10 Year Reunion!!

Friday after work, I went downtown to get my hair done by my very own sister, Mycah Lillian. She cut and styled my hair for my big night. Everything went great until I came out to my car and realized that I got a parking ticket! Apparently you can't park at the meter after 4pm on weekdays. I guess I learned my lesson, but I was bummed. My haircut turned out to be pretty expensive. Jae and John came over to our house and we all rode to the reunion together.

We had events scheduled all weekend, but I opted to just attend on Friday night. We rented a banquet room at Pappadeaux on Oak Lawn. It was a good central location. There were some appetizers, a cash bar, and a DJ. Rowland Parish was our DJ. He is a fellow classmate and is the DJ for the Dallas Mavericks. He has also done soem work with the Dallas Cowboys. He has done a lot of great things with his talent. He played great music all night.With it being the Friday night event, and not the main event of the weekend, I think we had a pretty good turnout. I would say that we had about 100 out of 400 graduates and their dates show up. It was so much fun seeing old faces and catching up with everyone. It was hard to believe that I hadn't seen some people in 10 years. It seems like such a long time. Most everyone looked the same. By the end of the night, everyone's stories seemed to run together and I wasn't even drinking! But for the most part, everyone seemed to be doing great. I was a little bigger than when I graduated. I was one of three baby bumps at the reunion. The people watching definitely got interesting as the night went on. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We closed down the party, and didn't get home until after 1am! It was way past my bedtime and I was exhausted.

Saturday morning, I woke up exhausted. I did a few things around the house and then laid by the pool while Mikey caught up on his yard work from being out of town the weekend before. He introduced me to Potbelly for lunch and it was delicious. After lunch, we stayed in and watched a movie. It is way too hot to be outside in the afternoon. I was still so tired, I took a nap during the movie. We went to Mass at St. Ann's on Saturday evening. It is so much fun to go back there and reminisce about our wedding. I love that church. After church, we went to Mikey's parents old neighborhood for a party. Jason (who remodeled our house) had done some work for some of Mikey parent's old neighbors and they had a party to show it off. It all looked great! We left shortly after dinner. I was still so exhausted. We were in bed by 10pm!

On Sunday morning, we went to the boat show with Mikey's parents. The marina by their neighborhood on Lake Lewisville opens on March 1st and they need to reserve a slip now. So we went to go look at boats to get an idea of what they like and to get measurements for the slip. It will be a boat for the family, so we made sure that it will have a canopy for Kiley =). After the boat show, we went to lunch. Mikey's parents said that they would like to buy Kiley's furniture for her room. We are so grateful and so excited. I'll tell you what, she is going to be one spoiled grandchild between her two sets of grandparents. We are very lucky. After lunch we came home and got the house ready for our guest. Mikey's friend Carri flew in from Canada last night. She is staying with us until Sunday. We warned her over and over about this heat, but she said she is ready. It is supposed to be in the triple digits the whole time she is here! I think she will spend a lot of time in the pool!

25 Weeks

On Tuesday, we were 25 weeks. I am really getting to the point where it seems to be going faster now. That is probably because we still have so much to do! Mikey had the subwolfer taken out of my car last week to make room for a stroller in the trunk. Bye, bye loud music, hello baby! I have been working on my registry, but I still need a couple more trips to Babies R Us to complete it. My goal is to have it pretty much done by the time my shower invitations go out, which should be in a couple of weeks. Mikey and I went to Babies R Us last week to look at the "big toys". Can you believe that it took us an hour to pick out one stroller? There are so many choices and so much to think about. It is very overwhelming. Overwhelming combined with hormones equals crying. Once I got home and looked at what we picked out, I felt better about things. My shower is 8 weeks from Saturday. I think I mentioned before that I would like to have the nursery in tact for the shower so that everyone can see it, which means we need to get to work!

I made some great progress this week! On Wednesday, I went to Home Depot (all by myself) to pick up some paint swatches. I picked out some pinks, purples, and pinkish purples. On Thursday, Mom and I met at Lonestar Baby so that I could show her the bedding. We were both sold. Mom bought all of the bedding and some decor for the nursery. Thanks Marmee! We also compared paint colors and narrowed them down. I am so excited to get the bedding out of the store and into the room to see how it looks. I brought the bedding home and Mikey and I finalized the paint color, so bedding - check and paint color - check. We decided on a shade of purple. New Violet to be exact. This morning I got online and ordered the furniture! It looks like it should ship next week, so it should be here in a week or so. I am so excited to put it all together. We have made so much progress! I feel a lot better!

Kiley is becoming such an active little girl. She is moving around so much. She is definitely a night owl. Once the clock hits 11pm, she is all over the place! It is so fun to lay and watch my stomach. You never know where she is going to poke out! On Saturday night, I watched her for 30 minutes straight. Mycah got to feel her too. It is such an amazing feeling. I have still been feeling great! I have been exercising 5 times a week. I figure I should keep it up while I can! I have been having the Braxton Hicks contractions, they feel weird. My next doctor appointment is August 4th. They will do the diabetes test, which I am not looking forward to. I have to drink some yucky stuff and they have to take my blood again. But as long as Kiley is healthy, everything is worth it! She is getting so excited about her new room!!

Weekend with Mycah

Saturday morning was an early morning. I took Mikey to the airport at 6am for his flight to Milwaukee. He headed north for the Northwestern Mutual Annual Meeting. He goes every year around this time and boy was his timing good this year. He said the weather was in the 70's and 80's the whole time. It was a nice break from the 100's and no rain we had here! Luckily I was able to go back to sleep when I got home. I woke Mycah up around 10am for breakfast and then we went apartment hunting. She decided that she wanted to live close to us so that she can be around Kiley. We are so excited to have her "up North". After looking at a couple apartments, she was sold on my old apartments, The Courts. I am so excited for her. It is such a great place to live. It is near everything in Addison and they have a lot of a social activities for her to meet people. She is going to love it. After we were done apartment hunting, she decided to think about it for a day just to make sure. We went over to Linen's N Things, which is closing, so there were a lot of good sales. She got a few things for her new place. After we were done shopping, we laid out by the pool for a while and then spent the night watching movies. We watched 27 Dresses and Over her Dead Body, both great movies!!

On Sunday, I made my famous taquitos (with home made tortillas that Mycah had brought) for breakfast. She decided that she was ready to sign the lease, so she filled out the application. My parents brought over lunch on their way in from New York. We were so excited that they stopped by, we missed them so much and are so glad that they are back. Between Mycah's apartment and all the baby stuff, we need their help! After lunch, Mom and Mycah went to turn her application in. When they got back, Mom and Dad headed home to get settled in before work on Monday and we had a girls' day by the pool. Lindsey, Kelli, Courtney and Tamra all came over and we spent the afternoon IN the pool. It was way too hot to lay by the pool. It was fun to catch up with everyone. Sunday evening the girls and I had book club and Mycah and Lindsey hung at the house.

It was a nice relaxing weekend at home. It was nice to not have any obligations and just be on our own schedule. I am so glad that Mycah is staying with me. On Monday, the apartments called and her application was approved, so she signed her lease and she moves in on August 23rd! Exactly a month away! I am so excited for her. I absolutely loved living by myself and meeting new people. I met so many great people when I lived at The Courts. We still keep in touch with a lot of them. I always tell the story, that if I didn't live at The Courts, our friends Stacey and Jason may not have ever met and be married today. It is such a great story. Mycah has a lot to look forward to, and we are so glad that she is going to be close to us.

A weekend of Celebration!!

We had a great weekend of celebration!! We started out Saturday around noon celebrating Sara's birthday at the pool. Sara's marvelous friend, Kyle, threw a pool party at her apartment complex in Uptown. We had so much fun. The pool was packed, I mean who wouldn't be by the pool when it is 100 degrees outside? There were about 20+ people with our party. It was complete with munchies, a cookie cake, plenty of beer and jello shots! It was so much fun meeting all of Sara's friends and finally putting names with faces. We had one of those "small world" experiences. One of Kyle's friends, Carolyn, went to high school with Mikey. But wait, it gets better. Carolyn's mother has a lake house on Keuka Lake in Upstate New York. Keuka Lake is one of the lakes near my family. We are on Keuka Lake in the picture below with the sun setting in the background. Very rarely have people been up to or even heard of the Finger Lakes Region in Upstate New York. Chad and Christi (Sara's brother and sister-in-law) brought their new baby Dylan to the pool. He is absolutely adorable and is Kiley's future boyfriend. They will make such a cute couple. Saturday was a perfect day for a pool party and everyone had a blast! Happy Birthday Sara!!

We planned to leave the pool party around 330pm (and left at 430pm) to get ready for Ryan and Leigh's wedding. We had just enough time to grab something to eat, lay down for about 30 minutes and then get ready. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. The ceremony was at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church and the reception was at Dallas Country Club. Leigh looked so beautiful and the ceremony had a great message. Ever since our wedding, I get so excited to go to other weddings and pay attention to all of the detail and Leigh did such a great job! The reception was so pretty. There were candles and flowers everywhere. All of the centerpieces were beautiful. The band was really great. Mikey and I didn't eat much dinner since we had such a late lunch but don't you know that I in line for the chocolate cake as soon as it was cut. Being pregnant, I definitely have different priorities at weddings. Never mind the open bar, the cake was delicous =). Don't you worry, Mikey enjoyed the open bar enough for the both of us. He really is liking this designated driver thing. Now for my favorite part. Leigh and I had talked about this before, and I knew it would be so neat. At the end of the night, when everyone had been drinking for quite a while she had junk food passed around. It was such a great idea. First they came around with little cups of french fries, then mini ice cream cones, and then freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. It was such a cute idea!!

Congratulations to Leigh and Ryan Friend. You guys make such a great couple and we know that you are having a blast on your honeymoon!!

23 Weeks!!

As promised, a baby update! Kiley and I went to the doctor on Monday. It was just a basic checkup (weight, blood pressure, urine, fetal hearbeat, stomach measurement). My weight and blood pressure were good, Kiley's heartbeat was 152 bpm, and my stomach measured right on track for 23 weeks. Kiley is around 11 inches long and weighs over a pound. She is getting so big and so am I. I feel her movements more and more every day. Mikey felt her for the first time the other night. It is so reassuring to feel her throughout the day. I was a lot less stressed going to the doctor on Monday and waiting for the heartbeat. I knew there would be one because she was doing flips in my tummy on the way there!

I went into my first maternity store on Sunday to buy a new bathingsuit. I have officially grown out of all of my bathingsuits. There is a Destination Maternity near our house and it was a pretty neat store. It is 3 stores in one. One is comparable to a Neiman Marcus, one to a Macy's and one to an Old Navy, so they had a good variety. I got my red bathingsuit that I have wanted all year, it is just a little different than the bikini I had originally imagined =). I could have probably come out with a lot more, but I was good and only bought what I came for. I have a feeling that as I get bigger, I will be in there a lot more.

Now that we are back from vacation, it is time to start on the nursery. I will begin by cleaning out the closet and the dressers in the Black room. The challenge will be finding a place for everything in other parts of the house. We also have to find a new home for our computer. Suggestions are welcome. Once we have the room cleaned out, we will pick the paint colors and make the room pretty and pink =).

Holiday Weekend!!

We were so glad to have the 3 day weekend after getting in late on Thursday. We had a lot to do around the house after being gone two weeks and Mikey's Aunt and Uncle were in town and staying at his parents. We slept in a little on Friday morning and then got to work. Mikey watered outside for almost 3 hours and I started the chores around the house. Friday night we went to Mikey's parents house for brisket and fireworks. Mikey's Dad took us up on a hill on the golf course and we could see at least 20 fireworks shows all at once. It was so awesome.

On Saturday morning, we finished up the housework and then Mikey's parents and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bob came over for the day. We had some yummy appetizers around lunch time and then headed out to the pool. It was so hot, we spent most of the time in the pool. For dinner, Mikey cooked ribs and what he calls "chicklets". Chicklets are chicken breasts cut up and wrapped in jalepeno and bacon and then slow cooked on the grill. It was all delicious! We had so much fun spending the day with everyone.

Sunday was errand day. The lawn and flowers were watered, the house was clean and the laundry was done, so we planned on running errands most of the day. We got up and took a walk in the morning and then set out to run errands. We didn't get done until almost 8pm. Needless to say, our Sunday flew by and it was time to get ready for work the next day =(. Stay tuned for a baby update very shortly.

A Week In Review

I am so behind on my blogging responsibilities, so I promise to catch you up on the last week of vacation, our holiday weekend, and a baby update in the next couple of blogs....

I believe I left off last Sunday before my Grandfather's 80th birthday party. We had a party for him at his house. It was all family. We ate ham, baked ziti, corn casserole, baked beans and lots more yummy food. All of the kids and grandkids pitched in and bought my grandparents a 15 inch digital picture frame.

We scanned in a bunch of old pictures and loaded 800 pictures on it. We wrapped it up and had everyone sign it. After Grandpa opened it, my Dad and uncles set it up in their dining room. It was definitely the hit of the party. It takes quite a while to scroll through 800 pictures. It holds 2000, so we can continue to add on throughout the years.

After dinner and presents were over with, Mikey and my cousins took the initiative to start playing beer pong in my grandparents garage. By the end of the day, everyone except me and my grandparents had played. Not many people can say that they played beer pong at an 80th birthday party! The picture is of Mikey and my Aunt Karen playing on the same team.

On Monday, we spent most of the day by the pool. My cousin was babysitting one of my old childhood friend's little boys, Brayden. He is 3 and so much fun to play with. He and Mikey played all day. A week later, his Dad said that he is still asking about Mikey. Later in the afternoon, we went to my FAVORITE ice cream place, called Mac's, and then played putt putt. Mikey and Brayden were all over the course, playing in no particular order and the rest of us girls played by the rules. Monday night we had dinner at my Uncle Paul and Aunt Karen's (where we are staying). Everyone came up and we ate ribs and chicken on the grill.

Tuesday, hmmm, I am drawing a bit of a blank on what we did during the day, but I do remember that we went out to dinner at a place called "The Switz". It is on Keuka Lake (also one of the Finger Lakes). Mikey had been dying for some nachos, and we were told that they had the best.

We sat outside on the lake and watched the beautiful sunset. We got some great pictures. Mikey's nachos were delicious, and my buffalo chicken tenders were good too! We went home after dinner and relaxed. Which reminds me....we were introduced to a game called Rockband. It is like guitar hero, but you can sing and play the drums too. It was so much fun! We had our daily jam sessions.

On Wednesday, we spent the day by the pool again. The weather is so cool that you don't realize how much sun you are actually getting. Around 5pm, we left and went with my parents over to my Uncle Scott and Aunt Deb's house for cocktails and dinner. Scott is my Mom's brother. We sat out on their porch. They enjoyed cocktails and I enjoyed my water =). They ordered some great NY pizza for dinner. It was delicious. My Aunt Pat (Mom's sister) also joined us. After dinner we followed my Aunt Pat back to her house so that she could give Mikey a tetnis shot. Earlier in the week, he had cut himself on a nail. It wasn't rusty or anything, but it reminded him that he hadn't had a tetnis shot in quite a while, so my Aunt gave him one just to be safe. He is good for the next 10 years!!

Thursday was our last day =(. We slept in because we knew we had a long night of travel ahead of us. When we woke up, it was cloudy and rainy outside which was good, because we didn't need anymore sun. Plus, when the weather isn't that great, it makes it a little easier to leave. We went and ate lunch with my Grandma and Grandpa and said our goodbyes to everyone. It is always so hard saying goodbye. We left for the airport around 4pm. We stopped at my favorite ice cream place on the way out so that I could indulge one last time. We hope we talked a lot of the family into coming to Texas to meet Kiley!! Our flights were pretty much on time. We got stuck on the tarmac in Chicago (surprise, surprise) for quite a while and we had to run to our connecting flight, but the important thing was that we made it! We landed a little after 11pm and were home by midnight.