Updated Baby Room Pics

A few weeks back, I wrote about how my parents came into town to help prep the baby room. I put up some pics of us at work, but not pics of the finished product. So, here are the most updated pics we have of the baby room. Not much furniture yet, but we're getting there.

The lighting in this pic isn't ideal, but we don't exactly have a professional camera either. But you can still get the gist of the room.

Heather at 22 Weeks

Isn't my wife adorable! I love that belly of hers, especially what's growing inside of it. Our baby is 23 weeks today!

Baby Room Projects

My little sister had her baby not too long ago. My parents flew in to help her with the kids and the house while she recovered. Since she lives closer by, I asked my parents if they could come up for a weekend afterwards to help us with some baby room projects. So last weekend, up they came!

Growing up, in every house we lived in (and that was quite a few), Dad always built wooden shelves in our closets. They were always so nice to have, and knowing that we could use the extra space the shelves would provide, I asked Dad to show me his ways and help me build some in the baby room closet. So we laid out our plans, bought the materials and the tools, and went to work. I don't have any pictures of them here, but they turned out really well. I'll get some pics of them up later.

Not wanting to sit around loafing, Mom offered to paint the room, which was extremely nice of her. So we had her and Dad show us the tricks of the trade and away we went. We picked a cheery yellow because we liked the idea of our daughter having a happy, sunny room. We finished the whole thing in one day, minus removing the tape. I was happily surprised! Besides painting our own closet white (which didn't require the use of any tape), Heather and I hadn't really painted a room together before. Once Mom and Dad showed us how, it was surprisingly not as intimidating as we had supposed. Not that we're going to go hog-wild and paint the whole house, but at least we'd feel confident in taking on some more rooms and what not.

Here are some pics of us painting.

We're having a ...

GIRL!!! We found out this last Wednesday. Thanks to everyone for thinking about us this week. And sorry it took me so long to get this up on our blog. It's been a busy last few days. We are absolutely THRILLED to have be having a baby girl. And that includes me, too. Just because some people have asked: No, I am not in the least disappointed that we are having a girl. I can't wait to have little daddy-daughter moments!

Another fun, quick update. Heather started feeling our little girl (we like being able to say that) kicking about a week and a half ago. A few days later, I was able to feel her too. Unexpectedly, I had mixed feelings about the whole experience. On the one hand, it was incredible to feel a little life inside of Heather moving around and knowing that I had a part in creating that. Truly, it was an amazing experience. On the other hand, it was a little freaky, too. She kept tapping on Heather's stomach, almost as if to say, "Let me out of here!" I kept thinking of that scene in Aliens, the movie, where the baby alien comes tearing out of a person's stomach. I know, I'm such a guy. : )

Turkey Cookies & Christmas Ornaments

One of the many incredible Woodruff traditions is making turkey cookies. It's a secret family recipe, so I can't share it over the open internet, but they're incredible and involve using a chocolate wafer as the foundation, a Hershey's kiss and chocolate chips as the body, head, and feet, a red hot as the gobbler, and finally candy corns as the feathers. They're delicious. Normally, we make them for Thanksgiving, but this year, we made them after Christmas with Alyson and her family. The fun part was that Heather and I got to teach Trey and Jayci to make turkey cookies for the first time. It was messy, but we sure had a lot of fun!

One last Christmas note. Heather's sister Cheri sent us the coolest Christmas ornament this year. It was so perfect for Heather. I had to include a pic below. Thanks, Cheri!

Our Newest Nephew

Alyson and Nate had their third child this past Tuesday, December 29th. They haven't named him yet and are still struggling to agree on a name, even though they check out of the hospital tomorrow. I like to call him He, although Heather prefers J 'Majesty.

Heather and I got to see He yesterday. He is a very beautiful baby. He has lots of golden brown hair and long fingers. None of us could stop staring at He. It's strange to think that Heather has one of those growing inside of her. Can't wait to meet him/her.

Here are some pics of He in the meantime.