Chair rail Up!

Dave and I worked all weekend around the house. We finished all the chair rail in the dining room and library and it looks great! It's also great to have the rooms put back in order! Next weekend Dave will be working in the garage and I hope to get my garden going, I hope it's nice out! Enjoy pics of the chair rail.

Miscellaneous...

First of all, I was motivated to write this blog because of a horrible parenting dream I had two nights ago. I had a dream that I forgot to change the Baby's diaper for a full week after we were home. I was SO MAD at myself that I forgot to do such a simple task. But, once I realized my mistake, I went about correcting the situation and Baby was very understanding. I was so disturbed by the dream that I sat awake at 3a.m. and thought about the fact that I needed to come up with a schedule of what to do with the baby. Obviously I won't ever make the mistake in my dream, but it definitely got me thinking! Are these dreams normal??

Secondly, I must show a picture of our recently purchased plush mattress. Being pregnant, I have to sleep on my side now and let me tell you, it's not a friendly position for my hips to sleep that way ALL NIGHT! Plus, I recently noticed that there were deep craters our old mattress, where Dave and I slept each night, which probably wasn't exactly the greatest support for me. So, last weekend Dave and I went out and purchased a new mattress for the bed, which was delivered Tuesday and it is HEAVENLY!! The one thing I get a kick out of is how high it sits on our bed frame. I think we're living like King and Queen now! Once I'm about 7 or 8 months pregnant, I think I'm going to need a step ladder to get up on this monster of a bed!

In other news, Dave is STILL sick! Last night I made him get a listing of doctors covered under his insurance plan so he could make an appointment ASAP! He came home last night telling me he could hear liquid in his head when he shook it - that's a lovely thought! Then, he scares the crap out of me in the middle of the night when he jumps out of bed at 2a.m. and all I could think of was something was wrong with his brain! Turns out it was a charlie-horse, but let me tell you he scared me to death! So, after more pestering this morning, he finally did go see a doctor and it's a sinus infection!! I swear the man thinks he never needs a doctor. I keep telling him that's why we pay for medical insurance....MEN!

19 Weeks - "Pre" Mother's Day

Baby Update:

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces, and he measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the length of a small zucchini. The hair on his scalp is sprouting. If your baby is a girl, she already has 6 million eggs in her ovaries. This is a crucial time for sensory development: Your baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. He may be able to hear you as you talk. Research shows that he's learning to distinguish your voice from others, and he'll soon show a preference for it. Let Dad get into the act, too — encourage him to talk to your baby.

Oh and Dave was able to feel the baby yesterday! I was sitting on the couch before I left for Wisconsin and I felt the baby...I had him come touch my belly and he felt a movement right after he put his hand there...after that the baby was done, but at least he felt one move. He kept moving my belly to make the baby move again. Baby was being stubborn and said "you felt me once, now leave me alone for now". :)

What a busy Mother's Day Weekend for us. We met an old H.S. friend of mine for lunch and spent the rest of Saturday with the Hickman Mom to celebrate Mother's Day. Sunday I went to my Grandma's in WI to celebrate with my Mom. Dave has been sick for almost a week with a pretty bad cold, so I let him stay back and sleep while I was gone. Dave called yesterday my "Pre" Mother's Day. How exciting to think that this time next year I'll truly be a Mommy to a little one. I think I should put my requests in to Dave now for breakfast in bed and the works of pampering! ha ha ha

This coming weekend is the halfway point - 20 weeks. Yipee!! Next week we have our 5 month appointment and ultrasound to go to, so very exciting. Now is when I start worrying about whether I've gained too much over the last 4 weeks! For the ultrasound, we're still pretty sure we aren't going to find out the sex, but again, it might depend on the mood that day. I also think we're going to shop for furniture after the ultrasound. I figured we'd be in a very excited mood after seeing the baby again for the first time since my 8 week appointment, and a good way to celebrate would be to look at furniture!! After all, the baby's room is all cleared out now, we definitely need to start painting and filling it up with furniture!!

18 Weeks

Dave's Surprise 30th!

I threw Dave a surprise 30th birthday today and it turned out great! He had no clue and had a GREAT time celebrating with everyone! In his own words, "it's a day he'll never forget!" Thanks to everyone who helped me pull this off!!

Baby at 17 weeks

Your baby weighs about 5 ounces now, and he's around 5 inches long — about the size of a large onion. He can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. His sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker.

Well, the baby sure got a lot of exercise so far this weekend. Dave and I put together a list of things to get done and we didn't stop moving until dinner time! I mowed our lawn for the first time, it was growing nicely from all the rain. We moved the rest of the furniture out of the Baby's room so we can shop for a crib etc. whenever we're ready. We painted the chair rail for the Dining Room to finally finish off that room. And Dave, like a little kid, happily put together his new rolling toolbox (I couldn't resist giving him his birthday gift early) and got his tools in order in the garage.

Dave's parents came over last night to take us to dinner for his birthday, we tried out Domo 77 in Aurora which just opened up a few weeks ago. It was great food! Dave had like 6 plates of sushi! After dinner Dave got his gifts and then he decided he wanted some Bakers Square pie for dessert. When we got back to the house around 9:45 from all that, I immediately went to my usual comfortable place on the couch and fell asleep until Dave woke me up to go up to bed!

We'll see what's in store for today, since it will be just as nice! I'm hoping to take the camaro out today since we just started insurance on it Friday!

4 Month Appointment

Not too much to report from the appointment. I happily weighed in only 2 lbs. more than my last appointment. Everything else on my end checked out okay. The baby's heartbeat took a bit longer to find this time, which did make me anxious, but as soon as the nurse found it, I was a smiling woman - 145bpm this time. I asked why it was a bit lower than before, and I guess there is just a range they look for and depending on if the baby is sleeping or active, can make the beats go up/down. Either way, what an awesome sound to hear!

The doctor asked me if I felt the baby move yet and when I told him I thought I felt something yesterday, he said it's usually closer to 18 weeks on the first pregnancy. But, I say fooey because I think it definitely was Baby saying hi to me! (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) After all, if Baby is a girl, she's already practicing her volleyball moves and if Baby is a boy, he's practicing his reaction time with driving his car down the dragstrip. Of course, Dave is bound and determined our daughter can drive a hotrod too... Anyway, it's only a matter of time when there is no doubt about what I'll be feeling!

Baby Moving?

Okay, so I'm in the middle of my work day right now, but honestly...I'm in the best mood! It's a beautiful day outside and I went shopping for maternity clothes at lunch and got a few cute things and to top it off...I think I just felt Baby move! They say it happens between 16-18 weeks and I don't know if it's the baby I felt, but there were interesting little waves going through my belly it felt like...I don't want to assume it was the baby, but it's fun to think that it very well could've been!! I know it's too early for Dave to feel and soon enough I'm sure my tummy will look crazy with the baby moving so much. Some of you probably think I'm a silly pregnant woman, but I am just so excited, I had to share the news...

Oh, and shopping for maternity clothes has to be one of the funnest things on my list right now. I'm finally getting to the point where I'm showing and I love buying clothes that show off my belly! I was so paranoid before and now I'm proud of the growing figure! Okay, as you can tell, I'm definitely in a good mood and just babbling. My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow, so another good day - to get to hear the heartbeat again and the all important weigh-in!! yikes...

16 Weeks

Baby's Progress: At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, your baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of your pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails

Baby's Progress at 15 Weeks

Dave and I get updates every week to see how the baby is growing, I think these are amazing! So, here is where Baby is at 15 weeks...(note that we aren't sure if the baby is a boy, they alternate the sex every week, when describing the baby.

At around 4 inches long, crown to rump, your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. He's busy inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, which will help the air sacs in his lungs develop. Sweat glands are appearing, and although his eyelids are fused shut, he can sense light. If you were to shine a flashlight at your tummy, he'd most likely move away from the beam.

14 Week picture

Here's an updated photo of me at 14 weeks. I'm wearing the favorite tank top I found in the Old Navy maternity section, that says "Coming this Fall". I love it! I bought it with some spots on it, but hopefully I can get those out, because I love it! Dave teases me that I'll be getting spots like these on my shirts all the time when my belly is so big I won't be able to get close to my plate when I eat - oh, I love my supportive husband! :) I am still wearing my old jeans, but I've resorted to the rubber-band trick, where I use a rubber-band pony-tail holder to close the button at the top. For now it will work, hopefully once I get a bit bigger the regular maternity jeans will fit me.

House Work

Dave and I are trying to get back into the house project mode to get some things done before the baby and nice weather get here, when we won't be motivated to do all these projects. Here are updated pics of our dining room, where we painted the bottom half of the wall. We plan to do a white chair rail in the center of the two colors. We also started to wallpaper our Library on the bottom half of the wall. Dave's mom was kind enough to come show us how to wallpaper. I felt bad, Dave had no help from me, due to the paste on the wallpaper having some sort of chemical that I probably shouldn't be touching. I will probably buy some gloves to help him finish the rest of the room, what a GREAT sport to do what he did!!

3 Month Appointment

Dave and I had our 3 month appointment today for Baby. The appointment was actually less eventful than I expected, but I guess they can't all be as exciting as the first ultrasound and actually seeing the little one inside me! We did get to hear the heartbeat this time though, as I thought. I was ready to go into this special room with a machine and basically, it was this little portable device that the nurse had that was able to detect the heartbeat. It only took her a few tries on my tummy to find the heartbeat and you could definitely tell it was a rapid little pace at 148 beats per minute!! I was trying to be so still for the nurse to count and I had tears welling up in my eyes - it was just an amazing sound! Thankfully we'll get to hear that sound at every appointment in the future!!! I guess next appointment they'll start measuring my belly, which can help them tell how much Baby is growing. Also, I am able to schedule the 20 week ultrasound now where we can find out the sex (IF WE CHOOSE TO...ahem, Rachel) and get to see all the organs and stuff I guess.

They also weighed me at this appointment and quite frankly, I don't like their scale! ha ha. I'm going to blame the extra pound or two on the Wendy's burger I had right before the appointment since I was starving - and you really never know how long you have to wait to get into the doctor's office - it's never at the actual appointment time! That's all for now - I wish I had another ultrasound pic to load up, but not this time. I'm sure we'll take another belly shot this weekend or next - hopefully in front of a better background where you can fully appreciate the growth of my mid-section.

12 Weeks Along

As promised, here is an updated picture of me and the new belly at 12 weeks this weekend (don't mind the lovely hairdo). I weighed myself at the gym Friday night and I've gained 2 pounds since my appointment at 8 weeks. I'm not sure if that's entirely pregnancy weight or all the eating out while on vacation. But, I have to get used to the scale moving upwards now. From now on, it's supposed to be a 1 pound per week gain! Oh lord, here we go....

Here are also pictures of the first toy that Baby received from our friend Sara and the donated maternity clothes from 4 good friends of mine (I even got a shipment all the way from Oregon!). I think now all I need to buy are pants!!

Two Month Ultrasound Pic!

As promised, here is a picture of 'Baby Hickman' at 2 months...hopefully we'll have an updated picture after next week's appointment!

Baby Hickman on the way!

Yes, that's right, Dave and I have a 'Baby Hickman' on the way! Dave and I wanted to try to call each and every friend to tell them in person, but honestly between me falling asleep by 8:30 most nights and being fairly busy at work for both of us, it's just not a task we can complete and I'm just too anxious to get the word out there to let this go any longer! I am 11 1/2 weeks pregnant now (Due Oct 7, 2007)! We had our first appointment at the end of February where we got an ultrasound and were able to see and faintly hear the little heartbeat! The baby also moved during the ultrasound, so Dave's sure the baby was waving 'hi' to us. We now have the ultrasound picture on the fridge where we can see our future son/daughter every day!! We have another appointment next week, where we'll get to hear the heartbeat on this doppler machine where it's a lot louder, so that will be awesome! We started taking side profile pictures of me to show progress (I will post those on the blog at some point) Looks like I'll finally have something to update the blog about on a regular basis, you don't know how hard this was for me to keep this for this long!!

We just got back from Arizona late last night, so I'll probably update the blog tonight or tomorrow with pictures and details. Dave is out of town in training until tomorrow night, so I'll have plenty of time to give all the details!

Wedding Bells

Last weekend Dave and I went to one of my High School friend's wedding. It was great to get together with the old gang, and almost every one of us is married now. Wow, we're getting old! ha ha ha. It's a shame it was so cold because the reception was at Starved Rock and it would've been so nice to be outside and see the view, but we stayed firmly planted inside (and even got a dinner table right next to the fireplace!) Here is a picture of most of the girls...a few had already left by the time we took the picture.

I promise more exciting blogs soon...Dave and I are going to Arizona next weekend for a 3rd anniversary trip, so there will be much to tell!

Weekend in Philly!

This past weekend Dave and I traveled to Philadelphia to finally meet our new little niece; we had such a great time! Rowan is a very happy baby and we tried to make her smile every chance we got! Uncle Dave was a bit nervous that Rowan might not like him, but I think his fears were set aside once she gave him a big grin! We also bought her a little chair to sit in, which we couldn't tell if she enjoyed due to the expression on her face, but hopefully in time! Enjoy the pics...

Birthday Weekend!

This weekend was pretty busy for Dave and I. Friday I had a Tastefully Simple Party, which is always fun because you basically visit with friends and EAT!! Saturday, Dave and I went bowling and to dinner with his co-workers from his old job at Amsco, which is always fun catching up witht he old crew! One of the girlfriends took pictures, so hopefully I'll have some pics to put on the blog shortly. Finally, different pictures besides the house!! Sunday, for my birthday, we had my Dad and family over to watch the Bears game...boy, was that exciting! (Dave even put on his Chicago Bears t-shirt for good luck) I can't believe the Bears actually have a chance to win the Super Bowl! Anyway, not much else to share at this point...hope everyone's doing well!

New Curtains!

Okay, so kind of a lame blog topic...but, Dave and I bought curtains for our family room windows and I was pretty happy with how they turned out. So, for everyone that keeps 'bugging' me to put updated pictures on the blog of what we've done to the house, you'll have to be satisfied with these pics for now. Although, the pictures don't really do the curtains justice since our lighting is terrible in that room, you can't even see the colors! Also, we did get a scarf to go across the top windows, but we need to get a tall ladder to put those up..so, this is the halfway complete picture!

But, silly story about these curtains. I brought in two women to look at the windows to give us suggestions on what we could do to make them look good and after I got the first quote back, I immediately went to "plan b" which was the JCPenney catalogue. The lady wanted more than $3k to do 3 roman shades and a scarf across the top three windows!! We spent less than 10% of that and I'm happy with what we did!! So, word of advice, try to bring our your creative talents yourself when it comes to window treatments!!

For those of you interested in the house, I'm hoping to get the master bathroom painted by the end of the month (January is so darn busy for us!!), so I can add those later.

Happy New Year!!

Dave and I had a great time with a group of friends on New Year's Eve! We went to Rock Bottom Brewery in Warrenville and had lots of yummy food and plenty of drinks to go around! I hope everyone had a great New Year's and hopefully we'll see ya sometime soon in 2007!!

Our First Fire

Dave and I went out and bought some firewood yesterday. We ordered a load to be delivered tomorrow to the house and we also picked up a small bundle to try out the new fireplace last night. Needless to say, our wood was fairly damp, so the fire wasn't very successful, but we'll let it dry out and just keep trying! Notice our new poker set/log holder set we got from Home Depot! The joys of after Christmas shopping with 20% off the floor model that was already on sale! We got it for a steal!!

Dave is busy setting up the surround sound today...he was off work, while I had to go back today. But, I left him a "honey do" list to hang some pictures and do some other small household items. Now, he's on the most important item, surround sound. He's almost done and I'm sure we'll just have the greatest effect while watching movies and tv now! ha ha ha

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a Happy New Year! This is a picture from Christmas Eve at my Dad's house...the three of us! And, a picture of Sasha at Dave's parent's house on Christmas Day.

More Work Around the House

We've gotten some more done around the house since I last posted. Figured I'd wait until we got a couple more items crossed off the 'to-do list' before I posted, so I could put them all up here at once. We painted the upper part of the dining room walls last weekend and put up 2 pictures we bought for the room. We're going to paint the bottom half a yellow-brown color and continue the chair rail through the center of the room that's in the foyer. We also finally got our two bamboo roman shades from JCPenney that we ordered back in October, that Dave put up this weekend. We're pretty excited with how they look in our nautical room!! Now we still just need to get the wallpaper for the bottom half of the walls, so it doesn't look so silly with half green. This weekend I also decided to tackle the painting of the guest bathroom.

Some other things we got done this week, were buying doors for our fireplace, since it only came with the mesh curtains, and we also got a log holder to sit outside when we eventually order wood to be delivered!! We still are on the look-out for a poker set and an inside log holder. I love having a fireplace, but I tell ya, there's a lot of accessories you need just to run the darn thing! Hopefully we can have a few fires before spring!

Other than that, not much else is new with us...just trying to relax and enjoy the new place over the holidays! Happy Holidays to everyone!!

2 Week Progress

As promised, here are some pictures I took tonight of the house. We need some more lighting, so some of the pictures are kind of dark, but you can get the general idea of what it looks like now. There are pictures of the Family Room, Kitchen, Living Room, Foyer and the Library or as Dave named it this weekend the "snake cave". Oh yes, and a picture of my closet, because I think it's hilarious that my closet is HUGE and I don't have a lot of clothes to fill it up...I'm sure it's most women's dream size though! Guess I need to go on a shopping spree now! The Library looks funny right now because we've painted the walls, but plan to put wallpaper up. Of course, everything costs money, so in time we'll have the wallpaper! Enjoy and hopefully you can all visit to see the house in person, it's a lot easier to capture everything in person versus a photo. Until then...

THE MOVE!

Well, Dave and I had our closing at 3pm Monday and it went on without a hitch! We were homeowners by 3:45 officially with keys in our hands! Monday evening we unloaded the rental truck into the garage and painted the laundry room. Tuesday we continued to paint (the kitchen) and Dave's parents were gracious enough to bring over lunch and help us do two loads to empty out our storage unit. Wednesday was by far the most interesting day...the garage door opener was installed and luckily for us, the installer alerted us to the fact that there was a leak in the ceiling of our garage, and it was getting a steady stream of water on top of our stuff!! Luckily, we found the source of the problem (a roofer left off a piece of flashing when putting our garage roof on) and it was fixed quickly. Thank heavens it wasn't in our living area!! The painters also came over and started painting the foyer and family room. Dave and I painted our closets and started to situated boxes into rooms, the basement and unpacking the kitchen items. Thursday we finally felt like we started to see progress because my Dad came over to help empty the POD and we finally started setting up furniture! While the boys moved heavy furniture, I painted the library and continued to organize things in the house. The best part of Thursday was that finally, after 6 months, we were able to sleep on a normal mattress...and boy did we sleep well!! Friday was spent setting up all the furniture that came out of the POD on Thursday and I did a bit more painting. (I was actually supposed to work on Friday, but because of weather they told everyone to work from home...wahoo, I felt like a kid having a snow day!) Friday evening, we went and picked up THE BIG SCREEN that Dave was so badly missing and set it up in the entertainment center. Saturday was spent hanging window coverings and some art work, sealing the grount in the bathrooms and foyer and having our cable and internet set up (Yes, I am blogging from home now!!!). I think tomorrow we'll enjoy the Bears game at home to relax a bit before we go back to the grind on Monday, but I'm sure we'll do a bit more painting and situating with the day also. I will load some pics up soon to show you the progress we've made. We'd love any visitors too!

Ooo, La la

Dave and I had our final walkthrough today from 2-4:30 or so. We were instructed on how all the items around the house work and looked for any defects that we could see that needed to be fixed before we closed. There weren't many things that needed to be fixed honestly and it was so awesome seeing the whole thing completed!! Now, it's just a waiting game for 7 more days and it's ours to live in!! Here are two pictures where you can now see the wood floor is uncovered and the carpet is in...

Oh yeah...we found out because Pulte had a flaw in their paperwork...we actually got an additional $2k of upgrades that we didn't even know! (ceramic tile around our master tub and some crown molding in the foyer) He he...I guess it pays to sign early in a new subdivision, before they proof all their paperwork...

No more pics for a while, since we're on vacation next week moving. Although, I might just withhold anymore pictures so that we can have visitors come see us...since we refused to invite anyone over while living in our apartment.

Next time I post, I will live in a real house!!

Black Belt Fever

Dave and I had a very busy weekend...I drove with my Mom to Urbana to pick up my brother for Thanksgiving break. One thing that made me laugh is that there must be some unwritten rule for college kids that you should hold out doing laundry for at least a few weeks before Thanksgiving. That way, you can bring a HUGE bag of dirty laundry home for your Mom to clean!! I swear, every kid we saw coming out of the dorm had at least one huge mesh bag full of laundry! I guess every quarter counts in college though!

Saturday was a big event for my Dad and brother...they both took black belt tests (Dad - 5th degree and Patrick - 1st degree). It was a grueling 3 hour test with a total of around 12 people testing. The test was hosted at my Dad's facility in Yorkville, so Dave and I went to show support and helped set up the celebratory feast afterwards (and I made cupcakes...mmmm!). Of course they both passed with flying colors!!!

Sunday was pretty boring for me, Dave worked from 9-6:30p.m. and I just did errands around the apartment and started to get a few things ready for packing this next weekend....yee ha!

2 Weeks

As you can see by the pictures, our sod and mailbox are now there, kitchen island was put in and the final coat of paint was put on. We have our final walkthrough a week from today and closing 2 weeks from today! We're trying not to get too excited because it is 2 weeks away, but we're hoping with Thanksgiving right around the corner, time will fly by!!

On another note, I've discovered I'm starting to like sushi a little bit. We took Dave's Dad out for a birthday dinner at a place called Blu Coral on Saturday and I tried a piece of 'Red Dragon'...pretty good!

One other news item from this weekend...Dave's car was hit by someone in our parking lot Friday night! We came out Saturday morning and noticed his front, right panel was pretty badly hit! It's a shame with such a short amount of time left in the place and someone has to be stupid. We went around that night investigating all the cars in the lot that might've been responsible. We found one car that might've done it, but hard to prove without someone seeing it happen. So, time to call the insurance agent!

3 weeks

Here are pictures from this past weekend. They had our wood floors done, appliances were in the house ready to be put in, and all railings were done. I'm sure there were more little things they did that we couldn't see, but it's definitely coming together!! We can't wait to get moved in and start painting and getting our old things back! We took Sasha again this weekend and I really think she's starting to like the place! :)

Rowan Ashmore

Here is a picture of our new little niece!! She's so adorable! Dave's parents went out to PA to visit and sent us lots of pictures of Rowan. Dave and I can't wait to meet her in person hopefully early next year!