Pit

The biggest reason for beginning this blog is that we're pregnant but, unfortunately, live far away from many friends and family members. Hopefully this will be a way to easily post pictures of the little one for you to see. We've nicknamed the baby "Pit" since we're not going to find out the gender...and somehow it seemed nicer than referring to the baby as "it." Early in the pregnancy I also described being pregnant to Chris as like having a pit inside my stomach. We've been blessed with a very painless pregnancy...most of the time I never thought I was even pregnant except that I hadn't had a period and my face broke out worse than during puberty (unfortunately that symptom has never gone away...)!! Now we're 22 weeks pregnant and have been feeling kicks for a few weeks which continually reassures me that there's something growing inside of me...CRAZY! We're due on May 1st and feel nervous and excited at the same time.

Alli

Alli is the wonderful little cat that adopted us almost 2 years ago. We were hanging out in the back yard on a very warm February afternoon when we saw her rummaging through the mess of our backyard. We put out a bowl of milk for her. She finished it VERY quickly then looked at us as if asking for a refill. Bowls of milk eventually turned into bowls of food....bowls of food on the sidewalk eventually turned into bowls of food on the back deck...bowls of food on the back deck eventually turned into bowls of food on the back deck while being petted. You could tell she'd never been pet before because she would dip her back down as if your hand was a magnet repelling her. She warmed up to it, though. After a few months of her coming by every day we noticed that she was putting on some weight. We weren't sure if she was adding weight because she finally had regular food or if she was pregnant...though it was fairly obvious around May when it looked like there was a cantalope in her little belly. She had never really shown interest in coming inside the house, but after she had the kittens (in some undisclosed location) she kept slipping through the door when we'd come in and out. One day she came through the door with what looked like a rat in her mouth. We followed her to where she hid on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the dining room to find out that she'd brought in one of her little kittens! We didn't have the heart to kick her out, so we left the back door open. Two minutes later she left and came back with one more, fed it, left, came back with one more, fed it, left....soon we had 5 little kittens and and INdoor Alli cat! We promptly rescheduled the appointment we had to have her spayed then enjoyed watching the precious little kittens grow for a few months before finding them good homes to live in.

Alli is now and indoor/outdoor cat. She enjoys playing outside while we're at work then runs up to the house as we drive up in the afternoon (it's almost as if she recognizes the sound of the cars!). She's become quite a cuddly cat but also has a very playful side. She loves when anyone goes to the bathroom downstairs because there's just enough room for her to fit her paws underneath to play with you. She also enjoys playing tag (literally!) or hide-and-go-seek. Most recently she's learned how to get under the covers with us at night!

Our House

We bought our first house about 2 1/2 years ago. It was built in 1915 and had been somewhat renovated by a do-it-yourselfer a few years prior to us moving in. In some ways they did more harm than good, but at least the dirty/expensive jobs were done for us - like replacing the plaster walls with drywall and adding HVAC. Chris has spent much time REdoing their electric and plumbing work but most things function properly now. We've spent a lot of time working on the house... We've painted 80% of the inside (they insisted on spray painting the walls, ceilings, AND outlets in every room the same color), refinished the stairs and floors downstairs, moved the plumbing for the washer/dryer to be upstairs, renovated the bathroom downstairs, added trimwork in the stairwell and hallway, added floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in the dining room, and used countless tubes of caulk in windows and doorways to make it less drafty. Our biggest projects have been overhauling the kitchen and backyard, and adding a porch on the front of the house. We've also started landscaping the front yard. You would think we had a brand-new house by now, but there's still a list....

Here's a picture of the house before and during the porch project:

Our Story

Chris and I met working with Habitat for Humanity in Denver while I was doing AmeriCorps (2002-03). We got to know each other during our 30-hour car ride to Portland for a Habitat trip. During our time in Denver, we enjoyed going on hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park, attending sporting events, and going to church together. We got engaged in November '04 when I moved up to Boston to be closer, then were married at Powderhorn Ski Resort in Colorado on July 23, 2005. We were blessed to be surrounded by so many friends and family to celebrate with us!

New Beginnings

Since we have a little one on the way, I figured it's easier to start a blog now rather than waiting for the baby to arrive. Unfortunately there's not a lot of "down time" for me to create this, but since my stomach is full of Thanksgiving fixings, I have the rest of the day to bum around before shopping tomorrow. Here's a picture of Alli, our cat, tempted to partake in the meal herself.