Happy Anniversary...Er, Next Year

I thought today was our engagement anniversary, so I emailed hubby to tell him "Happy Engagement Anniversary!" He emailed back and said, "Oh, yeah! Spaghetti and fortune cookies for dinner?"

A little background about our proposal story.....

Jeff only makes two dishes-one being a Chinese dish, spicy chicken and green beans, and other being spaghetti.  One night he offered to make me dinner.  Knowing I had two choices, I picked spaghetti.  I thought it was pretty weird when he offered me a fortune cookie for dessert.  In fact, I said, "No thanks" after giving him a weird look.  He insisted I at least read my fortune, at which time, I knew what was coming.  My ring was inside the cookie.

The story is kind of funny because not only did I unknowingly refuse the ring at first, but I deterred his plans in advance, too.  Jeff kept saving fortune cookies every time he got take out, and I kept throwing them away because I thought it was dumb that he was saving them for no good reason.  Also, I chose the "wrong" meal.  The fortune cookie thing would not have been nearly as weird had we dined on spicy chicken and green beans. (I asked him why he gave me a choice! He should have just said he was cooking me the Chinese dish!)

Anyway, after our email exchange this morning, I realized that our engagement anniversary is actually on the 29th of February.  Jeff thought it was smart to propose on leap year so that he would only have to remember the date once every four years. (I would think that would make it more difficult...but whatever!)  I don't think we'd actually do anything too special to celebrate anyway, but its kind of fun to use the date as a reminder of a special day in our lives. So, I'll remember to wish him a happy engagement anniversary NEXT YEAR! :)

Progress

Not on the baby front. (Well, I suppose there is some progress being made there, too!)

This weekend was packed full as usual, but turned out to be productive AND fun.  Friday, I got the rare evening to myself while Jeff went out with a couple of his guy friends.  I spent it replacing the outlet and light switch covers in the basement, catching up on DVR'ed TV shows, and sleeping early. Heaven.

We headed to Minneapolis early Saturday morning to run some errands. I scored a couple of really great deals at Gap Maternity (gosh, I think about 2 or 3 shopping trips ago, I said I was done maternity shopping!) and picked up fabric swatches for the nursery.  I fell in love with this fabric online, but needed to see it in person.

I'm glad I did!  The pattern is MUCH larger in size than it appears online.  I'm still in love anyway, and can't wait to see it in the room. 

We spent the entire afternoon with my in-laws to celebrate Jeff's brother's birthday, which is actually today.  A little Valentine's Day baby. :)  We made homemade pizzas, opened gifts, and cooed over my newest nephew, Miles.  It was such a nice, relaxing day. We arrived back home around 9 o'clock to find that our crib and mattress had been delivered! I think having that physical piece of furniture in our home has made things sink in a little bit more for my hubby.

I played organ at church on Sunday, then we headed to brunch at Applewood with my family. A trip back to our house allowed me to get my brother to hang my new chandelier.  Jeff doesn't seem to be too impressed with the new one (you know, he really loves saying "meh"), but I'm definitely digging it. 

Painter is at our house finishing up the basement today. Progress being made=Life is good.

24 and 25 weeks

This pregnancy is progressing quite nicely!  I really can't complain too much about anything.  Baby has been doing some crazy dances in my belly at night, kicking and swinging both legs and arms!  It's a pretty crazy feeling.  Today, I am 25 weeks and 2 days pregnant and the babe weighs about a pound and a half.  I've been having some foot and leg cramps, but that's not really new.

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed recently. I'm probably just thinking ahead too much, but I know that I need to:

-Travel to Minneapolis/St. Paul 5 times in the next 5 (four out of five weekends and then once for Greater Mankato Leadership Institute for an overnight trip) weeks is exhausting me already.
-Finish up the basement painting and coordinate the estimates to get our stairwell professionally painted.
-Register for baby showers and discuss the best dates to have them, who to invite, etc
-Play volleyball two nights a week.  Two weeks of women's and one week of co-ed left!  I love it, but the  9:15 games are really starting to wear on this lady!
-Meet with a doula and weigh the pros and cons using one for labor and delivery.
- Find a time to get my haircut. Even this has been a challenge! My stylist went to working one night a week and days only (which are not an option for my work schedule).
-Plan the nursery.
-Start six weeks of baby classes in March.
-Consider taking water aerobics classes with my friend :)  Maternity bathing suit? Mmmm. Sounds lovely!

I'm not complaining. (Really!) These are all things I'm looking forward to doing, but I'm feeling a bit overbooked! :)  I guess its good to stay busy!

I did get to have some great downtime with my girlfriends last night.  I always have a good time with these girls and never feel like I have to be "on" for them.  Plus, being that 2 of the 3 girls are pregnant right now (both with the second children), I have a great resource to get all of my embarrassing pregnancy, labor, postpartum, etc. questions answered. Christy blogged about our night last night, as we might have to take a month off.  She and Angie are both due in March! :)

Here are my weekly pregger pics!  I can't take a staged shot for the life of me. Just not photogenic.  Oh well!

24 weeks 1 day. These pants are too big and clearly need to be shortened, but I'm not too picky these days.

25 weeks 1 day. Jeff trying to use a trick to make me look more natural.  I don't think it worked. HA!

Baby Names

Now that our babe is only a few, short months from arriving, Jeff and I have tried to really narrow down our name choices.  I've had a list of favorite names since before we even got married, but I don't think future childrens' names crossed Jeff's mind that early in life. :) 

I like unique (not top 100, but not made up) names.  Probably because I have a unique name myself.  Jeff doesn't care too much about that aspect of choosing a name.  Since we found out we were expecting, I'd say, "What do you think about this name?" and Jeff's response would be, "Meh. It's alright."  But, he never comes back with any suggestions of his own! Talk about frustrating. One night after I had gone to bed, he emailed me some of his top picks.  I hated them all.  Well, hate is a strong word.  All of his boy names ended with an -en or -on which does not sound good with our last name. Boo. And, his girl names were all super trendy.

Jeff even went through a phase where he said he wanted to choose a name that had some meaning to him. Now, most people would think that means a family name or something of the sort. Jeff? Nope. He suggested Ryu for a boy because that was his "man" of choice growing up playing the video game, Streetfighter. Oi. Are you kidding me?  No way.  Jeff is also obsessed with electronics, computer, iPods, etc.  Jokingly, I suggested we use Apple as a middle name if we had a girl.  You should have seen his face light up! He was so excited.  Too bad I wasn't serious.  To make up for my cruel joke, I bought the baby this onesie:

 
We are getting closer and closer to choosing names.  We've narrowed it down to a very short list for both genders, and have pretty much settled on the names.  We do want to have a couple of other options ready, though, in case the baby comes out and we decide that (s)he just does not fit the name. 

Things I Am Loving for Valentine's Day

I'm not REALLY big into Valentine's Day, but I think its fun to surprise my hubby with thoughtful little gifts.  Some years I spend more than others. It all really depends on if I have a good idea for him or not. Men can be so difficult to buy for on a lovey dovey day. I'm not really into buying silk boxers or something like that, and I don't think Jeff would be into receiving them either.

Last year, I bought Jeff a printed canvas from Patty Leeper's Etsy shop. I used an engagement photo of ours and put song lyrics and Bible verses from our wedding ceremony in the background.  I love how it turned out, but we still need to hang it!  Although I'm sure he thought it was a thoughtful gift, I wonder now if that was something I liked more than Jeff did. 

I haven't had any good ideas this year.  Anytime you ask Jeff what he wants, he says something to do with electronics.  I'm all for giving a guy what he wants, but come on!  One day he told me about this great deal on some really nice earbuds.  I told him he didn't need them and only used earbuds when he was snowblowing anyway.  Then, I went and ordered them.  Only to find out two weeks later that his dad bought him some different ones after Jeff told him about them! Argh!  But, he hasn't gotten the best of me yet.  I came across a couple of good finds today, and they will be at my office in no time! (I'll have to mention what they are a different time, just in case Jeff decides to read this blog ever.)

Anyway, my expectations for the Hallmark holiday aren't too great and I don't put any pressure on Jeff to buy me stuff, but I am a girl who loves to shop! So, I thought I'd share the things I'm loving these days.

Love this chevron printed bath rug.  I wrecked ours in the wash a couple of months ago, and its been driving me crazy that I haven't replaced it yet.

Ok. The pants look like they're riding up here a bit. I would not wear them this way. :)  I thought these were cute pj's that can be used during maternity and for nursing. 

Holister So Cal perfume. One of my co-workers was wearing it the other day and she smelled heavenly.

YUM. Red Velvet Whoopie pies.  I'm considering making these and mailing them to all of my nieces and nephews.  Or, might make them for my friends who are coming over this week. Let's see how ambitious I am this week!

Just a pretty handmade headband.

I am in love with anything that has ruffles these days.  Jeff actually bought me a two-tone purple clutch version of this bag. LOVE.

Love a good cardi. I don't think light pink is the most flattering color on me, but sometimes you just have to wear what you like.

The things I do for vanity

I’ve been doing Invisalign treatments for a little more than a year now.  My teeth were never extremely crooked, but my front teeth stuck in slightly and I had a significant overbite.  No overlapping teeth, no gaps, etc.  My teeth always bugged me though, so, I decided that Invisalign would be a perfect solution.  No metal braces in my late twenties. I imagine that would only increase the number of times I’d be mistaken for a student at work.  

Anyway, I went for my check yesterday thinking that it would be my last check.  I knew that one of my eye teeth wasn’t moving like it should, so I was prepared to have to wear the liners for another two weeks or month.  Nope. It will be one more YEAR! Even though the whole process has gone pretty smoothly, I’m pretty disappointed.  I was looking forward to not having to take out liners every time I eat something. Not having to brush my teeth 5 times a day.  Bah!  

I’m just trying to be grateful that I will have straighter teeth at the end of all of this.  Look on the bright side, right?