Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!  Ours has been great.  Jeff and I had dinner with some friends on Friday.  We went to Olive Garden and I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time!  We had such a great time.  We also went to get ice cream at my favorite local place!

Saturday Jeff and I decided that we would replace some doors in our house.  We decided to put a solid door to replace the hollow door that leads from the house to the garage.  This was Jeff's first experience hanging a door with the frame and he did a great job!  We also replaced the bi-fold doors that lead to our laundry area and I painted them white.  These little updates look great!  Now we just have to paint the new door and replace a few more doors in our downstairs area and it will be complete!

We slept in a little today and the hubby made pancakes for breakfast and then we have been busy doing more around the house.  I touched up the doors I painted yesterday and have straightened up around the house and did several loads of laundry.  Jeff has worked in the garage cleaning it up and organizing stuff for a yard sale we are having in a couple of weeks.  Yay for me finally having energy to do something again!!

We have tried to get a good bit done this weekend because we will be gone two of the next three weekends, however, the one we will be here we have a lot on the schedule.  We are slowing checking things off the list that I would like to finish before the baby arrives because I know time will be limited after that.

Speaking of the baby I think I have finalized baby bedding choices for both a boy and girl.  This was a hard task for me because I am so indecisive with stuff like that sometimes, but  I guess I could still change my mind!  But I am pretty happy with my two choices!  We also measured the baby's room this weekend trying to layout where all the furniture would go and talked about the things we want to change in the room.   I am getting more and more excited each day!  I am also growing by the day and starting to look pregnant instead of looking like I just ate one or twenty too many desserts!

I will have a baby post up soon with this weeks and last weeks pictures since I didn't post last week.

Hope everyone enjoys the remaining of their weekend!

Nursery Furniture

So I have looked and looked for nursery furniture that I liked.  I will be the first to admit I struggled to find something and this is probably due to the fact that I am picky.  I wanted something that was durable, good quality, would last a long time, will grow with the child and at the same time was affordable.  Of course I wanted all these criteria met while at a price I could afford!  It also didn't help that I had a picture in my mind for what I was looking for so I have been on the hunt to find something similar. 

Well I think I found it!  The brand is called Baby's Dream and the collection is Legendary.  I plan to order it in the espresso finish.

Crib that will convert to a toddler bed and full size bed

The next 2 pictures are really small!  This is the only pictures I could find that were individual and they get distorted if I make them bigger!

5 drawer dresser that will allow room as the child gets bigger (in espresso)

Single dresser that will be used as a changing table in the beginning (in espresso)

Here is a picture of everything together.  The single dresser will just not have the extra wooden piece on it.  We also plan to order the conversion kit and rails so we have them on hand as the child gets bigger and we have to convert the bed.

So what do you think?  I am going to continue looking but I am really leaning towards this set and if everything goes as planned we are going to make a trip (the store that found with the best price is about 2 hours from where we live) to order it at the end of July!

Pregnancy Update-Week 13!

I figured now that I am over 13 weeks I would do a little weekly (at least try) updates with some stats and pictures so I have it for my records.  Since I haven't done one yet I have included pictures from Weeks 11-13!  I could really see the difference between weeks 11-12.  And warning...I am NOT a very good posed picture person so I am sure all the pictures I will post will be very unflattering!

Week 13 Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 13 weeks and 3 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +6 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Regular clothes but some of the pants are starting to get snug.  However, I do have one pair of maternity capris that I wear and they are comfy!

Best Moment this week:  Monthly doctor's appointment, scheduling our ultrasound where we find out the gender, and having an ultrasound where we saw that our little one was growing!

Gender: Find out July 20th!  However, I have had 2 dreams in this pregnancy and both of them were of me having a little boy!

Movement:  Too early!

Food Craving:  Just food in general

What I miss:  Nothing really

Sleep:  Get up about 2-3 times a night to pee

What I am looking forward to:  Finding out the gender on July 20th and finalizing our name choices!

Symptoms:  Some tiredness but mostly just sick in the evenings!  However I feel great in the mornings!

And now for the lovely pictures!

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Random Thoughts

Since I am having trouble forming complete sentences I thought I would try a bullet post:

• Last week was a long week for me and the weekend went by too quick!
• This weekend was even shorter because I worked a ten hour day on Saturday!  But I got to end the day with my husband at our favorite pizza place.
• I seem to be getting sicker as this pregnancy goes along. I haven’t had a good 2 weeks. I have spent almost every night sick and I can do nothing but lay on the couch or bed. I hope this goes away really SOON!
• I co-hosted a baby shower Sunday for my friend Rachel. Her little boy is due in August. She got some really cute things!
• I went to the doctor’s last week for my monthly check-up plus I had an ultrasound and some testing done. I don’t have any results from the testing yet but should by the beginning of the week. Hopefully everything is looking good. I will post some more information in my first baby post which I hope to do in a few days.
• The good news for me is that I am pretty sure that we have our childcare provider all arranged! I am thankful to have a home care provider for our child at least when he/she is so young.  I am just happy to have something arranged so that is one less thing I need to stress about!
• We find out the sex of our baby on July 20th!  I am so excited!!  Only 5 more weeks!
• And I have the best husband!  I have had trouble doing a lot around the house in the evenings due to the fact that I have felt so bad (I have night sickness and no morning sickness) and he scrubbed the bathrooms while I was gone on Saturday and did lots of other things around the house too!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  I will be back with a baby post soon!

New Job!

So back in April I applied for a job that was within my agency.  I thought about it for awhile because I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted and I really liked my current job.  I finally decided that I would just go for it and see what happens.  I figured it would give me some practice on the interview process and interview itself, if I happened to get one.

Applying for this job was kind of stressful.  Instead of a regular resume I had to prepare KSAs (document to show my knowledge, skills and abilities).  There was a list of about five questions that had to be answered that demonstrated my strengths.  I had never done this before and like most others I dreaded doing this.  And at the same time they were due I also found out I was pregnant and had a crazy amount of work due for my grad school classes.  But I still got them completed and turned in.

The weeks went by and I hadn't heard anything, neither had anyone else I knew that had applied.  While I was on vacation I got a call (bright and early because the person scheduling them didn't realize I was on vacation and three hours behind) telling me I had an interview for the following Monday.

I didn't really know how to prepare for my interview so I figured I would just go in and do my best.  So I did.  The interview went okay but it was all situational questions with multiple parts so in the end I was unsure how I really did.  I worried that I missed a part or didn't answer something fully.

Well today I got a phone call from the boss of the position I applied for asking me to meet her in the conference room.  As I walked down to the stairs to the next floor I got nervous because I was sure it was about the job but unsure if it was good or bad news.

Well it was good news!  I got the position!  I was actually shocked because while they hired several people they didn't hire near as many as the rumors said they were and a good amount of people had applied. 

The job will be a HUGE learning experience.  I will train for 6 constant months and on training status for 2 years.  I am glad I have been given the chance to try something different but at the same time I am worried about learning a different job and hoping I like it.  I guess that is the risk we all take when we try anything different.  But I am looking forward to learning a ton from some very intelligent people and working hard to learn and do the best that I can!  So while I will miss what I do now, I see the light at the end of the tunnel and know it will lead to good things!

All things Baby!

So I have promised some details on Baby Howard and I am finally here to deliver!

So here are some basics-

How I found out:

I had the suspicion that I could possibly be pregnant so I decided to take a pregnancy test one Thursday evening.  Well the test showed negative, so I thought.  After seeing what I thought was a negative line on the test I put it aside and jumped in the shower.  When I got out I went to throw the test away and noticed there was a VERY faint line showing positive.  Well I got out the directions and it said any faint line means positive BUT all results should be disregarded 10 minutes after taking the test.  Well I wasn't sure if it had been over 10 minutes and my husband called the line a "shadow".  Well needless to say I decided if I hadn't started in a few days I would try another one.

We were at the store on Saturday and I decided to pick up a digit test, just in case.  Well, I woke up early on Sunday morning (April 11th) because I had to pee.  I decided I would go ahead and take a test while I was up.  I decided to take a non-digital one since I had one left.  Well maybe 30 seconds later I had a positive sign!  It was hard to believe.  And just to be sure I decided to take a digit test too and it read "Pregnant".  So there I had it, I was having a baby!

How I told Jeff:

Well Jeff had no clue I was taking a test and since I took it before 6am on a Sunday he was still asleep.  After I took the first test and it showed a positive sign I decided to go get his iPhone and take a picture.  I then saved the picture of the positive pregnancy test as his wallpaper so he would see it as soon as he went to look at his phone.  I then put his phone back and got back into bed.  Well, when I got into bed he kind of woke up.  I guess I was excited because I asked him if he could get me his phone so I could play some games because I couldn't sleep.  He was not excited about this because he was trying to go back to sleep.  Well I guess he decided in order to shut me up he would give me my way and he got up and then tossed the phone at me while he went to the bathroom.  He was messing up my plans because he did not look at the phone!  So when he got back I told him he had a text message and handed him the phone.  Well as soon as he went to unlock it his eyes got big because he say the picture.  I can't remember exactly what he said but it was along the lines of "You're pregnant?"  And of course I responded by telling him I just took the test.  He was excited and we talked a little bit before we went back to sleep a little longer.  It was an eventful Sunday morning!

How we told our parents-

My goal was to keep it a secret from most people besides a few close friends and our family until we heard a heartbeat.  We decided to take a trip to visit both sets of parents the following weekend.  We wanted a creative way to tell our parents we were expecting.  We decided to take pictures of our kittens with notes telling the news.  The first 2 pictures were just cute recent pictures we had taken.  Then we had a few other pictures that told the news:

It was fun to see there reaction.  They are all really excited.  But the hard part for them is that we asked them to keep our secret for awhile.  They ended up keeping it over a month before we gave them the go ahead to tell anyone.  They did a good job!  We also told several friends too throughout that period and also joined in and kept our secret.

I have been luckly and have not been too sick or too tired.  I have had a little of each but overall I can't complain too much!  I am so thankful for that.  And I am almost through with my first trimester so maybe the little bit of sickness I have will disappear.  I have started looking at baby furniture and baby bedding.  I think I have picked out the baby furniture I wanted and hopefully we will be making the purchase in a few weeks to give it plenty of time to come in!  We have also been talking about baby names.  We have seveal names picked out but nothing has been finalized.  I will probably share our favorites soon.

Well I will be back soon with some more updates.  It I left anything out and you have any questions just ask!