Note to self..

A stool held together with staples will not hold the weight of a woman carrying 35 extra pounds. It will break, even if said stool held her before she gained the 35 extra pounds. And husbands should not make fun of wives who deny this fact to be true prior to empirical proof.

Happy New Year's!

Rob and I can never get it together in time to send Christmas Cards. So, this year we decided to send New Year cards. We thought about trying a posed picture with the family - all the dogs and the cats. However, the chances of us getting a good shot were just about slim to none. It would have been pretty funny to watch us try.

Instead Rob looked through our archives and laid out the picture and text in photoshop. I added my two (or maybe) six cents and voila! A New Year card is born. Off to the printers it went!

We had a very quite New Years Eve. We spent most of the day with our former neighbors, they were in town from L.A. and our upstairs neighbors. We contemplated heading down to the Boston Common to take part in the First Night festivities (First Night is a what Boston calls its New Years celebration.) In the end pure laziness won out and we played board games together. I kicked Rob's butt in Scrabble! He's a pretty sore looser though - so don't rub it in too much.

Hehehheheh

Are you a winner??!

We have had a request for a picture of the charm bracelet and who are we to deny anyone?!

We have also had many inquiries about the initials engraved on the charm.

When we began talking about names we decided that we were going to keep the name to ourselves until after the baby is born. There are a few reasons for this.

First, while we are pretty sure that the name we have chosen will be the name of the baby we want to wait until we actually meet her to be extra special sure the name suits her. (Incidentally, when Rob gave me the bracelet I questioned how we could change the name if we needed to. He said we could just get another charm made with different initials! He's a smart one, that Rob.)

Second, knowing the sex of the baby takes a tiny bit of the excitement out of announcing the birth. So, keeping the name a secret gives a bit of suspense to the whole thing. This applies mostly to us, we get a kick out of having a secret. Secrets are fun.

All of the guesses that have come our way recently sparked an idea. We are going to hold a contest on this here blog!

This is how it works:

1 - You can enter by leaving a comment on this post (or any other post) with your idea of what the first and middle name may be. Don't forget to tell us who you are!
(Leaving a comment is simple. Just click on the link "XX comments" (the XX represents how many comments have been left by the time you are reading) at the end of this post. Write your comment in the comment box. Choose an identity, copy the letters of the word verification into the box, and click Login and Publish. Easy Peasy.)

2 - You can enter as many times as you like until the birth of the baby. This could be anytime between now and the first week of March! YOU MUST LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER. Telling us in person or on the phone does NOT enter you into the contest.

3 - We will NOT tell you or anyone else if you have the right answer. So please do not ask, as you can see in #5 below one of us has a weak constitution.

4 - After the Lil' Stomper is born we will announce the winner (or winners). There will be a prize for the person that gets the FULL name right (first and middle) and a prize for the Most Creative Entry.

5 - It has come to my attention that one of us has a big mouth and might have accidentally released the name of said baby upon being coerced by promises of Personalized Fabulous Gifts. If you are somehow in the know and accidentally have knowledge of the real name you can enter but you should not ruin it for everyone else. Go for the Most Creative Entry Prize instead.

6 - The prizes are as follows:

The "I got it right, I am a genius" Prize will be a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant of your choosing.

The "I am the funniest person ever and I came up with a ridiculously creative name" Prize will be a picture of the baby signed by the baby herself.

Ready for your hint? Here are the initials...



S.C.R.
(the R stands for the last name...duh....)

How Rob broke the Rules AGAIN!

Every year Rob and I set a limit to how much we can spend on each other for Christmas gifts. For a few years one of the requirements was that you had to make a gift. This year we set a limit AND we had to make a gift.

Robby put together a very sweet picture frame with an ultrasound picture and a picture of my belly from the outside. It so neat to see the outside and inside look!

I decided that I was going to knit him some socks. Not just any socks - but Cleveland Browns socks. I knew that I would have to knit up a prototype first. Rob is pretty picky about his clothing and socks are not an exception. I decided to model them after a favorite pair that he happened to come across at the corner store. The prototype? Baby Socks! Here they are modeled by our neighbor.

(I made the pants she's wearing too! They were made especially for her before she was born.)

The new babe is going to by stylin' in her matching Browns socks! Rob's will be similar but not exact.

Look! Rya decided to model them too...

(with some other recently finished projects)

I purchased a few other little things for Rob - including a super cool Browns CD, filled with sound-bites and get yerself psyched anthems.

But Rob, well Rob broke the rules. He found a very beautiful sterling silver charm bracelet to which he added one charm. A baby bootie and on the bottom he had the baby's initials engraved. It is so cool, I love it. I can't wait to add more to it and am excited to have a new heirloom to pass on to the family. (As a result my immediate family now knows the initials of the baby and they are trying to guess the full name. We haven't divulged! We are strong!)

He Broke the Rules - he spent more than he was supposed to. However, as usual, he out-did himself and found a beautiful and meaningful gift for me. Thank you Robby!

(me after I opened the gift)

The Christmas Recap

The Christmas Holidays passed quickly for us this year. Rob was out of vacation time, I am trying to preserve my vacation for maternity leave, and we are a bit strapped for cash. Christmas typically finds us with the full week between Christmas and New Years to spend with our families in two different states. It was hard to let go of this tradition. I suppose that it's just another step in the direction of our changing life and the flexibility that will be necessary as we learn to negotiate the holidays as a 2+ family. There will be joy in that after the baby is born but with her in the tummy it just plain stunk to not be with EVERYONE.

We drove to Rochester two days before Christmas and spent time with my immediate and extended family. Christmas Eve was extra special this year as our Rochester friends and family gathered to celebrate the coming baby with a baby shower. It was super cool for me as it isn't often that I get to see my high school buds (all of whom are still my greatest friends) all in one place. My cousin took a bunch of pictures. I have not yet received them but will be sure to let you know when they are up. There were some incredibly cute outfits unwrapped! The baby will be the best dressed baby on the block. Far nicer looking than Rob and I could ever aspire to! We were also lucky to get some much need funding for baby's car seat (it will have a leopard print cover!!) Thank you to everyone who was there. After the night was over Rob kept marvelling at all the love he felt that night. We are incredibly lucky.

The day after Christmas we drove back to Boston in order to get to work the next day. This is when we typically would hop a plane to Nashville to spend the rest of the week with Rob's family in Kentucky. Somehow, passing the phone around the family on Christmas Eve wasn't quite the same. We're hoping that we can get back out there this summer to show off the newest family member - the 12th grandchild! A dozen grandchildren - 6 boys, 6 girls! We all know how pleased Pop is at this prospect! The most fun is that this addition will be 16 years younger than the youngest grandchild. You know what that means?! Lots of babysitters!!

Rob and I were able to get our Christmas packages out to his family in time for them to reach Kentucky before Christmas. That was a minor miracle. Each year we try to include a homemade gifty. This year it was jars of peppermint cocoa. Here are some pictures of the assembly process and of the labels we made to adorn the jar...







Don't worry - those Candy Canes didn't go into YOUR jar. ;) Can you see how messy I got?! I was covered in Cocoa.

We had some mix left over and I must say - that is some yummy cocoa!!

Next post...(I owe one because I missed yesterday)...

How Rob broke the Christmas Rule AGAIN!

(All Christmas Photos can be seen here)

40 days...

(picture taken 01/04/07, 33 weeks)


Just 40 days to go! We had our bi-monthly check-up yesterday. Everything is looking good. We have to go back in two weeks and then weekly for the last month. The baby is a maniac mover! She quieted down quite a bit for a few days this week....just as we started to get worried she started moving and shaking again. Robby thinks she just wore herself out and needed a rest! I am feeling fine. A bit like a beached whale at times! I have started sleeping less, mostly due to the smaller bladder. I suppose it's just preparation for what's to come!

The nursery is in good shape. We've put together the crib (we found a beautiful one used and about a third of the price of a new one!) and have also purchased a mattress. The room is really changing and looks like a warm welcome place for the wee one to come home to!








More updates to come later this week. My goal is to blog everyday to catch us up through the holidays and events since.

THERE'S NOT A NURTURING BONE IN MY BODY

My friend Joey from Kentucky (who also happens to be expecting his first child) told me i had to get this booked called: Be Prepared... A Practical Handbook for New Dads.

The illustrations are awesome, he said. Just like an old boy scout manual. Yeah, they're awesome, alright. These two images speak for themselves.
















HELP!!!