ultrasound 2

 these pictures are so cool!  in this one you ca see his profile as he chills out in there!

 this is one of his foot.  you can even make out all the individual bones that make up his little foot!  looks like he's got all five toes on that one!

 here's his profile again, this time he's scratching his head.  must be confused as to what exactly the nurse is doing out here!

our little man already has his dad's sense of humor!  'how are things going in there, son?'  his response: a thumbs up!

finishing touches

diana wanted to have the crib by the window so our little guy would be able to enjoy the sunlight (perhaps she is trying to get him to not have his father's aversion to the outdoors...)

the shelves are ready for all the baby stuff that we will need as the big day draws nearer and nearer!

bowl me over

larry took the bowling part very seriously- i think he even had his own ball and shoes!  tim? not quite as dedicated to the art of bowling...

the girls chatting and enjoying the food, gifts, and fun of the work christmas party.

look at all that fried goodness!  only at a bowling alley...

kat and tim.  awe, dont they make such a cute couple?

crib in pieces

after finding all the assorted hardware that fit the crib, i got busy putting that bad boy together!
turned out pretty nice, huh?

contained

here's the shelves (looking a bit messy already) before we put the new containers up.

much better, huh?  the key to diana's sanity is organization, and this will certainly do the trick!

brink thanksgiving

bubba and i playing after sunday dinner.  last time we were in town i showed him a fun card trick.  he wanted to show it back to me and let me see how good he had gotten at it!

when diana and the girls came back down we all hung out in the living room- this is what our visits to grand rapids are all about: just sitting around with the family having fun and being silly together!

aves shows aunt diana what exactly she wants from the toys r us catalog that came in the paper earlier in the week!

all the while, poco is enjoying the nest of blankets and sheets he made down in the laundry room...

keenan thanksgiving

barbara, dad, and diana all enjoying the holiday together.

dad, bill, and diana hanging out in the living room chatting it up while the food is being prepared.

diana, grandma, and grandma's friend in the living room.

our gross dog pretending that he's a baby for diana to hold.  it works out pretty good, because that way diana and i can get some baby carrying practice in before the little one arrives.  which i'm sure was poco's plan, right?

dressed for success

well, the wife sure thinks its true, and who am i to argue?

kitchen handled

got (almost) all the hinges on and its starting to take shape! that fresh coat of paint makes a world of difference!
now thats some pretty good lookin' hardware, huh?

shelf the idea

the changing table used to be here, but now we have a ton of shelves instead! it seems a bit much, but we've got to use all the space we've got!
they are out of the way and will work really well for all the diapers/wipes/shoes/random baby stuff that we may need. now i'm feeling a bit better about the limited space we have.

office no more

 as you can see, the place is a terrible mess.  there was hardly any floor space clear- you could barely see the carpet at all!

 with all the floor space filled, i had, it seems, even filled up all the empty table space as well!

this is about half the stuff that i boxed up from the office.  i had to go in shifts, i first boxed it in the office, then brought it out to the living room, then carried it out to the shed!  poco was not too pleased about the whole thing...

barky

this is a recording of our little guy's heartbeat!

it's (going to be) a boy!

when we first got there we waited for a few minutes in the office with the secretary.  there were a few random little baby things to buy so i ruffled through the baskets and shelves trying to keep myself distracted.
the room that we went in to had a projector so we could see the whole thing up on a big screen.  it was so amazing to see our little man for the first time!  its so crazy that that little guy is growing inside my wife.  i know everyone says that, but when it happens to you its true!
we got a few stills from the ultrasound burned on a disc so we could check them out whenever we want.  this one is pretty cool because you can totally make out his spine!here's our little guy just chillin' out saying 'hi!'

seven year repaint

once i got the cabinet doors off i realized i didnt have anywhere to put them while i painted them! i rigged up a makeshift drying area, and put a couple coats on each side. it was pretty annoying, i had just spent an entire day cleaning out the office, and how here i was making it a mess again! i should probably get used to that, huh?

boat storage

here's what the garage looked like after a summer of construction work on the house!
we hoped to fit the boat in the garage for the winter, so i needed to clean up all this mess.
ahoy sailors, captain mark is behind the wheel!  i'm finally living out the mascot of my high school...

neither david nor i had the confidence to back the boat up into the garage, so david called up a friend of his who is a semi truck driver- very well versed in backing up trailers!  he did a superb job.  there was only about 2 inches of clearance on either side of the garage door and he did it flawlessly!

almost done

the shower in its current state looked pretty bad, like someone had quickly thrown it up and didn't care at all about how it looked- they didnt even bother to put any edging on it so the screws were showing! well, we needed to take care of that!
david had found this cool wood that wasnt really wood. it looked and felt like wood, but was actually plastic! this was a perfect solution to edging the shower because then there wasn't any worry about and mold growing on it in the future. clever!
now that looks a ton better!

more poco 3

after a recent scare of fleas, we immediately threw away his old bedding. in its place, he gets a totally rad transformers comforter. you're layin' in style now, dog!
recently poco has taken to sitting on the couch armrest. not sure why, it doesnt look all that comfortable.
chihuahuas like to burrow. that means that poco usually prefers to lay under his blankets instead of on them. strange.
here he is at mom and papas longingly looking out in the backyard after a bath!
he always seems to know when we are trying to take a picture of him. and he usually doesnt approve...

more poco 2

his ears seem to have shriveled up!
at the edge of the couch, always ready for action! and by 'action' i mean 'food falling on the floor so he can quick gobble it up'!
seriously dog, put that tongue away!
this is what he looks like whenever he is under his blanket and hears the fridge open!