Final Four Bound!

Hellllzzzzz yeah! That game knocked my socks off but we pulled it off, so we're headed to San Antonio! I haven't been that anxious about a KU bb game since the tournament in 2003...holy cathedral, that was too hard to watch. I didn't even watch the last play. I had to sit in the laundry room with my eyes closed until it ended. I watched the replay a million times, though!

After the game ended we took Gus downtown on Mass Street to celebrate with everyone else in Lawrence. Oh my God, it was amazing down there! Just loads and loads of people celebrating, drinking on the streets, dancing, etc...They closed down Mass Street for awhile and people just honked and danced and ran around, and it was SO FUN! It was like Mardi Gras or something. People were hanging from windows in the buildings on Mass Street, and the cops were totally cool about it all. They let people do whatever as long as they weren't hurting anything or anyone. Gus was so overstimulated! It was worth it, though.

Now I have to gear myself up for Saturday's game. Against North Carolina. I've been waiting for this day and dreading this day, but I think we'll be fine!

GO KU!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, GO KU

So, we play in the Sweet 16 tonight. In an effort to try to manage my anxiety about the NCAA tournament, I've tried to just chill until the game start time. But now that we're in the Sweet 16 I've found that is harder and harder to do! I'm just so excited and nervous. I think, I mean, I KNOW, we'll do great tonight, but there's always that fear that we'll look like Tennessee did last night...basically that we'll just have a bad night. I know I say this every year, but I honestly think we can beat any one of these final teams this year. But I need to take it one game at a time...

I'm in the office today, which is weird for me (I know, boo hoo!), but I'm dealing. I'm so tired today b/c Gus woke up last night around 12:30 a.m. or so. I went in to check on him after I realized he wasn't going back to sleep and realized he had pooped his diaper. No fun to sleep in that mess, so I changed him and found that he had a terrible diaper rash. Poor little sugar. I felt awful. He was so tired and was just crying like crazy. So I cleaned him up and rubbed lots of Butt Paste on his fanny. Then he slept like a rock the rest of the night. I hope he gets his poops out of the way during the day today, b/c that was no fun. Andy pretty much slept through it all...he woke up briefly but I could tell he was actually more asleep than awake. I left the lamp on in the room just to torture him while I changed Gus. How mean is that? :) He barely remembered it this morning. Ahhhh, heavy sleepers. Why couldn't I be one of those?

I attempted to walk out of the house without tights on under my skirt today. I thought it was supposed to be close to 60* today but it was freezing when we left, so I changed into tights. I'm so ready for this chilly weather to GO AWAY. We need some warmth now. I'm so sick of wearing winter clothes.

We're having the Hegemans over Saturday for a bbq, which should be really fun. We haven't chilled with the Hegs in awhile, and I need an Ebina (their 6-month old) fix. Other than that, we're just going to watch basketball, most likely. At some point we really need to get through the list of things that must be done before Fozzy arrives. We've very slowly started working through it. It includes moving Gus to a toddler bed, turning our office into the baby's room and moving the office downstairs, fixing up the yard and gardens for spring and summer and buying a china cabinet for the dining room. We also need to re-upholstery the nursery rocking chair and actually fix up the guest bedroom in the basement (which is our storage room right now!). The list overwhelms me, but hopefully we'll get through it.

Until later,

ek

Rourke baby arrives

Cherie and Aaron had their little one yesterday afternoon...boy #2! He was 10 lbs. 1 oz...they sure do make big babies (Eli was 10 lbs., too). I can't wait to meet him. His name is Keenan Isaac. Congrats to Cherie, Aaron and to big brother Eli!

ek

Busy, fun weekend

We had a very busy and fun weekend, hence the title of this blog entry. :)

Andy's parents came in Friday evening and we had a great time with them. They stayed until Sunday afternoon. We watched KU basketball (GO 'HAWKS!), they had some good times with Gus, and we went on a couple of Easter egg hunts with the Guster, too. Saturday we went to our friend's open house/Easter hunt and Sunday we went to Osage City to my aunt's annual Easter potluck partaaaay. I ate lots of food and saw family and Gus had a great time looking for treats in the yard. He really liked finding the plastic eggs and has a stash of them now that he just plays and plays with. And I love eating his candy.

Overall it was a lovely weekend, and we are getting back into the grind this week. I work from home today and tomorrow b/c I had to rearrange daycare this week (Jen on vacation), and I work Wed-Friday in the office. Andy left for another business trip to Michigan today and he returns Wednesday afternoon. We already miss him. He's going to be taking many business trips in April to Michigan, Phoenix, Montreal, etc... I'm a little jealous of all the places he's going, but he is mostly in meetings the entire time he's there, so I'm sure it's not exactly a vacation for him!

***(sorry for the run-on paragraph, but my blog won't let me start a new paragraph for some reason--annoying!)***

I had my 20-week appointment today. I started rotating doctors in case my doc isn't on call when I go into labor. It's weird not seeing my doc (I adore my doc!), but the one I met today was very nice. I liked her quite a bit. All is going well with Fozzy. The heartbeat sounded very strong at 150, my genetic tests came back normal, and I measured just 1/2" longer than the "average" so I get a sonogram next month. I love how they can find reasons to give you a covered sonogram. I measured long during my first pregnancy, so I'm not worried about it. I think it's just how I carry babies. I guess it can also mean I'm farther (further?) along than they think, which wouldn't be a bad thing. We'll see next month. I'm excited to see the little tomato on the sono but I'm nervous of finding out the sex by accident. During our sono with Gus, Andy asked the sono techinician if she could tell what the sex was and she said, "Oh, yes, definitely..." and of course we couldn't help but think it was a boy after that reaction. And it was! So I'm paranoid. But I don't think Andy can go to this one with me--he's on another business trip. That makes me both sad and relieved. Maybe I will be 100% surprised this time! :) Oh, and I felt the baby actually kick for the first time Sunday morning. Andy felt it, too, which was great. It's a busy little bee in there. I feel it all the time (as I type this, in fact!).

I can't WAIT to hear that Cherie and Aaron have welcomed #2...any time now. I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow, at the latest! Good luck Cherie. We are thinking of you and are so excited!

GO KU!

ek

Baby News

Megan and Blake had their baby girl last Friday, just a few days before her due date of March 17. They named her Charlotte Elizabeth Hodges. So adorable! I cannot wait to meet the little one. Congrats!

ek

Good Day, Sunshine...

So, this back and forth with the weather here in Kansas has me a little confused, but I know spring is around the corner, so it's all good. We went to the park this past week as often as possible (on the nice days) and I hope to hang with Gus outside on Friday and work in my garden, assuming the prediction of 60+ degrees holds up.

This past Saturday we took Gus to a model train show in Kansas City. It was so huge and amazing. He really liked it and said "Choo Choo!" all the way through Bartle Hall. Andy took Gus for a train ride, which was hilarious. Gus wasn't sure what to think of it and Andy obviously liked it. :)

We're gearing up for Easter weekend. Andy's folks are coming into town Friday night, so we'll hang with them this weekend, which will be nice. Hopefully KU wins Thursday so we can play Saturday and watch that game with Dave and Sally. Also on Saturday we're going to a friend's Easter egg hunt/chick petting party. Our friends just moved to the country (outside Baldwin City) and are raising baby chickens so they can have their own eggs. The baby chicks are going to hatch soon if they haven't already, so they've invited their friends + kids over Saturday to pet the chicks and then to hunt for Easter candy. It should be fun. Sunday we are all going down to Osage City to do the Easter egg hunt (and giant potluck!) with my family. I'm worried about disrupting Gus' nap, though, so we'll see how that goes.

Our trip to Savannah is just around the corner, too! We leave on April 11, and we are excited.

New photos posted to our flickr site (see link in my "fave links" area). Just FYI!

ek

GO KU!

TGIF and GO KU! We play tonight at 6pm CST, so I'm psyched. I don't have my KU outfit on, per say, but I bleed crimson and blue, so I'm good. I may try to fit into my KU shirt, although it's way too tight at this point!

Gus just went down for his nap around 1:30 p.m. That's pretty late for him, but as long as he doesn't skip his nap, I'm ok with it. Hopefully he'll get a good 1.5-2 hours in. We're going over to Jim and Hannah's tonight for a bbq/game watching party, so I hope he's rested.

Last night was insane, and by insane, I mean somewhat hellish. We met all our friends at India Palace downtown for dinner b/c our friends Kim and Chris were back in town from Texas for a visit. I love the food at India Palace (tried a new shrimp curry dish last night and it was amazing), but the service was AWFUL. And I'm not hard to please, really. I'll put up with a lot before I get really mad. But it all started when the server came into our room after we had been waiting for an eternity (we had a large table in a room in the back) and asked us to take our own orders b/c he was just too busy. WTF? So we did, and we all had a good laugh at first. We did it in a very organized manner, but no matter, because the server totally 'effed up our orders anyway. After we all switched our meals so we had the right thing, we dug in, but poor Andy (who had starved himself all day so he could pig out) didn't have his lamb curry yet. They finally brought it and he ate it so fast I thought he was going to throw up. I had to end up boxing my entire meal up b/c by the time all the food actually came, Gus was so tired and cranky he was throwing a fit (along with the other very tired kids there: Ash and Ollie). Gus had taken a really early nap at daycare that day (10:30-12:30) so he was so exhausted. Plus, we didn't meet for dinner until 7pm so the kids were already a bit tired. While Andy ate I walked Gus around the block outside the restaurant. A few drunks came out of the Replay Lounge and Gus pointed at them and started talking loudly (his own language) and I told him "We don't point at nice, drunk men." The men just stared at us and thankfully didn't hear what I had said. They were stumbling around--it was pretty clear they were tanked. Good ol' Replay Lounge! :) We were the last folks with kid to leave India Palace, and it couldn't have happened sooner. It was insane...I wish I had taken some video of it b/c it was just total chaos at one point (kids screaming and throwing fits, everyone switching plates of food, the waiter totally avoiding us, Mo asking as nicely as possible for our last 2 orders of nan, etc...). Amazing! But the SILVER LINING of the evening was when Chris and Kim told us they are expecting their first baby! I could not be more excited than I am for them. They have been trying to get pregnant for awhile now, so it's awesome that it is going to happen. They are going to be awesome parentals. I just wish they'd move back to Lawrence from Dallas...that's our next wish! They are due Sept. 18.

This morning I was changing my shirt and Gus came in the room and just stared and pointed at my protruding belly. I explained to him that his baby sister or brother was growing in my belly, but he just continued to look really confused (all the while he's still pointing). He then said, "Ball?" while pointing to my belly. Ha! He thinks everything shaped like a circle is a ball, so my belly qualifies. I explained again but he just smiled and ran out of the room. So, when people ask me if Gus understands that he's having a little sis or bro, that's my answer. He thinks I have a ball in my belly! So, no, he doesn't understand. At all. :)

Gus and I ran to Target and then my dad paid us a surprise visit (he works in Lawrence often on Fridays). We hung out for awhile before he had to head back to work. He's seriously considering retiring in a couple of months. I secretly hope he does b/c I just love hanging with my dad and he would be more available. But if I know my dad, he'll always have a billion projects going on, so it'll be like he's working. But he's been at Stevenson Sheet and Metal Company since he was 17 or 18, and he's going on 58, so it's been a long time! My mom will teach for a few more years, though. She wants to retire with my dad, but she didn't start teaching until I was a freshman in high school, so she wants to get a few more years in.

The baby is swimming in utero a bunch. I've been kinda bonding more with it lately. I think it just feels so real lately and it's easier to imagine it as a little baby. Every time I see a little baby I turn to mush, so I think I'm ready for #2. I say that now...wait until my first night of no sleep! I'm worried about that more than anything else...the no sleep factor. I am a nasty person on no sleep (I'm convinced nastier than most...ask my darling husband). I hope this one sleeps a bit better than Gus did for the first month or two. Gus turned into a great sleeper, but those first 2 months were torture. So, we'll see. We're trying to put some new things in place for #2 that might help (bassinette in our room when necessary, more comfortable nursing/rocking chair for me so I can actually fall asleep in it if necessary, etc...). I do think #2 will be a bit easier in that I won't be so paranoid and scared of doing something wrong. I feel pretty confident now as a parent, so I think that will make it better all around.

By the way, Gus loves Yo Gabba Gabba, this brilliant tv show for kids. It's on at 10:30am weekdays and we sometimes catch it, but when we don't, we watch clips on Youtube. Check out this older clip, it's probably our favorite!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=R9PqjMSNfkU

Now I'm just waiting on pins & needles to hear the baby arrival news from Megan & Blake, Cherie & Aaron and Molly & Dan! So exciting.

ek