Nursery Progress

I've had a few requests to update the blog with nursery pictures. I will warn you, though, that it's still pretty empty! This weekend the big tree wall decal went up and looks AWESOME, but we're still missing a ton of decorations, the rug, bedding, drapes, etc, etc! If you'll remember, we already had the crib, dresser and glider set up also. Click here to see again.

The wall decal was quite a tedious project, but WELL worth it -

It's hard to tell, but the walls ARE a light green. They look really washed out on here, but it's a really cute, light green color. Below is a pic of the final tree as well as the constructed bookshelf and cute baskets I found:

More updates to come once we have more in there!

Mapleside Farms Trip

So my new favorite fall place is officially Mapleside Farms in Brunswick, OH! Derek's work had a get-together there this past Sunday complete with a bonfire, smores, cider and a hayride! We had already picked our apples out at the previous dinky place, so we didn't venture down to the orchard. Instead, we just sat and enjoyed the amazing views, ate some good food and mingled with his co-workers. On the way out we picked up the most amazing apple fritters as well as a jug of the cider to take home!

Next year will be so fun when Baby K is around to entertain and enjoy the sites with!

Date Night Surprise!

So I have a few places that I have wanted to indulge in during this pregnancy that I don't get to enjoy while watching my normal weight and counting calories. These include a Chinese buffet, McDonald's, Original House of Pancakes, etc. This past weekend, Derek took me to Red Lobster which is also on that list for the pure enjoyment of eating endless cheesy biscuits!

But then he surprised me with tickets to see Legally Blonde (the musical) that he had bought almost two months ago! I've always loved this movie and was SO excited to see the musical. It was a SUPER sweet surprise! The best part though? Derek even laughed quite a few times and seemed to enjoy the show also!

Maybe he's buttering me up so that I don't scream his head off here in a couple months when I give birth?!

Goodbye Grandma

"Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life". ~Albert Einstein 

At almost 92 years of age, my dear grandmother passed away early this afternoon. While it's heartbreaking that we are here in Cleveland instead of with family in Kansas City, a sense of peace still comes over myself when I think of her in Heaven. I know she is with my grandpa who passed earlier this year as well as their little pet and best friend, Toy, among other passed family. I also know she died in peace, having lived life to the absolute fullest and touching everyone she met.

 
In several discussions today, I was reminded of the circle of life. When my grandfather on my dad's side passed three years ago, my cousin had a beautiful daughter born into the family. When my grandfather on my mom's side passed earlier this year, my other cousin gave birth to the cutest little boy, Jackson. And now, I will carry on the circle of life when our son is born in January, only a few months after my grandmother passed.
 
 

Grandma; You were warm and gentle, always smiling and kind.

We will miss your presence and beauty greatly.

Love always,

Sarah and Derek

 

Pregnancy Questions Answered!

I thought it would be fun to share some of my thoughts/feelings so far with this pregnancy.
Here it goes....

What is the best part about being pregnant?

Feeling Him Kick!

What's the hardest part about being pregnant?

Not being able to run

What is the scariest thing about being pregnant?

Slipping and falling this winter

(other than the obvious not having a healthy baby!)

What is my 'allowed' indulgence?

Skinny Cow 150 calorie ice cream

What can I not get enough of?

Firm Red Grapes and Golden Grahams

 

What is my food aversion?

Pistachios

(used to love them!)

What do I crave that I can't have?

Sushi

What do I miss most?

Alcohol
(sorry mom and dad but a nice glass of wine or beer would be amazing now and then!)

If you have any fun questions that I could answer, just leave them in the comment section!

Spooky Pooch Parade

We had seen an advertisement for a dog parade in Lakewood this past weekend and decided to go and get our fill of cute, dressed up pups! It was perfect weather and there was hundreds of dogs with great costumes!

This little guy stole the spotlight though. He was one pooped pup with all of the attention.

And before you ask, we didn't take our girls as they would have been crazy to go play with the other dogs. Maybe next year!

 

Pregnant Plunge

So I ran for 20 weeks into the pregnancy and have walked now for another 8. I try to go daily, or every other day, so that I would hit 4-6 times weekly and keep my legs in as good shape as possible.

But now I must slow down again. My bulge has gotten larger and speed walking is now beginning to get too uncomfortable. Yes, I could slow my pace or walk for shorter amounts of time, but the point is to get exercise so that I CAN eat those two cookies, right??

So I took the plunge.

I bought a maternity swimsuit and we went to the lap pool two times this week already. It was GREAT! I felt so light and loved that I felt so sore the next day. It's such a wonderful, full body workout and definitely easy on a pregnant body.

It will also be a nice workout for the coming winter since it's indoors and kept at about 80 degrees!

Now I just need to find some cheap, underwater headphones to help me through each lap and I'll be golden!

  

Baked Cinnamon Apples

What else is there to do with a ton of apples other than to find fun recipes and bake with them!?!

We tried these delicious cinnamon apples made with brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter and fell in love!

If anyone else has any great recipe's for with apples (especially Golden Delicious), send them my way!

Orchard Excursion

So we drove a good 30 minutes to pick some apples at an Orchard here in Cleveland this past weekend and were not impressed. The website made it seem like this place was gynormous with a HUGE maze for kids, hundreds of trees to pluck apples from and endless pumpkins.

Well it wasn't.

I won't even name the place we went as there was 25 trees (mostly picked over) and the smallest pumpkin patch ever. I'm talking like 50' x 100' small!

Oh well... we got some YUMMY, cheap apples and a few pumpkins for the front porch so I guess you could say it was still worth it?

Work trip to Miami

This past week I had to take a work trip to Miami for one of my accounts. I'm super glad I got to go somewhere warm with palm trees, but my body did NOT like it at all!

On Tuesday night I had a big scare when I took off my heels to see that my feet and ankles were extremely puffy and even starting to turn blue. I elevated and iced immediately but was worried that I would have to find a hospital that night and get them checked before I flew home.

Luckily, the next morning they were WAY down and almost back to normal and I was extremely relieved. I hopped on my flights home and was exhausted. Then, the following day I came down with a horrible stomach ache after finding out I had a TON of work to do before the weekend. The week just wouldn't end!!


My recommendation to those 26 weeks pregnant - do NOT take 6 flights within 5 days. It's just wayyyy too much on the body!

But for now, I'll leave you with a picture of the hotel that we stayed in and all of it's 1970's pink and turquoise glory. It was pretty sweet.

Baby K Update

We're about 3 months from the due date and are getting extremely excited!

At just over 2 pounds, Baby K is growing just fine and his heartbeat sounds perfect according to the doctor.

No names finalized yet but at least we've got the nursery started and registries completed!

He's definitely earning his 'frequent flier miles' seeing as how I've been on 6 flights with 4 different airlines in 3 cities all within 5 days earlier this week. WHEW! Feels good to be home!

The picture on the left is from this past weekend. My little bump has blossomed quite a lot these past few weeks!

And yes, those are heels.  :)

Shortest Weekend in KC EVER!

Derek and I flew home early on Sat morning and came back late last night from KC to attend a wedding and spend (a bit of) time with both immediate families. It was the shortest weekend ever in KC, but nice to see our families faces and catch up a bit in person.

As for the wedding, it was beautiful! Congrats to our friends Scott and Desiree!

Early Push Gift!

While I think the idea of a 'push gift' is somewhat silly seeing as how the male has to endure a lot too in 9 months, Derek went ahead and called my baby bag his early 'push gift' to me!

The choice, however, of what baby bag I would carry was quite a journey of researching and shopping. I absolutely love Vera Bradley, but didn't want something bright that says "Hi! I'm a baby bag!" I love the Kate Spade bags, but they didn't have any currently that I felt were large enough for everything I'll need to shove in there.  I also wanted something that looked a bit more gender-neutral, and preferably in black, in case Derek has to carry it!

After months of looking in stores and online, I found the PERFECT diaper bag! There was, however, a slight problem though. It was sold out everywhere. I mean everywhere. There wasn't a single website online that had it available.

So two months later, I realized that I had not actually gone to the manufacturer's website to look there. Who would have thunk right? Duh. Obviously would have been somewhere you'd think I would know to check!

Well guess what?! IT WAS THERE!!!! I immediately told Derek that I found it online and he was excited that he was finally able to purchase it for me. (He had told me a long time ago he wanted to get me a good diaper bag for Baby K!)

So here it is!

The Marc Jacobs Eliz-A-Baby Diaper Bag

It is washable, large, black and full of pockets! I couldn't love it more.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Happy 38th Anniversary to my wonderful Mom and Dad!

Hope you do something fun to celebrate!!
Love you!

Circular Saw Survival

As much as Derek likes to think he's a regular handyman, we all know better. Sure he can change light bulbs like the best of 'em and is a master at tightening loose screws, but when it comes to larger projects I have to admit I get a bit nervous.

This past weekend we rented a circular saw as three of our doors needed cut on the bottom. Two of them were because of the new, plush carpet and pad in our basement and the other is in the bathroom so that we can keep a rug in there. Geared up with headphones, ear plugs and safety goggles, we dove in....

.... and survived! No fingers cut off. No scraps projected into any eyeballs. And three doors all perfectly cut on the bottom.

And yes, that's even me helping to measure and make a straight line! Great job babe.... I'm glad we are both still alive!

It's Birthday Time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAL!

(Don't worry - I won't post how young you are!)

  

And So It Begins

Derek and I owe four family members two HUGE thank you's!

First - to my parents who graciously offered to purchase Baby K's crib AND dresser for the nursery!! I researched high and low to find the set that I wanted that would be quality construction and had great reviews online. Once we found it, my mom and dad surprised us by saying they wanted to purchase the pieces for us as our big gift!

And we ended up with this wonderful crib and dresser set. They look awesome in the room and we LOVE the espresso color accented by the light green walls!

Second - to Derek's parents who graciously offered to purchase our glider and ottoman! I've been told to definitely get a comfortable chair with as much time as you spend rocking in it and this glider is just that. You barely have to move for it to rock and it's very comfy!

 Here's a quick shot of Derek and Mike assembling these three pieces. Note who is "supervising" on the bed!

Thanks so much to both 'grandparents'!

I know Baby K will appreciate his nursery and we appreciate these generous gifts!!

Mike's Visit Part 2

On Saturday, we got up and drove down to the Cleveland Browns Stadium to watch the KC Chiefs lay the smack down! Browns fans are crazy mean and even my preggo belly did not deter several men from trying to start stuff with Derek and Mike. At least we won and could gloat afterward!

Tickets were really pricey for this game so this is our view from the second to top row. It was definitely a hike for me to get all the way up there!




The rest of the visit was spent eating food at various restaurants we love, seeing movies, playing Monopoly, grilling out and trying out some bars downtown.

Mike even helped me pull out all of the ground cover under our beautiful orchid tree out front one of the days while Derek was at work! We didn't like the vine-like plant that was taking over landscaping and I can't WAIT until spring when I can get some color planted down there!

MISS YOU ALREADY BEAN!

Mike's Visit Part 1

My brother came up for a few days to see Cleveland in the summer and enjoy a nice break from med school studying.

On our first day out, we ventured to the island of Put-In-Bay, but first made a stop at the Drive Through Safari.

We fed zebras, giraffes, gazelles, buffalo and some other animals that we weren't quite sure what they were!

This guy reached in through the sunroof and was trying to lick my hair!

And the last animal was a white zebra!

Then we were off to Put-In-Bay island where we had fun driving around on the golf cart. We stopped and ate good food, had some good drinks and had some great people-watching!

We took a winery tour, stopped by the chocolate museum and had some drinks at this beach house with swings to sit on around the bar and sand in between your toes!

I was even able to enjoy some yummy virgin drinks while the boys chugged their beers.

I'm just so glad to have spend some time with my Bean!