Week 38: Still Pregnant

[Fuzzy picture this week, oops]

It's kind of the running "joke" at this point in the house. Every morning when we get ready for work, we have the consensus "yup, still pregnant" statement, spoken or unspoken. On a daily basis, Jessica is asked how she's feeling and if she's ready for the baby to get here. The answer is always the same: "I'm feeling okay, and I'm very ready." The underlying answer is, I'm uncomfortable, and we just need to get this show on the road.

Today one of our favorite couples from church, Chuck and Cindy, told us they'd heard of a funny method for inducing labor. The method instructs the husband to prepare a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese [yup, the blue box with the powder cheese that neither have us have eaten in years], a bottle of A1 steak sauce [undetermined serving size], and the pregnant wife to eat the entire dish. The result is a trip to the hospital within 24 hours.

We might be having mac & cheese for dinner sometime this week.

To pass the time until Ezra's arrival, we finally got Christmas decorating started. It's the favorite holiday for both of us. Who doesn't like decorating for Christmas? We'll pick out a tree tomorrow once it stops raining. Can't wait to get the smell of that tree in this house.



Christmas Decorating

Nursery & Guest Room Updates

Week 35: Give Thanks

Week 35 is capped with a foggy, fall morning picture in our back yard at 7:30am. On Saturday our Hokies beat rival, Miami, with a score of 31-17. If you haven't realized, this is our 9th straight win as we slowly made our way back into the good graces of the college football community.

Ezra will be here in no time, and we can't wait. We are thankful for our future son and Jessica's healthy pregnancy. We are also thankful for our committed marriage, our home, our jobs, our health, and our country.

This weekend we learned more about the origins of this holiday. During the early 1600s, there might not have seemed much to be thankful for, but those at Plymouth Plantation still gave thanks for what little they had. We learned that President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday, and for the 147th time, we will observe Thanksgiving Day later this week.

Historically [and currently in this household], Thanksgiving was/is celebrated as a day of gratitude to God for family, friends, and everything He has provided. Let this be a reminder that we need to be thankful on a daily basis.

¹ I love the LORD, because He has heard
my voice and my supplications.
² Because He has inclined His ear to me,
therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
⁶ The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
¹⁷ I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and will call upon the name of the Lord.
Psalm 116: 1-2,6,17

No official pictures for this week except for an update on our upstairs loft / den. Be sure to check out the pictures from Justin's work trip to Toronto in the previous post.

Week 34: Fall Season

It took a little while, but North Carolina finally got fall season into gear. This area usually takes a few extra weeks catch up with the mountains in western part of the state to reach the peak of fall foliage. This week the autumn colors were on full blast around the neighborhood so we're making sure to enjoy it while it lasts.

Our Hokies played an important game against UNC this weekend in Chapel Hill and came out on top with a 26-10 victory [our eighth win in a row]. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the game despite it being in the next town over. We signed up for labor & delivery classes at WakeMed in Cary [AKA Western Wake / "Little" Wake], the hospital where Ezra will be born in a few short weeks. The classes were informative and eye opening to say the least.

Our friends, Jamie and Jennifer [sisters] hosted our church baby shower today at Good Hope, and we'd like to thank them very much for putting it together. We don't have any pictures from it, and in fact, not many pictures in general this week.

As promised, here are better pictures of the loft bookshelves. We put up what's left of our books after making a clean sweep of the house. The units are raised up above the base boards and are mounted permanently to the wall. In fact, the backs of the shelves are just white paint on the drywall; you can actually see that in last week's post. Between the bookshelves is a window seat that doubles as a storage chest [toy box], and Jessica will be making a cushion for it in the upcoming weeks. The lower bookshelves will eventually have baskets for more storage. Lastly, above the window is also a top piece that spans horizontally and ties the shelves together. Hopefully, the pictures give a better idea of their size and proportion to the room. Not long from now, we will get furniture and turn the space into a mini family room.

Week 33: Family & Neighborhood Shower

November is birthday month. A milestone year for one but just another year on the way to the big 3-0 for the other. On the bright side, we're loving the fall season in North Carolina. It's jeans and long sleeves weather. Still warm enough for flip flops during the day but cool enough for VT sweatshirts in the morning and evening. It's pumpkin pie, deep fried turkeys, falling leaves, bundled nights, and the height of football season. And we're enjoying every second of it.

This weekend Jessica's family (mom, dad, brother, sister, future bro-in-law, & Keegan boy) came down from Blacksburg and Philly for some weekend projects and to take part in the baby shower held for us by our great friends and neighbors. We'd like to thank Sylvie and Heather for putting everything together [we love you guys].

Speaking of projects and birthdays, Jessica's parents gave us our early birthday present: built-in bookshelves in the upstairs loft. After spending all week designing, constructing, and prefabbing, Jessica's dad went hard at work this weekend by fitting and trimming them in. More [better] pictures will be taken once we've got everything all finished, but check out the quick, time-lapse video of the progress. We are so thankful, and they turned out perfectly. Eventually this loft will be our main hangout spot once Ezra arrives. Only a few short weeks to go. We say it all the time, but we'll say it again...we are blessed.

Bookshelf Project

Project Bookshelves from JY VPI on Vimeo.

Neighborhood Baby Shower

Week 32: Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone. In our first week staying home, we spent our time on a little yard work and fall cleaning. We really needed a nice break as Jessica has entered the uncomfortable phase of pregnancy. She's not sleeping that well at night and neither are the folks on other side of the bed [read: I'm not complaining].

One year from now, we'll be dressing Ezra up in his first Halloween costume. Until then, we're just "those people" who dress up their pets. Charlie was a spiderdog. True to form, our great neighborhood had a Halloween block party. Check out the pictures.


House Pics & Nursery Updates

[Front porch view]






[This kid already has too much stuff]

Neighborhood Block Party

[Mr. Sutter B]






[Just like her dad]








[Note: they were the "black eyed P's"]