First Baby Shower - with the McGrath's

This past Sunday the lovely ladies of the McGrath family threw Sesame and I an amazing shower.  We met at Arrowhead (a local golf club) for bruch and some time to catch up.

I had such an amazing time with these ladies....it made me wish we could all get together more often.  We ate a little, drank a little (water for me...but Arrowhead has some amazing Bloddy Mary's!  So amazing, we will be going back there post baby so I can have one too), and laughed alot.  Thank you so much guys for a great shower.

We got this cool tummy time mat (which Ryan loves and the dogs find VERY interesting!), and some other great gifts.

Like this highchair and the ever popular Bobby!

These flowers are still brightening up my kitchen as we speak.  And you can see the cool cookies they brought too.  They were delish.  I MAY have eaten Ryan's before he got to it...sorry babe!

The past two weeks have been chalk full of baby stuff.  I've got the room painted and cleaned up.  We've got the dresser nealry refinished (more on that later), the closet organizers hung and I've been doing all sorts of projects that I'll debut once the room is done.  This shower was just another sign that we are getting closer and closer to meeting our little one.  Can't wait!!

A Loon full of sugar....

...helps the Mega Crane go down. 

I know you all have no freaking clue what I'm talking about here, so let me explain.  This past weekend we loaded up the car and the dogs and set out on our way to my family's cabin in near Hayward, WI.  It's about a 7 and a half our drive from our house so we took Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off to make the long drive worth it.   My Mom and Dad, and Chris and Brenna also joined us for the trip.

With only a few days we made sure to make the most of our time.  Ryan and I got to the cabin around 1am on Friday morning.  We left after work on Thursday.  Chris and B decided to do the opposite, they got up super early Friday morning and were to the lake by noon on Friday.  After giving them the official tour, and watching our crazy pups run wild in the woods and lake, we decided to make our way to Marengo Falls. 

Marengo is the tallest falls in the whole state of Wisconsin and its technically located on private property.  A long time back a family friend of my grandpa's took mom and a few others up to the falls.  I've probably only been 2-3 times so I was excited to make the journey.  Since it's a hidden gem, there are not mowed paths or path markers to find the falls.  Mom and Dad just sort of do it by memory and we were so happy when we finally found it.  We walked for 45 minutes on a old logging road and through a ton of brambles and tall grass til we could finally hear the water rushing a little ways away. 

Check out that baby bump.  Sesame, I carried your butt all the way to the falls this year.  Next time, it's Ryan's turn :O)

It was beautiful up there.  It was a hot hot walk, and there were tons of bugs and ticks to go around but we all had a great time.  In fact, on the way home we probably found 20 ticks between just the four of us in our car.  Ryan wasn't so good about tossing them out the window, so Dad got a ton of ticks on him the next day when we drove to Hayward, but hopefully C&B's car is fully tick free by now.

Saturday it rained a bit during the day so we decided to head to Hayward to do some grocery shopping and touristy stuff.  Tom and Carolyn actually met us there as well and Ry and Tom did some mountain biking together.  They were pretty muddy when they finally met up with us in the bar, but after a few minutes in the bathroom doing sink showers and they were good to go.

That evening we went out fishing to see what we could catch.  The crappies were biting like crazy so we had a great time.  It was a good thing that dad decided not to put his pole in the water because the rest of us kept him pretty busy taking the fish off our lines.

We weren't sure we'd have enough big fish to really make a meal out of them until Ryan caught this guy:

A good sized Large Mouth Bass.  Ry actually takes the award for the largest fish for the weekend.  He also caught this Northern a few days later.  He was super excited to finally catch a Northern.  He's not big, but Ry's been wanting to catch one since they last time we were up at the lake so now he can finally cross that off his bucket list.

You may have noticed that there have been zero pictures of Chris's fish at this point.  That's because Chris hadn't been having the best of luck.  In fact, at this point, the rest of us were pulling fish into the boat hand over fist, and Chris hadn't landed a single fish.  To make matters worse, when Ry tossed his line in to catch that Bass, he'd joked that he was going to steal Chris's fish.  He tossed his line in right next to where Chris had casted and low and behold, Ry hooked his bass.  A little bit later Chris finally pulled this guy into the boat:

Not a record setter by any means, but he was happy to finally be able to add one to the bucket. 

And, with that, here are a few other random pictures from the weekend to share with you.  Enjoy!

Progress!

Some might call this mess the opposite of progress, but I disagree.  You see, this mess, is only a small portion of the contents of our guest bedroom turned baby room.  We are still working hard to find the perfect home for ourselves, but with less than 10 weeks until this baby is due, it's time to face the house hunting facts and start prepping the town house for our newest addition.  So, a few weeks back, Ryan and I took the queen sized bed out of the new baby's room and moved it into storage.  With only a two bedroom townhouse, we are going to add a futon to the loft area so people will still have someplace to sleep. 

However, I'd found that it was way too easy to just close the door to that room and pretend like I didn't have a huge job ahead of me.  So, this past week, when Ryan and I headed home from vacation a day early, I took my free day off and started making a mess.  You see, I HATE messes.  Especially ones that I caused and can fix.  So, I knew that if I created a place I couldn't live, I was bound to get to work.

Actually, this mess is after I started cleaning up.  I was so focused on cleaning up that I forgot I wanted to snap a few pics.  Basically, I started by unloading everything into the loft.  At first I thought I'd start by downsizing and organizing, but it was easier to just make a huge pile and figure it all out later *smile.  Then, once I had the room cleaned out it was time to start painting.  Before I go to far, don't worry, I bought NO VOC paint which is totally safe to paint with when pregnant, and Captain Safety (ie Ryan) made sure I was careful and safe. 

I painted Tuesday, Wednesday evening and a little tonight, and it's finally finished.  I've got to say, second coats are far less rewarding and satisfying than first coats, but they are necessary none the less.  I love, love, LOVE the color I ended up with.  So many times I think I've picked the right color only to be disappointed when I get it on the wall.  This color did not disappoint and I am so happy with it.

I want to keep the room a surprise until I can do a big reveal once it's all together.  But, I'll give you a little sneak peak of the color to tease you.

I'm not sure how the color will translate on the web, but it's a grey color.  I wanted to go neutral (you know, because we are waiting til birthday to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl), but I knew I didn't want to go with the traditional yellow/green look.  I've got big plans for this room and I can't wait to show it to you.

I had so much fun starting to work in the room.  It helps to make it all seem that much more real.  As if the giant belly in front of me isn't enough to make it feel real *smile.  I can't wait to get some furniture in here and see how it all comes together.

Finally, I've got vacation pictures from our trip Up North and some photos from the maternity shoot mom and I did together coming your way so stay tuned.  It's just going to take me a bit to get them all edited.  I'm teaching myself Photoshop so I've got some work ahead of me.

Officially an AUNT!

Those of you that were already clued into the news were probably wondering how come this little bundle didn't even get a mention in my last blog post.  Well, I'll tell you why.  Because announcing that there is a new baby without pictures is like handing over a bowl of ice cream without a spoon.  Like having a stack of Oreos without a glass of milk, like having popcorn without butter.  TORTURE I tell you, torture (can you tell I'm hungry?)  So, I waited just one day longer and got a few shots to share with you all.

Meet my niece Kayden James.  Born June, 2nd at 9:19 am.  7 lbs 5 oz and 19.5 inches long.

Ry and I haven't gotten a chance to meet her yet, but we are heading to Iowa this weekend to see Joey and the baby (and Andy too I suppose *smile*).  So I will have more pictures to share then.  But for now...these will have to do.

Enjoy!

Love her spiky hair in this one!

Alot-o-bit of love and a little bit of news...

This past weekend we celebrated Ryan's cousin Jenny's wedding.  She and Jack got married at Heritage Farms in Elburn.  The weather was beautiful but not as beautiful as the bride.  I apologize for the paparazzi type pictures...I need a new camera.  I WANT a new camera!

See, if I had a neat new camera, I'd have taken 10 pictures with this set and had a nice normal one to show you.  Anyways, after that photo, I gave up and left the wedding picture taking to the pros.  But, I do have some wild party photos to share with you...and a video or two, so sit back and enjoy!

Notice the lemonade in my hand, and the tasty beer in Ry's.  Three more months...three more months...

The party's officially started!!

I was trying REALLY hard to get a nice normal picture of Ryan and I.  I finally gave up after this one :O)

The traveling deer hoof made an appearance as well.  Well done, Dan, well done!

Here's a video where I tried to get a few shots of it in action.....

And another one of the general "fun" of the evening...

All in all, we had a great time and are so excited for Jenny and Jack.  Congratulations!!

In other news, Ryan and I have put in an offer on a house in St. Charles.  I'm leery of blogging about it because there's still a long row to hoe before we actually find out if we get to move in, but we are excited and I wanted to share the news.  This offer is actually on heals of finding out an offer that we made back in November of last year fell through.  After being so sure we'd move over a year ago, and packing up half the house only to find out that deal wasn't going to work, I was equally leery to share the details on the house in Hampshire.  So, tonight as I close out this blog, Ryan and I are hoping that the third time is the charm and that this might finally be the house for us.  Once we know more I will share lots more details on the house etc but for now, wish us luck (and a fast closing date!).  I'm guessing we wont be in before the baby arrives, but that's ok too...it will all work out!!  We've got lots of friends and family that are willing to help!

Happy Monday everyone!

Tri-ing in 2012

This past weekend marked the beginning of race season for us.  The Galena Tri has been Ryan's first race of the year for 4 or 5 years running now.  It's one of my favorite to watch for lots of reasons, but the one that takes the cake is the fact that we get to eat at Vinny's for lunch after the race :O)  It's one of my favorite restaurants, so much so that we went there for my Senior Prom and for my Bachelorette party. 

Aside from Vinny's (can you tell there's a pregnant lady writing this post?), we had a great weekend for a race.  It might have been a little warm for Ryan's taste (in the mid 80's) but if you ask me the weather was perfect.  It was sunny and so nice to be outside cheering for my hubby!

Yep, pretty sure you can see that baby bump now (we hadn't eaten at Vinny's yet for those jokesters out there...).    I'm 25 weeks now with just 15 weeks to go.  Come on August!  It's hard not to wish the time away, but I'm trying hard to remember to enjoy the moment.

Back to the race details...the race is a 660 yard swim, a 16.8 mile bike and a 4.3 mile run.  Ryan was pretty happy with his time, especially since he hasn't been able to put in as much training time as he'd have liked (stupid work!).  Ryan finished the race in 1 hour 44 minutes and placed 156 out of 674. 

After the race we me the Wares in Galena and were suprised when Joey and Andy met us as well.  Joey is due in just about a week from now so she's about ready to pop.  I also got to see Kristina and Connor on Saturday afternoon (he's getting SO big), but of course I didn't think to take any pics, sorry!

It was a great weekend with great weather to get us started for summer.  Next weekend is Memorial Day and we are headed to Koontz lake.  Fingers crossed that we draw same "amazing weather" card for next weekend too.

Knitting...lots and lots of knitting

It's been awhile since I've shared my knitting projects with you so for those of you that don't see me often, you may have thought that I'd given up on that little hobby.  Far from it! With five...count em....five babies coming this year to some of my closest friends I've been knitting like a fool!  Actually, if I'm being honest, that's part of the reason things have been so quite around here in the last few months.  Most days when I get home from work I have three choices (well, after dinner is made that is).  1.  Read (which I still do alot of) 2.  Blog and 3. Knit.  Since babies have a deadline of sorts, I've often opted for the knitting needles and yarn. 

Here goes nothing:

Joey's baby blanket is pink and purple polka-dots.  I actually knit this same blanket twice in a row.  Kristina (well, really Connor) got his own version in two colors of blue.  I absentmindedly forgot to take pictures of his blanket though so you are just going to have to use your imagination.  Joey's is slightly different because I re-wrote the whole pattern after knitting the blanket once for Kristina.  There were some things I wanted to change, so I did!  It's actually the first time that I've been adventurous enough to try deviating from a pattern.  Go me!

This has got to be the cutest thing I've ever knit.  It's another present for my little niece Kayden (can you tell I'm already a smitten aunt)?  Its a teeny tiny baby sweater for Kayden.  Clad with pink buttons, because if I know my sister, this little girl will love the color pink.

Up next, a hat, and mittens I knitted for my mom.  Yes, it's May and a hat and mittens seem a bit silly.  But, I actually had these done in April (which is still silly) but the project has been sitting in my que for nearly a year now so I'm happy to call this one finally finished!

It's one of the most intricate patterns I've ever done and I love the contrast of black and white.  I actually did the same exact set for a friend of mom's as a Christmas present, but that one was done in light pink and cream and the pattern didn't pop nearly as much.

Here's a quick shot of the mittens.  The bottom side is different than the top.  This pair, like the hat, turned out perfect.  I actually added a third type of yarn (with sparkle!) while knitting these that gave them a pretty sheen and the dreamy furry feel that you can practically see in the pictures. 

That's all I've got to show you for today.  Now three, well technically five (if you count two blankets of the same type and the hat/mittens seperaetly) sure doesn't seem like alot, but I've kept a few surpises from you.  In addition to these, I've finished a baby blanket for myself (it's the second project I've done that isn't being gifted out) and a second blanket in the works for Betsy.  I'm keeping them both a surpise for now.  You'll have to keep checking back for those later

Also, I know I've been terrible about posting some new weekly pics of me and this baby bump.  But, I've got good news on that front!  Lo took a few pics last weekend while we were at Betsy's.  As soon as I get my hands on them, I'll toss them up here for you guys as well.

The weekends are officially booked from now until just about my due date, so be ready, I've got more posts coming.  Promise!!