Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Nate, Kalli, Jan, Marvin (Nate's parents) on Christmas Day.

Nate's parents came to Rockford on Christmas Day. We all had dinner at my parents' house. We opened a few gifts at my parents house, but most of them we had opened on Christmas Eve. The rest of the weekend was spent by watching movies, shopping, and just hanging out. During one of our shopping excursions, we purchased a furniture set for the baby room. The furniture will be delivered on Monday, I will post pictures soon. Our Christmas weekend was fun and relaxing. As always, it was nice to spend time with friends and family. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! May the New Year bring you health and happiness!

It's A Girl!

We had another ultra-sound today and discovered that Baby Bruck is a girl! Of course, there is a slight chance that the baby could be a boy, but the ultra-sound technician was pretty certain that the baby is female. Nate and I are very happy, excited, and surpsied... we were sure the baby was a boy! We have decided on the name Alaina Katheryn after my mom, grandma, and sister. Below are a few pictures from the ultra-sound.

I like this picture the best. You can actually see the baby's head, spine, and lungs.

Baby's arm waving hello. How cute.

The picture below confirmed that Baby is a girl. (I don't get it either)

Bulls Game

Last night, Nate and I went to a Bulls game with my brother and sister. Nate bought four tickets to the game about a month ago. The plan was to have a "boys night out" with Nate, my brother, my dad, and Yanni. Yanni was, sadly, unable to make it from Greece and my dad hasn't been feeling well so there was a slight change in plan. Kathryn and I deicded to take their tickets. Before the game we went to Greek Town for dinner and some shopping. Then we took a taxi to the United Center. Kathryn and I had never been to the United Center before. I was amazed at how big it is and how many people were there. Although we are not huge basketball fans, we had a lot of fun.

Our First Baby Purchase!

We made our first baby purchase over the weekend. Babies R Us was having a 20% off sale. We decided to take advantage of it by buying one of the more expensive items for Baby. You guessed it, we bought a stroller! We thought this would be a relatively easy purchase, but we quickly found out that there is a lot we need to learn about baby products. There were so many different kids of strollers to choose from... three-wheelers, four-wheelers, jogging strollers! Being first time parents, we really did not know which would be best. We spent over an hour in the stroller section, pushing strollers down the aisle. I'm sure we looked ridiculous. We decided on a three-wheel stroller that came with an infant car seat. We liked the green and grey colors since they are not gender specific. Nate assembled the stroller when we got home. Since our garage is so small, we are keeping the stroller inside the baby room. Every time I look at it I think of how much our lives will change once we have a baby to put in it. We are so excited!

Deck The Halls...

I always love having the house decorated for the holidays. I finally brought the Christmas decorations up from the basement tonight. Nate and I put up the Christmas tree together. Since the new furniture in our family room takes up a lot more space, we moved our Christmas tree into the dining room this year. I think it looks really nice right next to our fireplace. We hung our stockings, even one for Zoe (in the shape of a dog bone). I have a few other decorations scattered throughout the house, but I would like to get some more. I'll be sure to go shopping for decorations after the holidays when everything is half off!

Nate and I are looking forward to Kathryn and Yanni coming home next Wednesday. They are staying for an entire month. Nate's parents are also coming for Christmas. It will be nice to spend Christmas with so many family members! Next Christmas will be even more exciting since we will have Baby with us to celebrate.

Update on the Basement Remodel

Our carpet was installed in the basement last week. It really looks great! At first we thought we would only carpet one room in our basement, but we got such a good deal on the carpet that we decided to put new carpet in both rooms. Before the carpet came, Nate tore out the bar and painted over the ugly wood paneling. Now that the new carpet is installed, we have begun moving all the furniture from our office down to the basement. The second room in the basement will be used as an exercise room. Nate and I bought an early Christmas present for each other last night- an elliptical machine! We already have a weight bench and a rowing machine, so we have a pretty good start to our new exercise room. Let's hope that we actually use it! The pictures below show both rooms in the basement. We still have a lot of stuff to move downstairs, but this gives you an idea of what our new basement looks like. I think the downstairs office will eventually be a perfect playroom for Baby.

The first two pictures are of our "office". We are waiting to get a phone line downstairs so we can have internet access. Soon our desk and computer will be next to the TV.

This is the second room we carpeted, the one we will use as an exercise room.

Zoe does not appreciate when we move her kennel. The basement remodel has forced us to move it a few times. Finally, her kennel has a permanent home in our newly carpeted office.

Zoe enjoying the plush new carpet on the stairs to the basement.

Zoe, Our Little Piglet

Zoe was a pig for Halloween this year. You probably think it's ridiculous to dress an animal, and you're probably right, but it's just so darn cute! Zoe even snorts and grunts like a little pig, it was the perfect costume. We spent Halloween at my parent's house. Their neighborhood always gets more trick-or-treaters. Zoe wanted to say hi to all the kids, she even escaped out into the yard a few times. It's hard to believe that next Halloween we will have a baby to dress up in costume. Zoe will not be the cutest for long!