Black Friday

This year we experienced our first Black Friday...ever! I have somehow missed it every year I lived in the states, probably due to work or lack of funds! In Germany it seems silly, to show up early at the PX to go shopping. All those people in one small building! So I've never bothered. But this year we decided to make a go of it.

We woke up around 5am, which was plenty early for me. Those people that camp out all night in line and start shopping at 4am can have it! Maybe that will change when I'm older, have more kids that want more specific things and the like, but I don't think so! We left a sleepy Hayden with his Poppy and headed up the road. We were still in Virginia, in an area that's not so densely populated so traffic was clear and our first stop, Wal-Mart, wasn't really all that busy. Definitely a high volume of people for 6am but nothing like what I've seen on tv. We picked up a few appliances and headed further up the road to Salisbury, MD.

We hit some good buys at Target, like a Toy Story 3 race track for Hayden and a 12-bottle wine fridge for us! We made our way over to Best Buy where we replaced our navigation system and picked up a few DVDs and CDs. We hit up Barnes & Noble to get some books for Hayden and headed over to the mall. After picking up some super-sale hunting gear for Jay, it was lunchtime. Not bad for a few hours' work! We ate at Chick Fil A, one of our favorites that we hadn't yet had since returning to the states. After picking up a few AMAZINGLY priced Vera Bradley pieces for me, we realized we had plenty of time to spare since Hayden was with his grandparents. Seemed like there was only one thing to do...hit the movies!

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part I had come out in the states a week earlier and we purposely waited until we could see it in the states and without Hayden. Momma needs her wits about her when watching HP! So we caught a noon showing of the movie and were not disappointed! We returned home with all our purchases, full bellies and happy hearts to a Hayden that had a wonderful day with his poppy! All in all, we called our first Black Friday a success!

Bazaar weekend

Last weekend was the annual Spouses Club spring bazaar. Since I'm actually a member of the Spouses Club this year, I got to help with the bazaar instead of just shopping! I worked a little on Thursday before going to work, and volunteering gets you early shopping before the doors open on Friday! Friday morning I showed up and bought two cases of wine and four kinds of cheese...all before 10am! Seemed like a pretty good way to start my day. There's a wine vendor that Jay loves so I picked up a case of his favorite, and they had the gluwein we love so much in red AND white, how could I choose between them? I didn't, I split a case between them. Jackpot. Jay also really loves this South African hot sauce the cheese guy always has so I picked up a few bottles of that for him as well.

I worked Friday and then stopped back by the bazaar. They needed a few extra hands so I hung out for a bit, thanks to my full-time daycare I had two extra hours to help out! Hayden and I came home to hang out for the evening, and relaxed for the most part.  Saturday morning I took him to CDC for Super Saturday and was able to volunteer for four more hours at the bazaar. Some of those ladies worked all day, every day from Thursday to Sunday so being able to help them was nice.

I picked up a few gifts, and one more piece of Polish pottery (like I needed another one, right?) from Andy's, one of our favorite stores that was closed when we went. I have some egg plates, yes, but I had to have this one. Did I mention I love the bazaar? It was quite a successful endeavor, for both the shoppers and the Spouses Club!

11 months old

We are getting more and more lax on updates! Things are in full swing around here and life is keeping us busy. We can hardly believe Hayden is 11 months old! He has four teeth, just had his third haircut today and is not yet walking. Which we are fine with :-) He's still an expert crawler and is really working on standing lately and cruising from furniture to furniture. He is into absolutely everything, which means we have installed a new, sturdy baby gate downstairs and blocked his entry from the kitchen as well.

11 months means we're now busy preparing for his first birthday, which I can't believe. Time flies! Jay is still playing flag football and the weather has taken quite a cold turn this week so we have to bundle up a bit more to watch him play. This last week it just got too chilly for us towards the end of the game, so Hayden and I packed up and got the car nice and warm for dad when the game was over. Monday is the semi-final game, so we wish him lots of luck!
We recently took a trip to Ramstein Air Force Base to visit the mall and it was huge! We've lived in Germany over 3 years now so seeing an actual mall is a little overwhelming. It's basically a giant PX with a ton of other shops, but we picked up a lot of things we aren't able to get close to where we live. Mainly things for Hayden, a little Vera Bradley for me and some combatives gloves for Jay. We also got some American chinese food (we miss it the most) and stayed long enough to enjoy dinner at Macaroni Grill. It has quickly replaced Chili's as my favorite place to eat at Ramstein.

Hayden is in his big boy car seat now, since he was just not enjoying his rear-facer anymore. We ordered it from Amazon and to our surprise it was here in less than a week! Hayden is much happier now that he can see what we're doing, and it's also a lot easier for us to get to him when he needs something (usually he wants his shoes off). In his Nikes and his big boy seat with his new hair cut, he barely resembles the tiny infant we brought home from the hospital last November.

We also recently went to Hayden's friend Gabe's birthday party. He's 7! Hayden enjoyed a lot of good dad time while mom socialized, and even got to test out the bouncy boxing ring a little. Mainly he was sitting on the outside where he can just kind of bounce around on his baby butt without being knocked down by kids, but he loved it. He has become quite the birthday partier, and will be in for a big surprise next month when he gets to eat his own piece of cake instead of sharing with us!

What a productive weekend!

Well yesterday Jay and I decided to tackle our crazy messy house and get down to business. We're in one of those catch-22 situations where it seems like we can't do one thing before doing another, but something else has to be done before we can do that. So, like any expectant parents, we've just been doing nothing :-) I did tons of laundry for all of us while Jay got to work on his and Hayden's collective room. Our chair we ordered three months ago FINALLY got here on Saturday, so we got that set up and half of Hayden's room is now ready. Pictures forthcoming, once we turn the dresser into his changing table. We also finally got his humidifier, the cutest little frog you've ever seen, and tried it out last night. It's a shame we didn't purchase one for ourselves, with our stuffy noses in this dry German air!

This morning I spent some time shopping online for some of the smaller, essential items we haven't yet procured for him. Time is coming fast (four weeks left!) so I figured we should get it all ordered and here. I was very excited to compare consumer reports and customer reviews for things like thermometers and playpen sheets. It's funny how impending motherhood changes things. I remember the same excitement for a sale at White House Black Market, and how my shoes used to be so cute. Now it's all about soft blankets and little socks!

We still get a kick out of watching him move around in my belly, and are getting more and more excited about meeting this little fellow who has already changed our lives so much. Doctor's appointment later today, and maybe some packing of diaper bags and whatnot. We'll see!

It's a boy!

We have been crazy busy over the weekend since finding out our exciting news!

It seemed like Friday took FOREVER to get here, and so did 3:30 for our appointment. We got to the doctor's office a few minutes early, but didn't wait too long. Urine, blood pressure, weight (finally catching up!) and then drawing some blood. They needed to test my blood because of my Rh factor.

A little background for you. Blood is a big deal for babies. Basically because I have an Rh negative type and Jay has an Rh positive type, this is a potential problem that is easily corrected with a few injections. Since we don't know what the baby's blood type is until birth, they take precautions with mothers who have a negative Rh factor. It doesn't matter very much for the first child, but can have serious ramifications for subsequent babies. My body basically builds up antibodies to "foreign blood" and if our next baby has Rh positive blood, my body would attack it. So one shot at 28 weeks and then one shot after the birth and we're good to go. It's a tiny inconvenience, because I hate needles, but I tried to be a big girl.

Then came the fun part! Up on the table for the ultrasound, and we saw a little abdomen and a femur and all the other stuff that's supposed to be growing normally (it was). Then my doctor asked, "Did we find out the sex last time?" I told him no, and then he asked if we wanted to know, and of course it was a resounding "YES!". Almost instantly he snapped a picture and said, "There is a leg, and there is a little penis, so it is most definitely a boy." Jay was right! He's taken some good-natured teasing from most of our friends here that were sure it was girl, so he was quick to let them know that Baby Rogers is A BOY.

We went immediately to buy some baby clothes in blue, and have been busy ever since! We talked to our friends and families and it's so nice to be able to call our baby a "he" instead of an "it". Jay definitely wanted a boy, and I've always said I wanted a boy first, but mainly it's just so exciting to know what he IS! We picked up a mattress for our crib, and finally decided on a stroller and a nursery theme. I've recently become slightly obsessed with baby dinosaurs, and our first purchase the other day was a "Baby Dino" set of pajamas. We got it in 3 months, after much debate, and luckily Dandy had ALSO purchased it for us in newborn, so we can have our little baby dinosaur a little longer! We found a terribly cute nursery set in dinosaurs from Babies R Us, but it's temporarily not available online. So I'm waiting anxiously for 9am, eastern standard time, so I can call the store in Greensboro and see if they have it in stock. It's so much MORE fun shopping for a little person whose sex is no longer unknown!

We may have settled on a name, but we're letting it sink in for a bit before we go public with it. Not to worry, we won't be able to keep it to ourselves for long!

Two days before our appointment, Jay got to feel the baby kick for the first time! We had been unsuccessful since he got home. It seemed like everytime the baby was kicking, I'd put Jay's hand on my belly and he would stop. But on Wednesday my belly looked like it had a little jumping bean in there, and Jay got to see it AND feel it. This whole thing is amazing. I love it!