Our Upstairs Bathroom is Done - YAY!

Thank Goodness - Construction on the upstairs bathroom is done and we couldn't be happier with the results. The bathroom is still narrow but we gained about 3-4 feet by pushing the bathroom out to the hallway. They gutted the room down to the studs and replaced everything.

The new insulation and venting has made the room extremely comfortable and has even improved the temperature in the baby's room. The new vent is badass and very quiet. The room is simple, bright and very welcoming - we look forward to using it.

The house is still a mess but we'll tackle that this weekend. Enjoy some before and after photos!

Before - YUCK!

During...

After :) 

 Shower

Extra tall toilet - for our long legs :) 

Julia's side

Adam's side

 Tons of storage 

Our baby girl approves! 

Family Update

Adam was in charge of writing the next blog post about the Winter Classic Alumni Game but I’ll give a quick family update in the meantime.

Construction on the house continues with the upstairs bathroom being remodeled. We just finished week 2 and things are coming along nicely. Last week the bathroom was completely gutted down to the studs and the space was expanded out to the hallway. This week they reworked all the plumbing, electric and vents and put up the walls. The vanity will be in next Friday and our contractor assured me they would be ready for installation when it arrives. At this point, I can’t see how that is possible but I’m keeping the faith. I received a very enthusiastic “OH YES” when I asked if the bathroom would be done this month so please cross your fingers. Until then we will continue living in plastic and using the downstairs bathroom, which is fantastic other than having to go down to the basement every time nature calls.

Baby wise we are doing great. Our little girl is growing big time now, I’m up 24 pounds - YIKES. I’m sure the scale will show even more weight next Monday at our monthly appointment. I have my glucose test so I’ll be there for about an hour. Adam is so sweet and has decided to sit with me until it’s over.  Next Wednesday starts the third trimester and I’m so ready for this last lap. Sleeping is getting more challenging, my legs are cramping up and I just feel….big. I'm pretty sure she has finally flipped - I am feeling her move in very different places and last week the doctor said she seemed to be in the process of changing positions. 

Although physically things are getting more challenging I am feeling extremely happy. We are so close to meeting our sweet little girl. I’m excited to decorate her nursery, buy some little outfits and put the finishing touches on our home. This is a very special time!

Our registries are done – at BuyBuy Baby and Land of Nod. If anyone thinks something is missing please let me know – We need all the advice we can get :) If you notice the car seat is missing it's because we can only get the color we want a Great Beginnings so that's the only item we couldn't move over. 

Here are some pictures of the house and last week. 

Sweet baby Zack at last Sunday's dinner. That day J & J brought out new toys for him - he was so engaged and fun. He could be the most kissable baby yet. 

What does a preggo woman do at a bathing suit store? Take pictures of her big ol belly. Adrienne is now officially ready for her cruise! 

Phase One - Take all the old shit OUT!

 Once again...we are living in plastic.

Current progress....

Making Room for Baby

Wow – what a productive week! Adam and I have been putting off all house and baby stuff until now and we really let the tasks pill up. Thankfully, we had 10 full days to knock it all out.

I’ll spare you the complete laundry list of items but here were the major things to accomplish:

• Move the home office out of the baby’s room to the spare room in the basement
• Clean the attic and move a ton of stuff form the basement/garage to the attic including all the holiday stuff
• Buy some new furniture and rework the den to accommodate baby stuff
• Register for baby stuff and order the furniture
• Buy all material for upstairs bathroom construction that begins on Tuesday
• Secure a daycare place for Henrik during the construction

I am happy to say we got it all done and had a lot of fun doing it.  The first few days were the worst as we sifted through a lot of old stuff (junk) and organizing it for donation, storage or use. Once that was done we (Adam) could move everything and put things back together.

To see the baby’s room almost completely empty is exciting. I look forward to making her room a cozy and happy place. The furniture won’t arrive until March but I have already started to pick up little girly accessories. I don’t have a theme or color pallet picked yet but I’ll share it when I do.

Although our vacation didn’t consist of sitting at the beach relaxing we had so fun together. We slept until 9-10 everyday, made a lot of great meals, spent a lot of quality time with the dog and Skyped on and off all day with Matty, Mia, Eric and Luci. We laughed a lot and just had a wonderful time doing everything together. We both feel rested and ready for the New Year.

To celebrate all our hard work and the New Year – we are going to a fancy dinner tonight to celebrate! It will be the perfect way to cap our week off.

Not the most exciting blog post but I’m so proud of what we have accomplished I had to share.

Here are some pictures of our work: 

The Baby's Room - Almost Empty! 

The Crib (Thanks Mom and Dad) and Dresser

The Rocker (Thanks Fay-Fay and Dad)

The New Retro Home Office 

The Den - Ready for Baby Stuff!

The Coat Closet Organized

If you recall what it looked like before, 

you understand why a picture is necessary! 

 Henrik Enjoying the Sun

Our Sweet Baby Girl

What a wonderful time of year to share the joy of a new little girl. The announcement of our precious pink bundle of joy made Chanukah and Christmas even more special for us all.

For me, having a girl brings a flood of emotions. The rebirth of a mother-daughter relationship after loosing my mom when I was 10 is so magical and not something I can adequately put into words. My relationship with Lauri, Adam’s mom, has already healed so much of that link in my heart but this is another opportunity to gain a piece of what I lost so long ago.

I feel empowered by thoughts of raising a strong woman. So many of my daydreams are around the powerful relationship she will have with Adam. The moment we found out it was a girl a little twinkle in Adam’s eye appeared and it hasn’t left. He is going to be an anchor of love, friendship, guidance and support for her and I feel so thankful that she has him.

As a mother, I hope I can create the same type of relationship my mother had with us. She was always so honest, open and loving. She treated us as individuals as well as her children, which made her parenting skills very effective. She knew what made us tick and played to our best traits, and she constantly reminded us that there is nothing in this world we cannot do if we work hard and believed in ourselves.  Even when she was very ill she was the picture of strength and determination. I pray my daughter will have her spirit  - I have a feeling she will.

There are a million more feelings rushing through my heart/mind – too many to put into coherent thoughts for you but this much is for sure - this is blissful time for us indeed.

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Telling the Family

The first night of Chanukah is always a special evening. However, this year topped all others when it was announced Mia was coming home from the hospital. Her battle with meningitis was extremely scary.  Time felt like it was moving so slowly that week as we waited for calls and updates. Thankfully the good news that it was viral (vs. bacterial) came just in time to welcome her home on the first day of Chanukah – a true miracle. She is doing wonderful and even outgrew the Christmas outfit we got for her!

Not that the evening needed anything more to celebrate, but we jumped on the opportunity to tell everyone when Jonathan, Jaime and the kids Skyped Bill when we were on with Eric and Luci. We all lit the candles together, talked about Mia and the holidays and then we announced the news of our little girl. It was great to tell everyone at once, something we are unable to do often with half the family being in New York. Everyone yelled with excitement “I knew it!” “And you thought you could wait!” “I would have been shocked if it was a boy!” Phone calls and emails followed up the next day – it was a lot of fun.

With the Onders we had to opportunity to tell everyone in person on Christmas Eve which we hosted for the first time this year. Although it was extremely hard keeping the news from them it was well worth it! Special props goes to Adrienne who knew we had found out but waited until xmas eve. I don’t think I would have been that patient.

Brooke had been expressing a great deal of interest in finding out the baby’s gender from the very beginning.  Every time I would see her she would beg me to tell her! When I finally convinced her I didn’t know she would say things like “well, can you tell the doctor to call me?” haha. For this reason, we decided to wrap a big box up for her and Mckenna and fill it with treats, toys and a balloon which would pop up saying it if it was a boy or girl.  

Of course, being an Onder, I had to mess with them a little. When Brooke opened the box two blue balloons popped out saying “I’m not a boy!” Nobody noticed the writing and started screaming – “OMG it’s a boy!!!!” Since no one was going to find out on their own I told them to look harder and the screaming and freaking out that happened when people realized was amazing! Cindy caught it all on video – I will try to get a copy up on the blog soon.

I hope the season has brought you all the same amount of joy it has us. 

It was tight but we all fit! 

Last Christmas/Hanukkah without our little girl! 

It was a wild night - this is the best picture we could get! haha.

So lucky to have Kristy join us again this year - Hope this continues as our tradition (but with Jake next time!)

The onder girls

For me? Thank you Aunt Cindy! 

Fay-Fay and MaryAnne - looking good! 

Christmas day belly bump!

Hi my name is Julia...

I am constantly eating or going to pee. Welcome to month 5.

In more exciting news I am feeling the baby kick all the time now. Adam felt him/her for the first time 2 weeks ago but within the last few days he has felt little kicks several times. In the evenings he/she is particularly active and I am relaxed enough to feel them. However, sometimes I feel him/her at work and I get completely distracted and start daydreaming of our little one.

Henrik is doing well. We switched him to Prozac but he hasn't been on it long enough to see the full effects. He is still very anxious when we come and go and cries a lot but he has been behaving well and is more relaxed when we give him affection. Usually affection gets him very hyper and anxious so we are very happy he's calming down. We are confident this medicine will work once we get the dosage correct.

Here are some recent pictures of him.

Watching daddy playing hockey

Waking up in my new bed

 Getting some love from daddy

Basement Bathroom - Before and After

Thank God that nasty unusable bathroom is gone. One down, one to go.

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

After a long day of holiday shopping at the outlets with Kristy and Karen, the Onders decided to meet for our annual christmas tree hunt! Henrik did GREAT and really enjoyed being out in the woods. We had a wonderful time and ended the evening with a pizza dinner back at our house - a special night. 

I'll post some pictures of our tree once we decorate it :)