Baby Shower in Iowa

My mother-in-law's good friends: Sue, Linda, Leslie, and Laura hosted a baby shower for Steve, me, and Bean this past Saturday. How thoughtful of them!?!?! The shower was graciously held at Sue's house in Norwalk. A wonderful group of attendees were present including a very special friend of mine, KRYSTAL! We've known each other since the 2nd grade and I was so thrilled she could make it. She is studying to be a physician's assistant in Des Moines so the close proximity made it easy for her to come. Steve, Bean, and I were spoiled with generous, thoughtful gifts from everyone. Now we just have to get everything organized. Thank you, thank you to everyone who made this event so special for us! We appreciate and love you! Laura, Linda, Sue, Me, Leslie, and Linda (mother-in-law)

Laura is due three weeks after me and we're both having girls!

Krystal and Me!

First Baby Shower

The staff at Shoal Creek put on a baby shower for four women, including me! There was a yummy cake and we were each given a giftcard to Babies R Us. What a treat!

Me, Michelle, Kate, and Sarah

ISU Family Weekend

While I love living in KC, I do wish I was closer to my family. Six hours is a bit of a drive just for a weekend. Soooo...my mom and step-dad met Steve and I in Johnston, IA, where we stayed with my great aunt Jan, her husband Steve, and their dog Auggie. We had a wonderful time catching up and my mom was able to feel little Bean move! Mom, Ted, Steve, and I headed to Ames, Saturday night for the Army game. We love being back in the stadium, sitting in the stands. It brings back great memories! Fortunately, the Cyclones performed well and came out with a big W!

Ted, Mom, Me, and Steve. Do you see the random lady in the back? :)

Oh the Joys of Registering!

We're officially registered at Babies R Us! I had no idea it would take over three hours to get the job done. My dear friend Angela offered to go with me since Steve nor I had a clue what we needed, I don't have a sister who has gone through this before, and my mom lives 6 hours away. Angela had amazing advice that really helped me choose the essentials. She's the best!!! After three hours of roaming a little over half the store, we decided it was time to leave and nourish ourselves with some lunch. When I got home, I went online and edited and added a few things here and there. It seems like it'll be a work in progress but it feels good to have it mostly done. Things are starting to come together. Our next big task is to move all the furniture out of the nursery and get it baby ready. We also need to pick a wall color and get the darn thing painted. Hopefully within the next month, that'll be finished. :)

You Were Correct If...

...you voted GIRL!!! We found out the news Thursday, early evening. I have to admit, I was a little shocked because deep down, I thought it was a boy. I didn't realize this until the woman said, "it looks like a girl." That feeling was short lived and I couldn't stop thinking what a miracle she is as we watched her on the sonogram. She moved around quite a bit and looks just precious. She wasn't in the best position so the woman couldn't get a read on everything she had hoped to. SO...they want to do another sonogram at our next appointment in 4 weeks. They don't have to twist my arm! I'll gladly see our girl again. :) Here are a few pictures they gave us. Here is a shot of her private parts. You're looking at the bottom of her butt cheeks and legs. The arrow is pointing to her privates. :) The woman said when you see the three lines like that, it means "girl."Here is her little foot. It looks enormous because the woman zoomed in. But she may have big feet because Steve and I are both tall.

Profile shot. You can see her little face and belly. So cute!

Another profile shot.

In this pic, her arm and hand are up next to her face. She was quite the mover.

I'll post more pics after our next sonogram on October 13th. Stay tuned!!!

Visit to Iowa

Bright and early on Sunday, Steve and I headed to West Des Moines. He needed to use some of his dad's tools to put the finishing touches on the toy box he was making. We were also able to see Steve's brother Brian, his wife, Marcia and their three girls. Their youngest daughter Allison was born June 1st, and we haven't seen her since then. As you can see from the picture, she has grown quite a bit and is a beautiful little girl. We were also able to see Steve's sister and Holly, and visit our friend's Jason and Laura for a Labor Day bbq. It was a quick, fun trip. :)

Little Allison.

A few pictures of the adorable toy box! I'm so lucky to have such a creative, handy husband! He came up with this project idea and I fell in love with it. You can see the letters, H, B, S, and M. He chose these to represent the different last names of our family members. S for Schmidt (his mom's side) and Sheriff (his dad's side, and our last name), B for Broz (my mom's side), M for Maro (my mom and Ted), and H for Holter (my dad's side). How thoughtful. Everything was made from scratch except for the letters. We chose to stick with gender neutral colors so it can be used by our next child and will hopefully match the nursery color scheme. I haven't decided on a bedding set but I have it narrowed down to a few choices.

Dessert Ladies

Angela, Julie G., and I made desserts for our friend Mandi's wedding reception this past Saturday (Sept. 5th). Julie made the Oreo balls, Angela made lemon bars/cupcakes, and I made cheesecake bites/cupcakes. Angela and I decorated the cupcakes with suns, palm trees, and flip-flops because Mandi and MJ got married on the beach on April 4th. I have to admit I was a wee bit nervous about how everyone would enjoy the desserts. This was my first time making cheesecake bites. Everything ended up being a HIT! Here are a few pictures of the dessert table.

Get Your Vote In!!!

The sex of baby bean will be revealed next Thursday, September 10th! So get your vote in soon! We are so excited...I feel like a little kid waiting for Santa to come, every time I think about it. Thursday can't come soon enough!

18 1/2 week belly shot

Here is an updated belly pic and new haircut shot. Also, I had my last doctor's appointment on August 24th...the heart rate was 150, and everything seems to be going well. I've been feeling the baby move for a few weeks now. The sensation is very familiar to me, so I definitely know it's little Bean movin' around in there. I so wish I could see what it's doing or what body part I felt. We get to find out the sex on September 10th! Too exciting!!! :)

I'll be 19 weeks on Wednesday...can't believe it!

Back to Work

School is officially back in session! I'll do my best to post regularly, but you never know. :) I'm hoping to post an updated belly shot soon that includes my new haircut. I decided I was too lazy with long hair so it needed to go. Hope you're all doing well!

A Heartbreaking Decision

Many of you know that there have been #2 bathroom issues with our cat Sam for over three years now. A pattern developed where we would find his "duties" on our basement carpet, right outside the litter room on and off for weeks at a time. Then for some reason, he would stop for about a month and then the cycle would begin again. He's such a beautiful, friendly, loving cat so we hoped things would get better but unfortunately, they've gotten worse this summer. It's been the worst these last few weeks. We've come home the last few nights to crap on the carpet. The steroid pills he's on at the moment are obviously not working. Believe me, it's NOT fun to clean that up, smell it, or see the nasty stain on your carpet time after time after time. Steve has done a great job of scooping the litter to make sure it's clean enough for Sam and that isn't doing anything either.

Over the years we've taken Sam to three different vets and none of them could pinpoint the problem. We've had test after test done, anal glands secreted, administered steroid pills, and nothing is working. The last vet we've taken him to said he probably has a digestive tract issue, it may not be curable, and he and the litter box simply may not get along. Also, Sam didn't seem like himself. He was constantly itching and the steroid pills were supposed to help with that and they didn't. Even with regular brushing, he would itch so badly he would get big mats of hair all over his body. The texture of his once soft fur, became oily and not so soft. He just didn't seem like the old Sam. So, Steve and I have seriously been discussing what to do at this point. We decided that we can't keep him anymore as his issue is not improving and we have a baby on the way. Neither Steve nor I want to clean up cat poop off the carpet for the next 13 years or however long Sam lives. AND...I don't want my child to pick up the poop, if they were to somehow get to the basement before I could get to them. We've put a lot of money into this and our ideas to fix his problem have run dry. So, we thought he may be able to live on a farm and be an outdoor cat but since he doesn't have his front claws and has never lived the "outdoor" life, he'd probably die after a few weeks/months. I also tried calling several NO KILL shelters but nobody is accepting surrendered animals at the moment, except for Wayside Waifs. They couldn't get an appointment for us until October 15th. After thinking about it, nobody will want to adopt a cat who is crapping on the floor so Sam would most likely live in a cage and eventually be put down by the shelter. These ideas didn't seem to be the right thing. All the options seemed to be pointing to Sam not making it, so we thought having a vet put him down was probably the best option. That way, he won't get torn up by another animal or die of hunger out in the wilderness, and he won't have to spend his final months in a tiny cage at a shelter.

This was the most difficult decision we've had to make. In the end, it was the best for Sam and us. He had an illness that wasn't necessarily life threatening but he was sick and not getting healthier. We couldn't keep putting hundreds of dollars into this with a baby on the way and the expenses that come with that in our near future.

Steve was brave enough to take Sam to the vet this morning. We fed him his last meal and let him play outside in the front yard for a few minutes. Then we said our goodbyes. I thought I'd blog about it so I don't have to tell the entire story many times over. Steve may be strong enough to talk about it in person, but I know I will need some time. Every time I think about it, the tears start flowing.

Here is our sweet Sam who we will miss dearly.

Girls Day Out

Today was officially the last day of summer for teachers in Liberty! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. To honor this special day, we (myself and friends from work) decided to head to La Bodega during happy hour, to enjoy Sangria and tapas. Of course, I passed on the Sangria and drank a pineapple/cranberry juice along with water. My "preggo" drink was pretty tasty! We had a blast and here are a few pictures of our fun. :)

Home Improvements

One of our goals this summer was to have a third driveway stall poured. It actually happened...today! Eventually, we are hoping to either put a shed in the back corner next to the house OR have a third garage built. Extra storage is much needed with children and only having a two-car garage. We are so excited this project is complete and was done well! There is also more room for MANY visitors to park their cars. Hint, hint. :)

Anniversary

Steve and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on August 6th. The time has flown by and I'm so thankful and feel so blessed to be married to such a remarkable man. I couldn't imagine my life without him and I'm sure he feels the same. Love you hunny! We celebrated the day by: * replacing our mattress (it was caving in and causing Steve terrible back pain)

* going to dinner

* going to the movie Funny People.

Here are a few pics.

Loading up the old mattress and box spring. I was a little worried we may not make it to the store but all went well!

Dinner.

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Maro

I like to call my mom and step-dad "G & G Maro" because they will officially be in a little less than 6 months! They made the long drive down to KC from Eden Prairie, MN, Thursday evening. Steve and Ted golfed both Friday and Saturday and were in heaven! Ted also graciously helped Steve install a storm door. My mom and I went to the pool both days and did some maternity clothes/baby shopping. I cherish this time with my mom because we RARELY get to do things like this. Steve and I took them to Frank's Italian Restaurant in Parkville for dinner, and then walked along the river. It's such a cute area and I knew mom and Ted would love its character! Sadly time flew by as it always does, and they began their journey home this morning. Thanks again for visiting...LOVE YOU! :)

Installing the storm door. They did a fabulous job!

At Frank's.

Us in downtown Parkville. For those of you who are wondering...yes I've gained weight (I can definitely tell in this picture). 12 or 13 pounds to be exact and I'm approaching my 15th week. Yikes! I'm hoping things will taper off, but only time will tell!

Steve and I by the river. You can see the moon beyond Steve's head.