{ Smiley Boy }

{ Life Happens }

I love how life is full of little surprises.  It keeps things fun and interesting and exposes you to people and experiences you would have otherwise missed out on.  Sometimes I get annoyed when life doesn't go according to my plan, but those curve balls can be little (or sometimes big) gems.

We went on another date this week (go us!).  It didn't go as planned...and it was awesome.  We had some gift certificates for movie tickets and dinner compliments of the St. Luke's NICU.  (This was due to our crazy experience on our last day there which involved a code red, fireman, and switching rooms.  But that's a whole other post...)

Since there really weren't any movies at the 'nice' theater we wanted to see we decided to save our movie passes for later and go to the cheapy theater then head to our free dinner.  We saw 'Rango' at the $3 theater (glad that's all I paid) and then headed to Macaroni Grill.  I hadn't been there for years and on the way there I was getting pretty excited for that tasty bread they serve.  We arrived at about 9:45, walked up to the doors and they were locked.  Gotta love the Boise nightlife, right?  We sadly walked back to the car and tried to formulate a new dinner plan as we watched the storm clouds gathering in the sky.  The storm continued to grow as we drove around looking for a non fast-food restaurant that was still open.  This gave us a new idea.  We picked up a pizza to go and headed to the Capital High School parking lot to watch what how now become a spectacular lightning show.  We sat in the car, kicked our shoes off, tipped our seats back, ate our pizza and watched the brilliant display.  We held hands.  We talked about life.  It was awesome - way better than sitting across from each other in a restaurant.

We hadn't planned on a mediocre $5 pizza for dinner.  We hadn't planned on sitting in a high school parking lot for an hour watching a stunning lightning storm.  We hadn't planned on our plans changing.  But I'm so glad they did.  It was one of the best dates we've ever had.

{ Happy Father's Day! }

There are so many wonderful fathers in my life and I am incredibly grateful for each of them and all the ways they enrich both my life and my son's life!

My dad

My Papa

My step dad



My father-in-law.

Sorry you're sideways Harv - Blogger is just not cooperating tonight!



{ One Week }

I can't believe our son is already 1 week old!  He has already grown and changed so much.  We love him more than we ever thought was possible...

Birth Day

 1 Day

2 Days

3 Days

4 Days

5 Days

6 Days

7 Days

{ At Last }

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of

Lincoln Harvey Babendure

born May 23, 2011 at 1:20pm

8 pounds 9 ounces

21 3/4 inches



We are so in love with this lil guy...

{ The Countdown Is On }

I cannot believe we are already almost 38 weeks.  Lincoln is full term!  It seems like it was just a few months ago that we found out we were pregnant and here we are making the final preparations to welcome our son.

Physically I've been feeling pretty good but over the last few weeks I think I've approached the uncomfortable home stretch.  It's getting harder and harder to get comfortable at night.  I wake up several times but I figure this is just practice for when Lincoln gets us up at night, right?  He has dropped which has me both excited and apprehensive.  It means he's coming soon but it also means he's coming soon!  I can breathe a little easier now that he's lower but the bathroom and I are now even better friends.  I didn't think it was possible to pee even more frequently! 

Emotionally and mentally I think Casey and I are about as ready as two first-time parents can be.  We already love this little boy so much and cannot wait to see his little squishy face.  I love to day dream about what he'll look like.  Will he have dark hair, light hair or no hair?  Will his beautiful little eyes be dark or light?  Will he have gorgeous long eye lashes like his daddy?  Will he be relaxed and mellow like his dad or more feisty like his mom?  I am just *so* excited to meet our little boy.

His nursery is pretty much all finished.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  It is fun and playful but still tranquil.  I look forward to spending many hours in there with Lincoln.  Call me crazy but I'm even looking forward to those middle of the night feeds when it seems like there's no one else in the world but the two of us.  I still have a few things to hang on his walls, but I'll try to take some pictures later today and post them here for you to see. 

I still can't quite fathom how much our world is about to change.  We are about to become parents.  Parents!  We will be in charge of loving and shaping and molding a little person.  I know there will be hard times - sleepless nights, fears of inadequacy, etc. - but there will be so many good times.  So many snuggles and laughs and memories.  I can't wait - bring it on!

37w0d

{Baby on Board}

I've had multiple requests to get a peek at my growing belly.  For the record it's really hard to get a good picture while you stand there sideways and smile awkwardly.  I've been avoiding sideways pictures for years.  Maybe we'll finally get this whole belly pic thing figured out some time in the next 22 weeks :-)

7 weeks

 

11 weeks, 1 day



Here we are still working on perfecting our technique.



12 weeks, 4 days

 

13 weeks



14 weeks, 2 days



16 weeks, 2 days

As of today I am 17 weeks and 4 days.

Only 22 weeks and 3 days to go (ish) :-)

{Home Sweet Home}

Now that we have lived here for two weeks (as of today) I thought it was about time to post some pictures to give you a tour of our new home!  We absolutely love our house and are so happy we get to live here.  So without further ado:



Ta-da!

 

A very sleepy yet excited Casey and Molly waking up
after staying our first night in our new home on an air mattress :-)

 

Master bath with walk-in shower.



I love our tile!



Master vanity (don't worry there's now a mirror in the frame).



Our closet (swoon!).



Baby's room.  Can't wait to bring him/her home to be with us :-)

 

Guest room / Baby #2's room.



Built-in shelves in upstairs hallway.



The laundry chute!!!
It dumps straight into a cupboard in our laundry room.



Guest/kids' bath (the mirror is now in here, too).



Bonus room aka Casey's man cave.



Stairwell.  (I love having that window there!)



Master bedroom.

Dining room.  (Hard to see I know but basically it's three walls
with the fourth open to the kitchen and a light fixture in the middle.)

  

Our backyard.  Plenty of room for a BBQ's, a swing set and a garden.



Oh kitchen how I love thee.



Living room as seen from kitchen.
(The buckets of paint have now been relocated to the garage where they belong.)

 

Eek!  One of my favorite purchases ever.
I have wanted these for soooo long.



Powder room (downstairs).



Mudroom (right when you walk in from the garage).



Front room / sewing room.



Front door / entry way.

 

We woke up to snow our first morning in our new house.
It was fun and magical and glorious!

These pictures were taken when our house was all shiny and pretty looking.  It's still gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but the overall vibe is a bit cluttered with all the boxes strewn about.  Hopefully soon we'll have most things put away and feel semi-organized.  I'm hoping to at least have the kitchen/living/dining rooms all put together this week so I can decorate for Christmas.  We are loving our home so much and feel so blessed and lucky to get to live here and raise our family here.  And we'd love to have you over so if you want to visit and poke your head around just let us know :-)

{Baby Babendure}

We've already told our families and friends.  We've even told Facebook.

But we just had to say it again:

We can't wait to meet Baby Babendure!

We're due May 14, 2011 - only 31 weeks to go :-)

Wahoo Nicki & Donny!!!

My best best best friend is engaged!!!

What a great pair she and Donny are. They will be amazing partners as they journey through life together.

Congratulations Nicki and Donny :D :D :D

(P.S. Yay me for keeping it a secret even though I really, really, really, really wanted to spill the beans!)

MB + CB = <3

(I'm still behind on my blogging, but I am trying to catch up. Here is another late entry...) .

We celebrated our third anniversary on April 29th. Three years - can you believe it?!?! In some ways the last three years have absolutely flown by and in other ways it seems like we've been man and wife so much longer. .

I love this picture. I don't remember what made us crack up so much here, but I love both of our expressions. I also love that we still make these faces on a very regular basis. No one can make me laugh like Casey and I hope that no one can make him laugh like me. We have fun together and I think that is such a crucial part of our relationship.

.

To celebrate our first 1095 days of wedded bliss we went out to a nice dinner at a fabulous restaurant - Wildfish Seafood Grille. When we made our online reservation we mentioned that we were celebrating our anniversary. They greeted us as Mr. & Mrs. Babendure (they even pronounced our name correctly) and offered their congratulations as they seated us at our table covered in red rose petals. So romantic! We indulged in some incredible wine and scrumptious food (scallops - my favorite) and just when we thought we couldn't consume anything more they brought out our complimentary dessert - rum soaked pineapple upside down cake, flambeed at our table, served with butter pecan ice cream. Heaven! They even wrote out "Happy Anniversary" in chocolate on the serving platter. What a perfect ending to a perfect meal.

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At this point we were running a little late for the show. We bought tickets to the third installment of a comedy series we love - Late Night Catechism III: 'Til Death Do Us Part. We had originally planned on driving to the theater but after we had a little more wine than we had planned on with dinner we decided to walk. Well, run/walk as we were cutting it kind of close. My feet didn't enjoy this so much in heels but we made it on time! The show was hilarious and centered around marriage which was of course the theme of our night.

.

I love being married and there is no one else I'd rather be married to.

Casey I love you and look forward to the rest of our life together!

.