Birthday poll

Please see the new poll to the right - when the baby will be born. Also note that I helped you eliminate one answer : )

Happy voting! The prize is the opportunity to contribute towards naming the baby.

My latest project

Here is a picture of the first two sets of overalls. The first try was the yellow one, which didn't turn out so great, but the second one was better. I have learned that "Fast and Easy" patterns are not necessarily fast nor easy! The plan is to make one more in green that's one size smaller to go with the smaller onesies, but I may need to take a short break before trying that one. The only things missing are the buttons at the tops, but I haven't quite mustered up the courage to try to make buttonholes! I got super cute white star buttons for the star one and plain white for the yellow and green ones. Hopefully they will fit - the feet seem to be a little small compared to the rest of it, but we'll see.

Class & doctor

Last night was our last baby class, so now we can say we are officially ready for the baby...or as ready as we're going to be! Bob would be happy to report that we got a certificate of completion (he's into awards and degrees, if you haven't noticed). We both agreed that we still are a little nervous about the whole thing, but we are much less scared than we were before. So that's a good thing!

Also yesterday was the 36 week appointment. The midwife, Lucie, didn't check me because she said it doesn't really give any indication of when the baby will be born. I guess I buy that, but it would have been fun to know if anything has changed. She said everything looks good, and we get to go back next week already to finally meet the famous Kim! Lucie poked around and told us where all the baby parts are, which was fun (it's in the LOA position, for all you nurses out there). So, really nothing new to report. She said they'll start talking about ways to help things along if nothing has happened in 2-3 weeks. Bob is anti-induction (thanks to our class instructor who made it sound so bad), but I am open to anything - except a c-section, unless we have no other choice.

I am attempting to make some baby clothes, and the second try is turning out a little better than the first. I'm doing the little overalls that the baby on the front of the pattern is wearing. I'll take pictures when the second one is done. It's been fun, and hopefully they will fit!

Just call us Bob (and Gina) Vila

Today we proved all those nay-sayers out there wrong, those people who said it's impossible to install a storm door without getting divorced and/or causing major damage to your house. Poor Bob probably got tired of hearing me say how bad I wanted one, so we went to Lowes and got a Pella 60-minute Express Install model. We were amazed at how easy it was to install and we would recommend it to anyone. I think we even got it installed in 60 minutes, including a frantic search for some screws and clean-up. They have lots of colors of the door and handles to pick from, and you can take the glass out and replace it with a screen that also came with it. We will install one for you for some free food!

So, here's the final product. Bella has already enjoyed looking out, but she wouldn't let us take an action shot of her guarding the house.

Almost Ready!

I guess I won't say we are completely ready until we finish baby class next week. We still don't have many updates to report...less than 5 weeks to go until October 21st! I am feeling good, no big complaints other than boredom - and if that's my only problem, I consider myself lucky!

Since our class last week was canceled, she extended it to have our last class next week. Last night, we talked all about epidurals and other interventions - very important topics! Bob took issue with the instructor citing research without citing where it came from and how credible it is. Luckily he didn't try to argue with her in class. The instructor was talking about how bad inductions are for the baby and how it's not natural, and then 2 girls said they already have inductions scheduled! I thought that was kind of funny.

No doctor's appointment this week, but starting next Wednesday, I get to go every week. Oh boy!

I am just hanging out at home these days, trying to come up with projects to do that don't cost a lot of money. We now have a freezer full of food ready to throw in the oven when we are too busy/tired for anything else after the baby is born, and the house is cleaner than it has been in awhile. I have also become very familiar with the Holly Springs library. Otherwise, not too much is going on. I tried to volunteer at the church/school, but the secretary said they don't have much they need right now. So, if anybody needs any errands run or housework done, let me know!

Dog Days

Our dog has more of a social calendar than we do! It's only Saturday afternoon, but she's already had two social events this weekend. Yesterday, she and I met some nursing school buddies at Homestead Park in Chapel Hill, where they have 2 fenced in dog areas. At first, she wasn't too sure about it, but she gradually warmed up to the idea and even started running over to greet/sniff new dogs as they came in the fence. She mostly hung out with the people though.

This morning was Dog Day in the Park in Holly Springs, one of her favorite events. We walked there, but it was awfully hot and humid, so we had to send Bob to get the car to go home. She had fun meeting other dogs and people - again, she was more interested in the people than the dogs.

Here's what she's been doing ever since:


Not much else is new around here - we had another doctor's appointment on Wednesday, but nothing really exciting to report from that. Everything continues to look good! Our fourth childbirth class was canceled on Wednesday night, so we have nothing to report from that. I was upset as it was the epidural class, but it sounds like she's going to be able to finish all the content. We are tossing around ideas/projects for the rest of the weekend, but haven't quite motivated ourselves to do any of them yet. Right now, we are cheering for the Wolfpack...beat Clemson!

Tropical Storm Hanna Brought Some Good News

While we're currently being rained upon due to the arrival of Tropical Storm Hanna (yes moms, we're fine - no damage, we still have power, just a lot of rain), I got up this morning and discovered the following information:



For those of you who aren't sure what that means, it means that Gina passed the NCLEX and has joined me in the family tradition of adding letters after our last name, and is now a certified, licensed registered nurse! (Note the subtitle of the blog has been updated to reflect this!)

Congratulations to Gina - I'm so gosh darn proud of her. Having been there with her through the whole ordeal, from deciding to leave her engineering job, to the months of taking online and traditional classes to meet the prereq's for the program, to driving back and forth from Chapel Hill to go back to school (and doing it while being pregnant), and finally cramming and studying (and passing) the NCLEX, I know how hard she's worked for this. Her caring heart, persistence, and dedication are just a couple of the reasons why I love her so much.

I'll stop gushing now :)

Boston 2008

We had such a wonderful time in Boston this weekend with Tom and Pam. It was a busy 3 days, but we got a lot done and had a great time. We got there around noon on Saturday and had lunch with them at a delicious Mexican place in Arlington called Zocalo that was in walking distance. Bob and Tom worked on Tom’s car all afternoon with some success, and Gina hung out with Pam. We had dinner at a local pizza place called Za that specializes in unique and local foods. It was really good too.

Their house is absolutely gorgeous and Pam’s garden is really magnificent! If you are wondering what all she is growing, the short answer is everything. It’s really amazing. We got to sample some of the yummy items from the garden. There are a few pictures of it, along with all our other pictures from the weekend, HERE.

Sunday, we went to St. Agnes church (also in walking distance) with Pam, which was really nice and took less than an hour. After church, Bob, Tom, and I headed downtown Boston via the bus stop (again, in walking distance from their house – I am very jealous of the proximity of so many amenities in the area) and the T subway. We hit some historical sights on the Freedom Trail, had lunch at this huge place called Faneuil Hall, which was like a big tourist area. From there, we took the subway to Fenway for the Red Sox/White Sox game at 1:30. Sadly, the Red Sox lost 4-2, but we had such a great time and had really good seats, despite being right under the Jumbotron so we couldn’t watch it. The Red Sox had a small rally in the last inning, but it wasn't enough to win. Tom and I got seriously sunburned, but somehow Bob escaped it.

After the game, we started out on foot because the subway was a madhouse – people literally lined up along the street outside of the subway entrance. We got a nice walking tour of MIT and walked across the Charles River. However, due to time constraints and a little whining from me, we took the subway from MIT to Harvard where we met Pam for dinner at Legal Sea Foods, which was also super delicious.

Today, Tom, Bob, and I went to Lexington and Concord and saw some more Revolutionary War sights. After that, we went to eat lunch with them at this place in Arlington called Not Your Average Joe’s. Then, sadly, it was time to leave, and we got back to Raleigh around 6pm with no problems.

Also mixed in there were a few runs to Auto Zone and Walgreens and a couple of tours around Arlington. We also went to “The Dunkin”, aka Dunkin Donuts, which seems to be the equivalent of Starbucks in Seattle or California…people are nuts about it. Bob also got to play Tom’s cool new PS3, though I won’t incriminate him by saying which games he was playing (and loved).

We had such a great time and can’t wait to go back soon! The weather was literally perfect – highs around 80 and lows in the 60’s. It was really hard to come back from that! Many thanks to Tom and Pam for having us and we can’t wait to go back and see more very soon!