Long time without an update

I admit, I've been delinquent in my duties as the official biographer of this pregnancy thing. As anyone who still reads this knows, Jenni is preggo and due May 24th (any day now). We have taken a few "bump" pics along the way, but as you'd expect here in the final days, Jenni has gotten quite round (I might be in trouble for putting it that way, LOL). We have taken all the appropriate classes, are going to try for as natural a birth as possible, and we have indeed picked out a name for the little girl (and no, we aren't telling anyone the name, so don't ask). I have included a picture from the baby shower that shows Jenni a couple weeks ago. I also want to thank my Mom, mother-in-law, and Aunts Sheree and Kay who worked very hard to put together a very nice shower for us.



I will try to be more diligent in updating the blog and posting baby pics to Flickr or Facebook (we have been more active on Facebook than the blog lately). Other updates include the purchase of half a buffalo in January from a ranch in northern Michigan (about 300 pounds). We have made a lot of tasty meals so far that include meatballs, chili, burgers, steaks, fajitas, etc. Pretty sweet. Also, in a desperate attempt to get into shape before the baby comes, I have been doing p90x workouts (you may have seen the infomercials). Let's just say they are crazy-hard and have worked pretty well. I have 17 days left to go to finish the 90 days and have lost or relocated some much needed weight and feel great heading into sleep deprivation cycle. I surely would have lost more if I had been more careful about diet and cut down on the beer, but how is that any fun? If interested in learning more about p90x, see the p90x Official Website. We also made one last trip out to San Diego to visit my sister and a couple of friends out there before my sister moves to Ohio this summer. Here are some pics from the San Diego Zoo with Jenni and our friend Jim, his wife, and step-daughter.



In other news, the company I worked for the past 4 years decided to get out of the cellular business and closed up shop after several failed attempts to sell the division. As of April 24th, I have been happily unemployed. The good news is we had a good severance package and the better news is that I already have a job lined up to start at the end of June. This will make for a nice pre/post baby paternity leave that also coincides with some beautiful weather. This time and weather has given me the time to get the yard and garden in prime condition. We are about to transplant all our little seedlings we started indoors (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, herbs, zucchini & squash, etc). Meanwhile, spring is in full bloom and I was able to take a little photographic tour of the garden flowers/plants. You can click on this flower picture to get to see the whole collection.



As usual, we are in the middle of a renovation project. The Master Bed/Bath/Closet are currently in disarray as we reconfigure the size of the closet/bath as well as entirely redo the bathroom. We are waiting to finalize our refinancing (hopefully for the last time) before making the major purchases (tile, vanity/top, heated floor mats, etc). The closet has been re-framed and drywalled and we are sort of stalled here as the baby is due to pop out any time now.


Mother's Day is also when we usually celebrate Jenni's cousin Justin's birthday, so here are some family pics from the dual-celebration event.



And in final news, my little brother Derrick graduated from UIC with a BS in Mechanical engineering last weekend. Here are a few pics from the event. Congrats D!