Our 5th Anniversary!

We really started celebrating in Galena, but the actual day of our anniversary we commemorated it again alone in a little more laid back Steve and Lori fashion. We took the day off, slept very late… Lounged around and slowly got ready… Took the dogs for a walk… Did a little shopping…went to the Star Trek movie in the late afternoon – which, by the way was a REALLY good movie…and then rounded the evening off by cooking out. Sounds a little boring but it was a great way to celebrate. We are in the middle having our deck expanded, rebuilt and enhanced with a Pergola to try to make it more usable during the sunny hours. This is what we are choosing to do instead of real vacations and presents right now.

5 years -Doesn’t seem like it has been that long, so I guess that is a good sign….I still like him too =) Check back with me in another 20 to 30 years, but I am hoping to be able to still say the same thing – it’s a good start anyway.

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend, Steve and I had the very generous offer from our friends Jeff and Cathy to share in their timeshare credits at a Galena IL resort to enjoy a nice long weekend with them.

We took an extra day off on Friday and headed to Cedar Rapids on our way to Galena - so we could meet Kerry and Sawyer for a late lunch (we don’t move too fast on a day off ;) since as luck would have it they were in town for the weekend. We also dropped Ollie and Zeus at Mom and Dad’s since they had kindly agreed to dog-sit their granddogs for the weekend. It was great to have a chance to visit with Kerry and see Sawyer…he is getting SO BIG – SO FAST…it is amazing. He is a good boy and a lot of fun! Kerry thought she was funny and found me some McClure Brand Pickles….(cute pregnancy joke : ) If they would just move home to where they belong we wouldn’t have such short visits….KERRY ANN!

Then it was off to Galena to meet Jeff and Cathy… Lots of relaxing, eating good food, drinking/watching drinking of a many drinks and shopping for the whole weekend. We really appreciated the opportunity to join them and had a great time!

First Present for Baby Barstow!

I got a surprise when I picked Steve up from work today. He had a present (which he left wrapped for me) from our friends Cindi and Nate (Steve works with Cindi) for baby Barstow. It was a children’s book by Sandra Boynton called “Moo, Baa, La La La!”. Cindy said it was a favorite of her kids and always made them giggle (but you have to do the voices, she warned;). It is very cute - Thanks Cindi and Nate!

Happy Birthday Tim and Nicolle!

Tim and Nicolle’s birthdays are both on the 17th of May and this year was a special one for Nicolle – (she is finally starting to catch up to me;), so they had a little dinner and downtown -hopping excursion planned to celebrate. We had a great dinner with them and many of their friends at The Royal Mile…unfortunately the hopping was a little difficult since it was a Saturday night downtown and we were a large group, but we manage to have a good time and spent most of the rest of the evening at El Bait Shop which is always fun. I being the only sober one however, left my phone there at the bar and had to return to get it when we had almost driven all the way home. Perhaps this means I am more lucid when I drink? Maybe it just means I am absent minded? Let’s go with that – we’ll blame it on Barstow.

The first of many modesty robbing adventures

Ok, so it was finally time for my first real exam of this whole P process. I was the silly one who wanted my husband there in the room with me. Usually I get a full length paper gown that opens in the front and a nice paper blanket to drape over my bidness… but no, apparently when you are going to have a baby they want to rob you of any humility and shyness you might have left right up front. I was given a short vest length paper garment that opens in the front (no longer than mid-back). I was happy to hear that all my blood tests and exam was fine, we got to hear Barstow’s heart again and everything seemed to be moving along as it should…but I was never so happy to have a Dr’s visit over with! Needless to say I told Steve he only really needed to come to the Ultrasound appointments from now on;)

Good Friends and Family

As we have told our other friends and family about Barstow, they have been very excited and helpful. My friend Kerry has been ready with all sorts of enthusiasm, advice, and reading materials – she sent me a really great book that is a tremendous resource. My Myra-loo sent me my very first Mother’s day flowers to work on the Friday before Mother’s day and incidentally again on Monday since the floral shop made a mistake

=) Gretchen brought me a beautiful hydrangea plant that has since regrettably taken a turn for the worse before I could get it into the ground…I hope I can save it :( I appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm; it makes me even more excited!

Mommy's Day

My Brother Bruce, Nephew Wil and myself headed to Cedar Rapids for Mother’s day on that Sunday. Everyone was able to make it except for Cathy and the fam. We missed them. It was a nice day and we were able to spend most of it outside which is always more fun when the kids have room to run. I enjoyed having the chance to make a big deal out of my Mommy, celebrating Zoey, Samantha, Alex and Jenna's birthdays...but mostly just hanging out with the fam.

And so the busy spring begins....

On May 8th we went to our friend Heather’s college graduation party at Ledges State Park, which is my favorite park around here. It is beautiful for many reasons, but especially because it is very lush and hilly which is a little hard to come by around here. We had a great time catching up with some old friends. We were greeted at home by our friend Gretchen who was crashing with us for the night after taking a Grad class in town and her and Steve got to enjoy many beers in front of me. They seem to enjoy tormenting me together ;)

Bye Deb :(

Steve’s sister Deb has recently decided to make a move to Arkansas to see what a change of scenery might have to offer her. On Saturday the 9th we got together with her and Tim (Steve’s Brother) and Nicolle and Colin to spend a little time with her before she left us the following weekend. We had fun hanging out and playing old-style lawn darts and Wii.

HOLY CRAP =)

It is interesting the way the mind works, but I will have to admit that I still really didn’t believe it until I saw it for my own eyes at our first Ultrasound on May 6th (during our 12th week). For all I know they play the same video of an active dancing little guy starting to strongly resemble a little person - for everyone….but all I could think was…HOLY CRAP, there really is a baby in there! Measuring a whole 1.7 inches (4.53 CM) long from crown to rump, Barstow looked to be pretty active in there with a normal heart rate of 171 that time.