Girls' Only (OK, one boy allowed!)

A few weeks ago I was able to get together with a few of my favorite gals for a fantastic lunch and a little more Caden-spoiling.

Anyone who knows JZ, knows that he has had a very tight group of friends since high school. I have watched these boys grow up (although I use that term loosely!) and each marry (close enough Trav and Marie!) wonderful ladies. I feel very lucky that, not only do I enjoy spending time with them as couples, but I also consider each one of these gals a great friend.

Unfortunately, none of the girls could attend the shower last month, so we did the next best thing - we had our own shower luncheon! The girls were so sweet to organize our get together, and they spoiled Caden and I!

Here are some pics from our afternoon...

A perfect gift from Katie, the sports fan - a Broncos onesie and cap and a Rockies jersey

These are pee-pee teepees. You are supposed to put them on the pee-pee during diaper changes to prevent spraying. I'm willing to try it!

Allison, Charmaine, me, Marie, and Katie - thanks girls, love you!

Snow Update

Well, the snow has moved out of CO and we are now shoveling out under a beautiful blue sky. We are estimating that we have about 1.5 feet of snow at our house. We spent yesterday driving the "Relaxi-Taxi" - I think I finally got out of my pj's about 4:00. Here are a few pics from the last two days

This is Thursday morning - the first of many shovels. There's probably about 6-8 inches here.

It had been so long since we had a big snow, Belle forgot she really likes the snow. She refused to go outside Thursday morning. When we finally pushed her out she took three steps and did her business on the deck. That did not make Daddy happy, so he shoveled her a path out to the grass. She still thought that was too much work and continued to do her stuff on the deck for the rest of the day. Here she is watching Daddy shovel. Too cold for this Princess!

Friday morning - about 1.5 feet in the front yard



Belle finally remembered that she really DOES like the snow!

You can see how much snow we really had. It was so windy and drifted so high in some places that it is over Belle's head.

Today we ARE going to get out of the house. JZ decided not to go skiing. The mountains did not get the snow we did down here, and it would have taken him forever to get out of the city. We are off to see the new Disney movie Monsters vs. Aliens - in 3D!!!

Snow Day!

Normally, I don't like the phone ringing at 5:15AM. Today was a different story. Today the phone call came from our school secretary letting me know that they had canceled school. Snow Day! The craziest part was that it had not even started snowing yet. Here's my theory on Jefferson County's snow day policy - it doesn't really matter how bad the drive TO school is going to be (I have driven in some treacherous conditions!), it's the possibility of us getting stuck at school that is the problem. As long as the snow stops before school lets out, we have to go. If they predict (as they are today) that the heaviest snow is going to fall in the afternoon, everyone panics that the little people might be stuck and we get a snow day. Whatever the thinking, it works for me! We don't have school tomorrow anyway, and next week is Spring Break, so my vacation has officially begun!

Currently, we are under a blizzard warning, and they are predicting 8-16 inches in the metro area. JZ quickly ran to the grocery store to grab us some chili fixings before the roads get any worse. He has been in Portland this week and was not supposed to be home until after midnight tonight. When I told him about the blizzard warning he canceled today's meeting and jumped on a flight last night. He didn't land until midnight, but he was able to get home before the snow started. He very sweetly told me that he came home early because he was afraid that he would get stuck in Portland and he never wanted to not be able to get home in case of an emergency with the baby (I have reread that sentence a hundred times, but I can't figure out how to make it less confusing!). Very sweet, but I know the real reason is that he is dying to go skiing tomorrow -the mountains are getting dumped on too!

So here we are, hunkering down, watching movies, and eating chili. I love Spring blizzards!

Babymoon

This weekend Jeremy and I went on a Babymoon - a Babymoon is one last weekend away before the little one comes. We decided to go to one of our favorite places, Winter Park. We spent all weekend hanging out, staying up late talking about our fears and dreams for Caden, and enjoying the beautiful CO weather.

I took Fri. off and we slept in late, went to breakfast, took Belle on a walk, and then left for WP that afternoon. We stayed at one of our favorite places, a B & B called the Wild Horse Inn. They have a beautiful lodge, but they also have some cabins. Last time we stayed there, we were inside the lodge. This time we rented one of the cabins so Belle could come too! The whole family got to be together, and Belle was an ANGEL the whole weekend. Who knew?!? Guess she wants to come with us again.

Fri. night we had dinner with Megan and Geoff at a super pizza place. Sat. JZ went skiing with the Hendersons while I hit went on a nice walk (within cell range, don't worry!) and then I hit the spa! Although we weren't together, we were both in our happy places (seriously, during labor, when they tell me to go to my "happy place," you can bet that's where I'm going to be!). Saturday night we had a fancy-shmancy five course dinner at the top of WP mountain. Since I haven't been able to get up on the mountain all winter, we decided to go up for dinner. After hours they take some of the chairs off of one of the lifts, and put on some gondolas. We rode up to the top just as the sun was setting and had a great meal of rib eye and buffalo. Yummo!

Sunday, we, very sadly, said goodbye to WP and headed home. Although we were sad to have our weekend end, we are still basking in the glow of a perfect time!

Our cute cabin

Caden and I are ready to head up the hill

The Lodge at Sunspot - where we ate dinner

Quick Dr. Update

Yesterday we had our 31 week doctor's appointment. The doctor was pleased with how both Caden and I were doing. She said everything looked great! She couldn't tell us much about his size - just that I was measuring "average", so he is probably average size. She is guessing that he currently weighs about 4 1/2 pounds. She was pleased with my weight gain (hmmm...really?!?), blood pressure, and there was only a trace of protein in my urine. All good things! No one seemed to be overly concerned about my swollen feet. They just told me to lay down as much as possible and gave me some things to watch for that would warrant a trip back in. We talked a lot about how active he is - especially in the middle of the night. She said that 90% of her patients say that their babies are more active at night. Hopefully this is not indicative of his natural body clock! She reminded me that while it might be uncomfortable and slightly annoying, it's a good thing - he is practicing movements and getting stronger. I'll try to remember that...

We will go back in one month - 35 weeks. They will test me for Strep B (not harmful to me, but harmful to him during delivery. If I test positive they just put me on antibiotics) and do an ultrasound to make sure that he is head down. After that, we start to go more often. They will see us at 37 weeks and (depending on how I'm feeling) again at 38 or 39, and then every week after that (hopefully not too much more!). It's hard to believe that we only have about 3 more appointments!

Just a little bit longer Caden, you've got a little more cookin' to do. We're ready and we can't wait to meet and snuggle you!

Still Messy...Must Need Another Shower!

Last weekend my friend, Amanda, and the church chicks (hey, that could be a new musical group!) hosted another fabulous shower for us. What hostesses they are - with a variety of talents! Andi made BEAUTIFUL flower arrangements, Steve (Mandy's husband) made a cute guest book tree that is going to be hung up in Caden's room, Amanda created a hilarious game (see below), and a bunch of church ladies all pitched in to provide food. It was a recipe for fun, fun, fun!

Amanda created a "Training Academy" game for us to participate in. She decided that since I was a Princess, I needed some training before I could become the mother of a boy. We all got into teams of 5 and went through our stations - diapering, first aid, ESPN Zone, Lego building, and sound effects. I am sad to say that my team did not win, but we did have a good showing. I'm pretty sure that the winning team bribed Noah and Eli (the Lego rocket judges) and that is how they won, but I can't prove that yet...

Again, people were so generous with their love and their gifts. I even convinced Jeremy to come for a little while. He was not overly excited to attend a "chick event", but he too is grateful to everyone for their generosity and wanted to show his appreciation too. This was his first baby shower - he was a little overwhelmed, and spent most of the time playing with the kids, but he was a great sport!

Wow, it looks like a baby has taken over our house, but we still have to wait. The other night JZ said, "I'm just ready for him to get here." All the stuff has really began making us anxious. At the beginning, 9 months felt like such a short time. We wondered if we would be ready by then. Now, with 9ish weeks left to go, we're feeling like 9 months is FOREVER.

I have also decided that Baby Caden is coming straight out of the womb and going into time out. He is an active (a.k.a. naughty) little friend, that is for sure! I must rock him to sleep as I move through the day, but come night time - it is Dance Party USA in my belly! His favorite time of day appears to be around 4 AM. The other night, he was awake and dancing from 4-5 AM, so I am one tired gal these days. I appreciate him letting me know that he is alive and doing well in there, but possibly he could do it a little earlier in the day. Just a thought.

Here are a few fun pics of the church shower at Mandy's house

30 weeks - ready for the shower!

Here we are at the diapering station. I learned some valuable information!

The crying children at the First Aid station. We had to find their "boo-boos", but band-aids on them, and kiss it better.

Building our rockets

Caden's autograph tree!

Showers of Love

Last weekend my dear friends April, Kelly, and Megan hosted an amazing baby shower for me. The girls worked so hard to make it special for me. They even got JZ involved. They asked him baby themed questions and videotaped his responses. It was hysterical! Apparently Caden is going to be "very athletic" and will be crawling by three months, he's "budgeting $14,000" for the first year of his life (excuse me?!?), and sleeping will not be a problem because we'll just put him in one of those "swing thingys with his arm above his head" (pretty sure he's talking about swadling.). All of this while wearing his I Love Lindsey t-shirt. It was priceless!

I could not get over how EXTREMELY generous our friends and family were. This will be one loved (and well-dressed) little friend. We are so grateful for everyone's generosity - you are amazing! After it was over, Jeremy's mom, Donna, loaded all of the gifts up in her truck (my mom and I were talking...), drove them over to our house (again, we were still talking...) and unloaded all of them into the living room (about that time we decided it was probably safe for us to go home). By the time I got home, she had laid everything out and organized it like Babies R Us. There was a personal care section, clothes section, big items section... you get the idea. When I saw it laid out so I could really look at it, I was so overwhelmed. It really looked like a store in our living room! When JZ finally got home from a successful American Cancer Society ski-athon day, he dragged himself into the house and was met with the gifts. He was a total deer in the headlights. He just stood there with this bewildered look on his face. It was too funny! We spent Sunday organizing (sort of) and putting our new toys together. It was better than Christmas!

The onesie says, "I Love My Mommy"

Is that my living room or Babies R Us? Holy smokes!

The day after - Daddy trying to figure out how the Diaper Genie works

It's a good thing we have Curious George. He tried out all of the gadgets for us. Here he is ready to go for a car ride.

The generosity of our friends and family has really made me start thinking. Jeremy and I often say how lucky we are to have such kind, loyal, loving, and caring people in our lives. We just have neat friends and family! As was demonstrated this last weekend, they are generous, and we are grateful. They have always supported and loved us, and for that, we are also grateful. Now, we are able to appreciate them even more. It is one thing to love us. It is a whole other ballgame to love our child. My friend, Amanda, often says, "Thanks for loving my kids." I always thought, "They're cute, smart, and fun to be around. Why wouldn't I love them?" I now get it. The idea of people loving our child - one that no one has even met yet, but just based on his gene pool is destined to be calm and well-mannered (!) - is indescribable. It is a better gift than any car seat, stroller, or swing we could have ever received (although we love those too!). Thank you, thank you, thank you, we are blessed!