putting up with four blood tests: a fasting test and then one, two, and three hours after drinking a beverage with 100 grams of sugar in 10 oz of fluid (I know, it was a weird mix of metric and non-metric units). I was very hungry after the test, but - except for the four holes in my arm - no big problems otherwise.

So, if you 'fail' two or more of the blood tests, you are considered to have gestational diabetes. If you fail only one of the blood tests, you have to meet with the center's nutritionist for 'counseling.' If you pass all of the tests, you get to go on about your merry way. Thankfully, I passed all of the tests - Kyle joked that I studied very hard ... while I did not 'study' very hard, we did spend a fair amount of time and energy worrying about the results so the doctor's call brought us much relief.

Another concern to cross off of our list!

We started painting furniture for the baby's room which is going slowly but well. We're definitely excited to see it all reassembled, but so far the white paint alone is a great improvement.

This coming week will be quite busy. Kyle is traveling for work for about half of the week, and I've got a busy work week too (but I'll be in town all week!).

Our friend Erik helped Kyle move some furniture around our room this afternoon, and I got a few plants into one of our back beds. We've planted a mixture of veggies, herbs, and decorative annuals ... here's hoping they take before Zoe destroys them! Hopefully, we get to tackle the empty front bed before too many more weekends pass.

Now that we're in the third trimester, we're down to appointments every two weeks instead of every four. So, I'll head back to the doc while Kyle is out of town this week.

That's about it for now!

- H

More Baby Photos!

We went to the doctor today and got three new images:

1. Back with ear and shoulder.




2. Face ... oooh, ghostie.



Actually, Baby Thiel behaved per usual and faced toward my spine during the vast majority of the screening. This was a brief face image caught on camera. Generally, Baby Thiel hid its face - either by looking away or by expertly waiving its hands and obscuring the image. Gosh Darn It!

3. Shoulder, arm, hand and ear ... 3D, fun!



[Revision]

All in all our visit went well - Baby Thiel weighs in at approximately 2 lbs 2 oz now and both the baby's and my growth are 'on target.' We think they got all relevant measurements this time, but won't know until our doc gets the official ultrasound report later this week.

- H

97 Days

The little ticker at the bottom of this blog told me today that we have 97 days left in our pregnancy. I have two reactions to moving into the two-digit day count ...

For. Sure. This. Is. Awesome. Wonderful. Baby Thiel will be here in just over three months. Woo Hoo!

But.

Now. For. Sure. This. Totally. Freaks. Me. Out. Baby Thiel will be here in just over three months. Goodness Freakin' Gracious.

Just needed to type that out loud. ;)

Just a snipet ...

Things are going well.

Our baby room is coming together. Our home is coming together. Despite crossing many things off (and knowing that what needs to get done will indeed get done), our to do list can be daunting,(some days more than others!) but it will work out.

We are excited to watch my expanding waistline, but my feelings are not so certain about the increasing numbers on the scale. Watching the numbers go up has never been a good thing and reconciling that change while in a 'heightened emotional state' feels like walking a tightrope. (However, I did try on swimsuits last weekend - never my favorite activity - and while it was NOT fun and we did not actually purchase a swimsuit, I survived and walked out of the store laughing rather than crying.)

On the extremely urgent scale, I finally selected yarn to make a blanket for the baby. It is colorful and happy and I am excited to work with it - as soon as I pick up needles in the right size!

- H

Easter Sunday

Miss Zoe sitting pretty:




All dressed up for Easter:



Happy Easter All!

- H

Its a jungle out there ...

Several people have asked us about nursery themes ...

For awhile, I wanted a rocker covered in large graphic giraffe print. (Have I seen such an animal, er rocker? No, but I have a good - and unfortunately specific - imagination.) Also, Kyle loves monkeys - and I recently brought home a very cute stuffed monkey (that incidentally, Zoe thinks is her new best friend).

Putting these facts together, a few people have asked if we are having a jungle themed nursery. The first time it was asked I was caught off guard and went home to discuss the issue with Kyle. Now, acknowledging our apparent affinity for jungle-type animals, I am much less surprised when someone asks.

Our nursery theme is 'bright and happy' - Kyle actually prefers describing the nursery as without theme. With our art projects and the brightly colored citrusy fabrics, we think bright and happy is sufficient. (It allows us creativity within a pretty good spectrum.)

And, as for the rocker, I think we're going with bright turquoise blue or granny smith apple-ish green ... the giraffe print in my head is hard to find in reality and our citrusy fabrics don't really lend themselves to being paired with a big honkin' giraffe chair.

- H

Beginning at the End

This is our Z.

Slow slow quick quick slow ...

Spring comes fast and slow here to St. Louis (and I'm sure elsewhere too). We are eager for Spring to be here and stay. The daffodils have long since shone their faces and tulips are starting to join in the fun. But we got snow last weekend (though it melted within 24 hours) and have more in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow (it is APRIL for GOODNESS SAKES!!!).

One of the fun things for me about spring is taking the time to clean house, rearrange furniture and trade 'fall/winter' for 'spring/summer' clothes. Most of my clothes have already been 'traded' for maternity fare which wasn't nearly as much fun as digging into a box filled with spring clothes in light fabrics and bright colors. But we are definitely in full swing spring cleaning mode.

The roof, the door, and the garage are all things crossed off of our to do list, but our work preparing the house for Baby and generally maintaining the house for us continues. Kyle is almost finished repairing some of the sheetrock damaged by water on the second floor or by my overloading a shelf on the first. Having those two items taken care of and the paint repaired will be a wonderful development.

We've also played furniture fruit basket turnover this weekend. Some friends took the bed on the third floor, we moved the guest bed up to the third floor, and we picked up the crib and assembled it. (Yay!) Various other pieces were moved around, and I am adjusting quite nicely to the end results.



(This image is of the crib assembled to bassinet stage. We first assembled it to bassinet, then took it apart and built the crib stage, and then took that apart and built the bassinet. I know, we're a bit crazy.)

There are slower parts of spring for us too. We're still lingering over a new front door. (Hello, mail slots let cold air out and cold air in ... why would you think your home might be energy efficient with a big hole in the front door!) And work on the yard is still in limbo - last time we addressed that topic we waivered between an ostrich approach and a full-on wrecking ball to address that purple deck monstrosity out back. Also, things are slow because we are slow. After full work days and many work weekends, we just are not good at coming home and breaking out the paint brushes - but some day our projects will wrap up and the house will be as lovely in reality as it is in our dreams!!