The big news this week is that the kitchen is very near completion!  All of the cabinets are installed and the new appliances are coming this afternoon.  I am very excited that we will actually be able to use the stove again!  We will not be eating out for a very long time if I can help it!  I have had enough of fast food to last me for years!   Clint has worked so hard on this kitchen and I think that he is even more excited than I am (if that is possible) that it is almost done.  Now he just has to order the countertop and wait for it to come in.  That should be it except for small details like trim around the windows and floors.  I am so proud of him for doing all of this work on his own, even though he stressed himself out to the max and now hurt his back lifting the cabinets.  He just needs a few weeks to relax so the holidays are here at the perfect time.  In the new year he will get geared up again to start working on the baby's room and hopefully it will be ready to be painted by the end of January.  I am very excited to start doing baby shopping!!

My doctor's appointment went well last week.  I think I jinxed myself by saying that my doctor never runs late, because she was about 20 minutes late this time.  It just might have something to do with the student doctor that was tagging along with her...  Plus my hubby decided to suprise me and joined me at the appointment!  I was very excited to see him!  He wanted to be there when the doctor gave us the results of the quad test and the ultrasound.  The quad test came back normal, our chances of the baby being born with down's syndrome or spinal bifida are less than 1 in 5000.  This was a huge relief to us!  The doctor also let us know that everything looked good with the ultrasound.  The baby looks good, is growing right on schedule for my due date to be April 10th so we are back to the original due date.  The placenta and the fluid inside of it are looking good also.  Basically we are lucky to have nothing to worry about at this point.  I am still feeling great!

Only one short week left until Christmas!  I hope all of you have finished your Christmas shopping, the stores are going to be crazy this week!!  I love this time of year, it is so fun!  Just thinking about how our lives are going to change in the next year is amazing.  We will have an eight month old crawling around at Christmas next year! 

The weather sure has been frightful this week in MN!  So cold and all this snow... after a few winters with little snow it has been a shock to the system.  

Baby has been good this week.  Nice and calm!  I have been feeling good, not too tired.  It is hard to adjust to a "winter" schedule.  Getting up earlier to scrape windows and make sure I have enough time to drive to work.   Thinking about how different it is going to be when I have to get up even earlier to get baby ready and drop him/her off at daycare before work!  I have my next doctor's appointment next Wednesday so hopefully I will have more baby news then!

It has been a good week. We had a few issues with the taper (he got in a bad car accident, but luckily is OK) but Clint found another friend that was able to come over and do the job this week.  So now it is ready to go for paint!  Clint is very excited to have things moving along now.  Its very hard for him to deal with delays from things that are out of his control.  He has friends coming over on Monday to help him with the ceramic tile and the window and cabinets should be here next week.  Things are right on track and that puts him in a much better mood. 

We got our Christmas tree on Tuesday night and I will put up all our Christmas decorations this weekend.  They will look lovely with the refrigerator in our living room! But it will help us get into the holiday spirit! Only 18 shopping days left until Christmas!   

21 weeks today! Our ultrasound went great on Monday.  Too short, but it was wonderful to see our little peanut moving around!  According to the sonographer the baby weighs just about one pound now and is almost a foot long! I will find out more details about the ultrasound when I go for my next doctor's appointment.  We saw all the important parts, including the baby's arms, legs, fingers, toes, face, heart and other organs.  The baby was very shy and didn't want to come out of my pelvis and take a good picture! The baby also was being stubborn about letting us see his/her face.  Each time the sonographer would go near its face it would put its hands up in front of it!  I think that he/she had better get used to posing because your grandma's love to take pictures.   You can compare the picture we got from the first ultrasound to the one from this week to see how much the baby has grown. It is truly amazing thinking about this little person growing inside of you. 

The baby is moving around a lot this week.  I can feel it kicking from time to time, but mostly it just continues to do somersaults!  I don't know how much longer it will have room to do that?  You know, in typing this I realize how much I hate calling the baby "it" but what else can I say at this point?  Let me know if you have any suggestions!  Which reminds me... the sonographer said that it was a good thing we did not want to know what sex the baby is because we would have been disappointed.  Our stubborn child had his/her legs crossed, making it impossible to see anything indicating their sex!  He/She must take after their father...

Speaking of Clint, he has been working incredibly hard on meeting his deadline (set only by himself!) for having the kitchen done by Christmas.  He has had quite a few people that are helping him along, but he is working every night even if he is alone.  He and his dad finished the electrical and plumbing last weekend and then his brother Nate and some buddies from work came over to help him put up the sheet rock. They got the majority of it done in one night!  The taper is coming tonight and should be done this weekend, leaving next week for priming and painting. Then all that is left is the tile on the floor, cabinets and appliances.  I am very proud of my hubby.  Once he puts his mind to something he does not give up! 

All of our MN friends stay safe in our big predicted snowstorm this weekend!  Most Minnesotans forget how to drive in the snow over the summer so the first snow is usually the most dangerous.  Maybe we won't get any of this predicted snowfall... a girl can wish!