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Sunday, October 31, 2010

32 Weeks Porch Pooch

Here is the 32 weeks picture. She is definitely growing.


And because Burke had a lot of coffee this morning and was a bit wired, here is his cheesy pose on the bench....

and then on the stairs.....

and then by the tree....

I couldn't stop laughing. The man is funny.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Those Stinkin' Squirrels

So apparently squirrels like pumpkin as much as I do. We have learned this holiday season that when you leave pumpkins on the porch, this happens....

and this....

and then eventually this....

They haven't touched the B-O-O pumpkins. I told my nephew its because the "BOO" scared them. Yeah, he didn't think it was funny either.

But the squirrels seem to be a hot topic on our street. We have one neighbor that shoots them with a BB gun and then another neighbor (that likes to wear fun hats) who feeds them. Apparently the squirrel loving neighbor called the police once on the BB gun neighbor. So scandalous. Our very own Wisteria Lane, I tell you.

So we probably won't be carving them afterall since the squirrels have added their own creative touches. Little brats.

This is what I found later in the afternoon. Look how fat he is! Fat on my pumpkin. At one point, the only thing sticking out of the whole was a little squirrel behind. And he isn't afraid of me. I had to open the door and then stomp my foot on the porch for him to even move. Little jerk.

8 More Weeks!

Dear Marin,
I meant to write this all out on Tuesday but I haven't been feeling the greatest this week. Again, I say thank you for that, little missy. But this Tuesday (October 26th) you had the hiccups for the first time in my belly. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on but your little hiccup, hiccup, hiccup was just the most precious thing ever. It was fun!
You are growing everyday and it is evident by the size of my belly. Your dad teases me a lot about how "graceful and flexible" I am when I try to do simple things like get off the couch from a lying position. He sometimes compares me to a turtle stuck on its back. So, yes, you are growing. And you still love to move. Which, I must say, is absolutely my most favorite part of being pregnant. It's fun to feel you moving around but it gives me peace of mind that you are doing ok in there. It is still so crazy to watch my stomach move around like something from a horror movie. I always want your dad to see it but when you start punching my stomach in weird positions and I get his attention, you get stage fright and stop. Little stinker. You better not do that later on because it really does make me look crazy. And I don't need any help looking crazy.
And...your favorite place to rest your head these days is right on my bladder. We spend a lot of time in the bathroom....mostly at night. But you're comfortable.

We go back to the doctor next week and we get to see pictures of you again. We only have 8 more weeks and then we get to meet you! I! Can't! Wait! And remember, you are fully baked at 37 weeks, so if you want to come on out around December 3, we would love to spend Christmas with you! We love you, sweet girl.

-Mom and Dad

Parenting Practice...or...Babysitting

A couple of weekends ago, Burke and I babysat for a friend one night. Aubrey is the most adorable little girl. We really did enjoy it and it gave us lots of opportunities to talk about the things we feel are important about parenting, etc. We read books, were the human jungle gym, watched her play with diaper wipes for at least an hour longer than any of her toys....and when the night got later...she crawled into my lap and snuggled with me. I won't lie. That was my favorite part.

I have been babysitting/working with children for oh, about 15 or so years. Man, that makes me sound really, really, reeeeaaaaaaallllllllyyyyyy old. I've learned a lot about children from classes and experiences. Burke, on the other hand, is just a natural. He had a respected father friend (thanks, Courtley) give him the advice "get on the floor with them and play" and that's exactly what he did. I love how important it is to him that Marin feels loved and not only that but he wants to give her the attention to prove it. That's one of the reasons we don't have cable (that and we are cheap). But he does worry he will be to distracted by television. He works hard for us and his job isn't the typical 9-5 job. So when he is home, he makes his time at home count....with me now....and I know even more once our little one arrives. I love him. And I have a ton to learn from this man.

Story time...


A wagon ride....

Just so cute!


(Sorry if I am a little sappy in this post...Burke is away this week and I may be missing him a just a little bit this morning.....:o)

Monday, October 25, 2010

Happy Birthday, Mom!

This past Saturday was my Mom's 60th birthday and I got to go to Alabama and celebrate with her and my family! It was great to see everyone! I loved watching my nephew Will's face light up when he felt Marin kick. Too funny.

Here my nephew, Drew, is mocking me and my big baby belly....


A little birthday dinner celebration! (Mom had a really cute dress on but of course she had to hide in the back for the picture....) Burke you were missed but everyone thanks you for taking care of me and Marin and working so hard!


My mom's birthday present was a little help with house cleaning. My mother has a HUGE sentimental streak in her personality. She has some trouble with saving basically everything from our childhood. She has every Halloween costume, every baby doll, first sewing kit....even our toys like this oldie....
And now kids have Ipads....
Happy Birthday, Mother! We love you!

Pumpkin Cobbler

So you know I love pumpkin, right?!?! AllRecipes.com sends me emails of new recipes and I decided to try this new pumpkin recipe. It is called Great Pumpkin Dessert and you can find the recipe here. I think I would have called it Pumpkin Cobbler because it tasted much more like a cobbler to me.





Monday, October 18, 2010

Monthly Picture for Marin's Baby Book

The last time I was in Austin, my friend Debbie with five kids, told me about her friend's blog (HERE). I loved the idea she had on her blog and wanted to make one for Marin. The idea...a 12 month onesie with a felt box. I added ribbon around mine because I can't seem to do anything in a straight line these days and I thought it would cover up my mistakes. But you can still see the lopsided-ness. I'm not changing it. It will be lopsided like me.

But then you cut out felt numbers 1-12. On each of Marin's monthly "birthdays" for her first year, we can put her in the onesie and add the appropriate number for that month. Of course for the first month it will swallow her up...but then we will get to watch her grow into it as the year progresses.

The full onesie view....


Felt border....


For her first month "birthday"...


Then next we will just take the one off and stick the 2....and so on....


All the felt numbers for each month up to her first birthday!


Her baby book has a page for each month of her first year with a space for her big milestones for that month. Plus there is a space for a picture. I thought this would be a perfect photo to put in that place each month. I'm not much of a scrapbook kind of person but I want to be real intentional on keeping her baby book up to date for her first year. My friend Debbie with 5 kids has a baby book for each of her kids and they are precious. I guess you can say she is my inspiration for this project. So when Marin is 16 and going on her first date she will have Debbie to thank when I pull out her baby book to show off.
But after the first year....our blog will have to be her scrapbook!

The Painted Pumpkins Version

Well, my crafty project for the morning was to paint our new pumpkins. I didn't want to carve them just yet because I was afraid they may rot by Halloween. So I painted the picture on them for now and then we will have the "pattern" already on them when we do carve them. I'm not the best at creative faces so I actually printed out a pattern and followed the instructions by taping it on the pumpkin and then poking holes around the outline with a pin. Then I just connected the dots and painted. Maybe next year I will attempt the really fancy shmancy patterns.



And here they are.....five little pumpkins sitting on a step....

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Visitor!

Burke's mom, Mary Beth, came in for a visit this past weekend. It was wonderful to see her....we had a great time!

We went to Superdawg Drive-In. Mary Beth had been wanting to go here for many, many years!


Then we just drove around Chicago for the afternoon. The leaves are changing and it's beautiful!

Mary Beth had requested the opera but unfortunately we were not able to get tickets. Boo boo boo. So instead we went to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Friday night and then Wuthering Heights on Saturday night. Both were pretty dark, dramatic, slightly Debbie Downer family dramas....but very good performances....even if we do need prozac after watching. :o) They really were great dramas. (The Lifeline Theatre has a fun children's theatre program where they put on musicals of great children's books. Right now it is Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type. I CAN'T WAIT TO TAKE MARIN TO THEM! We will have so much fun!)


And...we got our pumpkins!!! Aldi had pumpkins for $1.99!! They are HuGe and bright orange! I loved them! We will eventually carve them. I'm thinking pumpkin faces in the top and bottom pumpkins and then carving B, O, O in the middle three. We'll see what happens.....


It was a great fall weekend in Chicago! Thanks for coming, Mary Beth!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

I am so EXCITED!!!

November 20-23....
Heather and Audrey Byars.....
IN cHiCaGo!!!!

Can't wait to see them both!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Marin's Room....tadadada...in VIDEO!

This week we got a new camcorder to video the little one for far away grandparents and family. (Thanks again Maye Maye.) So to give it a little test drive, here is a "tour" of Marin's room. I am not talking because I hate what I sound like in videos. I still have a little organizing to do but it's mostly finished. She just has so much STUFF and very little space for it!

First....look how small it is. Technology can be amazing. Most of the time it annoys the snot out of me but I do like how small this thing is....


Seriously....


And now the video...sorry its shaky. Hope you don't vomit watching it....

Marin's Room from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

The pictures on top of the shelves are Burke's baseball/basketball cards from his childhood. I told you they would make it the baby's room even if it was a girl!

Only 10(-ish) more weeks to go!

October

Our neighbors go all out for Halloween. Of course, I think that all the decorated houses are so much fun. And of course, I was the creeper neighbor that went around taking pictures of their houses. Oh well.

First, here is our street in the fall. Love the colors and falling leaves....

And some Halloween decorations....

This is Muscles Marinara's house. We don't know his real name but he wears tight tanktops everyday to show off his muscles when he rides his motorcyle. He seems super nice though and he has creative pumpkin faces. We should probably learn his real name.

We don't know this neighbor but I loved the scarecrow couple...


Spiders everywhere!
This is my favorite one though!! The graveyard at the house on the corner!

I hope they decorate like this at Christmas....

The Dress

So here is the dress Miss Marin Jordan Brednich will wear home from the hospital! Burke and I were out running a few errands in a new part of town (the weather was BEAUTIFUL!!) when we saw the store Janie and Jack. Of course, we had never heard of it before (we aren't parents yet) and it looked expensive (we are cheap). But we went in it anyways and saw this really cute sweater dress. We both agreed it would be perfect! So here it is....


I love the little pockets.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Earthquake!

Last night a very strange thing happened. I can tell this girl may be running out of space in the ol' belly because I looked down and can only describe what appeared to be an earthquake in my stomach. I have never seen it jerk and shake like it did for a good solid 10 minutes. It was a 8.0 on the Richter scale.


This was the conversation we had...


Me: Marin, are you ready to come out and play?
Marin: Shake, JERK, shake.


Me: Marin, are you running out of room in there?
Marin: Jerk, Kick, Jerk, Shake


Me: Marin, it's almost time for you to come out. Hang in there.
Marin: JERK JERK JERK SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE


Seriously, an earthquake...in my belly. I halfway expected a scene from alien where she would just punch her way out. Bless her.



Apparently she is the size of a butternut squash right now....which is a very fall-ish size.


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

29 Week Appointment

We had a doctor's appointment this morning and everything looks great! We listened to her heart beat which is always sweet!
We go back November 2 for an ultrasound to see how big she is getting. And then we are already at the point where we go every 2 weeks after that....


Mom, here's another porch pooch picture. I am huge.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Atlanta Shower

My trip to Atlanta was so much fun! I loved seeing so many friends and get in some great visits!

First, I went to the park with my friend Amanda's cute, cute girls, Hope and Hannah!


On Sunday, these lovely ladies hosted a baby shower for our Marin. Thank you so much ladies! April, thanks for opening your home!


Mary Joy is so talented! I'm a southern girl so I loved all the monogramming!

The cupcakes were delicious....I had two.

Mary Joy, thank you for all the adorable decorations.


We played "Guess the Celebrity Mom". I didn't do so bad. (Amy, catch up on the shallow news.) Kim and RaDora, I think you were in charge of the exacto knife...nice work.


It was so great to see these girls. I've known Tori since high school and Alisha since college. It was so nice to hear AND LAUGH really really hard to similiar pregnancy stories. Thanks ladies for making me feel normal!


Emily and LaDonna drove all the way from Tuscaloosa! Thank you! (Emily was in Uganda when I was there. Such a great friend!)


Fun North Atlanta Friends! Jen needs her own reality show she is so funny. And Sarah has a great blog here....hilarious writer!


I taught with these ladies at Greater Atlanta Christian School. I really miss them tons. (Amanda, thanks for letting me spend a little time with your cute girls!)

Jenny and Ronnalee! I love them and their kids!

Mary Joy, Kim, April, RaDora, and Amy, thank you again for such a wonderful shower. Marin definitely has a cuter wardrobe than me now. Geez. But it was great to see you all! I will be back soon with a little one for you to meet!