Nesting 101

Well, yesterday we reached 16 weeks! I guess that must of have sparked something in us because we started nesting this weekend. Nothing major, but you might say we took some "baby steps" in our nesting process. Those of you who have been to our house know that we have a good size guest room which is becoming the baby's nursery. And our guest room also houses a bunch of "extras" including a bowflex which all need to be moved out. So, before we can get to the fun part of nesting -- decorating the nursery -- we have to make space in other rooms for the stuff from the guest room.

On Saturday, nesting meant fixing something that has been causing us unneeded stress in the mornings -- an unbalanced shower organizer. I know. I know. It sounds silly, but we had one of those shower organizers that hang over the shower head. Problem was that it didn't quit fit our shower and no matter how hard we tried, it never balanced. Because I take my shower in the morning long before Asa wakes up, this meant that I spent most of my time trying to avoid removing shampoo in a way that would cause the body wash to tumble out. Very stressful when you are barely awake! When it did fall, of course, Asa would wake up and think I had fallen, which in turn would stress him out. Silliness, I know. But we have solved the problem with a corner shower caddy which is supported by a tension rod between the ceiling and the floor. I cannot tell you how awesome and stress-free my shower was this morning. Glorious!

We also decided to nest on Saturday by introducing some other living things into our lives. Prior to Saturday, the only living things in our house included Asa and me and our two lovely cats. (Hopefully!) We had absolutely no living plants because I managed to kill the couple that I had shortly after we moved in a couple years ago. I have recently purchased some fun new pottery, so we decided to plan some succulents in them to liven up the place. For anyone that has a black thumb like me, I highly recommend succulents. They are like cactus in that they don't need to be watered very much, so you can ignore them and the love you for it!

Today, Asa has really kicked it into gear with the nesting. He has been a cleaning and organizing maniac! I've mostly just watched and I had to take a nap this afternoon because he made me so tired! Our main project was a storage idea Asa had this morning. Because most of the stuff in the guest room is being moved into what is going to be Asa's office, we have had to come up with some new storage solutions for the crap (sorry, that really is the best description) that we keep in the closet in Asa's office. This summer, we installed a murphy bed in the closet in my office because, it seems, when we have guests, we tend to need more than one guest bed. This has worked out very well so far. Anyway...I digress. Since we have so many beds, we have amassed a large collection of sheets and we have never had a good storage solution for them. So, Asa suggested installing shelves in the unused space above the murphy bed. They work fabulously. Here are a few pictures of Asa installing the shelves and finished product.

Now Asa is still working like crazy to organize all of the different rooms upstairs. I think he is starting to freak out a little bit. He keeps saying: "Oh my gosh, we are almost halfway to the due date!" I'm not so freaked out yet, but I'm sure it is on the way.

Sorry this second post has taken so long. Asa's been traveling for the past two weeks and I had no idea what email address and password he used to set this up. We'll try to do better in the coming weeks!

BIG NEWS!!

Obviously, from the title of the blog, you know by know we, Kristol and I, are expecting a baby to join our family in September 2009. We are very excited and have already been through two ultrasounds. The baby is 13 and a half weeks along now. We will be updating this blog regularly, or more likely, semi-regularly.

We don't really consider ourselves the blogging type, but I guess things are changing. So, we'll give this a shot! This way we can gush and dote and otherwise make asses of ourselves -- essentially being cheesey -- on a worldwide stage!! Feel free to share our joy (and our goofy awkward attempts at learning to be parents) with your friends and family. Please comment early and often. Please make special requests for blog topics and posed photos, we will do our best to fulfill. Hope to hear from you soon.


Asa & Kristol


January 26, 2009 Ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound on January 26, 2009. At this point Kristol was 7 weeks along. This is the first picture of our new baby. It was approximately .48 inches long and the baby's heart rate was 167 beats per minute. The ultrasound tech commented that it was a "strong" heart rate. That made both Kristol and I proud -- our baby, only 7 weeks old, less than half an inch tall and already getting A's.

March 4, 2009 Ultrasound

Our 2nd ultrasound was on March 4, 2009. The baby had grown to 2 and a half inches. BOO-YEAH. We are cooking an athlete up in there...not likely. We were able to see both hands, both feet, stomach, brains, nose bone, and heart beating. It was very moving. There was our kid, we could see its face, its round little head, and four little limbs. Then the tech moved to measure the baby's heart rate. The tech deftly found the tiny beating heart. The monitor lit up with the flicker of the beating and rhythmical swoosh that is our baby's life. A few beats into the measurements, the room fell silent. The once multi-peaked line went flat.

Both Kristol and I were taken aback for a very brief moment, not knowing why it stopped so suddenly. Of course we assumed the worst. Thankfully then the tech said nonchalantly, "Oh, the baby moved." It moved. Holy #*@%, this is really real now!! And sure enough, you could see the baby move its arm!! We could see the baby's legs move!! It was amazing. We are definitely looking forward to getting the 3D ultrasound. When we do, we will post the video...

If anyone wants to see more of the ultrasound pictures, just email me and I will send them to you. But, for the most part, they are essentially the same as those above. We would really love to hear from you all. Take care.