It's a ...

We went in at 830 on Saturday morning to find out if Baby H is a he or a she.  The doctor did a million ultra sound pictures, and then typed up some notes and just said that everything so far looked good.  I felt like 10 years had passed, so I finally said "so what's the sex?!?!" and he said he hadn't looked yet.

And then he put another magic wand on my belly and turned on the 4D ultra sound pictures.  Wow.  That's the coolest thing I've ever seen, and totally unexpected.  I had no idea that his office was equipped with the 4D ultra sound machine.

So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to our daughter.

That's right, it's a girl!!

I know, she's a little alien looking right now, but even if she comes out looking that way still, we'll love her nonetheless.

We're excited, anxious, nervous, and overwhelmed at the thought of a little girl running around here.  As long as we don't get too far ahead of ourselves and think about her teenage years, we stay super excited!  All things in due time though...right?

And for those of you that think I've given up on house projects, we've got quite a few loose ends we're tying up on old projects, and we actually made really good progress on Sunday, so stay tuned for posts on some of that this week!

Happy Monday everyone!

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed reader to get future posts delivered to your reader.

Biggest Project Reveal Yet!

Hi guys!!

After three weeks of a blogging break, I'm back.  Before I get to the big project reveal, I have a few things to share...

First up - the real reason I went on a bloggy break is because we went on vacation.  For four weeks.  Yep, that's right, an entire month of vacation.  Since we weren't going to be home for that long, I opted to keep it a secret just in case I have any crazy stalkers.  I'm pretty sure the only person who stalks me is my handsome hubby, and that's completely fine by me, but still...ya never know!  (I pre-posted my last three posts prior to leaving.)

So, where'd we go for a month?!  Hawaii!!!

Kauai, HI

One of my best friends lives out there, and is awesomely amazing and offered to let us stay with her for an entire month!!  Our timing was impeccable...my friend closed on her home the morning we left, and is moving back to the mainland on Friday.  Because she was leaving the island, she only had a few of the essentials, and kept saying she couldn't wait to read a blog post on her 'amenities'...

So here goes ...

We were so fortunate to have one pot and one skillet to cook with.  While this might seem scarce to some, it was a perfect way to plan our meals, and it was so much easier to clean just one pot and just one skillet.

We were so fortunate to have 4 knives, 4 spoons, and 4 forks to eat with, even if they were dollar store bendy silverware.  They provided great entertainment for mixing stuff, much laughter when we bent our silverware back in place, and made us appreciate the next item all that much more!

We were so fortunate to have one good butter knife.  Those things are amazingly strong.  They can cut fruit and chicken and potatoes without flinching.  Well, a good butter knife and a strong hubby.  The strong hubby might be key to that equation, but I will never again under-estimate the power of my butter knives.

We were so fortunate to have paper plates to eat off of.  It was so nice being able to throw our plates in the garbage, and made cleaning up after dinner every night that much easier.

We were so fortunate to have a bed, even if it was made of air, to sleep on.  It was one of the most comfortable air mattresses ever, and we slept like babies.  I'll get more into why this was so comfortable in a bit.

We were so fortunate to have a friend that we can hold great conversations with, days on end, hours at a time and only stop chatting because it's way past our bedtime.  The conversations we enjoyed without the interruption of TV and internet (she has no cable) were great, in-depth, intelligent, fun, and heart warming conversations that bonded all three of us that much closer.  We will forever cherish that time we all had together.

Here's a few pics from the millions that I took :

Hawaiian Monk Seal on Waikiki Beach, Oahu, HI

Sea turtle off of the Ho'okipa Beach Rocks in Maui, HI

Chris and I at the falls at the end of the Pipiwai Trail in Maui, HI

Poipu Beach Area in Kauai, HI

Seven Sacred Pools in Maui, HI

Red Sands Beach in Maui, HI

Haleakala Crater in Maui, HI

Hanauma Bay in Oahu, HI

So now that I've filled you in on our wonderful vacation, which included wonderful and amazing trips over to the islands of Maui and Kauai, both of which we could afford to do because of our generous friend that we're so fortunate to have on the island of Oahu, I'll get onto the next item of business.

Chris is DONE.  D.O.N.E. DONE with school.  WOO HOO!!!!  He worked so hard for his Master's, put in so much blood, sweat, and tears (okay, maybe not blood...but I bled for the both of us on some of these solo home improvement projects, so that counts for him too), and I couldn't be more proud.  He didn't walk with his class, he decided he'd rather be walking in Hawaii than in Gainesville, FL ... but the sense of accomplishment and pride and joy and relief is all there!!

And finally ... the big project reveal.

A pictures worth a thousand words, so here it is :

Yep, that's me at 20 weeks pregnant (and Chris being a goof)!  This was taken on our last full night in Hawaii.  We couldn't be more excited, elated, scared, and happy all at the same time!  If you go back to September, you'll notice that my posts start dwindling down quite a bit.  Morning sickness and the pure tiredness of the first trimester hit me pretty hard.  I had a few 'do over' days where I didn't get out of bed at all and decided that I'd just try again tomorrow because today wasn't a good day.

That's all over though...I'm feeling amazing, overwhelmed, and big!!!  The amazing part might have something to do with being gone for a month in Hawaii, but nonetheless!  Oh, and the air mattress that we slept on was amazingly comfortable because it absorbed some of my new found belly so I could enjoy sleeping semi on my stomach for a few extra weeks.  I'm still trying to figure out this side sleeping thing!

Sorry I waited so long to tell you bloggy world!!  I actually just officially made the announcement today at work, and I have no idea who reads this blog, so I waited to say anything until I let the cat out of the bag.

The main deets that everyone will want to know...my due date is May 30th, 2011, and we find out Saturday morning if it's a boy or a girl!  Do you have any guesses of boy or girl based on the way I'm carrying?!  I have no idea...this whole first time Mommy / pregnant thing is all new to me, so I'm not guessing!  We'll find out soon enough!!

Oh, and... HAPPY 1 year bloggy anniversary to Kara's Korner!!!  I can't believe how much this has grown over the past year, and I hope to continue and build on how far I've come thus far.  We've got so many projects on our to-do list, that we can accomplish TOGETHER now that Chris is done with school.  And yes, that includes a nursery!!  So make sure you stay tuned to see what this year's fun projects have in store!

Hope everyone's 2011 is going well!  Our's so far is awesome!

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed reader to get future posts delivered to your reader.

New Project

Chris and I worked on a few projects together this weekend. While I do love having my husband to do projects with, these projects aren't exactly the fun ones that I love doing with him. We did his school projects...and since you guys like seeing pictures, here's one of the things we were working on :

Oh yeah, 2 microcontrollers that talk to each other.  I've told you what dorks we are before...do you believe me now?  Anyone want any step-by-step instructions on how to program this up?  Or how about a 10 page report on all of the software and hardware that went along with making it possible to write my husbands name on it?  This picture was actually taken for the report, not for your viewing pleasure...but since this is a project blog, and that's my latest project...well, I thought I'd share!

The other project that Chris wrapped up this weekend that we've been working on for weeks was pretty close to what I do on a day to day basis.  Lots and lots of code and waveforms.  Anyone want to see a screen shot of a bunch of lines of code or some waveforms with a bunch of signals traced?!

Yeah, I didn't think so...just thought I'd check.

It was quite reminiscent of our college days together though.  Chris moved in our big 6 ft table and we worked side by side in the office.  I'm not used to having an 'office mate' anymore!  This is how we went through our undergrad degree together our last year.  Side by side, working together.  When you can work with someone on this kind of stuff, and then still have an amazing time doing all the fun things in life, you know you've met your soul mate.  Things are just better together.

I took this picture this morning...Chris's laptop was set up on the other desk.  The office is in major need of some redecorating...it's on my 8 million mile long list of things to-do eventually.

I called it quits relatively early last night and climbed in bed to watch Sunday night football.  When Chris came in at half time with a glass of wine and said he hit submit on his final report, for the third time in a little over a week, I cried.  These tears were tears of joy though.  He just has to have a telecon with his TA tomorrow morning on his drive into work to go over his report, and he's done.  Forever.  He finished.  He made it.

WE made it!!!  I'm beyond proud of him, words can't even begin to describe all of the emotions and the huge sense of pride I have in him.  He was a full time student as well as a full time employee, even earned a big promotion while going to school.  On top of being a wonderful husband.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, there were so many times over the last year and a half that I thought I can't do this anymore.  There were so many times that HE thought he couldn't do it anymore, but hand-in-hand, side-by-side, we did it.  Chris was always so grateful for all of the housework that I picked up so that he could focus on school, and has been so supportive on all of my projects that I've attempted solo.  I kept telling Chris that he could finish getting his Master's, that I could help, and that it wasn't impossible (even when I really thought it was).  Our undergrad Electrical Engineering degree was a tough program.  I remember phone calls home during college, bawling my eyes out saying that there was no way I could do it.  It was just too hard.

I know how hard the EE Master's program was, and I honestly don't think I could balance work and school as successfully as he did.  My brain turns off after work...I couldn't watch 2 hours of class or do homework and projects after working all day.  Chris did.  For a year and a half.  And he's DONE!!!  WOO HOO!!!

I'll stop my gloating now and get back to work...I did manage to finish up my one homemade Christmas gift this year, so stay tuned for a post on that later on this week!

Happy Monday!  This might be the happiest one yet for me for the past year and half!!

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed reader to get future posts delivered to your reader.

Thankful Thursday

The Cape on the Corner is doing a blog series for the month of November.  Every week, on Thursday, you write 5 things that you are thankful for that happened over the past week.  I think it's important to realize the positive things that go on every week, so I'm joining this week!  Here goes...

1.  I'm thankful that my in-laws made the 7ish hour trip down to visit Chris and I last weekend.  They came down in May, so it was technically our "turn" to go up there to visit them, but with our zero vacation days, they decided they'd take off Friday and head on down.  We won't be able to see them for the holidays this year, so it was definitely a nice treat to be able to spend quality time together before years end.

2.  I'm thankful that I've got two of my nieces Christmas gifts already.  I'm still working on the third nieces...but these two are off the list! And I got them gifts that I'M super excited to give them because I really think they'll like it...which is the best combination!  I love hunting for and finding the perfect gift.

3.  I'm thankful that my uber busy husband that has no clue how he's going to finish all of his projects and study for all of his exams before the end of the semester (and graduation!!! T-minus 4 weeks and 5 days...ya know, if you're keeping count...) took time out of his day of dedicated school work on Sunday to go for a long walk with me down to the old orange and lemon groves to see if any had ripened or not...even though he knew they'd all still be green.

4.  I'm thankful that the weather has been so gorgeous this week, and that it's started to warm up a bit, but is still at a comfortable temperature.  Our heat doesn't work, so there were a few uncomfortably cold days in this home over the weekend, but I'm thankful that the sun is shining and I can go for a jog without being too cold or too hot.

5.  I'm thankful to have such great friends that keep up with and truly care how I'm doing on a daily basis.  I'm not the easiest person to be friends with (I don't like chatting on the phone too much), but my closest friends don't care that I can't or don't call them on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis...they find other ways to keep up with me, even if I'm the only friend they do that with, and I'm forever grateful to them because of it.  I only have a handful of really close girlfriends, but those girls are the absolute best, and they're always there when I need them most!

6.  Sorry, gotta add one more.  As always, I'm thankful for this guy.  He makes me smile, laugh, and reminds me not to take life too seriously on a daily basis.  It's amazing that someone who can't talk can teach me how to enjoy the simple things in life.  He's the best dog in the entire world...and I will be forever grateful that he picked us!

So that's my things this week.  What do you guys think?  Do you do anything special to remember things your thankful for this month?

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed reader to get future posts delivered to your reader.