Condo Makeover

I was in Austin, Texas Thurs-Sunday for a work event. It was good trip and I really liked the team down there and appreciated the warm Texas welcome they gave me. I had 5 hours of free time on Saturday afternoon so baby and I decided to take advantage of the award winning spa at the Hyatt Regency. Had my first "Mommy to Be" massage and facial which felt fabulous! Might have to schedule a few more of these in the next 5 months...



While I was out of town Brian and Team 10700 (Mom, Dad, & Katie) were rockstars and got a ton done at the condo. Thank you thank you thank you! They repainted the bedroom, touched up the ceilings and trim, deep cleaned the entire place, and organized/decluttered everything. Condo #2109 is now sparkling and fabulous - almost ready to put on the market! Have a few decorative things to shop for (lamps, etc) and then we're hoping to interview Realtors starting next weekend.



We have our 16 week doctor appointment Friday morning. I'm starting to get a belly and it's getting harder and harder to hide, so if the appointment goes well I'll talk to my manager in the next week.

Operation Condo

The next big thing on our to-do list is to sell our beloved downtown condo. Oh how I will miss the view, location, and amenities... but the little one needs a nursery, I would like more space, and Brian & Bella want a yard. Let's hope all these years of watching HGTV will pay off with a quick sale in a less then ideal market. Keep your fingers crossed for us and let us know if you know anyone looking to buy a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom condo in Minneapolis:)

We kicked off this daunting endeavor by making a giant project list and figuring out what weekends to paint, stage, clean, and interview Realtors. Our goal is to have it on the market the week of March 1st - so much to do! I started the declutter process today with a massive closet clean out. Being pregnant made this chore a little easier in that I could pack up 75% of my clothes for storage because they already don't fit. I ended up with a huge donate pile and a tiny amount of clothes hanging in the closet that will fit for another month if I'm lucky.

Storage Pile

Donation Pile

Cleaned Out Closet


The next item to tackle is painting. My parents have graciously offered to come downtown this week to help Brian repaint the bedroom and touch up the rest of the condo while I'm in Texas for work.

That's all for now - Cheers!

14 Weeks - Time to Tell Friends!

I'm horrible at lying (I'm out of excuses for why I'm not drinking) and have a hard time keeping secrets, so I'm thrilled that we made it through the first trimester and can now share the fun news with friends! We've been lying low the last few months so I'm excited to get out and about and catch up with everyone.

New Mommy Vehicle!

My twin sister Katie has been working abroad for the last year, so we've been storing her Rav4 at our place until she gets home this week. Ravy has been wonderful to us - we'll miss the little golf cart. We knew we'd be buying a new car in January, but in November we realized we'd need to upgrade our search to a bigger vehicle. I'm not ready to be a minivan mom, so we started looking at SUVs. After lots of research and test driving we landed on an Acura MDX. We spent this weekend driving all over the city from dealership to dealership, and thanks to Brian's sweet negotiating skills we ended up with a great deal on a 2006 Redrock Pearl MDX. She is in great shape and we get to pick her up later this week. The color is slowly growing on me - I think Baby and Bella will enjoy cruising around town with me in our new wheels :)

13 Week Appointment

We had our first trimester screening appointment on Monday, January 11th. Blood tests should come back shortly, but the ultrasound went really well! The heartbeat was 152, baby had 2 arms 2 legs that were moving around like crazy, and the tech said the nasal bone development and low level of fluid at the base of the neck checked out normal. It was so much fun getting to see our little one on the screen for an entire hour!

Breckenridge Ski Vacation (minus skiing)

We rang in the New Year in Breckenridge, Colorado with the Kragers, Bednarz, and Meghan & Tyler. We had been eagerly awaiting this time away from work with some of our favorite peeps. The trip had been planned long before we knew about our little one on the way, so unfortunately I wasn't able to join in the skiing, drinking, and hottub fun with the rest of the group. Still had a blast and loved Breck - we had a perfect ski in/ski out condo on Peak 8. Brian got 3 great days of skiing in and I especially enjoyed my day at the spa. Everyone was good sports in putting up with and taking care of preggo megee - apparently altitude and the first trimester don't mix well so I was sick quite a bit. It was a perfect winter getaway and looking forward to many future vacations with the DCrew Aunties :)

Our Christmas Surprise

It was a very Merry Christmas for the Woods Family. We were blessed to be able to spend time with the Davis Fam in Burnsville and the Woods Clan in Iowa. It was also the perfect opportunity to share the exciting news with our families. I was only 10 and 1/2 weeks along, but we couldn't stand keeping it a secret any longer. We gave everyone nice digital picture frames for their Christmas Gifts, and loaded a slideshow of photos on them. It took quite a bit of coordination and an annoying afternoon photoshoot for Miss Bella, but it turned out pretty cute. It was so fun to watch everyone's reactions and we had champagne on hand to celebrate. The love and support has been amazing - we're so lucky to be surrounded by two amazing families.




Below are the pictures that are on the frames. I know - it's incredibly corny - but we pretty much treat Bella like our baby so it was only fitting that she help share the news...

November 14th, 2009 - Baby Onboard

Saturday, November 14th was a memorable day for us. It was my 3rd week in a row traveling for work, and I had just arrived home late Friday night. I was exhausted and so excited to be home and to sleep in Saturday morning. I hadn't been feeling well all week, and was not happy to wake up at 6am for a bathroom run. Figured I might as well take a test while I was up. I was still half a sleep, so it took a few seconds to comprehend what it meant that the test came back "PREGNANT" Apparently many women think of incredibly romantic and extravagant ways to tell their husbands the exciting news, but not this girl. I ran into the bedroom and turned on the lights and started jumping on the bed giggling and shoved the test in Brian's face :) Once he work up enough to understand his smile was priceless and I think he even forgave me for the early morning wake up. Such an exciting day - life is about to change!



So to answer the question many of you are thinking - nope, it was not an unplanned surprise. I know I know - I always said 30 - but the baby bug bit early...

Welcome To Our Blog!

Welcome! We hope our first adventure into the blogging world will be a fun one, and can't think of a better reason to start writing then to share our journey into parenthood with our family and friends. We'll update occasionally during the pregnancy and then frequently once our little one arrives. We're really grateful for our recent Christmas gift of a new digital camera & flip video camera (thanks Chuck & Jan!) which will come in handy for capturing our new adventure. Stay Tuned!




Love,
Brian, Kyle, & Bella