Babies, babies, babies... oh my!

We're in the home stretch people!!! Only 3 weeks to go (hopefully)!  This last month has been all about preparing for Tate's arrival, including a wonderful baby shower on Christmas Day with my in-laws, and another one with my immediate family and friends the day after Christmas!  This baby is so loved, we are so thankful for everyone and everything they've done for us!  Here are some pics from the day after Christmas shower, which Adriane threw at her house with Mom and Grandma's help.  It was so neat to see good friends from high school and college and some of the "Moms" I grew up with:

Here are a couple pics from today, at 37 weeks, 2 days:

And lastly, some photos of Tate's completed nursery.  In this first one you can see the awesome bird mobile that Auntie Bec made for Tate; he is going to love it!

His crib is all ready for him!

Our little reading corner:

His closet is full of special homemade blankets and quilts; what a lucky boy!  We will need them in this winter wonderland!  Still about a foot and  a 1/2 of snow on the ground...

Tate's Great-Grandpa Van made this beautiful table for his nursery, which, unfortunately, is covered up with diapers & baby supplies in this picture:

Well, hopefully in a few weeks I will post the most exciting blog yet!  Here's hoping to a timely and prompt arrival on Tate's part!  Hope you all are surviving the winter weather, or thanking your lucky stars if you live in a warm climate ;)  Take care and Happy Martin Luther King, Jr., Day!

Meredith

Happy 2010!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!  Let's hope 2010 is full of blessings, joy, good health and wealth for all!  The last month has been a busy one, full of holiday parties and baby showers!  Kenny also passed his basic EMT licensing exam- yay!  We are busy preparing for Tate's arrival (5 weeks left!, maybe more, maybe less!).  

Here are a couple pics from when I was 31 weeks along:

Here are a few pics from the Winkelhake family Christmas:

Above are Kenny's grandma, aunt Anna, and cousins Graham & Shane.

Kenny's siblings Corry, Lisa, Aaron, & niece Adelle.

Aunt Gussie, cousins Aubrey & Colleen.

How my family spent New Year's Eve... it was a long day for all of us suckers who had to work:

Today's photo shoot at 35 weeks (it was obviously a PJ kind of day):

I will try and post some pics of Tate's completed nursery soon with all of his wonderful gifts from the recent showers.  He's a lucky boy!  Again, have a fantastic 2010!

XOXO~

Meredith

November, November...

What a crazy month!  We were all over the place, doing lots of fun things!  First off, in early November we took a little "babymoon" up to Door County for a couple of days, and stayed at this cute little B & B in Sturgeon Bay, right on Lake Michigan.

We drove up and down the peninsula and stopped in all the quaint little towns by the shore.  Beautiful scenery and lots of cute little shops.

Next we threw my mom a 60th surprise party at Adriane's house, with some of her closest friends and family there to help ring in her 60th year!

The next day my cousin Laura (who is due a month before me) and I had a wonderful joint shower with the ladies on my mom's side of the family.

Here's a couple shots of me at 29 weeks:

Then we headed down to Chicago to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with my dad's extended side of the family.  On our way down, we drove past this and I could not resist taking a photo.  Only in Wisconsin :)

Here's the White side of the family, looking dapper at our Thanksgiving dinner (a week early).

Hope you all had a joyous and blessed Thanksgiving holiday, with lots to be thankful for.  We are feeling especially thankful this year, for so many reasons!

Take care,

Meredith

Happy Halloween!

Just a quick update; wanted to show a few pictures from the past few weeks.  First off our little house and some autumn decorations- I wish I had gotten one of the house a few days earlier before the burning bushes had dropped all their leaves.  They were gorgeous. 

Here's the belly at 25 weeks:

Tate has been kicking non-stop and making his presence known; even Kenny can see him kicking now!  Here's belly at 26 weeks (today):

Lastly Kenny and I are going to a Halloween party and I'm pretty excited about our costumes.  I thought it was quite clever ;)  Pregnant nun and her monk:

Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween and get lots of candy!!!

XoXo Mere

So much to catch up on!!!

Sorry I have been M.I.A. lately in terms of this blog.  But there's been a lot going on since the last post.  Since then, I have left Monroe Clinic's Labor & Delivery unit (I spent a total of a month there and that was enough) due to the fact that I discovered I hate placentas and cervixes and pretty much everything having to do with the labor & delivery process, that I missed oncology greatly, and that certain rural MDs do not like their RNs to be experts in their field or question something that concerns them or have an opinion about anything.  Needless to say, I did not enjoy that and felt that I was not doing myself or the nursing profession justice by staying there.  Fortunately the nursing director there was very understanding and validated my concerns and wished me well.  So since July I have been back at UW in the outpatient chemotherapy clinic, where I belong :)  Plus now I never have to work weekends or holidays again, and no more night shift!!!  All in all, a really fortuitous ending to a few worrisome months... 

     Kenny is still at Sara Lee, and enjoying his EMS classes in hopes of becoming a paramedic at some point in the near future.  Our other big news... we found out in June that we are having a BABY!!!  Tate Cleaver Winkelhake is due on February 5, 2010, and we couldn't be happier.  I thank my lucky stars that I have felt great the entire time, with the exception of some nasty sciatica.  But my chiropractor is my best friend :)  Below are some belly pics from when I was 20 weeks along, and his ultrasound pics.  Sorry some of you have already seen these in a prior email.  

The first u/s pic is his two little feet together, the next is a profile shot where it appears he's blowing kisses, and the last is the "gender" pic.  Sorry they're so tiny...

We've been working on the nursery lately, and here are a few pics so you can see what we've been up to.  My in-laws and Kenny surprised me one evening by having the crib put together when I got home from work.  I found some great wall decals to put up behind the crib; the saying is "Guess how much I love you?", and I thought it would be cute to make it look like a plane was pulling the saying behind it like a banner:

Back in July one of my close friends from grade school and H.S. visited before returning home to Mexico!  Kim and I had fun going to the farmer's market on the Capitol Square and checking out New Glarus, among other things!  It was great to see her, but she had important work to get back to in Mexico, helping her sister's autism clinic incorporate new neurofeedback equipment into its therapies.  She bought me some beautiful flowers I couldn't resist posting a pic of:

Here she is in New Glarus at the Maple Leaf Cheese and Chocolate Haus, then the New Glarus Brewery:

My sister came up in September for a weekend visit, and you can tell we stayed really busy.  In her defense, Zoey is a great snuggler and convinces many people to nap with her:

We also checked out the farmer's market while she was here, and I found these gorgeous flowers, that included cabbage leaves and something that looked like coral from an ocean reef:

Well, I think that's about it... there are lots of parties and gatherings in the next few months so hopefully I'll have lots more to post!  Until then, love and peace to all of you!

Meredith