We moved...

... downstairs. For those of you who have never been to our house: We have two bed rooms on the main floor. Upstairs there are two more bed rooms. One is smaller which we used for a computer room. The other room is bigger and that's where our bed room was. We decided that it would be a lot of stair climbing if we kept our room up there and used the computer room for a nursery. So, we moved down stairs. We were basically using the two bed rooms on our main floor as his/hers laundry rooms. It was getting out of control. This move forced me to go through all of my clothes - what a chore!

I am going to share a secret: I have a laundry problem. I have two over-flowing hampers. When I go to do a load of laundry, I just pull out the clothes that I want to wear in the near future ... and forget about the rest. The clothes pile up. It got out of control. Yesterday I did FIVE jumbo loads of laundry. All my clothes, none of Mike's. It is a sin to have that many clothes. Today I found a home for all those clothes. It feels so good. Anyone need a new outfit?

So now we officially have a "baby room." We've been trying to buy some of the more expensive items now - crib, camcorder, yesterday we bought a stroller/car seat combo, I got Mike a jogging stroller for Christmas. Mike put the crib together today - is it too early for that? I wanted him to at least take it out of the box so we could see if it was damaged in any way during shipping. Once it was out of the box we didn't want to leave it laying on the floor for months. So, it's up. It's so weird to walk by and see a crib...

What I'm craving at this moment: strawberry smoothie, McDonald's cheeseburger, raspberry yogurt

Fun over the past week:

- Mike's company Christmas party: This was the first year we've been able to go. It was held at a hotel downtown. The dinner was awesome. Everyone dressed up. Door prizes like cameras, DVD players, Wii, navigation system, etc. (I really wanted to win the popcorn popper... didn't. Mike kept saying, "Of all those prizes, you want the popcorn popper? It costs like $10)." The best part of the night was after dinner - dueling pianos! I wish I worked for a company that could do stuff like this! As much as I love being a nurse, I admit to dreams of being a secretary. I want to work Monday through Friday 8am to 4pm. I want to have bins of colored paperclips and post its. Ahh...

- Getting locked out of the house: I had just gotten out of the shower (wet hair!!). Darrell really had to whiz. Usually we let him out the back door into the back yard. That day the back door was iced shut. So I decided to let him out the side door and just go with him. I left the main door open and shut the screen door behind me - little did I know the outside handle was also frozen! We were locked out! I was in my p.j.'s with wet hair! After a couple wimpy unsuccessful attempts to pry open a window... I almost started crying. I didn't have my phone, I don't know our neighbors, I'm wearing Sponge Bob pajama pants, temp of 4, no money, frozen dog. I ended up karate kicking the handle on the door until it opened. With each kick I was so thankful that I'm only 3 months pregnant, and not 8! I really need to think about hiding a key outside.

- Mischief: I'm pretty sure Darrell knows about the baby. He used to sleep curled up behind my knees or at my feet. In the past week, he's been curling up around my belly. Will not lay by my feet. Darrell's also been getting into a lot of mischief lately. Opening Christmas presents/ getting into the garbage which he hasn't done in months/ eating snacks out of my purse/ the list goes on. He's such a little pip-squeak that it's hard to get mad at him. And apparently our discipline doesn't work because he keeps doing it. Cravings this week: Asiago cheese bagel with cream cheese from Panera, cheese balls, gum balls.

Braved a blizzard to go to my 12 week OB appointment - only to have them dip my urine, listen to baby's heart beat, and out the door in 10 minutes - which I could have done at work for free. Oh well, it was exciting to hear it. The rate was 166 - he/she's wild! Gonna have a little hyper child. Running in circles and eating pixie sticks. Everyone thinks I'm having a girl because of the high heart rate. Since the day I found out I was pregnant I've thought it's a boy. I guess we'll see at the ultrasound - which I can't wait for! It's scheduled for Feb. 1. Then I can finally start shopping for bedding/clothes/etc. Recently I bought a crib:

It's still in the box waiting to be assembled. It's on Mike's chore list. I also bought the orange Bumbo I've been dying for. It's chair for babies basically, once they can hold their heads up. It's made of foam-type material. I really wanted the orange one because that's my favorite color, but it was hard to find. Only available at Target.com. I'm not planning on registering at Target so I just went ahead and bought it. It's so cute. I'm trying to get Darrell to sit in it.

No new cravings. No nausea - thank God! Still having a hard time brushing my teeth - makes me gag. No baby bump yet. I've noticed that everyone is staring at my stomach, trying to see if I'm showing yet. One girl at work even rubbed my stomach... yikes.

Week 12: On day two of being nausea-free! I'm hoping I've felt the last of that! I've been nauseous 24/7 for the past six weeks. Blech. I have an OB appointment tomorrow... should be able to hear the babe's heart beat. I've been resisting the urge to find/hear it myself at work with the doppler, but I'm waiting for Mike. I'm still feeling like it's a boy. In my dream last night I had a huge belly. My dream last week was that I was growing seven babies. My abdomen is starting to feel bigger. No weight gain yet. I read that in the second trimester I will gain one to two pounds A WEEK. That should be interesting. Been craving McDonald's fish sandwich with extra tartar.

Baby makes 4

October 19: Positive test!
Week 5: Feeling great. Still shocked. Can't stop smiling.
Week 6: Have told a few people - parents, siblings, best friend. Dreaming of chocolate cake. Keep saying "I don't even feel pregnant!" (this phrase will haunt me next week)
Week 7: Morning sickness is on! More like all day sickness. Barfed once at the movie theater. This is not fun. My sister's wedding is this week. Wondering if anyone will notice I'm not drinking/pretending to drink? It was so hard not to tell my family at the wedding.
Week 8: My first OB appointment. Due date is June 20. Scheduled all my future appointments. Most excited about the ultrasound on February 1st to see if it's a boy or a girl!
Week 9: Either nausea is slightly improving or I'm just getting used to it. Plans to tell the rest of the world next week. Started thumbing through the baby name book. Mike likes traditional Irish names - shocker. I think it's too hard to get serious about names until I know if it's a boy/girl.

More details later on this exciting adventure!
-Becka, Mike, Darrell, & baby

Productive boycot

Like I said before in my previous post, we have been out of town every weekend for the past few months. It's been a fun summer, but I'm sick of packing my bags every Thursday. My days off are spent out of town, which isn't really a productive day off. There is so much I want/need to do around our house. We moved in two years ago and I still feel like I'm living in someone else's house. Lately I've done a few projects to make this house feel more like our home. When we first moved in I painted the shutters and bathroom - which were both burgundy by the way, my least favorite color ever. Last February I painted our bedroom a "midnight blue" which turned out awesome. I've been wanting to paint the kitchen since I first saw it. It is what I would describe as "country blue," hell it had blue and white checkered curtains when we moved in. Gross! Luckily my mom is super talented and made me some cute curtains to spice it up a little bit. Anyways, Mike and his brother are running a marathon together in Kansas City this weekend. I really wanted to go. I love cheering on my husband... but... there is only so much exercise watching a wife can endure. Plus, I had to work this weekend and it was my co-workers baby shower. So, I boycotted the trip. Put my foot down. Stayed home. Mike threatened to take Darrell with him to Kansas City as punishment. Ha. Anyways - I painted my kitchen last night. Took me four hours. Thought it would be a good idea to have a couple beers... until I had to stand on a stool and hold a tray of paint. In this picture you can see the old blue, and the new *Spiced Pumpkin.* Before you judge the orange, let me tell you my bathroom is painted lime green. I love bright colors. It may not be the color you'd paint your kitchen, but it's totally me.

I bought this pineapple cookie jar over a year ago. I always new it would someday look perfect in my kitchen.
I pulled Darrell's bed into the kitchen so he could watch. He's laying on the pink Snuggie Mike got me for our anniversary. :)
I got this table for my birthday. It's a pub-style table with two stools. Perfect for our little family.

What's new

What's been going on at the McGinn house? Not much, we've been out of town almost every weekend for the past few months. Most exciting of all was the trip to Madison for Mike's Ironman. 2.4 mile swim + 112 mile bike + 26.2 mile run. He finished in 11 hours and 30 minutes. It was amazing. What an accomplishment. He has a marathon later this month and after that wife says "no more exercise!" ... for a while atleast...

Happy birthday Brooke! Which means it's my birthday too ya! The big 27. I wish I was 19 again...