Nursery Update

So I have been itching to get the baby's room finished - and we are almost there! Well, at least with a lot of it. We have had the crib set up for quite some time now, and it just seemed so lonely without other stuff in there. Will wouldn't let me paint due to "toxins" even though I think it would've been totally fine - since it was low VOC paint and didn't even smell like paint! But either way, we recruited his mom and sister to help us paint last weekend and it was DONE in an hour and a half.

Here are some pictures of the process:

This is the "before" picture with the paint sample on the wall.

Will and Shannon painting the green wall:

Everyone working on the chocolate wall:

Me observing. My husband is ridiculous and wouldn't let me in the room without a painter's mask on. So I got to sit and watch the whole time.

Finished product - the green isn't very strong in this photo, but trust me - it looks good!

We also got a new dresser for the little guy. The nursery theme is "Teddy Bears" with chocolate and sage green accents. Somewhat gender neutral - but we didn't plan it that way.

My mom got us this awesome teddy bear crib bedding set from our amazon.com registry. I LOVE it!! She also got the teddy bear that's on top of the dresser, too. : )

I am so excited for this summer! I can't wait for the little guy to get here. He has been moving a lot more this past week. I haven't been able to feel him a whole lot as of yet since I have what they call an anterior placenta, so its been a padding between my belly and the baby, hiding and any movement I would have felt - but just this past week I felt him shift and I can actually feel his kicks now! Its pretty awesome - and quite a relief actually. I think as he gets bigger I'll be able to feel him more. Its nice because Will can actually feel his kicks now too - which he hasn't been able to before.

I think I'm starting to "nest", which Will loves because I actually accomplish things on my days off. I think he's actually getting annoyed with it too though because I'm constantly wanting to tackle projects - which he isn't always up for. In particular, I'm kinda obsessed with cleaning up our yard now that the weather is warming up. I'm constantly out there "thinking" about what I can do. We cleaned up the entire flower bed in front of our front porch this past weekend (with the help of my nephews) and that was a relief. It will be nice to plant some flowers there, instead of having ugly red bark. I honestly think we may have bit off more than we can chew in regards to this yard - but its ours now, and its up to us to clean it up. Its going to be a few years until its where I want it, but it will be worth it when we have a toddler and we can play outside in our nice yard. For now though we have to convince our neighbors behind us to pay for the tree trimming that is crowding our yard - once that is taking care of it will feel so much better. Oh man, my "to-do" list is ever getting longer!

Yesterday, while Will was at work, I literally cleaned the house from 9am until he got home at 4:30pm with no breaks. I was exhausted but it felt good to tackle so many projects.

I have a feeling this is going to last a while longer, and I don't mind being so productive - since anyone who knows me knows that my biggest problem is not being productive on my days off and constantly feeling "bored" - so I'm really enjoying this! : )

100th Post

Ahem.... since 2008. Only 100 blog posts? Yeah, apparently I don't blog very much. The new goal that I am setting for myself is 100 additional posts in the next year. I figure life is changing dramatically for us in the coming months - and maybe, just maybe, I'll have more to post about! Even if not, I'm sure I can just post pictures of the baby and surely I'll end up with 100 posts in the next year! :)

Today, while Will had to work, I went with Will's family to the Wildlife Sanctuary up North by Fort Morgan (aka, middle of nowhere). It was pretty awesome! Bears, lions, tigers, wolves and other wild animals could be seen. It was such a gorgeous day to boot. Apparently this is the largest real wildlife sanctuary in the United States. They just flew in 25 circus lions from Bolivia to live at this sanctuary. We couldn't see them, since they were being re-habitualized in this big building on-site - but its pretty neat that they are able to save animals in need.

Here are a couple videos from the day.

We were standing on this platform above the animals, so there were lots of shadows.

Also, it happened to be feeding day. They get fed 3 times a week - since that is about how often they would eat in the wild. So the animals were very very anxious since they knew it was feeding day.

And here is our very own "wild" animal:

In other news: I fried my blackberry on accident on Thursday - which totally sucked since my upgrade with Verizon isn't until July which is when I was planning to get an iPhone. Luckily my mom donated her available upgrade so I was able to get my new phone early! I am so so excited! I went into Verizon Friday after work thinking I'd be leaving without a phone, but they actually worked with me and were able to get my upgrade transferred by just calling my dad for approval (since my parents live out-of-state I thought it was going to be a very lengthy and complicated process to take my mom's upgrade). I wasn't even planning on leaving with a phone - but I was so relieved and happy when I did! Woohoo for the iPhone!

Having an iPhone is also probably going to help me in my goal to do 100 more blog posts in the next year. Who knows - maybe I'll do even more than that! :)

Celebrating GREEN

Yesterday we celebrated St. Patty's Day with a festive dinner! Will's mom and sister joined us as well and it was a festive occasion! I even had the "Sounds of the Season" music station playing on the tv - which was irish music! I love St. Patrick's Day. I think its my mom's doing that is the reason why I like this holiday so much. She always dyed our milk green growing up ... and I did it too this year! I think it weirded Will out, but it was fun!

Corned Beef and Cabbage bake:

Green Spinach Salad (with strawberries, red onion and gorgonzola cheese):

Grandma's Green Jello Salad:

Chocolate Cake with GREEN frosting:

All together - with the green milk, of course. We also had Bottled Root Beer with dinner. Very Irish? I don't know - but I'd like to think so!

I'm so excited for the little guy to be here for St. Patty's Day next year! I hope he likes this holiday too!