Basketball Christmas!

Though today is St. Patricks' Day, we're not doing a single thing to "celebrate" that, because there is a much bigger event happening today: Basketball Christmas. Here's a picture of B and R watching Purdue play in last weekend's Big Ten Championship Game.

Quarterly blog posts, apparently?

Yeah, so this return to blogging is going swimmingly. At any rate, lots has happened since my last post; we're buying a house and I'm pregnant again!

Our lease isn't up for months, but we're tired of feeling crowded, and we hate having upstairs neighbors. The lease ends 2 weeks before my due date, and since R came 2 weeks early, we don't want to chance it - and I want to be settled into a new place before having to deal with newborn exhaustion. Plus, R will be dealing with so many changes AND the terrible twos, so buying early and eating the lease break fee seemed worth it to both of us. We'll miss the schmancy apartment swimming pool and its long opening hours, though our subdivision does have a large pool and playground. Best of all, we have a fenced backyard with pergola-covered back deck, so R can have safe outdoor time right at home!

We decided to start trying for #2 after New Year's, and BAM! positive pregnancy test on 1/24. We are nothing if not fertile, especially for a pair of 40-year-olds. I'm 10 1/2 weeks along, and so far so good - we chose to have an early dating ultrasound and got to see our little manatee - "Hulk" to match "Tank". We plan to use the Bay Area Birth Center - I have asked around but haven't gotten any positive information on any Clear Lake area hospitals and OBs who are natural birth-friendly. The only hospital whose website actively talked about their setup (tubs, etc) is in the Medical Center area, which could be an hour or more away during rush hour. Not trying to labor in stop and go traffic. So... freestanding birth center with midwives is our choice at this point. Neither of us is 100% sold on the idea - natural hospital birth was a great experience with R, and we'd do the exact same thing again if we still lived in Indianapolis. But unless I develop risk factors (or bad vibes about the experienced birth center), this seems to be the place with the birth process I'd like to have.

Baby Hulk at 8 weeks and change

So I haven't posted anything in a really long time... because life

The little widget I had on the top of the page says I'm 113 weeks pregnant! Two days after my last post, our little Tank was born. She's now a ferocious 17 month old who worships her daddy, loves the outdoors, and sings whenever she gets a chance.

We moved to Houston in August for a great new job opportunity for B (this is the same reason everyone moves to Houston, apparently). The incredible summer heat was a shock to the system, but the 75 degree weather on Christmas has been lovely - we went to the beach on Christmas Eve and waded in the stormy Gulf, then visited the gorgeous Moody Gardens Festival of Lights. They go all out for the holidays down here.

I intend to post more regularly again... we shall see!

Making progress (at last!) toward being baby-prepared...

Well, Tank, we're finally getting around to doing the "important" things to get ready to welcome you home - you know, like installing car seats and getting my hair colored.

This weekend we did install both car seat bases (don't worry, I've got a call in to the Noblesville Police Department for a safety inspection), got the crib and dresser delivered and crib built, got all the laundry items pre-washed, installed the car baby mirror and window shades, and got the nursery looking a little less chaotic and a little more like somewhere a baby would sleep. Whew!

 Our original furniture from buy buy Baby was delayed past your due date, so they hooked us up with a higher-end crib and dresser that were in stock! Great customer service and so pretty! (don't worry, you will get a mattress if you're a good girl)

Car seat bases wouldn't stay put in the middle of either of our cars, but we think we've got them secured properly on the passenger sides.

37 weeks down - "early term"!

Wow, Tank, we will meet you VERY soon! We've gotten a ton more stuff to fill out our baby supplies (though I'm sure we've forgotten some very important things that we'll discover as soon as we bring you home), your crib and dresser should be delivered this weekend, and I've been washing all your clothes, blankets, and baby things like a crazy woman. Brian calls this "nesting", but I just call it panicking. Either way, we are closer to being ready for your arrival (though nothing will make us 100% prepared). We also met with our birth doula, Sarah, and we feel excited about adding her to your welcoming team.

Part of my "preparation" was getting my hair professionally colored for the first time since before our wedding last September. It's a little more "purple" than I'd imagined, but it's WAY better than the gray/straw combo I had going on before.