Friday, August 25, 2006

House Tour: Camden & Griffin's Room

Thought I'd post some pictures of Camden and Griffin's new bedroom. This first picture is what you see to the right of the room, when you walk in the door. Griffin's crib is directly to the right of the doorway. Here is looking through the doorway

Looking back toward the doorway

Camden's reading corner

Lots of closet and storage place. When we first moved in, Camden was convinced he wanted his bed in the closet.


Thursday, August 24, 2006

Baby Shower, etc.

Yesterday, the girls at my office threw a baby shower for me and we had a nice time. That's my dear friend Michelle in the picture with me. She had Griffin's ultrasound picture put on a cake, which was pretty neat - - I've never seen that done before! My coworkers chipped in and gave me a Sit and Stand stroller, which is just great. Camden usually wants to walk when we go in a store, but then again he'll walk for a couple of minutes, then he'll want a "ride", so I've been wondering what I was going to do. My mom, my aunt, and my mother-in-law had sent packages to the office to be included in the shower, which was such a nice surprise. After today, I only have 3 more work days left - - I can't believe it! I am so ready to stop getting up at 4:50 a.m. I am also looking forward to eliminating 2 hours of commute time from each work day. Most of all, I am just looking forward to being home with Camden, and pretty soon, Griffin.
A few of you have been asking for a shot of my massive belly, so, here it is, stretch marks and all. Five more weeks to go! This was taken on Tuesday at exactly 34 weeks. I'm a little scared at how much bigger my stomach can actually get in the next 40 days or so.

The moving process continues to drag on, and it is starting to take its toll on mine and Steve's good humor. I think we are both really tired, stressed out, and wanting it to be done. Our plan is to accomplish that this coming weekend - - I hope we can do it. We were planning to have a garage sale on Saturday, but that will have to wait until the following weekend.

Camden seems to be on the mend after quite a nasty cold. He seems more like my regular little guy now, and I'm glad - - it sure stinks being sick.

I love this picture from bath time the other night. Camden does love a good bubble bath. He thought he was pretty funny, wearing a shower cap. Must finish getting ready for work...


Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Tuesday (and I'm supposed to be at work)

Camden's been suffering from a bit of a cold the past three days, but seemed to be on the mend yesterday. He spent the day running, playing, acting silly, and having all kinds of fun. However, around 4:30 yesterday afternoon, he suddenly fell asleep and didn't want to be woken up. So, we put him in bed, although I was leary of doing so, because I envisioned him being up all night (he usually goes to bed around 8:00). Well, I was right. He woke up at 9:45, went back to sleep until 11:30, and was up until around 1:30, up again at 5:30. As for me, I had just fallen asleep when Camden woke up for the first time, which seemed to activate Griffin, who proceeded to kick up a storm for about 2 hours. Basically, I slept/catnapped from about 1:45-4:50. I hate to sit here and whine, but I'm TIRED. Camden's been very fussy since he got up this morning, so we are going to wait a couple of hours before heading into Boise. He is not running a fever, and seems to be fine at this point. We shall see.

I've been quite a bad Blogger these days. Please don't give up on me...I think about my blog quite a bit, but with everything going on, I struggle to find the time to sit at the computer, much less, the creative energy it sometimes takes to type out what is in my head. I suspect this has something to do with dragging a move out for what seems like forever, and, oh yeah, being gigantically (is that even a word?) pregnant. So, please stick around. I promise I will have something interesting to say, sooner or later.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

More pictures...

This is a continuation of the post below. Blogger is a bit fussy when it comes to posting photos, so I had to open a new post to squeeze in some more pictures.

Here is Steve this past Saturday, at his Change of Command/Stand Up ceremony (he is on the far right, at the head of the group). The ceremony was to recognize the formation of a new National Guard unit, and to recognize Steve as its new commander.
The ceremony was very nice, and Steve did a great job with his speech.
Our nephew, Banzer, at the ceremony
Camden and Papa, horsing around

Another general update...

When we pulled into the driveway tonight, Camden asked, "Where's my Papa?" My father left Sunday night after a two-week visit, and we miss him! Yesterday, the house was far too quiet, and Camden said on several occasions that he was "missing Papa". My dad came out to help us move into our new house, and he was such a big help. As it turned out, Steve was out of town for a good part of the time that Dad was here, so his help was invaluable to me. We managed to get a huge amount moved and unpacked, and we had fun painting and decorating and making the new house feel like home. This first picture was taken early one morning during Dad's visit. Camden had a wooden helicopter kit that he wanted to put together with his Papa. He pretty much insisted that my Dad help him as soon as they woke up one morning, and was quite bossy about it, I might add. Camden was a real trooper during all of the chaos that comes with moving. He actually moved to the new house three days before Steve and I did. My dad was staying there during his visit, and Camden decided he'd go ahead an move on in, too. The picture on the left is of Camden checking out the massive amounts of cupboard space in our new kitchen. He was rather disappointed when I loaded the cupboard up with dishes - - I think he thought it was going to be a fort or something.




Here is a picture of Jeff, my "hired man", uncovering the beautiful hardwood floor that lurked beneath the wall-to-wall carpeting. The area that we had the carpeting removed from is the formal dining area

I have a bunch more pictures to post, but, you guessed it - - Blogger won't let me, so I'll close out this post and try again in a new post...

Friday, August 11, 2006

Thar' She Blows!

Sometime around 3:00 a.m. today, I awoke to what sounded like (or so I thought) an airplane flying quite low overhead. I lay in bed and thought to myself, "They must be dusting for mosquitoes" (Idaho is currently experiencing a massive outbreak of West Nile Virus, with the county bordering ours at a state emergency level). Then I began thinking that since I had a fan running, I ought to get up and shut it off, so as not to ingest large amounts of "bug spray". After shutting off the fan, I realized that the very odd noise was actually coming from inside my house (that would be the same house that Steve and I just purchased last week). I then decided my father was taking a shower downstairs, but what the heck was he doing, showering in the middle of the night? I began to make my way down the stairs, and along the way, realized it wasn't a shower I was hearing, but a very large amount of water, splashing violently (this is the part where I started to feel like I was going to hurl). I reached the foot of the stairs and immediately stepped into cold water. Here is when I did what any sensible young woman would do - - I hollered for my Daddy! Dad came running out of his bedroom and we both stared at the pantry door for what seemed like forever (but was actually just a second or two). Dad threw the door open, and all we could see was water spraying directly at us, as you would see when a fire hydrant had been opened. Apparently, the pipes that once carried well water (at a much lower pressure, I might add) simply could not withstand the pressure of the *&%$# city water (see my earlier posts on this subject). Without hesitating, Dad shot across the room to the valve and turned the water off, not pausing even though he was clad in just his pajama bottoms and was barefoot. I'd also like to add that there was a very large freezer (full of elk meat) plugged in, sitting in water, but that didn't stop him, either. The water stopped, and I think we were both speechless for a minute or two. Here is a lovely photo of where the pipes blew apart, spewing very expensive city water all over my brand new home. How ironic that Dad and I had chose the day before, to spend hours packing and unpacking my kitchen, placing all of my appliances and pantry food in that very room. Someone was obviously watching over me, because although my beloved kitchen appliances were wet (my bread machine was down there, for goodness sakes!) they all seem to have pulled through. The only food item that seems to have been lost was a bag of flour. I find this completely amazing, because we are not talking about a slight drip here, folks - - this was a massive amount of water. After about an hour of mopping, wiping, and sopping, we called it a night and went back to bed. I called Jeff's Plumbing first thing in the morning, and by 10:00 a.m. the pipe had been repaired and we had running water once again. I am most thankful for the fact that my Dad was there, and that he saved the day. After that, I'm thankful this occurred in the middle of the night, rather than on a day I was at work. Last, but not least, I am thankful that my pantry also has a massive sump pump, for disasters such as the one we experienced early this morning. That sucker was pumping like there was no tomorrow.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Update

The 3D ultrasound was really great! Sweet little Griffin Peter decided to show his face, for the first time, and I was thrilled.

The sonographer said he has lots of "fuzz" on his head, so hopefully he will have lots of hair like Camden did. She also kept saying, "He looks just like his older brother!" I'll take her word for it - - I couldn't really tell whether he did or not, but he sure is cute. Camden was there for the ultrasound too, and when asked what he thought, his response was, "Icky!" My dad was amazed by the whole thing.

Here is another face shot (side profile, left side of face), and one of his hand:

7 weeks to go!

Sshhhhhh...

I have a little secret...this morning, Camden and I are taking my Dad to see a 3-D ultrasound of Griffin. I figured, he's never seen an ultrasound so this would be a nice little surprise. I am just hoping that Griffin will be cooperative and "face the camera" - - I've had quite a few regular ultrasounds with this pregnancy, and we've yet to see his face or even a profile for that matter - - he always has his head in the wrong position. So, check back later today and hopefully I'll have posted some pictures of our boy.

I've been a bad Blogger this past week, but will try to be better this week. We have been very busy trying to move into the new house. I'm happy to report that we are all sleeping there now - - Dad and Steve got the extra bed moved over a couple of nights ago. The computer is still hooked up at the old house, but hopefully I'll get that taken care of this week. Today we are going to just take it easy. After the ultrasound, I'm taking Dad and Camden on a sight-seeing tour of Boise, via the Boise Tour Train. I've been here for nearly 5 years and have never been on it, so I'm looking forward to it, too.

Still trying to recover from last night's Faith Hill and Tim McGraw concert. I can tell you that Faith Hill looked beautiful, her voice was wonderful, and she put on a great show. As for Tim McGraw - - I'm afraid I'm still not quite able to form complete sentences. Tight Wranglers, tattoos, cowboy hat...that's about all I can come up with at the moment. Oh yeah, he's a great singer, too. Phew. Did I mention the tight Wranglers?

Steve is in Virginia this week for an Army class. I'm sad he got called away at the last minute, as he missed the concert and today will miss the ultrasound. We're hoping to get a lot accomplished with the move while he is away so that he will notice some progress upon his return.

Check back later for pictures of Griffin!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Water!

Yet again, Blogger will not allow me to post pictures, so I give you yet another visually un-stimulating post. As of around lunchtime today, we have water at the new house! Yippee!! It was quite the production to say the least, as our faithful city workers dug up a good portion of the road in front of our house, but the deed is done. Even better, Steve's plumbing job in the basement was leak-free. Although we closed on the house last Friday, and received the keys this past Sunday, I couldn't quite get excited until the joint had running water.
My father arrived from Maine on Monday, and has been such a big help already. Yesterday, we got Camden and Griffin's new bedroom painted, and today we moved quite a few things over to the house. Camden really likes the new place. He decided he didn't want to come back to the old house with me tonight, so he is having a sleep-over with his Papa. Our plan is to paint the master bedroom by the weekend, and then move a bunch of furniture on Saturday. Steve leaves for Virginia on Sunday, so I'm extra glad to have my dad here to give me a hand while he is out of town.
I'll check back in tomorrow and see if I can get some pictures posted. Time for bed...
Blog Widget by LinkWithin