34 Weeks and Feeling Well/Enormous

The past 7 weeks have found us particularly busy with visitors, weddings, work and more baby prep. Realizing the lovely TBD could be safely in our arms in the next 3-8 weeks has lit a fire in our pants. Pick a pediatrician, check! Booking plane tickets for the West Coast Grandmas, check! Baby laundry, check! TBD's name...umm, maybe a check?...unless we find something better...

The pressure of picking an entire name for an entirely new human is really large. Almost as large as my belly, almost. Rob keeps assuring me that the name will come once we meet the baby. I'm trusting him. But I'm still on the look out for the WORLD's BEST NAME, EVER! Suggestions?

Other activities as of late include:

Making a gigantic baby blanket.


Organizing.


Sleeping.


Hanging out with other pregnant ladies (at work and socially.)


Oh, and sleeping.

Rob turns 34 years and TBD turns 27 weeks

Funny to think that I met Rob when he was 24...and now we are celebrating his 34th birthday (the day after our 4th wedding anniversary and two days after TBD turned 27 weeks.)



We had a lovely evening opening presents, playing with Oliver and then eating dinner and shopping for fun, and non-essential, groceries at Whole Foods. There was also much talk and day dreaming about what next year's birthday will hold for both of us with our TBD living outside of the womb. It's mind-blowing and so exciting, it is almost overwhelming.






Happy birthday, Daddy! TBD, Oliver and I love you so much!

Babymooning with the Moms

Rob and I recently enjoyed a week-long vacation in Maui, HI with Mom and Julie (gracious enough to spring for the time share AND give us the master suite while they enjoyed a pair of twin beds. The perks of pregnancy!)






It seemed fitting to visit Hawaii right around the time of our 4th year wedding anniversary and right before our precious TBD is born. How surreal (and special) to play on the same beaches we honeymooned on now 6 months pregnant.






Maybe in another few years we can re-visit Maui with our TBD and the Grandmas. :)

Back to Blogging

Friends!

It has been oh-so-long since this blog has seen some blog-love (just check out the date on the last post below and you will see what I mean...) but for some reason: perhaps the sunshine, lack of good television, extra time on my hands or our impending bambino, this blog has been resuscitated!

Since our last post - barrel tasting (?!) aren't we fancy! - a few things have happened:

-We got a dog! (If that wasn't obvious by the glaring picture in our header...) We love our Oliver so much and the past 2+ years with him have just been so much fun. You know how people always say they don't know what they did or talked about before they had a kid, ya, well that's us with Oliver. Everyday starts with a morning cuddle session, every chance we get, we take him with us on little adventures and he has truly added to the level of joy in our home.



-I finished nursing school. YAHOO!! WOOHOP! YAYYY!! Going to college the second time around was a bit different from the first (a lot less Boystown, Hamiltons and dancing on boxes) and a lot more actually going to class, studying and being grown-up about the whole opportunity to figure out what I really want to do/be when I grow up. Oh, and then we threw a big, fun party and then I went on a job hunt.



-I found a job as a nurse! I am currently in my third month working at Swedish Covenant Hospital as a Labor & Delivery nurse. Fun times indeed! While at work, I am 51% inspired by the other nurses, docs and of course laboring moms and 49% on the verge of peeing my pants (out of fear and because this little babe of ours likes to take direct shots at my bladder...but it's mostly the fear part, which I hear goes away after ohhhh, about a year. Great!)

-Rob continues to be the best partner ever and has picked up a bunch of new household responsibilities thanks to my long hours at work and pregnancy-induced fatigue. What?! It's a real thing. I know. I'm a nurse. :)



-And...if you haven't heard (thanks to Facebook, it is really hard to keep big news quiet)/figured it out from the multiple references above, we are expecting a baby November 1st! Words cannot even come close to expressing how excited we are for this baby to join our happy family of three. We ask Oliver everyday if he is excited for his new brother or sister to come along - Oliver is still on the fence, I think - and our conversations have taken on a whole new level of happiness and adult-i-ness i.e. disciplining, college options, NAMES...craziness!



So, I'm sure you can imagine that this blog will take on less of a baking/gardening/wine-tone (even though those are all still hobbies I enjoy - or will once again enjoy after November 1st) and more of a Baby Hilgart/Baby-dog Oliver focus. Until then...one more shot of the puppy.

Barrel Tasting

Rob and I were lucky enough to visit Andy out in California and celebrate his 25th birthday with some barrel tasting in Sonoma! It was a great time!

While we were visiting, I got a chance to see the Walnut Creek Children's clinic where Andy works--amazing facility and so cute to see Andy in his scrubs. We also got to see Andy and Nicki's apartment and meet our first nephew, Markie dog! He is a little shy but so cute and very well behaved. He definitely loves his parents!!

Rob took some stunning pictures of the landscape, and well, we got a few fun ones as well, which I am sure had nothing to do with a day full of wine. ;)

It was a fun and successful visit and we can't wait to go back soon! Happy Birthday, Andy! I can't believe you are 25!!

Other People's Dogs!

Rob and I set a date! A date to get our very own doggie! March 1st. Well, maybe I should say, our intention was to get a dog on March 1. Now as it approaches at a blinding pace, we are getting cold feet.

We travel -- a ton -- we have weird schedules -- and let's be honest, we love our independence! Won't a dog cramp our style?! It's so hard to decide what to do so for now, I will live vicariously (as I have been for sometime now) through other people's dogs.

The gallery of random dogs I have made a point of snuggling (sometimes with and sometimes without their owner's permission/knowledge) is below. Enjoy! And just wait...if we ever get our own dog, I have a feeling this blog will become overrun with pictures of the furry friend. Some people have kids, we have surrogate pups.

The Things I Run Past: A Brief Recall

I think it was mile 10 of the half marathon--about 3 miles past the point where Debbie and I silently agreed that talking was no longer necessary--when I broke our unspoken pact. I had to though! I spotted a toilet seat! Right there on the side of the road! Yes, that's right, running across a bridge, fatigued and slightly dehydrated, I noticed the abandoned throne and just had to comment on it.

Fast forward about 3.5 months to today. Running along Addison, enjoying my tunes and thanking the weather gods for such an unbelievably beautiful day, when I look down and see a fried egg on the sidewalk. Keep in mind, it is late January. There is snow and ice on the ground. And I live in a major metropolis, not a farm. Why was there a fried egg on the sidewalk?

It was at this point that it dawned on me...I see so many odd things on my runs that I should start to catalog them. I shared this idea with Rob today and he thought it was a good idea and even suggested I take pictures. I don't want to sound like a poor sport, but I'm not really sure I want to lug around a camera on all of my runs, so instead, I will just paint a picture with my words. Poetic, eh? :)

So here it is; my list.

The Things I Run Past
1. Toilet Seat
2. Fried Egg on the sidewalk in January
3. TBD