That's the lesson for the week - Patience.  We're still waiting for our little one to arrive.  Various people have reported that the cold weather is keeping it from coming this past week, it's warming up this week so I think it's time for him or her to arrive.  Baby Aberle will make an arrival this week - the dr. promised!  We'll keep ya'll updated here with pictures and details :) 

I have another shout out to give to yet another lucky couple who had their baby this week.  Our friends, Heather & Kevin, were blessed with baby girl #3 yesterday.  She's so precious - and looks just like her 2 older sisters already!  Congrats S family!

My mom & dad (soon to be first time grandparents!!!) brought us this cradle for the baby.  Mom & I went shopping for the bedding and it looks absolutely adorable!  Thanks M&D for the visit last weekend and for the special gift!  We can't wait to put our little one in it soon! :)

Yes - today's the big due date for the baby to arrive...and nothing.  Well, he/she has about 7 hours left to arrive, but the dr. confirmed that it probably won't happen today.  Apparently Baby Aberle wants to arrive fashionably late.  So, we'll keep waiting.  Good news: Baby's heart rate & growth are right on target and I continue to feel really good.  Bad news: I'm exhausted from the lack of sleep. 

Congrats to Dave's cousin, Angela!  She & her husband Joe welcomed a little girl into the world today - so excited for them!

Though the past few months have flown by, we are growing very impatient for little Baby Aberle to arrive!  S/he is due to be here on Tuesday (Jan 13).  I am still feeling really well and am still working, which has helped the time go by a little bit faster this week.  So far I'm not dilated and am having no contractions, so we'll just wait for the little munchkin to tell us when s/he is ready to come.    

Our apologies for the lack of updates on the website, but trust me, this will be the place to get the latest updates on our growing family. 

The nursery is finally ready!  It's stocked up with all of the adorable baby things that our friends and family showered us with and now were waiting to put to them to good use.  My friends, co-workers, and family hosted wonderful baby showers in November and December.  Each shower was so special!  Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us prepare for the baby - we couldn't have done it without you!!!

We've also finished the main level bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, and stairwell to the basement.  All complete with new windows, refinished floors, and a new front door.  Everything has turned out just beautifully.  Dave did a fabulous job on everything and we can't thank our friends & family enough for their great help, too!  

Here are a few pix of the nursery and main level completed projects.  We'll also post some additional pix in the "Home Remodel" section of the website.

In October, we took a few days off from working on the house and went to the Lake of the Ozarks with friends from church.  It was a getaway weekend for our small group.  Our church has a beautiful home on the lake, where we had a wonderful time getting to know each other better.  We enjoyed the beautiful fall weather, went to a state park for a few hikes, went mini-golfing, and spent time cooking & eating good meals.  Maybe next time we'll go when it's warmer and take the boat for lake activities.  Thanks for a great weekend of R&R everyone!

The group (from left to right): Chris & Jenny, David & Kelsey, Adam & Kristy (in the back), Kevin holding Lucy, Heather & Norah. 

Dave making his famous waffles.

Dave & Adam hanging out at the mini-golf course.

Guys: Chris, Dave, Kevin, Adam.  Gals: Jenny, Kelsey, Heather, Kristy.  GIrls: Lucy & Norah

Group Hike @ Ha Ha Tonka Park

Four little monkeys sitting on a wall....

OBVIOUSLY, it's not September....in fact, it's almost November.  We've relly been slacking on updates.  So, I'll be posting catch-up stuff over the next few weeks.

September was very busy.  We have been on a mission to get as many remodelling projects finished as possible before Baby Aberle arrives in January.

Take a look at this picture, now look at the picture below...notice the difference??? You may not be able to spot it right away, but I was so thrilled to see the new windows being put into our house earlier this month!  Dave installed new double-hung windows in all three bedrooms, the master bath, and above the stairwell.  I had no problems wishing the old silver alunimum frames a fond farewell :)  Of course, we had to paint the interior frames of the new windows (next time I'll pay the extra and get all vinyl windows!).  However, they are all painted, installed, and trimmed and make such a difference on both the inside and outside of the house. 

The two pictures below describe how I had a tire blow-out.  We just had new tires put on, and almost a month later I was driving along with both dogs and the front passenger tire blew out in a construction zone.  Wouldn't you know it, I've never had this happen...and it happens while I'm pregnant, with 2 dogs, and can't get Dave to answer any of his 3 phones.  He finally did call me back and came to save the day (there was NO way I was going to crawl on the ground to change a tire with this big belly!).  We did have to have the almost-brand-new tire replaced, but it only cost us $1!  Thank you Costco Tire road hazard warranty!

The past few weeks Dave has been busy getting new light fixtures in the bedrooms, getting the hallway prepped for texture, texturing the hallway, and finally painting the hallway. 
The picture below describes our chaotic garage.  My car has been banished from the garage since the beginning of September in order to make room for the many painting & assembling projects.  As you can see there is a cabinet (primed and ready for paint) and trim below it.  Since we're putting all new door, floor, and window trim up, we've bought countless feet of trim.  All of which is primed & painted ready for installation.  He has also stained & varnished all of the doors (5 total).

Below is a picture of our Living Room as it looked the whole month of September.  Full of baby furniture and storage containers.  Our baby furniture arrived and Dave put it together to make sure everything was OK with it.  I'm so glad he did that, because a part was broke on the crib.  So, we hauled it back to the store and we had a new one the next week.  All of the baby furniture is ready to go in the newly painted nursery (updates/pix on the nursery will be posted soon!).  As of the first weekend in October, the bedrooms and living rooms were cleared out to start refinishing the hardwood floors (check back for updates on the floors).

With every home remodel project there are bunches of things to accomplish, some big jobs and lots of small ones.  Dave has been so awesome about working like a mad-man to get everything finished by the first weekend in November. 

Other things new... Dave started his last semester of his masters degree.  He has 2 classes this semester and then will officially be done with graduate school.  Work is keeping us both busy, including travelling.  I went out to Seattle for 4 days in September - the baby has been there three times already without even knowing it!  We went up to Morton for the annual Pumpkin Festival.  It was so disappointing that it rained most of the time, but it was good to see many of our family and friends.  And of course the pumpkin pancakes were great on Saturday morning :)   

The baby is growing....and therefore so am I.  I'm just getting bigger and bigger.  The dr. says that he/she is growing as he/she should and has a good strong heartbeat.  We're still on track for a January 13th arrival. 

Come back soon for more updates on the house & other fun things we've been up to.  Until then....have a great day!

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary ~ It's hard to believe that we've been married for 4 years already!  We've had so many adventures along the way, and I can't wait for the many more years to come.  Happy anniversary, honey! :)

There's many updates to post about, but we're going to veg on the couch and eat cake :)  I'll try to update the blog with pictures of stuff going on around the house before we leave for the weekend. 

Believe it or not....the picture above shows what our back patio looked like shortly after we moved in 3 years ago.

The picture below shows what it looks like today.  With many hours of work from Dave, family & friends, the patio has been completely torn out.  Why did we do this?  The patio was held up by railroad ties that were rotting.  To help prevent termites and to keep the patio from continually sinking, we had to get it torn out.  Eventually we will put a deck up, but for now it will be a grassy hill in the back of our yard.  Dave is hoping that it will be a good sledding hill! :)

Thanks to all of you who helped us get this accomplished so quickly!  We couldn't have done it without ya!

Have a wonderful long weekend!!

 Aug 31, 2008 - seeded for grass. 

Amazing!  It was so amazing to see our little itty-bitty yesterday!  We saw so many features up close - the head, brain, eyes, lips, fingers, arms, heart, ribs, spine, legs and feet!  So many little features growing beautifully!!!  According to the measurement, the baby weighed in at 13 ounces.  A little on the small side, but not enough to change the due date, which is January 13, 2009.  David & I are very excited to welcome he or she into our family - we can't wait!

This is the baby's left upper body profile (head is on upper left looking down).

This is the baby's facial profile on right side (baby is looking up).

This is the baby's left foot (under the text "LT FOOT"). 

We saw both feet with all 10 toes.  We also saw both hands - each with four fingers, the thumbs were tucked under the hand so we couldn't see them.

WOW & THANK YOU!  Those are the only words that can express our appreciation of friends Adam & Chris.  Not only did they give up their Tuesday afternoon/evening, they worked so hard and finished demo'ing the patio - hooray!!!  I was shocked to see that they had it almost done by the time I got home from work, and then had it finished when the pizza showed up for dinner.

Thanks so much for your hard work, guys!  Below is some proof of your hard work.  Dave & I can't thank you enough for all you did!!!  The picture above shows the final product.

We started out our weekend by getting the boys' hair cut.  They went to the groomers Friday morning.  You'll notice that Max doesn't look like the picture we posted of him when we first got him.  Not only has his hair lightened up, but it also 2 inches shorter.  I'm sure he stays much cooler without his fur coat! 

My parents, Noah & Whitney were down here for the weekend.  Dad & Noah volunteered to help Dave continue working on tearing out the patio.  They worked really hard on busting up the concrete and got alot done on Saturday afternoon.  However, they highly encouraged Dave to get a jackhammer the next time :).   THANKS SO MUCH DAD & NOAH FOR YOUR HELP!!!!

Mom, Whitney & I went shopping while the boys were working.  Then we all went down to the Festival of the Little Hills for the evening.  It was a beautiful evening and we had a nice time walking around to see all of the vendors (literally 100s of them!).   Dave, the boys, & I went back down to the festival today for funnel cake, fried oreos & a lemonade shake-up!  It was a mid-afternoon craving :)

Below is a picture of the patio progress.  Once this is done we'll start progressing on the interior of our house (I can't wait!).