March Madness

March has been a crazy month already! We started off early March with a visit from Andy's parents and sister. Paisley loved meeting her Grandpa and Aunt for the 1st time! Luckily, the weather has been pretty nice here lately, so we've been able to get out during the week. We've gone to the park a few times and tried to spend as much time as possible outside.

Paisley was also excited for the Illini to play in the 1st round of the NCAA tourny. The game was a little late, so we didn't get to watch it, but she dressed in support during the day.

Its hard to believe that our little girl is already 7 weeks old! She is getting bigger everyday. She's become a lot more alert in the last few weeks and has some good play time. She loves playing on her activity mat and looking at the lights. She's even started swatting at the little rattles hanging down.

All in all, the last 7 weeks have gone by way to fast! We love our little Paisley girl and we can't wait for everyone to meet her.

A busy month

February has been a busy month...most of you probably know why! On Monday, Miss Paisley will be 1 month old...I seriously don't know where the time has gone! She is growing and changing so much everyday. We just can't get enough of her! Here is a short recap of our month.

1) Grandma Gail (GG as I've decided to call her) was here for the 1st 2 weeks of Feb to meet her granddaughter and help out. It was so great having her here.

2) Momma's Bday: This was nothing too big this year; just celebrating with Paisley and Daddy. Andy did surprise me with a DQ cake; which was very unexpected!

3) Grandma Debbie came for a week visit which was so fun!

4) While my mom was here; we got to enjoy the nice weather outside. It was in the 60s and 70s for a few days in a row so we took lots of walks with Trubs and Paisley. We also went to Target about everyday and the mall. It was so nice to get out before the cold weather came back.

5) Paisley has been a good little sleeper! I'm not going to declare any victories yet, but for the past 3 nights she has gone 4-5hrs without waking up! She eats at around 7, 11, 3:30 and then 7:30. I'm sure it won't last, but its been amazing (for mommy at least)!!!

Overall, we have had a great month! March will be just as busy with lots of visitors. Andy's parents and sister are coming for a long weekend in 2 weeks. Then my mom, brother and his fiance are coming for a week while Andy is traveling to Vegas for work.

Happy February 14th

February 14th is more than just Valentines day to us this year. Today is the day that Paisley was supposed to make her debut into the world...well, she got antsy and came exactly 2 weeks early. Happy 2 weeks miss Paisley Anne!!

The past 2 weeks have gone by in a sleepy blur!! We are so lucky that my mom has been here to help us out otherwise we would be more like zombies that we already are. Paisley likes to get up and eat every couple of hours like most newborns. But, she also likes to soundly sleep throughout most of the day and have very active, fussy sleep at night. I think we have our days and nights mixed up, so we will be working on correcting that. If anyone has any ideas, just let me know!

Other than that, the last 2 week have been wonderful. We have the most beautiful, sweet baby girl and can't wait to spend the rest of our lives being her mommy and daddy!!

Paisley's Here!!!

Well, re-reading my previous post, I feel kind of silly now. Apparently, our little angel was ready to make her appearance into the world 2 weeks early....without a warning!! Monday morning I woke up at 5am and thought I had to go to the bathroom. I quickly ran into the bathroom right before my water burst all over the bathroom floor. I was pretty out of it as it was 5am so I kind of questioned what happened...I mean, I still had 2 weeks left to go. I spent the next 45 minutes doing some reading and trying to research if my water actually did break or if I just didn't make it to the bathroom in time. Finally, after I realized I was still leaking I figured I better wake up Andy. He was a little shocked to say the least! However, since I still wasn't having contractions, I still wasn't convinced. Luckily he made me call my doctor and took me to the hospital. At about 6:15 we made it to the hospital and it was confirmed that I was in labor. Things progressed very quickly from there!

By 4:39 our little Paisley Anne Robertson entered the world! She weighed 6lbs 2oz and is 20.25 inches long. She came out with a full head of dark hair and the most beautiful blue eyes in the world!! We are loving every minute with her and couldn't be happier!

Andy was able to stay home the entire week so we enjoyed being home together and our new little family. My mom got in on Friday afternoon and has been enjoying her Granddaughter and spoiling her already!! It is such a huge relief having her here for 2 weeks to help out and take a few night shifts so mommy and daddy can get some sleep!

All in all the 1st week has been tiring, but great. Paisley put on 2 oz already at her 2 day post release appt; which is a great sign. She is starting to get the hang of sleeping at night and during the day. Although, during the day, she is a little fussy. I like to call her my Miss Crabby Pants, but its just so cute when she fusses that I can't complain!

Thanks to everyone for all of the well wishes. Paisley loves all of her friends and family already even though she is so far away. She knows that there are so many people out there that love and care for her and can't wait to meet everyone soon!

Just about 2 weeks left...yikes!

Yikes, I'm officially working towards my 38th week, which means time is almost up! I think we are all ready to go. We have all the gear put together and we even installed the car seat last weekend. I am certainly getting to that point of being ready. I am starting to get more and more uncomfortable which makes sleeping and sitting at my desk all day very difficult. I guess I can't complain too much though since I haven't been feeling this way long. The baby seems to be growing and growing...or maybe that's just me!



At my 36 week appt my doctor estimated her to be at 6.5lbs already, so I think I'm on my way to a nice, healthy 8lb baby! We'll see when she gets here. Unfortunately, we have no say when that is. That is one of the most annoying parts of pregnancy (to me at least, the planner). I hate not knowing when the big day will be here. More so, I don't like not knowing where I'll be if/when my water breaks or my contractions start. Working in a male dominated industry, pregnancy is awkward enough as it is without the fear of your water breaking in the middle of a meeting leaving amniotic fluid all over their conference room floor. I'm officially working from home starting Feb 7th, so as long as she doesn't come next week, I should be fine.


According to my doctor, our girl is in no rush. She is officially head down and ready, but I'm only 1 cm dilated, which just happened this week. At my 2 previous appts I was not even close to being dilated, so this may take a while. I haven't had any contractions yet, which isn't a bad thing in my mind. Having lots of contractions that produces no baby doesn't sound fun. Maybe I'll be one of those women who's water just breaks one day out of the blue and then her contractions start. I can dream!

I'll post a picture this weekend. The belly is pretty large at this point!!

Christmas Week and NYE

Andy and I got to spend the entire week between Christmas and New Year's in Illinois visiting friends and family. I'm so glad that I felt well enough to make the trip, as it would of been a pretty boring week in Virginia otherwise. Surprisingly the long car ride didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. We got into Herscher late on the 23rd and stayed there until Christmas afternoon. We had the usual Christmas Eve party at my parents house and then headed to my Aunt and Uncle's for Christmas Day. Andy picked up all sorts of advice from my cousin Liz and her husband who have a 2 month old named Frankie...he is adorable!! Later Christmas day we headed down to Springfield for Andy's family Christmas. I headed back up to Herscher the day after Christmas while Andy stayed in Springfield for 2 days to go hunting and catch up with a few more friends and family.

Weds Andy came up to Herscher so we could head up to Chicago to visit some of my girlfriend's from college. Molly, Megan and Andrea threw Katie and I a joint shower, which was so fun!! Katie and I are due exactly a month apart, so it was fun comparing bellies! It was so great catching up with all my college roomies and best girl friends. Since we were in the city Ashley was able to come too, which was great.

For the rest of the week, Andy and I just hung out in Herscher. New Years Eve we had a nice dinner with my parents, Grandpa and brother and his fiance Dana. I think we made it all the way until 10:30...a good record for us on NYE!!

New Years day we headed back to Virginia. The ride home was a bit more uncomfortable than the trip out, but we made it. It was so nice having the entire week off and getting to spend the time with our friends and family in Illinois.

We are both looking forward to a great 2011 and finally getting to meet our little girl in about 5 weeks!!!

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!!