I would say that since we moved in to our condo just over a year ago, I have always felt like it was in a state of transition and organization.  We worked at going through boxes of things we knew we didn't necessarily want to keep, we kept trying to find just the right arrangment for the furniture we had and figure out where we could use a piece here or there, and we organized stuff to find storage space, sometimes where there was very little.  I continue to feel like it is still a work in progress and maybe I always will. 

But with Baby on the way, it seems the "transitional" state of our condo has been taken to the next level these days.  We recently bought a new mattress for ourselves.  After sleeping on my full size bed for over year, we upgraded to a queen and were able to put our new comforter and linens to use to go with the paint color Jack and Steve worked so diligently to put up in that room a while back.  With that new mattress, something had to be done with the old one, right?  Well, for the moment, it is standing up against the wall in our 2nd bedroom where it'll soon be taken to my parents' house for use in one of their spare bedrooms.  But in the meantime, that second bedroom looks like we haven't made any progress on it at all, when we really have!  It's a little discouraging to be quite honest, and I am glad that over the weekend we'll be able to make the switch.

I also just picked up our crib this week that needs to be assembled.  Since the mattress is in the bedroom, the box is currently just leaning up against the wall in our living room.  And just last night we visited with my brother, sister-in-law and their two kids, where we were gifted a whole bunch of gently used baby things free of charge.  (Thanks, Jim & Renee!)  Since I didn't want them to continue to have to store the stuff, we loaded up the things we thought we could use in my car to bring home.  And where are these items now, you might ask?  Most are in our dining/living room area.

Frankly, I think even Bentley is a little confused as to what is going on.  As we went to bed last night, instead of sleeping on his bed out in the living room, he started out laying in the second bedroom close to the door on the hard floor.

Despite being a bit overwhelmed by the current state of things, I am looking forward to this weekend when we'll be able to move some things around and get back to making our condo look like a home.

Two weekends ago, Mary and I took our last vacation before we have Baby in tow.  Mary's parents were going to be in Seattle visiting family, so we decided we'd tag along.

We made it a long weekend, arriving late Thursday night and staying until Monday. Friday, we got to spend the afternoon hanging out with Mary's cousins who live in Seattle. We drove around West Seattle a bit to catch a great view of the skyline.  Afterwards, we walked around Capitol Hill just checking stuff out. There was no shortage of coffee houses, pizza places, and an interesting assortment of shops and bars. All in all, a very cool place.

That night, we all met up for dinner with Mary's parents and aunt and uncle, who came in from outside Seattle to visit as well, at Salty's. I had grilled Alaskan salmon and Mary had king crab legs. After a nice long relaxing dinner, we called it a night.

Saturday, we decided we'd peruse the Pike Place Market.  We spent a few hours just walking around, sampling pastries, baked goods and smoked salmon, and just generally checking things out.  Mary's mom treated us to a few nice little treats.  One of the more interesting things to see was the fish throwers.  Not a lot of people were buying the enormous fish, but the few that did provided a great show for us tourists.  We also discovered what I consider to be the best cupcakes ever.  They were mini cupcakes from a Swedish bakery.  Mary and I split a chai cupcake and a pumpkin cupcake.  They were perfectly moist and delicious! 

That evening we went to a restaurant called Von's Roast House.  Again, the food was great.  Sunday, after Mass, we made a stop at Bakery Nouveau and were fortunate enough to get a table while we sampled some fabulous pastries (twice baked chocolate croissants, parisian macaroons, passion fruit tarts).  Then it was on to some wine tasting!  I felt bad that Mary couldn't participate, but I guess that just means we'll have to go back after the baby is born.  We only made it to one winery, but it was a good one: Chateau Ste. Michelle.  Despite the fact that it was raining, the grounds were beautiful, and the wine was great

After the wine tasting, we said goodbye to Mary's family from Washington, and had one final dinner with Mary's parents at the Pike Brewing Company.  I don't think I had very high expectations for the menu, it being a pub, but the food was actually really good.  I also had one of their beers, and it was great as well.  I definitely recommend stopping there if you're in downtown Seattle.

The next day, Mary and I had breakfast at the hotel, made a quick stop at the market for another pumpkin cookie, and went straight to the airport.  Althought it was only a long weekend, the trip was so relaxing and easy-going, it was just what Mary and I needed!

I've been able to feel the baby move around inside my belly for weeks now.  At first, it was just some flutters or something (hard to describe) that started and I wasn't even sure it was the baby.  But as the weeks went on, the feelings became more consistent and move noticable.  Eventually, with some patience, Jack was even able to feel the little one move around when he put his hand on my belly.  His expression the first time it happened was one I hope I never forget.  I knew he'd be surprised, but he was utterly speechless for almost a full minute, his eyes were as wide as I've ever seen them and his mouth just dropped open.  Truly priceless.

As the weeks have continued, it has gotten much more frequent that I feel the baby move throughout the day and a lot easier for Jack to feel as well.  We've had a couple "firsts" though in regards to the baby moving though lately.  For starters, one night when we were laying in bed relaxing before going to sleep, I felt the baby move but with a very regular beat in the exact same spot.  I couldn't figure out what was happening, but when Jack felt it, he figured it out- our baby had the hiccups!

And a couple nights after that, we were again laying in bed working on the laptop.  I wasn't feeling the baby kick so much as just move and shift around.  Our of the corner of my eye I thought I saw my stomach move, so I started to watch more and sure enough, it happened again.  I told Jack and we both patiently stared at my belly.  When it finally happened again he said "You've got an alien in there!".  Of course, that statement would be funny regardless, but since we first found out I was pregnant I would tell Jack that it just seems to odd that there is a human growing inside of me- that to me it almost seemed alien-like and he would brush it off and always tell me that it is the most natural thing that has been happening for hundreds of years, etc.  Now of course I know and understand this, but for me, knowing there is a human inside of me was just something my brain could not grasp for a while.  So when he had this exclamation at actually seeing something move inside my stomach, I got quite a chuckle.

Phew, a major item on the list we can cross off (hopefully)!  Mary and I made our first baby furniture purchase (kind of) on Monday.  Why all the indefinites? 

Well, we were able to decide on a specific model of crib from Babies-R-Us.  They don't actually stock the crib, though, so we ordered it and it is supposed to be delivered within 7-14 business days.  We have also heard that cribs can sometimes get backordered and not show up until the last minute.  The crib we picked, however, is somewhat of a newer model, so hopefully it will come in as expected.

When it comes in, it will get delivered to the store.  At that point, we'll need to pick it up and make sure it didn't get damaged in transit.  If all goes well, we'll have the crib home and ready to assemble next month.  We just have to find a place for it...

Ok, I know it's been a long time.  I think once we found out Mary was pregnant, there was so much on my mind, I could never decide where to start!  So now, instead of catching up, I'm just going to jump back into it.

Last Thursday at about 4pm at work, I started having some minor abdominal pains that seemed to surge periodically.  I didn't think much of it, as it had happened before, usually as a result of some kind of stress.  As the evening went on, the pain grew slightly worse, so at about 10pm I decided I should just go to bed and hope to sleep it off.  Not so much.

I tossed and turned and woke up twice because the pain was so agonizing.  At about 5:00am, Mary insisted we go to the hospital.  I agreed because I was nervous about appendicitis or pancreatitis or something else.  At 6am, we were at the ER and I was in a curtain-walled room within 10 minutes.  I answered all kinds of questions, had blood tests, an ultrasound, x-rays, and a CT scan, all revealing nothing that would require surgery.  Now, I summed that up in one sentence, but the reality was that the whole process took 13 hours.  It was 13 hours with lots of ups and downs and no answers as to what was causing my physical pain, but at least I left the ER feeling a lot better than when I arrived. While the pain was excruciating at points, I always felt comforted knowing that Mary was with me the whole time.

The whole thing was very bizzare.  Although I had some general soreness throughout the remainder of the weekend, the twisting pain never came back.  After I was released, Mary and I got some dinner and went home to go to bed.  Mary was concerned it may be an ulcer, however, the doctors didn't seem to think the symptoms matched.  For now, it remains a mystery.  Ok, that's that, let's move on to the fun stuff!

On Saturday afternoon, we made our first trip to Babies-R-Us to try and get an initial grasp on what we're getting ourselves into!  We spent two hours walking around and looking at all kinds of things like car seats, strollers, bottles, bath toys, cribs, bedding sets, diaper disposal systems, monitors, swings.....this list could go on forever.  Actually, it was kind of fun, and the time really flew by.  We didn't register for or buy anything, however, we did reach an important milestone.  We decided on a crib!  So, now we just have to order it and hope that it really will arrive in 7-14 days.

Next step, baby registry....