Painting the Nursery

Today is your great grandma Fiehler’s 80th birthday. We celebrated her birthday and my grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary yesterday. They were pretty surprised by the fact that most of the family showed up for the party. Also today nine years ago, your dad and I started dating. I guess this date doesn’t really count anymore since we have a wedding anniversary we will now celebrate. It’s still exciting to know how we have changed and grown over the past years and we look forward for what is to come in the future.

It was a busy day today. We went to church earlier than usual since we were going out to lunch for Scott’s birthday and we had Michael’s parents coming out to our house to paint. Michael and his dad went to the paint store to get some samples. Michael’s dad began painting while we were having lunch. When we arrived back home, we were anxious to see how the nursery looked. We had one wall painted yellow and another purple. The yellow seemed just too bright and it didn’t really go with the bedding we picked out. The light purple was a good match to the bedding. Michael’s dad suggested we look into adding color through the use of a stencil so we went to Michael’s to pick out a few. Since the walls weren’t completely finished, Michael was able to practice the stencils on the wall to see if we would even like it. To my surprise, it turned out better than I thought it would. We picked out bright colors that will stand out from the bedding and not clash with the light purple walls. We have to wait a few days until the rest of the walls get painted then we will do the stenciling.

The before pictures of the nursery:





The result of the first painting:

Third Baby Shower

Today was my third baby shower. This one was at Jess’ house and was with Michael’s family, including my mom and grandma. When I arrived, I was very impressed how much Jess took our nickname of Emma and incorporated it into the shower. For instance, there were party favors of a pea pod filled with candy, there were melon balls lined up on the peel, and the cake had a pea pod on it. She also had my favorite foods there (chicken salad sandwiches, spinach artichoke dip, and buffalo chicken dip). Everything was great!


Getting some lunch.


Jess and I with the cake.

We played the toilet paper game, where you guess how many squares it would take to wrap around my belly. The total was 12 and I won! I swear I didn’t know ahead of time that that was the number. Michael’s cousin also guessed the same number so she won a gift (Sweet Pea samples from Bath and Body Works). Jess is so creative!

I then opened all the presents; the majority from your grandmas. They are spoiling you rotten and you aren’t even here yet! I got a lot of clothes, safety items, and some bath items. Michael and I appreciate all the gifts we have been given; we honestly didn’t expect to get as much as we had, but we are very thankful for our friends and family for helping us prepare as we get closer by the day to meeting our daughter. I appreciate how thoughtful and creative Jess was in planning the baby shower. I can’t wait to plan future play dates and events with her for us and our children.

Opening some gifts:







My grandma and I


Ashley and I

Birthing Class

Today Michael and I had to go to class ALL day. It was our birthing class so it was something important that we needed to be present at. We arrived just in the knick of time, after a going through a maze in the hospital trying to find the classroom. We had bagels and juice for breakfast then dove right into the presentation. Michael gathered a lot of information for us to review. It was nice that we took a break every hour, otherwise it would have been too much information to take in at one time. The morning part seemed to take forever; but then it was soon lunch time. We had deli sandwiches, fruit, pasta salad, chips, and chocolate cookies. For a snack later on, we saw there were brownies. Also around this time we noticed that it was starting to snow a little heavier. We were expected to get a light dusting today; let’s just say that didn’t happen. As the second part of the class began, the instructor kept an eye on the weather. We started this session with massage and breathing. I think I could have fallen asleep if it went on just a little longer than it did. It was so relaxing; now if I can only get Michael to do that at home. This part seemed to go by so quick, but we think it was because it was more interaction whereas the first part was just the instructor telling us what is going on with our bodies now and during labor/delivery. I was so proud of Michael for changing a diaper and learning to swaddle a baby. Even if it was only a doll, it is experience and he will do fine when Emma is here. And if it’s not perfect, she won’t care. We were let out about an hour early because the snow was coming down pretty good at this time.

Leaving the hospital:





Nothing like being on fumes during a snow storm; at least, the trees were pretty to look at.


My swollen feet after a long day of sitting in class.


Our house

This is my Golden Year!

Today is my birthday and it’s time to celebrate! I couldn’t sleep very well because Michael was playing his video game and I could pretty much hear everything he was saying. I woke up around 1:30 in the morning and noticed that Michael had put up a sign in our bedroom that said happy birthday. When he finally got into bed like a half hour later, I went downstairs to get some water and noticed there were more signs and my gift and card. I was allowed to open them since it was technically my birthday. I had $25 in scratch offs, which I won $10 and another ticket. I also had a gift card to JC Penney’s and a massage place down the road. I can’t wait to use that massage gift card! We finally fell back to sleep, but then it was time to get up again. Your dad made me an egg sandwich on an English muffin with some toast. It was a good way to start my birthday! Until we looked outside and noticed it was snowing! Yes can you believe it, the end of March with flurries!


The sign in our bedroom.


The sign at the bottom of the stairs.


The sign in the kitchen.


The snow starting to come down.

I got off of work early because I made a hair appointment in the afternoon then my mom and I were getting our nails done. While getting my hair done, I asked about how much hair was needed to donate to Locks of Love. My stylist said between 7 to 10 inches. She was going to start with 7 inches to see what it looked like. Well I also had a picture of a hair style I had a few years back that I wanted something similar to. After she cut the hair, she told me “well it’s more like 10 inches” that she originally took off so there was no way I was going shorter than that. It’s not like it is a bad hair cut, it’s just something I have to get used to, which might take some time because it’s a big change.


My hair before the new style.


Yikes! Look at all that hair!


The new hair do.

After my mom and I got our nails done, we went back to their house until my dad and Michael got there so I could open my presents. I was surprised by a gift; the two sets of china. I also got some girl stuff to take with me to the hospital and to use once we get home and letters for Emma’s name.

We also had reservation for dinner at Chevy’s with Michael’s parents, his brother and family, Ashley and Jarrod, Jake, Zach, and Laura (who met us later for dessert at Dairy Queen). We didn’t do too much after dessert because everyone was pretty tired. This was to be a busy weekend for Michael and I so I was okay with just getting some rest.

Spring is here!

Spring officially started on Sunday evening, but we noticed today with all the nice weather we have had the past couple days that spring really is here! Today Michael and I went outside to grill some hamburgers for dinner and had a good surprise. Our plum tree has buds all over it!



Also the flowers under the deck overhang are blooming. They are so pretty, I just hope they last for awhile.



Michael and I began the dreaded never-ending project, yard work! We started on the side of the house by clearing out the dead grass. That's a hard job and unfortunately, we have the whole back yard to do next. We plan on doing a little each night so hopefully by the time Emma arrives we will have the majority of yard work completed. We would like to be able to enjoy spending time in the yard over the summer, whether it's with friends or family.

Look at those feet!

At work today I had more people say that they didn’t know I was pregnant or that it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that they realized I was pregnant. It’s nice to know that I haven’t gained that much weight. I heard from my cousins that the last month I will gain the most weight, not something I'm looking forward to.

Also today I was on my feet a lot more, both at work and after work. I had some errands to do before meeting Michael for dinner. He has a night class on Mondays so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Subway. Then when I went home, I did some cleaning for a few hours. After I finally sat down, my feet looked like ham hocks with little wieners. Mainly it’s the left foot and actually I started to get a tingle in my 4th and 5th toes.

I tried to get some relief by taking a bath and propping my feet on the side of the bath tub. When I got out of the bath, I propped my feet with pillows while I was laying in our bed. Nothing seeemed to help. Later in the night, I even got a foot rub from Michael. While it felt nice, it didn’t seem to help the swelling. I hope it doesn’t mean I need to get on bed rest.

Just look at these feet!

Baby Emma's Bedding

After my dad's side of the family's shower, Michael and I went home to get our coupons to get the rest of your bedding. While we were at Babies R Us, we spent quite some time trying to decide if we were making the right decision. There were two other bedding sets that we were interested in, but we came to the conclusion that the one we originally registered for is the one we wanted. One of the other ones had bright colors and didn’t really match well with dark wood furniture. The other one I hadn’t seen before in the store, but we came to the conclusion that the white would be covered in dog hair and could get dirty easily.

Now that we have the bedding for sure, we can decide on what color to paint the walls. At first, I was thinking of a light purple or pink, but then we talked to Michael’s dad and he suggested doing a chair rail with two colors. One suggestion was a light yellow or a rust orange color. I really don’t know; I just want something that will look nice and will go well with whatever the next bedding set Emma will get.


Emma's bedding set.


Dad putting the finishing touches on the bedding.


And the finished product. Now we just need to paint the walls!