Picture Wall

I was inspired by Olivia's picture wall (although I have yet to see it in person) to make one of my own. The impending birth of Ms. Mettlinger has given me the perfect impetus to finally see it through to the end (I have a whole list of projects designed to keep me from sitting and staring at my belly just wishing she would come out already). This morning I finished it:


For those of you wondering what why I am tempted to sit and stare at my belly and wish she would come out--just imagine carrying this thing around with you for a while and I think it will become clear.

Baby Shower: Take 2

Being that Alex and I are completely spoiled by our friends and family, we had yet another wonderful baby party in Ann Arbor just a few weekends ago. Of course, there were gifts involved--very generous gifts like a highchair, smartwool baby socks, baby books, boppies, and lots of other useful/cute things.


As part of the festivities, the guests personally designed and painted onesies... What a great idea!


See if you can guess which one was designed by Alex...

Most Frustrating Christmas Present Ever

The Mettler's have become familiar with my penchant for doing puzzles over the holidays. Now, instead of looking strangely at me when I say "Let's do a puzzle!" they encourage me by buying me puzzles. This year, Beth made a trip to The Puzzle Store in the Mall and tried to pick a really challenging puzzle. Thankfully she decided against getting The White Album by the Beatles. But her next choice wasn't all that much easier. It was a black and white photomosaic portrait of Marilyn Monroe.
Holy cow was it hard. It took about 5 days to finish (during which time Ella managed to get 3 puzzle pieces--they're like gum for her, she chews them up into soggy wads of cardboard and then spits them out). I can't wait to see what next year brings...

Christmas Vacation Part 2

Olivia and Dennis left on the 22nd and Alex and I headed to Minnesota on the 23rd. We baby sat their dogs while they went out on the town in Chicago and then met them on our way through Chicago to return them. It's a good thing we had a van so they would all fit!



Now, the drive to Minnesota is long. Very long. 11 hours long. This time around we had the unfortunate luck to discover that it can be even longer when the weather is bad. It took us 15 hours total to get to Alex's parents house this year. Thank goodness the van seat can recline. I have to be honest here though. I only drove probably 3 hours of that 15. Alex is a great pregnant lady husband!

Once we got to Minnesota, we had a great time (to be expected). There was a lot of eating,

relaxing,

philosophizing,

walking through the woods,

present opening,

and puzzle putting together.


Mostly we ate though. Barb makes such delicious food. I think it may have something to do with butter and cheese, but I'm not sure.

Oh, and there were a lot of dogs (who also like Barb's cooking),

and a lot of cats.


Here are a few other random pictures:

Christmas Vacation Part 1

Not that I really needed a vacation (I don't work very hard), but Alex did. Our vacation started when Olivia and Dennis arrived on the 19th (Olivia is waaaaay ahead in the visiting department). While they were here we went hiking,

made Christmas cookies,
and lazed about watching old episodes of the A-team and MacGyver.


It was perfect. Plus, we had five dogs to entertain us when we ran out of things to do!