Beach combing and enjoying the last days of the Schultz "pair"

Written:  8-31-11  Paul and I have been really interested in enjoying the last few days before the Canty appears.  We spent the better part of two days this week (August 30 and one earlier) at Mukilteo State Park, under the umbrella in our camping chairs, watching the water, boats, birds, and just enjoying each others company.  The best part is discovering creatures in the rocks while the tide is low.  We found tons of sea snails, hermit crabs, a myriad of rock crabs of many many colors and a baby eel...at least that's what we think it was.  it flipped and flopped when we bumped it with rocks.

We think this is an eel...but we aren't sure, it flailed a lot.

We also spent an afternoon at Meadowdale Park in Edmonds, Paul tested out his rock crawler against a steep rocky, dusty, full of tree roots slope while I sat in my camping chair reading a magazine and making our grocery list.

We have been joking about how since Paul's summer term got over, we've been like a retired couple...both of us not working and our schedule being so flexible.  It has been great for us to spend quality time together and make up for the times when our lives were so busy that we barely saw each other!

We've been able to spend time with friends, family and have thoroughly enjoyed some local events as well:

Paul took me to the Heritage Flight Collection (Paul Allen's museum in Everett) to see some static displays of aircraft.  We watched some of the informative videos as well as saw the visiting planes from Arizona (i can't remember what kind they were...sorry boys)

We also spent time with Paul's Grandpa Bud and other extended family on several occasions at Uncle Ed and Aunt Katie's house.  It was fun to catch up with the events of everyone's life and spend time together as a family

I started pretending that I can sew.  My friend Becky and my sister Kristalyn, helped me gain a eensie weensie bit of confidence on the machine.

I had some really great celebrations of Canty with friends and family at baby showers!  I can't thank people enough for their generosity and support of our new bundle of love.

Darrin and Holly (my brother and sister-in-law) came to visit twice this summer.  The second time last weekend, I went to the Josh Groban concert with them and Kristalyn and some of their friends.  Paul didn't go...I only knew one song and it was during the encore!  I enjoyed the show though his band is very talented.

Paul and I also are on our HOA board so we did some planting, meeting, and planning for the appearance of our property with the other board members.

We saw several movies--I LOVE sitting in a/c with my feet up in a dark theater since I've been pregnant.  I loved it before I was pregnant..but my love was amplified during this time.

We ventured to the Willis-Tucker Park Farmer's Market, where Paul procured local honey, kettle korn for me and some beautiful farm fresh flowers.

My dear friend Emily took maternity pictures for us at the lighthouse park in Mukilteo (photos to come soon!)  last week.  It was so much fun and we reminisced as we took our engagement photos there too!

We have enjoyed summer USA network shows thoroughly and are thankful for our DVR.

Paul set up a work-station in the garage for him to work on his RC stuff as well as other projects.  Our storage space is super full, so making a place for him to work was challenging, but he did it!

We had many many more memories and fun times this summer.  But the anticipation of our Canty's arrival has been forefront in our minds and hearts.  We are so excited to be parents!  Hurry Canty and grace us with your presence!

The Canty Roots

Sooo... I guess that there have been enough questions about my referencing our little girl as the "Canty," that I thought it best to clarify a few things.

#1 Our child will not be named Canty... contrary to Paul calling her that.

#2  The nickname came at week 20 of pregnancy when we got this email letting us know how large our child was.  And since up to that point we didn't know if she was a boy or a girl...Paul called her Canty and it stuck!

Regardless of the fact that she continues to change size as the days and weeks have passed (I'm 31 weeks now!) she is still lovingly referred to as the Canty.

Baby things!

We have several items we've procurrred for baby girl....her crib, stroller, dresser, bouncer, car seat, as well as a myriad of clothing items and blankets from friends and family.  I know I've posted a few items already, but we HAD to try out the car seat.  So we used Matilda.  Matilda is a "Build-A-Bear" from our the Christmas Season 2009 where Mom took all her grand kids for a holiday memory.  At that time, we thought mom would not be with us much longer.  Who knew mom would be with us for another year from that point!

Anyhow,  when we told mom we were "trying" to have a baby, when we were at my Grandpa Welch's funeral dinner in Southern Idaho in early November 2010, she told me that the Matilda should be ours for our baby to come.  Sewn within Matilda is filled with hearts of love from each of mom's grand kids in 2009.


I digress, but the point is, we used Matilda as a "newborn sized model" to test out the new car seat.  Here is a picture of Matilda strapped in.  (You can also get a peak at the wall color in the nursery.  (more photos to come as the projects continue I promise!)

You can see the green wall and our new dresser, plus the hideous purple chair.
The chair was inherited from my brother's dental office when he was remodeling.

She's about the size of a newborn, right?
Nah, I'm sure she's bigger, just look at those feet?
Lots of  support in the neck and back.