The Big Reveal

Ryan and I found out on Valentine's Day whether we were having a boy or a girl. At that time we wanted to keep it a secret, though I knew it was only a matter of time before we would want to spill the beans. For those of you who have been [im]patiently waiting, that time has come! Luckily some of our family members were up for a K-State basketball game and we were able to surprise them with the news.

Blue or Pink envelope - which would you choose?

Grandma Peej had a tough deliberation, but decided on blue. I think she's still convinced she saw male anatomy on the sonogram. It took Ryan quite a bit of arguing to convince Jane the anatomy she was seeing was actually the umbilical cord. Even though it was the size of the baby's leg, she wasn't so sure.

Grandma Connie chose pink. You see she's only raised a girl (unless you count the years of bossing around her brothers which my uncles might argue wasn't the most pleasant of experiences).

Final count - 5 blues and 1 pink.

And the verdict is.....

Yep that's right. In July, Ryan and I will be the proud parents of a sweet, precious baby boy. Yippee!!!

Spring = Happiness

There are few things that make me happier than getting to be outside...especially when it is beautiful. Is there anything that smells or sounds or feels better than spring? I am so happy it came early this year. In honor of spring - here's what we've got going on:

Spring Cleaning - Now that we know we will officially be in our duplex when the baby gets here, we've got to make room!! R and I spent a rainy Sunday afternoon cleaning out closets to make room for the dozens of items that 1 tiny human being will acquire. Here are the before and after pictures. Why is it that everything has to get 20x messier before it gets cleaner? For those of you who know my husband, you know that our home did not look like this for long. Everything was clean, organized and put away by the time Nascar started. We even made a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond for some bed risers and came home with new bedding. What?!? We got the comforter, bed skirt, shams, Euro shams, and decorative pillows for $65. No kidding. Who wants to be the first ones to try it out? We love house guests :)

Spring Break - Thank God for being a teacher. Spring break officially starts in 11 hours (but who's counting??). We have conferences from 11-8 today then no school on Friday. Wahoo!! Spring Break this year will include dog sitting while R's parents are in D.C. and doing LOTS of baby shopping. I've got my checklists, price comparisons, and shopping agendas all ready to go. KC here we come! I am also looking forward to seeing some dear friends during our time in JoCo. I still really miss that place....especially the people.

March Madness - Our beloved Wildcats received a #8 ranking and bid against Southern Miss in the first round of the NCAA tourney. I absolutely love this time of year. Hopefully we will have a good showing and make it past the 1st round. Who knows - maybe we'll meet UNC- Ashville in the 2nd round?? One can only hope. For those of you watching the Midwest bracket I would just like to point out that I have Purdue advancing to the 2nd round. The Purdue Boilermakers to be specific. Boilermakers starts with a B. If you follow basketball, you understand what I'm getting at.

Baby Updates - I can now confirm that I have a very active baby growing inside of my belly. I felt the first hints of movement at about 21.5 weeks, but last weekend (about 22.5 weeks) I was sure. The baby is most active in the morning - especially on lazy mornings that I lay around in bed for a while. Coolest. feeling. ever. Next doctor's appointment is Monday. Hopefully we'll get a good report!

Hopefully by the next time I talk to you R and I will have signed the contract for our house. I'll keep you posted!! Happy spring everyone :)

28.5

I'm taking a poll - how do you feel about celebrating half birthdays? Personally, I fully support it. Primarily because it's a great excuse to eat cake.....or Fro-Yo. Whatever the case may be. Today I would like to wish a very happy 28.5 to one of my very best friends and birthday buddy. I love you K!

Elastic is My New Best Friend

Thursday - March 1, 2012 - The day I discovered maternity pants. Or, as I like to call them, Khaki sweat pants. Is this what pajama jeans are like? If so, I shouldn't have been so judgmental when they first came out. But I digress.

As I mentioned before, I have had many generous friends donate their maternity clothes to my closet. Last Thursday I decided it was time to break out the maternity pants for work. Best decision ever. Not only do they fit around my blossoming belly without falling down, they are the perfect amount of stretchy without being clingy. And, they are cute. I've decided that all clothing designers should take a lesson from maternity clothes. My fear is that I will want to continue to wear them long after the baby arrives, but for now I will enjoy the new found comfort of my khaki sweat pants.

Here they are- the first public belly pics @ 2 mos, 3 mos, 4 mos, and 5 mos.

Another development in the Grieves casa is, just that, a casa! R and I are currently negotiating with a builder to hopefully build us a house this summer! We started the home search back in January and found a house that we fell in love with. We actually put an offer in on the house, but got cold feet and backed out. It has since sold to another lucky family. After returning to the Manhattan housing market, we quickly realized there are not a whole lot of options that meet our requests and our budget. At that point we decided to contact the builder of the original house and ask him to build one just like it for us! We have met with him and have found a piece of land that we like. Now we just need to get the price negotiated and we'll be good to go! The idea of building has always overwhelmed me, but this is different. He is essentially going to build us the same home with a few changes here and there. That is much less overwhelming than having to start from scratch. As a family who struggles to decide what's for dinner, building a house from the ground up sounds like an unfathomable task. Tweaking an already designed house, however, much more doable!

Thanks again for reading. And, until next time, I'll go back to wondering if those weird feelings in my stomach are the baby moving or my stomach muscles twitching. I'll keep you posted.