The Nursery

How time flies!  Our first child is due in 5 weeks and we still have some preparing to do.  But one of the most important parts, the nursery, is completed.  It took a lot of time to complete, but we also made some of it by hand.  We found the furniture at Kids Stuff Superstore in Lincoln and the bedding was purchased from there as well. 

The letters on the wall were purchased from a hobby store and they were already white so we didnt' have to do anything with them.  The butterflies and flowers between the letters is what we made.  Jason cut each butterfly and flower out with a saw and then we sanded and painted the letters.

We are more than pleased with the way the nursery turned out.  We hope you enjoy it, too!  Now on to more craft projects!

Jason is assembling the crib.

These are the flowers that will go on the wall between the letters.

Now that the letters are hung, we needed to mark where the butterflies and flowers were going.

The nursery is finished!  We are very pleased with how the letters,

butterflies, and flowers turned out.

The other side of the room across from the crib.

These are a close-up of the finished butterflies and flowers on the wall.

Another decade come and gone!!!!

Yes, it is that time again. The time of year we all dread when we get older. Another birthday! Unfortunately for me, this year was my milestone. I hit the big 3-0.

Looking back at my 20's, I asked myself what have I accomplished. My answer, nothing! I have accomplished absolutely nothing! Some may say, well you have a Master's degree, bought a house, started a career, have a child on the way, but so has everyone else I know.

Show me a 24 or 25 year old that doesn't already have all this. I can't think of any. I can't say I reached any major accomplishment. I don't feel anything out of the ordinary was accomplished which is why I say I have accomplished nothing.

Maybe I am too hard on myself, but I guess we will have to wait and see what the next decade brings. I won't let anything stop me!

It's a ......?

We are having a GIRL! Since I am so late writing this post, I am sure most everyone has already heard the news, but I thought I would share some pictures of our Gender Party with everyone.

We had a great time host family and friends at our house so everyone could find out the gender together along with us.

No, we didn't know what we were having prior to the Gender Party. It was a great surprise to see the inside of the cake as pink. Now we can begin planning for the arrival of our little girl.




We all thought it was a boy. We were wrong. Yes, that will probably be the first and last time I will be wrong! :)

















They thought it was girl and they were right! We can't wait for the arrival of our little princess! :)








The big reveal! You can see the decorations were both pink and blue since no one knew the gender! What great decorations!

Baby Pictures!!!!!

Here they are; pictures from my last ultrasound. There is a 2D pic and a couple of 3D pics. The 3D pics turned out really well and you can see all the facial features. In one of hte 3D pics I think "baby Clark" is sucking its thumb!

Enjoy!

Halfway through

Although the announcement was made a little over a month ago about the new addition to the Clark family in February, I am halfway through the pregnancy. Time flies! I have been feeling great. I wouldn't even know I was pregnant except my belly keeps getting bigger. Yes, for those of you who are wondering, my baby bump can be seen. Finally!

At 19 weeks, I had my check-up and ultrasound last week. It was my 4th appointment and 3rd ultrasound. There have not been any problems or complications in my pregnancy so I won't bore you with all details about why I've had so many ultrasounds. My appointment last week was a scheduled ultrasound and Jason came along with me.

When the ultrasound tech began looking at the baby, the baby's hands were behind its head. For those of you who know Jason, he sleeps with his hands behind his head. (Yep, I get elbowed almost every night). The baby is about 10 ounces (9 is average for 19 weeks). Everything looked good, but the tech couldn't see the full view of the heart so I will have another ultrasound at my next appointment.

We even got to see a 3-D image of the baby. Next time I post, I will put the 3-D pics on the blog. How amazing is technology that we can see 3-D images. The facial features were amazing!

The answer is yes! We did find out the gender. Well, not exactly. The gender was determined, but the tech wrote down the gender and sealed it in an envelope. The envelope (although sitting in our SUV) will be going to the bakery.

Next month, we will invite family and friends over for a gender party. After dinner, we will cut the cake and find out along with family and friends the gender of Baby Clark. The inside of the cake will be blue for a boy and pink for a girl.

If you want to find out what we are having.......you will have to wait just like us! :)

Oh yes, I will scan the 3-D images and put them on the blog in a few days.

The Stork is Coming!

Yep, you guessed it! Baby Clark is on the way and will be arriving next year. February 3 is the expected date. If this kid is as laid back as Jason it will probably be late, but if it takes after me, well.....it will definitely be early by a week or so. Let's hope it takes after me!

I am 15 week already and time is flying by. We are looking forward to the change this will bring to our house and family. Jason, being the expert painter, is excited to decorate the nursery. He has been researching and looking for ideas for a few weeks now. It's hard to narrow your choice down to one look when there are so many nursery designs that we like.

And the question everyone wants to know...Yes, we will find out what we are having. In fact, we are having a gender party. If you are like me, you have never heard of this before. Once I explain it to you, you will be really excited too! The ultrasound tech will determine the sex on Sept 12 during my appointment, write it down, and seal it in an envelope. Then, Jason and I take the envelope to the cake person (with the envelope still sealed) and she colors the inside of the cake blue or pink. When we have our gender party, guests (our families and close friends) will wear pink if they think it's a girl and blue if they think it's a boy. No one, including Jason and I, will find out the sex until we cut into the cake! How exciting is that!

Check back for more updates on Baby Clark.

New Year, New.....

Wow,where has the time gone! With a new year, we are taking on new ventures. First of all, Jason is no longer working in the field painting. He is still working for the same company but has been promoted to estimating jobs. Although he didn't like the thought of sitting behind a desk all day, he really likes his job. He is in a much better bood in the evening, too.

As for me, I have started a new job. A couple of weeks ago, I started with the Nebraska Corn Board as an Ag Program Manager. My work will deal with ethanol programming, promotion, and education. I will be working with ethanol plant, fueling stations, state fire marshals, auto dealer, and I will be educating the general public about flex fuel vehicles (FFV) and using ethanol as fuel. Although I have only been there for a couple of weeks, I have a full travel schedule for the next 2 months. I will be in Tampa, Dallas, Phoenix, South Dakota, Missouri, and the list goes on. The month of February only has me in the office for 10 days.

I have also began tweeting for the Nebraska Corn Board @NECorn4Ethanol. Follow me.

Oh yes, how could I forget! To celebrate our first anniversary, Jason and I took a much needed vacation. We went to Cancun for a week. What an experience that was! We swam in the ocean (a first for me), went ziplining, rapelling, snorkling in underwater caves, and RELAXED! The resort we staying in was fabulous! We had waiters bringing us food and drinks all day long! What else can you ask for!

Enjoy some of the pics from our vacation in Mexico.

Kim and Jason