Baby update!

And there she is! This is me at 35 weeks. I look at pictures and think "Oh, I'm not that big"...and then I look down at my belly and think "I'm HUGE!!" Funny how that works.

Oh, and for some reason, I never remember to take a belly picture until I'm comfortably in my pajamas.

For those of you who don't know, Steve is most likely going to India and Vietnam within a week or two of the baby being born. I am so proud of him for being asked to go on this trip! Its really a big deal that the company wants him traveling so early on! I can't say I'm thrilled about the idea of him being gone so soon after she will be born, but I'm excited for him. He's excited for the responsibilities and for all of the things that he has been learning about!

SO, we've asked the doctors if they would be willing to induce by the due date because of the circumstances and they agreed right away. We will FOR SURE have our baby by April 13th! Wahoo!

Also, Joshua recently discovered that his favorite books have holes in the covers. He's been enjoying putting them on his arms like bracelets. Clever kid!

Adler Planetarium

Last week, Emily and I took Josh and Brimley to the Adler Planetarium. We had a good time walking around and it made me continue my love of "Free Days"!

Joshua really enjoyed the area for kids and we couldn't get him to stop coming back to this space toilet. This made me appreciate that I don't have to potty train for a little while!

Here's my friend Emily and her son Brim.

Once we left the kids' area, Josh didn't appreciate being in the stroller. He's getting more inventive as to the ways he tries to get out!

Here we are in front of a giant telescope. Notice that Brim has opted out of the picture--he likes pulling the shade down over his face.

Garfield Park Conservatory

Last Saturday, Joshua, Steve and I visited the nearby Garfield Park Conservatory. Here was our reasoning: free admission, free parking, living things in the dead of winter!

We were rewarded with stunning plants and we enjoyed looking at where they were all from. Steve particularly enjoyed the Polynesian plants and I loved the flower exhibit that they had going on.

Josh liked the flowers too.

Joshua particularly liked the Childrens' Gardens where they had fun little activities such as watering the plants, climbing stairs and sliding down the slide.

Steve in the Fern Room

Josh didn't care for his stroller

But he did care to play in the little waterfalls they had

We're grateful for free and living things!

Go BYU Men's Volleyball!

One weekend in February, BYU Men's Volleyball traveled out to Chicago to play Loyola and Lewis Universities. Although we didn't make it to the Loyola game, we were able to drive down to Lewis and enjoy the volleyball game there. We swept them! It was fun to watch and support our team!

Joshua had a pretty good attention span for having been pretty tired!

We loved how the team just jumped in when we asked if we could get a picture!

Go Cougars!

Chicago Blizzard

As many of you know, Chicago got an awesome blizzard a month or so ago. We took a few pictures to show just how much snow we got. I loved the snow, but Chicago's already crazy drivers didn't do so well. Now and again, your lane would just end because there was this big ol' bank of snow blocking your path. It was kind of nuts for a while, but warmer rains in the last few weeks have taken much of it away.

Our car

Our neighbors' cars

View from our window

Movin' Out

Dec 16-18 and 28: organized, packed and cleaned our apartment

Dec 29--packed the moving van; stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa Nufer; got LOTS of snow which made packing harder
Dec 30--left Provo; snow stopped us in Rock Springs, WY; shared a hotel with the Millars; discovered that Joshua wouldn't sleep unless little Lincoln was wailing (strange...)
Below is Joshua's little hovel. We put his pack and play back there and blocked his view from everything. We all appreciated the noisemaker that night.

Dec 31: roads opened in the morning and we left as fast as we could. Got stuck in Laramie, WY for about 2 1/2 hours--spent the time in Wal-Mart. Just as we were getting ready to stop for the night, we were informed that the roads were opened. We got out of there! We stopped just before midnight (wished each other a Happy New Year in the car) and slept for the night. We were entertained that we were in room 111 of our hotel on 1/1/11. The Millars drove until 4ish in the morning when the stopped at Camille's aunt's house in Council Bluffs, IA.

Jan 1--woke up early to drive several hours to meet up with the Millars in IA. Josh REALLY loved their dog!

Also on the 1st--made it all the way to our apartment in Chicago. Starting at 10p, Jason and Steve unloaded all of our stuff to the 3rd floor of our apartment! Go guys! They finished at about 12:15am when we toasted the New Year with sparkling cider and headed for bed.

Jan 2--Steve and I attended our new ward's sacrament meeting and were pleased with the welcome we received. The Millars headed to Camille's house in Fairborn, OH. After church, we headed out to Columbus to be with my family. We were glad to see Karl and Chrysta Richards and Mark and Ada RIchards (my mom's two youngest brothers and their families). Dad was wonderful in saving us Chinese food from their New Year celebration. He must love us!

Jan 3--spent the day with the Nufers. Got to see Ada a bunch and go bowling, eat pizza, and watch my family dote on Joshua.

Jan 4--drove to Hershey, PA while my family took care of Josh. Toured the factory and ate yummy peanut butter cookies. Camille's aunt had us over for the night. The ham dinner was perfect and we enjoyed playing Wii with the kids!

Jan 5--drove the rest of the way to Boston. Jason and Steve unloaded the Millar's things while Camille and I got permits from the traffic office. Driving there is NUTS!!!! No street signs and weird traffic rules! We had dinner with my cousin Sherie and her family and stayed there for the night.

Jan 6--Sherie escorted me and Steve around the city while the Millars got going on their new home. Enjoyed the sites!
Old North Church

Fanuil Hall with its grasshopper weather vane

The Millars joined us for lunch at the oldest restaurant in America. Definitely recommend the clam chowder!

Katherine had a lobster give her a post card. She was thrilled!

This is the site of the Boston Massacre

Steve got to ride the subway for the first time

Toured the USS Constitution--so cool!

Jan 7--drove all the way to Ohio from Boston. 12-hour-drives are SO much shorter without toddlers!
Jan 8--spent some time in the morning with my family, but spent the majority of the day with Chris and Laura Coons. They just had their baby Elizabeth and she is just beautiful--just like her siblings!

Josh didn't seem to mind staying with Grandma and Grandpa Nufer. We loved getting back to him and enjoyed watching him pull himself up to the piano to sing and play for people. We sure love him.

It seems that life is just now getting back to normal. We have settled nicely into our apartment in Chicago and we love it here! We feel so blessed to have Steve at a job that he loves and to be in an apartment where we feel safe and where we can have the Spirit to help us teach Joshua about the gospel.

Baby update

This isn't what is supposed to come next in my blog-athon, but due to numerous requests, here are my latest 'baby' pictures.
Dec 24: 24 weeks along

Jan 10: 27 weeks

Jan 30: 30 weeks

We are 2 days away from being 32 weeks and we are getting excited to welcome a baby girl to our home!

Christmas 2010

Alright, so it seems slightly ridiculous that I'm trying to do this, but I still feel like I wanted to post all the fun pictures from the last few months. This post is going to be about our fun Christmas with Steve's parents, but I'm going to probably give many fewer details than I would like.
Here goes:

--After finals, we spent 3 days packing our apartment up: we were so proud of all the junk we got rid of! I'm also so proud of Steve for completing his Bachelor of Science in Food Science with a minor in Business Management!
--Kevin and Kristen had us up in early December. It was her due date that day (the 5th maybe) and it was so fun to see them! They had their sweet baby Allison a few days later.



--Joshua got his first official haircut and he LOVED the place we went to: he looks like a little boy now and not a baby


--We got to see Kevin and Kristen's baby for the first time just before heading out for the holidays: when Joshua saw her, he went right over to her and kissed her on the top of the head. ADORABLE! (both the kiss and the sweet little girl!)
--Flew to Spokane and spent a terrific week with Steve's parents!

• Joshua never got onto a good sleeping schedule, so Steve was nice enough to get up with him each morning. To compensate for the lack of sleep, we got him Super Mario Brothers Wii so that he'd have something to look forward to when he got up.
  
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  • As a graduation gift, Steve's parents took us to the Davenport Hotel for a nice dinner, paid for a babysitter to watch Joshua, and then took us out to see the 3rd Chronicles of Narnia movie. It was such a fun evening!
  • The decorations in this hotel were GORGEOUS!
    

We played in the snow a little with Joshua. He hates to have snow gear on, but he liked it once he realized how very cold it was outside!

This year's Christmas picture
Playing with Grandpa Monson: while we were on this trip, he learned how to say "Grandpa" and would say it every time we heard dad come home from work.

More of the Davenport

Josh also got lots of Dad-time. We showed him how to duel with wrapping paper holders and he loved how Steve was very dramatic in dying.

Christmas Eve, we had a very, very tasty ham dinner complete with holiday potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, and Christmas punch. Afterward, we took pictures and sang carols. Once Josh was in bed, we also enjoyed "Muppet Christmas Carol".

Christmas morning was so fun! We enjoyed giving and getting gifts and loved watching Joshua open his!

While we were there, the basement was a wonderful place to be. Joshua was trapped down there, so we could take our book and sit and read or talk while he wreaked havoc. Somehow, he always managed to spread the toys evenly throughout the entire room.

We had a wonderful Christmas and a great break before all the moving began. Thanks mom and dad for letting us be with you for the holidays!