Smoooooth Daddy!

Dear Junior,

Recently Daddy grew a goatee. I didn't really like it, but he kept it for a few weeks.

A few days ago-he shaved it off. I kept telling him that when you arrive it might scratch your face when he gives you kisses! What a nice Daddy to understand that reasoning!!! Here he is with the hairy face-I'm sure he'll grow it out again someday. The other guy with the mustache and beard is your "Uncle Jason"-he'll be an important dude in your life and will probably escort you to a Milwaukee Brewer game, teach you to play tennis or take you on a golfing weekend!

I guess that means we're ready for you?

Love,

Mama

Baby Raina

Baby Andy

Dear Junior,

Who will you be? What will you look like? I can't stop wondering if you'll be a little girl or a little boy? We will be so excited no matter what-but I'm just soooo curious.

Love,

Mama

Garage Sale Weekend

This weekend Andy's youngest sister was graduating from High School and his whole family was up north celebrating. My doctor told me this close to my due date would not be a good time to travel that far-so I sent Andy on his own and I spent the weekend with my family-a much closer distance to the hospital. I kinda smile when I picture Andy driving the 5 hours back as quickly and safely he could with all the emotions he would have gone through if I had gone into labor. But good thing it didn't because the baby has a few more precious weeks to grow.

Though the weekend went fast-I feel like we did a lot! Here are a few of my favorite moments:

~Watching my mom, sister, dad and nephews all get excited for our spur of the moment garage sale- All we needed was my brother.

~Going through my big bag of stuffed animals and parting with the ones that weren't that special to me (attempted to sell at a garage sale and only one was bought!)

~Sharing a bedroom with Charley, listening to him (heavy breather), reading him books, and watching him move around- He's a great roommate!

~"Observing" Henry and Charley get a bath-two brothers

~Playing Monopoly with my mom and sister and trying to stop the devious plan they both created which totally kicked my butt

~Watching my dad pick up Henry and put him in the umbrella stroller and take him for a walk

~Lunch with my mom today, where she said "This is the end of us" meaning-we probably won't hang out just the two of us anymore (with Junior very close/on his or her way!)

~Sitting at the garage sale and watching people pick up some of our old stuff and laughing at my mom and sister who thought the day would be soooo busy that we wouldn't have time to watch both boys at once

~Having some relatives stop by unexpectedly (Grandpa, Gerald, Marydonna, Mary and Gary)

~Spending a 1/2 hour chatting with an old college friend (Stacy!) catching up and seeing her surprise at my big belly

~Getting a little sun on my shoulders

~My 2 naps

~My mom and sister listening to me deal with all my anxiety of having a baby and all the glory that comes with it

~Seeing my sister's brother and sister-in-law and their new daughter Morgan-what a tiny precious girl

and more...................................................

She loves me!

I realized today that I am so lucky. My dog, Bailee, loves me! Every day that I come home she gets so excited to see me....EVERY day. Even if I'm crabby or have had a bad day, or it stormed out while I was gone.

Today I realized that she has no clue that we're having a baby. (As far as I know she doesn't care-it doesn't affect her-or so she thinks). To her I must just be getting fat. And that doesn't bother her!

This means, she will always love me, even if I get this fat from overeating and not exercising. (Although that is not in the plan, it could happen!) That thought made me so happy that I almost cried.

Growing Up

Holy cow-I'm a grown up. I am married. I own a house. I'm having a baby. Look at my husband-he knows how to do things!

The First Entry...

So here it is...finally. The long awaited FIRST entry. I have recently been getting a few frantic e-mails from my sister asking what the title of my blog meant. She saw "Moving On" as the possibility of me starting a new career, making life changes or moving far away. I told her there wasn't that secretive of a meaning behind it.

I was motivated to start a blog after checking my sister's daily and realized I was becoming almost obsessed with reading it. However, I think that I have a very different "writing" style. My sister is a very reflective writer. I would describe mine as mostly pessimistic. I am planning to use this blog as an outlet for me to vent my feelings on certain parts of my day and happenings around me. I'm hoping this will help me "move on". We'll see if this works. So it's mostly a selfish thing, hoping that ultimately it will help me. But I will also be documenting parts of my life for the future Roeder's/Schneider's. What do you think?

I couldn't have a first entry without some photos. Above is a picture of a tree in our front yard. Pulling into the driveway after work on Tuesday I noticed how it had literally bloomed into this amazing big white blossom overnight! We moved into this house not knowing it would look like this-no assembly required! It is almost as if it snowed just on our one tree. I also think it looks like a tree of popcorn balls. When we get out of our cars we notice the yummy smell too. I know all the petals will end up on the lawn and Andy will curse the tree when he attempts to mow the lawn-but for now, it's just plain awesome.

Below are some other favorite pictures of the season!