Baby Boom

It's official: We're experiencing a baby boom.

We currently have four pregnant friends. One is the girlfriend of one of Michael's friends from college--they are due June 10. One is a good friend of mine from my previous job--she's due September 4. We just found out last week that ANOTHER good friend of mine, from the same previous job is expecting and due in October. And the last is one of my bridesmaids, Bethany--she's due October 29.

I guess this is how it goes. Two years ago, we had a huge wedding year. We had eight weddings in the May-October timeframe. It was insane. Incidentally, only one of those couples that got married two years ago is a couple who is pregnant. But still, it's just "that time" in our lives now.

I absolutely love babies, so I am very excited about the four new babies who will be joining us soon. I do worry a little bit about how they will change our friendships. I know that things will definitely never be the same. And although I'm extremely happy (genuinely) for everyone who is expecting, it is a little sad to think that in some ways, a lot of things are coming to an end. But ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure we won't be too far behind. We're not looking to have kids anytime soon, but probably in a few years... and as we're learning with each passing year, time truly flies. And by then, who knows? We could very well be experiencing a "second baby" boom. :)

Speaking of babies, today we drove the two hours to celebrate Easter with Michael's family at his sister's house. So we got to see our absolute favorite little guy, our almost-seven-month-old nephew, Brendan. He is at such a great age. He is so happy, smiley, and has that absolutely heartwarming from-the-gut belly laugh. Michael was acting like a goofball with him and Brendan was completely cracking up. It gives me a little case of the "baby rabies," I swear. But I recover as soon as I realize that my sleep? Well, it'll be completely gone. And I'm not ready to give it up yet.

Here are a few photos from today:

Busy Brendan

We had the pleasure of seeing Michael's sister and brother-in-law, and our nephew, Brendan, again yesterday.

One of the cutest things ever?

Yep, no doubt about that.

The only problem?

He's already a bit of a smartass. :) I guess he had about enough of me taking his photo.

Snuggle Bug

On Saturday, Michael's sister, Melissa, and her husband came for a visit (they obviously brought the baby, too!). It was our "Thanksgiving" together. Both Melissa and Andy had to work on Friday after Thanksgiving, so we weren't able to celebrate the holiday with them until the weekend. It actually worked out, since both Michael and I got to spend time with both families for the holiday.

As usual, I was drinking in little Brendan as much as possible. I absolutely LOVE him (duh). He's already grown so much already, but he's still tiny and perfect. Michael was getting a big kick out of him, too. As long as I've known him (and before I did), Michael's always liked babies and kids, and he's always good with them--he likes to hold babies and play with kids and stuff. I'm always so grateful for that, because I know a lot of guys aren't into that. He shares my love of kids, so I know he'll be a great daddy some day.

Brendan was so snuggly all day... I actually rocked/jiggled him to sleep twice while we were there. And I was perfectly content to let him sleep in my arms as long as he pleased.

I mean, really... is there anything cuter than a snuggly baby?

Well, we're into October

Last Friday, I finally put a deposit down for our flowers. We decided to go with Wegmans Pittsford. Well, I decided to go with Wegmans Pittsford. They're flowers, Michael really couldn't care less. So that was one other thing to check off the list. I met with them back in August to discuss what might work with my dress/bridesmaids dresses. I think we decided to go with hot pink and orange roses and pink and orange calla lilies for me, and a mixture of pink/orange roses and gerbera daisies for the girls. We'll see, though. I'm going to make another appointment for February or March to meet again to finalize everything. When I went in to put the deposit down, they were working on someone's centerpieces for a wedding the next day. They looked fabulous. So even though it's a grocery store, it's WEGMANS people! They do EVERYTHING right! :)

We saw Michael's sister, Melissa, over this last weekend. She's one of my bridesmaids, and she and her husband came up from Binghamton to visit with their new baby. It was the baby's first time meeting a lot of the family that lives up here, so it was nice for everyone. Plus I'm totally in absolute love with that baby, so I rather enjoyed seeing them, too. Here are a few pics that I love:

I *heart* my little nephew!

I also love men who love babies. This is Michael with the baby... so cute. I *heart* him, too.

Feeding little Brendan. With my lovely glasses on--ugh.

Speaking of glasses... I guess that's the latest exciting news. This morning, I went in for a LASIK consultation. That's why I was wearing my glasses in that photo. I had to have my contacts out for a week before the consultation so they could get accurate measurements of my eye. After the two hours of extensive measurements and testing, they said I'm a good candidate for the surgery. I have thick corneas, and they have no reason to believe I'll have any complications as a result of the surgery. It's still a little bit scary, so I need to think about it a little bit more. I was completely into it until they gave me the consent form--which was EIGHT PAGES of horrible things that could happen to you. Gotta love that. I know it's just about them covering their asses, and most of that stuff on there has never even happened at this doctor's office before, but it's still enough to make you need to step back and think for a minute. If I want, I can have the surgery done as early as October 30. Less than two weeks away. Pretty crazy--so stay tuned for my decision on that!

When Melissa was up, she started talking about planning my bridal shower, which was a little weird. Sort of one of those things that makes it all seem more real, and that it's really not THAT far away. She was going to talk to my cousin and matron of honor, Lindsay, about it. I'm supposedly not supposed to be involved in any of the planning for that--which is part relief, part makes-me-go-insane. I admit, I'm a bit of a control freak, so it's hard for me not to have my hand in at least SOME part of every aspect of the planning. I'm working on getting over it, though. :)

Well, that's all for now... just a few more days here and we'll be under the 8-month mark.

I'm an aunt! He's an uncle!

I interrupt the regularly wedding-focused talk to make a big announcement...

WE'RE UNCLE MICHAEL AND AUNT HEATHER!

We recently welcomed our first nephew into the world.

Brendan Andrew

August 27, 2007

1:04 a.m.

7 lbs., 10.5 oz.
21 inches long

Isn't he so damn adorable?? He looks a lot bigger than he actually is. As you can see from his weight, he's pretty average, but he just looks so lean and tough! When we were in the hospital on Monday, we nicknamed him Hercules. It had only been about 12 hours since he had been born, but he had already been through a lot.

Unfortunately, Brendan was not born without complications! Both he and his mommy ended up in ICU because he was born by emergency c-section. As a result, we rushed down to Binghamton to be with them. I won't go into all the details, but Monday was a pretty scary day, worrying about Brendan and Melissa--we were praying everyone would be OK. Luckily, things are looking up--way up--and hopefully they will both be home together soon.

Anyway, I'm definitely a proud aunt. I was lucky enough to get to visit him in ICU a few times, but I can't WAIT to go and hold him!

Signing off with another photo of him looking adorable... this was after they removed him from the warming bed and just put him in a normal bassinette. In this pic, he's still in ICU, but he's looking mighty cozy!

Weddings and babies... oh my!

We had Megan's wedding last night. It was beautiful. And it just made me all the more excited for my own. Her dress looked beautiful on her, and the reception venue (Kloc's Grove) was pretty incredible. Since the weather was so nice, they were able to set up the DJ outside, and the bar was out there as well. The only time anybody was inside was during the sit-down dinner. During the cocktail hour before, everyone was mingling outside enjoying drinks and cheese, crackers, and fruit. As soon as the cake was cut after dinner, everyone was back outside! Which, unfortunately, meant that most guests missed the cake being served. :( That was one thing that was kind of strange... they never put out any of the extra cake for later... so as a bride-to-be, I'm wondering what the heck happened to all of that cake that they paid so much money for!

One really annoying thing about planning your wedding is that everyone has a freaking opinion... about everything. Moms, grandmas, friends, coworkers... you name it. The reception start time is too late, the wedding date is too busy a time of year, etc. etc. Ugh!! I wish people would just realize that it really is our day, and we can't work around everyone else's schedule. I wish we could, but it's just impossible and causes way too much stress. And it's just a DAY. Not a week, not a year... it's not like we're asking people to block out the rest of their lives. It's just one day. Which is another insane thing in and of itself... that all of this planning goes into one measley day. But I digress...

We went shopping at Target today for Michael's sister's baby shower. She is due August 28 and the shower is next Saturday. Boy are we already spoiling this baby. We pretty much cleaned out the rest of the registry, and then bought a huge box of diapers, too. So maybe we're actually spoiling the parents, not the baby itself, haha. They don't know what they're having, so it makes it all that much more exciting. I'm trying to think exactly what we bought--a boppy pillow and cover, bottles, pacifiers, onesies... and then yeah, the diapers. I can't wait to meet the baby! And my cousin is due any day now (Tuesday, to be exact) with a baby girl so I can't wait to meet her, too.

Back to work tomorrow...