39 and a Half Weeks

Baby B is certainly taking his/her sweet time getting here. We are now at 39 and a half weeks and counting. Sarah has resorted to hitting the treadmill in an effort to get this baby here sooner rather than later.

Winston and Annie Do Christmas

I don't believe there are two more spoiled dogs on the planet that our two dogs. This year they got tons of fun toys and a new house to run around in. When we first brought them to the house they ran around for 30 minutes non-stop playing together. Winston had that big Staffy smile the whole time. After the 30 minutes he promptly took a leak on the floor to mark the house as his... thankfully it was in the storage room on the concrete floor.

Opening their stocking from Grandma

Fun with wrapping paper.

Both seemed quite content with thier new bones.

And a walk in the snow with mom to cap off a perfect Christmas day.

White Christmas

Sarah and I closed on our new house on the 23rd and were so excited to see the snow coming down on Christmas Day. We ended up with a white Christmas our first year in the new house. Let's hope the tradition continues.

Christmas Eve Celebration

With Baby B arriving any day now our doctor advsied us to stay in town this holiday season. So no Hershey this year, but fortunately we were still able to spend it with family. My dad and Sueli had everyone over their house Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Paula & Christian brought my niece and nephews, plus my mom, Tony & Bridget made the trip down from DC. We were joined by some of their friends and everyone has a really great time. We had an amazing dinner, opened Secret Santa gifts white elephant style, and I read The Night Before Christmas (a family tradition since I was a baby, in fact I still have the original pop-up book in one of the unpacked boxes in our garage).

Popping Christmas crackers!!!

My dad had his Secret Santa gift switched 4 times and ended up with this purple purse.

Leonardo explaining the meaning of the Christmas bells.

Sarah in her crown.

Sueli's gourmet feast.

Christmas Brunch at the Jefferson

I thought the best way to celebrate Sarah's birthday would be a trip to the historic Jefferson Hotel for their Christmas brunch. Of course I had to decide this back in June since it books up so fast... good thing Baby B decided not to come 2 weeks early. We had a wonderful time eating and catching up with our good friends Kim and Lynn. We were having such a good time we didn't realize how long we had been there. The hotel staff stopped by and said they needed the table for the next seating. Perplexed, I checked my watch and we had been there almost 2 and a half hours. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. I hope one year both of our families will all come down to Richmond for brunch at the Jefferson and to share in our holiday tradition of attending Richmond Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

The alligator that greats you near the entrance. They used to have live alligators in the lobby fountain back in the day.

The beautiful tree

Sarah, me and Baby B

Toy Soldiers line the staircase

Now that's what I call a gingerbread house. Here are some statistics:

350 pounds of gingerbread, 400 pounds of royal icing, 100 pounds of rolled fondant, 10 pounds of gummy cherries, 250 butterfly gummies, 600 fruit gumdrop slices, 1,500 gum drops, 10 pounds of sour patch kids, 350 starlight mints, 75 necco wafers, 10 pounds of swedish fish, 216 feet of nerds rope candy, 12 giant lollipops and 150 sweet tarts

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Snow Day

Richmond has been hit by snow twice already this winter, with more expected on Christmas day!!! Sarah and I decided to take the dogs for a walk and show them the new house, needless to say they were quite excited about all of the room to run around.

Checking things out

Let us in!!!!

Baby Shower

The people I work with were kind enough to throw me a surprise baby shower the other day. They truly are the greatest people in the world to work with. I don't consider them co-workers, they are definitely friends. The cake looked amazing and I got a sweet medal which says "Dad to-be" that I still wear around the office everyday. Baby B picked up tons of loot. Thanks everyone!!!

All of Baby B's loot, lots of books for us to read together

Personalized bookmarks to pass out with parts of the "Guess How Much I Love You" story on them, plus a coffee mug

Four-tier diaper cake

The most amazing cake I have ever seen. Take that Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss!!!

White Christmas???

We had our first real snow of the season this morning, pretty early by Richmond standards. Only an inch or so but we'll take it. I wonder if this bodes well for a white Christmas? Thought I'd post a shot of the new house, 10 more days and it's officially ours.

Let the Hershey Baby Bonanza Begin!!!!!!!!!

And first out the gate is little baby Marshall. Sarah and I are so excited to report that our good friends Ben and Jenn just had their second child, Vivian Marion Marshall. Be sure to check out their blog, September and December Babies. I wonder who'll be next, Erica & Greg, Chadd & Sandy, or Baby B?

It's a Boy!!!

Easy folks, I'm not talking about Baby B. Our good friends Todd and Stacy just found out that they are going to be having a baby boy. We are soooo excited for them. Congrats guys!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Despite the fact that we are living in a tiny apartment and moving in just a couple of weeks I decided to surprise Sarah with a Christmas tree. It's a bit small but it does the trick. We had fun decorating the tree in time for St. Nicholas day, even if it doesn't have colored lights. Anything to make my pregnant wife happy I guess :-)

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Our wonderful niece Emily turned the big ONE this past Friday. Sadly our doctor wouldn't let us travel up to celebrate the joyous event in Pennsylvania. Here's the birthday girl with her mom and dad. Happy Birthday Miss Em.

Doctor Appointment = LAME

A message from Sarah:

We had our doctor's appointment yesterday and all is well. Baby is head down. That's about the only news I can offer you though. We didn't get to find out much else -- they didn't measure for size or anything like that since I don't need it. Even though I'm dying to know if my baby is 18lbs. Additionally, Baby Bradby seems to have my stubborness and Mark's refusal of photo ops. The baby was facing my back (which is good) and had his/her hands in front of his/her face. Baby did not like to be bothered... even after some shaking from the technician. Doctor says all is well -- no dilation which I assume is about right since I have TONS of work to do and I'm only 35 weeks and 4 days.

Anyway -- there ya have it.

Proud Parents

Sarah and I are proud to announce that Winston and Annie have just successfully completed their three-week obedience class. They did quite well and you can really see a difference... my mom won't be getting dragged down the block by them anymore when she takes them for walks. They really liked their instructor and going to class. Hopefully we can keep this positive momentum going when we move into the new house and the baby arrives.

Baby Shower Celebration

This past Saturday our families threw us a baby shower that was really wonderful. I can't believe how many people showed up and how many wonderful things Baby B received. Thanks to everyone for driving from so far away to celebrate with us. We don't have many pictures so if anyone has some please pass them along so we can post them on the blog. Special thanks to Amanda, Kristin and Cheryl for helping organize the bash and setting everything up. And kudos go out to Evan for the amazing cake. It looked fabulous and tasted even better. More pics once we receive them.

Updates on the House

Things have been moving along at a frenetic pace at the house. Every day brings something new. Thought we'd share some of the latest.

Kitchen cabinets and countertops (plus a ridiculously large island)

Family room fireplace

Hardwood floors

Hershey Under Wraps

We visited Hershey a couple of weeks back and took this snapshot of the town from up at the Hershey Hotel. It was quite a sight to see the entire town covered in a blanket of fog.

My Christmas Wish - A New House

We just received word that the closing date on our new house is going to be December 23rd. If everything goes as planned we will be in the new house by Christmas day. Now the real question is whether or not Baby B will be joining us before the move, anybody started a baby pool yet?

The exterior stone work is finally finished, but they still have some shutters and siding to put up.

The kitchen cabinets are going up.

The basement cabinets are up.

Week 31 Belly Shot

Here's a long-awaited belly shot photo. Everything seems right on schedule according to our doctor, bomething tells me Baby B is coming early.

Happy Birthday Maddie!!!

This past weekend we headed up to State College to celebrate Maddie's 2nd birthday. Since it was almost Halloween she had a dress up party and all of the little ones looked so cute in their costumes. Maddie is growing so fast, be sure to check out her blog to see more photos.

Check out those cheeks!!!

Beautiful little Emily

Check out the pure joy on Sarah's face.

The Wicked Witch and the Cowgirl

Opening presents

Good Times in Jamaica

We had such a good time at Tony & Bridget's wedding in Jamaica. Here are some photos of everyone enjoying themselves.