April showers bring June babies

We can't believe that we are only 5 to 8 weeks away from having a baby in the house.  We're not sure that we can possibly be ready, but our friends and family are working hard to get us that way!  Today they showered both of us (really all three of us) with love and baby gifts to do just that.  It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and warm weather and we all ate really well!  The women were treated to homemade chicken, broccoli, fruit and tossed salads along with honey baked ham and devilled eggs, followed by homemade brownies and cheesecake with strawberries (mmmm!).  At the same time the men were down at Pizza House gorging themselves on stuffed pizza.

After eating Cortney opened many baby essentials, including a bathtub, swing, front carrier,  monitor, shopping cart cover, nursing pillow, video camera (so we can share Rasberry's antics with all of you!), books, blankets, burp cloths, diaper bags (small and large), and, of course, toys.  Everyone was so thoughtful, and all the gifts were wonderful and exciting, and will be very useful!  Raspberry was also spoiled with some very unique things:  A fantastic Dutch outfit and Olympic Bear straight from his aunt Kate, Cortney's cousin in the Netherlands; a blanket crocheted by his maternal grandmother;  receiving blankets made by his grandgodmother (?), each with a piece sewn in the corner from the blankets she made for Cortney over 29 years ago;  and a jacket and hat to wear home from the hospital crocheted by grandma Hoffman, a close family friend.

Meanwhile, back at Pizza House, Jon opened many daddy...er...essentials (?) that came in a diaper bag of his own.  Including household safety items, a chewable book (for the baby, not the dad), a bath hippo (again, for the baby...really), a bragbook for the wallet, earplugs, gloves and masks (for diaper changes), and...kazoos.  Yes, kazoos.  Jon also did a little gifting of his own, passing out blue bubble gum "it's a boy" cigars (hey, the men don't wait in the waiting room anymore so he had to get his fun in somehow).

We had a wonderful time and, at the end of the day, felt very loved.  Thank you so much everyone!

31 down, 6-9 to go

Weeks before the baby, that is!  At this point we are way past half way there.  We both vaguely remember a time when Cortney wished she looked more pregnant (please don't remind her of this).  We also have vague memories of the middle room being an office, not a nursery safari.  We are enjoying our final moments as a couple, fitting in lots of date nights and other moments  without the addition of the diaper bag, but we are also growing impatient in our wait to meet this hiccuping acrobat.

Easter enrichment at home

We decided to prepare ourselves for our future role as parents with some practice Easter egg decorating tonight.  At least, that's our excuse and we're sticking with it.  And it sure was fun.  We have eggs with the names of each of our family members (including an egg for the pets and one for Raspberry), we have eggs with flowers, we have eggs with dinosaurs and eggs with toothy lizards (watch out!), and we have eggs with random designs.  We used all the colors in the rainbow and then some, and we managed to keep our clothes clean and all the eggs whole.  It was a successful practice run then, or unsuccessful depending on how you look at it - maybe we aren't being as realistic as we could be about the mess a little one might introduce to the same activity, but we'll enjoy it while we can.

Happy Easter to all! 

Easter enrichment at the zoo

We were back at the Detroit Zoo today, and were reminded again of how very different an experience it can be every single time.  Today was Bunnyville day, the zoo's celebration of Easter, and there were eggs and enrichments all around!  The gorillas and chimps got large papier mache eggs, as did many other animals.  The wolverines got a tiger striped papier mache animal, which concerned them at first, until they found it to contain treats.  And the polar bears got ice pops with fish in them.  Fun all around.  We found ourselves enriched by new activity also:  Both of the zoo's new rhinos were actually out together today;  Talini, our baby polar bear born in Nov. 2004, was finally in the big pool where we could see her swim with her mom (she's getting big!);  And, perhaps most astonishing of all, the aardvark was out where we could see him!!!  We are sad to note, however, that the Pudu and his capybara friend were off exhibit.  We hope to see them return soon.

True Michigan spring

It was 27 degrees on Saturday morning.  We kid you not - 27 degrees.  We had been all set to go to the zoo, but decided instead to stay home and bake 12 dozen cookies for church, some for the Confirmation banquet and some for the Sunday morning coffee hour.  Sunday was beautiful, though, and today even more so.  From 27 degrees on Saturday morning we got to about 63 degrees this afternoon!  Cortney and Raspberry enjoyed a long walk in the neighborhood today (the treadmill is jealous), and then couldn't resist the hamburger when they went grocery shopping.  So for the first time this season we all enjoyed a good summer meal - grilled burgers with grilled buns, lettuce, tomato, onion, and avocado, green beans, and salad (also with all the above fixins).  We spent the evening lounging in a house with open windows, a breeze playing around us, and then retired early, the smell of the outdoors lingering in the air.  Argh, too poetic.  Let's just say it was a really nice day, and we hear that tomorrow is likely to be even better!