April Showers...

Well, hopefully this year April showers bring May babies, but that's beside the point.  :)

Right now I've just seen some friends off and am getting around to cleaning the house again.  I have a feeling this will be a routine.  We're trying to get some room to move furniture around and having a clean house helps that, though that means you clean your house a lot.  Our friends flew in Friday which also happened to be the last day I worked at the cafe.  I'm working on transitioning to getting enough done before Ripley gets here that I'm not super frantic when that happens.  As Chris says, I'm also working on growing a Ripley, which takes a surprising amount of energy at this stage.  I'm not sure I've ever been such a fan of my bed and hated an alarm clock more. 

Cleaning up after the shower...

The past week and change though have been fairly uneventful.  My friend from Arizona (Emily) got together with Linda and they had a very nice small shower for me on Saturday.  We had about six ladies here and it was a lot of fun to both play the games and see the people.  I also got a few more items of clothing, so not as worried about having a naked baby anymore.  I know that after Ripley comes and we know gender it will be significantly easier to shop for clothes, but if an infant is going to go through multiple changes of clothes in a day, then I've got about a day or twos worth of clothes for different stages currently.  The really really cool thing though is that Emily found a bakery here that made cupcakes for me!  They were kind of a pain to work with, but once we got the cupcakes they were FANTASTIC!  I've been eating them off and on for days now and no new symptoms so Ripley is either really suppressing my immune system, or they made them right. :)  Maybe I'll look at getting a job there when I have to go back to work, though that could be really really dangerous. 

On Sunday we went to the MSI.  We got to see Body Worlds, the cycle of life.  It is the premier of the exhibit and was pretty cool.  There were some interesting poses and as it was when we got married, it was interesting to see the different parts of the body "melted" away and only have part of it remain.  A few pictures from our trip:

In the U-505 exhibit, we're ready to enlist in the Waves

Chris and Rick (Emily's husband) playing with the anti-aircraft gun replica and trying to figure out how to make it a working gun...

We tried to kind of relax on Monday and just hung around downtown Naperville.  Yesterday we went to downtown Chicago and did a fair amount of walking around.  We walked through the loop to the lake from Union Station and then up Michigan to Navy Pier.  We stopped at the bean and then at the Chicago Cultural Center.  The Center had an interesting exhibit titled, "Off the Beaten Path" which is about women and domestic violence throughout the world.  There were several pieces simply done by women from countries that traditionally are very downgrading to women -- like Pakistan, Iran, etc.  My favorite piece was probably done by a Swedish artist and essentially had pictures of beautiful roses sewn shut.  The sewing was to demonstrate female genital mutilation that is often done to exterior female genitalia.  It was done for Amnesty International, but it was an interesting piece.  The other interesting piece was one where they gave the women of an African village cameras.  They women took pictures as they went about their lives and then with some of the pictures there was commentary on the pictures.  The commentary explained how much control the men had over the women -- and it was shocking.  After we went to the Cultural Center we continued walking up Michigan.  We got to Navy Pier and I finally managed to go on an architecture tour, as Emily thought it would be fun!  It was fun, with the exception of it being cold.  We had a nice wind and were out on the water, so both Emily and I turned blue.  There was only one company giving tours this early, and I don't recommend using them for an architecture tour if you come to town.  It was the Shoreline Tour company and it despite it being cold they didn't really talk much about the architecture.  Well, at least not as much as I would have liked.  They explained the basics of the styles, but I remember the tour guide trying to make lame jokes throughout the trip more than anything else.  At the end of the day we ended up at the Hancock tower getting drinks and looking out over the town without much wind.  As always, it was fun to play tourist and give people a "one day snapshot" of Chicago.  Rick and Emily decided that more than one day was needed to see everything, and that they'd come back and see us.  :) 

Anyway, back to that cleaning thing -- I've got laundry to fold and get through the washer and dryer, and some vacuuming to do.  Later today we also have our 34 week OB appointment, so we'll get to listen to Ripley's stats.  Currently Ripley likes to get hic-ups and so that's entertaining to watch.  They also help tell me how "low" Ripley is, and definitely not in the birthing position.  We'll see what happens in the next few weeks -- we've only got about six left before d-day. 

Bathroom Remodel Pictures

The old bathroom -- we hated the tile color, the fact that you couldn't take baths -- basically everything.  When Chris tore it down it had a ton of mildew and crap in the sheet-rock as well, so it is not a healthier place to bathe.  :)

One side of the bathroom, guesses on when it was built?

The other end of the tub, so a tight squeeze.

Chris ripping out the floor on Sunday morning.  It was the little tiles, so thankfully it came up quite easier than he expected.

His pile o' tile

The top of the old ceramic coated wrought iron tub going out.  Even with the three guys it went clunk on EVERY step and then some.

The studs of a completely gutted bathroom.  Chris took all the old tile out.

The new bathtub that only took two guys to bring up the stairs or seat in place.  It also has whirlpool capabilities.

Chris got about half of the new tile up on Wednesday.

Painting on Wednesday

Tiling on Thursday

Toilet went in after the grouting on Friday

Vanity in and almost done on Saturday. 

Taking a Break

Well, this past weekend we gutted the bathroom.  When I say we, I really mean Chris did.  I was sent away so that I wouldn't pester him with questions or annoy him with "trying to help" or get all the tile dust and such in me.  Saturday Chris did demolition while I went to a 1 year old b'day party for a friend.  He managed to get all of the walls down and out of the house that day.  I'm sure our neighbors love us, but hopefully they will more when it helps the resale value of their condos.  Sunday was an adventure because we ripped up the flooring.  It came up significantly easier than Chris was expecting so that was quite nice.  We also got the old ridiculously heavy bath tub out with help from a few church friends.  We got the new tub in with only one friend, if that tells you the extent of the old tub.  It was a wrought iron tub coated in ceramics -- impossible to do much with in reality.  The new tub has whirl-pool jets, arm rests and hold enough water that it covers my legs when I want to get in it -- you know, we had to test it out to make sure everything worked properly. Since the new tub is deeper than most we needed a special drainage kit and the one Chris got first didn't work.  I got sent to Lowe's with the kit to ask for help, apparently people love helping pregnant women who look clueless with their plumbing problems. Monday I went to work and Chris got a lot of stuff together so we could get the sheet-rock and backer-board in for the tile after I got off of work.  He also got the condo association to turn off the water so that he could replace the plumbing in the walls just a bit.  Yesterday (Tuesday) he started sheet-rocking walls and putting up the backer-board.  He also got the walls primed and ready for me to paint.  I'm currently taking a break after scraping the old paint off of the ceiling and letting Chris finish putting up the backboard around the new tub.  We bought all the tile and stuff today, so the people at Lowe's won't have to see me a whole lot more (hopefully). 

Today at Lowe's I had a whole new experience with a complete stranger walking up and congratulating us.  We had a flatbed full of stuff and the lady (lady A) was having a conversation with the check-out lady (lady B).  They both believe that I'm having a boy because I'm not "big all over", though lady A did lift up my jacket in the back and say I had some hips on me to help me carry the extra weight.  She didn't actually attack me or try and touch my stomach, though she did make motions like she wanted to.  Chris was glad of this because originally he wondered how many hands he would have to break from people deciding my abdomen was public domain.  So far his total is zero, but this is also the first time any complete stranger has said anything.  I also got the traditional, "I hate you. I wish I could have looked like that at months," when Lady B asked me how much longer I had to go.  Apparently me telling them 2 months, that I was 8 months into this pregnancy was NOT what they were expecting.  However, since I get that from EVERYONE -- from the OB/GYN to friends -- it is what I expected.  

On the Ripley front -- we regularly see him move, it isn't uncommon at any point in time, so I get some weird looks occasionally because people don't expect it from my abdomen.  We get arms and legs and random body parts that stick out quite a bit sometimes.  It has become interesting to wonder where exactly Ripley thinks it is going.  Apparently my abdomen is getting a little small because kicks to the ribs are painful and it still likes to stay hang out playing piano on my spine. 

Anyway, it sounds like Chris is almost done roto-zipping the backer-board as the last piece for the tub so I should get to painting.  I'll post a series of pics (since I've taken some everyday) once this is over and we have everything back together.  

Week 31, Day 2

OB appointment took FOREVER today.  Especially for me just having stuff checked out -- I mean like, BP, weight, fetal heart rate, stuff like that. 

Everything is normal thus far with both Ripley and me.  :)

We also made all of the rest of the OB appointments we'll make for before Ripley gets here.  This means in nine weeks we'll be parents!?  I suppose this means we'll be busy and have to get to work on getting everything ready. 

T minus 7 minutes

Well, I've got pasta boiling and it will be the end of having supper ready, so I've got seven minutes to post something.  We've made it through the first couple of weeks of March with not much ado.  We're still in limbo about all sorts of things, so no resolution on any job fronts.  We do know that we're still working on having a baby in May though.  We go back to the OB this Wednesday.  This is the last of the monthly appointments, so we start biweekly after this.  Two weekends back we managed to put together baby furniture and have moved the house around a bit.  This past weekend we didn't do much of anything, just recovered.  I also taught my last couple of courses at Westwood so I'm done there until August-ish.  This coming weekend we will start demolition on the bathroom.  Chris wants to get it all done in a week, so we'll see how it goes.  I have faith that it can happen, just will it is the question.  I'll probably get to do some painting, but as long as he gets the major stuff (like the bathtub, tiling, and sheetrock hung) we'll be good to go.  I'm still at the cafe though that will only be through the end of the month -- it has been very painful to be up and about so much.  Anyway, this is apparently as much as I can type before the timer goes off, so I had significantly less than seven minutes to start with.  I hope that all is well by everyone. 

Walk in the Prairie

Well I had today off.  I should be writing thank you notes for the shower, or grading papers, or sleeping, or the list could probably go on indefinitely.  I chose to do something I wanted to do though and go to the prairie.  The prairie has a trail that I walk and run on -- the first outside walking this year since I was on a strict no slipping policy for this winter.  I took my phone which means I could get some pictures of winter giving way to spring.  This time of year really is great in my opinion as we watch the snow melt, the water levels rise and green buds begin to form.  We won't have anything close to a true spring for a month or so, but it is still nice to see the preparation of it all.  

Some remaining snow caught in the bushes

Bubbling brook

Not quite thawed out pond, but its getting there -- see the lighter colored ice?

Trees in the distance

Almost makes me forget I'm in a metropolitan area when this is what I see. 

Add caption

Shower Pics (Finally)

My niece and me all shower ready.  She had a great dress!

cake -- it was apparently good as most of it got eaten.