Life/List

Crazy newsflash to myself: baby due in about 5 weeks - AAAHHH!

Belly continuing the growth at ~34 weeks

A little frightening, but we are oh-so-excited!!! All is going well with this pregnancy and we can not wait to meet little Maelee. We've gotten a start on our "Before The Baby Arrives" List and that in and of itself will include some updates on our life as of late...

3. Finish this degree!!! Almost there- the big defense is 2/16 with the recitals on 2/26 and 3/5. Then, I just have to keep teaching pretty much up until she gets here!

Well, it may be a bit premature to say I'm finished as I don't have the degree in my hands yet, and there are still the proverbial "i's to dot, and t's to cross" with paperwork and approvals to still turn in... BUT, daggonit, I'm gonna say,

I'm DONE!!!

And the joy that I feel and weight off my shoulders can not be described. The defense ended up being much less stressful than I imagined, the recital in the city was super fun with a good showing of some very special friends and my incredibly supportive family, and the recital at school came and went. That one was pretty anti-climactic, but whatever, it is finished none-the-less!!! Here are just a couple pics from the recital in the city with my amazing parents and amazing friend, Sarah, both who drove hours to be there (love them!!!):

(Didn't have many from the SB recital and can't for the life of me find pics
of me with my man from the city recital,
but he was there and was as supportive as ever!!!)

I'm still making the trek out to Stony Brook once and sometimes twice weekly to teach, but to have everything else behind me has been such a huge blessing. It was quite a journey to say the least, but I'm thankful to our good Lord for seeing me through it!!!

4. Go on more intentional date nights!!! Just the two of us.

We're still planning on as many more date nights as we can fit in before her arrival, but have done the following:

4A. Restaurant week.

Delicious meal at Fulton Restaurant

4B. Brunch and a movie (since movies are much cheaper earlier in the day)

Delicious breakfast at Alice's Tea Cup,
followed by a fun movie, Alice in Wonderland!

The "Babymoon" has been planned for the end of March (4 day/3 night trip to the Hamptons that we are SOOO looking forward to) and there are only a few more friends to babysit for at this point... I need to get moving on that one! I've also got my eye appointment scheduled so cute, new glasses- I'm ready!!!

The apartment is slowly coming together with more organizing/rearranging/purging, etc, and we have gotten a real start on her room! The crib is put together and all of the furniture we'll be using is in! Mantra to myself- one thing at a time... My NY shower is this Saturday (YIPEE- love the ladies doing this for me!!!) so we're hoping to make another huge dent on it this weekend.

The other big news is that I FINALLY took the Facebook plunge!!! HA! I'm completely clueless on what I'm doing and all this "wall" business, but it'll get there. But I figured posting baby pics would be easiest this way so why not!!!

So, if you're actually one of the few people who read this blog, and you're not my friend yet, what gives??? :)