January so far...

First...Nate turned the big 3-0! Seriously? How are we getting to 30 already here? I mean, it seems like only a brief time ago we were carefree in college! I sometimes wonder where the 20's went and then if I actually think through how much life has changed in the last 8 or 10 years I see how much time has passed. So in this picture, Tom and Nate are testing out his motorized bike...that's right. He attached a motor to it for an easy commute to work in the warmer months of the year. Kind of crazy but with something like 110 miles to the gallon you can't beat that for saving gas! The thing goes like 35 miles per hour! We did have a dinner with friends this night to celebrate Nate's birthday (after the boys took a few turns about the neighborhood, nevermind that it was 20 degrees out) but I didn't get any pictures!
Our first real snow this winter brought me TWO snow days. Not gonna complain there!
We bundles up and took Sadie for a long walk in Cherokee Park. I love how when there is a real snow everyone just leaves work early (or in my case doesn't go at all!) and heads to the parks to sled! Of course this is Louisville so these 5 inches may not seem like much to anyone north of us but I thought it was the perfect amount to enjoy.
And another milestone this week...I'm halfway there at 20 weeks! I promise I will NOT be posting numerous pictures like the one above but I wanted to document the bump that has finally appeared, plus my first day in maternity clothes (at least the pants). And I will never go back! Talk about comfortable! So...I may have had a little meltdown while in the process of shopping for maternity clothes last weekend. I can still button my normal ones but it's so not comfortable! However, I have discovered that any affordable pants out there in maternity land only come in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. Ummm...what happened to real-woman-pant sizes like 4-long or 8-regular? Basically everything I tried on was too short (like in a ridiculous looking way) but if I got a larger (a.k.a. longer) size then it was huge and awkward in other spots. It was a bit discouraging! If I could get away with it, I'd just live in sweatpants but since that is simply not feasible if I want to leave the house, I tried in vain to find good pants.
Luckily, my friend Emily came through (after I called her nearly in tears that I would have to wear highwaters to school and get made fun of by my students:) and she let me borrow ALL of her clothes. (She just had a baby 2 months ago). We are basically the same height/size so it worked perfectly! She actually got good clothes from real maternity stores too that I am too cheap to buy:) Problem solved! I don't know about my other friends who've had kids before but it seems like babies are going to be expensive enough without the stress of buying an entire wardrobe you will only wear a few months! I am all about sharing and any I acquire along the way will gladly be passed on to my sisters or friends who want to borrow them in the future. Okay, enough of my rant about that...I'll try no to let the crazy pregnant thoughts out too many more times:)

I did get to register though which to tell you the truth kind of scared me to death! I normally can't even walk into Babies R Us without panicking, but luckily I had a couple people helping me...
My good friend Annie (whom I taught with last year) and her daughter Hannah (5 months old) came along. Annie just basically pointed out everything I need (knowing that I am a minimalist with bringing any more "stuff" into my house) while I used Hannah to test out car-seats and strollers. What a little trooper she was! We were in that store for hours and she never once got fussy or cried. And neither did I so it turned out to be a somewhat enjoyable time. The only thing about registering for baby stuff is that there are only so many stores that carry that gear (Babies R Us and Target). Nate and I want to do cloth diapers and the only place that sells them appears to be online. If anyone knows of a store where I could get them let me know! Otherwise, we will have to register online for these.
As a side note, Annie has sold me completely on cloth diapers...I was considering them when I first got pregnant, and she has had such success with them that I am all about it. The cloth diapers they make today are SO not like what our parents had to suffer through! They are pretty amazing really and then there's the added benefit of taking care of the environment (or at least not making it worse), saving money and a number of other perks. If you want more info on this subject, check out Annie's blog on the right side of the screen. She's written a ton about it!