Badanes Family

Grandpa H loves Dunkin

2012-02-18T08:09:00.001-05:00

American and Grandpa H run on Dunkin. Miller joined Dad for his morning visit to his favorite coffee place.

Reading at Bedtime

2012-02-15T22:00:00.001-05:00

Storytime is always a part of Miller's bedtime routine.

Someone's Excited!

2012-02-09T20:02:00.002-05:00

Miller's pumped about the come-from-behind win. Duke's still undefeated Carolina in his lifetime.

New Favorite Clothes

2012-02-07T22:54:00.001-05:00

We are making the slow and steady transition from infant clothes to 'little boy' clothes. These three looks are my current favorites.

Winston!

2012-02-07T22:09:00.006-05:00

It would be true to say that Winston has spent more time with Miller than anyone else in the family. He's by his side every day and has a keen sense of when Miller is uncomfortable. We just know that he can't wait until Miller starts dropping serious scraps from his high chair. Until then, he'll just have to sneak Miller's food from right out of his mouth...

The Six String

2012-02-01T22:51:00.000-05:00

Miller got his first chance on the guitar last weekend at my cousin Tom's place. We'd love for him to learn how to play.

New Year - New Food!

2012-01-25T22:39:00.000-05:00

The post-Christmas festivities were just as fun and busy as Christmas itself! My Mom, Renzi, Lee Anne and Jackson were in town until just before New Years (mom was actually here through new years day). We had a great time exploring DC, going out to lunch, wandering around the Smithsonian and celebrating Lee Anne's birthday.

Happy Birthday Aunt Lee!

We also took this time to give Miller his first taste of food! His initial response was a little mixed, so over the next couple of weeks we tried again a few times. He's become a pro and loves to eat. Just this last week he graduated from bland old rice cereal to blended peas! Here's a peek at his progress. :)

NOT a fan... maybe not ready yet!

Getting a bit better...

He likes it!

Winston is more excited about this than anyone else!

Peas are a little different, but he likes them!

Another big change around the Badanes household in the New Year is that Miller now has a full time nanny. Her name is Dunia and she's wonderful! I can tell how much Miller likes her, and it's so nice to know that he's well taken care of when we leave for work in the morning. She tells us that he's starting to really like having peas for lunch every day!

For the time being I'm making Miller's food myself... we'll see how long that lasts. :) I think we'll try apples this weekend and see how it goes. I'll post some pictures of him enjoying (hopefully!) his first fruit this weekend.

Christmas!

2012-01-25T22:11:00.001-05:00

I know this is about a month late, but better late than never!

Miller's first Christmas was fun and relaxing. We woke up around 7 ish and came downstairs for coffee (milk for Miller!) and to open stockings. After we finished the stockings we went into the kitchen and made a big breakfast before we started opening presents. We took our time opening presents (Mom was the designated Miller present opener, she was pretty busy!) and enjoying each of the wonderful gifts we all received. It was really nice to relax and enjoy our morning.

Tuckered out from all the excitement!

After Skyping with Dave's family and playing around on Mom's new Kindle Fire, we decided to take advantage of the great weather and headed to Teddy Roosevelt Island for a Christmas Day family walk! It was the perfect day for a walk and a nice way to spend the afternoon.

That evening Renzi, Lee Anne and Jackson flew into town. Dad picked them up at the airport and Dave, Miller and I headed to my Dad's house in Annapolis to celebrate Christmas evening with them all. Miller was a little fussy so we got distracted and forgot to take pictures. But it was a really fun time!

All in all we had a great Christmas. Miller was a lucky little guy and received so many wonderful presents, but more importantly he was able to spend time with so many people who love him.

More pictures and updates coming soon!

Miller at Five Months

2012-01-18T22:00:00.000-05:00

Miller turned five months on January 18th and we took our monthly 'growth' pictures.

Here he is on our bed surrounded by five stuffed animals, one for each month he is old.

Here's a picture of him growing on the 'incredible shrinking chair'.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2012-01-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

After Thanksgiving we had a lot of fun activities leading up to Christmas. My birthday was on the 8th, which we celebrated in a low key way (still recovering from the big surprise party Dave threw for me last year!). On the 18th, Miller turned 4 months! He's growing so fast! We also celebrated Christmas a little early with Dave's sisters and Abby's boyfriend James. Here are a few pictures of our pre-Christmas festivities.

Making Miller's first ornament!

4 Months!

2011-12-19T20:56:00.000-05:00

On December 18th Miller turned 4 months old! He's still long and skinny, 14 pounds 1 ounce and 26 inches long. That puts him in about the 91st percentile in height and the 37th percentile in weight.

He's very active! Rolling from front to back and back to front all the time. He's all of a sudden very interested in toys. He'll grab them, bat at them, but mostly put them in his mouth. We're pretty sure the little guy is teething. There's been a lot of drool and a lot of chomping down on things!

Here are his 4 month pictures - enjoy!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving we were lucky to have the entire Badanes crew in town to celebrate. Dave's grandparents (Anne's parents) made the trip as well!

The morning of Thanksgiving a few of us ran the DC Turkey Trot 5k. The weather was gorgeous, perfect day for a run.

The whole turkey trot crew

DC Turkey Trot!

We ate back those calories pretty quickly that afternoon at Thanksgiving dinner! It was held at Ruth's house (Anne's cousin) in downtown DC. It was a great afternoon spent with lots of cousins.

Miller's First Thanksgiving!

Spending some time with Great Grandparents Jack & Wibb

We spent much of the next few days exploring and touring DC. It's always fun to play tourist in your own city, especially when there are such great monuments to explore.

On Saturday we had some friends and family over to continue the Thanksgiving celebration. Miller loved all the attention!

Snuggling with Kendra!

Miller playing with his good friend Abby

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Thinks He's 4 Months Old

2011-11-23T13:16:00.000-05:00

I apologize in advance for being a braggy Mom, but I'm just so proud of our little guy! We just finished up at Miller's 3 month wellness appointment and he's doing great. The doctor commented several times that Miller thinks he's 4 months old rather than 3 months, since he hit all of the standard 4 month milestones!

He is measuring tall and lean, 13.3 pounds and 25 1/2 inches long. That puts him in the 47th and 91st percentiles respectively.

I plan to do my part to fatten him up over the next few days as we all feast and give thanks for our blessings. I know what I'm thankful for this year!

Happy Thanksgiving - Gobble Gobble. :)

Miller at Three Months

2011-11-18T14:18:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's been three months since Miller was born. The little guy has changed our world. Here's the latest installment of the 'incredible shrinking chair'.

Miller's Trip to Baltimore

2011-11-18T13:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we ventured up I-95 to Baltimore for a trip to the National Aquarium with our friends Aaron and Abby. We took in all the exhibits, including the spectacular dolphin show with a view of the Inner Harbor. For the time he was awake, Miller was enthralled by the diversity of colors and lights. At one point, he was face to face with Dora from Finding Nemo.

We finished up the morning with a trip to Isabella's, an incredible family delicatessen in Little Italy.

Here are some of our best pictures from the trip.

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Chatty Miller

2011-11-16T12:09:00.000-05:00

Miller's been babbling up a storm these days. I swear that he said 'Mom' the other day, but Ginny says we can't count it as his first word if he doesn't know what it means. But I heard it.

Look at this video, filmed by our good friend Kerri, of Miller holding a conversation.

Biking the C&O

2011-11-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

This past week, Granne and Grandpa H biked the C&O Trail with Road Scholar. Starting in the snowy mountains of Northwest Maryland, they biked hundreds of miles down dirt roads with the Potomac on the right and the canal on their left.

Fortuitously, their trail passed within twenty minutes of home and Miller and Dad were able to visit the cyclists at their lunch break at the Maryland side of Great Falls National Park. As a family, we love Great Falls. We've hiked there numerous times. Miller's already been to the park a half-dozen times, riding in the Baby Bjorn during hikes with Dad, Mom, and good friends.

Granne and Grandpa H led the group of cyclists, arriving at the park right at noon. We hiked to the overlook and then enjoyed lunch with their trailmates. Here are a couple pictures from the trip.

Election Day

2011-11-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

Dad and Miller went to the polling place on Tuesday to take part in our civic duty. We took the stroller up to the local junior high school for this off-off-election. (Virginia is one of the few states that holds its state-wide elections in odd-numbered years, but this was the 'mid-term' elections of the state races). There was nary a line as there was only one contested race, for state senate.

Regardless, Miller and Dad got stickers for doing their part. As for the picture, I joked on facebook that Miller cried when he realized Sophie the Giraffe wasn't on the ballot.

Almost Rolling Over!

2011-11-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

Miller has been growing like a weed and learning all kinds of new things. He's SO close to rolling over. In fact, we were pretty sure he was about to do it the other day, so we took a video. We ended up cheating a bit :) but it was close!

**Rolling over update! Just a couple of hours after originally publishing this post Miller rolled over (for real). Once he figured it out he did it a few more times! Very proud of our little guy. :)

Another big change is that he's sleeping through the night! We went through several weeks of five hours at one time, and then last week he slept 7 hours in a row. The next night he went for 8! Daylight savings threw him off a little bit, but I think he'll get back on track soon.

This past weekend our good friends - and Miller's Godparents- Chris & Johanna came to visit and meet Miller. They picked a great weekend, the weather was perfect. We were able to spend a lot of it outside, but also managed to spend plenty of time indoors playing with Miller man. :) Here are some pics from the weekend!

Chris & Johanna with Miller

Almost rolling over!

Figuring out his Bumpo Seat

Brunch in Georgetown with Grandparents

2011-11-04T17:19:00.000-04:00

Over the Halloweeen weekend, we had brunch in Georgetown at Martin's Tavern. Martin's is one of the oldest watering holes in Georgetown, hosting every sitting president from Harry Truman to Bush 43. In fact, a special booth is marked with a plaque that John Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier at that table in the summer of 1953.

Miller was dressed in his finest Halloween attire for a brunch with family members including Granne, Grandpa H, Pops and Marcine.

First Trip to the Zoo

2011-11-02T17:10:00.000-04:00

Miller and Dad took an outing to the Smithsonian National Zoo this past week. While I'm not certain Miller enjoyed it any more than a regular hike in the Baby Bjorn, it was fun to spend the morning with our friends Aaron and Abby. It was a gorgeous day and most of the animals were out enjoying the sun. I've attached some of the best pictures of our little monkey meeting the other animals.

About That Name...

2011-10-27T15:15:00.000-04:00

While Miller Hawkins Badanes may sound vaguely like distinguished white-shoe law firm, let us share with you some of the rationale of naming our son.

Even from before we found out his gender, we knew that we wanted to use family names that could honor and remember Miller's ancestry. Hopefully, in sharing this with him one day, we can encourage him to research more about those people for whom he's named. And, let's be honest, Miller Hawkins sounds a lot better than Nachum Shutzkwer Badanes, a name five generations up from Miller (sons to fathers), suggested by my own Dad.

MILLER
The name Miller comes from one of the oldest of human professions in agriculture, the refiner of grain into flour. As was the case centuries ago, occupations became last (family) names. We are lucky to have the name 'Miller' on both sides of our family. Renzi Dallas Miller was born in Jackson, Mississippi during Reconstruction, just 30 months after the end of the Civil War. He lived his whole life in Jackson County and married Anna Goff in 1894. In 1914, she delivered their tenth child, Bessie Marie Miller. Bessie played college basketball at Louisiana Tech, was a high school teacher in Springhill, LA and gave her maiden name as a middle name to her youngest child, Miller's maternal grandfather Larry Stone.

Later, we found out that the Miller name is also on David's side. In fact, David's great-grandmother was the daughter of William Newton Hawkins and Ida May Miller. Ida May Miller was born in 1863 as a second generation American, as her grandfather's family emigrated from Lanark, Scotland to Cumberland, Maryland in 1838. Her father James Miller was a Baptist minister of the 'fire and brimstone' variety; my great-grandmother notes that he was quite an intimidating figure especially to a grandchild.

HAWKINS

Thanks to my grandmother and her research, much is known about the Hawkins family history. Robert Hawkins was born in Lancashire County, England in 1695 and moved to America at the age of 20 in 1715. He owned around 500 acres in present-day Baltimore County, near Havre de Grace. Amazingly, he lived in three centuries and died at 106 on November 11, 1801. (Various records, even at that time, note his longevity). He strongly supported the American Revolution and sent three sons into service along with 2000 pounds sterling.

David's great-grandmother's father William Newton Hawkins lived from 1855 to 1922 and inherited the family farm and bred horses in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

BADANES

Finally, while Miller's last name was never in doubt, it is interesting to note that he was nearly born an exact century after his great-grandfather, Albert Wiswell Badanes. Al's father came to this country from Lithuania around the turn of the century and his wife Elaine delivered Al on August 15th, 1911. She died on Christmas of 1918 and Al was sent to live with his Aunt in Cincinnati. Except for stints in the war, he lived in Cincinnati his whole life, distributing Barq's root beer through the Midwest.

If you enjoyed this ancestry lesson one half as much as I enjoyed writing it, I think I've done my job. For family members, feel free to correct any dates, names or places in the comments.

Monkey Business

2011-10-27T15:03:00.000-04:00

Our little monkey-man Miller won best dressed (infants' division)* at Ginny's company's Halloween party. While I'm certain that he'll only fit in this costume for a few weeks, we plan to get all the mileage out of it as possible. Below is proof that the monkey business extends beyond the Halloween costumes...

* Let the record show that while Miller was the only entrant in the infants' division, I'm sure he would have beaten all challengers

Pumpkin Time

2011-10-27T14:58:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, Miller took his first trip to a pumpkin patch as we gathered gourds to decorate our home. Dad learned a hard lesson on heavy pumpkins when we went to weigh our wagon. Who knew that 69 cents per pound would add up so quickly? I just had to test out my new "dad-strength" by grabbing the comically large pumpkin.

Miller's World

2011-10-21T18:27:00.000-04:00

While searching for the text for this post, I found another Christopher Morley poem that is so appropriate to our understanding of Miller's reality. It is entitled "Six Weeks Old".

"Six Weeks Old"
Christoper Morley

He is so small he does not know
The summer sun, the winter snow;
The spring that ebbs and comes again,
All this is far beyond his ken.

A little world he feels and sees:
His mother's arms, his mother's knees;
He hides his face against her breast,
And does not care to learn the rest

These beautiful photos come from the incredibly talented Brittany DeFrehn of Sweet Bee Photography. We are so lucky to count Brittany and her husband Sean as friends and hope that she'll continue to so artistically capture our family for years to come.

Miller Turns Two (Months)

2011-10-21T17:33:00.000-04:00

It's been an exciting week at the Badanes home in Arlington. Miller turned two months on Tuesday (the 18th) and we had his two month check-up on Wednesday. The little guy is long and lean, measuring in at 24 inches and 12 pounds.

We love the idea of tracking his growth with monthly photos. So far, we are planning two sets of prints - one with the same elephant chair and the other surrounded by stuffed animals (representing the number of months he is old). Here's this month's set:

Does anyone have any other cool ideas for tracking monthly photos? Would love to hear it in the comments.

Miller and Daddy Time

2011-10-16T20:37:00.000-04:00

As some of you may have heard, I'm taking an increased role in taking care of Miller during the busy period of Ginny's work. I can't wait to tell Miller when he's older all about this wonderful time we shared. I'm doing my best to record all of my thoughts for him, and sharing some with all of you on our blog.

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For now, I'm going to share the Christopher Morley poem "Secret Laughter" that both my Dad and Grandfather mailed to me upon Miller's arrival:

There is a secret laughter
That often comes to me,
And though I go about my work
As humble as can be,
There is no prince or prelate
I envy--no, not one.
No evil can befall me--
By God, I have a son!

Abby's Birthday at Perry's

2011-10-16T20:21:00.000-04:00

For my sister Abby's 24th birthday, we went to Perry's in Adams Morgan for sushi. Miller's at the perfect age for taking him out to restaurants and dinners with friends, as he seems to love the steady noise of crowded restaurants.

My Dog Winston

2011-10-16T20:13:00.000-04:00

Miller and Winston. Winston's been known to relieve himself on pumpkins, so we have to be careful when Miller dons this cap.

Third Trimester Athletics

2011-10-11T20:10:00.000-04:00

I know that I'm late to the post on this one, but did you all hear the story of the mother who ran the Chicago Marathon at 39 weeks? Before the expectant mothers over at pregnancy.com lose their minds, it is important to note that Amber Miller had the complete support of her doctor and her husband. As the author notes, this "was neither her first pregnancy, her first marathon, nor her first pregnant marathon". I applaud her determination, both to complete the race and to oppose the collective wisdom of the crowd.

Cincinnati Weekend

2011-10-11T19:49:00.000-04:00

The whole family traveled to Cincinnati for the first weekend in October. We had a full agenda that included introducing Miller to our Cincinnati friends and family and attending the Mariemont and Miami football games. It was extremely important for us to share Miller with his living great-grandparents, all of whom live in Southwestern Ohio. Included in this four generation picture are my Mom and Dad, my Mom's parents, and my Dad's mother.

The weekend started with Miller's first flight, a quick 55 minute jaunt across a beautiful September morning. Miller was the perfect traveler; our only hiccup was when we were worried his diaper would be flagged as a dirty bomb. The captain and flight attendants presented Miller with a certificate of first flight which we promptly added to his baby book.

Miller also met some of his parents' and grandparents' closest friends at an afternoon tea, the Mariemont Homecoming parade and a Miami University tailgate. His Dad is just getting the hang of compensating for the extra weight in the Baby Bjorn when playing cornhole.

All in all, it was a wonderful first trip to Cincinnati - the first of many, to be sure.

Big Smiles

2011-09-28T15:52:00.000-04:00

It's so fun to watch Miller get bigger and learn new things. About a week ago we started seeing some smiles, but they were so quick that we couldn't seem to capture them with a camera. But in the last couple of days he's been a smiling machine!

We also recently found out that he loves to take a bath! The first couple he seemed a bit unsure what he thought, but lately he'll smile and splash a little.

Things are going well around the house and we have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. We're flying to Ohio tomorrow to spend the weekend with Dave's family and friends. We'll drive back Sunday with Dave's mom, Anne, who is coming to stay with us for a week. Then, starting next Monday I'm going back to work and Dave is starting his parental leave! Big changes, but we're excited!

Naptime with Daddy!

1 Month!

One Month Old

2011-09-18T12:37:00.000-04:00

What a month! The time has really flown, it feels like yesterday that we were leaving the hospital and taking little Miller home for the first time. He's growing so fast! As of the last weigh-in he was 9 pounds 12 ounces and 23 inches, but that was about five days ago, so he's even bigger now.

Over the past month we've had lots of visitors, a couple of parties and a lot of fun. Below are some pictures of our time so far.

With Aunt Abby (who just moved to DC!) and Grandpa H

Hanging out with his big cousin Jackson

Spending some time with Aunt Lee Anne and Miss Susannah

Aunt Carries birthday celebration

Spending some tummy time with Winston

Finished Nursery

2011-09-06T11:41:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a reminder from my good friend Kirsa, I'm finally adding some pictures of the finished (and now functional!) nursery. Miller hasn't started sleeping in his crib yet, we still keep him in a cradle by our bed, but we use the nursery for feedings, diaper and clothing changings and swaddling, so it's getting lots of daily use!

The theme of the nursery is based on a favorite children's book of ours "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. The stanza that's repeated throughout the book is stenciled on the wall above the crib, and we cut out and framed pictures from the book throughout the room.

Enjoy!

Big First Week

2011-08-29T15:26:00.000-04:00

Miller had quite the first week! As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, on his third full day home from the hospital we experienced the largest earthquake on the East Coast in over a century. I was standing holding Miller about to hand him over to my Mom in our living room. We felt the ground begin to shake and thought it was construction on 66 at first, but it became apparent pretty quickly that the ground was shaking too violently to just be construction. All together it only lasted about 40 seconds and Miller didn't seem phased at all!

Then, this last weekend Miller also experienced a hurricane. Hurricane Irene came through the DC area Saturday bringing with it some nasty rain and strong winds. We lost power for most of the day Saturday and were still without internet and cable all day Sunday, but overall it wasn't nearly as bad as we had anticipated.

Other than dodging natural disasters - it was a pretty low key week! We did a lot of ooohing and awwing over Miller. We were sad to see our moms go home after each being here about 2 weeks helping us out, but we're doing our best and getting into a pattern with it just being the three of us (and Winston, of course!).

Here are a few pictures from the first week - more to come!

Love,
Dave, Ginny & Miller

Our version of the incredibly shrinking chair!

Snuggle time with Dad!

Miller Has Arrived!!

2011-08-25T10:55:00.000-04:00

Miller Badanes

We are so excited to announce that Miller Hawkins Badanes came into the world a week ago today! He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.

The last seven days have flown by! They've been filled with visits from lots of family and friends as well as some sleepness nights and moments of wondering what exactly we'd gotten ourselves into! But mostly they have been spent in awe of the miracle of our little guy and greatfulness for this blessing.

We've been fortunate to have all Miller's grandparents around in his first week. We're especially greatful to Anne and Vicki for all the help! Miller is a lucky guy to have such amazing grandmothers.

Thanks to everyone for all the kind thoughts and prayers!

Love,
Dave, Ginny & Miller

Waiting Game...

2011-08-11T11:44:00.000-04:00

As you can probably tell from our ticker, our little man's due date has come and gone and still no baby! We have been saying from the beginning that we thought he'd come late - though we were both hoping he'd be right on time, maybe a day or two early.

As excited as we are to meet him and get this new phase of our life started, I think waiting is a good thing. It gives us the chance to practice our patience as well as enjoy this life before baby for just a little bit longer. Although we don't know exactly what it will be like once he's here, we do know that it will be life-changing, not to mention schedule altering. Nights where we just decide to pick up and go see a movie, like last night, will be a thing of the past (or at least a very uncommon occurence!). It's also a time to anticipate with excitement all the little unknowns - like what he'll look like, will he have any hair, what color his eyes will be, and how big is he?!

We're staying busy until he gets here, spending time with our friends and family who are also politely biding their time until he arrives. We can take some comfort in knowing that if he's still not here by next Wednesday morning, the doctors will begin the induction process and we'll likely have a baby by this time next week!

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! We look forward to sharing the good news with you all very soon!

With Love,
Ginny

July Festivities!

2011-07-26T21:36:00.000-04:00

Time is flying by! We have enjoyed some great weekends with friends and family as we get closer and closer to baby!

Over July 4th weekend we spent a great day on Kent Island with my step sister Chelsea at her in-laws gorgeous house. They had a fantastic cookout with amazing food. I probably can't describe the scene as well as pictures can, so here are a few snapshots of the day.

The following weekend the fun continued with a girls weekend! Kendra Tyler was in town from Seattle and my sweet girlfriends (headed up by Kyra) threw me a "baby tea" at the Mayflower in downtown DC.

We went straight from the Mayflower to Annapolis for some more girls time, including a night out at Pussers! It was a lot of fun, though I'll admit I was very aware of being the pregnant girl in the bar. :)

The next morning the boys came, along with Kerri and Aaron's adorable daughter Abby. We spent most of the day swimming, eating (lots of chocolate was involved as you can see on Abby's face!) and just relaxing. It was a great weekend of friends and relaxation.

June Showers!

2011-06-29T20:42:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy June! On the 12th Dave's sweet sisters Abby and Carrie threw us an amazing shower at Aunt Emily's house. I don't have any pictures to post yet, but I'll get them up soon so you can see all the adorable gifts and decorations.

This last weekend we headed to Cincinnati for the wedding of our good friends Mike and Hannah. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time catching up with friends and family. While we were there a few of Dave's mom's friends threw us a baby shower! Our little guy has just about everything he needs now and we feel much more prepared for his arrival. Thanks to everyone who came to the showers, they were so fun!

Just a few pics from the Ohio shower.

We're looking forward to a fun July 4th weekend with friends and family. I can't believe there's just about a month left before our baby is here - can't wait!

Crib Assembly

2011-06-05T14:11:00.000-04:00

The crib arrived this week!! We are so grateful to Anne and Harry for getting us such a useful present!

We had been planning all week to put it together on Saturday. The more we spoke to friends and family with children, the more we started to think we might be crazy for trying to assemble it ourselves. We heard from almost everyone that they'd hired someone to do it for them... was this a bad idea??

As it turned out, it wasn't that difficult! I think we had a much tougher time with the glider chair. The instructions were pretty easy to follow - and Dave is very thorough about reading instructions - so the assembly only took about an hour to complete.

Once we were done, we spent a little time touching up the paint and clearing some things out of the closet. It's an ongoing project, but the room definitely looks like a real nursery now!

Next weekend Dave's sisters are hosting a baby shower for me at Aunt Emily's house. I'm sure the nursery will look very differnet when we get home from the shower next weekend. We'll post more updates then!

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-05T13:58:00.000-04:00

We had a great Memorial Day Weekend, filled with food, friends and family. On Saturday our friends Kerri and Aaron came over with their daughter Abby. The guys cooked up a lot of great dishes (including a successful first attempt at making steak "sous vide") and we had lots of fun playing cornhole and just enjoying the nice weather and good company.

Sunday morning we headed to Kent Island for the annual Bobby Thomas Memorial Fishing Tournament bar-b-que. Nearly a hundred folks turned out to remember Bobby and enjoy the gorgeous afternoon.

The weekend finished up with a Memorial Day parade in Annapolis. We headed back to Arlington a little early to beat the beach traffic and relaxed most of the afternoon.

All in all, a great weekend spent with people we love! We couldn't help but think how different our next Memorial Day weekend will be with our little guy!

Nursery Prep

2011-05-23T22:25:00.000-04:00

We started the nursery this weekend! Just painting mostly, but it's a start. Here are some pictures of the process.

Before

In Process

Done! Well with the painting at least. :)

We'll add more pictures once the room fills in some more. So excited to see it all coming together!

Hello Third Trimester!

2011-05-21T21:25:00.000-04:00

With just over two months to go until we welcome our little boy, it seems like a good time to start our family blog! This week marked the beginning of my third trimester, its hard to believe how close we are to greeting our new addition. It's an exciting time, but also a good reminder to enjoy our time as a couple before baby. This means a little more sleeping in and date nights then normal!

Anyways, we look forward to sharing our journey into parenthood with you!