Four Weeks Old Today!

I spent the day in the city with Tresa and Graham. I get to go back again tomorrow when Irv and I go for a visit....and then on Monday I get to help Tresa take him for his hearing test. How lucky can one Mimi be?

Big yawn....

Happy after his bath...but then he's almost always happy....

Snuggling in his towel...

Getting sleepy...

Let Me Introduce Myself.....

Hi, I'm Kathy...nice to meet you. :)

I am still here. I am still reading blogs, but just not getting to comment on as many as I did before. Irv and I are working very hard to get more of the chalkboards done, and I am working on more letters for Four Dog Day and I am searching for treasures for Four Dog Vintage. In fact we are headed to a flea market tomorrow with Michael and Bernadette.

So get this...tonight I was scrolling down the blogs I read over on the sidebar of my blog when lo and behold, there was a picture of one of my aprons. Well it seems that Green Girl in Wisconsin is having a giveaway and it is for something from Four Dog Day! Isn't that cool? She decided to feature an etsy shop each month this year and I am it right now. I am so flattered and so excited.

If you have never read Green Girl's blog....you are missing out. She is a fantastic writer that tells the greatest stories. Check out her blog here. There is info about the giveaway here.

So, if you want to read a great blog and win something from my shop....stop on over and visit the Green Girl in Wisconsin. Thanks Green Girl!

Sunday we will be visiting Tresa, Chris and baby Graham! I can't wait to see him again. Then on Friday night, Matt and Rebecca will be flying in from Colorado and on that Sunday 10/10/10....Matt will be running in his first marathon. We will be there to cheer him on....so yep, I am busy, busy, busy....but life is oh so good.

Have a splendid weekend and I'll chat with you soon.

Waiting....

I am so not good at this "waiting for the baby to get here" thing we are doing right now. Not only that....I am a planner. I always have a plan. I like to plan things. When we go on vacation I plan for months. I plan my days. I plan my weekends. I plan how I am going to plan things.

Baby boy's arrival is something I can't plan and it's making me crazy! I need to know. I need to know what day and what time. Will he decide to arrive while I am at work or when I am at home? Will I be on may way to work or on my way home from work? Will it be during the night when I am sleeping or in the morning when I just wake up?

Will it be a weekday or a weekend? Will we have enough time to get to the hospital? Will I remember to bring the things I planned to bring?

Oh my word.....I can hardly stand it. :)

Tresa did go to the doctor today and she said that she is about as ready as she can get. She doesn't expect her to make it until the 23rd, but what do they really know? I saw my doctor in the afternoon one time. She told me nothing was happening and she would see me next week and I had the baby that night. Fooled her!

So many people have asked Tresa how big the doctor thinks the baby is. Well, none of the doctors have mentioned that, so today she asked. The doctor felt around on her belly and said it isn't scientific, but she would guess that he is about 8 pounds. 8 POUNDS??? Tresa told me she is mortified. She never expected baby boy to be that big. Must be all those Blizzards from DQ! HAHA! The doctor said that's a wonderful size.

So, we are waiting and I am trying to be patient. I told Tresa that baby boy paid rent through the 23rd so she can't evict him just yet....besides he's been a wonderful tenant.

Another Fun Day

It's 9:15 p.m. and I am getting ready for bed. We are getting up at 4:00 a.m. to be at a big flea market when it opens at 6:00. Why in heaven's name would they open at 6:00 a.m.? That is a rotten thing to do to people on a Sunday.....but we will be there!

Today Tresa and I met at Starbucks for a drink and some oatmeal. Then we headed over to Buy Buy Baby and to Babies R Us. I've never seen so many women in so many stages of pregnancy in one place before. It was pretty funny.

There were a number of things she needed, including an outfit to bring little boy home from the hospital in. Take a look at this......

and how about these?

We also went to some fabric stores. I am going to make some wall hangings for baby boy. They will be fabric covered wood boxes...like I use for my clocks. I will make two 12 inch by 24 inch ones in this awesome animal print, and then two 12 inch square ones...one in the dark blue and one in brown. We will hang them in a rectangle shape. I think it's going to be really cute and I'll show them to you when I get them done.

Then we also bought fabric so I can make two nursing covers. Have you ever seen or heard of those? They rank right up there with all of the other expensive things that we never had when we were having children that everyone thinks they need now. Tresa wanted a couple, so of course mommy is going to make them for her. Here are the two fabrics she picked. Aren't they great? I'm actually anxious to start on them when we get home tomorrow.

I have been so busy looking for treasures for Four Dog Vintage and then cleaning and photographing them and listing them in our shop that I really don't have time for much else. Once I get enough things listed I will be able to slow down just a bit. We are having a lot of fun and learning so much about vintage stuff.

Irv was having fun too until I told him we have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow.

Hope all is well with you. Have a great day tomorrow and do something really nice for yourself and for someone else!

Getting Ready for Baby

On Saturday we headed into the city. Our plan was to pull out the carpet in the baby's room. The rest of the condo has wood floors and Tresa and Chris had pulled up a corner of the carpet in the room and there was wood under it. So we were going to have a "pulling out the carpet" party.

As it turned out, there was also underlayment stapled into the nice wood floor, so they decided to go with plan B and get new carpeting. They also decided to let the carpet guys tear out the old stuff. So we ended up eating a lot, chatting a lot and watching Irv put in a new kitchen sink and faucet.

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw Harley laying down to get a drink of water! He's such a funny guy.

Michael enjoying a morning cup of coffee while we make our plans for the day.

Tresa and Bernadette checking out lunch options.

Michael entertaining Harley...although I really think Harley was entertaining Michael.

Harley entertaining himself....I do believe that might be a new garbage disposal he has his head in.

Our little boy is growing really fast these days. Every time I see her I am amazed at the change.

We take a picture like this every time we are together and share it with Matthew out in Colorado, and the rest of our out of state family.


Sunday was baby shower #1 hosted by Chris's mom and sister. It was wonderful and I will try to post pictures some time this week. Our shower is Saturday so I'm trying to finish up some last minute details.

What is on your agenda for the rest of the summer? Anything exciting?

Baby Shower Shopping

I am headed out with Bernadette this morning for a little baby shower shopping! Chris's family is having their shower on August 1st and ours is on August 7th. I love baby showers. So much cute stuff.

Bern and I decided to pool our resources and make a trip to Buy Buy Baby today. We will print off Tresa's registry and see what kind of trouble we can get into! Should be fun.

I was in the town next to ours to find a nice tea infuser the other day and saw a big sign that says, "Opening Soon....Buy BuyBaby!" Oh brother am I going to be in trouble when that happens.

Have an awesome day today and be sure to do something nice for yourself. You deserve it!

Far Away Family

Every time I see Tresa I take a couple of pictures of her to send to Matt out in Colorado. We always do one against a light colored wall, so he can really see her tummy growing.

I knew that this was going to be a difficult time for him. He loves "family". It will be hard for him to be a long distance uncle.

The baby is due in late September and Matt will be here in October to run the Chicago Marathon and then he's always here for Christmas.

After that, they can use web cams until he is home again.

Do you use a web cam to keep in touch with family and friends?

Baby Update

The phone call came yesterday morning just when I was expecting it. It was Tresa.

"Mom, the doctor said everything looks good", Tresa said excitedly.

I quickly responded....."and?"

Her voice trembling....I knew she was trying not cry...."It's a boy!"

Then I started to cry. It wouldn't have mattered to me whether she said it was a boy or a girl....I still would have cried. I was relieved to know that everything they can see on the Ultra Sound looked good....and I cried because Tresa was crying.

I laughed when she said the ultra sound picture has a big red arrow pointing right at his little you know what with the words, BOY!

So no more he/she or it......our little grandson who will make HIS grand appearance in September is now about 10 inches long and about 13 ounces in weight.

What a beautiful day......

Terrific News Tuesday

So, how do you like to share good news? Do you like to just blurt it out all at once? Do you like to tease people and feed them little bits and pieces as you work your way to "the main event"? I like to be clever and string people along until they just can't stand it any longer, but normally I'm the one that can't stand it and I just yell it at the top of my lungs, kind of like this....

I AM GOING TO BE A GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's true. I am going to be a Grandma. My daughter Tresa and her husband Chris are expecting their first child and our first grandchild in September. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we all are.


It has been SOOOO hard not to tell you, but Tresa wanted to wait a little bit. She was at the doctor yesterday for her second check up and everything is looking good. Little baby was so active that the doctor called him/her a jumping bean. He/she also had hiccups and even put his/her little arms up over his/her head! Doesn't that just blow your mind when the little chipper isn't even two inches long yet?

Every Thursday Tresa sends us all an e-mail she receives from a baby website. It tells us what the baby is doing and how big it is and what is developing. It's just so amazing to read. In the beginning they compare the size of the baby to a common food...like a kidney bean or a prune. It does help you to visualize the size, but made it difficult to eat kidney beans one week. This week the baby is the size of a fig....so when we text or e-mail about the baby, we call him/her "the fig".

We had a bit of a scare last Monday when some guy driving way too fast during the morning rush hour tried to cross all of the lanes of traffic after getting on the expressway and slammed into the back of Tresa's car. She got an ambulance ride, an exam and an ultra sound and thank goodness everything was okay. We were so worried. She was on bed rest for a couple of days as a precaution.

Tresa being pregnant has brought back so many wonderful memories for me. I loved being pregnant...all three times. It was the most magical of times. What a wonderful year this is going to be.....we are so blessed.

Tresa asked us what we would like to be called. I have never really thought about that. If you are a grandma....what do your grandchildren call you?