Porch Pooch- 28 Weeks

I have already started telling Marin that she should come out at 37 weeks. She will be fully baked by then and well, I just don't see any reason for her to stay in there those extra 3 weeks. That's what the book says....

Thankfully, I'm not throwing up anymore but I still get nauseous quite a bit. Bummer. But now the lovely hemorroid segment of pregnancy is in full force. Seriously??!!?!? I mean, really?!?Yippee. I'm not sure which part I enjoy more. Oh brother. My little girl thoroughly enjoys taking over my entire body. It really is quite humorous. (Sorry if this paragraph was a little TMI, but I want Marin to know that she did indeed take over my whole body for 9 months and that she owes me calm and beautiful junior high years. That how parenting works, right?)

I do love feeling her move around though. And she does MOVE AROUND. Whoa. The girl is busy. all. the. time. Burke will probably get her a gym membership as soon as she comes out. And some days it does seem she is just as ready as I am to come out and play! So sweet!

And the doctor called this week to get insurance information, etc for delivery. It doesn't seem like that is possible...but I know it is just around the corner. We can't wait to meet this baby!

Wichita Folks!

Some of Burke's friends from Wichita came into town for the weekend. I loved, loved, LOOOOOVVVEEEDDDD them. Some of the greatest people in the world! We laughed a lot and I loved getting to know each and everyone of them! Here are a few pictures from the weekend...


On one of our many walks down town.....They gave Burke a hard time for making me walk so much. It made me laugh.


Eating one of the many delicious meals of the weekend. Thank you, Lori and Wynetta, for paying attention to my annoying picture taking.

Burke with Shiloh, one of his high school best friends. Shiloh didn't like the Pumpkin Spice Latte....you can imagine my shock.

We took a little boat tour...a little windy and cold but still fun. (Special thanks to Kris and Wynetta for the pregnancy issue help. Oh yes. I really got to know this group of people WELL. Very understanding and so very entertaining about EVERYTHING! Have I mentioned that I prefer kids outside of my body????)

And then the last Cubs game of the season. Of course, they lost.

But Chelsea Handler threw the opening pitch...

We had a lot of fun spending time with these fantastic folks from Kansas. I can't wait to go to Wichita and see everyone again!

A little Marin update...

Well, Marin most definitely has her dad's energy level. (Help me now.) She is constantly moving and kicking ALL. THE. TIME. It really is nice though because its a reminder there is a little person actually growing in there and I'm not just losing my mind for no good reason.

Her latest little "trick" has me a little worried. I can change the position I am sitting in or laying in and if she doesn't like it, she will pick a spot and just kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick until I move back to the orginal position. Burke has felt her do this. It was cute the first time she did it. Now she just seems bossy. Enjoy it now, sweetie, because once you come out, I may kick back. :o) Not really, but I am bossy too...and bigger than you.

On a thankful note: After all this hard work.....

Marin will have a place to eat!! Thank you Austin girls!!

And I decided I better go ahead and do some laundry for Marin since her wardrobe keeps growing. I actually used the baby detergent and everything. I know, I know, I thought I would attempt to be a good mom for a while before I become a "real" mom and use the same detergent everyone else uses. (wink! wink!) I was a bit overwelmed when I started.
This is the laundry basket just for blankets, bibs, and burp cloths....

And then her clothes....

Uh, whoa. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have been so generous with these adorable things!

Newspaper

When Burke is home, we have gotten into a little routine of waking up and reading the paper. Well, Burke reads the paper. I read more cheerful things like blogs. Occasionally, he will share with me stories like the one about the man in Baltimore that went into a hospital and shot people. Then I quickly go back to reading about how to make Halloween decorations from mason jars and tissue paper....

He's so cute reading the paper. Carolyn, Betsy...wanna talk about how cute Burke is? I usually sit really, really close to him because he still hasn't woken up enough to realize how annoying that is to him.

But today I was running some errands. I ran into the store Tuesday Morning. I love that store. Mostly because of the educational toys and books they sale for dirt cheap. But today I found this....

It's a little kid newspaper. SO. CUTE. The mommy in me had to get it because I picture Marin sitting on the couch next to her daddy reading her little newspaper too. The teacher in me had to get it because it has an "article" about the weather (they can point to what the weather is like outside each day), a feelings article, a letter to the editor (where you can talk about a different letter of the alphabet), and even a place I can put pictures of Marin! Had to get it.

I promise not to raise this child to be a complete nerd. But it was just too cute. Now the goal is to actually remember I have this in a few years when she can possibly appreciate it. Yikes.

Austin Shower

My wonderful friend Jolee hosted a baby shower for us in Austin this past weekend. It was so fun to see her and catch up. She makes me laugh!

Dayna made another adorable cake for Marin.

Jolee had everything set up so beautifully.

My fun Austin friends! They were so generous to give us our high chair from the registry! Thank you!

And my cousin Ivy was able to come! She has just moved to Austin and is loving it! Love her so much!

The Austin shower was the one that I had hoped would be the easiest for most of Burke's family. And I am so very thankful that so many were able to come! It was great to see Gary and Robin, Jared and Betsy, Brig and Kelly, Mary Beth, Kate, Carson, Caden, and Tabor! Thanks to all for traveling and making this shower extra special with family!

Big thanks to Kelly for keeping up with the gifts! We got so many....pack and play, outfits, adorable sock monkey onesies (handmade by Aunt Betsy!!), toys, and so much more!! We were definitely showered with gifts and so thankful to everyone for the day!

My friend Debbie

We were in Austin this past weekend for our baby shower and I got to steal a few minutes to see my great friend Debbie. You know, my friend Debbie with five kids. She's so great. She gave us a box full of goodies, an adorable diaper bag, mongrammed bloomers, and lots of ideas and tips!! Seriously, she is awesome and it was so great to see her!


Look how Miss Elizabeth has grown!! She looks like Daniel to me!


And the rest of the girls!! Daniel, you were missed but I hope you had fun at your friends house!


Ok, so have I mentioned that Debbie has 5 kids??? Well, she needs an award for organization, cleaning, and decorating. Yes, I am jealous. I love, love, love her house at Christmas. But her fall decorations were just as adorable. Here are a few.....

25 Weeks

Here is the 25 week porch pooch picture. Yes, I am big and from what I hear you double in size in the last few months. Oh dear. I can't believe it's the middle of September. December will be here in no time!!

Teaching Certificate

So I now have another teaching certificate!! I am officially allowed to teach in the state of Illinois. This process takes forever....although Texas was by far the longest and I have done this now in 4 different states. In Illinois, I can teach kindergarten through 9th grade. Again, too bad they aren't hiring. I still have to take two tests which (again) is way better than Texas, where I had to take 5!!! These tests are very expensive. Argh.



And sadly, this was the article in the paper. Poor Chicago Public Schools. They should hire me.

A Housewife

So school has officially started here and I am not in a classroom. Although hundreds and hundreds of teachers were let go last year and schools here are in pretty bad shape, it still at times doesn't make me feel any better. I miss the classroom and the cuties coming in with their backpacks on and the pancake syrup still covered all over their mouths. I even miss the annoying kids. And...they aren't taking substitute applications. Let me repeat. They are not taking substitute applications this year. They have too many displaced teachers (reread the second sentence). I can't even substitute. Geez. And although I have searched and applied to a bazillion jobs and they don't discriminate against pregnant women, no one seems to want to hire an oompa loompa. Jerks.


The positive of this post is that I love, love, love being a "housewife". When it comes to domestic stuff, I could have popped right out of 1952 (without the perfect hair and make-up). But I do love cleaning. In fact, I just cleaned the refrigerator...like CLEEEEAAAAANNNNNEEEDDD the refrigerator and now I feel all ooey gooey inside because I am going to do laundry next. I have my fall scented candles burning, the fall air through the open windows, the bed is made, and the vaccuum has already done its work this morning. And I am about to make a grocery list for some new recipes I want to cook. Really, I am a nerd when it comes to being a housewife. Burke would agree...about the nerd part. I do love it. I mean, I do love being in my pajamas all day too but cleaning and cooking and housewife-ish jobs do make me happy. So lucky for me, even though I do miss the classroom, I do love my new "job". (Additional note: Just because I love cleaning....doesn't mean I'm good at it...)

So now that you all know I am a freak....the other day I was blog stalking and came across this oh so fun "Fast and Furious Fall Cleaning". OooooOoOoOOOooooH! I am excited. I am not sure what this lady is going to post on her blog for the week of October 4-9 but I am in. This will be right after our last baby shower, so it will be perfect timing for some baby organization and cleaning. Plus, it probably will be getting colder here so I can switch out seasonal clothes. (Side note: I am so excited about cooler weather. And I am even more excited about snow. Happy about these seasons in Chicago.) I like Fall Cleaning. And Spring cleaning.

(Mother, cough cough, maybe you should do it with me, cough cough. :o)

24 Weeks

We had a doctor's appointment today and everything looks great. Marin is growing into her big head quite nicely. The ultrasound lady gave us 3D pictures this time. Of course, I think they can look a bit creepy but it was fun seeing her today. She was moving around and kept getting her hand in the way of the picture but she did get these pictures.

I know it is really hard to see the scanned pictures on here but in this picture I think Marin has Burke's mouth. She's gonna pop and look just like him I know it.


She looks rounder from this angle...so I can say she looks like me in this one. :o)


And whoever can figure out what this is will be the blog post winner?!?!?
(I have no idea what this is. I'm sure the lady told me but I have completely forgotten. Hoping you guys know....)

Fargo, North Dakota and a little Minnesota....

Burke had another 4 day trip where two of the days he was going to be stuck in Fargo, North Dakota. So, I tagged along on his flight to keep him company. A lot of people think pilots have an "easy" life...but really its a lot of time away from home and family in addition to the normal annoying work environments. I love Burke for many reasons but I love him for working hard for our little family. (Happy Labor Day, dear.) But I loved spending some time with him in Fargo.

Well, there wasn't a whole lot to do in Fargo. We watched a movie, went to a thrift store (did buy Marin a KU cap that I want to use the Jayhawk for a dress for her...) and then we drove over to Minnesota...another exciting place.....


So there really isn't much in North Dakota or Minnesota but we did find the Comstock Historic House to "tour".


Here is a picture of it now and a picture of it then. (I love old pictures!)

We watched a very poorly made video about the Comstock family and their many contributions to the town of Moorhead. Here we are watching the movie...so intrigued. And then a picture of Marin watching the slideshow. The girl is a kicker.

I took tons of pictures of things in the house. None of them are too interesting but here are a few...

Mr. Comstock's travel trunk...I would hate to travel with that thing.

The stove...very neat to me.

And one of the first bathrooms with running water. I especially like the can of Febreeze on the tub.

Once we left the Comstock house, we asked the tour guide if there was anything else we should check out. He told us that the Dairy Queen down the street was the home of the first Dilly bar! So, we went and got one. So. exciting.

Then back to Fargo. I will say that one exciting thing came out of the trip. Hornbacker's grocery store. Although, they had a sign posted saying that there will not be pumpkin because of a bad crop this season, they had about 10 cans left. So we bought 6 of them....

And one can has already turned into my favorite pumpkin apple muffin and bread!! Oh pumpkin!

The plane ride home had a beautiful view of these clouds. If only I didn't hate flying through them....

It, of course, is always fun to spend time with Burke in random places around America. And pretty soon, we will have a little one traveling with us. Even though we know it will be different and a little more difficult, we are excited about Marin being with us.

Fall!!!

I am so excited about fall! Today it is cool and beautiful outside!! Happy! Happy! If only I had some pumpkin apple muffins....but not one grocery store here as pumpkin out yet. Argh. They apparently do not know, although some have been informed by now, that I start baking pumpkin things on September 1. I like pumpkin. Burke did treat me to a pumpkin donut at Dunkin Donuts (after our gym workout...ha!) and it was a bit of heaven. Again, I like pumpkin...and FALL!!
So here are some fall pictures. This is our street. I love our street. I want to try really hard and take pictures throughout the seasons. The leaves will be changing and then the snow will come....I am sooooo excited!


My mother always decorated our home from top to bottom for every season and holiday. It was so much fun for me and my sister. So, here are just a little fall decorations for September.

I love the sweet cinnamon pumpkin candle from Bath and Body Works. Did I mention I love pumpkin?

And, of course, fall brings football! We got our season tickets to Northwestern this past week. I know nothing about Northwestern (not that I know much about football in general). But I really know nothing about Northwestern other than their colors are purple and their mascot is a wildcat (I think). But we are excited about football games. I love going to football games. I will be all plump and round this season.

And the football necklace and bracelet I found for $1 and just had to get it for Marin for next year. I think for the necklace, I will paint her name on the footballs and then the bracelet I will put all the teams "we" cheer for.....Kansas, Texas, Alabama, and now I guess Northwestern.

One more time...I am really excited about fall.

Bloomers and Banks

A few days ago, I made these little bloomers for Marin using this pattern. It looked really easy to do and for the most part it was....until the legs. It's hard sewing little bitty leg holes. If you look really closely at them, you will see the 18 billion mistakes but I am determined to learn how to make this pattern! I'll keep practicing.....

And I picked up our pottery today and I loved, loved, loved Marin's hippo bank! It turned out so cute!!