How many days to go???

So, I installed this little "Countdown to Baby" timer on our blog page. See it? It's right up there in the right hand corner. Whenever I get on my blog it kindly reminds me how much time I have left, right before I realize how much stuff I have left to do. This morning I got on and it said "69" days. As I recall, there are 30-31 days in a month, and 30-31 goes into 69 about twice with a few days left over... I'm pretty sure that means we have two months a little bit for this little man arrives. SERIOUSLY?!?!?!? I have sooooooooooo muc hstuff left to do: find a rocking chair, put clothes'diapers/ everything else in the dresser drawers, two baby showers, clean rest of the house, spend some quality time with husband, and perhaps try to get a pedicure (or two). And ALL in 69 days. I better quit blogging and get to work.

But, alas, the baby bump grows. Drew took this before I headed off to work on Friday morning, when there were 73 days left!

Just for Claire

Drew and I have had the wonderful pleasure of not only having wonderful friends in our lives, but having friends who have let us love their children as well. Without a doubt, our favorite little friend is our 'niece' Claire Quigley. I've known her folks since my 2nd grade year and we've been great friends ever since. Now, we get to spoil the next generation- we've not missed a birthday nor a Christmas since her arrival 2 1/2 years ago. She has finally reached the point in her little life that she recognizes my picture on her mom's phone when I call and she points us out in the pictures on the family fridge. I heard from Claire's mama today that while viewing our blog, Claire was commenting that Auntie Megan was on the computer, but she wondered where Uncle Drew was- meaning I needed to find some pics of Uncle Drew to put on our blog.

So, just for you Claire, I found some of the pictures of you and Uncle Drew from when we came to see you in Seattle (plus a few extras). I hope you love them, because we certainly love you!!!

The Bump is Growing

The last time I wore this outfit was while showing off my new slimmer physique. Well, with a new pair of preggo leggings, and the rouched affect on the sides, it was easily turned into a Friday date night maternity outfit. I truly felt like a Hot Mama!! Week 28/3rd Trimester- here we come!!

My Pink Cowgirl Boots

This last summer, one of my best girlfriends got married down in Nevada. She's a "bit" of a cowgirl, and with me being a city girl, she thought it only appropriate that she get me cowgirl boots to wear as I walked down the aisle. I LOVE these boots (and yes I realize that most cow-people would not consider them REAL boots) and wear them often!!

Mostly, I love the time frame that these boots, and this dress, represent. This picture was taken on a Saturday. A week and a half previously I had hit my weight goal of 172 pounds and was able to slide into this size 12 dress easily. I felt wonderful and seeing this picture at this later date helps me to remember how proud of myself I was/am. A week before this picture, I found out I was pregnant- so needless to say, this was the last size 12 I wore :)

I feel wonderful looking at this picture and now have something to truly look forward to achieving again!!!

Cutthroat Bean Trading

For the last two weeks, Drew and I have been introducing our friends and family members to the NEWEST and BEST card game around. This game, called Bohnanza (yes, I DID spell that correctly) is the latest craze in bean trading, that's right bean trading. Now I know what you're thinking, "How could a card game based on bean trading be ANY fun?" Well, I've gottent that inquisitive look from a few folks in the last 14 days, but those same few folks have become addicted to bean trading in the worst way.

Essentially, it's a game including several sets of different "bean" characters and the point is to colelct, harvest, and sell as many groups of the same bean as you can. The person at the end of the game with the most profit from selling their beans is the winner. That's not necessary the fun part though. The fun comes from the trading aspect of the game. You and other players can trade bean crops, single bean "Plants" or card flops in order to improve your own hand or bean field.

We first played this game with some friends of ours in Boise who own the game kiosk in the mall that I'm working at for the Christmas season. We got into the game after dinner one night and the rest was history, we were addicted!!! So I took the game with us to Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving and it became the hit of the evening. At one point, Drew's cousin, Heath, (who recently returned from his tour in Iraq and is currently in Georgia) called to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving, while we were in the middle of a game. Drew's uncle, the Heath's dad, literally told Heath that we were in the middle of " a cutthroat game of bean trading" and hung up the phone promising to call Heath later in the evening.

This last weekend we busted the game out while I had some friends visiting and we ended up playing for 3 1/2 hours. This couple was sitting next to each other at our dinner table, cursing each other for the tricks they were playing on each other- it was awesome.

Needless to say, if you're in the market for a great game for yourself or for a Christmas gift, let me know, and I'll hook you up. This is truly one of the best games we've come across in the last bit and we're really enjoying sharing it with friends. Everyone needs some good ol' fashioned bean trading now and then!!

Christmas 2010

Well, the Christmas tree is up. It looks a weeeeee bit smaller than last year's foliage, but there is a reason for that. When we went to get our real xmas tree last year, the window in my car broke after rolling it down to tie the tree down- it quickly became the most expensive Christmas tree I've EVER had!! After that, Drew and I agreed that we wanted to spend that extra $40-60-370 on gifts for our friends and family and so, reluctantly, I bought an artificial tree the day after Christmas. It was a good deal, but now I know why- IT'S FREAKIN' SKINNY!!!! Oh well, it leaves space for the rest of the furniture in our front room- especially leaving room for visiting friends!!

This was one of the very first ornaments we had on our real tree last year. We had just purchased our home in June and this was a gift from our realtor, Jen Buetler of John L. Scott. It was awesome- a picture of our first home to go on our first real Christmas tree.

Many people have some kind of "Our First Christmas" ornament, but I'm sure none of them look like this one. A friend from TF, Stephanie Crumrine, made this for Drew and I and we LOVE it. Something truly individual and artistic and we have the ONLY one.

I bought this owl in the after Christmas sales of last year. I was in an "owl" stage of my life and am just grateful that the colors of the owl match the colors of our other ornaments.

Getting back to those yearly personalized ornaments we all have to celebrate those special moments in our lives, we now have one for this year. I found this little piece at a Christmas kiosk in the mall and knew we had to have it. I've seen lots of "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornaments, but this was the first of this kind I had seen. It now proudly hangs on our Christmas tree, only to be added to by one of those "Baby's 1st" next year.

Newest Baby Projects

One of the favorite Case family projects is making burb cloths and matching blankets for their newest family members. I've seen cousins and siblings receive these near hand-made goodies for four years now and I have finally started receiving my own. Even better, I 've started making my own. While out-and-abouting on Black Friday morning, I found the pattern pieces needed to make my own set. The fabirc comes in the form seen below (some come with matching blankets), and it has the small stitching holes punched around the sides. It's up to the crafter to crochet or knit as she pleases around the edges.

Very proud of my craftiness, considering in High School I swore off all projects that resembled anything domestic or girlie. Those who knew me best knew I referred to these kinds of arts & crafts as "Mormon Women Projects", as all my LDS girlfriends spent their Wednesday nights at church learning these domestic skills. Now before anyone gets their feelers hurt, I used this term in a joking sense in order to avoid admitting that I might have been interested in learning along with them. I repeatedly refused invites from my class-mates and neighbors and now find myself wishing I could tag along as a fly on the wall to learn how to sew, or can, or scrapbook (my sworn off secret enemy) or bake withour burning, or knit travel size cosmetic bags. or...or...or... Yes, to those of you who are active members in the church, I do realize I could tag along at any point with any of you to learn, but I'm pretty sure they're age limits to learning how to make doll clothes :)

Perhaps in my next life, I'll come back with all the Martha Stewart tips I need to teach YOU ALL a thing or two about being domestic!!!

Winter is HERE!!!

With the first snow last week, I thought I would just get a few shots from our yard to share

#1-This little guys sits in our front flower bed and greets all of our guests.
#2- My last blooms of Summer.
#3-Our dog goes CRAZY when I get the camera out. No matter what she's doing she starts running around and barking, as in the picture below. Because the yard was covered in snow, she kept sliding everywhere and I was laughing sooo hard. It was hysterical!!!

I know we have more snow coming, so I'm sure more photo opportunities will follow :)

My New Look

In the past few weeks, I've had an especially hard time with feeling frumpy and boring. I hadn't had my hair cut or colored in five months, I was growing out of my clothes with nothing to grow into, and I was just feeling BLAH!!! With my birthday around the corner, I asked my family to help jazz up my wardrobe with some new maternity clothes, and boy did they all come through for me. Between the parents and sisters I got loaded up on some of the cutest things. And to top it off, Drew gave me one of my gifts early last Saturday when he woke me up and told me I was headed to the salon. He made me an appointment to get my hair cut and colored and I even got my eyebrows colored and waxed. With these new tops from Missie and jeans from the Motherhood Maternity store, I literally felt like a million bucks. I've worn some combination of new clothes since my birthday last Wednesday and am so grateful to be feeling better. Thanks everybody!!!!

My Drew

I was folding laundry in my college dorm room at BSU one day when I saw Drew walking past my building outside. We had not really met, I didn't know his last name, what he was studying in school, where he came from, or where he was going. But somehow, in that moment, I KNEW I would marry him. It would only take us another two years before that actually became a reality.

Now, four years into our relationship, we find ourselves in a wonderful place. We own our home, we have two great jobs, wonderful friends and family, and our first child on the way- what more could a woman ask for? If I DID have anything else, Drew would do whatever he could to make it happen for me.

Since the beginning of our time together, everyone always told me how lucky I was to have Drew, and I always agreed. He's the kind of person who would truly get out of bed and drive as far as he needed to in order to help a friend. He gives everyting he has to everything he does- he goes the distance to get the job done.

The thing I love the most about Drew is his ability to make me laugh. When I first met him, he was so quiet, and over the years I have come to realize he is one of the funniest people I know. When he gets together with his friends, I often find myself doubled over in laughter. He is smart and witty, and combines the two in order to provide some very interesting conversations.

More than anything, I am grateful to have him by my side in our adventures into paretnhood. And he has been by my side in everything- he comes to every doctors appointment, tucks me in bed at my new, earlier bedtime, has gone out for chocolate cake when no other dessert in the house would do, and has started reaching into the back of my closest to get me my shoes. He has been SO supportive and loving throughout this whole process and I hope I tell him often enough how much I appreciate him. I believe more and more everyday that he will be a wonderful father, as he has already proved to be an amazing husband.

I love you Drew Bob, and can't wait to continue our amazing adventure together!! You've been so wonderful to me, in ways and on days that I not always deserved, and yet you loved me through it all. You are my best part and better half and you have truly made me a stronger person. You will never know how you have touched my life and my heart and I am grateful to have you in my life. I love going to bed next to you everynight, and waking up next to you every morning. And most of all, I Love You MORE!!

The Most Perfect Baby Bedding

Before we even knew what gender our baby would be, we had picked out our baby bedding. Regardless of boy or girl, we were going to get a set from Fisher Price called "How Now Brown Cow." Even the name is cute!! And not only was it a bedding set, but they had matching swings and bouncers, clothing, and room decor. With everything they had, the one thing they didn't have was a mobile. Even though they made one, target wasn't carrying it, saying it was "Temporarily Unavailable". However, it never WAS available. I was bummed because it was sooo cute. I started getting even more nervous when other items started becoming "Temporarily Unavailable" or "Out of Stock". I was worried that we were slowly losing each piece of our now beloved bedding set. I even called Fisher Price and Target to see if it WOULD become available at soem point, and no one could give me a firm answer. So with regret, we started looking for a backup :(

Two weeks ago, a miracle happened. I got online to research some other baby items and no only was the bedding and its coordinating pieces IN STOCK, but so was the MOBILE!! I got so excited that I practically begged Drew to "compromise" and let me use my Christmas job money to buy the pieces we absolutely needded to get our nursery started. We agreed we needed the bedding set (quilt, bumper, and crib sheet) the dust ruffle, window valance, and mobile. We ordered them all and got the first pieces today. Let me just say, that the pieces are even more cute in person- each animal is textured and so comfy- I know our little man will love it. I was literally jumping up and down in the kitchen as Drew opened the packages. I couldn't be more pleased with our choice and am grateful to my husband for his compromise. Now, we are on to paint selections and crib building. HOORAY!!!

The Bump has Arrived

Please forgive the lack of make-up, but I wanted to share the arrival of my baby bump. Up until now, I haven't wanted to post belly pictures because, quite frankly, I wasn't looking pregnant yet- perhaps just bloated. This picture was taken the first day of week 23 in our pregnancy. I am spliting my time between my regular pants (somedays with the help of a belly band) and maternity pants (which I am wearing in this pic).

The hardest part of this whole pregnancy has been re-gaining all the weight I took this last year losing. I know I am gaining for a very different reason now, but it is nearly painful every time I get on the scale. I hope my hard work and dedication to working out before the baby will make it easy to get back on the regime after the baby. And I will be all in favor of the breast-feeding diet as well!!!

Drew and I started our registry today. I don't know if we did it too early, but I feel I have a lot of research to do before actually add a whole lot to the list. Registering for our wedding was easy; we just added plates and linens and bedsheets that we liked. Registering for a baby means looking at warnings and recall notices and parent reviews and product descriptions. Needless to say, the hour we spent in Target was exhausting and a wee bit over-whelming. We have a few things more to add to the list (baby monitor, more bottles, first aid/health products) but we did have a good time.

To answer everyone's first question after finding out we're having a boy: YES, we have picked out a name for our little man, but NO we are not sharing yet. We figured that with getting to share the gender and our nursery theme and our registry hopes and everything else, we wanted to keep one thing for ourselves. So we will be happy to share the name we've selected as soon as there's a baby to give it to- thanks for your patience :)

Candy Corn (not) Cupcakes

I saw a recipe for Candy Corn Cupcakes in the Idaho Statesman a few weeks ago and knew I had to try it out. Candy Corn is my FAVORITE seasonal candy so I felt up for the challenge. I thought I would take my finished product to work so I got cooking, wanting to make sure I had lots of time if needed. Needless to say, they didn't come out quuuuuite the way I was hoping (she says with a slight tinge of disappointment). I separated my batter into two bowls, colored and flavored them appropriately and then started layering them into my cupcake pans. After the suggested 16-21 minute baking time, I pulled them out, and let's just say, they left me wanting. First of all, I put the colors in the wrong order, and then because I used a dark baking pan, the yellow parts came out brown, and trust me, no one would have realized what I was going for. I was a bit bummed out, as I won't be able to tryagain before work tomorrow, but I will not be defeated- I WILL conquer the candy corn cupcake!!!

Baby Boy Case

Well, it's official- we're having a BOY!! The day seemed to drag forever because we were soooo excited, but it was worth the wait. The Doctor said everything looked great and Baby Boy measured up perfectly. We've already been to Carter's Baby Outlet, and mostly behaved there, but we thought we'd get home and share some new pictures... Enjoy!!!

















Right Leg
















Right Arm


















Profile

















Left Leg















Left Arm















Foot

And this is my favorite, a little face peeking out to say "Hello, I'm fine, but I'll keep cooking for awhile longer."

Already I can't wait to see who this little man will be and to share him with all of you!!

Our two car garage

One fo the biggest things we've been working on this last month or so is getting Drew's car into our garage- it is a two-car garage after all. There werwe a few contributing factors to getting this done. W eknew that if we wanted to get a second car in the garage we would have to move the garbage cans and bikes outside, but we didn't really have a place to put them...until my amazing father-in-law called one afternoon and told us he would come and extend our fence so that we would have a bit of a dog run/storage yard. He came on Monday and with the help of Drew and our brother-in-law Erik, the boys had the fence built and a dog door installed within the week. So, out went the garbage cans, the bikes, and the mower. We also put the BBQ on the back porch and covered it with a tarp. We had a second, older BBQ that we donated to my sister and her boyfriend.

Next we had to simply re-arrange a few things in the garage, which literally took twenty minutes. While we were getting things moved around our neighbor came over and told us one of his buddies was coming to blow out his sprinklers and asked if we wanted ours done too. Since we hadn't done this yet for the season, we hurriedly said yes and "check", another to do was off the lost. We easily finished the organizing of the garage and with pride, pulled Drew's car in. Our same neighbor couldn't believe we had BOTH cars int he garage ( cause both his stay parked in their driveway). It was a great day and we were very proud of our accomplishments.

Next??? Perhaps some painting...crib building...diaper buying...

Getting into Fall

In getting the house ready for everything that's going on in our lives, we've been getting a lot in and out of the attic and garage and such. Part of that included getting some of the Fall decor down to go around the house. I have a few really good nooks and crannys around the house and I love getting stuff out to decorate. And I always seem to find great little goodies around Boise. Between Real Deals and Mini Bazaar (in Idaho Falls) and even Target and other local places, I love to shop after the actual holiday when things are on sale. Then, the next year, I get to rediscover all the things I had previously purchased- it's awesome!! The Pilgrims were treasures I found last year in Idaho Falls at Porter's ( a craftstore a lot like Craft Warehouse in Meridian). The white ghosts are little finds from JoAnn's craft store. My favorite Halloween piece is the little brown rusty skeleton in the front flower bed pic. We got him at Boise's Art in the Park two summers ago. We named him Jonely Bonely and we're always excited to pull him down from the attic. I really enjoy getting things all cute and domestic-like. I can't wait for Christmas!!!

Sitting...thinking...waiting...

I'm sitting in my office right now goofing around on my computer and watching Glee as Drew is entertaining people in the other room for Game Night ( basically a bunch of boys who come play nerdy games til wee hours of the morning). This office, as an office, will not live much longer, as the "office" will soon be the "nursery:.

That being said, there is A LOTTTTTTTT of workto do in this room to make it nursery ready. The office has become the catch-all room in our house, holding clothes, extra picture frames, my Scentsy stuff, seasonal decor that hasn't found its way to the attic, etc.

The main reason we haven't really started working on this room yet is because we're waiting to find out the gender of the baby. It's hard to feel compelled to spend a lot of time in here when I don't know where I'm gonna end up. We find out the gender on October 20th, so I'm sure October 21st will be the first busy day we have getting our house ready...
and then there's the garage...
and the backyard...
and the attic...
and the... and the...and the...

Seattle

Drew and I recently got back from a mini vacation in Seattle. I had never been to the great rainy city, and Drew LOVES Seattle. To make it all the better, we got to stay with our wonderful friends: Morgan, Bethany, and Claire Quigley. We had a wonderful time exploring the Space Needle, a Mariners baseball game, Pike's Place Market, the Pier, and we even took a tour under old Pioneer Square and then a harbor tour. We truly enjoyed our trip, especially since this might have been our last little vacation for awhile! Thanks to our wonderful hosts for showing us all around and taking such great care of us- we always love being with you and look forward to more adventures with you!!

Miss Alli

So Alli Berkson and I have known each other since we were much, much smaller. We did the whole growing up, going to school, moving away routine, and over the last two years or so have had the chance to form grown-up friendships all over again. We've shared many a coffee dates and Saturday morning adventures, but the best thing we get to share right now is our adventure into motherhood. Alli is currently 19 weeks pregnant and her baby bump just recently popped into existence. She is absolutely adorable with this little pooch right around her middle.

This last week I was able to take a natural light photography class, and when they told us we would be needing a model for our final shoot, I knew I had to only make one phone call. Getting to catch Alli's process of sprouting a tummy was exactly what I wanted to capture, and she readily said yes!!!

We met up at the Depot on Saturday morning and below you will find some of my favorite pictures. I told her I was aiming for five really good shots and I think I got them! I told her we'd do some more as she progresses and has even more to show off- a great way to start some new memories with a great friend. Thanks Miss Alli, I am so glad to we get to share this adventure together!!!

More Baby Pictures

We had our second doctor's appointment today. We were hoping to hear a heartbeat, since we hadn't been able to last time (4 weeks ago, at 9 weeks). The doctor tried for about five (long) minutes to find it with the dopler, but couldn't. Sensing we were discouraged, as was he, he sent us over to the ultrasound side of the clinic. We still weren't able to hear a heartbeat, because they don't recommend using an ultrasound to hear the heartbeat, but we got some new pictures, one of which shows off the cutest little face ever. It was a quick appointment after a long wait in the lobby- we found out later that he was late because he was delivering a baby on the other side of the hospital (good enough excuse for me). We have our next appointment on September 24th and hopefully will be able to tell the gender at our October appointment- and yes, we WILL find out!!!