The Tradition Continues

For the past 17+years the Galand girls (which originated with Judy, Tammy, Trisha and Amanda...but now includes Tammy's daughter Alyson) have joined the throngs of crazy "Black Friday" shoppers to get the best deals on Christmas gifts. And we are serious about it, usually putting in a 12+ hour day of shopping! Over the years a lot has changed: prices, vehicles, shopping lists, stores visited and last names; but it is a tradition in our family, something that you look forward to every year! This year baby Good came along on his/her first trip and as my oldest sister reminded me, if the baby is a boy...this year was his first and last. It has always been a girls only day and I am pretty sure we went every year, even the year Tammy gave birth to a baby on November 23rd! Sure there has been a lot of pouting, tears, yelling and complaining (can you feel your feet still?!) but there are a lot of smiles and laughter to make it all worthwhile. I realized this year that the tradition it has become and the time we spend together as a family is more important than getting most of our Christmas shopping done, or getting the best deal on the "must have" gift of the season. In this day and age when family time and traditions are rarely celebrated, I want to thank my family, especially my Mom for making them so important to us. I can't wait to celebrate the old traditions with my children and maybe start a few of our own. Of course if I am blessed with a daughter she too will be waking up at 5am on "Black Friday" morning with us to shop, but most importantly to spend some quality time with the most important women in her life.

Brighter than the sun

Okay so it is not really that bright...but it is a nice sunny color of yellow. Since we don't know what we are having (other than a baby) we figured that a little boy or girl would fit well in this room. Luke spent a good day and a half getting everything just right, although for some reason the paint just wouldn't take to the walls easily. But we figured that once we have all of the furniture and baby stuff in there, no one will notice. We even cleaned the windows (inside and out) and gave the carpet a good vacuum. Now all we need is furniture and a baby. Check out Flickr for more pictures of the nursery, including Luke in his cool Pittsburgh Public Schools t-shirt at work.

First Things First

We can't wait to meet our little one in February and introduce him/her to the world via this blog, but until then we are going to keep everyone updated on the pregnancy and all the fun 'getting ready for baby' things that we get to do as first time parents. I am officially 27 weeks along at this point and loving pregnancy. We had a Dr's appt. yesterday and our fiesty little one kept kicking me when the nurse was trying to find it's heartbeat. I think she was a bit startled by it! We are having a great time, enjoying every moment of our pregnancy, and are excited to share our experiences with our friends and family. We will upload all of our pictures to Flickr and you can see everything from my belly shots to the baby when he/she arrives! Check out my belly shots now here.