Yesterday, I picked Derek up and drove us to lunch.  I parked the car, got my purse from the back seat, and began to walk into the restraunt.  Just then Derek asked me if I was planning to leave the car running w/ the keys in the ignition while we were eating.

And then….it clicked.  I R-A-N back to the car and grabbed the keys.

Other than starting on the nursery, I have made my 1st step towards preparing the house for a baby.  Last night I designated cabinet space for all of the bottles and other feeding apparatus that babies accrue.  We use to store, until last night, our liquor, pint glasses, wine glasses,  high ball glasses, shot glasses, and flasks in one of  our kitchen cabinets.  Trust me it’s not as bad as it sounds.  We have 4 bottles of liquor TOTAL two of which are mostly empty (not from recent days) and two are small decorated rum bottles we picked up on our honeymoon as souvenirs.  It’s kind of sad really.

With this tiny amount of liquor to relocate and honestly more glasses that I think we will ever need; it was easy to relocate most of the items to the cabinet over the fridge.  I cleaned the shelves, and lined them with new paper.  All that sits in the baby cabinet now is one lonely bottle that our friend gave us…it looks so lonely.

Now I just have to find a place to put the coffee.

I’m trying to nest I really am.  I just don’t think it has fully kicked in yet.  I’m hoping that it will hit me full force the closer I get to my due date.  I am doing my part in pushing my nesting instinct along by learning to make new and exciting meals for my newly expanded family…before….the bean arrives.

I found an interesting spin on pizza, a favorite in the Davenport house, on AllRecipes.com.  This pizza is called Gourmet Chicken Pizza.  You can make the pizza with as deep or thin of a crust as you like.  Ours was more of a deep dish Chicago kinda crust.  Go Cubs!

The ingredient that makes this pizza so different is the Ranch Dressing.  Yeah, I know.  It sounds strange, but it gives the everyday run of the mill pizza a bit of a kick.  I used canned diced tomatoes to quicken the prep process and added a little more cheese than the recipe called for, because even though I am lactose intolerant……I LOVE cheese!  I am taking full advantage of the down played roll my lactose intolerance has taken during my pregnancy.  So me and my cheese are having a small love affair while I’m all pregnant and such.

Gourmet Chicken Pizza

Currently,the Winter Olympics are on and like most people I have a favorite event/sport.  Do you?  Mine is Curling.  I know, I know.  Most people watch curling and say it’s either not a sport or that it’s just plain boring.  Well the 70 year old shuffle boarder inside of me begs to differ.  I found a love for Curling when Derek was laid up with his broken leg about 4 years ago.  The 2 weeks he was out of work were the exact 2 weeks the Winter Olympics aired.

Since we were stuck inside ALL DAY…EVERYDAY there is not much to do but watch TV.  During the day is usually when they air the less popular sports like Curling.  I don’t enjoy the anxiety that the other more physically demanding and competitive sports bring.  I’m a worrier.  I don’t really understand why I love Curling, but I do.  Just watch this video about how addictive it is and maybe it will help you non-believers understand.

It’s been four years since my sweet husband broke his leg.  Friday February 12th was four years to the day.  Derek and I had been dating only about three months when it happened.  He was playing in a church basketball league and during one of their games a player from the other team landed on his leg just right and the thing broke in two. OUCH!

I was at the game, but was in the restroom when the actual “event” occurred.  I’m so glad I didn’t see it.  I would have freaked.  Derek, on the other hand, didn’t shed a single tear.  He just grinned and bared it.  I have no idea  how he was so strong.

He was rushed to the ER and put in surgery the next morning.  The doctor decided instead of putting him in a cast they would put a titanium rod in his leg.  Not to get too gory with the details, but basically Derek now has a titanium rod IN his bone with screws holding it in place.

As luck would have it I had just quit my job at the worst place EVER, and was currently job hunting with nothing to do during the day.  I took care of Derek for the two weeks he was out of work and stuck on the couch, and also in the afternoons once he went back to work.  His parents lived near by so they were a great help and came over to visit often.

I honestly attribute the strength of our relationship to his broken leg.  If it weren’t for the two weeks we spent in SUPER DUPER close quarters I don’t know if we would have been able to learn so much about one another, so quick.  I learned how gracious and thoughtful of a man he was by the way he treated when I was his caretaker, and he learned that he could depend on me even when things were at their worst.

Cohen missed Derek so much he made him a card asking “Daddy, are you ready to come home yet?”

Many new couples may not have made it though this pressure cooker of a situation.  I think it’s real easy for one of the two people or both to become resentful in a situation like this, and resent in a relationship can sour things real quick.

I am so glad that Derek and I had this opportunity to learn so much about each other.  I hate, hate, hate that he broke his leg, but I am really thankful for the relationship that blossomed from the tragic event.

I love you, Derek.

When we first purchased our home we didn’t notice that just about ever single wall was covered by wallpaper and has since been painted.  About 4-5 layers of paint to be exact.

The room we are converting into the nursery is one of the wall appeared nightmares.  We noticed the paint on the floor boards and the wall began to bubble out and easily chip off.  This is due to a few sagging boards of hardwood that the floor vents rest on top of.  It seems that some air has been escaping from below the register vent and blowing directly on to an outside wall of the room.  Well, this ain’t gonna work with a baby in the house.  No way…no how!

Before we can ever THINK about beginning on the baby’s future bottomless pit of toys room; we have to scrape ALL of the chipping paint off the wall and floor boards.  SUPER!  We used a foam window stripping to close the gap under the register and keep all that escaping air heading in the right direction.

The wall demo has begun.  Let me tell you it is not moving too fast.  I am picking up a bit of speed now that I have hit my second trimester and have some energy back, but it is still a slow process.  Have you ever tried removing 60+ year old wallpaper and 4-5 layers of paint from plaster walls?  It’s tedious.  Here’s the progress of the nursery so far.

Not very baby friendly, huh?