30 weeks

Did I mention how much I LOVE being pregnant. I love my belly and how cute it is. I LOVE feeling my daughter move on a CONSTANT bases and I love knowing that I am protecting her till we can officially meet her on the 4th of August. Here is my picture at 30 weeks. I was leaving for NYC that night and we realized we better catch a picture before I left and another week got by.

Home Improvements Continue

As we continue on our "Spring Cleaning" and "Fix up the house before baby comes" adventures I will post pictures of how things are coming along.
When we moved into our condo 4 years we did a lot of things to it upon move in. Since then, we have not done a darn thing, so we are doing those much needed upgrades now. One thing we have wanted to do is add handles to our kitchen cabinets. Stu just finished and I think they look pretty snappy. Take a look-

Cabinets before the handles were drilled in
After the handles were installed. Look pretty nice huh?

24 Weeks

I realized I have not posted any 'belly' pictures. I am quite proud of my belly and the little one moving around inside. I am so delighted to get those little push and kicks. I am sure they will get stronger and harder later on...and I say BRING IT! I can't wait. I just hit my 24 weeks mark today so I am almost done with my 6th month. Our little miss is the length of an ear of corn and has taste buds. I bet she is loving all the chocolate and chips and salsa I can't stop eating :) My pregnancy has been amazing so far and like I said I am just enjoying every minute of it. We are excited to see our little one but NOT before the end of July. She needs to stay in there and get a little cuter :)

Leaving Day

My baby sister (well she is not a baby anymore but 19 yrs old) decided to join the military. The Marines to be exact. She was looking for something that the Marines had to offer and she signed up. She left today for boot camp in Parris Island South Caroling. It was an emotional day to know that we would have 0 contact with her for the 13 weeks she would be in boot camp (expect for letters, we can write letters to each other) and knowing that she only has a 3 week window before Hannah is born to make it back in time for her delivery. So I hope she makes it back in time. The whole family (minus Cole who had to work) went to her swearing in. Stu got off work for his lunch break but still missed her swearing in because the military will tell you one thing (be there at 9:30) but not get going till an hour later, so Stu had to get back to work. By joining the Marines, Leah will be able to call herself "The Few the Proud the Marines". She was really excited to go and of course sad to say good bye to family, her boyfriend and dog. We are so proud of her and know she will come back a totally different person, stronger and more grounded.

Sarah, Leah and Stu before Leah's swearing in (taken in the holding room) Dad, Leah and Mom

Leah saying good bye to Hannah and telling her she has to be born on July 28th. (Leah has a 10 day leave after boot camp and she is hoping Hannah will be born during this leave so she doesn't have to take vacation waiting for her birth).

Mom and Leah

Leah in the swearing in room waiting for the commanding officer to come in to give them their oath.

Leah and her boyfriend Justin after her swearing in

Cole, Leah and Sarah (missing Cole) after Leah's swearing in.

If you would like to know more about the Marines boot camp, please see here

Love you Leah and Miss you already!

A Snowy Wedding Day

One of my dearest friends got married today. Liz has been waiting for her 'match' for a LONG time, so this day was special to her but just as equally special to her friends and family. Despite the weather (typical spring day...snow), I think the day was magical.

This is how is looked outside, and it was not the fluffy snow, it was wet, wet snow. Liz and Mike had their reception the night before in the same place as their luncheon. Here is a view of the luncheon tables.

The beautiful bride and groom. They kissed every time someone kinked their glass.

The happy couple getting ready to leave for their honeymoon.

The honeymooners leaving the luncheon. I think the snow could not dampen their excitement of starting their lives together.

Spring Cleaning begins

Not only am I starting to get the 'nesting' bug but Stu is getting it to. We have NOT done any home improvements on our house since we moved in 4 years ago. Stu has a lot of ideas of what we want to spend our taxes on to improve our house, so I will have to post those pictures upon construction-but in the mean time I have been complaining about our kitchen tile more specifically the grout. How dirty it is. Stu found this hand held steamer on Overstock.com and ordered it. Check out how well it works...

Here is the box of the steamer
Check out the grout, it is sooo dirty

This is just a small section that Stu attacked with the steamer. It is almost like we laid new tile.

This is a shot of the whole area-- you can see the dirty and the clean grout. Crazy huh? It will be a process to clean the whole area simply because the machine is not too big and when you add the water you have to wait for it to heat up, but I think Stu has found a new toy. I caught him steaming the tile this morning before he left for the gym :)

Ultrasound

Monday March 7th was the day we were having our ultrasound. I was a few days short of 19 weeks so we were hoping to find out what we are having. As it would be, earlier that day the system at the University shut down and my ultrasound that was set for 3PM was canceled. The Grandma's were coming up for the ultrasound, and rather than 'cancel' them I was still praying the ultrasound would still happen. 1PM came upon me and the systems started running again and so the ultrasound stood. Thankfully it came up, if not I would have had to wait till Friday.
The ultrasound was great and we got a DVD of the whole thing. I had the tech check all kinds of things and everything seems to be perfect. We got all the toes and fingers, spine looks good, head looks good and we found out what we are having...

Sarah, Grandma Nicholls, Grandma Reeder
Stu and Sarah

Picture of our little one sucking their thumb

And we are having a GIRL! Stu and I had these favors made for our family. We actually found out a week and half before this ultrasound. I am all about presentation and just saying "its a Girl" was not good enough. So we found out and had these M & M's made. They were pink and had "Stu and Sarah say..." on 1 M & M and the other M & M said "Its a GIRL!". We gave these to the mom's after the ultrasound. Then we took them around to family after the ultrasound to announce the great news.

Can you see the writing on the M & M's? It was fun to make these. I told Stu that we are not finding out the sex on the next one so we wanted to do something big this time around.

This is the first grandchild on my side and the first grand daughter on Stu's side. She is already getting spoiled! We could not be more excited!