Counting down and stirring up some home-brew goodness

We have officially hit the third trimester for Baby Turkey! 12 weeks left and counting down. The baby’s room is pretty much complete, and as Nick puts it: “It looks like a baby’s room now!” Not sure what it was looking like before. I also had my glucose test earlier this week, and with no call from the lab- I must have passed! Thank goodness for me, and the lab tech that said she really hoped I passed because she did not want to have to take blood out of my hand that many times in one day. Baby seems to be growing fine and we are now onto our every other week Dr. appointments- let the fun begin.

With the end in sight (sort of), and the summer turning cool it was time to get active with our brewing once again! Nick ordered up his favorite from last year, a Peat Smoked Porter. I ordered a new brew, a Cream Ale that is supposed to be a good beer after mowing the lawn (which doesn’t really make sense because I don’t mow the lawn, nor will the lawn need to be mowed by the time the beer is ready for consumption.) We brewed up Nick’s batch last weekend, and will start mine this weekend. Don’t worry, the beer will not be ready to be drank until around the time the baby is here- I may have to be tempted for a week or so, but not much longer than that. I am thinking I am going to put more of mine in growler containers (see picture) so I can open one and have small bits at a time without having to drink a whole bottle. And who knows, Nick may opt to help me drink it as well. It was very fun to get back into the brewing business again, as we have taken most of the year off with the pregnancy.

If you are in the neighborhood around the holidays, we should have a little one to hold and some homebrews to drink- until then the homebrew stash is getting a little low and the baby just kicks in my tummy.

Reading, research and babies

When we found out we were expecting, my sister, Megan (The Teacher), presented Turkey with a couple of books and a card that read:

"Research has shown that if a baby is repeatedly read the same story while in the womb, it will begin to recognize the story and settle down when it is read. Not only is this effect seen before birth, but reading the book to the newborn shows a similar calming and comforting response. This could be a big help for new parents who are just learning how to calm a crying baby or settle baby down for a nap."

What an interesting concept! Anything that will help settle down a baby is worth a try. Turkey is quickly becoming fond of the book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt," as well as a few others (to add a little spice to Mommy's reading list). We will see if the research holds true with our little one!

Thanks for the idea Aunt Megan (and Uncle Mike)!

A Month in Review

I am a little bit behind in the blog updates, or a lot behind in Nick's view. So here it goes: Our mid-July-current list of fun filled activities.

In mid-July, we made our annual (or usually annual) trip to East Troy, WI for the back-to-back DMB concerts with our friends Brad and LuCinda. This year we made a change and opted to get a hotel room verses camping. Oddly enough, this changed was decided prior to finding out we were expecting. When the time came the change was welcome with open arms by the 5 month pregnant woman (me!). We had a great time, and even got to break-in our newly constructed Bags game.

Up next was the First Annual Lawn Olympics. Nick and his friend/co-worker, Levi, decided to get people together and have a tournament revolving around playing yard games (and drinking of course). Those that were able to attend had a blast and “The Ringers”, Andy and Scott, dominated the games and took home the grand prize. Way to go Andy and Scott! And yes- we still want you guys to come back next year, I want a rematch in the finals of Bags!

Then August began and we quickly realized that at the rate we were going the Baby was going to be here before we were ready for her. And so, work on the Baby’s room quickly began! Nick was a trooper as I hit up Pottery Barn Kids for the bedding and room decorations, and then went to Babies R Us to begin our registering. Registering didn’t last the longest, as a busy Saturday afternoon is not a good time for a pregnant lady that doesn’t like crowds while she is shopping (at Babies R Us). The registering quickly got put on hold and we will make attempt two sometime this week/weekend. Who knew a kid needed so much stuff! We were able to pick up our stroller/car seat combo, and we love it! Testing out a Pack N Play was a different story, as there was no sales assistants around to help us (we looked) and so we decided to take one down and try to take it down and put it up by ourselves. If the store has people watching the security cameras I am sure they got a kick out of the two of us trying to figure the dang thing out. Needless to say, we will NOT be registering for that model and hope to find a more Kara/Nick friendly version when we go back. The next day was spent cleaning out the Dog’s room and converting it to the Baby’s room. Sorry Dogs, you will now be banished to the basement for your new sleeping/daytime quarters. The Baby’s room is coming together nicely, we are just waiting for the glider and ottoman to arrive for pick-up at the end of the month.

This past weekend was Beach Day at the Lakewood beach with Nick’s high school friends and their two little girls. As always, we had a great time with all of them and cannot wait to do it again! The weather was hot, but the water was great and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I believe everyone should be caught up to date at this point. Sorry for the delay on the updates. I am sure it will only get worse once the Turkey arrives in November!

Congrats!

Congrats to Lindsay (Kara's old roommate) and Alan on their marriage this past weekend! We couldn’t be happier for the two of you and loved sharing your special day with you.

Saint Louis Trip

For our one year anniversary and a "babymoon" trip we decided to venture down to Saint Louis for a few days. Here are the highlights:


The Arch

Outside the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour

The bottling line on the brewery tour

Go Cards! Nick and I decked out in our Cards jersey's before the game

Busch Stadium

Forest Park

One of the hippos at the Saint Louis Zoo

Playful tigers- just like Toby!

Nick's favorite, the giraffe

Tower Grove Park

Our Carriage ride through Tower Grove Park

And we couldn't leave the city without a souvenir for Turkey. His/her first article of clothing! A little Cardinals fan before he/she is even born!

Turkey Update

Baby Larson (Turkey) continues to be growing- or a least the clothes are not fitting nearly as well. We had our 16 week appointment and the heartbeat was strong and things looked good! The Doctor said Kara’s energy would come back sometime between now and week 28- it is a little better, but we are still waiting until Kara can stay up until 10pm for multiple nights in a row!

The baby room is slowly coming around (or at least the process is started). We are once again going through the house and compiling bins for Goodwill. It is so nice to not have to study, and be able to organize things again! The goal is to have the nursery put together by the end of summer if possible. We will see how the dogs enjoy their new living quarter’s downstairs- although we are putting that off until later August.

That is about it on the baby front. Just taking it one day at a time and enjoying being able to feel decent for the majority of the day!

Dam to Dam

Congratulations to Nick and Megan for participating- and finishing- the Dam to Dam 20K race this past Saturday! When it gets too cold outside to bike what do you do? Nick runs, and so the Dam to Dam training begun. With the help of his running partner Megan he made it to May with his training (although biking took over running for Nick during the end of April and May). Although they split from each other around mile 4.5 or so, Megan and Nick ended up finishing a second apart (without knowing the other one was cross the line at the same time).

Megan’s time: 2 hours, 2 minutes and 17 seconds
Nick’s time: 2 hours, 2 minutes and 16 seconds

WAY TO GO NICK AND MEGAN! And congrats to all of our other friends participating in the race!

Megan giving the thumbs up between mile 3 and 4. She must be having fun. You can see Nick's head above the other runners- his height was nice when trying to locate them amoung the thousands of people!

Nick around the half way point. By this time Megan and him had split from each other.








Megan and Mike after the race! Good job Megan and way to be a great spectator Mike.