Happy New Year!

We're wrapping up 2007 on a lovely night.
We are still a family of three, but- without getting too sappy- we know our family is so much more than that.
Aunt Joyce was with us for a week. We're sorry she didn't get to see the baby arrive, but we had lots of nice time together. (Do you know the new ABC book from Steve Martin? Hilarious. She got it for Henry for Christmas and he loves it.)
Henry has been so helpful as we prepare for the new baby to arrive. He and Pete set up the pack-and-play and then Henry went to get one of his baby dolls to sleep in it. I hope he continues to be excited when the baby actually comes. Now, when Pete and I leave together, Henry asks if we're going to have the baby.
After spending a ridiculous amount of time monitoring the baby's heart rate at the hospital today (the baby is fine, maybe a bit of a wild child, but fine!) Pete and I finally made it home and had a New Year's celebration with Henry and Mom. We watched Ratatouille and ate party snacky foods (mmmm.....tuna cheese ball) for dinner off paper plates, in front of the t.v.. Henry had a little "juice pop" (Izze soda) and may have gotten some cheese ball on his face.
Then we took a late-night (8PM) walk around the neighborhood. Henry on his sled, me trying to keep up.
The photos really can't do it justice- it's a beautiful night out there! And, also, I wore my snowman pajama pants. Here's Henry and Mom:
Anyway- this is sort of a disjointed post I guess. Mostly just wanted to send out a Happy New Year! I'm feeling thankful for our family and friends, and I wish you all peace and Peace in the new year.
And now here's a picture of Henry with a plant growing out of his head:Looking forward to 2008!!!

Belated Images From Christmas...

First things first- Happy Birthday to Amber!! Through all my recent hard drive crashes I don't think I have a good photo to post. We are hoping, however, that maybe we could have a baby to share her birthday (though it doesn't look like it's heading that way). Hope it's the happiest of days for you, Friend!

Here's Henry on Christmas morning, discovering that Santa did indeed leave him a bulldozer. It didn't have a "scooper" on the front, but he seems to like it anyway.
He had lots of fun unloading his stocking....
Mom made a yummy cinnamon roll Christmas tree.
Pete especially enjoyed the cinnamon rolls.
We really tried to limit the amount of gifts we did this year, which made us even happier that those Santa chose were very well received. He loved this apron and chef's hat!
Grammie had to leave during nap time so she could get to work on Wednesday. When we awoke we went to Deerfield for Christmas with Grandma Mary and Bampa. Joyce brought the train into Chicago and up to Deerfield and got there just in time for a very delicious dinner.
The next morning Chloe brought her parents over for breakfast and some playing.
Henry and Chloe only see each other about once a year, but they always warm up pretty quickly and play well together.
We have been having a wonderful time with friends and family! It's fun to spread the joy out over several days. Now we're just still on baby watch. Joyce went along for an appointment last Friday. It turned into a bit of a marathon appointment, as the midwife decided to send me over to labor an delivery for some fetal monitoring and a check of my amniotic fluid level. Everything is fine- she just felt the baby's heart rate was a little slow and her machine wasn't working properly. The heart rate and amniotic fluid are both just slightly low- but not enough that she was overly concerned. If it had been much lower she would have wanted to induce me. I'm glad we didn't go down that road. I will go in for a non-stress test tomorrow- which is my official due date. Joyce has to go back home tomorrow, but Mom was able to come back a little early, as they gave her tomorrow off. So I've got my female support system in place.
Hopefully there will be baby postings soon!

All The Jingle Way

I think my Christmas truly started a few nights ago when Pete walked into the living room, carrying the Scrabble box, and asked if I wanted to play a game. It was a Christmas miracle! This has never happened before and will probably never happen again! We played a very nice game next to the Christmas tree, while Mom took care of putting Henry to bed. Does Pete look like he's enjoying himself? Despite the plethora of M&Ms we ate while playing, we both became too tired to finish. We tried to save the game to finish last night, but with a 3-year-old in the house keeping the board intact was impossible. When we finished we were nearly tied. Ah well.



Yesterday morning Rob, Carrie and Eleanor came over for breakfast and gifting. We enjoyed a lovely morning together. Eleanor is growing up so fast! She's starting to play with things and she has a whole host of funny expressions. We gave her a constellation turtle....a gift I've been wanting to get her for a long time. I can't wait to see how it works out. Carrie and Rob gave me a Nigella Lawson cookbook that I can't wait to try out!






This morning Henry was very excited to open his last advent box. Santa was in there! For the rest of the morning Mom, Pete and I took our separate turns getting out of the house and doing last-minute running around. We were going to try to go to an early Christmas service in town after Henry's nap, but he had a hard time settling down, so we didn't have time. We were bummed too, we heard that the Village Presbyterian early service was going to have puppets!







This evening we dolled up (as much as I was able) and went to Deerfield for a gathering of friends at Peter and Mary's. We had some delicious food and nice conversation.







When we got home we took a few photos then changed into jammies and all sat together to read The Night Before Christmas. Henry put out cookies and (soy)milk for Santa and a piece of cheese for Santa Mouse. Now I'm hoping he's actually asleep, because pretty soon here Santa is going to need to get to work.

Christmas is approaching....

When Blogs Collide

We were very fortunate to have a visit today from Ellen (Flying Waffle) and her sister Jenny (Mama Tchou-Tchou) and itsy-bitsy Gretchen- Ellen's new babe. Check her out:
She actually was very pleased to hang out in my lap most of the time, but she did get a little sad when she knew it was approaching time to go.
For weeks I'd been dreaming about having Ellen and Jenny come to visit and sitting and having tea and cookies. It was quite a lovely time. I was just sad it had to be so short!
Pete showed up just as they were about to head out, so he was able to get a picture of us all together. (Note my hugeness. Note the pair of jeans which are, quite literally, the only pair of pants I wear these days. Did I mention I'm ready for this baby to make its appearance?)
And in other blog-collision news.... I got a box in the mail today. Unsure if it was for baby or Christmas or what, I went ahead and opened it. Inside was this lovely note and a bag of pecan sandies. Amber paid attention when I commented on her blog that I would love to have some of those cookies she had made!
Sometimes it's easy to remember to stop and be thankful that in this great big universe I was able to find and befriend such amazing girls. I couldn't ask for better friends than I have. (I could only wish to live a little bit closer to them!)

New Sled!

Today we took Henry's new old sled out for it's first refurbished run! We've all been excited to get out in the snow, but it's been too cold, or too dark by the time Pete gets home. Today was the day! I don't know if I mentioned it, or if you had to have seen it in Dad's blog, but Dad rebuilt his old sled for Henry for his birthday. It's a pretty sweet ride!
There was a fresh layer of powder, but it was right on top of some crunchy thick ice that had covered the previous snowfall. The result was that the sled didn't go too fast. But we still had a great time!
Henry let me rest on the sled, but not for very long.

Snow Day

I had a snow day on Tuesday. The storm that coated Iowa in ice and knocked out power for my mom and several others was headed our way. It actually never turned into anything much more than some slushy rainy mess here. It was nice to have the day off, regardless. I kept Henry home with me and we made Christmas cookies all day long. It's hard for Henry to keep his hands out of his mouth while baking, so there was frequent hand washing to be done as well.
We made the sugar cookie dough in the morning, then moved on to thumbprint jam cookies (my first time making these, and I was quite pleased with the results....though the recipe made a tiny amount). These were perfect for Henry, as he got to do what he likes best- stick his fingers in the cookies. Then we made the little pretzel treats that he likes so much. These were a perfect kid "cookie" too. He placed the chocolate stars on the pretzels and then did the M&M placement after we melted the chocolate. He was a little slow with the M&Ms, so I had to help out there.
He had a snack of an apple later in the afternoon, but didn't want to show his face while he was doing something so healthy.
When Pete came home we recruited him to help decorate the sugar cookies. We stuck with stars, trees, snowmen and candy canes. I'm looking grim in this photo because I didn't realize Pete was actually taking a photo with me in it. You can also see my lovely pregnant chin.
Generally I don't stick raisins on my sugar cookies, but it was fun for Henry to add faces and buttons to the snowmen.
And finally, here's a video of Henry during the decorating process.

Is this thing on?

Hi. Pete here. OK - just a quick post to make sure I know how to work this blog thing once the baby comes. Not sure if they have wireless at the hospital, but I'll do my best to post updates for everyone.

Did anyone else read about Led Zeppelin playing in London last night? How amazing would that be to witness? Here's what Robert Plant looks like these days, just for reference:


Apparently he can still hit most of the notes in Good Times, Bad Times. Gotta say, that's more impressive than what I heard David Lee Roth do at the Van Halen show I went to last month. Speaking of, I guess Eddie Van Halen's pool got a bunch of mud in it. So sad. Here's a pic of that:


OK - that's all I got.

Big Brother Day

Yesterday Pete took the day off work so that we could have a special day for Henry before the baby comes. We drove out to a mall that has a Build A Bear store so that Henry could pick out a bear to "make" for the baby. He chose a good one and helped to stuff it. You can see him pushing on the pedal of the fluff machine as the lady holds the bear.
Then he chose a heart, gave it a little kiss and put it inside the bear.
After that he gave the bear an air bath and brushed it out a little bit.
And then he got to name it and make a birth certificate. (We skipped all the steps where it asks for your full name and address. Sneaky Build A Bear!)
After all of that excitement we did something just for Henry...the Choo Choo Restaurant in Des Plaines! Henry was interested to see that there was a special Christmas engine with Santa driving. Yummy burgers and fries were had by Pete and I, while Henry stuck with his favorite- grilled cheese. Do notice the ever-present winter hat-head 'do that Henry is sporting.
After the fine dining Henry took a short ride in the train. When we got home Henry put the new bear in the baby's crib. See the pretty baby nook? Please ignore the clutter on the dresser....we're still working on that. We're also working on what to hang over the fuse box, and whether that's really safe to do. Here's another shot of the crib. You can see the cute bear with its birth certificate and also Henry's two baby dolls, which he has decided should be in the crib.
Finally....today Mary and Peter came over to help Pete paint the third bedroom. It was such a help (They even brought lunch! Thank you! Sorry I didn't get any action shots...Henry and I were trying to avoid the fumes.) They even got the trim painted. Farewell, Prince Kyle! Here's the only photo I can find of what the room looked like "before". See the lovely mural, which extends onto the door frame and ceiling trim. On the opposite wall was a lopsided "fireplace" with crossed swords above it, and the words Prince Kyle. The interesting thing is that the people who lived here for two years before us didn't even have kids... Anyway- here it is now. The color is called Moose Mousse. I'm so glad Pete chose the darker of the two options I gave him. I told Henry I thought it looked like chocolate milk- which is what I was going for. Now every time he walks in the room he makes slurping sounds. We did a little bit of rearranging, and now we have a nice space to rock the baby where I will be able to look out the window. Rather than set up the changing table, which would just add more stuff, I think we'll buy a new curved changing pad to put upon the dresser. Should work out just fine!
So, those of you that come to visit and spend the night: we have made a couple sets of extra house keys. Bedding for the futon is in the bedroom closet. Towels are in the hall closet. A variety of frozen foods are in the freezer, which we will try to keep stocked for the next few months. The grocery bags are kept on a hook across from the washing machine and we will happily give you directions to the grocery stores. Please, make yourself at home. Just don't mind us if we wander into your room at night to change the baby's diaper.