Bathroom do-over.

Our main bathroom had been irking us since we moved in almost 2 years ago. The textured green walls. The so-not-us Tuscany-inspired sink. The scroll-y iron accented mirror. Nice stuff, just not our style. (If anyone's interested in our old sink and mirror, let us know b/c we'll give you a sweet deal.)

Here's how the bathroom do-over went down...

Travis (talking to the man at Lowe's): "Oh replacing a sink is pretty easy stuff right? You just unhook the old one and hook up the new one." 

Man at Lowe's: "Yeah, totally. Even a monkey could install it."

Well call me Simian Sammy b/c the damned thing took me about 8 hours and a 'call of shame' to my brother-in-law to get his help on my leaky P-trap (that's another story). 

Katie at Lowe's asking "You sure you don't want to hire someone?"

Travis cussing because his hands aren't tiny enough.

BEFORE

AFTER

Happy Birthday Travis!

Mom's Day '08.

For Mom's Day, we had K's family over for a really nice brunch (courtesy of Mama Bird). After gifts, we retired to the backyard with our nephew Caden for a friendly game of kickball. Good silly fun. 

Stork droppings, episodes 2 & 3.

A couple more gifts arrived this week from our out of town friends and suddenly it felt like Christmas in May. First up, we received this mod Boppy pillow from Gary and Sarah in MO. This was one of those things that we were really excited to register for at Target b/c it's functional, but looks great too. This will come in very, very handy. Thank you soooooooooo much. Who doesn't love zoo animals? 

We love, love, love the line of kids' stuff from Boon. Everything is just so well designed with a healthy dose of whimsy thrown in. The Frog Pod has always been one of our favorites, and it's definitely a guilty pleasure on the ol' registry. Sure, our baby doesn't NEED a plastic frog that sticks to the wall and scoops up bath toys, but it sure is fun. Melissa and Dick so graciously sent us this one, and we shared a big laugh at the enclosed card (fitting since Melissa is going to the Beijing Paralympics for swimming): "So your little munchkin can grow to love water and become a fast swimmer. :)" Thanks guys! Baby R will think of you when he's splishing and splashing and making bubble beards in the tub.

Stork droppings, episode 1.

The stork showed up on our front porch this past week in the form of a UPS box from Mama Robertson, Trav's Mom in Missouri. The cutest dang onesies and twosies (outfits) arrived and we had so much fun unpacking this super-cuteness-explosion. Thanks Mom! Baby R should have plenty of sweet threads for wooing the ladies. 

A very Smillie Saturday night.

If there's one thing you can count on in this world, it's a laugh-filled evening with the Smillies. We had a yummy night of Thai takeout, guitar hero, buzztime trivia and best of all, seeing Addie and Nicholas before their cribs called. It was great to catch up and talk about baby stuff, non-baby stuff and just be thoroughly ridiculous. Keep the ridiculous alive in '08!

Fruit-o-Meter #14.

The baby is definitely growing in this, our 27th week. Put those rutabagas and spaghetti squashes aside, good people. We've got a real hunk of produce gracing us in this week's F-o-M..."This week your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He now sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning--with assistance--if he were born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on." 

That's what I'm talkinbout (grunt)...cauliflower.

Mama bird x2.

Here's the Mama Bird herself posing with our new Mama Bird art print. We've had this print for a while but finally got around to having it framed. It's so rad. (Can I say rad? I think I'm too old to be saying that. Oh hell.) I just love having art on the walls because our house is feeling more and more like a home.
By the way, we got this rad bird print on Etsy from an artist named Matte Stephens. Check his work out here.  -T

Friendly dinner.

Last Wed we had our friends, Dave & Kirstin (and kidlets Ava & Lily) over for a fun, low key dinner. Our new highchair came in handy as baby Lily got to test drive it, break it in for Baby R. Weee!
Here's a picture of the highchair in all its glory, for all you highchair enthusiasts out there. (nano urban highchair from bloom)

Fruit-o-Meter #13.

26 weeks. Y'all know the drill... "Your baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel. His weight will more than triple between now and birth as he rapidly puts on baby fat. He'll need that fat to adjust to temperatures outside the womb and as a source of energy and calories in the first days of life."

Baby Room & More.

As you may have read in the latest blog entry, I made the decision to leave Little & Company after 6 wonderful years. Although, it was a tough decision, I'm looking forward to my next opportunity. I'll be working at Target in their in-house agency where I'll be doing account work, similar to what I'm doing now. And, yes, this means Trav and I will be working together! We're not worried at all because Travis has been a client of L&Co.'s throughout the years, so we're not scared. Before I start working at Target, I will be enjoying 2 weeks off in order to work on a few miscellaneous projects and to research daycare for Baby R.

Some of you have been asking what our baby room furniture looks like. We're waiting on one more delivery from Baby Grand, but other than that the room will be pretty much ready for delivery day. Once the room is complete, we'll take another pic and show you the finished look. Enjoy!

CRIB - Two tone white and mocha finish (ignore the bedding, this is not what we chose. see below.)

DRESSER/CHANGER - Two tone mocha and white finish

GLIDER CHAIR - Charcoal Gray Pillow and Chair

BABY CRIB BEDDING SET -  Reversible set. The solid side matches the wall color and the dots will pull colors out of artwork we're using from Trav's Grandpa's children's book. We plan to scan in the artwork and create canvas art using the illustrations.

CURTAINS - I'm almost finished making new curtains. The pattern is a bit wild even for us, but we're loving it! The faux wood-grain pattern pulls from the yellow-green dot in the bedding and will play off the children's book imagery. The book theme images, mentioned above, are illustrated as "camping" and styled like Dick, Jane & Spot.

Fruit-o-Meter #12.

Hello good people. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's been a crazy week of work w/ Katie's last day at Little & Co. and Travis' new job. Busy times. Well, here's the latest news at this, our 25th week: "Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight is a pound and a half-- isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for a more rounded one. As your baby gains weight, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more like a mini newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now in color and texture, although both may change after he's born." No clue what a rutabaga looks like? Ahh, here ya go...

Happy times.

The weekend was pretty hectic to say the least. On Saturday, we attended a really beautiful wedding of one of Trav's college friends, Tim Puder. The wedding was at the St. Paul Cathedral with the reception at the Nicollet Island Pavilion. It was soooo great to see old friends and catch up. {Hey Jim/Jen/Shimon- peep our web gallery to download pics from the wedding and upload your pics too.}On Sunday we had another big day, celebrating the baptism of Peggy Yurk-- our new Goddaughter! That's right, we officially became Godparents to Sarah and Todd's baby. (Prompting Travis to do his Marlon Brando impersonation all weekend long.) Peggy looked so adorable and was an angel throughout the whole church service. {For family who attended the baptism, you can download/upload your pics here on our web gallery.}

Fruit-o-Meter #11.

Here we are at 24 weeks. On Friday, we had our 23-week appointment and Mama Bird is healthy as ever. The BabyCenter update we received: "Your baby's growing steadily, gaining  about a quarter of a pound since last week, when he was just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), that makes a pretty lean figure, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon put on more baby fat. Your baby's skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, his brain is growing rapidly, and his taste buds are developing."

Monkey see.

The people have voted and I get the hint: y'all think my monkey is creepy. So Katie let me get a new monkey while we were at Baby Grand picking up our bedding, and this one has a cool goatee made of yarn. He's one funky monkey. Travis Jr. is going to dig him, for sure. Especially now that he has 2 monkeys to be buddies with. ;)

Weeeee!

We had Kris and Alissa (or as they're affectionally known: "Akrissa") over on Saturday for some dinner and shenanigans. Katie had a fun time partaking in the Fre White Zinfandel (alcohol-free) so we had to capture some pics of Mama Bird hittin' the bottle. We played Wii Bowling and Boxing, and surely convinced Alissa that they, too, need to get a Wii. Fun, fun.

Advice-a-thon.

So as you probably know, when you're having your first baby, everyone shares their parenting advice. I received this offering today from one of my best friends Gary and told him I'd be sharing it, whether he wants me to or not. Gary says: "Kids are the best thing in life. One thing I heard and will never forget is: "There is no success in life that will compensate for failure in raising your kids." Think about that one for a sec. Maybe it's the double-negative, or the fact that my brain is an acorn, but this one leaves me wondering. That one's deep Gary, confusing, but deep.

Fruit-o-Meter #10.

Now at 23 weeks, this edition of the F-o-M focuses more on weight than length: "Your baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango)."

Books, yes. Bowling, no.

We just returned from a fun and random Tue night event that's definitely worth sharing with you in this here cyberspace. It's called Books & Bars. Sponsored by The Onion funny paper, this literary hootenanny happens once-a-month at Bryant Lake Bowl in Uptown. Our friend Jeff Kamin is the M.C. of this Oprah's Book Club + beer + laughs + hipsters gathering. Definitely worth checking out in person (and at the very least, on their worldwidewebsite). "But don't just take our word for it." The Star Trib ran this article.

Spring showers...

... bring baby showers! This weekend we celebrated Baby Wanning. I co-hosted a baby shower at our pad with some college girlfriends (Megan, Mindy & Sadie) for our great friend Emily. Included excellent food, fun games and fantastic fellowship. Congratulations Em, can't wait to meet him/her! Here are some pictures from the party.

  

Award winning.

If you are considered a 'blog stalker' of ours, you are most likely familiar with our great friend Melissa Stockwell. This last weekend she competed in the Paralympics trials for swimming and continued to break personal records. Now that results are in, Melissa made the USA team! It's also a big deal because not only does Mel L-O-V-E America, she is also representing her country again as the first Iraq war veteran to be selected for the Paralympics. Congratulations Mel, you deserve it! Better start learning Chinese! If you haven't already, check out the Beijing Paralympic official website.

   

One little monkey...

Hello again. Hope your weekend was wonderful. Just wanted to post about an old/new addition to the nursery-- my (Travis') vintage sock monkey. I found it in a box of my childhood stuff and I had to bring him back from the 70s. Fun Fact: this same sock monkey was the inspiration for a Target GiftCard I created a few years ago. Found this vid on YouTube.

Golden.

Tonight was a really special night because K's friend Melissa set a new American record in the 400M Freestyle swim event! We arrived late b/c of work, but we got to celebrate with her firsthand and see her smiling face. Mel hopes to set more records tomorrow in her other two swim events (and we're definitely NOT missing those). If all keeps going this way, she'll be representin' the U.S. of A. in the '08 Beijing Paralympics. Phenomenal. We're so proud of you, Mel! Oh, and by the way, she was featured on the front page of the Star Tribune today...click here.

Fruit-o-Meter #9.

It's Thur so you know what that means: spaghetti squash. "Your baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound. His skin will continue to appear wrinkled until he gains enough weight to fill it out. Your baby's eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks some pigment. Your baby's lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath his gum line." 22 weeks and counting!