Well, another Christmas has come and gone.  This year marks the 2nd Christmas that Mary and I have been married.  I have to say, it really was a great one, too.  Not because I got the so-and-so I always wanted or because we went away on vacation.  No, it was mostly due to the time I got to spend with people.  Christmas was about family.  I really enjoyed all the time with both Mary's family and mine, young and not-so-young!

We also had just a few people over to watch Elf (hopefully a new annual event?).  No big spread or anything fancy, just pizza, some dessert and friends.  It also just happened to be a couple days before Mary's birthday, so we were able to get a little extra celebrating in!

For some reason, I was much more into Christmas than usual.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but I found myself singing random verses from Christmas music a LOT (especially from White Christmas).  Maybe Mary's affinity for the holiday is rubbing off on me?  Maybe it meant more to me knowing that we'll have our own little one with which to celebrate, soon?  Maybe it was watching White Christmas three times this year (once at the Tivoli)?  Either way, it was a great feeling.

Any day now, we're expecting our new arrival!  It is so exciting (and at times overwhelming) to know that so many people are so anxious to meet him or her.  Mary and I seem to be doing good jobs of keeping each others' nerves in check as we grow anxious, ourselves.  Aside from Mary's annual meeting and Christmas, we've been working really hard to try and get everything ready for the baby.  Although things are not (and may never be) 100% ready, we're ready enough.  Now...it's just a waiting game!

It is hard to believe, but I am only 3 and a half weeks away from my due date.  When in the world did that happen and where did the time go?  It seems so long ago that we first found out I was pregnant, but at some point, life seemed to move in fast forward and we are now quickly approaching the time when our family of 2 will be a family of 3 (+Bentley, of course). 

As I am sure you'd guess from my absense on our blog these days, we've been keeping VERY busy.  The Annual Meeting for my work took place just after Thanksgiving, so there were 2 weeks where I awoke very early, worked 12 hour days on average, ate whatever we had on hand (although we had planned ahead well), and went to bed.  Jack made sure to take care of me, just as he has all the way along this pregnancy, but particularly those two weeks.  I always have a bit of a melt-down after the Meeting is over; it is an adjustment back to "normal" life, but this year, normal seems very up in the air.

I am happy to report that all of my doctors appointments are going well and I am going every week now until the baby arrives.  The docs aren't concerned about anything, so it is just a matter of waiting now.

We were fortunate to have two baby showers, which took place on the weekends on either end of the Meeting.  The first was hosted by my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law at a restaurant in Westmont the Sunday before move-in started.  The women from Jack's side of the family were invited, along with the close friends of my mom-in-law and all of my girlfriends.  It was so nice of her to include my friends in this one and I had a great time.  Both parties were smaller groups which was nice because it made it possible to talk to just about everyone.  And for me, it was nice to see girlfriends from various parts of my life all socialize together.  The second was hosted by my mom at my parents' house the Sunday after the Meeting.  Once again it was a smaller crowd of just the ladies from our family, but it was nice to talk with everyone and feel how excited they all are for us.  We are so very fortunate to have such amazing family and friends with whom we can celebrate this upcoming milestone and the gifts we received were very much appreciated!

The Meeting always puts a bit of a crimp on the time we have for the holidays, so Jack and I have been doing what we can to enjoy the Christmas season, as he knows I LOVE this time of year, while still making sure to work at our other priorities, such as making sure we are as set as we can be before Baby Minster arrives.  We bought our Christmas tree and put it up right away, but it still has yet to be decorated.  It's a task that I plan to get to this week as there isn't much time left!  We did put up the other Christmas decorations in our condo though for this year right away, so our place feels festive.  And Jack made sure to put up the Christmas lights on our balcony and in our windows during the Meeting, which made home feel very festive each night when I came home.  I made sure to watch "White Christmas" once already and we've had Christmas carols playing in the condo as we work through our many "to do" items. 

We've been working in the baby's room and going through boxes of papers and random things that were being stored in there, and I am happy to say it is looking more like a baby's room these days!  The crib, bookcase and drawers that we'll use for a dresser and changing table are in their spots and I am pleased with how it looks.  Now that doesn't mean that ALL the boxes are gone, but we've made great progress.  No decorations are up, but that will come with time, as we haven't hung pictures in the rest of our condo either.  We were able to put away just about all the gifts we received from the showers, so we are slowly almost ready. 

We also found time to buy a rug for our living room (which I think Bentley thinks is his new big bed) and a picture mantel for above our fireplace.  While we've been out, we've also been trying to pick up the items we still needed for the baby, so we are just about set with all that too.  It feels great to check things off our list!

I've also been trying to chip away at the Christmas present shopping as the longer we wait, the harder I know it'll get for me physcially.  As it is, I can tell that my pace is slower, I get tired faster than ever, and I am only able to get so much done before Baby tells me I am done for the night.    I promised Jack that I would do more online shopping this year, so after hitting a few stores for things I knew I could get easier in person, I plan to finish up the shopping online (hopefully tonight).  That leaves us with thank you cards, Christmas cards, and all the wrapping to do done, plus what feels like a hundred other little things still, but I am thrilled with any progress we make these days. 

And as if we didn't have enough occupying our time, I asked Jack if we could take a night off and see White Christmas at the Tivoli in Downers Grove tomorrow night.  As the loving, wonderful husband he is, he agreed!  I can't wait!

I think I figured out a couple of the reasons I have been having a hard time keeping up with blogging.  For starters, many of the things we have been up to lately have included us taking some pictures.  Since it would be nice to share those at the same time as the blog itself, I put off writing the blog until the pictures are uploaded and ready to be included.  This, however, is a process Jack has walked me through at least twice and I continue to forget how to do it (something about saving them to our computer from the card in the camera, then opening them in Picassa to adjust the size of the image to a size I never remember, then from there, I don't remember the rest).  So in the meantime, I put off writing the blog and clearly that has made for a boring WindyCityMinsters site. 

The second reason is that I have been trying hard to catch-up/keep up with regular necessary things to not feel as ovewhelmed.  Even though we are getting close to our one year anniversary, I think we are still figuring out what works for us and our schedules sometimes.  I would love to get a bit more of a routine and although life throws all kinds of curve balls that I am OK with, for my sanity's sake, I have been focusing on our stuff much more than this blog has come to mind.

There is also a bit of news that I think everyone who reads this blog knows by now, but just in case you haven't heard yet, we are pregnant!  I am currently 19 weeks along, all of our appointments have been going just fine and I am feeling good these days.  But knowing that our lives are going to DRASTICALLY change soon, I think we have been trying to focus on us even more and what we both want to do and need to do before the baby arrives.  We've had some fun times with friends, have a couple trips planned that are coming up, and we are working to get some things in order in our condo to make it more like home and to make room for our new addition.

For starters, we are finally repainting our bedroom this weekend.  I am totally excited!  Well, that is if we can come to a final decision on the paint color.  We thought we had it all picked out, but after putting a bit on the wall as a test, we aren't quite sure anymore.  Since we have dedicated time this weekend to get it done, I know it'll all work out.  Jack has plans to take before and after pics, so those will get posted here too (someday).

Otherwise, the last month or so has been filled with a knife skills class that we took with our good friends Kristen and Jay, a July 3rd BBQ at my brother's house, a surprise 30th birthday party for our good friend, Kati, Jack taking a trip to LA for work, going to the movies just the two of us 2 weeks in a row for a mid-week "date night", a couple outings with my girlfriends, a BBQ at Kristen and Jay's, some shopping, Jack taking a 36-hour trip to Michigan for his friend, former roommate and fraternity brother, Joe's bachelor outing, vet appointments for Bentley, an ultrasound and a doctor's appointment for me, and a bunch of the usual making dinners and condo stuff.  I have loved focusing on us a little more this past month and am looking forward to the plans we have before the baby arrives.  Makes me a little nervous to know that our lives are going to change so drastically, but as Jack often reminds me, who is to say it isn't going to be better once the baby is here?!  So, in the meantime, we are living more in the moment, and getting more excited with each day.

Thanks for being patient in between blogs.  Have a great weekend!

Mary and I went to see The Dark Knight at the Tivoli theater on Sunday with Steve and Kati.  Mary and I saw it right when it came out, but due to slightly poor planning on my part, we were forced to sit in the front row in an already small and cramped theater in the city.  Seeing movies at the Tivoli is fantastic.  It's never crowded, the screen is huge, and the sound is amazing.  This made the already awesome film even better.  I have to say, that while most of the performances were really good, Heath Ledger's performance in this film is just amazing.  After having seen it twice now, I still want to go back and see it again.