Nesting in the Kannel House

I keep vacillating back and forth between having this great urge to nest, and having this great urge to do absolutely nothing! During nesting periods, I'm extremely productive! The baby's room is painted and the furniture is in place (thanks to my parents for help with that!). I sorted through clothes, washed, dried and folded them all to put them in drawers. (Thanks to my sister-in-law and friend for borrowed boy clothes!) I had Chris pull out the baby gear storage bins so now I know everything is in the basement instead of out at the storage unit. I even put together the baby swing this week. (Olivia likes to put her baby in it and push him. I haven't shown her yet that is plugs in and swings by itself!)

But, this morning I feel completely exhausted. It was a busy week with shoveling snow, traveling for a continuing education class, making meals for the freezer, having guests for dinner, and playing catch up around the house. But, it's Saturday, it's snowing, and we don't have any plans for the weekend. I should feel relaxed and thankful that we aren't driving to New York today (as originally planned). But, I still feel overwhelmed by looking at my to-do list. One of Chris' cousins said to me on facebook this morning that I should rest while I can. I truly appreciate that and will try to put that into action...it just depends how much the guilt overrides the relaxation!

I'm about 6 weeks from my due date, with no telling when this little guy will actually arrive. But, all-in-all, we're ready for him. Olivia understands as much as she can about having a baby brother and keeps talking about how her baby doll came out of her belly. So, I'm excited to see her reaction to this little fella living here with us! We finally decided upon a name and are confident that this is the name God wants us to give our son. The car seat is in the car so Olivia can get used to riding in a new spot, as well as seeing a second car seat in the car with her. We didn't want to just throw it in there at the last minute and expect her to deal with the sudden changes.

What's next? Waiting, I guess! We're doing things as a family to spend a little extra time with Olivia. Last weekend we finally hung pictures up in Olivia's room and we let her help. Today, Chris told his dad he would help shovel/snow blow walks at some of his rental houses. So, we're heading over there with them to 'help' and then we'll go sledding after we're done. I'm trying to get some things done that have been on the to-do list for a while. I know once I have a baby that they won't get done! So, I've printed some pictures for Olivia's scrapbook, for the baby's baby book, and for Olivia's baby book. Now, I need the energy to cut them out and to sit down to put the pages together.

I'll keep you posted on what I actually end up doing: resting vs. accomplishing. I'm not even sure which way to head right now!

It isn't much to see, but you can check out my nesting so far if you want.....

The rocking chair, hamper, and a random baby gate donated to us by a family at church.The crib my parents bought for Olivia - only we didn't have room for it in our bedroom in NY. So, this baby gets to try it out!

The matching changing table/dresser that is packed with borrowed baby clothes.

Me at 33 weeks pregnant.

Before Breakfast

The storm rolled in yesterday afternoon…and it’s still coming! It started as pretty forceful snow, then it snowed sideways, it turned to sleet right at bedtime, all while accompanied by some extremely strong winds. This morning when we woke up, it was beautiful outside!

It is hard to tell exactly how much snow we got in the night due to all the snow drifts. It was piled high in places and almost bare in others. But, when we went out to shovel this morning, I’d guess we had at least 10 inches on the ground. It was snowing pretty steadily then, but without the wind. It was a nice, peaceful snow.

By the time we headed inside for breakfast, the sidewalks we had just shoveled were already covered in at least a half an inch of snow, if not more. It’s been snowing off and on most of the day so far, more on than off. But it’s been light snow followed by heavy snow, and back to light again – very unpredictable! The news/radio people say it’s supposed to snow until 7pm this evening.

I don’t mind the snow at all, as long as it isn’t windy and I’m not headed anywhere far away. I’m actually looking forward to this evening….after dinner we’ll probably get our snow gear back on and take Olivia sledding! She truly loves being out in the snow…which is why we took her out this morning.

Don’t think we are bad parents and forced our two year old to go out and shovel with us! Daddy was going out to use the snow blower and she absolutely wanted to go too. So, she used her little shovel (and a little bit bigger shovel from grandpa), I used our snow shovel, and Chris used the snow blower. We cleaned off our porch, steps, front sidewalk, the neighbor’s porch, steps and front sidewalk, the area where we park our car, Chris’ parents’ sidewalks, and then helped Grandpa dig out the back door from the snow drift. Olivia disappeared after a few snow angels and some shoveling to go eat French toast with grandma…but the rest of us were hard at work!

Shoveling snow at 7 ½ months pregnant is hard work! I’m exhausted and actually just woke up from a nap! My back really hurts now and I’m wishing the chiropractor didn’t close his office today – I could have really used that appointment this afternoon! Since most of the town is closed down, it’s a pretty lazy day around our house. We see the constant snow when we look out the window, and hear the constant sound of diggers, backhoes, and trucks outside pushing and collecting snow. I’ll probably plan on something nice and warm for dinner tonight…perhaps some type of soup – that sounds super yummy after a day outside in the snow!

Stay warm – and I’ll keep you posted about the stormy hours that lie ahead.

Walking on the freshly plowed sidewalk. The snow is up to her thighs...almost to her waist! Stuck in the front yard!

Sitting with Daddy in the snow drift outside our garage.Olivia by herself in the snow drift outside of our garage.

Trying to use Mommy's show shovel...but having some difficulties!Grandpa found this shovel in his workshop. It used to be Daddy's when he was a little boy! It was a much better size than Mommy's and a little more useful than Olivia's!

Do plumbers work outside? This little one does! She refused to change her pull-up before we went outside, so it was pretty soggy and droopy. Thus, when she bent over to pick up her snow shovel....this popped out!

Valentine's Day

Many Memories Heart Valentine's Day Card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day in our family, but Shutterly had a coupon code for one free card. So, I took the time to create a card for Christopher...don't tell!

Our Little Snow Bunny

Olivia loves to play in the snow and likes to shovel with her own little shovel. Despite her cold cheeks and the snot running out of her nose, she always cries when we bring her back inside. Taking off her coat, snow pants and shoes usually results in a complete melt-down! We offer to make her 'warm chocolate' and that usually makes her feel better!

Photo Friday

A peaceful picture for you at the end of this week.....

Long Overdue Pictures

Some highlights from the past few months......

Olivia is "helping" Daddy and Grandpa drywall the ceiling in the kitchen.

Our first real Christmas Tree - and our first Christmas tree over 12 inches tall!

Family Pic in front of our tree. After 2 1/2 years, Olivia has figured out how to become friends with our cat...by feeding her all the treats in the drawer and by finding all the toys with catnip in them!

Playing dress up with her new princess dress, wand, and high heels!

Loving her new butterfly wings!

New Year...New Traditions (I hope)

With this new year, I certainly hope to blog more often. But, I also hope to do a lot of things....
Catch up in Olivia's scrapbook
Start the new baby's baby book
Start the new baby's scrapbook
Catch up in Chris' professional scrapbook
Laminate several newspaper articles for Chris
Hang up picture frames in Olivia's room
Hang up family pictures in the living room
Make meals to freeze in the deep-freeze
Wash hand-me-down baby clothes and put them away
Switch Olivia's dresser to the baby's room
Get new dresser into Olivia's room
Catch up in Olivia's journal
Start a journal for Chris
Continue with my Bible Studies.......


The list seems to keep on going! With the Lord's help, I'll be able to get some of those things accomplished! Oh, and on top of all of that, I want to get Olivia potty trained before new baby Kannel arrives! It doesn't seem like that much to do, but when you add in every day routine items like cooking, playing with Olivia, keeping the house tidy-ish, etc....it adds up pretty quick!


I guess all I can do is take one thing at a time, and be completely content with only crossing off one thing on the list at a time!


It's been a while since I've posted and a lot has happened throughout the past several months. It was definitely a blessing to be in Ohio for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and not have to travel back and forth from New York. We were less stressed, were able to spend more time with family, and spent less money on gas! We were able to celebrate both holidays with both sides of our family, so we racked up lots of grandparent/cousin/sibling time for all of us. I'll post some pictures in the next few days to document our past few months.


Olivia and I traveled to the west side of Chicago to visit one of my dear friends last weekend. She (along with her husband and three kids) moved out of New York about two months after we did and settled in Chicago. So, it was such a blessing to see her again, and it's great to have her semi-close by. Olivia did great traveling and had a blast playing with her three kids.

This past weekend, my parents came up to visit. They stayed with us instead of at a hotel, so it was nice to see them a lot. They were extremely helpful and donated their time to help paint the baby's room. My dad also helped Chris get lots of furniture and bins from our storage unit so we can start to set up the baby's room now that it's painted.

So, the room is painted, the furniture is here, the clothes/baby items are here in bins.....now comes the sorting, washing, arranging and putting into place! I'm eight weeks out from my due date....so we'll see when the little guy decides to make his appearance!

I should get going now and tackle something from my ginormous to-do list!