Baby Shower

June 20, 2009

Selena, Shelley and Mom threw me a great baby shower - which I had gotten an invitation to when everyone else did! The decor was awesome, the cake was great, and the friends and family who showed up made it such a great day for me. Charlotte now has lots of great things - many of them handmade by the talented gift-givers!




Thanks to all for such a great shower!

32 Weeks, 6 Days

I normally take the belly pics every other Friday, but since I will be in Vermont tomorrow, I won't be able to take the picture in the same spot as the rest. So here it is - one day short of 33 weeks!


You can see the difference from just two weeks ago - Aaron and I could tell over a couple of days this weekend that I had grown some more, which means the Nugget is growing fast now!

Here is two weeks ago and today as a side-by-side for comparison:

Future Home of the Lewis Family!!

It's been in the works for the past month or so, but the contract has finally been signed by all parties for the house in Hooksett to be ours!! We aren't closing until the end of July, but are very excited to know that we will soon have our own roof over our heads.

The house is a Garrison built in 2000, and has been kept updated and in great condition by the family that's been living in it for the past 9 years. There are no major projects that we NEED to do, though we have some we plan to do to fit our own taste ... and everyone who knows me knows I have the carpet and paint picked out and the design plans for every room!

It was a house that we knew was perfect for us as soon as we walked in since everything on our wish list was there:
- at least 3 bedrooms
- two bathrooms (there are 2 1/2)
- a finished basement
- around 2000 square feet (2175 finished here)
- a two-car garage
- 2nd floor laundry (yay!)
- gas stove
- lots of storage (huge attic with access through the master walk-in)
- quiet neighborhood / no major roads (one loop road in a neighborhood called 'The Hamlet')
There is no central air, but we will add our own since Aaron's in the right business!
And there were a bunch of extras that just added to it all:
- real hardwood floors, even in the master suite
- ceramic tile in the kitchen
- gas fireplace
- large deck
- hot tub that they are leaving for us (with a nice wood fence built for privacy)
- built-in sprinkler system
- beautiful stonework around the yard and driveway

We couldn't have found a more perfect home for us!

31 Weeks ... Getting Closer!

June 5, 2009

With only 9 weeks to go, we're getting a bit anxious about not having anything ready for her arrival. We won't be setting up a nursery here in this apartment so we only have a bassinet and a rubbermaid with a few gifts and clothes - anyone who knows me, knows this is tough for me. I did get an invitation to my baby shower, which is very exciting - I can't wait to see friends and family that I haven't seen in a while and celebrate the baby!!

Here are two pictures of my 31 week bump ... though I think it's surpassed being just a "bump" at this point!

Vermont City Marathon

May 24, 2009

Start Off Slow Then Taper Off 

(Dad, Uncle Pete, Shawn, Shelley & Spuds)
~vs.~
We're Not Fat We're Husky 

(Selena, Doug, Michael, Aaron & Jeff)

This year, we were back to two teams for the marathon relay. We split the teams into what we thought were fair and pretty equal - boy, we couldn't have been more right on!

The day started out a bit chilly and rainy, and the first leg was off - Dad and Selena.  

Selena came in just a few minutes before Dad - letting Doug take a tiny lead before Pete for the second leg. Pete says he could see Doug for most of the run, but just couldn't catch him.

Doug handed off to Michael, who was off for the third and longest leg at 6.6 miles.
Pete couldn't find Shawn at the handoff ... come to find out, he had had his shorts on backwards and ducked behind a tree to fix them! But after the shorts were fixed, Shawn was off to try and catch Michael.
He didn't catch him, but made up a minute or two and the handoff for the fourth leg stayed in order: Michael to Aaron a couple of minutes before Shawn to Shelley.  

We're not sure where or when it happened, but Shelley passed Aaron at some point during this leg ... neither of them realized it! So Shelley made the switch for their team to take the lead and handed off to Spuds only a minute or two before Aaron came in to hand off to Jeff.
Here's where it gets good!
Jeff made up the distance and caught up to Spuds - he was trying to stay behind him, but his strides were a bit bigger than Spuds, so he passed him. Once Spuds noticed this, he knew he had no choice but to draft off of him. As they entered the park area, we saw this, knowing the win would go to whoever didn't kick it into the finish too early and had more in them in the end.  

Spuds says he saw Jeff start to pick it up and he held off for a bit, knowing he would tire himself out too much. He lost a little distance, but once he picked it up for the finish, made up those seconds and pushed it in, trying his best to catch him ... Jeff finished .............. then Spuds finished ONLY 11 seconds after!!!!!!! What a race!!!

(Next year Spuds ... next year!)

(Most of the two teams ... missing are Michael and Doug)

29 Weeks!!

May 22, 2009

Here we are at 29 weeks ... time seems to be going by fast now.  It will go even faster after next week - I have my 30 week appointment which starts the every-two-week appointments for 6 weeks!

Here is the usual photo along with a front view which a few people have requested - no big growth spurts over these two weeks.

27 Weeks

May 8th 2009

Well, at 27 weeks, I'm still feeling great ... or at least thought I was until my appointment this afternoon.  The nurse weighed me, and then had me go to another scale in another room to weigh me again.  She couldn't believe that I had gained 12 pounds since my last appointment 5 weeks ago!  I felt like I had grown a bit, but my goodness!  The doctor came in and couldn't believe it either ... she checked my feet and ankles to see if they were swollen (they're not), and looked me up and down wondering where it all went.  I told her it may be a big baby, but when she measured, I was exactly 27cm (which is right on for the way they measure - a cm for each week).  She was perplexed and thought there had to be a mistake, but I was there for both weighings and saw it with my own two eyes.  I guess reading through the blog I posted just before this, it MUST be the creemees! HA!

Here's the picture showing the growth since the last one two weeks ago.

(Man, now I could go for a creemee ... guess I need to find a local spot here in Manchester for some!)