...and these are a few of my favorite things ...

Lots of people have been asking if I am having any cravings or what my favorite foods to eat are, so I thought I'd show you! I am absolutely addicted to veggie sandwiches on sourdough. And they MUST contain: lettuce, tomato, green pepper, cucumber, olives, pickles, mushrooms, sprouts, and cheddar. I eat one every day! The other thing I love is fruit. Can't get enough. And especially grapefruit. Love grapefruit juice, love grapefurt pieces, grapefruit popsicles...everything! What's funny is I hd never liked grapefruit before! Other fav things to eat are: rasin oatmeal, apricot protein bars, celery with peanut butter, and english muffins with cream cheese on top ... and who doesn't love an OREO?! So there you have it :)

Best dream of my life ...

They say that when you're preggers you can have some crazy dreams ... and I had mine last night! First of all, thanks to Andrea's kids, I slept a full 8 hours! Wahoo! Maybe all I need is kids to wear me out! So not sure if it was the kids, the lasagne we ate, or what, but I slept AND had the best dream ever!

The dream started with me laying on a bed in my friend's living room trying to show her daugher where my son's head was at (which lately seems to be on the right side of my stomach). His head was moving around and then all of a sudden it started protruding more and more out of my stomach (think like the movie Alien ... I know, weird!). Before I knew it, his head an shoulders were fully popped out of the right side of my stomach with only a thin layer of my stomach covering his face (think transparent latex glove). It was soooo real that I could see his eyes, lashes, eyebrows, dark hair, and even a dimple in his right cheek! I was just staring at my baby and he was staring at me!

Then he started to giggle! I was hearing my baby giggle, so I started to laugh! And then I told him, "I think it's bedtime." and he responded back, "Bedtime?" in a little boy voice! And I thought to myself---my kid's a genius! He just spoke and he's not born yet! Then I told him, "I love you." and he giggled and smiled and said, "I love you too!" and then in my dream I started to cry (which I found out I was actually doing becasuse when I woke up my face was tear stained and my pillow was wet from crying!!!)

Then I told him he had to go back now, and slowly started pushing on the top of his head until he was back in my tummy. And then I woke up ... and the right side of my stomach hurt.

How crazy is that?!?!? Best dream ever! It was so real and amazing and comforting, but kind of creepy if you think back! LOL.

My newest piece of homemade art!

How cool is this that I made? They are in lots of catalogs and I finally decided to make one for myself (they are pretty expensive to buy ready made)! Just get a frame from your local craft store with matting and then find the pics that look like letters! I love it!! Next up on the blog ... the boy's canvas prints ....

Watch our boy move and groove!

After three nights of trying, I was finally able to capture his movement in my belly on camera! Look closely and you'll see my stomach twitch where he is moving! Where I put my hand on my stomach is his head! Soooo amazing!

I must confess ...

It was tonight at dinner telling this story again that I realized I needed to confess to my bloggers my latest craziest thing I did. Before you read this, don't judge me -- I'm sure I could pull up dirt on you if I needed to!

Picture it ... Saturday, July 18th, out on a wheatfield in Pasco in 106 degree heat. I was at a wedding taking pictures with my friend Andrea. When she and I were discussing on how to best "dress" for comfort in the heat she suggested that we wear our husband's underwear. Boxer briefs to be exact. She had this piece of advice passed to her and she said it worked awesome because they end up being super big and then you don't get "leg chaiff" from the sweat! Being that I am pregant and was so scared of being uncomfortable in the 100+ degree heat for 8 hours, I would have tried anything.

So on went Blake's underwear on my body and a second pair in my purse in case I needed them later. Also, my nurse-friend advised that I bring the baby doppler, which is used to hear our son's heartbeat. That way if I got scared of being overheated I could check his heartbeat and make sure he was plugging along. Not sure how many of you know how a doppler works, but it needs a liquid gel to create the acoustic sound ... a gel in the form of lube ... yes, lube. So in my purse was my husbands underwear, my hand-held doppler wand, and an economy plus size of lube.

You can now imagine my embarassment when one of the ladies at the wedding happend to walk over to where my purse was on teh floor SITTING OPEN and she saw everything inside. She looked at the purse, looked at me, back at the purse, and then with shock and I'm sure disgust walked quickly away thinking I was some sort of freak.

I figured I'll never see her again and zipped up my purse and went on about my afternoon. So how's that for a what's-in-your-purse-story???

26 Weeks!!! (aka 6.5 months!)

Here we go again with another mirror shot!! Starting to get out there!!!

And they were movin', and goovin', and dancin' to the music ...

So, I am sitting at my desk right now editing pictures and I look down and I see my entire stomach shift to the side! I feel it and I feel the hardest thing I have felt!! That must be my little man's head protrouding out the right side of my stomach. It is the coolest (and at the same time strangest) feeling to feel this little alien tossing and turning in my tummy! Maybe he's providing editing suggestions :) See the arrow for where his head is! Can you see???

Let the decorating begin!!

Now that the furniture in his room is together I can start decorating! My good friend Shannon is painting me canvases for his room that match his bedding (Thanks Shan!) and I am enjoying frequent trips to TJ Maxx, Ross, Value Village and Burlington looking for all the little accessories! So far I found a great orange piggy bank, an awesome blue retro lamp, and a cool painting that incorporates the colors of the room! More to come, this is just phase one! :)

I SLEPT!

Thanks to the magic of modern medicine (and some help from my psychologist friend!!!) I slept last night! After about a week of insomnia and even a period of time without ANY sleep, I had enough. My Dr prescribed me Fenagran, which is commonly given to women who have really bad nausea to get them to sleep. For me, I just needed it for sleep! Blake and I went to dinner last night, came home, watched TV to relax, popped my pill, then went to bed and practiced my deep breathing and before I knew it, it was 8am!!!!!!!!!! It felt so good to have a FULL night of sleep! I am going to keep taking the pills for a couple more days to get myself fully back on track! Wahoooo :)

3:05 am, 3:42 am, 4:12 am, 5:30 am .....

Calling all preggos and former preggos --- any one ever have insomnia??! Oh man, for a few days now I have been waking up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep! I am totally awake! I don't think I'm stressed or thinking about any one thing in particular, I just wake up and feel like I could go to work or do stuff around the house!

But ... then 6:00 am hits (when I shoudl be getting up) and instead that's when my body decides it's tired again and wants to go to sleep!!! Urrrgh. So frustrating! Then I am a zombie because I was up half the night!

I do know, however, that Saved by the Bell is on from 4am-6am and really enjoyed catching up with Zach and the crew this morning! :)

Advice?

24 Weeks!

You guys are funny ... apparently I'm not posting baby bump pictures fast enough for your liking! I will try to remember to start doing more regularly every week and a half or so, it's just been crazy busy (as always!). Here you go!

The baby's OREO experience

So, I was laying on the couch reading a magazine eating a couple OREOs when I noticed some weird pokes going on ... then out of the corner of my eye I happened to see my stomach moving through my dress!!! It was like a little alien was poking me all over and my stomach would twitch out all over the place!

I have been trying to watch my sugar intake, so I figure that by eating the OREOs probably put our little guy on a sugar high! So what did I do?? ... eat more to make him keep doing it! Everytime he would slow down I would eat 2 or 3 more and watch him start up again! He eventually stopped ... probably because I put him in a sugar coma and I decided it was best to pack up what was left of the OREOs and put them back in the cupboard!

So fun while it lasted!!! Love you baby boy!

We have a grown up bedroom!

We are finally grown ups! We have a grown up bed now! We finally bought the headboard and footboard that goes with our set. Blake and I sleep with most of our legs dangling off the bed, so I was kind of anti-footboard, but this one is actually lower than I thought! Our box spring and mattress are pretty high, so that helps ... we just may still get a couple of feet over than thing :) It has a leather padded headboard which will be nice for reading or watching TV. I love it! I can't wait for Blake to come home and see!

The boy's bedroom!

We're half way there! Three of the four pieces of furniture arrived so Daddy (Blake) and Papa (my Dad) put everything together! Blake painted the room this past weekend and it looks so good! I'm just waiting on his dresser which should be here this week and then I can start putting his clothes away!

We decided to go with "cashew" (thanks Jenna!) for the paint color and we think accessorizing in blue and orange will really stand out against that color. I can't wait to get the rest of the stuff now! Everyone be on the look out for an ice blue, shag, round rug!

My birthday present!!!

How cool is this!?! For my birthday present from Blake he surprised me with a customized sign with my logo printed on it! It is so cool and now I can hang it in my studio! It was so thoughtful; I still don't know how he pulled it off, but I love it!!! He is the best!!!!!!!!! Thanks, baby --- I love you!

Belly at 22 weeks

So it's starting to get harder to take a picture! My shirts want to go out and I can't get a good pic! I'll have Blake take one of me in a tank top next time so it is tighter. Here's me and my boy at 22 weeks!

Our Wallowa Lake Adventure!

Here are some pics from our Wallowa Lake adventure! We headed into the mountains with friends for some R&R on the lake! The lake and scenery were gorgeous! The boys would go fishing every morning and then we'd dink around in town or go on hikes and then back out on the boat in the afternoon! Aaron O'Malley is hands down the best camping chef I have ever been with! We ate like kings!!! We took Blake's folks' Yukon so we would have more room, and the trip ended with the fuel pump going out 15 miles outside of Hermiston. Nothing a Dad likes to do more on Fathers Day then come pick up his kids, kids' friends, and boat in the middle of the afternoon!

Make sure to watch the videos below ... the first is Jen and Aaron's dog, Tonka, thinking he is actually swimming! And the last two are the new Olympic sport the guys came up with on a hike: Norwegian Tree Tossing. It involved kicking down 6'-8' dead trees and then hurling them off a 200 ft cliff. Is my boy going to do this stuff??

I've said it before, and I'll say it again .......

.......I have the best husband in the world!!!! For my 28th birthday yesterday Blake threw me a surprise party! He had been telling me that we were going to go to dinner with my parents and have a chill evening -- which I was fine with. So my Mom called and asked me to run with her to Macys to check out some furniture they are buying before we went to dinner. On our way home to get Blake and my Dad to go to dinner, we pull in the driveway and the garage opens and I see everyone in the garage yelling surprise!

I actually started crying (pregnancy hormones and happiness mix!) and just started hugging everyone! I couldn't believe he organized such a surprise! He had a BBQ spread and it was a beautiful day so we just hung in the backyard and celebrated!

Thank you baby for planning the best birthday ever! I love you more every day and am so happy to be married to the most wonderfully amazing man in the world! I can't wait for our son to meet his awesome Daddy!! Love you Balooga.

Here is my Mom pulling in ... see my shocked face?!?!

Here is some people in the garage, others had gone in the house:

In my "princess" garb I blew out my fake candles!

My baby grilling!

Blake even organized for my photo shoot crew in from Chicago to come be with us to celebrate!

Me and the best husband in the world! I love you baby.

Thanks to all my wonderful girlfriends

Ok ... here's a sentimental post! Here's to all my girlfriends who since the day I announced my pregnancy have been so gracious with gifts with everything from lotions for my belly, to bottles, to blankets, to baby clothes, to maternity clothes, to Dreft laundry soap, to hangers, to more clothes ... and everything in between! I am so lucky to have all of you in my life and my little man will be blessed with a slew of wonderful Aunties who will love him as much as we do! Thank you for everything!

We love you!
Britt & Baby Boy

Baby Boy Kluse's Furniture!

So I think we've narrowed the search! I believe this is the furniture set we'll be going with! Now that we know it was a boy, I wanted something with really clean lines and didnt look very feminine. I sent it out for some votes (as I do for everything!) and this one came back the winner! We can order it and have it here in a few weeks --- versus months with a few other stores we have checked in to! I can't wait to get the room all set up!

We have picked the chocolate mist color (darker than the color shown below), which is a super dark brown (almost espresso) and I think it will go very nicely with the bedding we had picked! The other cool thing is it's a four-in-one crib, so it goes from crib, to toddler bed, to daybed, to full size bed. Can't wait to start putting his room together! My friend also gave me a great tip about some decorative wall hangings that were at craft warehouse for only $5 a piece! Sweet deal, huh!!! :)

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it's official! Our baby has "junk" :) It's a boy!!! We are so excited! The ultrasound went great today and most importantly we have a totally happy and healthy baby!

The first part of the ultrasound the tech just measured the brain, heart, internal organs, regular measurements and so forth. Then she said, "ok, do you want to know?" And we excitedly told her YES! It didn't take long at all before she found the "part" and said, "Looks like your baby has a third leg!" And then I remember hearing Blake say, "It's a boy!!!" He was grinning from ear to ear and it was the cutest thing to see! I was so happy and started to tear up!

Here's some of the stats: heart beat was 158, feet are 3 cm long, hands are 2.14 cm long (Grandpa Mike's hands!), he is in the 80% percentile for length at almost 8" long, and weighs a little over 12 oz. Dr thinks I am going to carry straight out and be all baby. We'll see! So far I've gained 2 lbs. The baby is measuing a week ahead of my orginal due date, so now we're looking around mid- to late-Oct for his arrival. (may be sooner if he gets big!)

He wasn't cooperating much and kept his hands over his face most of the time (we'll see how well that works for him when he's out and I have more control!) But the BEST picture is the one right below where it looks like he is flexing his bicep! Blake looked at it and said, "whoa, my son is ripped!" It is the funniest picture. The second one shows the infamous part, the third is his hands over his face, and the fourth is a side profile, but he had his head buried in the uterus!

We couldn't be happier that we have a healthy baby and are so proud to now say we have a SON!!! We love you baby boy Kluse and soon we will find you a permanent name. Stay tuned!!

Ready for Baby!

This morning Blake and I got everything cleaned out of what will be the nursery! Now, it's ready for the baby! Just have to figure out boy or girl and start painting and decorating! Maybe I have entered the beginning of the "nesting" period, but I want everything moved out, cleaned, fresh, etc! We got rid of a lot of stuff today and I feel great! We are turning the guest room into the studio and we're keeping the 4th bedroom as the office. We're ready for you, Baby Kluse!

Dinner with the Wagemans!

Tonight was so much fun! Our friends Melissa and Reggie were in town from Seattle and we had the best night with them! We went to dinner at Bella Italia (they loved it!) and just sat and talked all night! And Auntie Mel and Uncle Reggie even got the baby Dr. Browns bottles! How sweet!! It's so fun to be able to catch up with them --- we miss and love them!

19 week baby bump!

I'm getting the hang of this camera-in-the-mirror trick! Here is my 19 week baby bump! No denying any more there's a baby in there!! I have felt a few more "pokes" ... we just can't wait for them to be more consistent and Blake is dying to see/feel it!! We love you, baby!

Felt the baby!!!

Well, last night I think I felt the baby move for the first time!!! Blake and I were laying in bed watching TV and I felt this weird "twinge." Not realizing what it was or thinking much about it, I readjusted myself and a few minutes later I felt it again. I adjusted again and on the third time it was like I had this overwhelming feeling and knew what it was!

I grabbed Blake's arm and shouted, "I think I just felt the baby move!!!" So we muted the TV and I laid there and sure enough a few minutes later I felt it again. It was almost as if someone "poked" me from the inside. Not as much of a flutter as I had read about, but more like an actual poke!

It was crazy and amazing and I can't wait to feel it again!!!