A few more pictures!

The rocky statue!

Annabelle's Room

Annabelle's future rocking spot

This week marks 5 more weeks (more or less) until we meet our baby girl!  My parents came to Delaware for Thanksgiving and they helped us finish the baby room - all is done but a few final details!  Seeing Annabelle's room makes me more excited to meet her and spend time with her.  She is going to be a very loved little girl and the closer it gets to her birth, the more anxious Brandon and I get to meet her!

Dresser/diaper changing table (with Bianca in the bumpo)

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with my parents!  It was smaller than both of us are used to, but we made great food and 4 pies, yum!  The turkey was fantastic, having been soaking in brine for my parents drive up here - I now know how to make a great turkey!  It was great to finally have family in our home and we even got to spend a day in Philadelphia climbing the Rocky steps!  Overall, I was sad to see them go, but excited that I will see them again in less than a month.

The crib and my grandma's handmade quilt

As we head into December, there is a lot to look forward to in the Hammer house.  My birthday is at the end of the week, we are decorating for Christmas tonight, and my parents come back to visit the week after Christmas.  Not to mention...maybe the arrival of our little girl!  Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving full of family!

My diaper stash so far!

My parents helped with this project - chalkboard & magnetic

Our cool Ikea find - put together by Brandon!

Delaware and big bellies!

As we're nearing the 31 week mark of the pregnancy, I find more and more things I can't do!  Tying my shoes, for example, was quite the chore this morning!!  Don't get me wrong, I love being pregnant and feeling my beautiful baby girl move around inside me...but thank goodness there is an ending point to the madness :) 

I have to say the closer we get to the holidays, the more I am missing home.  It is always difficult going into winter - no one wants to be out in the cold and there are only so many times I can clean the house!  I adjusted to living in Chicago for four years in college, but I think this transition will be a little different and a bit more difficult.  Having a baby is something best shared with family and mine are far away!  I encourage anyone and everyone to visit - our apartment is small, but we can always find a place!  When Annabelle is born, we want to share in the love with everyone!

Here is a picture to share with everyone of my growing belly:

Looks are deceiving!  It definitely feels bigger than it looks!

Love you and miss you all!

Sarah

No drugs!

Well, I had my first bout of sickness being pregnant and let me tell you...it is not fun being pretty much without the necessary drugs to cure a sinus infection!  You can take a lot of things for a cold or for allergies, but sinuses create a problem - especially when they aren't working well.  Anyways, 4 days later I am about 85% back and able to pretty much fully function.  I must say, I was very useful as a bitchy, sick, pregnant lady when we went to the car dealership on Saturday.  I really don't think they knew what to do with me and all my complaining - so they decided to give me a new tire.  Goal accomplished!

Speaking of cars - we purchased a new car two weeks ago, a Hyundai Touring to be exact, and its great.  The only problem is that it was a "demo" car, so it already had 8500 miles on it.  We got a discount, had everything checked out, and life was good.  Or so we thought.  The tire pressure light has come on for us twice now and we have been back to the dealership three times to get it figured out.  Finally they found a nail in the back tire, fixed it, and sent us on our way free of charge.  Well it wasn't five miles later, I got out of the car and looked at the front tire only to find a nice bubble in the side.  So back we marched and 20 minutes later left with a new tire ordered.  The only thing I'm happy about is that all of this is getting figured out before the baby gets here.  Thank goodness for that!

We are settling into Delaware great and working on the baby room.  My parents come to visit over Thanksgiving and we'll finish everything up then!  I'm so excited to finally meet my baby girl in a few short months.  She definitely will fill our house with lots of love (and good cooking!)  It will be a fantastic January...or sooner!

Love and miss you all.

Can't WAIT!

I can't wait for Annabelle.  Now, every single thing I do I have her in mind, but I think in January I might cry because I will have a tiny hand to hold to show me why I do/live/work for her and Sarah.  I hope she is not as handy as her Mom though.

Settled into Delaware

Well, we're officially residents of Delaware and as of this afternoon, everything has settled into a normal routine.  In the span of a few days (during the drive to Delaware and after), my car and Brandon's car decided to completely fail.  That was not fun!  We were about 3 hours from Delaware when a belt came loose in my car and thank goodness for AAA - they towed us and tightened the belt in about 30 minutes at a cost of $30.  This was all with a car full of animals, so thankfully it went quickly.  Then we picked Brandon's car up from a friend's house and about a mile from her house his car died.  So we had it towed to a shop and resigned ourselves to one car for the week.  So finally, after all the fixing and wondering if we were in the market for a new car, we got Brandon's car back Monday and my car (after another problem) back today.  Yay for two working cars!

As we acquaint ourselves with Wilmington, I have been touring and evaluating local daycares and preschools in preparation for our baby girl.  I found one I love (Brandon has yet to see it) and of course there isn't an opening until June!  But I'm sure it will work itself out and I have a few more places to see in the mean time.  I can honestly say it is bittersweet knowing I will have to hand off my baby to others for even just a short time, but I love my job and a happy mom makes a happy child.

Brandon loves his work environment and I am adjusting to him having coffee every morning (much more "awake" than me).  Thankfully our workplaces are about 5 minutes apart, so we are able to have lunch every day before I go to work and then Brandon stops by the Y to work out after work.  All in all, things are relatively quiet and normal.  I can't wait to meet our beautiful baby in a few short months and welcome her into our lives.  I hope she knows how loved she is already!

Packing, packing, packing!

The one thing about moving is you really start to understand how much stuff you have!  We have been packing (although slowly) for four days and we are still not finished!  Pregnant packing is definitely less fun, that's for sure...but we're getting it done!.

In less than a week (four days to be exact), we'll be permanent Delaware residents!  Brandon and I are both excited and anxious to start the next phase of our lives.  Lots of change, lots of new things...going to be an exciting year!