I've Got the World on a String

As we count down the days to the arrival of our new baby girl, we have been soaking up our last few days as a family of three. I'd have to say with all of the fun summer stuff and one one one time with Bres, life is pretty good for the little man.

This weekend was my grandpa Stuart's 77th birthday party and Bres had no shortage of doting family members who set him up in royal style. Check out the Bres-sized lounge chair accompanied by a drink and chips. Oh yes, and a ball for a foot rest. Bres had a great time hanging out with family, running around my grandparents' property and eating lots of Pringles and hot dogs (healthy, I know).

The week previous we visited South Haven and Bres had his first Lake Michigan trip. It was so much better than I was expecting. The water was warmer than I EVER remember it being and Bres actually spent a lot of time in it. He found the sand fascinating too. Bres's favorite activities were running from the beach into the water and back, getting buried in sand, and moving rocks around the beach. An additional benefit for me was that it was overcast, so there weren't that many on the beach to gawk at me in my whale-like condition.

Yesterday we celebrated one whole year in our house! I cannot believe that we have been there for that long already. I vividly remember packing up our entire little apartment on Dewey Street in Jackson into a medium-sized U-Haul and driving to Albion. I cried when I saw the size of our bedrooms and the wallpaper in our bathroom (it was even on the ceiling). We have had so many great memories here already, and the house looks dramatically different even after such a short amount of time. It has been a lot of fun to put our own touches on the house and make it truly our own. I have included a few pictures of the new baby's nursery. This was a major project. Colby (and helpful family members) had to gut the room to the studs, as the walls were basically crumbling in the room. They put up new drywall, installed new light fixtures, and hung a new door. We painted everything and had my cousin do some of her own original artwork on the white walls. I even made some of the bedding myself!