Beautiful Start to a Productive Weekend....

Well, I finally remembered why I live in Chicago.....when the weather turns off warm for the first day in a LONG time, transplant Chicagoans (or, I guess just Scott and I) breathe a collective sigh of relief. "Oh, this is why I like living here!" Friday and Saturday were the best days we have had in such a long time. We had our 35 week appointment on Friday and we are looking great! We were able to meet another doctor in the practice and we really like her. She said that my weight gain was perfect and right on track. I have this fear that I am cooking a 10 lb'er..... Seriously! Dr. Buscher seems to think that Ella will be 7.5-8 lbs which is way more managable than a 10 pound baby...We ended the day with take out and an early dinner. Perfect Friday night for me.
After taking the pups for a warm and loooonnggg walk with a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts and crusing Hamlin Park, I left to meet up with some new moms I have met in the past few months. A lot of the girls I haven't seen since early February and most have had their babies! So fun to see what my life will look like in a 4.5 weeks. It is so nice to have first time mom friends to give you their perspectives and experience. They are all so nice and I hope to see them again soon! Hopefully, I will be able to hang with them a little more when I go out on maternity leave. Walks and coffee grabbing will be in order. I stole a picture that was taken of the little ones on Saturday that are already here. They are all boys! Ella will have a ton of boyfriends to play with!



We ran errands (shocker) on Saturday afternoon and picked up more Ella essentials. I am sure there will be at least a few more trips to Babies-R-Us before she arrives. There is one Babies-R-Us in the city but it is not very nice and always picked over...we have been going out to the burbs every weekend for the nicer BRU. We got to run some other errands while out in the faraway burbs. We were very productive! We came home and made dinner on the grill.....

On Sunday we finished painting finally! It turned out a little more pink than I thought it would look...I will let y'all be the judge. Mom will be here to give me her opinion which will be nice. I am thinking about adding some stripes...we will see. I also have to get some window treatments and look for a chandelier. Every girl deserves one....

A picture of me, or should I say, my belly...I forget how truly big I am now. While painting, I needed to squeeze by something. The result: a perfectly pink circle on my obscenely too tight sorority shirt. I think the pink circle is a fun momento from our room painting adventure!

Almost there...

Scotty hard at work...

Scott looks JUST like his dad in this pic!

Final pics coming soon...that is, when the room is finally ready. Hopefully this will occur before my water breaks!

Easter Weekend Activities

No fun pictures to upload, I cannot believe we forgot to break out the camera this weekend. I am the designated picture taker in our family as Scott, bless his heart, ALWAYS forgets to capture memorable happenings. I seem to think that all events are memorable, however, I don't think that sentiment is shared by SMF.

We had an ALL DAY baby class on Saturday at the hospital where we will deliver our Ella. I was hoping that it would be a really laid back with several cool couples to chat with, however, it was a little more intense than I thought it would be....

One of the first questions asked by the hyper, Type-A instructor was "who here plans to use an epidural?" Hate. this. question. It is a very personal decision and I hate how everyone who has an opinion on the matter is quick to tell you theirs. I, however, am not that way. If you want relief, power to you! I am gettting the epidural. Why put myself through undue hardship? Modern medicine is wonderful. I am glad to partake in drugs available for pain. Of course, there were a few people who were anti-edpidural and anti-vaccinations in the class. No biggie. The information provided was helpful and I ended up loving the instructor. Hardcore labor and delivery nurse who was so honest and candid. I didn't want either going into the class. I am more of a "wait and freak out when I get there" type gal. I am glad to know that I understand the process a little better.

I was so tired after the class but so looking forward to having some sweet friends over for Saturday night! People brought plenty of goodies and we had a ton left over on Sunday. After eating a huge brunch on Sunday with Scott after church, I continued to nosh on left overs and Easter goodies that Abby and Beth brought =)

Easter was a little bittersweet this year =) I really miss Atlanta a ton right now and while it was nice to be so productive and spend time with friends this weekend, I would have LOVED to have been home in the warmer weather with family. I miss my Dad a ton and haven't seen him since early March which isn't a long time, however, I know it will be a while until I get to see him again. My mom is coming up in a couple of weeks and I have many errands planned for the both of us. She is super helpful and I love that she will be here before Ella comes to help me get ready.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this year! This time next year, I hope to have little Ella looking for eggs (or, atleast, looking at Easter eggs!) in an egg hunt with a scary Easter bunny in tow for pictures. It is hard to believe that I will be getting an almost 1 year old ready for Easter next year! We are so excited. I cannot wait to meet this little one who is bumping, kicking, and hiccuping incessantly. She is such a gift and we are so in love with her already.

It is April, for goodness sake....

Well, we had one great day this past weekend and it was Saturday. We were on the go the entire day! A lot of errands were on tab for our weekend. I feel like it will be that way from here on out! We went back to Benjamin Moore this weekend and got a couple more samples for Ella's room. Pink is really hard to pick out! It never seems to be the same color as the swatch. Ever. I posted a pic below of the first 3 colors I picked out...let's hope for some better luck soon.



Also, the dogs are really funny when we are trying to get Ella's room ready. Finlay loves to go in and sniff around and lay around....he has been underneath the crib a few times and I think he has a sneaking suspicion that something big is happening. He is extra sweet and affectionate lately. I think he knows that I am cooking a new sibling for him. I have a feeling that Finaly will be extra protective of our little one. Savannah hasn't a clue, bless her heart....



We went to dinner on Saturday night at the Stefl house. Holly planned a greek menu and it was delicious. I forgot how much I love phyllo dough. I need to make more phyllo dough based entrees. Everything was delicious! It is so fun to see Olivia every week because she changes so much from week to week. She is precious and I had to post a pic of her below. Can't wait for she and Ella to meet!



We spent Sunday on the go as well and are almost finished with baby shopping! We are just have to get the pack and play and stroller. We are almost all set! Ella's room needs some shelves and paint and a new duvet for the bed (we need to coordinate colors, of course!), but other than that, we are almost there. Miss E just needs 6 more weeks to grow...

Birthday and Other Happenings.....

So, I have officially hit the late 20's. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I know, I know, but still! I am very thankful for all of the wonderful things that have happened to me throughout my 20's.....I was not really looking forward to my birthday but Scott had planned a dinner and I spent the day receiving flowers, cards and sweet emails and calls from friends! I also got to have lunch with my sweet friend, Abby. We went to the cutest little bistro at the Peninsula hotel. I posted some pics below from my birthday but am sad to say that I don't have any from our dinner at Coco Pazzo. Dinner was good but not great...it was a tuscan menu but I think that it failed to live up to our expectations coming from our amazing Italian vacay just a few weeks before...



I also realized that I never posted any pictures from our shower in Atlanta that we had a little over a month ago! It was such a wonderful treat to get home to Atlanta to unwind a bit and spend time with family. Scott's parents, Bob and Peggy, were able to come all the way from Danville, Ca. to celebrate with us. It is so nice that Peggy has 2 brothers, John and Bob, in Atlanta as well. It was almost like a mini family reunion. It was so cool to have both families together for such a happy occasion. I got to see some wonderful family friends that I haven't been able to see since our wedding almost 3 years ago. Some of my closest friends in Atlanta were able to come and it was so nice to see my girls =) I was really pregnant this trip down so I was glad to see them before Ella arrives. I posted some pics below of family on the day of our shower. I was sad to not have my grandmother present as she was in the hopsital. She is out and better now, however, we would have love for her to have been there....





Scott was out of town last weekend but the pups and I were able to run a lot of errands, hang out with sweet friends (thanks for the cupcakes, Beth!!) and got to babysit little Kayla while Marko and Tiffany went out for dinner. She is such a doll and we had fun hanging out. While it was fun to run baby errands and have plenty of time to work out and eat cereal in bed while watching Sex and the City multiple times, I was so happy to have my fabulous husband back in town from his bachelor party weekend. We have a lot more to do this weekend and have fun plans with friends. I hope to post more of our nursery progress next weekend. We need to decide on a paint color as soon as possible!! More to come....