Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope that everyone is able to take some time out to spend with their families this Thanksgiving and reflect on all that they are grateful for.

We have a lot to be grateful for this year.

Around this time last year we didn't know if we would ever be able to have a biological child of our own and here we are now less than 4 weeks away from expecting our first baby. While I am tempted to complain about how I have been feeling lately, overall I am truly grateful to have been able to experience a healthy pregnancy and for what is awaiting us ahead!

As I look back on this year, there have been some tough challenges that we have been able to overcome. I am happy to report that our westie/cairn pup BamBam is healthy and doing well. In January we thought we had a matter of weeks left with him due to his kidney problems, but with the help and diligence of our wonderful veterinarian, BamBam is now happier than ever and much more playful than he has ever been. I never thought he would be here with us for so long and I am truly grateful that he is happy and seemingly healthy. Of course Rusty and Belfry are doing great too.

Being a small business owner in the worst economy ever has been challenging to say the least. After January, things came to a near standstill. I saw 4 of my competitors go out of business and was worried for the future of my business. Fortunately I held on, kept working and have started to pick things back up again to the point where I now feel secure in taking some time off after the baby is born. On top of that, we were a little worried about whether or not Dennis would be forced to strike as his contract was up. After a lot of time up in the air, he was given a new contract and never did have to strike.

Of course we are thankful for the wonderful family we have in our lives. We are blessed to have parents, grandparents, step-parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews who have proven to be blessings to us time and again. Along with our families, we are grateful for the many many many friends we have in our lives. There are times we felt a little run down this past year with our crazy busy schedules, but the truth is that almost all weekends and many weekdays, we had plans with our friends and it is so nice to know that there are so many people who actually like hanging out with us! Our moms and sisters and friends did a tremendous job planning two very wonderful baby showers for us this past month. We were beyond amazed by all of the hard work and love that went into planning the showers and also by the graciousness and generosity of our guests.

We are grateful to have a roof (and a nice one at that) over our heads as so many others struggle to keep a permanent home. Our subdivision went through some rough times this year as our builder went out of business, but we banded together as a little community and helped make it a nicer place for all of us. It was nice to get to know our neighbors better and to take some pride in our subdivision.

We are grateful to be where we are now and thankful for all that the Lord has provided for us. We look forward with much anticipation to the coming year(s). As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we will be extra thankful for all we have been blessed with in 2009.

Marian Catholic Marching Band 2009

I attended Marian Catholic High School from 1995 - 1999 and the greatest part of my time there was participating in the band program. Marching Band ran from the very early summer through the fall ending with Bands of America Grand National Competition in Indianapolis every November. Marian just returned from Nationals this past weekend, tying for second place. The Chicago Tribune put together this video montage of a behind the scenes look into what goes on and how the band prepares for Nationals. Mr. Bimm is still the band director there and still teaching the band how to work magic. Please take a look at this video below. It really brought back a lot of great memories for me.

 

Why I LOVE The Baby's Nursery!

I am the kind of person who (usually) has an exceptional memory! (This pregnancy has given me some forgetful moments but for the most part I have a VERY good memory!)

I tend to think of things in a relational way. When I take a knife out of my knife block, I think of our friends Dennis & Nora. When I fold our bath towels I think of our friends Richard and Adrien. When I am washing pots and pans I think of our friends Doug and Amy. When I polish our silverware I think of my Grandma. When I serve dinner on our china I think of my mom. When I cut into a steak with my Cutco steak knives, I think of my old co-workers from The Myers Group. These are just some of the examples of how I see things when I look around. All of these things were given to us as gifts by these people (just to name a few) for our wedding. I don't just see THINGS. I see little symbols of how these people have shown their love and friendship for us and as I use the things that they gave us in celebration of our wedding, I think of them.

When I look around Angelica's room, I can see how many people love her (and us) already and how the room has been put together 100% purely out of love.

Dennis and I selected the room which she will call her own. In fact, as we started building this house nearly 5 years ago, it was our intention to build a home where our future children would have room to run and learn and live.
My dad and stepmom basecoat painted the room.
My stepmom spent many days and a lot of time painting the stripes on the walls just perfectly.
My mom came with us and purchased the nursery furniture.
Dennis's dad helped us to assemble the furniture.
Dennis and his dad installed the electrical work to put in the chandelier and ceiling fan.
Dennis's mom came with us to select the ceiling fan and she bought us the butterfly curtain rod!
My mom came over to help us set up the nursery and move the furniture into the room.
My sister helped me to organize and assemble things in the room.
Dennis hung the curtains after my mom ironed them.
My grandma Julie crocheted blankets and booties.
My mom made a beautiful homemade butterfly quilt.
Dennis's Aunt Bev made a beautiful homemade nursery rhyme quilt.
My stepmom had a very cute barrett holder made to match the room.
My friend Jen went shopping with me to pick out the curtains and butterflies and other accessories for the room.
My grandma gave me some of the books that are waiting to be read to her.
The closet, changing table and armoir are FILLED with gifts from many of our other friends and family members who joined us at two BEAUTIFUL baby showers hosted by my mom, my sister, my friends Jen and Christen and by my mother-in-law and two sister-in-laws.
I have spent hours organizing things in the nursery and writing in her baby book.

As I sit in Angelica's room and look around, I see all of the people who love her and care about her and all of their acts of kindness and generosity. It's not just a "cute room" for a baby girl. It is a place that was made with complete love and hope and that is why I love the nursery.

We are counting down the days until she is here. Of course we do not know exactly when she will arrive, but we are down to 36 days from our due date. It is hard to believe I have already been pregnant for 244 days! The time has flown by and she will be here in our arms before we know it.

This picture was signed by all of the guests at both of our showers.

Here is a picture of the "nursery rhyme" quilt that Dennis's Aunt Bev made for us and sent to us all the way from Texas!

Each square contains an embroidered nursery rhyme. Here is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

And here is "Old Macdonald had a farm."

The back side of the quilt has this tag on it.

Here is a blanket crocheted by my Grandma Julie.

Here is the quilt my mom made. When I asked for a quilt made out of squares, I had no idea how much detail and work would go into it! It turned out absolutely beautiful!

Here is a closeup of some of the squares. Each little square had to be washed and ironed before it could be sewn together and each square is hand-quilted on the back.

Here is a poem my mom wrote about making the quilt. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge so you can actually read it. Very sweet.

And here is the barrett holder my step-mom had made for us. My step-mom also hand-embroidered a pair of booties for Angelica as well. (I need to take a picture of them still!)

All of these homemade projects took some serious time and dedication and each was done with a lot of love. We are so grateful that our baby girl is being so anxiously anticipated by so many. Dennis and I are committed to giving her the best life we possibly can. It is so nice to know that we have the support of so many others who also want the best for her. We really and truly appreciate each and every one of you!

New Camera

I have been looking at DSLR cameras for a while now. I was going to wait until Christmas to get a new one, but my old camera has become a lot less reliable and with the new baby coming, we wanted to make sure we had a good camera once she is born. We decided on a Canon EOS XSi camera. I still have a LOT to learn about it. I took a one day class at the Chicago Center for Photography but could definitely use a lot more instruction. Here are a few of the first shots I have taken.

The moon was still out early in the morning and I was able to catch this shot from our deck.

Here I used the 55-250 lens to zoom in on this barn across the field from our backyard.

I like the way that the sun looks in this picture.

BamBam always makes a good photo model. He loves getting his picture taken.

Rusty doesn't enjoy pictures as much so I need to catch him in action. Here he is checking out his shadow!

And we have some ducks/geese hopping into the pond just off of our backyard.