It's a GIRL!!

As you can tell I'm pretty excited to be having a girl! I love our little Collin boy and as nervous as I was to have a boy, I have loved every minute of it, but I have to admit, I sure did want a girl at some point. We are so excited to be bringing a new little baby into this world. I am due around May 20th, so we'll see. I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going. Collin sure keeps me on my toes, plus having a new home, I have little time to think about her. I am starting to feel her move more and more and last night Adam got his first feel. She only moved when his hand was on my belly, like she either knew it was daddy and wanted to play or she thought he was encroaching on her space and wanted him to move. I can't wait to buy some cute little girl dresses and bows!

As you can tell from the poll at the top of our blog we are having a tough time naming her. That is always the hardest part for us, agreeing on a name. We have liked Alexandria for some time, but just don't know if it feels right for this little one. Last night we spent an hour looking through names and discovered that Adam likes N names. He liked Nadia and we both thought Naomi was a good possibility, a little different, but not weird. What do you guys think? Any other suggestions? What would sound good with the last name of Brandt?

Oh Christmas Tree

I completely forgot to put up this post about our Christmas tree. There are so many u-cut tree farms here in Washington that we thought we had to have the Washingtonian experience. We love our fresh Christmas trees so we were really excited to go and cut our perfect tree down. Collin loved running around the maze of Christmas trees and he even helped daddy cut it down, well sort of. Too bad we can't have Christmas trees up year round. It sure was a beautiful tree and it smelled wonderful. Until next year I guess...

A home at last!!!

So we have a home... we think.
After waiting for almost 3 months to hear back about the short-sale home we put a bid on shortly after moving here, our offer was finally accepted by the bank last Friday. We had the home inspection yesterday and are anxiously awaiting all the final things, including financing and closing, not to mention signing our lives away...

We are so excited!!! We had finally given up and were going to start looking at new homes when we got back from Christmas break, but then the call came and things are finally looking up.

I won't post pictures until it is all final and we know for sure we are moving in, because really it still seems surreal. But we'll find out soon ! Woo hoo!!!

These Boys are Trouble

One of our favorite things about living here in Washington is being so close to friends and family. We have been able to spend a lot of time with the Dietz family which has been wonderful. Collin and Lil' Martin are about a month apart and boy are they trouble (just like their dads). It is so fun to see these two crazy and cute boys. What fun little guys.

Ravioli Magnifico!

Well Adam signed me up to make raviolis for our ward Christmas party and so I figured it was about time to practice what my Grandma taught me. It was a fun little adventure and Collin loved helping. It was so fun having a little helper. We had some Christmas music going and decided it would be a new beginning of December tradition.
The raviolis turned out pretty good for my first time, but of course plenty of room for improvement. I sure wish I could have called Grandma with all my questions, but I know she would have been proud. I am so grateful that she took the time to teach me how to make some special Italian dishes. I will always cherish those memories and hopefully make some more yummy Italian cooking memories with my children.

He even helped me turn the crank on the pasta maker, with a little help of course.I love this picture. He was so interested. That sweet little boy.

YUMMY!!! Now if only I could send you all some in the mail. Wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise :)

Get 'em started early

Sometimes I think we have too much fun with this little guy. Ok, maybe that's impossible.

As many of you know, I am an avid soccer player, so I figured that I better get Collin started early if he is going to be an International superstar. We've got a few fundamentals to work on, but we'll get him into league play in 6 months or so.

Washingtonians

We are now in Washington. It's fun starting a new adventure. Here is a picture from the balcony of our apartment on a nice foggy morning.

So now that we are in a bigger apartment we have room for our table and all four chairs! Collin can sit at the table now and he figured out that he can get his feet up when he gets bored. The joys of growing up.


Now that we are here, we are close to my best friend growing up and his wife. This is all of us at a Mariners' game.


We bought a piano from our neighbors right when we left. Collin loves to help mommy play.


He also decided that he owns our glider chair. He loves to climb up on it and read his books.

Finally, here he is at our ward's Halloween party dressed up as an elephant. We were amazed that he kept the hood on and didn't try to yank the trunk off.

We are excited to be here and we are having fun getting to know the area. My job is good and we are working on getting a house. Jenn will have to write more later.