Baby Bump

It's rather hard to hide a baby bump after 7 months. Working in retail I frequently get asked all sorts of things regarding the baby. The most common are, "When are you due?" and "What are you having?" The first is easy. April 4th. This usually leads to the second question or something along the lines of "Oh, wouldn't that be funny if it was born on April 1st. I of course chuckle politely and then think of Lincoln whose birthday is in fact April 1st. It must be really fun growing up dealing with all the jokes that are associated with this birthday.

The second question gets one of two reactions. The first is that people are so proud of us for not finding out (because apparently that's how it 'should be'). The second is the surprised face with some comment like, "I would never be able to do that." Keep in mind that most of these people are strangers. In general it's just nice casual conversations.

Things I don't really enjoy or could do without are strangers touching my belly (If I know you it doesn't really bother me, but I do like my personal space). And people eying me up and down (after I've explained that we don't know the sex) and then making their guess.

The guesses are pretty half and half. Apparently I'm carrying the baby lower, so this indicates a boy. But the Chinese calendar says I'm having a girl. I was pretty sick in the beginning so this means girl. The list goes on. The other thing people are fairly confident about is that the baby will have lots of hair. Everything gives me heart burn!

It's safe to say that I'm not sure about anything. Not even 100% sure about the names. Having said that I think we are going with Bridget and Coulter. Both spellings yet to be determined.

Please feel free to take the new quiz and tell us what you think we will be having. I figure if strangers can do it then why not my friends and family!

Choosing names

* Update: The 2nd name on the list is Coulter.  I typed it wrong and can't figure out how to change it without loosing all the current votes!

So we have a girls name and we've been working on a boys name for awhile. I finally went to the library and got a book. It didn't help. However I think we are 95% sure what the boys name will be. But just for fun we would like you to vote on our top three (really it's Lincoln's top 3, I only like 1 one of the names).

Also, people have been asking what we need. The answer would be everything. I have registered at Buy Buy Baby (there is not a store in Utah). We thought this would be the easiest for everyone. They offer free shipping on gift cards and they already have our address on file if you want to ship anything else. Also they're a sister company with Bed Bath and Beyond so I get my employee discount!

Here is the link to my registry: http://www.buybuybaby.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?wrn=-1824213775&

The plan is to come out this summer and have a baby shower then. So please don't feel like you have to get us something.

Only 60 days left!! Hopefully I will not go late.....

This is the latest belly pic

Happy Birthday

It's seems a little strange blogging about my own birthday. Last year I blogged about my Grandma Oka and how we share a birthday. This is the first year grandma is not around to celebrate. So I just wanted to share a few photos of grams.

This is grams as a little girl



Grams in her vibrant youth

This last one is how I remember her best

Even though grandma will not be here to see this little baby that's coming, I'm secretly hoping it's a girl so we can name it after her. Bridget Esther. Also, we're stuck on boy names so if you have any suggestions we're open to them.

Happy Birthday Grams

Hockey

For Christmas my parents bought us tickets to Lincoln's favorite hockey team, the Buffalo Sabres. They were in town playing the Chicago Blackhawks. Lincoln was really excited he's never seen the Sabres live.

So last night we put on a our Sabres gear and headed out extra early (you never know what Chicago traffic is going to be like). When we got there parking was super expensive (but worth not having to walk in the Windy City winter). They double parked everyone unless you wanted to pay extra. We figured we would just take our time after the game and not worry about being boxed in.

At the game we got hotdogs, fries and a churro (which is a necessity at every major sporting event). And aside from the guy behind us spilling some beer on Lincoln's seat, the 300+ lb guy sitting next to me and the Sabres losing we had a great time. Someday we would like to go to a game in Buffalo. It would be a lot more fun to participate in the home crowed cheering like this...

I always forget that I can't turn my camera sideways when taking video. Sorry. But you can see how much fun everyone is having after the Blackhawks scored. We are sitting down sulking...

There was a decent smattering of Buffalo fans.  People did stare (which is to be expected when wearing the opposing teams gear), but I didn't expect the pointing. Yes, more than one person pointed at me. And I'm not sure if it's because of my shirt or my belly. Maybe a combination of the two.

After a sad loss (6-2 Blackhawks) it was time to head home. We took our time getting to the car and when we got there, yep, we were boxed in. The car right next to us was not however, and it was saddening see how excited those guys were to just get in there car and leave. We did luck out though because the man that had parked us came and guided us out inch by inch (of course he did expect a tip in the end). But we did make it out of there faster so we did not complain.

All in all a great date night. If the Sabres come back next year I think we will have to go again. Thanks again mom and dad!

 

This is the United Center (also where the Chicago Bulls play)

The Sabres warming up. I didn't get any of the actual game. I guess I was too busy watching.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

In case you can't tell our biggest Christmas present this year is my belly! That's right we will be adding a new addition to our family. We are so excited baby Andreasen is due April 4th. And we will NOT be finding out the gender. Everything is going really well so far for both me and the baby.

Since we waited so long to tell everyone I've included a few pics of my growing belly and some of the utrasounds. I'm not sure of the exact dates of the pictures, but I'm currently 25 weeks (the picture above was taken today)!

This is a dress I made thanks to Pintrest!

This is the 10 week ultra sound. The bottom picture are baby's cute little feet!

This is baby's hand and face at 20 weeks. It's not as cute as the first one. There are no pictures of gender because we did not want to know!

This last one is a full shot of our Halloween costumes (the original was posted with the baby cropped out). Another creation thanks to Pintrest.

Monkey Brains and such

Lincoln once told me about this tree that had fruit that looked like monkey brains. Well it turns out there is a house just around the corner that has one. This is what they look like:

They're actually called osage oranges or hedge apples. I don't know if they are edible, but they look cool, and squirrels seem to like them!

We had some leftover mushrooms, so tonight Lincoln made Crab Stuffed Mushrooms. They turned out really good.

And last, we have a fireplace in our apartment, but haven't used it yet. Lately, we've been going on walks collecting kindling, sticks, and small logs. We have lots of it now and tonight we finally started a fire!

On one of our walks we saw a coyote. We watched it for awhile hoping maybe something exciting would happen with the hundreds of geese out in a field. But he just ran across the field, made all the geese honk as they flew off, and then disappeared into the forest.

Lost and Found

Back in August Kim came to Chicago. We hung out one night and got a few pics, but for some reason I thought I lost them all. Not to worry I have found them.

This is a Pirate ship from Navy Pier. We rode the ('original') Ferris Wheel and ate at Harry Caray's. My camera was dead for most of it. This is the only shot I have.

This is a GIANT statue of Marilyn Monroe on the Magnificent Mile. If you look closely in the background you can see people looking up (making sure she's wearing something).

And of course nothing is complete without your guide to being a true Chicagoan.