7 Weeks and Counting....

Yikes...time sure flies. We have just under 2 months left before baby Roberston arrives. Luckily, we have most things in order. We've got her room done and all the essential gear bought. We have 1 class left to take in January about what to actually do with this baby when she gets here, which should be interesting. Other than that, we feel ready (or as ready as we can feel). Right now we are just looking forward to going home for Christmas to see our family and friends. We head out Thursday evening and can't wait to get back. Hopefully all of the snow storms are done for a while in the Midwest so our trip goes smoothly. We will be in Illinois until Jan 1 and have a jam packed schedule as usual. We will get to spend time with both our family's on Christmas, Andy will get to hunt a few days and I will get to shop a few days and we will get to see all of our friends in Chicago at Katie and I's joint baby shower!! It will be so great catching up with the girls. Luckily Katie's husband, Jared will be there so he and Andy won't go crazy with all of the girl/baby talk!

Other than that, we just look froward to an entire week off of work and getting to spend time with family and friends. I hope everyone has a great Christmas!!

Baby Showers and Thanksgiving

Back in the first week of November, Andy and I headed home to Illinois for the week. Andy went hunting while I went up to Herscher to spend time with family and friends. While home, my family and Andy's family both had a baby shower. It was great catching up with everyone and was a lot of fun. We got a lot of great stuff that we really needed and a lot of gift cards so we can go and get everything that we need. I never realized how much stuff a baby actually needs!! This past weekend, my friend Emily threw myself and our friend Erin a joint shower. She is due exactly 1 month ahead of me, so it was fun having a little shower together in the neighborhood. I don't have any pics from my showers in Illinois (hopefully someone will send them to me asap), but here is some from this past weekend. While in Illinois, I also got to meet Gwennie and catch up with Molly. I stopped by her parents house in Morton when I first got to town and then we drove up to Oak Brook together at the end of the week to have dinner with Andrea and Megs. I hope my little girl is as cute and good as Gwen...she is so sweet!! It was so great to catch up with all my girlfriends! I can't wait until Christmas week when I we all get together again + Katie and some other friends for another little joint shower for Katie and I. I can't wait to see Katie's belly...she is exactly 1 month behind me!

We are making good progress on her room I will have an official unveiling after this weekend. So far we just have to put the crib together and hang up all the wall decorations. We've been very productive around the house the last 2 weekends, so a majority of the furniture is done!

I'm hoping that by Saturday we have that finished so that I can get moving on the Christmas decorating. We are having a little Holiday party December 4th so the house has to be ready to go. I also plan on making all of my Christmas cookies this weekend and hitting up some Black Friday sales....its great to be home for 4 days straight with no where to go/nothing I have to do. We do so much traveling around the holiday's its great to just relax at home this year. I just love Christmas time, so its going to be a great weekend.

Baby Update

Time for an update...Things are going very well here. For everyone that complained that I don't look very pregnant in my last pictures, that is no longer the case. As you can see here, I'm for sure showing, no question about it. It hasn't been too bad getting bigger, I'm still comfortable and can sleep well, so that's good. I can feel the baby moving around a lot more now. I can't wait until you can feel her kicks on the outside (and either can Andy). We have just been hanging out the past month. There is a lot we need to do yet, so we've started putting a game plan together. Luckily, we have all of Thanksgiving weekend to paint the nursery and get that room organized!

Next Friday we are leaving for a week long trip to Illinois. We can't wait!! Andy will be hunting the entire week and I will be relaxing at home and of course shopping for my week off. I actually have to work on Monday and make a trip to Peoria, but thats not too bad. Also, I'm so excited that I will get to see Molly and Gwen!! They just moved back to Champaign, so it will be great to finally meet little Gwennie. Seeing friends is really the theme of this trip home as I will get to see Amy, Megs, Andrea and a ton of friends/family at my baby shower. My family is hosting a baby shower the first Sunday we are home and then Andy's family is having one in Springfield the 2nd Saturday. It will be so good to catch up with everyone at one time!

Its a....

GIRL!!! I am so excited to tell everyone that Andy and I are having a healthy baby girl!! During the ultrasound she was moving around like a crazy little thing so we got to see all of her body parts. It was amazing how much she looks like a real baby at this point. You could see all of her little fingers and toes, bones and organs.
I was so excited this morning that I woke up at like 6am just waiting for it to be 8:30 so I could have my appt. It kind of reminded me of Christmas morning when I was a kid. The entire 5 months I have sworn up and down it was a boy; mostly mentally preparing myself, but secretly I was hoping for a girl. I even wore a pink shirt to the ultrasound for some extra luck! Really, I didn't care that much, but all the little girl clothes are so cute and all of my friends just had little girls that I wanted to also.

All in all, she is healthy and that is what matters most. We are so excited and can't wait to meet her in about 4 months!!

Week 20

Well I officially started my 20th week (5th month) of pregnancy. It is crazy how fast it is going!! So tomorrow is the big day...we have our ultrasound and get to find out if its a boy or girl!! We are sooo excited and sooo ready for tomorrow to be here. I feel like we are at a standstill until we know as I want to color coordinate things and pick out some gender specific items. Since we won't be living here in VA by the time we have a 2nd baby, I feel I can go all out and be more gender specific with my decorating, which will be fun!

So does anyone have any final guesses??? Andy thinks girl and I think boy (along with most of our family!!) I guess we will just have to wait a few more hours to find out.

I will post a picture of my expanding belly later this week. I'm for sure showing, but most people are not that impressed with my bump. I'm ok with postponing my hugeness until we get later into the pregnancy! Its getting difficult enough for my long car trips for work that I don't need any extra weight adding to the uncomfortableness.

I finally started to feel the baby move last week. Its not all the time, but everyone once and a while I will feel this flutter in my stomach. To be honest, at first I thought it was indigestion or gas (TMI I know) so I didn't pay much attention, but then I was sitting in a meeting one day and just kept feeling these little flutters in my stomach and I was like, "Oh my gosh, I think this is the baby I'm feeling". Its so weird and exciting to feel. I can't wait until Andy can feel the kicks on the outside of my stomach as he really wants to feel it too!!

Check back tomorrow for an exciting update!!

Baby Robertson Update

Well, this weekend marks the start of my 4th month...it seems time is already flying by!! I can definitely tell a change in my body this month. I'm for sure starting to show and had to go shopping this week to get a few new shirts. It seems everything is a little tighter and a little shorter these days! Other than that I feel great. I can't wait until next month when I can start to feel the baby move/kick. At my last doctor's appt my doctor was checking the heartbeat...everything sounded really strong and she said she could hear a kick even though I couldn't feel it. I'm also on a countdown until the end of September when we will know if its a boy or girl!! I've registered for a few things, but for a majority of stuff, I want to wait until I know the sex. Once we find out then we can start on the nursery, etc which I'm so ready for!

Congrats Molly and Adam!!

On Aug 18th our good friends Molly and Adam welcomed Gwenna Blue Ralph to the world! She is so cute and I can't wait to meet her! Here is a picture of Gwen...every picture is just as adorable as this one. I'm so excited that my friends and I are having babies around the same time. It will be great to have playdates and parties together! Gwen and Molly are doing great, and we couldn't be happier for them.

Big News

Well, its rather embarrassing that I haven't updated this blog in so long...especially since so much has happened over the past 2 months!! Well, let's see where to start...I guess I should start with the big news that everyone is probably most interested in. Andy and I are expecting our 1st baby in February!! (Valentine's Day to be exact) We are really excited, and really looking forward to the big day. At this point, I think everyone knows the big news, which is good since I'm not really any good at keeping secrets. Somehow, I did manage to keep this quiet for 3 months, but that was really my max. To top it all off, the same day I told everyone I was pregnant my very good friend Katie Stanley told us she is also pregnant!! She is due about 1 month after me....it is so fun that my friends and I will have kids around the same age.

I'm finally feeling better and pretty much over my 'morning sickness'; which is actually an all day sickness!! I still get sick everyone once in a while, but its nothing compared to what I was going through. I'm also starting to really feel pregnant in a good way (throwing up and permanent tiredness aside). I'm guessing I'll start showing in the next few weeks. My pants are a little tight at the moment, but nothing too noticeable. We are really looking forward to the end of September when we can find out if its a boy or girl. That is 1 thing I really can't wait on!

Well that's it for now!

Vacation!!!

The last week of May brought some much needed relaxation time for Andy and I. We headed out Tuesday after work to drive half way to Richmond. We went for a great dinner at Edo's Squid (a family style Italian place in downtown Richmond). It was delicious and the perfect starting point for our vacation!! The next morning we got up early (thanks to me) to head out for our final destination of Ocracoke Island, NC (Outerbanks). It was a long drive, but so worth it!! Before we could actually get to Ocracoke, we had to load up on a ferry boat as that is the only way to access the island. The island was a tiny little thing that you could pretty much just walk all around. I've been to a lot of beaches before, but I have to say this was one of the most beautiful. All of the beach was undeveloped and just very natural. The sand dunes were amazing and the beach was just so clean and great for walking. Ocracoke itself had a lot of great little restaurants, which we sampled quite a few of!! We had 1 really great beach day, but then some cooler weather set in. We decided to head home 1 day early due to the weather. Well, we didn't technically head home, but drove to Williamsburg, to spend the night there. We did some shopping at the outlet mall, had a great dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then headed to see Pat (Andy's friend from college) who happened to be tending bar that night. It was great to catch up with him as he and Avery had just gotten engaged and he had just got his hair cut into a mullet (some sort of show of support to the Blackhawks). To end our vacation we stopped at my favorite mall in Richmond to do a bit more shopping and then finally headed back home to reality. Luckily it was only Saturday when we got back and we still had Sunday & Monday off to relax!! All in all a great trip!!

Weekend in Chicago

I've been slacking, so I will have to catch up with everyone!! The 3rd weekend of May, I headed to Chicago for a girls weekend. We packed a ton into 1 weekend, but it was a blast. It started Friday afternoon when Meg's picked me up at the airport. We then jumped over to the other airport in Chicago to scoop up Molly. Then it was off to the city to do a little shopping, lunch, manicures and just some general walking around. We then headed back to Meg's apt to get ready for the evenings festivities. Since everyone was in town for Lawley's wedding; we decided to have a little baby shower for Molly and Adam. We started off the night by going to Top Chef Master, Grahm Elliot's restaurant. It was so neat going to a celebrity chef restaurant, and he was even there at the hostess stand when we walked in!! We had a great dinner with Meg's, Molly, Adam, Bayer, Amy and Emily (Molly's cousin). Andrea, Lawley and Mary were obviously busy with pre-wedding festivities!! Then after dinner we headed over to Navy Pier to go on the Panichi's boat for the actual baby shower where Katie also joined us. We had some dessert and got to catch up. It was so nice seeing Meg's parent's as it had been so long since I had seen them!! Molly got some super cute outfits and really enjoyed the shower After a great night, we headed back to Meg's apt (me, Katie, Meg's and Molly & Adam). Saturday morning we set out on a long walk to downtown Chicago to do some shopping at Watertower place. We didn't have a ton of time, so we had to hurry back to we could head to the 'burbs to check into our hotel and get ready for Lawley's wedding. Side note: there was significant traffic so we had to take these back roads. It got a little stressful, but finally we made it to the hotel with 45 minutes to shower and get ready. We made it right on time to Lawley's wedding!! The wedding was great; she looked gorgeous!! It was so much fun just catching up with everyone and spending quite a bit of time on the dance floor having fun with the girls!! It has been way to long since we have all had some quality time together. We all committed to do a long weekend getaway next summer; probably somewhere on the beach...I can't wait!!!!!!!!!
All in all, it was a great weekend! I had so much fun hanging out with the girls and just spending some quality time together. I can't wait until the next time we are all together!! Also, I can't wait to meet Molly's little one soon!!!

May/June Schedule

Andy and I have some great plans for the next 2 months....we can hardly wait!!
May 7-9 Andy's dad will be in town and they are going turkey hunting over in Bluefield, VA. Andy couldn't be more excited to spend some quality time with his dad and to finally get a chance at a bird. I guess I will be fending for myself with Trubs at home!!
May 21: I am leaving for Lawley's wedding in Chicago. While there we are also throwing Molly a baby shower, which will be so fun. I'm sad Andy can't go, but so excited that Katie can be my date to the wedding. It will be a great weekend with the girls!!
May 26-29: Andy and I are heading to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for Vacation!!! We are going to Ocracoke Island, which is only accessible by ferry boat. While there, the island is so small, you just rent bikes to get everywhere. It is one of the worlds 10 most beautiful beaches as it is all preserved with no development on it. We can't wait to relax on the beach!!
June 10-13: My mom is coming for a visit!! It has been over a year since she has been here so it will be good to catch up.
June 18-20: Andy's parents are coming to visit!
June 25-27: My friend Ashley is flying into Charlotte and we are having a girls weekend in Asheville, NC. We are going to tour the Biltmore estate and hit up the winery there. I've heard there are so many neat restaurants/stores in this little artsy town, so I can't wait. The company isn't bad either ;)

After 2 years of not many visitors, it seems everyone has chosen the same month to come...I think we will take July to re cooperate!!

Happy Easter!!

Andy and I had a great Easter weekend...here's just a short list of what made the weekend so wonderful
1. Andy and I both had off work on Friday...wohoo for 3 day weekend
2. Fri, Sat and Sunday were all 80-90 degrees and sunny
3. Dinner out at our fav place on Thursday night, Fork in the City...great patio to enjoy the weather
4. Friday we went on a 3.2 mile walk into downtown salem to eat lunch at Mac & Bob's...the 3.2 mile walk home was not as great, but we did it!
5. Grilling out with friends on Friday night
6. Catching up with an old Illinois friend on Saturday
7. Buying the 1st flowers of the season on Sat
8. Planting the 1st flowers of the season on Sunday
9. Fishing/Hiking with the dog on Sunday morning...Trubs' favorite thing to do
10. Enjoying our new lawn chairs chilling out in the yard and on the deck listening to the creek all weekend long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray for April!!!

Today...sunny and 75
Thursday....sunny and 80
Friday....sunny and 84
Saturday....sunny at 78
Sunday....sunny and 75

The weather is finally turning around. Good thing Andy and I have Friday off!! Bring on the beautiful 3 day weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spring...Finally!

We had a great weekend. The weather looked to be iffy, but turned out great! Saturday we were going to go fishing, but it was starting to cloud up so we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch the Illinois game since it wasn't televised locally. We had a good time watching a great game even though it didn't end as we would of liked. We stayed in and watched a movie and had a low key night. Sunday was a super busy day. We got up early and went to our fav fishing spot. Its a nice hike and great place that Trubs can run around without her leash. The water was way too high and fast to actually fish, but at least we were out enjoying the warm weather. Then we did our usual grocery run, planted some flowers, put some boxes in the attic and cleaned up the office. All in all, a very productive day. We are so ready for the nice weather to be here and stay so we can actually be outside!!

Weekend in San Diego

This past weekend, I took Friday off and flew out to San Diego to visit Molly and Adam Ralph. I just can't believe Molly has been out there almost 3 years now and this is my first trip!! I had a great time visiting and seeing the sites.
Thursday night I got in and we went straight to a late dinner. It was at a great place on the Harbor that had an incredible view of the San Diego sky line. The company and food was terrific :)
Friday: Molly and I got up and went for a long walk around the city. Their condo is in an amazing location right in downtown so you can easily walk everywhere. We went through the Gas Lamp district, Little Italy and wound back by along the Harbor. The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 60s. We had lunch and then headed to Coronado. She showed me the gorgeous houses and cute downtown area. Then we layed on the beach. Although we were in sweatshirts/pants, it was still so nice just soaking up the sun and chatting on the beach. We headed back to San Diego and I went for the 1st of 2 visits to YogurtLand. This is by far one of my favorite places ever!! After that we headed back to the condo to shower and just chill...we had a busy day! When Adam got home we got ready and headed to Gringo's (a fav Mexican place) for dinner. I loved being able to eat outdoors and just the overall variety. The margaritas were delicious too!! We were all exhausted for some reason so we fell asleep by 9:30...just like normal for me!!
Saturday: The 3 of us took Diggy for a nice long walk. We got coffee at Molly and Adam's fav place and then headed to Little Italy and wandered around the Sat morning Farmer's Market. It was a great, long walk around the city. Then we headed out for a drive up the coast. There are so many beautiful places around San Diego!! The beach was amazing and the landscape so different than what I expected. We got to see the beach with all the seals (Molly's fav, ha!) We had lunch at a great cafe and then headed back. They showed me around Old Town and a few other areas near by before we headed home. After relaxing for a bit we went to happy hour at the Glass Door. This place had an amazing view and was a really cool atmosphere. The drink specials were great too! We then headed out in search for an Italian restaurant. Our 1st choice was packed so we decided to try someplace completely new to all of us. Our gamble paid off because this place not only had a great atmosphere, but amazing food and wine! We headed for a night cap to a place in Balboa Park for a dessert martini...I had Hot Apple Cider martini which was AMAZING!
Sunday I headed home early on a rainy Sunday morning. I'm so lucky the weather was nice the entire trip and only rained on the day I left!!
Overall, I had a great trip. It is always fun catching up with the Ralph's and having some good girlfriend time. Its great knowing that I have friends all across the country that I can pick up with as if we still live together. I'm so excited for Molly and Adam as they get ready to expand their family and can't wait to visit again (this time with their baby in the mix!) I can't wait for my trip in May to see all of my girlfriends at Lawley's wedding!!!!

Birthday Weekend

Well, today is officially my 26th birthday. I'm officially closer to 30 than I am to 20, which is strange, but in a good way. Like my friend Molly, I'm not the type who dreads getting older. I think getting older is fun. There is so many milestones that I've gone through, becoming a teenager, driving, college, drinking (legally), first job, getting married, buying a house, getting a dog, etc that I couldn't imagine not getting older. There are so many fun and exciting things to come that I look forward to many more birthdays!! Thanks to everyone for the texts, calls and card...they really made my day that much more special. Those who know me, know that I love my birthday. Its not just my bday, I just love birthday's in general. Its so exciting that there is one day where people celebrate just you, no other symbolic event. I tend to like to celebrate my birthday all week long. Nothing extravagant, just the casual, "Andy can you get me a soda...please, it is my birthday on Sunday." I use the power of my bday for little favors, so I'm not completely out of control. Andy indulges me as much as he can stand as it only usually lasts less than a week and he knows how much it makes me happy. He started the festivities off with fresh flowers on Thursday, so pretty!! Then Friday night we went out for margarita's and Mexican food, muy bueno! Saturday, he took me shopping to the mall then we had a night out on the town. We went to 202 for happy hour martini's. This bar/restaurant is very cool, very modern which is far cry from our typical Applebee's, haha. Then we went to Fork in the City, which is this small local restaurant in downtown Roanoke. It was soo good and one of our new favs!! We shared some apps and had a few more drinks. After a night of a few drinks, I was on a roll so I made Andy take me back to 202 for a dessert drink, Snicker bar martini. That was the perfect ending to a great meal. Too bad I'm not in my prime anymore because I was not feeling so hot today. This all brings us up to Sunday (my actual birthday). We went to Panera for a bagel and then grocery shopping. Then I went to get a Mani/Pedia. When I got home, Andy and I took Trubs for a nice long walk. It was 60 degrees today!! Needless to say, if you didn't know I loved my birthday before reading this, you probably do now. It was a great weekend!! Now back to the real world...Monday is just around the corner, boo!!!

Valentine's Weekend

Andy and I had a great weekend relaxing. This was the first weekend that we haven't been snowed in all month and the sun was shining, so we can't complain. Unfortunately, it was still cold, but at least it wasn't so glummy! We started Friday night by having a nice dinner in. I went to Fresh Market and splurged on some delicious stuff. We had brushetta and Gouda cheese for appetizer, crab cakes and twice baked potatoes for dinner, and a lemon square for dessert. We also had a bottle of our favorite Blackberry wine from our favorite winery out here!! Then we exchanged gifts. Andy got me this box of amazing truffles from a local candy shop. I have pictures, and will upload them this weekend. These things were not only huge, they were so pretty with airbrushed colors and everything. One of them is even a Paprika flavored chocolate...very food network. I can't wait to try them all...although, they have been super addicting and not good for the healthy eating kick I'm trying to stick to. I got Andy this CD with his favorite new song, Hell on the Heart by Eric Church. (We don't have Internet at home at the moment, so we can't download from I tunes.) I also got him some pink, hot pink and white colored fishing bait. Andy and I have become quite the trout fishermen and we are vowing to go even more this year! I love going because its such a beautiful hike and I can bring Trubs and she can just run along the trail with us. She looks so cute!! More to come on that if it ever gets warm enough to go!!
Then Saturday night we went to a new restaurant in Blacksburg called Bull&Bones. It is a very modern brewery with a huge bar and great atmosphere. The food was great too, so all in all, I think we have a new favorite restaurant!! We spent Saturday and Sunday cleaning, organizing and doing our taxes (fun stuff). We have been on a real organization kick lately. Its amazing how fast you can fill up a 3 bedroom house!! Unfortunately, we don't have a basement or garage, so we have to be inventive when it comes to storage. We've put up a ton of new shelves which have really helped. I can't imagine having kids and collecting any more stuff because we are already filled to max capacity!! At least it keeps us from holding on to things we don't really need and not buying a lot of junk that just creates clutter. Of course, I still probably have clothes I haven't worn since college in my closet, but you never know when you might need them (haha). I think that will be one of my next projects...cleaning out my closet...yikes!!
For now, I'm focusing on more exciting stuff. My bday weekend is this weekend, then in 2 weeks I'll be visiting Molly and then 2 weeks after that I'll be in Illinois for about 10 days (see family and work conference). I have a feeling it will be April before I know it!!

Jason Aldean concert....more snow and sledding...and a giant TV

Andy and I went to the Jason Aldean/Luke Bryan concert in Salem on Thursday. It was awesome!! The Salem Civic center is probably one of the best places to have a concert because its small which makes everything seem much louder. Andy and I love Jason Aldean, so it was fun getting to see him in concert again. Two summers ago we saw him in this little outdoor venue, which was a lot of fun, so when we heard he was coming here, we thought we should get tickets. Turns out, it was a good thing we went out on Thursday night because we didn't get out of the house much more of the weekend.

On Friday morning, we woke up to about 3 inches already down and it didn't stop snowing until 12pm on Saturday!! All in all, we got about another 12 inches....on top of the 16 inches we got last weekend that hadn't melted yet. Needless to say, it is a mess around here and this is officially the second weekend in a row that we have been trapped in our house!! Its just funny to me because everyone says that this is the most snow Virginia has gotten in like 15 years...I guess we brought it with us!

Friday night we did some sledding down our hill of our subdivision. It was all fun and games until we decided to go down this super steep hill that leads to our cul-de-sac. Unfortunately, it was covered in snow and we didn't think about the fact there is giant boulders shooting out of it as they are still grading it. Andy and I went down together, which was not intelligent in and of itself. It was so steep that we were flying, so we finally both just bailed off the sled. Then our neighbor Matt goes down, but he ends his ride with some more serious injuries. He hit a rock and either tore some ligaments in his foot or fractured it...he goes to the doctor Monday morning. You would think a bunch of 20 somethings would be a little more intelligent than this!!

Saturday, Andy and I cleaned and chilled around the house. Then we started to get cabin fever so we left for the mall. Our last stop was Sam's Club, where decided to impulsively buy a 47 inch Flat Screen TV!!! It wasn't completely impulsive...we had looked at them last year, but decided to buy our couch instead. Sam's had them for like $400 off the regular price so we decided to just to go for it. It has really revolutionized our TV watching and is perfect timing for the Superbowl today!!

We capped off our night by having Matt (broken foot and all) & Emily and Kevin, Erin & baby Hayden over for dinner....Taco bar. A delicious way to end the day!!

Warm Front

Its been frigidly cold here the past few weeks (much like the rest of the country). Today the radio station announced a warm front was coming through...its going to be a whopping 50 degrees. You should see everyone outside with no jackets, in line to get their car washed, etc. The local radio station is even hosting a 'beach party' outside the station...I think everyone has spring fever; too bad its only January. I'm just excited to be able to walk Trubs again and not have to put on 4 layers before taking her out in the morning! 50 degrees sounds pretty nice...let's just hope it stays that way the rest of the winter because I'm ready for spring!