Kitty and the Baby Bump

Over the past few months, Kitty has decided that his favorite place to be is snuggled up to the baby bump. The past few times he has been sitting there, the baby starts kicking him so hard that the cat's head is bumping up and down! He sleeps so deeply, though, that I am not sure if he notices it or not. Little does he know that the bump will be a little baby who likes to pull his tail and mash his fur in just a few short weeks!! :-)

This picture was taken back when I was about 15 weeks pregnant, just starting to show, and the cat was just figuring out that he couldn't really fit comfortably in my lap anymore. It took him a while to snuggle in, but I'd say he found a comfortable spot!!

I woke up one morning to see this... So cute!!

(And yes, the big giant lump in the forefront of the picture is my belly!)

He is so chill and relaxed. I hope the baby doesn't traumatize him too much!! :-)

Remodeling the Kitchen

We FINALLY had the opportunity to get our floors fixed after the water damage from months ago. We also decided to go ahead and update to granite countertops and a more modern tile backsplash in hopes that this will help our house sell faster in a few months when we put it on the market! Overall, the work went really smoothly and only took about a week, but the house was a disaster!! I'm glad we finally got it all taken care of before the baby, and we've managed to get everything back in place so we can function in our house again!

Here are a few "before" pictures:

And here's what it looks like now:

You can't really tell a difference on the floors, since we just replaced the wood with pretty much the same thing. The countertops and backsplash, though, look completely different! I had hated that white tile with cornucopias on it since we had moved in, so I am thrilled to have what we have now! We also had the new sink remounted underneath the granite, which also looks really good, and with the new baseboards all around the new floors, the dogs' damages are gone!

We are really pleased with how it all turned out. Now we just have to keep it clean and in good shape for when we are ready to sell the house! :-)

Happy Second Anniversary!

Monday was our second wedding anniversary! Thanks to everyone who sent cards and congratulations - we had a wonderful anniversary!

Travis made a salmon dinner, and it was delicious! For a gift, he gave me a new camera - a really nice one that will make documenting every second of our baby's life so much easier! I am really excited to get a chance to get it all set up and learn how to use it. I gave Travis a new gym bag (since that's one of his excuses for not going to the gym!!!), an arm band case for his i-phone (to use at the gym), and a gift card to Home Depot (to support his habit of making lots of home improvements!!).

Overall, it was a wonderful evening and the perfect, low-key celebration that this tired pregnant lady could easily handle. So much has changed in just two years, and we are looking forward to seeing what the future brings! :-)

The Crib is Ready!

Diane had given us the crib at the shower, so we were really excited to set it up when we got home! It only took Travis an hour to set it up, and it looks so cute!!

I "helped" by taking pictures and unscrewing some of the nuts and bolts,

but Travis did all the big stuff!

Once Travis started banging around and making noise, Percy came to investigate. Rio was terrified of the big box and was cowering in fear in the other room.

And, of course, Percy stayed to help. He helped Travis read the directions...

...screw in the bolts...

...test and then attach the bed spring...

...and then investigate the final product! Percy was a little leery of the giant monkey at first, but we have his approval for its location for now. :-)

The proud father-to-be!!

We still have a lot to do in the nursery, but things are starting to come together!

Houston Baby Shower

On July 9th, Kelly and Diane had a fantastic baby shower for Travis and me in Houston. It was really a lot of fun to see all these family friends again, and it was fun to celebrate our baby (due in September!!).

The proud mama and father-to-be!

The excited grandparents!!

Kelly and Shane posing in front of the table of fantastic food that Diane and my mom put together for the shower. It was all delicious!

It was fun to see Travis' friend Aidan again, along with his girlfriend Meghan. Aidan was a little disappointed that we weren't going to use the name Colby Jack for our baby, since Travis has talked about that name forever, but I think we have made the right choice not to use it. :-)

"Could I be any cuter??"

A GIANT stuffed monkey from Travis' grandparents

We are doing a monkey theme in the nursery, so all the fun monkey stuff we got was perfect!!

Florida Vacation, Part 2

Okay, let's face it. There was really only one reason I wanted to go to Orlando this summer... The rest of the vacation was awesome, and we all had a really wonderful time, but I must admit, my favorite part of the whole trip was the day we spent at...

HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!

It was absolutely amazing and everything I hoped it would be! The park had opened in November 2010, and I had been looking forward to going here all year. I felt like I was truly a part of the wizard community and that I might see Harry Potter strolling on the street somewhere. (There were some students...um, actors...walking around in Hogwarts robes!) They have done an amazing job creating this park in the Islands of Adventure (part of Universal Studios), and I can't wait to go back and visit again!

At the entrance to the park. I must admit it was a little weird to see all the snow in June, but still it was amazing!! I literally could not contain my excitement. :-)

The Hogwarts Express!!! And the conductor was so cute...he spoke with a British accent and had this great little watch that showed the arrival time of the train. It was always on time!

Our first stops included the Joke Shop (which included every toy or joke gift that Fred and George Weasley had ever come up with!!) and the Honeyduke's Sweet Shop (again, with everything you have read about in the books!!)

Chocolate frogs (complete with the wizard cards on the box)

and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!!!!

On the streets of Hogsmeade...

Then, we made a stop at the Boar's Head, complete with an animated boar head behind the bar!

The Butterbeer was AWESOME!!!

And they had a frozen, frosty kind that was absolutely delicious.

Everybody enjoyed the pit stop. :-)

Then, we went into Dervish and Banges, the store that sells every item that you can imagine a wizard might need at Hogwarts. I have wanted to buy a Griffyndor scarf since forever, so I was really excited to find one here!!! You'll see me sporting it this winter...

The Monster Book of Monsters!!! Scary!

This place also sold wands, since it was connected to Olivander's Wand Shop. We are dueling here with Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand. (Travis appreciated how excited I was about being here and was a lot of fun to be with!!)

Here's the outside of Olivander's Wand Shop. Apparently, you could go in there and find your wand (like in the book where the wand chooses Harry), but the line was ridiculously long and they were only letting people in one at a time, so we opted out of this event. (Even when it started raining, people stayed in line!) I didn't really want a wand, so we moved on. :-)

Just outside the city of Hogsmeade, on our way to Hogwarts!

I was impressed at how real this all looked...

HOGWARTS!!!

The winged guards (ie flying pigs) of Hogwarts

There was a really neat 3D ride inside of the Hogwarts building, which I could not go on. But, the walk to the ride was just as entertaining (if not more entertaining) than the ride itself. The walk was REALLY long, but totally worth the trip. It was designed to feel like you were walking through the school, so there were all sorts of cool rooms to go through! One had a wall of moving pictures of the founders of Hogwarts that were all talking about the sensational new Quidditch player, Harry Potter. We passed through Dumbledore's office, listening to sage advice from Dumbledore himself, and also the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where images of Harry, Ron, and Hermoine talked to us too. Every thing that was in all the rooms was something out of the book, including the pensive in Dumbledore's office and the various creatures from the forrest! It was awesome. Awesome!

Outside of Hogwarts again (looking less pregnant in this picture!)

All these random things throughout the park were so cool! The car was outside one of the other roller coaster rides.

"NO Expectant Mothers Allowed!"

So, this sign was posted outside all of the cool rides in the park (a total of three roller coasters), and I knew I wouldn't be able to go on the rides, but it was still a little sad. At least I can use this as an excuse to return in the future!! There were NO lines at all, so we could ride the rides as many times as we wanted! Travis and my mom and dad rode the dragon roller coaster twice for me, so I felt like I got to enjoy it!

We made our last stop at the Three Broomsticks for dinner. More butterbeer was consumed. The food was pretty good too.

So, Harry Potter World was by far my favorite part of this entire trip. I can't wait to go back with Travis and our baby, once he is old enough to appreciate Harry Potter (and has read all the books and seen the movies, of course). Until then, I will just hope that he likes to read and enjoys the magical world as much as I do!

And, if you are interested, here is a link to the website for the park: Harry Potter World It really is an amazing place that every fan should visit if they can!

Now, I am just anxiously awaiting the opening of the final movie in the series, coming out July 15th, 2011. It is going to be amazing! :-)