Picture Time

Main floor bathroom before (with hideous tile mosaic)


Ron taking out the old counter

New and improved counter, faucet, hardware, mirror frame!


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Kitchen before backsplash tiling and undercabinet lights and new hardware.

Intermediate progress

Adding grout

Kitchen after!!!
Close up of behind stove tile.

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Andy's surprise 33rd b-day party (with Rolling Rock - the 33 beer and 33 b-day dessert).

Awesome spinach dip with accompanying "3's" of bread from Andy's mom.

33 bottles of Rolling Rock consumed by the party goers. There were also 33 mini cupcakes, 33 oatmeal raisin cookies, and a 33 piece Lego set present.

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Jen and Andy in front of the new CRV.

Here's my mom with our old St. Louis Park neighbor, Kelley's 6 week old baby girl, Dylan. We got in some quality baby holding time.... She stopped by for a visit on Friday.

Sad to say that Spring Break is almost over. My parents had a nice visit and worked super hard to get all of the thing on "The List" taken care of. We could not have done any of these projects without them! I'm certainly not ready to go back to work tomorrow.... :(

Break Time

On Wednesday last week, we attended our 1st birth-related class. It was from 7:00-9:30PM in McMinnville and was about newborn care. It basically took you through what they do to the baby after it is born - from tests to suctioning out its nose to the good ol' APGAR score to taking care of the umbilical cord. The reason we took this class was because we were taking the intensive labor/ delivery class that weekend, but they told us ahead of time that we would not have time to get to newborn care.

So, on Friday night at 7:00-9:30PM we started the intensive weekend class. It continued the next day from 8AM-4PM. It covered the whole gamut - labor, delivery, post-partum, and breastfeeding. There was only us and one other pregnant girl (with her dad). That made it easy to ask questions, and to tailor the class to our needs.

We got home from the class about 4:30, I made caramel brownies for Easter dinner the next day, laid down for a 20 minute nap, and then we were off to get in line early to get a seat in the balcony of the Roseland Concert Hall for a Collective Soul concert. It was a fun show and nice that I didn't have to battle with drunk people on the main floor (there are only a few seats in the balcony - otherwise its wide open floor - standing room only). The baby was a bit active during the opening act - they had a really loud bass drum - but was pretty calm during the rest of the show. It's normally most active at about 8-9PM every night anyway, so it wasn't really a surprise.

We woke up late on Easter Morning and I also made a nummy fruit salad for Easter dinner (the kind with marshmallows and Cool Whip). We headed off to Andy's brother's house - about an hour away - where we met up with Andy's fam and my parents who had driven down from Seattle after their late night flight from MSP and short hotel stay. We had a nice dinner, and returned home for some rest on Sunday night.

Monday - I had a doctor's visit for them to take my blood and they shared the results from last week's test: The crazy antibodies that were present last time, were gone - or at least non-measureable. They drew more blood and we will await the results later this week or early next week.

My Spring Break is now fully under way and my parents are here to help with some house projects and hang out with us. My mom has already tackled the filthy stove, microwave and toaster oven - Yeah - sparkly mom clean! Today we put up all of the tile for the back splash in the kitchen - WOW - it looks so cool! I'll post a pic after we grout tomorrow. My dad has already crossed several thing off of "The List". He put in a new ceiling fan in the nursery and nailed down some quarter round trim that has been sitting(un-nailed) on the floor in the kitchen for at least 6 months. We have a bunch of painting left to do - kitchen and my bathroom, and a few other assorted projects. I will try to update later this week with pictures. Hope everyone had a nice Easter!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Well, I had my blood drawn today and got to speak with the doctor. It looks like my understanding of the situation was a bit off. It is NOT the Rh (negative or positive) factor of my RBC's that is at issue here. I have a broad array of strange antibodies in my blood that are not associated with the AB- portion. I guess it's kind of good news. Looks like the concern is having blood on hand for possible transfusion for me during delivery, more so than for the fetus. It will be hard to match my blood with all of its craziness. There is a possibility that these antibodies will go away before I deliver... As far as the fetus goes, as long as my hemoglobin levels are fine, the baby should be fine. If I start dropping hemoglobin levels, then we have a concern. I will have blood drawn next Monday, Mar 24th and then again at my next regular scheduled appointment on the 31st. I should get these blood results back later this week. I am not too concerned about the hemoglobin - I feel fine - not too tired or short of breath. Still, the fact that both my doctor (who has been practicing for 30 years) and the hematologist are baffled is a bit concerning. They have not heard of something like this happening before and are consulting another hematologist guru guy for his opinion.

Hope everyone had a nice pinch-free St. Patrick's Day.

Blood test

So, I had my gestational diabetes blood test last week. They were supposed to call me with the results on Wednesday, but I didn't hear from them... So, I called them and spoke with the doctor's office on Thursday. Turns out that my glucose test came back fine, BUT..... there was something weird with the other test results. (I didn't realize that in addition to a glucose test, they also ran a CBC - complete blood count.)

My blood type is AB negative. The negative part means that I don't have any of a specific antigen on my red blood cells. This normally isn't a huge deal - I just have to get a shot at 28 weeks and one again after the delivery to prevent my blood from developing antibodies to any positive blood cells (from the baby) that may have mixed with my blood during the pregnancy or during delivery itself. Weird thing is - they drew my blood just before I got the shot, and the results came back saying that my body already has some of these positive fighting antibodies in my blood. This doesn't really make any sense. According to the brochure that the nurse handed me at my appointment, I shouldn't have any of these positive antibodies, but sometimes, pregnant women develop these antibodies for no apparent reason, but usually not until the last few weeks of pregnancy. That is why they give the shot at 28 weeks. Weird deal though - I already have them in my blood.

So, my doctor's office sent my blood to Seattle to run further tests. They determined that it has a very weak level of antibodies present, and recommended monitoring my blood once per week for 3 weeks to see if anything changes. They seem to think that the fetus should be OK if my hemoglobin (the measure of the oxygen carrying capacity of the RBC) and hematocrit levels (something to do with the ratio of RBC to that hemoglobin level) stay OK. I am still trying to understand what all this means for me and for the baby. I need to do some on-line research to see what I find. My doctor and the hematologist that he consulted with are a bit baffled as to why I would have have these antibodies in my blood. I don't like being a mystery - I want to be a textbook case. Of course, you start looking at worse case scenarios - like the baby being born with crazy hemolitic diseases where they need to have a complete blood replacement blood transfusion.... Makes you crazy. As Andy said, I think this is just the beginning of being a parent - worrying about everything for your kids...

I'll keep you posted as we get results next week - probably not until Wednesday or so.

On the other side of things - After 5 hours at the dealer, we bought a new Honda CRV for Andy! I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow. The one we wanted is actually at another dealer, so we will go pick it up tomorrow. We got to drive a different one home tonight - how fun - Andy didn't want to park it - he wanted to drive it some more! There's something about having a brand new car - Neither of us have ever owned one before...

I'm back.

Sorry for the long hiatus, it just seems like there's not a whole lot to report. Everything is going well with the pregnancy. I am still feeling fine, but I do need to get more sleep. I had my 28 week glucose test on Monday - haven't heard back on the results yet...

Andy and I have spent what seems like an eternity of weekends shopping for various things.

#1 still working on the glider/ rocker for the nursery. We have gotten the serious run around from Babies R Us. Their main chair manufacturer is currently not taking any special orders and BRU is out of stock on a floor sample chair that we like. Very frustrating after 4 separate trips to the nearest store - 40 minutes away. We have also shopped around at many other furniture stores (Wicks, Chair Outlet, Baby Depot in Burlington Coat Factory, JC Penny) but they don't seem to have what we are looking for. We are on a waiting list for the back-ordered chair, but they don't have any timeline for when it might come in.

#2 a nice new HD-LCD TV for the living room. Ours is old and has a purple spot in the corner, and we would love to watch baseball in HD. We have scouted Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry's - a huge local electronics warehouse. I think Fry's will have the best deal.

#3 a new car for Andy. I think we have settled on the Honda CRV - we test drove one last weekend and really liked it. He wants to sit high up, but get decent mileage. The CRV is a pretty good fit. Maybe we will break down and try to make the deal this weekend. I don't think we're going to get much on his trade in - a 99 Explorer with 208,000 miles on it.

We are also preparing for my parents to come into town over Spring Break. They are willing to help us complete numerous house projects (yeah!), so we have been busy buying supplies like paint trays, rollers, tape, a ceiling fan for the nursery. We have ordered a laminate countertop to replace the horrendous tile mosaic counter in my bathroom and plan on salvaging the sink. We still need to buy the light fixture, faucet, and hardware for the cabinets. It will so nice to have them here to help out!

School is going well - I just finished up Physics and am starting Biology. Andy has been working a ton, so it seems like I never get to see him... I will try to take a belly picture soon and post. Off to make some sloppy joes (Stokes-style: ground turkey and lots of veggies).

Soundtrack of my life.

OK - some of my fellow bloggers have tried this - thought I'd give it a shot - (I should be correcting my physics tests....)

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool... and alot of the songs fit with the setting

As most of you know, Andy and I have ripped ALL of our music from CD's and from other sources - we have over 120G of music on our hard drive. Most of it is Andy's... I have not heard a good portion of the music.

Opening Credits: "It's a Boy" The Who (no kidding - this one really came up - Andy had been playing this stupid song by my least favorite band in the world - over and over...)

Waking Up: "Side of the Road" Beck

First Day At School: "36-24-36" Violent Femmes (maybe a locker combo??)

Falling In Love: "Scenery" Neil Young

Fight Song: "No More Trouble" Bob Marley and the Wailers (Seems appropriate for my non-confrontational way of dealing with things)

Breaking Up: "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas" The Chipmunks (OK - very embarassing that we have this - many memories of Christmases past)

Prom night: "Shame, shame, shame" Aerosmith. WOW - I truely didn't do anything THAT crazy on my prom night....

Life: "Now and Then" The Smithereens

Mental Breakdown: "Rockaway Beach" The Ramones

Driving: "Winning Days" The Vines (Way too mellow of a song for driving...)

Flashback: "Lullabye" Ben Folds

Getting back together: "Pacific Coast Party" Smash Mouth (Would have better for a driving song)

Wedding: "World Outside"Paloalto (Actually, this song sounds a lot like a Guster song that we were thinking about playing at our wedding)

Birth of Child: "Last Child" by Aerosmith (Weird - we were planning on having 2...)

Final Battle: "Just as I Am" Air Supply (OK - I've never actually heard this song, but seems appropriate.

Spring is in the Air

My crocuses (or is it croci??) are already up and blooming. I know the folks back in MN are going to be jealous... The forecast for next week has high temps in the 50's and even 60's with a just a few sporadic showers. That just means that you guys will have to schedule more visits to enjoy our wonderful weather!


I had a nice week at school. Monday-off, regular days Tues-Thurs, then a sub for Friday while I took my after school Physics Club to their competition at Portland State University to compete in the edible car, bridge building and egg drop competitions. The kids had a blast - one team took 1st place in 2 events, and another team placed 3rd! I really wasn't expecting too much, but they really did a great job! I would definitely do this again next year - with more prep time for them to get ready. Here is a shot of the edible car - It was judged on its distance traveled down a ramp, plus the percent of the car not eaten in 5 minutes (1st prize!). How fun!




I did come down with my second cold of the pregnancy... Stuffy nose, bit of chest congestion, and sneezing. Glad its the weekend. We may go on a mission to try to find a glider/rocker chair for the nursery. Our crib is in, just waiting for the dresser to arrive, then they can deliver.


My parents are now officially flying out for spring break. Yeah! It will be nice to get one last push in to try to finish up some house projects before the baby arrives!