one month

i am due one month from today!
yikes...and yea!
i am currently 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced.
i know that doesn't necessarily mean she's coming any time soon,
but it is more progressed than i was with logan when i was 3 days overdue so i'll take it!

melts my heart

i took logan and his friend finn to the zoo. i heard logan saying "hands" and turned around to see this.he will still randomly say "finn" and "hands" together and smile. i think it really made him happy to hold hands with finn!
in case you're wondering, logan is not still in a rear facing carseat. i just didn't have 2 big car seats to get us to the zoo so we improvised!

logan has never been very cuddly or affectionate. but as he has gotten older he has become a little more affectionate (we take every little bit we can). this particular morning logan asked for me to get "bear" out of his bed and he walked around giving him a hug. it's a start. his hugs have recently extended from bear to his dad. if logan is awake when dave leaves for work he will walk dave to the door, say "hug" and allow dave to hug him (he doesn't quite get how to wrap his arms around and give a hug quite yet) and then will say "kiss" and give dave a kiss (or let dave kiss him).

logan wasn't feeling well and i got a rare 5-10 minutes of snuggling (that was a sure sign he wasn't feeling well. otherwise he is usually too busy running around to snuggle). i must say i was in heaven (even though i was sad he wasn't feeling well).

a typical morning

our day usually starts at 7:30 am
we'll "snuggle" in my bed and read books for awhile
until logan's need for a cup of milk overcomes his love of reading books
we have cereal for breakfast
after breakfast he requests to dance and we turn on the music (usually my running mix) to shake it
i get logan dressed
he plays with cars (or begs to read and i convince him to play with cars) while i get dressed
3 mornings a week we head to the gym and logan can't wait to play at the kids club. he asks for it every morning.

logan is totally into tunnels right now. he turns anything he can into a tunnel. under the kitchen table and chairs or the computer chair in our bedroom are currently his favorite tunnels to play cars in. he has mastered the army crawl to get under the bars of the chairs.

he recently discovered a tub of girl clothes. he thought this bathing suit bottom made a perfect hat! he brought it to me and asked me to put it on. he played around while wearing it for at least 30 minutes. i think it makes him look kinda girly.

if we're lucky aunt kari will come by for a visit and read books with logan

baby bumps (weeks 32-34)

i have only taken one baby bump picture this whole pregnancy, so a few weeks ago i finally had dave take another. and then i didn't get around to posting it. so the next week i had him take another. same story. i was determined it would happen the following week, so now you get 3 weeks in a row (although the last picture was taken last week, so i'm a little behind again. at the end of this week i will be 35 weeks!)

this pregnancy has flown by! a couple of weeks ago i wrote a list of things i wanted to accomplish before the baby comes and when i finished writing i thought, "well, i better get my booty in gear because time is dwindling and this list is long!" of course they are things that don't really have to happen before the baby comes (i doubt she cares if under my bed is organized or the kitchen cupboards have been wiped out...i'm in full nesting mode), but i work well under pressure so we'll see what i can accomplish. hopefully things like painting her room and finding her a bed will happen before she comes though ;) we can now officially say that we will have a baby next month! yikes...and yipee!!

i just found this picture

dave's best friend zach and his new bride heather visited at christmas time. in keeping with tradition we met up at citypub (let's not even talk about the fact that they had just run out of their blueberry habanero wings, THE reason we go there). despite our wingless night, we had a great time visiting until logan was in full meltdown mode and we had to leave. i love seeing dave and zach together. we're keeping our fingers (and toes) crossed that eventually he and heather will make it back to colorado.

sweethearts day!

by the time valentine's day rolls around we have been through months of non-stop holidays and birthdays and usually the budget has run dry for something extravagant. but we still manage to celebrate and make it special. logan and i got to meet dave for lunch at a greek restaurant. getting to see him in the middle of the day is always a treat (not to mention that the food was soo good)!

i wanted to do something for special for dave, so he came home to find a note on the front door that said,
roses are red, violets are blue
i'm lucky to say i'm "tied" to you!
follow the string, that's your only clue,
somewhere at the end a surprise will be waiting for you!

the string led him through the house and ended in our room where logan and i were waiting with a little basket of goodies for him and a love note made from conversation hearts. the night ended with homemade chicken parmigiana, martinelli's, chocolate caramel brownies and starting our taxes (what is more romantic than finding out how much money you're going to get back?!)

these two have taught me the most about love...real love, true love. the kind that extends through both good and bad, hard and easy. the kind that is patient, selfless and willing to sacrifice. the kind that makes every moment better. i'm so glad i'm "tied" to these two eternally!

thirty

somehow i am 30 years old (and have been for almost a month. i'm a little slow with the blogging)! there is something about "being in your thirties" that seems significantly older than "being in your twenties." when my brother-in-law was reminded that it was my 30th birthday he told his wife, ""WOW! i'm going to freak out when i turn 30!" luckily i can say that i didn't freak out (although i did start to wonder where the last 8 or so years have gone) and it was a great day! it started out with dave giving me a collection of letters/thoughts/memories that he had collected from friends and family. i LOVED it! it brought back many wonderful memories and was a reminder of the incredible people i am blessed to have in my life (so thank you if you contributed)! i visited my favorite stylist for a little sprucing up of my hair color, hung out with my dad and then got to have cafe rio for lunch with these wonderful ladies.

i came home and took a nap and was awakened by my sweet hubby, presents and gorgeous roses (please note the creative wrapping since our wrapping supplies were in logan's room where he was sleeping. i love that dave used multiple neckties to wrap the present).

these are THE MOST GORGEOUS roses i have ever seen. i had never seen white roses tipped with lavender. they made me so happy!

dave had arranged to drop off logan at my parent's house so we could go out to a nice dinner. he wouldn't tell me where (which i was fine with because i LOVE surprises), but he made a HUGE deal about how we needed to drop off logan by 7:00 or we would miss our reservation (he even gave me a 5 minute time limit to talk to my mom when we dropped logan off. he knows how we are). i wasn't suspicious by how many times he reminded me of this because i am notoriously running late and i figured it must be really important to be on time to this restaurant (imagine that;). all of his reminders worked and i was patting myself on the back when we even got to my parent's house a few minutes early. we went in to drop off logan and i found my parent's family room PACKED with friends and family there to surprise me. i think i stood there shocked for a minute. i had no idea (i can't believe how quiet all the kids were) and it was PERFECT! to be honest, i had been hoping dave would do something like this, but i didn't want to get my hopes up in case he couldn't read my mind ;) i can't think of a better way to celebrate the BIG 30. dave knew just what i would love...spending it with friends and family, amazing food and making it all a surprise!

even though the pictures are too small to show it, dave had me wear an "over the hill" button/ribbon. it was even made for someone turning 30. i thought i still had 10 years until the "over the hill" jokes were supposed to start.

beautiful tulips from my friend nina

i had to post this because it is such a mom thing to do...picking at my son's nose!!

i love this guy! he is soo good to me. he worked so hard to pull this off (and was totally stressed because his original plan fell through. he didn't sleep well the whole week of my birthday because of it. i obviously didn't know the real reason). he took a half day from work (unbeknownst to me) to shop and decorate (thanks to everyone else who helped him). but probably the thing that meant the most to me is that he used his own birthday money to make it happen. money is tight right now and throwing a big party wasn't in the budget. but dave wanted my birthday to be special and used all the birthday money he had received a few weeks earlier to pay for it. even a month later as i type this, i cry thinking about what he sacrificed to make me happy. i love you david james!

so far i am feeling really good about 30 (although still "old"). as the inevitable moments of reflection have come, i realize that i am right where i hoped i would be at this stage in my life...being a wife and a mother. those two things bring me greater happiness than any other list of "accomplishments" can.