Joy To The World

So it's almost Christmas and I realized that not only has it been a month since my last post, but also that I still had my fall layout. As much as I usually enjoy designing my own header and then spending an hour trying to figure out how to get it to fit on the page (can you sense my sarcasm?), for the sake of time I decided to go for a simpler design this time.
Baby Bo will be 6 weeks old on Christmas day, and we can hardly believe how time has flown. We are anxiously awaiting his first real smile, and dreading January when our happy little family will be broken up by our public school system who will be requiring Mr. Bo to return to work. Until then we will continue to spend time with each other, our families, and looking forward to/enjoying the holidays. We are loving being parents, and thanks to the generous assistance of some wonderful grandparents, Mr.Bo and I have been able to get out of the house a few evenings to spend time with friends, baby free....Each time we leave him behind I am able to relax a little more, but am always thrilled to come back home to his sweet face.
Well, hopefully by January I will be back in full blogging force (That is unless you would like for me to fill you in on the struggles of a gassy/constipated baby), but until then allow me to send a little Christmas cheer your way....

Happy Holidays!

The Adventures of Baby Bo

 I know everyone MUST be on pins and needles waiting for a Baby Bo post. Well wait no more because after two weeks of life, he has given me LOTS to write about! As much as I know you all would love to hear me go on and on about every little spit bubble, grunt, and bowel movement, I will try my best to make this post as short and sweet as possible...

Friday November 11, 2011 started out like any other normal day. After having a leisurely morning at home, I went in for yet another weekly Dr. appointment with my OB. At that point I was only a little under a week away from my due date. After a delightful assessment of my cervix, the Dr. informed me that I was "a good 3 centimeters" dilated. She then told me that if I chose to, I could have my labor induced that next week, and that she would be on call on that following Sunday if I wanted to do it then. Throughout my entire pregnancy I kept telling everyone how much I really did not want to go past my due date because I did not want to be induced, as opposed to going into labor naturally. However, after a long nine months, the thought of being pregnant just one more day was sounding less and less appealing...and with the opportunity dangling in front of my face to have a baby three days before my due date, I just couldn't say no. Mr. Bo and I spent those next two days getting everything ready, and trying to relax as much as possible.

 My induction was scheduled for 7 a.m. on Sunday November 13, but I received a call from the hospital around 6 a.m. letting me know that labor and delivery was full, and that my induction would have to be pushed back to noon. Talk about a long morning! When we finally got to the hospital, and were nice and settled in, things started moving pretty quickly. After having my I.V. placed, the Dr. broke my water and in a matter of minutes I began having contractions. I have a very low tolerance for pain, so after about an hour I requested an epidural. The rest of the afternoon and evening passed pretty uneventfully, with lots of family to keep us company. Then around 9:00 p.m. I was told it was time to start pushing! The first hour of pushing was really not too unpleasant. The epidural was still going strong, and everything seemed relatively easy and relaxed. That was until around 9:50 or so, when my epidural drip ran out, and I continued to push for another hour. 

 As someone who has had two bouts with Kidney stones, as well as Ovarian cysts, let me tell you: Worst pain  of my entire life. That was until 10:51 p.m. when every ounce of pain left my body and my sweet, healthy, 8 lb 3 oz baby boy was born. 

. Our first few days home from the hospital were somewhat overwhelming, as Mr. Bo and I both had "hospital withdraws." We loved our Dr. and nurses so much.  Tomorrow Baby Bo will be two weeks old and I can hardly believe it. He has been so much fun to have around, and we often find ourselves just sitting and staring at him. I'm still having a hard time putting him down, and just want to hold him in my arms all the time. Mr. Bo is a wonderful dad, and has proven himself to be somewhat of a natural...It helps that he has six weeks paid paternity leave from work! So far Baby Bo's favorite thing to do is sleep. Even though all anyone told me before he was born was how much newborns sleep, they all still seem surprised by how much he actually does sleep. When he is awake he is such a delight. So far he has proven himself to be somewhat of an "easy baby,"  rarely fussing except during bath times, changing times, and when he has to be put in his car seat. Sometimes he cries when he feels like I am taking too long getting to him for meal times, but mostly he just makes snorting noises while rubbing his face, which we find quite amusing! He is eating well, growing well, and we consider ourselves very blessed!

After his first bath at the hospital. This picture still brings a tear to my eye. 

And baby makes three...

Four generations of Bo men
(Also Baby Bo's first Thanksgiving!)

A Moment With Anne

While I've really been enjoying my time off at home, I'm beginning to feel a bit like this....

Anne Taintor

 Ah, nesting. 

Less than a week 'til due date.God willing, it will not be longer.  

Locked, Stocked, and Ready to Go!

Tomorrow officially marks 39 weeks! As if you haven't figured it out, we are more than ready for Baby Bo to make his debut. I've been off work for almost a week now, just playing  the waiting game and trying to keep busy. Today I decided to take a few pics of the nursery to share with you all. It's a tiny room so it was a wee bit challenging to get a good angle, but  I think these will give you a good idea of what the finished product looks like. Mr. Bo painted the lovely chocolate brown walls, and everything else was up to me!
Enjoy!

View from the hallway

Locked and loaded!

I had a handkerchief with Bob Marley's picture on it that I cut out, Liquid Stitched it to this orange burlap, and added the sticker letters before putting it in a frame.  

I got the idea to make this mobile form a similar one  I saw at an art show

Small tree branch wrapped in multicolored yarn, fishing line, beads, and origami  cranes

"Cowboy Andy"
Artist: Mr. Bo   Age: 5

Beautiful blanket made by my wonderful aunt  

Well Isn't that Pintresting

I suppose it was only a matter of time.
Thanks to an invite from my wonderful sis-in-law, I am now not only a blogger, but also a Pintrest-er.
It been less than 24 hours, but here are a few of my favorite "pins" so far...

I really want to make this for Christmas

Paper towel rolls and hot glue....I will be doing this.... although I will probably add some spray paint

To go with my antique typewriter

"Pardon me, is this your kitten?"

I loved this because it pretty much coins my go too look during the winter months...I, however, never  seem to  look this glam'.

Eviction Notice

Dear Uterus Squatter,

As of today, you have three weeks to remove yourself, and all of your belongings (placenta included), from my mid section. While I understand why it might be difficult to want to leave behind the warm squishy water bed you have been carried in for the past nine months, my body has just about had enough. I do appreciate you allowing me to skip the whole morning sickness fiasco, and also for allowing my wedding ring to still fit my finger up until this week. However, even these significant acts of kindness cannot make up for the fact that for the past nine months my face has looked like a pizza, my thighs like cottage cheese, and every night I  have to constantly flip my body around like a rotisserie chicken just to get comfortable in bed...Oh, and I can't stop thinking about food!...And I feel like with all the extra weight you've been causing me to pack on, you could have put a little more effort into my...how should I put this....lovely lady lumps. I was really looking forward to the extra cleavage everyone insisted I would get.
Anyway, it's really not so bad out here, I promise. Your dad and I are more than excited to meet you, and your grandparents can hardly wait either. Plus, we have a really great name picked out for you, but we have been waiting for your arrival to tell anyone what it is. So whaddya say, little man? Are you ready to bite the bullet and come on outta there? I just have one more small request....go easy on me, will ya? Or if you can't manage that, at least let us sleep through the first couple of nights after you get here (I hear labor is exhausting). No? Can't manage that one either? Well then I guess I'll just have to settle for you being the cutest baby ever to grace this fine planet (as if you could really help that).
I love you already. Now hurry the @*&$ up.

Sincerely,

Your loving yet slightly hormonal and impatient mother

A Moment With Anne

Happy (almost) Friday!

Is this what I have to look forward to?

4 1/2 more weeks! 

Anne Taintor

Busy Bo's

The past two weekends were very busy for the Bo's. We had both of our baby showers, and attended an eight hour child birth class at the hospital.
A lot of people told us that they felt the child birth class was a waste of time, but at the risk of sounding like a huge nerd, I really enjoyed it. Being an early childhood major, a lot of the info was more of a "review" for me, but I also feel like I learned quite a bit. For example, I did not realize that boiling bottles was not a common practice anymore, and is actually completely unnecessary. You would think that for someone who enjoys keeping up with the latest infant/child research studies and practices (like I said, nerd) I would have figured that out by now. We also learned about lots of different breathing and pain management techniques (Epidural? Yes, please), and got a tour of the hospital. Even though I was like the geek sitting in the front of classroom taking notes and asking the teacher for more homework, and Mr. Bo was the kid sitting in the back of the class texting his buddies and falling asleep, I think we both benefited from the class.... and if you asked him, Mr. Bo may even admit to enjoying it a little bit too.

Both of our baby showers were wonderful, and we are both so grateful for those who took time out of their busy schedules to plan them, as well as the people who GENEROUSLY bought us gifts. We feel very blessed to have such great friends and family to support and share this time with us.

Our first shower was given to us by our friend Cortney....

She came up with a super cute owl theme

the hostess with the most-est

Our second shower was given to us by our church. I do not have many pictures from this shower, but since I know that you are just dying to see them, when I get some I will be sure to post them.



Just a quick snapshot with some fellow Bo's

Only six more weeks to go until the due date! Will we make it? We shall see...





32 weeks

32 weeks down, 8 more to go!

You will just have to excuse the poor picture quality. Incase you havn't noticed based on previous posts, we dont seem to be real big on quality photographs around here....But doesn't my dog look cute?!

Sweet Nothings

Not a whole lot has happened over the past few weeks (besides Mr. Bo and I celebrating three years married! GO US!), but since it has been awhile since I have posted anything, I decided I would just let you all know of some of the sweet (and maybe some not-so-sweet) "nothings" floating around in my head today.

I do not cook, and when I do I usually screw something up. For our anniversary I decided to make a cheesecake for the first time. Convinced that I would mess it up during the baking process (either let it cook too long, or not long enough), I decided to use a no-bake recipe. I think I'll take my chances baking one next time. No bake cheesecake = No good cheesecake.

I feel like I see an unusually high amount of hand written signs advertising pillow top, or king size mattresses posted in random places around town. Is this some sort of a weird scam, or is it actually a common way for people to unload new or used mattresses? Either way, weird.

I feel like my head may explode if I receive anymore unwarranted childrearing advice. While I know you are just trying to be helpful, bare in mind that I do work with young children for a living (and have been doing so for quite some time), not to mention I have a degree in Early Childhood, so my head is pretty much filled to the brim with not only experiences, but also lots of advice and information as it is. So as well intentioned as you may be, I beg of you, no mas.

This week we finished season 4 of the Showtime series "Dexter." Can I just say....OHMYGOSH! I did not see that coming. Seriously, I was in shock. It literally kept me awake that night.

I am excited beyond excited for my two baby showers coming up, one being given to me by my dear friend Cortney, and the other by our church.

Sometimes I really wish I cared more about politics. Try as I may, I just cannot get my mind to focus on all that is going on in Washington right now. But boy would I love to get ahold of John Boehner's skin care secerts. What a gorgeous tan.

I have been trying to get into reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest since late August. Now, three weeks later, it is due back to the library and I am not even half way through it. It just has not been capturing my attention the way the first two books did, and it seems by the time I get a chance to sit down and read it a nap always sounds so much more appealing.

Too Soon?

Ok, so I realize I should have at least waited until after Labor Day to switch to a fall themed layout, but I just couldn't help myself! I blame it on Bath and Body Works already having all of their fall/Halloween smells and goodies on display (where I spent about 30 minutes last night drooling over all of the new scents). I guess it makes sense though, considering I can hardly wait until after Thanksgiving to start pulling out my Christmas decorations each year....after which my summer countdown begins.

A Moment With Anne

True That

Anne Taintor

Back To School

Well, today officially marked the last day of the summer for the Bo family. Mr. Bo goes back to work tomorrow to begin another long year of educating America's youth.  However, this year he will be going back as a social studies teacher instead of a writing teacher. Long story short, his school did some rearranging, and my very own renaissance man volunteered to become certified in yet another subject.
I too will be going back to a more regular schedule (as opposed my part time summer schedule), until the beginning of November, when I will begin my "maternity leave" for an indefinite amount of time (anyone know of any money making ventures for a wanna be stay-at-home mom BESIDES an in-home daycare?).
We are getting more and more anxious for the arrival of Baby Bo, and while sometimes I feel like this pregnancy has been going by extremely fast, other times I can't believe I still have three more months until I get to meet my baby! The nursery is slowly coming along. It's completely painted, and this past weekend we bought a crib and changing table. Last night we put together the changing table, which to our surprise was extremely easy. Somehow I feel as though I will not be saying the same thing about the crib.
Another end of the summer adventure that we were able to enjoy was spending lots of time with Mr. Bo's out of town family, including his brother, sister- in- law, niece, sister, aunt, and grandma. It was great to see all of them, and to get to see our sweet niece who is getting so big! Mr. Bo also went camping for two nights with his family, while I opted to keep my pregnant butt out of the heat, and at home. The second night I decided to spend with my grandma who lives out of town, who I have not seen since being pregnant.

*This Week In Entertainment Quickie*
While his family was in town, Mr. Bo and I decided to catch a matinee showing of "Cowboys and Aliens" with his brother and sister. This is not the type of movie that I would normally choose to pay money to see, but I ended up liking it much more than I thought I would. As far as alien movies go, it was definitely better than "Super 8" (way more action and a lot less cheese). Steven Spielberg was an executive producer though, which in my book is code for "let's see how many movie cliches we can fit into one 2 hour production." Nevertheless, a good movie that we can now remove from our Netflix que.

While I am somewhat sad to see another summer come and gone, I could not be more excited for the fall. Fall definitely ties with summer as my favorite season. The pumpkins, the leaves, the mums, and all those great smelling candles....plus our wedding anniversary in September, football games, yummy pumpkin brews, and this year, a baby boy! I can hardly contain myself!

A Moment With Anne

When it comes to cooking...

...My thoughts exactly.

Anne Taintor

24 weeks

This past Wednesday I was officially 24 weeks pregnant (roughly 6 months). Care to see some belly pics?

In case you are interested, here are some pics from a month ago, at 20 weeks....

and 16 weeks...



House Proud

I'm not a huge fan of the Nate Berkus Show, but every now and then I'll catch an episode. He has a segment on his show called "House Proud" where everyday people get to show off parts of their home that they have redone, or designed in a fun or unique way. Well after a long hiatus in major "home projects," Mr. Bo and I have taken advantage of  his time off lately to begin working on two of the bedrooms in our house. We began with our guest bedroom, which up until now has basically been a storage closet. When we moved in, it had peeling maroon wall paper on all of the walls, and tarnished/rusted gold fixtures. After picking out new paint and fixtures, Mr. Bo has spent the past week and a half or so peeling wall paper, washing glue off the walls, and doing lots of painting. And while I think Nate would be less than impressed by our renovations (compared to the homes showcased on his program), I am still quite "house proud."

Take a look!

Before

(after wall paper was taken down)

After

Next on the list...the baby room!



A Moment With Anne

Anne Taintor

Where's My Pregnancy Glow?

I thought pregnancy meant you looked like this...



Glowing

...Then how come I look like this?.....



Not so much

 



Boy, Oh Boy!

SURPRISE!

Do not adjust your monitors, it's true: Mr. Bo and I are officially expecting!....and not just that, but we are expecting a baby BOY!

As of today I am 21 weeks and 1 day...which translates to roughly 5 months pregnant (and giving me a due date of November 16). We found out around early March, began telling family and friends nearby in early May, and now we're going public! And not a moment too soon, because my belly has just begun telling everyone who might not have yet known, "Hey, I'm growing a baby in here!"

So it is with great pride and pleasure that introduce to you...

BABY BOY BO!

(click on any of the following pictures to get a better view)

He has his arms up over his head

Profile view

Sweet Feet

A close up of his..eh' hem.