Busy weekend!!

Things have just been moving right along at the house! It's so crazy how far we have come with our kitchen! I'm so excited to share our progress. Since this baby is camping out, it's given Brian more time in our kitchen!!

First up, the backsplash! Saturday evening our close friends came over and the boys went to work on our backsplash! In return for the help, Brian went to their house the next day and helped with their backsplash! Worked out great! Here's the pics from phase 1....As you can see we still have the doors to put up on 5 cabinets.

Meanwhile, our other good friends were at the hospital having a baby!! Crazy! We totally could have seen them that night, but the text didn't come through until well after the guys had finished. We went and saw them the next day! This is me and Jacob! We're so incredibly excited! Brian took a pass on holding him, he figured he'd have plenty of chances to hold a baby very very soon!

Before we knew it, Monday had come! Time for new appliances! Yay! Oh and grouting our new backsplash. This time I helped! It was my job to wipe up the grout as Brian applied it. What a messy job!! In the future we will cover every square inch with some type of protective layer...because it is EVERYwhere now! Grout it easy, but time consuming, to clean up when it's fresh. It become very challenging to clean up once dry!

We completed the backsplash in about 2 hours. I'd say that's pretty good!

And finally...the appliances came!! Yaaaaaay! We have been saving/waiting for these for a very looooooong time!

The empty space above the stove is where our microwave will go! We will get that in a couple of weeks when my parents visit! Here's to a great and productive weekend!

1 week to go...hopefully

Ok, so I always forget to take pictures of myself! Today I've done just that, but I apologize, its taken in the bathroom. Generally speaking when there's an opportunity for Brian to take a picture of me we either forget or I'm a mess. Today I feel somewhat human, so this is the best I can do!

Please don't judge the dirty mirror or clutter! :). The lighting isn't great either lol, but at least I now have 39 weeks documented!

The doc says I'm in the same place as last week. No dilation yet. I got the impression that Brian was a little disappointed. No big deal really, the baby is very low at this point. I'm shocked she can reach my ribs with her little feet! I bet she's a long baby.

Today I like the name Evelyn more. Pretty sure yesterday I liked Claire the best. Haha! Who knows what she will look like?? We will all soon find out!

In other news our grill took a dive. Our friend Eric was over and Brian started the grill like normal, threw some bacon and onions on...and went to go grab the burgers. I looked outside on our deck and saw black smoke billowing from the grill. "Hey baaaaabe???" I said. "is the grill supposed to smoke that much?". Thinking I was overreacting (which might or might not often be the case when it comes to smoke or fire) he slowly walked over and him and Eric inspected the flames. Indeed...they were NOT normal and it was quickly decided that he would utilize out fire extinguisher!

The glow you are seeing is not fire. It's actually a reflection from me taking the picture from inside...and not opening the sliding glass door. With the grill sitting where it is...you can't see a couple more things...

Item 1 - the new propane tank with the burnt grease running all over...gross! I'm so glad we had an extinguisher though! Big flames + lots of propane could have gone way wrong!

Item 2 - melted siding!! Oops! Now what?? Let me know what suggestions you have for covering this unsightly mess!

Well, there you have it! The excitement for the week! I can't wait to update you on the progress of our kitchen!!

Backsplash goes up tonight!

38 weeks as of today!

Wow, I have made it a loooooooong way! I must say that I really don't think I could've done it without some amazing friends and my awesome husband! Ok, well...clearly I would have had to "make it" but it would have been much bumpier and harder.

I finally got some pictures from my Michigan baby shower! I know...a little delayed, but hey at least I'm getting them up! The venue was so cute and decorated sooo nicely! How adorable! We had some cute games including a baby/pregnancy trivia and a "guess how big Rachael is" game. It was so cute to see how long the pieces of yarn were cut! Some of them could have wrapped around me twice!

Everyone was so sweet and generous! I'm very fortunate to have the family that I do! Oh and I just have to draw attention to the invites! My sister in law designed them, I just love her style!

Here are a few more pics from the shower!

Here is Marie guessing my size with amazing results! I think she was spot on!

Some of the kids had super long strings!!

Gift time!! The little girls all came up front to help me with unwrapping or help pick up the paper. It was so cute!

Hehe, every time I took the tissue paper out of the bags, I would put it on one of the girls' heads.

Here is almost everyone...we had an uncooperative camera shy girl sit this one out. Brian showed up at the end and nearly passed out because of the heat in the room. I can't even believe he was able to smile for the pic! It was seriously 90 degrees with no air circulation where we were sitting!

This is Brian's "I'm doing this for you" face.

Overall I had a wonderful time and loved every minute, including the sweltering heat! I felt so loved and cared for. The food was delightful and it was a wonderful afternoon!

Birthday!!

I love birthdays...specifically my birthday. I love the attention and the gifts! I really really love getting gifts! It's so much fun!

Last Friday was my birthday and it was wonderful! It started with me going to work, but that's ok...at work they gave me a card and then we had ice cream cake! It was a pretty good workday overall. My boss even told me to take the earlier train home! Great start!

Upon arriving home Brian gave me my long awaited present!!

It was so nicely wrapped! I would love to show you, however my blog app is being dumb, so we will just have to skip to the good part!

As I was opening this..I thought this must be a trick...am I getting a really nice watch right now?!?

It was sooooooo pretty! It took me a while to really decide I truly liked it. It wasn't really about whether I liked it or not...I did like it, but the watch felt much cooler than I feel at the moment...or...really ever. I just felt like someone much more cool than I should be wearing it.

I felt so bad because I'm sure Brian was looking for a super big reaction, but I didn't deliver on that. I put it on and just looked and looked at it. It was so pretty. Finally after some time I decided that it would be perfect for me. Then became excited about telling everyone about my amazing present from my husband!

We went out to dinner with friends the following night, I'm so sad we didn't take pictures! First to pizza then a super crowded Fro-yo place.

Then on Monday my birthday continued! How can I be so lucky?! Brian made reservations 3 months in advance to "Girl and the goat". What a wonderful place! It was very exciting and fun! The menu was so adventurous! I was so proud of him for venturing out!!

They make fresh bread every day! Had to try it!! This was served with butter and beer cheese!!

Next up...green beans!

Possibly the best green beans I've ever had!

Next we each picked a dish. I chose scallops and he chose pork shank. Neither of us were disappointed!

Incredibly rich food!!!

After stuffing ourselves on dinner, I just had to see the dessert menu! After all...what is a birthday dinner without dessert?

I selected a creme brûlée. Upon receiving it...I got so excited that I forgot to take a pic!

Here's the nearly-licked-clean bowl! Soooooo yummy!

I had a wonderful birthday and felt so special! Not only did my husband cook for me (best nachos ever) on my actual birthday, but he watched "we bought a zoo". Such a cheesy family movie...loved it! I was also treated to one of the best pedicures ever by my friend Becca and got a perfect ready-to-go baby scrapbook from my friend Stef. Honestly...I could not have asked for a better birthday weekend!

 

Too Puffy!!

Wow, two posts within a week, this must be a record for me this year. This one won't have any pictures though...

Here I am forced to sit on the couch with a make-shift "footbath". {{{sigh}}}. This bath consists of Luke aw,r water mixed with Epsom salts in a bathroom size trash can. The height is good because it allows the water to cover some of my swollen legs, however the width of the thing leaves more to be desired. I can fit my feet side by side with a little overlap, but they are in some what of a "high heel" position.

I must admit, pregnancy has been a little challenging this week. I'm tired all day then when I manage to get myself in bed I just lay there and lay there. Baby Schupbach is even nice to me and only plays around for a little bit after laying down! Last night I took a benedryl and that seemed to help me stay asleep, but unfortunately I wake up the next morning in a daze...still feeling exhausted.

Soooooo....I've seen my fair share of people sleeping, falling asleep, open mouth sleeping, and snoring on the train ride home. This time, I'm sure it was ME that someone was texting about. As the train pulled out of the station I got sleepy as usual. I leaned my head against the window and relaxed. Then a guy decided that the other half of my seat looked inviting, so he sat down. That's fine with me...I'd rather not share a seat on the ride home, but it happens. Back to my nap...so I closed my eyes again...next thing I know I jump in my seat....you know the JUMP I'm talking about...the one where you are drifting off to peaceful sleep when suddenly you feel like you're falling off a cliff!! Yep...pretty sure the whole train car laughed silently.

Shortly after, I stepped off the train only to notice how incredibly uncomfortable walking was! My shoes were cutting into my feet! How awful! I somewhat limped to my car and drove home only to find, upon taking off my socks, that I had the biggest monster feet I had seen to date! Brian was even surprised! Between extremely swollen and exhausted I decided to skip small group tonight. I'm rather sad because I miss the girls, but I will attempt to get these dogs back to a normal size and get some rest!

Here's to putting your feet up!

Just a little overwhelmed...

So here I am sitting at my house tonight while my hard working hubbs is in the garage staining the cabinet doors. I must start out by saying how incredibly proud I am of him. He has worked soooooo hard to get the kitchen as "done" as possible. To really understand, you would need to know him and then you would get what a big deal it is for him to be working right now and not enjoying sitting and watching TV. In the last week he has completely cleared out our upper cabinets, sanded them, cut a few new shelves for them, stained and clear-coated them. We worked together to put the stuff back in...and are still not quite done with that...making our kitchen look like a war zone.

He is now finishing the new cabinet doors (you know the ones he MADE with his bare hands) by assembling them, staining and clear-coating. I am just so impressed by him. Oh and not to mention he's been dealing with a near-9-month preggo wife! What a trooper! (this same wife doesn't sleep much and when she does...apparently snores louder than he ever thought possible)

Ahhh pregnancy. I haven't really done a "play by play" for this pregnancy...probably because that is just too much writing. I'm currently at week 35. I am experiencing those Braxton-hicks contractions from time to time and my back is almost constantly hurting. Sleep isn't restful anymore. I have self-diagnosed myself with restless leg syndrome, which from my understanding is quite common among preggos. I lay down and about 5 minutes later my legs have an awful...irritated....nervous energy feeling.

On the other hand...we are 4 weeks from meeting this little girl...wow...that is just soooo overwhelming. Mostly in a good way. I do wish we had a name picked out, but it's fine, we will figure it out eventually. I'm nervous about labor and birth and recovery....then there's breast feeding and all that...but overall...I just wonder what/who she looks like. What will her personality be? I'm hoping she's an easy baby...will she cry a lot? Will she be healthy? I pray for her (and us) at times, but it's really rather hard to pray for someone you haven't met! I know we will love her more tha anything tho.

Ok on to the fun stuff! I just received a couple packages today! I apologize ahead of time for the poor quality images taken by my iPad. It doesn't do well in low light, but i wanted to share them with you.

Our pack n play! Ok ok....it's not really the one I truly wanted, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend $180 on something that I could get for $80. I personally wanted it to be a little more "girly" than this, but I must admit it goes with our living room decor rather well.

Our diaper bag. Yesssss....there is a much girlier one that I'm dying to have, but it is $80 more and it does the same thing this one does...and Brian will carry this one. We will try this one out and see how it goes. My "mom" side is coming out...evaluating things practically is just not normal for me...Mom would be so proud!

My Brest Friend!! Lol how funny. It's a pillow to help you hold the baby while nursing or just feeding in general.

And finally...................

Yep, I ordered a subscription to Parents. At the very least I will have some tips along the way.

I'd say we are pretty close to ready....now if my house wasnt a complete disaster-zone....