3D Ultrasound Pics

Michael told me as we were walking into the doctor's office for our US that today was like Christmas to him. We were both so excited to get a small glimpse of what our daughter will look like. The sonographer told us that she had a ton of hair, which we later saw in the 2D ultrasound. She already has a little mohawk (mommy's little punk rocker). So here she is.....no-name Larson.

Getting Crafty

After seeing a friend of a friend's children's clothing website I decided to try my hand at embroidery. Here is what the finished product looked like...

I free handed it and it only took about 30 mins. Those newborn onesies are so little it was kind of hard to work with something so small. Tonight I'll be attempting to crochet a pink and green hat to match, we'll see how that one turns out.

Bargins!

This weekend we found a couple of items we needed that turned out to be a great deal.....

Molly got herself a very cushy cedar free bed. This is a really great bed, and it was only $20 at Costco. We might go back this weekend to replace one of the other beds for her so she'll stay out of ours!


The other item was a Papasan Swing for the baby. (The belly made it in the picture of the swing, I was wearing a navy shirt that day) I'm sure she'll enjoy it. Originally the swings are $150, and I couldn't justify the cost so I got the gender neutral swing that was on clearance for $99, and used a coupon for 15% off. I was happy to save the money and Michael was excited to put the baby's swing together, he said "isn't that what Dads are supposed do?". I think someone just wants to play with all the new stuff!

Christmas lights

This year Michael was feeling very determined to get lights up on the house even the very top of the house. So he rented a 40ft ladder.... After a quick once over he thought he was good to go, we filled a backpack up with lights and clips and he started to get the ladder up against the house.

I don't know if any of you have tried to lift a 40 ft ladder by yourself but it's just not pretty. I tried to give him some pointers that really were not appreciated and it prompted a screaming match in the front yard. I had to walk away because I thought if I kept asking questions Michael's head was going to explode!

A long hour later Michael was just about there with the ladder and SMACK! a hole in the siding. You know that movie A Christmas Story where the kid lets out a string of profanity? That was Michael, he was so mad he couldn't hold it in anymore! (no kids ears were harmed during the Christmas light fiasco) With no one around to help him out I called my Dad over to assist, being the Foreman that he is he tried to tell Michael that it's just impossible to get up there. Still Michael wanted to try. Once he got up there he decided there was just no way, the roof is a lot steeper than he had anticipated. (Thank god, our child does need her father) After a wasted afternoon of trying to get the ladder up to the house and the wasted rental for the ladder Michael was beat and decided that what we did last year was just fine.

Five hours after we started this little project this is what it looked like.

Finally, the room is done!

We put the finishing touches on the baby's room last weekend and had our shower. It was a packed house and we were so glad to see everyone! Here are some pictures of the baby's room...





Everyone was complementing Daddy's handy work. He did a great job with the bead board and moulding. It was a very long and painful project! Especially for the Project Manager!

Don't hate my Holly Homemaker Skills!

These are the adorable shower favors that I made for my friends and family in South Bend. The label reads : A Perfect Mix, by Michael and Holly. (Meaning the baby is a perfect mix of us) Ok I spoiled it by having to explain, but come on, how cute are these?!

So excited!

Last weekend Michael felt the baby move for the first time. Let me paint you a picture..

Every year around the Holidays a story about Michael comes up. Christmas Eve when Michael was around 6 or 7 all of his friends in the neighborhood got scooters for Christmas. When he was getting ready for bed he told his parents that he desperately needed one of those scooters. A little Christmas miracle happened and Michael had a scooter under the tree. When he saw it he was so excited and got himself so worked up that he had to run to the bathroom and throw up. When I picture this going on I imagine a little Michael in footed fleece jammies running back and forth between the christmas tree and bathroom with his eyes as big as saucers.
So when Michael compaired his exictment about feeling our baby move around in my belly to that particular Christmas I knew it was a big deal to him.

Lets play catch up!

For the past 6 or so years we've put ourselves on the fast track to Familyville. Here is how it all started....

Flash back to Feb 2002...

Michael and I meet and become friends instantly. We both worked part time for a local grocery store. Over the course of 6 months or so we were work buddies, taking our breaks together, making fun of people that came into the store in pajamas (little did we know we would become the people we made fun of!), and sharing Gatorade. I always looked forward to going to work to see my work buddy. So much so that when he was gone for over a week I realized I liked Michael more than a friend. Not wanting to show my true feelings upon his return we continued to be friends. I confided in my friend Amy that I had a super secret crush on Michael. After about a month of working together with this super secret Amy told me that I had a deadline to meet. By New Year's Day (2003) I had to tell Michael that I liked him, and there was just no way around it. With all of the shameless flirting we did, I was still really nervous about telling him he was my secret crush. One cold January day I picked out a funny card that said something along the lines of "using a lot of tongue on the envelope, and if he wasn't busy on Friday I wanted to hang out". If you haven't gotten this yet, it's about a 10 on the smooth scale! Needless to say, he accepted my invite and we went on our first date. Dinner and a movie. We went to Don Pablo's and saw the movie Just Married, all and all it was a good first date. By the end of the night I still wasn't sure how Michael was taking this all in so I left it with goodnight, bolted to my car and dreaded seeing him again.

There was a second date...
Valentines day 2003, a mutual friend's wedding. I still didn't know how Michael was feeling about where our "relationship" was going so when he picked me up I wouldn't even let him come in to meet my family. I rushed off to his car in my stilettos and we went to the reception.

After a few glasses of wine, a couple of slow dances, and him singing a Garth Brooks song in my ear (hello cheese ball) I got bold and planted one on him. He was a little surprised but if I was going to make this happen obviously I had to take the reins! A very smitten Michael and Holly met up with some friends after the reception at Mickey's Pub and after a little more dancing we decided to go get breakfast. Yeah it was late.... So south we go on 31 and what do you know we put the car in a very very deep ditch, right around 131st street. It had snowed about 12 inches over the course of the evening and the roads were so bad no one and I mean no one was around to help us. After a lot of liquids and waiting around for what seemed like days I couldn't hold it. I had to pee, in the snow on the side of the road, how embarrassing. Even better Michael wanted to call his parents for help since we were stranded. Not exactly how I imaged meeting my future in-laws. Remember those stilettos I was wearing? Yeah, they don't do well in snow or for hill climbing so I had to sit in the car while it was pulled out of the ditch. Around 4 AM Michael's parents dropped me off at home. Wow, crazy date. He later told me that not only was that the wildest date he'd been on, it was also the most expensive. I think he paid the car repair people around $900. (If we have our daughter on Valentine's day, she'll be his most expensive Valentine's Day date.)

From then on it was date after date, movie after movie, and watching all of his friends get married. You know where this is going, Oct 2004 we moved in together. During the first few weeks I wanted to kill him, boys are the messiest creatures in the world! He survived my nagging and I survived his bachelor ways. We lived in a teenie tiny apartment but it was our first place. We got to come home to each other everyday. It was a wonderful feeling but something was missing....

Hilton Head here we come! July 2005
We were off to our favorite vacation spot, Hilton Head Island, SC with our best friends Jim and Taunja and their daughter Kylie. Every time we went to HHI I begged Michael to take me for a walk on the beach, but we would always run out of time. Seriously I've been wanting to have a romantic walk on the beach since I was 13. What a daydreamer! After a long day at the pool Jim offered to cook steaks for dinner and let us be on our way. Little did I know a life changing moment was on the horizon. We grabbed our flip flops and we were off. It was only 6 or 7 so it wasn't dark yet. We decided to stop and have some drinks at a bar on the beach and let the kiddies get done with there shell collecting so we could have a quiet walk. We didn't know that it was a full moon and that it's the perfect time to go crabbing or sand dollaring or whatever they hunt for at night. Michael was growing more irritated by the minute. I could tell something was wrong but I wanted my romantic moment on the beach so we picked a semi secluded spot and watched the waves crash in the moonlight. Michael could hardly sit still so after about 30 minutes we decided to head back. We got about 20 feet and Michael stopped. I turned around to see what he was doing and he got down on one knee. Cue the water works....I actually remember writing in my little girl diary that I wanted my husband to purpose to me on the beach under the stars. A little girl's dream come true.

Of course I said yes, and it was dark I could hardly see what the ring looked like so there I left my shoes, purse, and Michael to run up to the lights of the hotels to see my shiny rock that he picked out without my input. I was happy, thanks honey. We were so excited when we got back but by then Jim and Taunja were asleep so we started calling parents. It being a weeknight and all my parents were a little irritated getting a call at 11:30pm. Who wouldn't be? We decided to try to go to sleep and make calls in the morning. The next day Taunja and I got pedicures and some lunch and I asked her to be my matron of honor.

April 25, 2006

We bought our first house! It was 40 degrees and raining. Good thing we had movers! We were so lucky to move in next door to Chris and Heather Amon who later became like family. Chris' famous quote to our movers was "Movin in huh?" They called him "there's your sign" Sorry Chris!

Months before we got our house I begged Michael to get a dog, we had gone to the Humane Society and looked online a few times, but we couldn't get one because our apartment complex had a weight limit on dogs. So the Friday after we closed on our house I ventured to the Humane Society on my lunch hour. I saw this little red puppy online and I wanted to go see what she was like. It was love at first sight, half an hour later I had a dog...and no where to put her. Oops! I loaded her, a crate, leash and collar set, food and water dishes in the car and we were off! After about 20 minutes down the highway she pooped in her crate, and then it rolled out and onto my seat. I called my mom hysterically asking for help, I had no where to put her for a few hours and I was in a little over my head. My mom came to the rescue and took her off my hands until I got home. Mind you this was my lunch "hour", 4 hours after I had left for lunch I returned to the office. Thankfully I still had a job, my boss was very understanding.
I forgot one thing, to tell Michael that I got a dog. After a quick phone call he came around and was excited to meet her. She was so happy when he came through the door, it's like she knew this was her forever Dad. We renamed her Molly, and she became BFFs with Bella Amon next door.

September 22, 2007 Our day was finally here!!

I was really excited when Taunja and I got up and got ready on my wedding day. We showered and were off to the salon to be made up. I grew more nervous as the day went on and by the time my Dad got to my house I was ready to start drinking. My nerves had kicked in. After what seemed like endless pictures and primping it was time to meet my dad at the starting line. I was so on the verge of tears, thinking about all of the times we'd seen Father of the Bride and I had day dreamed about what it would be like when my dad walked me down the aisle. I was so nervous I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. But as soon as I saw Michael it all melted away and I was ready for a new chapter in my life.
We got through the mass and headed off to the party. It was memorable, and exactly what I wanted. Fast forward to getting back to the house to pack. We didn't got to sleep at all (big mistake) we still needed to pack for Cabo.

We get to Cabo, hopped into the limo and are off to the resort. It was beautiful, but all I wanted to do was wash the hairspray out of my hair and take a nap. Of course Michael wouldn't let me stop to get conditioner on the way to the airport because we are always running late. And he promised that there would be conditioner in the room. There wasn't, and when he suggested using lotion in my hair so I could get a comb through it, and there it was, the honeymoon breakdown. My poor supportive husband. I was stomping around the room and crying hysterically because I just wanted to wash my freakin hair and use some freakin conditioner! We were so sleep deprived that neither one of us was thinking straight and I stood in the shower crying about my hair and begging Michael to book us a flight home. After we moved rooms, got some sleep, and hit the bar in the pool the next day I was all better, and by the end of the day I never wanted to leave.

June 4, 2008 What does that mean?

I had the strangest urge to take a pregnancy test. When I got a positive I had to get the directions out and look at it again. I didn't comprehend the kind of news I was getting. So I took another one (different brand) thinking that it was wrong. Nope, I was pregnant, unexpectedly pregnant. We didn't really plan on kids for a least a couple more years. My first emotion (after of course confusion) was excitement.

It had been storming all night long and when I went to the office to tell Michael the news I just stood there, speechless. I didn't know what to say, so I waited to see if he would notice the look on my face. He asked if there was any change (meaning the weather) and I slapped my pee sticks on the desk with a huge smile on my face and said "there will be"!! And that is how we found out we were going to be parents.