My Not So Little Spaghetti Squash

Well here we are at week 22 already...I can't believe it!  Where has the time gone?  Baby is the size of a spaghetti squash!  Yum!  I can feel movements and kicks everyday now, and I am starting to figure out their daily routine.  The jellybean must looove chocolate, because I can barely get a Hersey kiss in my mouth and they are already dancing around!  Baby is most active in the evening when I'm laying in bed.  About 9pm is his/her time to have their own little dance party!  Noah reads Goodnight Moon every night, which we hope to continue when baby is born!

We are continuing to stock up the nursery, and our latest addition is the Ergo carrier which we got yesterday.  We find out the gender next week already and I'm so excited!  We have about equal guesses between girl and boy.  I don't have an overwhelming feeling either way, but my guess is girl, while Noah says boy.  Belly is growing fast, and I'm constantly trying to find something to wear that's not too tight or too loose!  Here's a fun bare belly comparison between 11 weeks and 21 weeks--

The funny thing is I clearly remember taking the 11 week picture, and thinking that I looked huge!  Haha.  It's fun to watch my belly grow and know that baby is warm and comfy in there growing along with it!

That's it in my baby world for this week, my next update should have the gender announcement unless jellybean doesn't cooperate! 

The Big News!

It's no secret, but it is new news for my blog!  On January 3rd, Noah and I found out we are having a baby!  Wahoo!  We couldn't be happier!  I am due September 12th, so I am in week 20 already.  I can't believe how fast time has flown!  All appointments have gone great, and we find out in about 3 weeks whether we have a little girl or boy to add to our family.  We (well, mostly I) have been busy researching every little thing to buy, and even though it's overwhelming, it's so much fun.  Our stroller (Bumbleride Indie) should arrive here tomorrow!  We have our crib and dresser set up, and I can't wait to fill the rest of the room!

 

I was lucky enough to have absolutely no morning sickness (or afternoon or evening at that!)  Just a bit tired, so naps were my friend!  I have my energy back now, although I still take the occasional nap here and there.  I also haven't had any weird cravings or anything.  I pretty much eat like I always have, with a few more snacks added in, of course.  

I starting feeling little flutters at 17 weeks, and now can feel them often, as well as the big ol' kicks!  Noah even felt his first kick a few nights ago!  We truly have a little wriggle worm on our hands!  Will baby have Noah's looong legs?  Maybe!  Oooh they must know I'm taking about them...there's a kick kick kick!

The Jellybean is already the size of a cute little canteloupe!   About 10 inches from head to heel.  Baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for the digestive system.  They are also producing meconium...pretty much the first poo!  Great!  I think I'll give Noah the honors of changing the first diaper, since he has never done it!

It's been so much fun following the baby's growth and development, and we cannot wait to meet him/her in the real world!  Here is my belly bump picture for the week:

Fast-Forward

Wow.  A whole TEN months have passed since my last blog.  Life must be either busy, or boring...and I choose BUSY!  Noah and I have accomplished a whole lot since last June.  We spent most of the summer working on building our house, and moved in on September 25th.  We are so in love with living here.  I get to spend mornings watching birds on the feeders, and Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird making their nest in our bluebird house.  I can't wait to see the little fuzzy bluebirds peeking out of the hole!  We got to see them last year, and it made me so happy.  When the weather lets me, I enjoy taking Harry for walks through our woods, and we are currently working on cutting some wider trails for some great summer walks.  We are hoping to get our grass in sometime this spring, and then eventually some trees and other landscaping.  Our final project will be a deck in the back, although that might have to wait until next summer.  Harry is especially loving life in the country.  He even ventured out last week to visit the cows down the road.  It's so nice that we can just let him out in the yard without worrying about hooking him up to a tree or anything. 

Here are some highlights of things we have done in the past 10 months:

We have also be blessed with another nephew!  Graham Lee Solem was born on February 12th!  He is such a cutie and Ben is a great big brother.  Noah and I are even lucky enough to be his God-parents!  What a blessing! 

Well that's enough of a re-cap.  Stay tuned for another blog with the greatest news of all!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Finally, a blog about something other than the house! Amazing! It's about BASEBALL! When we're not working on house things, we're at the ball park!!

First off, a big congratulations to the Eden Valley-Watkins high school baseball team! They won section 5A, and will play in the state tournament on Thursday in Jordan. We are hoping they win their first game that day so we can make it down to watch the second game scheduled for 5:30. If they win that game, they get to play in the championship game at Target Field on Saturday! We would definitely go watch that game too, which would mean 2 trips to Target Field for us this week! We are going to the Twins game tomorrow, and praying for no rain! Good Job Eagles and best of luck at STATE!!

Another big congrats goes to the Watkins Clippers amateur baseball team (Noah's team) for getting the bid to host the 2015 MBA State Tournament! They will be building a brand new grand stand, and making numerous updates around the field. The dugouts will be torn down this fall, and there is a lot of work to be done! Cold Spring will be the co-host, and I can't wait!!

That's all in baseball news today! The Clippers are still leading their league, and we're hoping for another state tourney appearance!!

House Update!

Well, it seems that I have gone missing from the blogging world! Ooopsies! I don't think anyone reads this anyways, so no big deal. Just a little house update...

-Marty & Melissa came to our land and helped us clear all the sumac. It looks great! We actually have a yard! It was a lot of work! We just have to go back and move the brush piles sometime soon and we're all set!

-We had the land witched and found a few different spots for our well. It was tons of fun to see that done, as I had never seen it before. It's crazy how some people just have the gift to detect water hundreds of feet below ground!

-I met the septic guy out there last week and we found the most ideal location for our septic. We unfortunately cannot do a gravity system, but no big deal. While up there that day I saw a deer, 2 bunnies, lots of butterflies, and there were 2 bluebirds in the bluebird house!

-Our loan was officially accepted, and we close on it next Wednesday! Yay! We knew that getting approved would be no trouble, but it feels good to know that it's done! Just another thing to check off the long to-do list.

-We have been busy BUYING things! My favorite part! I dreamed of the day we would finally get to go and buy things, instead of just looking. That day is here, and we're gathering a big pile of stuff in our basement. We even have our flooring picked out...5 inch engineered hand-scraped maple. Yummy.

-We are still planning on starting in July. Duane is framing a house in June, which should take 3 weeks (weather permitting) and then we're next on the agenda! Wahoo! It's getting closer and closer, and I have never been so darn excited!

And the Beat Goes On

Things have really been coming together with the house! We are waiting to hear back from the title company whether or not we can start clearing the land. Marty and Chris are coming to help us with that, so hopefully we can do it soon! We are meeting with the granite yard, Brian our drafter, and Duane our GC tomorrow. We will get our final final plans done so they can get to the bank by the end of the month. Once the bank gets them, they will schedule our appraisal the first week of May. Our appraisal will be good for 6 months, so hopefully we don't run into any snags! We are meeting Duane at our land, and will stake off our official house location! No pressure! Once we have that figured out, we can get our septic design, and finally our building permit.

We got the go-ahead to start buying things, so we (I) have been busy looking at EVERYTHING. We're keeping our eyes open for good sales, and figuring out exactly what we need. It's been lots of fun, and I'm really excited to start buying things! If anyone hears about good sales anywhere, let us know! We have most of the big items picked out (sink, faucet, appliances, some lighting) but waiting to buy them on sale. Getting impatient!

On another note, baseball season has started! YAYYYY! Noah is playing for the Watkins Clippers again this year, and we're hoping for another state tourney appearance! They had a great first game, beating St. Nick 13-6. The best part was Noah getting a home-run! He also went 3-6 with an RBI. He did awesome. They have their big home opener on Sunday, and it should be an awesome time. Come to Watkins to see them take on St. Augusta! Free hot-dog, hamburger, or slice of pizza and a drink with each paid admission! They will also be taking DVD footage at the game for their bid to have the state tourney in Watkins in 2013. That would be HUGE! I'm so excited that the season is finally here, and look forward to spending lots of time at the field and with the team! SO much fun.

Other than baseball and house stuff, we don't do a whole lot! A little fishing off the dock, and lots of walks with Harry! We are excited to start building, and look forward to moving into our dream home. I feel like the day will never come, but it will be here before we know it!

Stupendous SUNday!

Yesterday was such a great day! The sun was out, and we had such a fun agenda for the entire day. We started the morning at church, honoring Palm Sunday. Noah was even chosen to be one of the people to walk down the aisle twirling a ribbon in celebration. He did a good job, and I told him he was a very manly ribbon twirler.

After mass we can home and had a quick snack before heading to our next stop, Cabela's. Noah had a gift card to spend there and got lots of fishing stuff and some bow-hunting gloves. I even got myself a new hat! I really wanted to take home a moose, but I guess they aren't for sale. Hah.

As we continued heading south, we stopped in Maple Grove to have some lunch at Olive Garden. MMMmmmm. We filled our bellies and ventured on out. Oh! While at the Garden, I received the news that Nicole had her baby boy! YAY! I'm so excited for her and Ben; they will be amazing parents! Congrats to them!

We arrived downtown mpls with some time to spare before the Suns game, so we checked out Target Field--

It was awesome! I'm so excited to cheer on the Twins this summer in their new home! Here we are in the golden glove--

It was almost time for the doors to open at the Target Center, so we headed up for the game. I was so excited to see my Suns again! I think it's so funny at the Timberwolves games, when there are more Suns jerseys in the crowd than Wolves. Hehe. That's what they get for being a crappy team! They had lost 15 games in a row...would tonight make 16?

We made our way down down down to our awesome seats. Here was our view--

We were even closer than last year! It was a great game, and of course the Suns won. The Wolves had a comeback that made me a bit nervous, but I knew in the end the Suns would take them down. We had lots of fun, and I can't wait to see them again next year! It's gonna be tough to get any closer, but I will try!