Finnegan

This past weekend Jeff and I got to watch this little guy while his parents were in Oregon attending a wedding and relaxing a bit on the Coast. He was a delight! And we had him on quite a social schedule: a going away party, dock races at the lake house, Grandma Velma's birthday party, the toddler room at church, and an after church BBQ (where he took a nice little nap on the grass). It was sad to see him go...but it was also a ton of work and we were happy for the opportunity to learn what life might be like with a little one. Talk about a lesson in communication!

Full of Goodies...

With this crazy baby boom going around Katie and I have been working on some new creations for the shop. Feel free to check it out this week as (cross your fingers) we will sell out of some of these items on Sunday, Aug. 3rd at the Edmond's Craft Fair located behind Arnie's right next to the Ferry!


The good news is whatever we don't sell we can keep for ourselves ;)

And the Winner is....

It's a BOY! And Jeff and I are thrilled...we were hoping for a baby boy to start our family (though we would have been very happy to have a girl, in fact I kept the "girl" gift from Rebekah because it was just too cute and you never know...)

We had a really fun ultrasound yesterday. He is measuring in the 59th percentile in height and 67th percentile in weight. So, technically measuring 3 days early..but I think we can push that to two weeks by our next appt. ;) His heart rate was 152. And, this was even surprising to the ultrasound tech, he was sticking his tongue out over and over when she did a close up on his face (obviously he is taking after his father). It was all so very cute and we loved every minute of it!

I think the girl votes technically outweighed the boy ones in the poll...but it's a Gough!

Here are some photos from our night (if my scanner worked I would post a couple ultrasound pics, but oh well).

18 Weeks

Time to make your guess! Here's a list of my symptoms thus far in this pregnancy. Use whatever old wives tales or fool proof signs you have...but you only have a few days. We find out if we're having a son or daughter this Thursday and will be posting the results on Friday!

I'll list everything I can think of but if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments.


Hmm, where to start? I guess I'll just start at the beginning...

- We conceived in April in New York
- I blamed any nausea on motion sickness since we went on a 17 day cruise
- I never threw up and experienced very little nausea during the first trimester
- Our first doctor appt. measured the heart rate at 170 (9 weeks) and 156 at the second appt. (13 weeks)
- I have been craving salty foods (but I kind of always do), oddly enough beer smells really amazing to me and I'm not much of a beer fan
- Now that my belly has popped out a little I appear to be carrying low (but I also have a very long torso)
- My skin has been pretty horrible throughout the pregnancy and is only now getting under control
- I've had fairly good energy throughout and only started feeling exhausted (usually around 4:00) during the last 3 weeks
- I've trained myself not to go pee during the middle of the night (I'm sure my doctor won't be too happy about that)
- I'm 27 years old
- Our due date is Dec. 23rd but we're hoping to have the baby anytime between Nov. 30 & Dec. 12...or Dec. 31 (not that we're picky or anything)

Ok, what am I missing? Better yet..what are we having? (thanks for indulging me)


***ADDED LATER***
- Rebekah did the string and needle test and it said "boy"
- I took 3 old wives tales tests and the first came out girl and the last two came out boy
- According to the Chinese calendar I should be having a boy due to my age and conception date

Two of my Husband's Favorite Words

ALMOND BREAD

And as an almond lover myself, I can't complain! Jeff and I woke up early last Wednesday to do some baking. Almond bread making is a family tradition...actually I think Jeff's Mom is the only other one in the family that makes it besides him (well, and now me). Does that make him a Mama's boy? ;)

I'm very proud of the fact that Jeff has a little baker in him, in fact he bought his own kitchenaid mixer when he was in college for the sole purpose of making almond bread, I can hardly believe it!

So, I promised Jeff I wouldn't post the recipe but he did say I could post these instructional photos...maybe one could guess?

If you're interested in an almond bread substitute: spread almond filling inside the dough of a Pillsbury crescent roll, roll & bake- it's yummy!

There's the little pastry chef now!

We enjoyed it on our back deck in the morning sunshine.

Tin Cans

I just got back from a trip to Swanson's Nursery (thank's Katie for showing me this place) where I picked up some great flowers for the back deck; dahlias, cosmos, and a blueberry bush! While there I was given a helpful tip- tin cans! Tin cans in the bottom of an oversized pot help with drainage and allow you to use less soil. Who knew? And I was looking to buy something- paah!

So I've been looking all over the kitchen for tin cans...I knew those Spaghetti-Os would come in handy...that's why I'm eating them for lunch, right? Sure, I don't know how these got in my pantry... ;)

HELP!

Does anyone know anything about composting bins? Perhaps ones with worms? Even better if they deliver an entire system to your door with instructions and everything ready to go...

I've been putting our uneaten portions into the yard waste bin for the last two weeks and Jeff has refused to let this continue. I'll admit the enormous furry lump of mold at the bottom of our can was enough to scare even me off. So, what do I do? I want to help the environment, perhaps get some nutrient rich soil, and prevent our kitchen garbage can from getting unbearably stinky....but I need something easy that works. Any suggestions? Please, anyone?

A point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated over here!

the Republic is back...

...and there's going to be trouble! Well, not really but it just felt right to say that! But yes, it's true the Republic's sophomore album is nearly finished and my life as a groupie will continue after a two year hiatus.

The weekend before last the boys played at a picnic and proved that they've still got "it"! Too bad the baby couldn't technically hear (that's starting to happen this week), I think it would have really enjoyed the show.

Are they in a band or part of a logging crew? This picture was just so "senior photo" I couldn't resist posting it.

10 on 10 :: July :: Typical

I almost forgot about 10 on 10, but thankfully some small part of me is still organized enough to remember which day it is. I'll admit I needed Jeff's help and he used the "new version of the iphone" release date as a point of reference (tomorrow, by the way). So, here I am...and here's a typical day- not too terribly exciting AND I missed my Barnes & Noble trip since I already had a photo for that hour (it happened between 11 & 12).

9 o'clock hour
The view from my sink

10 o'clock hour
An a-typical trip to the gym (this usually only happens about once a week) and our rental Kia since Jeff's car is in the shop

11 o'clock hour
My current weigh in (I was fully clothed AND holding a camera, but it looks like roughly 10 lbs. in 16 weeks...this could get interesting)

12 o'clock hour
Leftovers for lunch

1 o'clock hour
Organizing

2 o'clock hour
Rearranging our living room (no heavy lifting, just some rag-assisted sliding)

3 o'clock hour
Quilts (the left was a wedding gift and the right was made by my great-grandma Sophie...for my brother)

4 o'clock hour
The pigeon house (this deserves a post of its own)

5 o'clock hour
Finally showered for the day

6 o'clock hour
Jeff's new soccer shoes (I took a nap on the sidelines while he kicked the ball around with friends)

Belated 4th of July

It was a great one! Fun at the Kaseburg's and then over to the Lake House for some fireworks...I left quite exhausted and a bit cranky on the ride home, but I can't really complain. Life is good.

15 Weeks