Mom's Favorite Photos

Okay, I'm getting a little tired trying to update each day. So I'll come back and do that later. Until then, here are a few of my favorite photos of our Buddy Bear (aren't we just too sickeningly sweet about our baby boy? Just humor me for now!)



















And yes, this is only a few! I do have lots more!

Jan. 11 - Jack's Birthday!

Friday is when the excitement started. However, it didn't really start until Friday afternoon.

We had another doctor's appointment Friday at 11:15 or somewhere around there. We went. I had progressed a bit, but not that much. It turns out I am unique in my laboring process. The doctors didn't quite understand me. Even though my doctor didn't think I'd make it through the weekend (which he was right about!), we scheduled an induction for Thursday, Jan. 17. We left the office to wait for water, pain or blood since any one of those things meant going back to the hospital to have the baby!

We headed to Panera for lunch. I ate light considering I didn't know when I would go into active labor, and you really don't want a full stomach for active labor.

From there, we decided to go to Huntley Outlets to do a little shopping. We hit up the Maternity store one last time. We bought a little sleeper from Osh Kosh, and we found a bunch of cute little things for our son at Carter's. The last place I really wanted to go to before we went home was The Children's Place. So we walked over there, and about 5 steps from the doors I felt a gush. My water had broken. This was not as clear as it sounded, but I'm still not going to go into the details. We called the doctor to see if what I had experienced was indeed my water breaking, and she said go to the hospital. (by the way, I have several doctors, both male and female).

We stopped at the house to pick up the camera (we had everything else in the car). My smart husband had thought ahead and had taken Breyer to Ruffners, the doggie day care/kennel that morning, so all we had to do was make a phone call to keep her there overnight. We got to the hospital at about 4 p.m.

Labor and delivery stories are a little boring and often exaggerated. I'm going to spare the details here and just summarize. It was a wonderful experience. I would not describe it as extremely painful or horrible. In fact, most of my experience was very calm. If you want to know more, just ask.

Jack Reilley Barrett was born at 9:52 p.m. He weighed 7lbs 4 oz and was 21 inches long. Steve and my mom were with us in the delivery room. I'd highly recommend these two as birthing coaches if you ever are in need. We had lots of people in the waiting room too. Almost all of our immediate families were able to be there.

Of course, we have a ton of photos, but I don't want to clog the blog, so I'm only going to post a few here.

Arriving at the hospital (yes, I am in labor!)

Proud Dad and his son

Our first family photo

For more photos, check out my Flickr site. If you aren't a part of the Barrett group yet, just email me.

Jan. 8, 9, 10 Catch Up

This was the day we first found out I was "in labor." I put that in quotes because it wasn't active labor. I was in the early stage of labor, and to my doctor's amazement I was not in any pain or discomfort. Most other first time moms with my measurements on this Tuesday are in the hospital asking for an epidural. I had been at work all day and didn't think anything unusual was going on!

I went home to relax and start timing contractions. Breyer knew something was up. She would come check on me if Steve or I called her. Otherwise, she ran to the basement and hung out on her couch. This picture is of Breyer and my belly resting on the couch in the basement.



My contractions did get to be about 5 minutes apart on this Tuesday night, so Steve and I went to the hospital. I was in denial that I was in actual labor. They kept us over night, but I didn't progress any. In the morning, we had to make the decision of whether to start inducing methods or to go home and wait it out. Since I was still only about 37 weeks, we decided to go home and wait it out. My doctor thought for sure we'd be back Wednesday afternoon. We were not. So started the labor waiting game!

Since early labor had started, my doctor ordered me not to work anymore. No problem! So we went home on Wednesday and took naps. It turns out as uncomfortable as I was trying to sleep with baby and contraction monitors on, Steve had it even worse in the reclining "Dad" chair. Neither of us had too much trouble napping on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Steve went in to work in the morning. I just hung around the house and rested. I really don't remember too much else from Thursday to be honest. I know I was getting a little cabin fever trying to figure out if my contractions were changing at all or if I was just looney. Not much really happened on Thursday.

So tired and a bathroom remodel

I was not very enthusiastic about going back to work today. Most of this lack of enthusiasm was caused by the realization that I could not just take a nap anytime I felt tired. That kind of freedom is such a blessing. I did take a nap after school today though, and it was lovely.

In my first big picture-a-day venture, I am actually over-achieving. The three things for today are:

The Bathroom Remodel
Steve has already done most of the demolition work for the remodeling of the hall bathroom. We had a guy come over tonight to take a look and give us an estimate on the putting-it-back-together part. Here are some photos of the bathroom in its current state.





Doggie Love
Breyer has been my shadow lately everywhere I go; but that does not mean she has lost any love for Steve. Here, Steve is watching the BCS Championship game and Breyer is letting him know she cares.



Giving Thanks
I'm in the process of writing Thank You cards for all of the wonderful baby presents we have received so far. People are so generous it is almost overwhelming. I was trying to be artsy here with a pic of one style of thank-you that I am using.



Okay, that's it for today. Check back tomorrow night for another exciting update from West Dundee (especially since the Writer's Guild strike is still on, there's really nothing better to do!)

New Year's Eve and Pics

I promised pictures, so I am delivering.

We celebrated New Year's Eve at our house with Cathy, Rob, Vita and Phil. It was low-key, but that's what I loved about it. Phil and Steve cooked dinner while the rest of us ate Vita's bruchette and chocolates I had from Christmas. We played some Foosball on the new table in the basement (there's nothing like the joy of scoring on Steve) and also played Dirty Minds.

Some other pictures I am including are from our family celebration of my mom's birthday. We gathered at Susie's house for brunch and cupcakes (seriously, what is better than brunch and cupcakes!). There are also some updated photos of the baby's room (new curtains and wall hangings).

Finally, I saw a good idea on another blog about trying to take pictures every day to capture moments in life. I'm going to give it a try. I'm going to try to post one good picture from the day each day. So, for today's picture, you get my lovely dog Breyer. She's so darn cute! (The baby room pics are from today too, but I love my dog).

A new year!

So here we are in 2008. My how time flies. While I am tempted to wax poetic on all things past, I'll avoid it for the reader's sake.

Here at the Barrett household we are in the "final countdown". Both Steve and I are getting really excited for this baby boy to get here (I know, we have been excited since day 1, but it's definitely ramped up now!).

I went to the doctor on Thursday morning really hoping she would say, "Wow, you are really dilated. I think we should just send you down to the labor and delivery unit now." Instead, she said, "You are measuring perfect for your time. Do you have any questions?"

So, instead of heading off to have a baby, I went home to take a nap.

As of yesterday, we are at 37 weeks. That's pretty exciting because our doctor's office considers the baby full term now. That means if I do go into labor, there are no worries about premature issues. Yea for us!

Why are we so excited now then, you ask? Well, I get Braxton-Hicks contractions all the time. We tried timing them last night. The closest we got was 28 minutes. Luckily, the B-H aren't too painful. They do make finding a comfortable sleeping position a challenge. As my sister says, I feel like a rotisserie when I get into bed.

The contractions themselves last anywhere from a minute to 6 minutes in length. That's pretty much why I am happy that they aren't too painful. Basically, my stomach tightens and sometimes gets a funny shape. If it hurt too for 6 minutes, there might be some serious calls to doctors. For now, we just wait.

Another sign of impending labor is serious nesting. Well, Cathy and I finished up the pre-baby shopping for necessities. These were all of the things I "had to have" before the baby gets here. We had a pretty good time doing that (although don't ask Cathy to pack up the Pack and Play; she's done her time).

The next thing on my nesting urge list is grading. I actually graded 25 research papers in the last 3 days. I don't think I've every graded that many research papers in such a short time. I still have a stack of grading to get done (and I'm definitely feeling the urge to get it done), but those essays were weighing pretty heavily on my pre-baby to-do list.

Well, that's the most current update from here. I have some wonderful photos from our "My wife's too big to leave the house New Year's Eve Party" that I will share tomorrow. I think I feel a B-H contraction coming on, so it's off to bed I go!

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated the four days of Christmas this year. Now that it is all over, I can look back and think it was a success. There were a few moments in there when I just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep a little longer. I'm really glad I didn't!

We started our holiday celebrations at my parents' house on Saturday. The Watts Family Christmas was a good time. I'm still amazed at how we all fit into my parents' living room; but I do love the coziness of the experience! I also really like the time to spend with my sisters and my parents. It's not often you can get all six of us in one place!

Of course, every family gathering has its casualties. This year poor Cathy was the victim of a monkey to the forehead. She had recovered by Christmas day though, so all is well.

Next up on the Christmas Countdown was the Barrett Family Christmas. This year we had Steve's Dad, Anne, Shayna, Dick, and Shane all over to our house for brunch. I love brunch. There's just something about fruit, eggs, coffee cake and orange juice that just makes me happy.

We were visited by the Red Power Ranger for most of the day, which was very entertaining. Steve also got to use his foosball table with someone other than his talentless wife. Although I don't think he was much more forgiving to Shane.

That celebration capped off nicely with a Bears win over Green Bay. I'll just leave it at that. You can fill in your own Green Bay joke.

Christmas Eve took us to the City (that's right... all the way to Chicago!). We picked up Steve's Mom and met our friend Kurt and his girlfriend, Amanda, for dinner. What says Christmas Eve better than endless plates of meat. Fogo de Chao was awesome even with my ever shrinking belly. They also have the best ginger ale, which isn't actually ginger ale but something very similar only better. I don't remember the name, so you will just have to go to a Brazilian restaurant or store and ask for ginger ale.

Christmas Morning was nice and quiet at the Barrett Compound. I made coffee cake; Breyer and Steve relaxed; it was a very nice morning. We also realized that next year at that time we would probably be doing the same thing, except it would be after a morning filled with opening presents and Santa amazement. We spent Christmas evening at my aunt and uncle's house in McHenry. The Unger Family Christmas is always exciting. This year, the Carlson's got a Wii, so there was much video game playing. I think they even broke a glass while bowling.

So that is the Christmas update. I know this reads like a Christmas letter, so I put all of the pictures first. If you have actually read to here, thank you. You would think a journalist could keep these entries a bit shorter and more to the point. However, I'm a bit wordy and can't always distinguish between which details are necessary and which aren't.

Short Update

We've done it again. We celebrated Christmas early. I already posted about the camera Steve bought me for Christmas. But this weekend, my parents and I gave Steve his Christmas gift.

My family helped me out (all sisters and parents included!) in buying Steve a Foosball table. Our basement is a little bare. There are the loveseats and the baby strollers, but we didn't spend too much time down there since there wasn't much to do other than sit and push an empty stroller. I thought it was time for Steve to have a little fun.

I found the Tornado table at The Great Escape, but I knew I couldn't get it by myself (weight limits or not, that box is unwieldy!). So my parents were nice enough to meet me at the store to help me make the final decision and then get it home.

Steve was pretty excited. He and my dad got the legs put on while I showed my mom the baby furniture upstairs (and it doesn't take very long to look at a crib and gilder!).

We played the inaugural game this morning. Steve won even though he spotted me 8 points (you play to 10). In my defense, I did make him play to 11 since I scored once and you have to win by 2. I have some practicing to do.

Well, I will post some pics later. Right now, I'm exhausted. I've slept most of today, but I'm still pretty tired. I also think Jack doubled in size today. I'm looking forward to carrying him on the outside. All of this weight around my belly is beginning to take its toll! Not to mention that it would be way more fun to see him kick on the outside when I can see him smile or coo.

Baby Linens

In our birthing class this Saturday, we learned details about the 1st stage of labor. It was really informative. I never realized exactly what happened during dilation and effacement. And no, I am not going to relay that information here. If you are really interested, feel free to pick up a book and read about it, or get pregnant and take the class. What I will tell you a little more about is the relaxation techniques. It's basically yoga, which is nice since I already like yoga and know some of the basics. We learned how to tense and relax different limbs this week. It turns out I am not so good at relaxing. Steve was not surprised by this. We're going to practice though.

Last week, we learned about signs of labor, one of which is nesting. I thought nesting meant getting ready for the baby: setting up the room, putting away clothes, playing with the toys, etc. It turns out nesting also means an intense desire to clean and organize your entire house. I have decided that once this nesting instinct occurs, both Steve and I will be ecstatic. I feel like I am pretty useless lately and I certainly do not have any desire to clean.

So, I promised updated pictures of the nursery. Here they are! I took these tonight. I tried to get a belly picture of myself in there too, but that didn't work out well. Either there would be a weird shadow in the background or I would be incredibly unphotogenic (too many double chins, weird smile, awkward stance, etc). So, no pics of me tonight.







Okay, so beyond baby stuff, here's what's happening.

Steve is quite handy around the house. Today, he removed the sinks and counter top from the hall bathroom. We are one step closer to getting that renovated. Really, the vanities, the tub and toilet need to go and then it's time to rebuild!

He's also been busy with grad school planning. I think the plan is to have applications done pretty soon.


Me, I've been sleeping and working. I thought I was doing better with grading, but it turns out I have not. I've really got to buckle down this week and get back on track though. The last thing I want is to give birth before all of the grading for this terms is finished. That would be a huge stressor I just don't need. Of course, in order to do this, I have to stop spending energy on other things, i.e. socializing. I feel like one of my students. I'm spending too much time having fun and not enough time getting my work done. I'm going to try to be a better example though.

Well, I think this has gone on long enough. It's almost nine, which is my desired bedtime. Until next time!

Baby room update

The baby furniture has arrived! Well, actually, it arrived last Thursday, but it's definitely here! and put together!

Last Thursday, Steve and I had some fun (although I think Steve was humoring me, but I'll take it!) washing all of the bedding and putting it on the bed, putting all of the stuff away in the dresser, and taking turns trying out the glider. I was nesting. Now I'm even more excited for Jack to get here.

Other than that, we've been busy with work. I collected research papers yesterday, so I am starting the biannual fun of grading large essays. As usual, I do have a plan.

The typical third trimester symptoms are hitting me pretty hard lately. For instance, right now, I'm totally exhausted and can barely think straight. This is after 8 hours of sleep last night and a 2 hour nap this afternoon. If you've spoken to me lately, you have probably heard about the heart burn. If not, I'll summarize... it sucks. I'm also not finding very many comfortable positions to lie down in. I'm still trying though!

Okay, so here's the fun part. Here are the photos of the baby's room. This is before I "nested" because right now the room is a little trashed with empty boxes and wrappers and stuff all over. I'll get around to cleaning it and taking new photos soon though!

Way past my bedtime

It hurts to sleep at night right now. The heartburn is just killer. So instead of sleeping, I'm updating my blog.

It's been a busy holiday weekend and I've got some cool photos to share. We started with Thanksgiving, our first party in the new house! We had 14 people for dinner and 23 for dessert. However, everyone kept commenting that it didn't feel crowded at all. Steve lit a nice fire that kept us toasty all evening.

From there we went on to Christmas preparations. The Nustra Family was very kind in letting us join their holiday tradition this year. We went to Richardson's Farm in Spring Grove and chopped down our Christmas tree. Well, actually, Steve did the cutting. I did help by pulling the tree while he was cutting, but really, it was all Steve. So the tree is up in the living room. I'm going to try to get it decorated this week some time.

We finished off the weekend with a baby shower for Susie and Peter. My mom and Cathy did an awesome job of throwing a party. Cathy made chocolates for all of the tables and guests, and they were a hit. The present Bingo game went over pretty well too as soon as we figured out what a toy bar was and that blankets are not Rocking Horses (sorry Aunt Jen!).

Overall, I am exhausted. It was a lot of fun packed into four days. I just don't know how I'm going to do all of this once Jack gets here. I'm having a hard enough time right now!

Well, I think the heartburn is starting to let up a bit, and I do have to work tomorrow. (For those of you who are worried, don't be. I got a nice long nap this afternoon!).

Enjoy the photos!

This is for you, Susie!

So my sister has become a way better blogger than me. She has been awesome about updating those of us who love and adore her about her pregnancy, the new house she and Peter just bought, and all of that fun stuff.

However, I am not one easily defeated. So I am returning and hopefully rising to the challenge, at least for a little while.

So this weekend, Steve bought me my Christmas present early. It's a long story as to why, but I am excited, and who am I to turn away an awesome, early Christmas present. He bought me the Nikon D40, the digital camera I have been wanting. So, now I have pictures to put up here, which makes blogging way more fun for me and more interesting for you.

I am not so good at regular mail, so we never sent out change of address notes. That would have been cute and nice, but I was bust getting and staying pregnant. Of course, that also means that we haven't had an official house-warming party either. So I took some photos of our house yesterday for those of you who haven't been out to see it yet. We've redone all of the bedrooms now (we're just waiting for the baby furniture) and we've furnished our great room.






My personal favorite part of our house is the screened-in porch overlooking the north end of our backyard. It's awesome to sit out there in the spring, summer, fall and eat dinner or grade papers or just sit.













Now on to the more fun stuff... our pregnancy!

We were officially 29 weeks this past Friday. At our last doctor's appointment (last Monday), we had our last ultrasound photo taken. He smiled for us, which was cool. However, he's getting a little big for good ultrasound pics. His umbilical cord got in the way of most of the good shots, and when that wasn't in the way, his put his little arm in front of his face. I think he's like his dad: he just gets sick of pictures after a while.

Anyway, we have tons of great ultrasounds from earlier in the pregnancy. Here's one of my favorites!















As far as pictures of me, well, I have an old one. But I think I look different now. This afternoon we are going to celebrate the engagement of my cousin Rob to his girlfriend (now fiancee) Vita. I'll try to get a good photo there and post it later. I also have a really good story about our prenatal class (good as in the class was awful so the story is funny). I'll post that later too.

Well, Susie, I hope this updates you enough for today. And look out, I have a camera and I am going to be good at this again!

The Belated Update...

Life has been REALLY busy lately. Steve and I moved into our new home at the end of April. Then, I finished out the hectic, crazy school year. Then we lead a very successful Relay For Life. And then we went on my dream vacation, Ireland. To say that life has been hectic is actually an understatement.

Oh yea, and we're pregnant!!

That's been the coolest part of the last few months. And I use coolest in a very contextual way. See, morning sickness has been brutal. As excited as I am about being pregnant, the first trimester is hard. I was sick the whole time (literally sick several times a day), and I don't look pregnant, and the due date is still really far away. We are due Jan. 26, 2008.

Now that we are moving into the second trimester, things are getting better. I still don't think I'm showing very much; it really depends on what I am wearing. But I'm no longer getting sick several times a day. In fact, I have gone several days without getting sick. It's a wonderful thing.

Okay, so that's the big news. I'll try to be better about this. But we all know I always say that and I still go through my good phases and bad ones. We'll just keep our fingers crossed.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I think we are gluttons for punishment.

Steve has started his GMAT preparation class on Sunday evenings. Those of you who know my husband, know exactly what a big deal it is that he is giving up his Sundays to go to class, all the way downtown, for three hours. It's taking a little getting used to, Steve going to class and me staying home, but I think we're getting a handle on it. I'm super excited that he's moving forward on the grad school stuff... it's nice to share the stress of grad school with someone.

Speaking of grad school, I'm busy working on my journalism project class. Two weekends ago, Steve drove me around Chicago to visit and photograph 4 parks. Despite the dumping of snow the night before, we put on the boots and made the rounds. It went pretty well despite the white blanket on everything. Now, I wait to go back after winter has really left us.

Work has certainly not let up any since we buckled down on the studies. There's really not much to tell here; we feel like we work all of the time. If there's not something to grade, there's something to plan (although, there is ALWAYS something to grade). And Steve is busy doing that computer stuff that he does.

So we thought, grad school and work, that's really not that much. There are lots of people who work and go to grad school. We need more to do. So, Relay For Life planning is picking up. The informational kick-off went off well on Wednesday. Now, we have to make sure the event plans all get done. We signing up teams now, so if you are not on a team yet, or haven't signed up your team... do it now at Relay For Life of Wheeling.

Since Relay isn't actually until June, we thought we'd add one more thing to our list of activities: House hunting. That's right, the Barretts have begun looking for a new, larger home. We at the beginning of the process, so there is no rush on a decision to move. That's making the process fun. We've already seen a couple of houses that we like, so we're getting an idea of what we want in a house. We're also exploring different areas to get a better idea of where we really want to live. Since the getting the Nustras to Palatine is looking like a long shot, we're keeping our options open. We've also started the process of getting the townhouse ready to sell. So, if you know of anyone who wants a really nice townhouse, have them call us.

So I think that's it... Until next time!

What happened?

The last month has been a bit overwhelming. It started with the passing of my Memere. While that was somewhat expected since she had been sick for about 2 months, it still was not easy. The family went down to Texas to say our goodbyes, and it was overall a positive experience considering the circumstances. It is always nice to see my cousin and her boys. They are so much fun!

From there, I returned to chaos at work. And it hasn't really relented since. I have considered finding a new job. For now I am staying though. I like my students and my colleagues too much to let one little month of chaos ruin it all. I also started my new grad class, which just adds to the work load. Steve took his GMAT test, and in my opinion did very well. However, he wasn't completely pleased, so he has started a GMAT class in order to do better next time. To say we are busy is an understatement.

On a positive note, we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday this weekend. It was a nice little party on Friday night. I think he had a pretty good time. I also went to dinner with my sisters this weekend. It's been a while since we've had a Watts girls night, and I REALLY enjoyed it. There's just something about hanging with my sisters that puts everything into perspective and makes the world right again.

I think the crowning glory of the last month has been the garage door. Steve installed a keypad garage door opener this weekend. It is really pretty cool. I no longer worry about forgetting my keys. And in a strange way, it makes me feel like an upper class home owner. I think Steve is pretty proud too.

Not much is new

The winter doldrums have set in. Steve and I are happily keeping up with life right now. Our most exciting venture lately has been Steve's attempt to install a new thermostat (we couldn't get the unit to turn on though. Hopefully Peter can figure that out!).

Basically, we are doing all of the "new year" activities. We are trying to eat healthier, to work out more, to spend more time with Breyer, and to watch the Bears. Go Bears!

Our life sure is busy though. Relay For Life is starting to heat up. Kick Off is at the end of February. Finals week at Wheeling is next week, so I should be grading right now (I'm just taking a break though). Steve is going to take the GMAT at the beginning of February, so he is studying for that. And my next grad class starts at the end of January. Although, I have to finish my last grad class before that (I got an extension on a story).

Actually, now that I look back on what I just wrote, we don't have the winter doldrums. We are enjoying ourselves! And I was wrong about the thermostat being the most exciting thing... We have booked our trip to Ireland for June! That's way more exciting than a programmable thermostat any day. So, maybe I just need to make sure I keep up with this blog so that I don't lose sight of all of the fun things we are doing :)

Holiday Update...

Christmas was fun and not very stressful this year. Actually, I really loved the way we did Christmas this year. We started on Christmas Eve Eve (if you don't count the Christmas we did for my dad before he left for Texas!). Steve and I joined my sisters and brother-in-law and cousin at my parents' house. Susie made her lasagna (which I still want the recipe for her homemade sauce!) while my mom made everyone feel at home. She made Christmas cookies and lots of tea. We had dinner, then opened presents. The Livingstons came over too for dessert and more gifts. I'm still not sure how we fit everyone into the living room for gift opening, but it worked and it was fun! Then, Susie and Peter organized a family outing to Cubbie Bear North to see Pat McCurdy play. I think the highlight of the night was my mom singing and dancing to Sex and Beer. Of course Connie gave it a good run for the money by wearing granny panties outside of her jeans.

To balance out the 2 a.m. night with the Watts/Nustras, we had a very adult Christmas Eve. Actually, I prefer to call it the Moms Christmas Eve. During the day we went to Steve's Dad's house to celebrate with him, Anne, and the Mortensens. Shane was awesome. He opened a video game gift from Papa and Grandma Anne saying "I knew I wanted this for my whole life!" He was so excited about opening presents he was practically floating when Steve and I finally got there. After the Barrett Family Christmas, we headed back home for a quick nap before the Moms Christmas Eve. We had dinner reservations for Steve, me, Kathy B. and Sue W. at Franscescas in West Dundee. It was so nice to sit in a nice restaurant and enjoy just talking and eating with our Moms. This is a tradition I could see keeping in the future!

Christmas morning was very nice at the Barrett Family House. We woke up leisurely (well, as leisurely as Breyer would let us!). We had a nice Christmas lunch of Macaroni and Cheese and frozen pizza. While this may not seem like a big deal, this was the first time in about 4 years that either of us had these foods. I was pretty excited! We then headed out to McHenry to celebrate with the Unger Family. Steve and I got there first (which is pretty unusual since we are usually traveling around to lots of places) so we got a tour of the Carlson's new house (the location for Christmas 2007). It was great time in McHenry. We played lots of games (it turns out that I am not so good at Charades, thank goodness Vita is awesome!). It was just nice to hangout with everyone.

Of course, the holiday season is not complete without a little disappointment. Our disappointments were missing The Reilley Family Christmas and not seeing my Dad since he was in Texas with his mom and sister. However, as far as disappointments go, I think we got off lucky!

Why there are no pictures

For me, the whole reason blogs are fun is because I can post pictures and "show" everyone what's going on in our lives. However, my digital camera is currently "sick." I can't get any of the photos off of it. I've tried using the card reader, I've tried plugging the camera into the computer with the USB cable. Nothing seems to work. I'm a little concerned that something has been corrupted. While we were in Nashville, the camera acted goofy when I tried downloading some of the pics. A few of them were then corrupted and wouldn't open. Ever since then, I haven't been able to download anything like normal. Steve is trying to figure it out for me. Hopefully he'll be able to get it fixed. I'm feeling very empty without my camera. Today, I hosted Beth's baby shower and I didn't take any pictures because I didn't have my camera. In fact, no one had a camera, so there are no pictures of the shower today. That makes me sad.

Anywho, as soon as I have a working digital camera again, there will be photos on the blog again!

Memere

Just a quick update on my Memere. Memere is my Dad's mom (the name is French for grandmother). She lives in Bullard, Texas. A few weeks ago, we found out that she has pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to other areas of her body. Luckily, she is not in any pain. My dad is now in Bullard with her and my Aunt Jane and Uncle Dick. They are doing their best to keep her comfortable and get her everything she wants. This means running quick trips to church and shopping.

So, Memere is in our prayers.

We love you Memere!

Home Improvement

It's break time! Steve and I are both off for the next two weeks. I am so excited! Our big plan is to lay ceramic tile in the guest bathroom upstairs. We've been checking out tiles for a while. We even bought a how-to book from Home Depot a few weeks ago. Steve has already read through that.

Steve is getting pretty into this. Yesterday he went to a tile store in Schaumburg and found some inspiration. Now he wants to try retiling everything in the kitchen (and I mean everything: counters, backsplashes, the dog). He also found a class there for next Saturday morning. So before we go celebrate Christmas with my mom and sisters and brother-in-law, we will learn how to tile.

Of course, Steve likes to do projects, so right now he's working on creating a chalkboard wall in our kitchen. I'm pretty excited about this one too. I think it will be pretty cool looking, plus it will be fun to leave notes on the wall.

Baking Cookies

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would write a few separate little posts to update.

First up... Christmas Cookies!
Last weekend, I baked 6 different kinds of Christmas cookies. It was so much fun! I made the old favorites: the Hershey Kiss cookies, the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cookies (Auntie Jen's recipe), Grandma Unger's Christmas Cutouts. I also ventured out a little. I made the white chocolate coconut snowballs and gingerbread cookies from the RealSimple magazine recipe. These were a hit! Finally, I tried making another of Grandma Unger's recipes, the white snowballs, basically a butter cookie surrounding a Hershey Kiss. I'm not sure I made these correctly though. They were pretty flakey.

Anyway, I ended up with about 100 cookies in my house. Now, this would normally be very dangerous in the Barrett household. I don't have much will power for avoiding cookies, especially Christmas cookies. However, I had a plan. Most of the cookies went to school for parties and Spokesman student gifts. Another plateful went to my neighbor Karen who always brings us wonderful homemade goodies. Overall, I don't think I ate more than one batch myself (I'm not sure Steve even had any!).

Overall, a lot of fun!