The Adventures of Dave, Lindsay, Cora and Edie

A little over two months to go before it's baby time! We had a very babycentric weekend last week with two different baby classes - ABCs of Natural Baby Care AND Comfort Massage for Labor. It was a beautiful Portland weekend and we were inside most of it but I suppose it's a good reminder that in two months our whole lives will revolve around this little one. We did find some time to plant a garden in our backyard, which is very exciting. And Dave got to pretend that our van was a pick-up truck when he was hauling dirt around in it. Now if I can just get stuff to grow... In other news, we've had three new babies enter our lives in the last two weeks. Baby Matlock, Baby Benzel and Baby Lucke. It seems we're all having little ones at the same time!

Three months left to go and the belly is growing quickly now. I'm pretty much in maternity clothes 100% of the time these days. On Saturday, we had an hour long tutorial on various baby carriers and cloth diaper options. Who knew there were so many choices? I swear it could be a full-time job just researching and preparing for this little one. You wouldn't believe the stack of books I have by the bed right now, just waiting for me to find the time. If only I wasn't in the middle of a fantastic novel...

I've often heard the term "nesting" when it comes to pregnant women. My understanding is that it's the desire to settle in at home in order to get ready for the baby that will arrive and change your life forever. So...I guess I'm nesting. I took a sewing class a few months back with a friend and now I have a long list of things I'm planning to make for the nursery. Didn't know I was the sewing type? Well, I'm not, or at least I didn't used to be, but I have this strong instinct to make stuff and maybe it's a pull to be more like my grandmother, who was a wonderful seamstress. I completed my first project last night - valances for the nursery made out of a vintage fabric that I picked up at an antique store. I'm leaning towards a "vintage-style" nursery with lots of fun colors - red, apple green, turquoise and brown. My future sewing projects include a crib skirt and mobile...wish me luck!

Little Baby Awesome has finally decided to show herself. Lindsay is pretty tall and so far it looks like the bun in the oven is a little one. On top of all of that, Lindsay hasn't gained much weight... if any. That combination has made the expecting mom wonder... "Is anyone in there?" Well, within the last few weeks she's stopped wondering. Her profile actually looks like that of an expecting mom and now baby is getting a little exercise in her momma's belly. Mom and baby are over half way there and just like Lindsay's belly, the excitement grows.

The results are in and we're having a girl! Not one person out there thought the bun in the oven was a boy. Which means, you were all correct. Kinda funny. We decided not to learn the gender of the baby in the procedure room at the hospital. So, we had the technician put the photo and the results in a sealed envelope and we took it home with us. Dave made a nice dinner and we opened a bottle of the bubbly... sparkling cider. Then we opened the enveolpe and had a little celebration for her. We're very excited. Although this little journey started months ago, it feels like it truly starts now. She's on her way!

July 23rd is quickly approaching and we're making the most of our final moments as a just plain ol' Lindsay and Dave. The belly is still pretty easy to disguise with a sweater or jacket but that will change soon. For now, I'm enjoying a few more weeks of my clothes before nothing fits and I have to start digging through the huge box of maternity clothes I've already accumulated from friends and my Mom's favorite new past time, buying clothes for me and her first grandchild. Keep 'em coming! Our 19 week ultrasound is on Thursday so that will make it pretty official when we get to see the little peanut and find out if we have a Dave Jr. or Lindsay Jr. coming our way. We'll keep you posted. And we just hired a doula to work with us through the entire birthing process. We knew she was the right person for us when she said she was from Missoula. The clouds are finally lifting and our little state of pregnancy denial is coming to an end. This is really happening. ...

We should have been concerned when it poured for 18+ hours yesterday but we weren't. We just went about our day and snuggled in for the night listening to the rain outside our window. Unfortunately, this morning we woke to find that our basement had been flooded with around 5-6 inches of water at some point during the night and then the water had slowly drained away. The culprit was a 'overwhelmed' storm drain in the driveway. Everything in the basement, which is where our guest bedroom, TV room, garage and laundry/storage room are, had floated to a new location during the flood. Thankfully, we were able to salvage most of our photo albums (there are photos drying all over the house currently), books and electronics downstairs. And after spending the day at the laundry mat, we got most of our clothes and extra bedding dry. The landlord showed up to help and decided the only option was to rip out the carpet and padding immediately so the floors could dry and the carpet could...