Getting Ready for Baby!

A few weeks ago Dan's sister Amelia came to visit us.

She helped Daniel paint the baby's room! I supervised, ran errands, and provided snacks! :) Since we don't know the baby's gender, we chose bright yellow for the room. The name of the paint color is Sunshower. I love it. Everytime I go into the baby's room it makes me smile.

I helped AJ and Dan tape up the room! You can kind of see the previous color in the bedroom - it was technically yellow but more of a mustard or baby poop shade.




Daniel painting! Look at how awesome and cheerful the new yellow looks.

Amelia painting the walls. Thanks for all of your help!!

The finished look. :)

Chief got a giant bone from his auntie AJ! It was a Get Well Soon present. For those of you who don't know, Chief was recently nuetered. So, to all of the lady dogs of the world - Chief can no longer be the father of your puppies. He recovered very quickly after his procedure and has experienced no temperment changes to date (read: still crazy!).

When AJ visited, she brought Chief and Scout's cousin Roy. The dogs had a good time together. It was tricky to get all three dogs to pose for a picture together! Aren't they cute pups?

When Amelia came to Madison she also brought baby gifts!! This is a picture of Dan testing out the baby tub in our kitchen sink. AJ also gave us lots of great baby bath soaps and toys.

Thanks for coming to visit us, AJ! We really appreciate your painting expertise and we love the baby tub + accessories. You're going to be a great auntie!

Baby Shower

Two weeks ago my family and friends threw me a baby shower! It was wonderful. :) My mom, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and Madison friends are the best.

We had delicious food. The baby and I enjoyed all of the tasty treats.



Here are some beautiful cupcakes made by my good friend, Melissa. They had this amazing buttercream frosting that was yellow, green, blue, and pink. Love it.





Here is the spread. Again - great food! Thanks to Natalie, Mallory, Katie, and Mom for the snacks.

I had to include this picture because my baby shower was the first event where I was able to use my Fiestaware Deviled Eggs plate. For those of you who don't know - I love Fiestaware! The colors are fantastic. Dan thinks that the Deviled Eggs plate is useless but this photo proves that this statemtent is not true. The Deviled Eggs platter got some good use at the party.

This is a photo of me and the grandmas! Our little one will be my mom's 4th grandbaby and Nola's 1st grandchild. They are super excited. These 2 ladies are the best garage salers ever, they have found the baby all kinds of great stuff over the summer months.

Here are all of the ladies that came to my shower! They showered me and the baby with love and lots of great gifts.

Shoshana, Melissa, and Allison enjoying some snacks.

Hilary, Ava, me and Alison catching up!

The guests crafted some awesome onsies for the baby.

The ladies made me a cake of diapers. They also made guesses on the baby's birthdate, time, and gender. I will be sure to post the results on whoever gets closest to the actual date/time!

This group of ladies all went to the La Follette School of Public Policy at University of Wisconsin with me!




After the shower the moms, sisters in law and I did some shopping. Since there are no Babies R Us stores in the Dakotas - this store is a considered a tourist destination.



On Sunday morning, the boys - Dan and Ken - made the ladies breakfast.

It was delicious!!

Dan made a platter of eggs, vegetables, cheese and venison sausage. yum. Thanks, guys! It was great!

It was a wonderful weekend - thanks to everyone for planning/attending the shower. You are the best!

Concerts on the Square

One of my favorite summer happenings in Madison is Concerts on the Square. The Madison Symphony Orchesta plays on the Capitol lawn, everyone lays out their blankets and has picnics!

Dan and I enjoying the summer evening! The weather was beautiful.



Here is our picnic spread. Yum! We had some delicious cheese, crackers, and hummus.


A shot of the Capitol building!

We shared some picnic space with Melissa.

Hoekman Family Weekend at the Lake

We recently spent some time with the Hoekman family at Clearwater Lake near Annandale, Minneota. We had a great time! The weather was hit or miss but we had a good time swimming and fishing outside when the sun was shining and took naps, watched movies, and colored when it was raining.

Here is our family photo! Next year there will be 4 kids on vacation. :)

Uncle Owen and Auntie Carrie came up to visit.

Here are our neices and nephew! Anna is 1, Abigail is ~9 months old, and Paul is 4. They are so much fun.

Paul is growing up so fast! He loves Star Wars, legos, coloring, and swimming. He wants our baby to be a boy.

Here are the little girls! Aren't they the cutest? These ladies are all over the place! They are so sweet.

Paul loved swimming with his Uncle Dan - here is a picture of him getting tossed into the water.

This is my favorite picture from the family weekend. Austin and his baby girl Abigail. They are so happy in the water. Love it!

We missed Anna's birthday in July so we brought her presents to the lake cabin!

The boys did find time to fish despite the rainy/stormy weather. Here is a picture of Daniel and Dad fileting fish in the kitchen.

Thanks for the great weekend everyone! You guys are the best!

28 Week Appointment

I had my 28 Week Appointment this week! We are getting closer to baby - less than 3 months to go!

Here is the news from the prenatal visit:

I have gained 18 pounds since day 1 of pregnancy.
I am measuring in between 28 and 29 weeks.
Baby's heartrate was at 160!
I took a glucose test for gestational diabetes and I passed. Yay!

Our little eggplant is doing great.

Dimitris and Laura's Wedding!

On July 30th, my dear friend Laura married Dimitris! It was a beautiful wedding and the day was perfect.

The morning started with hair appointments for the ladies.



Here is Laura looking lovely.



Me getting an up-do!



The finished look.



Here we are! Dimitris' sisters and mom, Laura, Laura's mom Barb, Laura's sister Emily, and yours truly.




One of the best things at this wedding was this delightful cookie table. It was super cute! And the cookies were awesome. The baby and I definitely had our fair share of cookies that night.



Check out these amazing flowers.



Doesn't Laura look stunning? Her wedding dress was super elegant. Here is a picture of Laura and her new sisters/mom in law.

The new Mr & Mrs!

It was great to catch up with friends at the wedding.

Here we are with Melissa and Brian. :)

Mom and Dad were there too!

Friends from Augustana College! Most of us lived on the same floor of Bergsaker Hall Freshman year. This is a great group of ladies!

The happy couple.

Aren't they the cutest?

After the wedding and dinner there was dancing, of course!

Laura and Dimitris having their first dance.

The Greeks tearing it up on the dance floor.

Here is a video of traditional Greek Dancing! Love it!

Congratulations Dimitris and Laura! We love you guys and we wish you the best.

Third Trimester

We officially made it to the third trimester! The baby is growing and kicking like crazy. Daniel is able to feel the baby move which is very exciting. :) Paul also felt his cousin kicking in auntie's belly last week.

Dan and I have been busy with baby things - we toured the birthing center at Meriter Hospital, we attended a cloth diaper class, and we have been getting the room ready with our Craig's List and garage sale finds. We start our birthing classes in a few weeks. We will keep you posted!!