Friend Baby Shower

This past Saturday my friends threw me a wonderful baby shower. Sara, Lisa, Laura, and Kim traveled all the way from Michigan and Kentucky to host a shower in my backyard. They did such a wonderful job of putting everything together, hosting a wonderful party, and cleaning up afterward. I know all of the guests really enjoyed their time. I posted a few pictures below.

Here are a few of my friends from OOJH

In this picture I am holding up Logan the Lion, a gift from Jen. I know Newt will love this toy!

Here is a photo of my friends Lisa, Laura, Sara, and Kim. They were the masterminds behind the wonderful day.

Finished Stripes

After a few set backs, I was able to finish the stripes in the nursery this week. I am so happy and excited about the finished product. The wall looks just the way I pictured it in my mind for the past few months. I can't wait to show the room to Baby Newt!

Preparing for Baby Newt

We have been very busy the past few months getting ready for our new addition. In June we purchased our family car. Check out the picture of Geoff and I with the Corolla in front and the new Pacifica behind us. It was a sad day for me, as I really loved that little blue zippy car. I do really enjoy driving the new Pacifica around though. Geoff will have to put the car seat in there soon.

Last week I was able to find daycare for Newt as well. My friend Jillian decided to move to be closer to her family, so I took her daughter's spot at the daycare. I am very sad that I won't be working with Jillian anymore, but thrilled to have such a wonderful woman named Mariah ready to watch Newt. I will probably start taking him/her there in January when I return to work.

I have also been working very hard on the nursery. We decided to paint seven different colored stripes on one wall and then leave the other walls the light tan color they already are. I started by coloring different stripes in order to figure out the width and color order. That's the picture of the white pieces of paper taped across the wall. Then, I took the quilt ( just like on the commercials) to Home Depot and asked them to match seven different colors. They were very helpful and an hour later, I was leaving with seven little quarts of paint. I have been painting one stripe a day. This way the paint has time to dry between colors and I don't get too tired. I hope to finish by this weekend. Here are a few pictures of the progress so far. The skinny stripe on the left will be brown (that's today's job) and the larger area in the middle will be red.

Baby Newt's Name Bracket

As promised, here is a little sneak peak into the names we are thinking about for Baby Newt. Complete this chart just like a NCAA basketball bracket to come up with your favorite overall name for Baby Newt. We would love to hear your winner! No promises that these are the real names we are thinking of though. :)

Only in September will Baby Newt's real name be revealed.

I can only figure out two ways to post the name bracket though. I will post it as a picture here, but if that is too small to read, I would be happy to e-mail it to you as an attachment as well. Just leave a comment with your e-mail and I will send you an attachment of the bracket. Enjoy!

1st Baby Shower

During the last week of school for the 2007-2008 school year, my colleagues threw me a surprise baby shower. I just love surprises and had NO idea this wonderful luncheon was being planned. Portillo's Italian beef sandwiches, salad, pasta, and chocolate cake was served. I just love those sandwiches, especially throughout the past few months. After we all enjoyed a fabulous lunch, I opened some gifts for Baby Newt. The picture below shows everything really well. I was so excited to open a bathtub, a few hooded towels, little dog squirty bath toys, a little swaddle blanket, and a toy dog. Needless to say, I can't wait to use all of these items very soon.

Since the last day of school Newt and I have been very busy. We had some people over to our place for a little gathering where the picture of me in black was taken. Then my parents came to visit and we went to a White Sox game, as well as to Ravinia to see Kenny Logins.

Newt and I spent the next week back in Michigan making strawberry jam with my mom, watching my third cousin, Sheila, compete in the 2008 Miss Michigan Pagent, and we were even able to squeeze in dinner with Lisa, Brian, Clara, Aaron, Sara, Trevor, Kim, and Nate. On Thursday, Gram, Bruce, Aunt Kath, Uncle Ron, Jess, Molly, and Aunt Mary Kay all came over to spend the day in Rockford and have a cook out at night. This weekend is Laura and Aaron's big wedding day! I can't wait for all of those festivities. As you can see, Newt and I have been thoroughly enjoying summer vacation so far!

Memorial Day Weekend

The weather finally turned warmer and we took a wonderful opportunity to enjoy it. This past weekend was spent up at my parents' cabin with Steph, Jon, and my parents. We went bike riding and kayaking, ate too much, as always happens up at the cabin, and enjoyed Indiana Jones at the Cherry Bowl Drive-In. Steph was the weekend photographer so I included a few pictures from our weekend. The one with Geoff and me was taken on the bike path. Thank goodness Mom and Steph were willing to ride slowly with me. It's amazing how quickly I lose my breath now. In another picture, Mom is painting my toenails, as I was unable to paint them myself! We really enjoyed our weekend together. Can't wait to see how weekends at the cabin will change once Newt/Olive comes along.

P.S. As I wrote this entry, I was able to watch little Newt/Olive kick and move all around. Not only do the kicks feel a lot stronger now, if you watch closely you can actually see them on the outside of my stomach. It looks a lot like my stomach is twitching. Steph and Mom were able to see the kicks this weekend also. Geoff has yet to see the kicking, as every time I ask him to watch the kicking stops. I guess Baby Newt/Olive can be shy sometimes.

Baby Newt/Olive Keeps Movin'

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound. Again, Baby Newt/Olive was moving all over the place. In fact, not only have I been able to feel the baby moving around so much lately, but Geoff has been able to as well! Geoff decided we should take turns calling the baby Newt, in case he is a boy and Olive, in case she is a girl. So we rotate depending upon the day and the topic of our conversation. Grammie Sue likes to call the baby Olivia Newton Hanson, this way she uses both names at once.

At our ultrasound today everything looked great. Geoff was very adamant about not finding out the sex, so that is one of the first things he told the technician. I agreed though; we will wait until September for this surprise to be revealed. The technician took as many measurements as she could, but Newt/Olive sure was on the move. We were given a few short videos. You can check these out below.

After we had the ultrasound we checked out a local children's museum, had a quick breakfast and then headed to three baby stores to look at cribs and strollers. We haven't made our final decisions on these items yet, but just seeing the actual products in person helps us narrow down our choices. All in all, today was an excellent day! I have been looking forward to this day for so long and it was just as exciting as expected. One of my favorite parts was Geoff trying out the stroller at Baby Gap. He was modeling with the stroller all over the store. It was quite amusing. He says his favorite part was watching Newt/Olive at the ultrasound appointment. Enjoy these pictures from today. On the top Baby Newt/Olive is giving the peace sign and the picture on the bottom is a profile of his/her face. Geoff and I are trying to figure out who he/she looks like.