Spring Fever

This week was absolutely fantastic! I was home for Spring Break all week. I managed to make a major dent in a serious to-do list including: finishing the nursery, washing the car, trimming the hedges, walking everyday, writing nearly 40 thank you cards, grading essays, spreading grass seed, lesson planning for my maternity leave, working on a base tan and going to the doctor twice. Speaking of, our last ultrasound was on Monday and John Thomas is positioned head down, over 20 inches long and weighs approximately 5 lbs. 15 oz.

We spent the weekend with my mom and dad. As usually, we ate well, played bridge and spent lots of quality time together. It was a restful and rejuvenating weekend. By the way, we prepared everything on the platter except for the broccoli salad. It was yummy! Good luck on your interview tomorrow dad!

Another perk to having the parents over for the weekend is the extra set of helping hands. Dad and Jason spent part of the day on Saturday tilling our garden and getting it ready to be sown.

Chester also likes it when mom and dad come over because they bring his best friend in the whole world, Ozzie.

The neat thing about dogs is they can play tug-of-war for thirty minutes, growl at each other and after it's all done, they want to start all over again.

Jason made a day trip to Nashville on Sunday to participate in the Christening of his God daughter, Stella Vernon. Not only did he have a great trip, he also brought home all sorts of baby gifts from some of our Nashville friends.

I think Chester might be missing his BFF (bestest fury friend) or maybe he knows that Spring Break is over and mom has to go back to work tomorrow. I'm sure a good nap and a puppy treat will help him cheer up. As for me, only three more weeks of work before we welcome home John Thomas!

Let the Countdown Begin

What a great week! My colleagues at school threw me my final baby shower. While we still have a few items to get, I am very thankful to all of the staff who supported us and our new family.
This cake was as delicious as it was cute.

Yesterday was the beginning of the one month countdown. As you can see from the picture, John Thomas is definitely getting bigger. I go tomorrow for the last ultrasound. We'll get his estimated height, weight and position. My favorite part is just seeing and hearing the heartbeat!

On a different note, I discovered that my broccoli from last season finally came up. It was supposed to be about half a row of produce and you can see what we're actually going to harvest. Who knew broccoli was so resilient?

You may have noticed there weren't any pictures of Jason this weekend. He went on a golfing trip with some friends. I'm glad one of us got to go somewhere for Spring Break. While I was home nesting and watching basketball, I also gave Chester a much needed bath. As you can tell from the picture, he will try to look as pitiful as possible to get out of taking a bath.

Showered With Love

I capped off a busy week with some much needed time with my college girlfriends. Because they live in Austin, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Cleveland--we don't get together as often as we'd like. My friends are the closest thing I have to sisters, so I cherish our relationships very much.
Mary, Meredith, Jen, Katie and Cara threw me and John Thomas a baby shower on Saturday. Although it was a relatively small shower, I had nearly all of the most important women in my life in one room. Beyond the fabulous ladies already mentioned, my mom, mother-in-law, Gay (2nd mom), Sarah (famed photographer and sidekick), and Angelina (great friend from church) were there too. I am seriously overwhelmed and blessed to have such a wonderful group of ladies to call my friends and family.

Jason's mom, Molly, and my mom are ecstatic about meeting their new grandson. He will surely be traveling in style in his shiny and cozy new stroller. We also received a "pack n' play," swing, Boppy and handmade slipcover and some accessories for a mommy pump.

This little cutie, Ellie, was the star of the weekend. She is such a sweet-tempered little girl. I think she was actually posing in this shot. It's definitely an advantage to have friends with children who can pass along some sage advice, and at this point--I'm all ears!

The only thing missing from my wonderful weekend was some quality time with my two favorite guys. I'm pretty sure they managed in my absence, but they definitely acted like two guys running the house.--sleeping in, chilling out, eating wings, and so on.

Chester was feeling a bit more feisty this week. I guess he's getting excited about warmer, sunnier weather too.

Brace Yourself!

This week Jason and I got to see our baby's face. We went in for the 4-D ultrasound and after about 20 minutes of prodding and poking all over my belly--we had one good look at John Thomas' face. He is a bit camera shy. In fact, he actually rolled all the way over to face my back before the whole process was done.
I know it's fuzzy and dark, but you can definitely see his cute nose, and chin, and chubby cheeks, and...

Saturday morning we had a photo shoot. Stay tuned because I'll be sharing those on the next blog. Saturday afternoon Jason's staff threw us our first baby shower. Although they all couldn't make it, it meant very much to the both of us. They really are a great group of ladies and we got all sorts of baby goodies.

All our posing at the photo shoot in the morning must have paid off. Don't you think we look so at ease in front of the camera?

Chester also wanted to pose this week. I'm not sure it's his best side considering it's more like a mug shot. At least he actually looks like a decent watch dog (for a change).

The Denial Is Over

It's official, I've lost my senses. Several new moms have warned me that when they were pregnant, they couldn't think straight. My day has come. Let this weekend's evidence speak for itself:
1. I put the sandpaper on the sanding block on the wrong side. Moreover, I "sanded" about half the room with the label facing out before Jason realized and stopped me.
2. While painting, I started knowingly painting the ceiling with the "Gobi Desert" paint intended for the walls.
3. We always go to the 11 o'clock service at church on Sundays. This morning I got us up, fed, showered and in the church parking lot by 9:50 and only then did I realize we were over an hour early.
Although it was Valentine's weekend, Jason and I decided to spend a romantic weekend together painting the nursery. Just so you know, he loathes painting but will do anything to help minimize my nesting obsession.

After his Daddy Boot Camp class on Saturday morning, we exchanged cards. His class went well, but he's been quite coy about the details. As you can tell from the picture, Jason went a little overboard on the card. What a great card; I laughed and cried within the span of five minutes. Even though we don't "buy in" to the commercialism of this holiday, it really is sweet to have a special day to love your sweetheart.

After a full day's work, we relaxed over a tasty dinner and rented a movie on demand. I'm pretty sure we were in bed by eleven.

This is the finished product. We still have to hang blinds and curtains, put the crib together and get the furniture situated--but what a big relief to have it done.

I think Chester is starting to bond with John Thomas. I guess if you can't beat them, join them.

The Lady's Man

Chester had a great week. His first surprise was a visit from our former neighbor, Stephanie. As you can see from the photo, he was very excited to see her. In fact, she is the only veterinarian in the whole world that he actually loves...or even likes.
Other than our mid-week house guest, we've had a relatively quiet weekend. We won our basketball game on Saturday and celebrated by going to the best burger joint in town, Litton's. You should also be aware that Litton's is also famous for their desserts. Needless to say we left with two delectable treats.

Key lime pie. Yummo! This little treat was lucky to make it through the night in one piece. Thank goodness Jason polished it off for breakfast this morning.

John Thomas and I loved the red velvet cake. I don't even want to know how many calories are in this slice of goodness, but I'll say it was worth every bite!

We ended the weekend with our own little Super Bowl gathering. Jason made rotel and his mom was able to come in for the night. As you can tell, Chester sure loves his grandma Molly. Team Kirkpatrick is definitely rooting for Peyton Manning so go Colts!

No Such Thing As Cabin Fever

Because of a snowy weekend, we haven't left our house all weekend and it's been wonderful! We have passed the time with ease sleeping in, walking on the treadmill, playing in the snow, having my parents over for a sleepover and reading in our new favorite chair.
Jason decided he wanted to join the February book club, so he picked up the new Dan Brown novel. You may notice the new glider. John Thomas is sure to love this new addition to the Kirkpatrick living room.

I've already read this one but I'll wait on the review until Jason gets through. Maybe he'll even blog about it!

I've started Jason's favorite book, The Good Earth. So far it's been the perfect recipe for a snowy weekend.

My parents came over Friday before the storm hit. We spent the better part of the evening playing Bridge. I'm sure some of you don't know how to play Bridge, but I'll put it this way--we slaughtered them! It's only fun to beat them because they're very good and we rarely have such a dominant night.

I think I've discovered an important correlation: the smaller the dog, the less they like the snow. This little 9 lb. dog has the will power of a Great Dane. She actually went on a potty strike for the entire 24 hours they were here.

Chester, on the other hand, really can't get enough of the powder white precipitation.

I told him to give me his most serious face. What do you think?