Wednesday, January 21, 2009

...Busy...Busy...Busy...

Wow - lots going on these days! Sorry, this may be a long post! Now that the holidays are over, it is "down to work" for Little Poppy's arrival. Aaron's starting to get very busy working more often on finishing our basement. The next few weeks it's electrical and plumbing work - than on to sheetrocking! Oh what fun :) I've been making lots of phone calls for day care, finalizing what I want to do for Lil P's room...and - ugh - I can feel the stress! Here's our life in a nutshell for the last few weeks:

A couple of weekends ago Aaron and I went to Babies R Us in the twin cities and purchased our crib and dresser. I'm excited! We chose an "espresso" colored crib, which will go awesome with the theme I'm planning on doing for the room (which is for another post). The crib can eventually be transformed into a toddler bed, and a head board for a full-size bed as well, so that'll be nice. The dresser has a changing table on top, but the rails of that are removeable, so when that is no longer needed - it'll just be a dresser! They won't be assembled 'til probably early/mid April once the stuff that is in our current spare bedroom - future room of Little P - can go downstairs!

This past weekend we had our final Christmas with Aaron's mom, Paul, and his step-siblings! It was nice to have a weekend away from home where we could relax and not think about what needs to be done! Unfortunately, Tina and Tammy couldn't make it - they were missed! Lil P even got some gifts! He/She got the cutest onesie ever, and a saying to go on the wall of the nursery: "Every child is a story yet to be told" - very cute!
.
Just posing for a pic w/ the onesie
.
Up close! It's a little lemon, and says "Squeeze Me" - seriously, adorable!
.
Aaron - always up for a good time, was not happy that people seemed "tired" around 7. So he made a trip to Walmart to get everyone "energy shots" - here's him w/ his step-siblings and their significant others before they took the drinks. Thank goodness it said on the bottle that it wasn't recommended for pregnant women, or I know he'd have made me take that. I was happy taking the picture of the group instead!
.
Daycare - all I can say about this is "ugh"!! I've been on the phone with about 10-15 different providers in the area, and we have meetings with 4 of them. 2 of which I am excited about, 2 of which I'm not so sure about. We were hoping to find a daycare provider in Stewartville (the town I work in, about 20 minutes from Rochester) since we think we might end up moving there eventually (in like 5-10 years) and having our kids go to school there (again another post, but in a nutshell, we both grew up and went to school in smaller towns, and have decided we'd like that for our kids). Anyway, what a headache! But, the thing that has been most frustrating is our experience on Monday:
.
We had an appt. to meet w/ someone at 6:00. We pulled up, and the house looked pitch black, but we went to the door anyway...no answer. So we got in the car and I called the house on my phone...no answer. I left a message requesting a call back to reschedule and to find out what had happened...Never heard anything. So today I thought I'd give her a call and see what was going on. I was thinking there may have been an emergency or something. Well, the conversation was basically a "oh I've been meaning to call you, I'm so sorry, it completely slipped my mind. I was at gymnastics with my daughter". I understand being busy and having it completely slip your mind - but when I got home and heard the message, I think I would've been on that phone calling! Like I said, one word to sum up my daycare experience so far: ugh.
.
Amsterdam! Yep...Amsterdam! One of my best friends from college, Amy, and her husband Adam are moving to Amsterdam on Friday. I'm so excited for them, but so sad for us that they will be so far away. Last night we went and had dinner with them and our other good friends, Jeff & Rachel to say our goodbyes. It really doesn't seem real! One good thing - they are just about an hour or so train ride away from PARIS FRANCE. For those of you who have been to my house, it doesn't take a genious to know that I'm all about Paris! Sooo - my goal is to visit them and go on a day excursion to Paris. Do you think it will happen??? They are going to be there for 2-3 years...maybe, just maybe it'll happen :)
.
Rachel, Jeff, Adam, Amy, me & Aaron saying good by to the White's - we'll miss you guys!!

The Pregnancy - I've been feeling pretty good this week, but last week and the week before, it was almost as if the morning sickness was back. On our way to get the crib, I started feeling very sick, and had a nice experience at the gas station. As Aaron pumped gas, I wasn't able to make it into the store, so I threw up right next to the pump! Wonderful. The best part is Aaron said a Truck that had pulled up next to me was just staring at me and laughing...I'm guessing since I was hunched over they couldn't see my belly...

I am definitely getting to the point where I am OBVIOUSLY pregnant! In the last few weeks, I have had strangers ask me when I'm due - so I've definitely passed the stage where if you don't know me, you just may think I had too many treats over the holidays! It's nice to be past that point!

I sent in our form to enroll in prenatal classes - so that's going to be here soon. It starts late March and goes through the end of April. Fun times ahead! We decided to do a week night class since our weekends are pretty precious trying to work on the basement and such.

Comments! Sorry, I know this is a long post, but I just wanted to say one more thing. I love seeing comments on the blog. I know a couple people have mentioned that they went to leave comments but weren't able to without signing up. I think I have changed it. If you click on the area to write comments, and select "anonymous" you should be able to write your comment without giving any information. Just be sure to leave your name in your post so we know who you are! If that doesn't work, someone please let me know!

Thanks as always for visiting our blog :)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hunter Timothy Heydmann

We have a new nephew!!! My sister had a baby boy on Tuesday, January 13th. Hunter Timothy Heydmann was born around 5:20 p.m. 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Sooo, on the Tarara side, there were 3 granddaughters born first, but the boys are catching up! Our nephew Drew was born in March, now Hunter...and according to most people...there may be a 3rd grandson coming on May 27th! We'll see...
Hunter and Angela got to go home today. Nothing like saying "Welcome to the World...and to Minnesota" - poor little guy gets to go outside for the first time on the coldest day in 13 years!

Hunter Tomothy!

The Proud Uncle :)

The Proud Aunt!

Ha Ha, funny story! Aaron was helping out Phil with Hunter's first dirty diaper...let's just say the air must have been pretty relaxing for Hunter, because they had to go get more wipes a few times and each time Phil got Hunter cleaned up...he'd get all dirty again! It was too funny & cute not to take pictures of the dads at work!

The happy dad & dad-to-be...I'm sure Aaron is pretty excited for that part of parenthood!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

20 Week Update

Happy New Years Everyone!!! Aaron and I met on new years 4 years ago. So it was sorta our anniversary! This year we hung out with my sister Angela and her husband Phil on New Years. We are both pregnant, so it was nice company to be in. We played Nintendo Wii all night :) What a difference 4 years can make! I put on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt right before we left the house, and I thought, I wonder if Aaron thought it would come to this the day we met...just sitting around in basically pajamas and hanging out with some family on such a "going out" holiday...I love it!!
.

Here is a pic of Aaron and I the first year we were together

Now on to the baby...Tomorrow marks week 20! Half way there! Aaron thinks it has gone slow, I on the other hand, can't believe we are already half way done :) We had an appointment today as well as our major ultra sound - where we COULD have found out if we are having a boy or girl - but we stuck to our plan and still don't know!! Everything seems to be going good. All of the anatomy was in the "normal" category, which my doctor was happy to see!

As for me - I'm doing well also. Most of you know that I love to run and workout. Well, I've barely seen the inside of the gym since September. I was way too tired and nauseous in the first trimester...then the holidays came...and well, you know all the excuses! But, I just bought a new prenatal workout video that has 20 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of toning. I did it today and am pretty happy with it, so I'll continue to do that throughout the rest of the pregnancy, in the comfort of our home!

CRAVINGS!!!! People always ask me if I have had any unique or random cravings, and really I haven't for the most part. I think last Sunday may mark my first TOTALLY random food request/craving. I was waiting for Aaron to get home from the the cities, and all of a sudden, I really...REALLY...wanted Potato Oles from Taco Johns. Now, first let me say, if Aaron and I go to a fast-food Mexican restaurant, it's always Taco Bell. Soooo, the last time I've had Potato Oles is probably when I was in college...5 + years ago. None the less, they came into my head and I wanted them ASAP - so I called Aaron up and put in my request with my lovely husband and he was my hero and stopped for them on his way home! I'll chalk that up to a craving!

Here are some pictures of the ultra sound today. I was not as happy/excited about these pictures considering it was our "big" ultra sound. She took 3 "face" pictures, 2 "profile" pics and 2 "feet" pics and that was it...just not the same :) Either way, I'm so excited to see our baby when we have ultra sounds, and love to show off Lil Poppy!

Here is the "face" picture (head on the left, tummy on the right)!

Aren't feet so cute...5 little toes - so cute!

Side profile. I loooove side profile pics, this one isn't
as good as last time, but I still love it!

Annnnnd....the good old tummy pic :) These were taken on New Years day, (19 weeks, 1 day).

For the most part, I'm now in maternity clothes. BUT, I discovered that I can still wear these jeans (and button them!) so they are my new favs! Ha ha!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas 2009

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Aaron and I had a great Christmas weekend. On Christmas Eve we went to church with my mom and dad and then out to dinner, and when we got home we opened our gifts from each other. Christmas day we headed up to Michigan. I think it was the longest trip to Michigan ever! I typically sleep at least a few hours of the trip, and I didn't this time...it was LONG!
We spent Christmas evening with Aaron's dad, sisters and family. Friday we hung out most of the day and then spent the evening with Aaron's friends/wives. I'm not very good at taking pictures lately. I didn't get one picture on that night...I also didn't get a picture all weekend of our nephew & niece Brandon and Alesha. Saturday we went to our nephew Jeffrey's hockey game and then had the Anderson Christmas. Sunday we went to Brandon's hockey game and then headed out back to Minnesota. We stopped in Eau Claire and got to have supper with Aaron's mom Jean and step-dad Paul. It is always nice to stop there, it definitely breaks up the long drive a bit. We got home about 8/8:30 on Sunday night, and now we are back to work. NO FUN!

We really had a great time - now we are looking forward to all that 2009 will bring to us...lots of changes in store for us, and we can't wait!

Here are some pics of our trip to Michigan:

Our niece Holly and nephew Anthony...smiley kids!

Anthony and I - he was pretty excited about his new coat he got!

Jeffrey is #7 - his team is 27-0. Pretty good. Go #7!!
.
Jeffrey after his game

Brandon playing his game - #27. His team didn't win the game we were at, maybe next time :)

Aaron's cousin Brooke and I and our "tummies" - due on the same day!

The 'girls' @ the Anderson Christmas

All of the cousins & their significant others...
missing Ed, Joel, Derek, Amy, Dave, Rachel, & Travis - we missed you guys!

Monday, December 22, 2008

**wINteR WonDeRlaND!!**

We may not be in the U.P. - but we sure do have a lot of snow for December in southern MN. 2nd snowiest December on record so far - and we are supposed to get 3-5" tonight, and maybe some more on Christmas Eve!! LOOOVE IT! Typically in MN we have snow fall here and there, but it's too dang cold for a ton of snow until it gets a little milder. We usually have a lot of snow in March, just when you think spring is coming!

DANG IS IT COLD TOO! The temp after work today was -6 degrees...windchill brought it down to -20/-30 today and yesterday.

Here's an idea of the snow piled on the side of the driveway as Aaron cleared it yesterday...
THANK YOU Tammy & Ed for the snow blower!!!

A pic of our house (oh yeah, and the wreaths that we added to our outdoor decorations)

Our deck full of snow!

And I suppose we should show off our Christmas Tree :)

We don't have a themed tree - but, when we finish our basement and I get to have TWO trees, one will be themed. We have lots of ornaments from growing up, so we use those for the time being!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Just a little update...

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Rochester got tons of snow this weekend!! I LOVE IT! I wish I could go snowmobiling, sledding, skating, OR skiing like we would typically do...but not this year! So sad. We have the perfect weather for it! It definitely puts me in the Christmas spirit.

Not much new around here - we don't have another appointment until January 6, which still seems FOREVER away for me...but I'll try and wait patiently! I've been feeling pretty good. Nothing to complain about. I wish I could see our little baby every day like we get to when we have ultra sounds! I get so excited :) I haven't felt Lil Poppy move or anything, although it seems that some people can feel that this early in the pregnancy.

We had our first Christmas last Saturday. We are very lucky because our families all do Christmas at different times so we don't have to switch off each year or anything, we get to be with everyone! My parents started doing Christmas in mid-December. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures from the day. Usually I take a ton, but I only took 3 this year :) Our poor nephew Drew was sick with the flu, so we didn't get a group picture of my family like we were planning to do. We'll head up to Michigan over Christmas itself, and spend the weekend with Aaron's family up there. We're both pretty excited to be up there. Aaron's mom always does Christmas in January, so we'll have that to look forward to still.

Usually we would already be in Michigan for Christmas Eve and go to mass with Lowell, but this year we both have to work so we aren't heading up 'til Christmas day. We decided instead of driving all night on Christmas Eve and missing mass, we'll have our own Christmas and get up early in the morning :)

Well, it has just been a while since I posted anything, so I thought I should write a hello! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
.

Here is one of many pics we took out by my parent's house for our Christmas card. My mom was our photographer (thanks mom!!) I was actually surprised that Aaron was willing to put on the same colored shirt as me for the pictures. He's so easy-going sometimes! I told him next year if we have a boy I'm finding a matching sweater for them both to wear for our card, and he didn't seem to mind. Ha ha, we'll have to see about that one :)

****Happy Holidays!****

Monday, December 1, 2008

Meet Little Poppy!

Hi Everyone! Meet our Baby :) I had 8 pictures to choose from...but I figured you'd be okay with just a few! I didn't want to overwhelm you!

Hi Everyone, it's me...Lil P. Yep, that is a thumb...going for the mouth...mom told me I'll have to break that habit real quick!
.
Top of my head...and my fist :)

Daddy says I look like an alien in this pic. He's funny!

Mom can't get enough of my side profile pics. She can't wait to meet me...well, she will patiently wait 'til May 27, but she hopes that goes fast!!