Sweet Flooring and Diggers

Thought I would just post some pics of activities we've done this last month.

Randy took a few days and ripped up the carpet in our dining room, then layed wood laminante flooring through the kitchen, hallways and dining room. It turned out SO WELL! I'm always impressed by his mad skills.

He even did it with Cooper's "help".

Getting close to the finish:

All done with the furniture back! I love my hard-working boys.

Later that same week we took Coop to the John Deer Pavilion in Moline, IL. Nothing is cooler for him right now than "diggers and dump dumps" which means he was in HEAVEN when we saw some life-size equipment AND got to climb inside of it. If you live in the area and haven't taken your kids to this place, YOU NEED to do it. They let you climb around in all kinds of farm equipment and it's FREE.

Cooper cried when we finally left, but we did buy him a new "digger" which made things a little better.

And just a baby update: my doctor decided I've suffered ENOUGH and he's going to induce labor this Wednesday. That's right, April 1st, an April Fool's baby - I'm excited and nervous. I'm a little sad that it won't just be me and my sidekick anymore, but I am TOTALLY ready to not be PREGNANT any longer. My feet are swollen enough that I ALMOST wore flip-flops to church yesterday. The only thing that stopped me was the snow on the ground.

Wish me luck!

It's Just a #... Right?

Hooray for me - I turned 30 on Monday. I feel like I should have some earth-shattering words of wisdom to share! At least that's what I thought about people this age when I was a kid, or a teenager, or even in my early 20s, that they had it all together and knew everything (and were SOOO old). Now I know the truth, that even at 30 you are still just doing your best, learning something new each day, and not feeling like your age reflects who you are.

I DON'T FEEL OLD.

I do feel like I have more confidence than I did in my 20s, I'm not self-conscious about my looks or what others think about me... which is why I told Randy we had to find a karaoke bar so I could sing my heart out to celebrate. And, being the good sport that he is, that's just what we did. Here is Regan, Heather D., Heather C., me, Katie & Jen at the karaoke bar:

I think the best part of the night was when Randy and Jon sang "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Or maybe when some random guy hopped on stage to help (unsolicited) Randy sing "Low Places". So for all of you who missed it, we'll have to go again as soon as I feel up to getting out after the baby arrives.

I figured out how to do video on my new camera - Randy taught Cooper how to say "happy birthday, mommy".

Making the Cut

I finally DID IT!

When my sweet mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer last year I, like I'm sure everyone else in the family, felt helpless as to what I could do for her. When she underwent chemo and lost her hair she bought the COOLEST wig to wear. Through the whole orderal she has been the positive one and has had the best attitude, teaching us all how to cope with hardship. I'm happy to say she is doing well and just the other day was able to ditch the wig. I've been growing my hair to donate it in her honor and FINALLY made the cut this week. I ended up donating a little over 10 inches.

Here are a few pics to enjoy and Bonnie - this cut is for you:

My new do (and 35 week pregnant belly):

If you're thinking of cutting your hair, it only takes 8 inches to make a donation through Pantene Beautiful Lengths (click on link to find out more) and could mean SO MUCH to someone in need of a wig.

LOVE YOU, BONNIE! I couldn't have asked for a better 2nd mom.

Happy Anniversary

It has been 8 years TODAY - I can't believe it either, honey! Through our bachelors degrees, your medical school, one move across the state, one move across the country, 1/2 a residency program, the birth of our sweet little boy, the impending arrival of our baby girl, LOTS of fights and LOTS of kisses, I love you more today than ever, even more than the first time I spotted you in your football pants.

Trauma is Over

Randy is DONE with his 2 months of trauma rotation. Cooper and I are jumping for JOY!

Actually, it was MUCH better than I thought it was going to be. He LOVED having Jaren Riley as his senior and said it made all the difference. So even when he worked late, he came home in a good mood. Jessi, I hope you survived too!

Randy is planning on taking full advantage of his research rotation by spending a little more time relaxing.

It's so nice to have him around by the late afternoon. He installed a new kitchen faucet for me yesterday but of COURSE Cooper had to help (see below) and we're putting hardwood flooring in the kitchen/dining room at the end of this week.

Is this what it will be like when he's done with residency and has "normal" hours!?! I could get use to it.

On another note, Cooper started climbing out of his crib last week... great. So now I leave the side down because I'm afraid he'll hurt himself JUMPING out at night. I'm not ready for him to be in a BIG BOY bed yet, especially since we already have an extra crib when the baby comes.

And speaking of baby... I'm 34 weeks along tomorrow - YEA! Moving right along. My NST this week showed that I'm already having contracting (I though she just kept pushing down HARD) which doesn't surprise my doc but I'm hoping it does NOT last 6 more weeks. I'll remember to snap a pic of my belly in the next day or two, it's spectacularly huge. Any stories on how long until you had a baby after starting contractions? I want to hear it, with Cooper I didn't have ANY until 2 days before delivery and they were pretty intense. These are kind of wimpy.

Here's a cute pic of Coop loving his lemon (that's right, I said lemon). Love to all!