Dreams Happen

This weekend is the "Dreams Happen" Playhouse Auction to benefit Rebuilding Together Peninsula. The event only happens every two years since the playhouses are such big projects- It was at the last event two years ago where I met my husband! I'm pretty lucky I volunteered that night :) We went on a walk to the shopping center last night to check out all of the playhouses. They are all very cool this year and totally over-the-top. We'll see how Saturday night goes (and how little wine I let my husband drink with a bidding paddle in his hand) but I doubt we'll be taking one of the playhouses home since the range last time was $7-70,000 per playhouse! It is a great event for Rebuilding Together and hopefully we'll raise a lot of money for the organization.

This is one of our favorites...

Feeling Pregnant...

I am feeling a lot more pregnant all of the sudden! My belly is getting bigger and I can barely wear my old jeans, even with a hair-band tied through the button hole. I've been taking it easy coming home early from work to hang out at home and I am so lucky to have a husband who takes such good care of me. The baby is kicking all the time now and it makes it seem so much more real. Heff has even felt the kicks a few times now, but he gets a little offended when I saw "Feel right here!" and then of course the baby stops kicking. We are affectionately calling this poor child "Cletus the Fetus" which started as a joke but it's stuck! To explain... our neighbor's (the Carters) grandfather was Cletus, a great guy, with an unusual name :) Heff had been telling people who inquired about what we would name out baby "It's going to be Cletus." My sister took this a little too far calling the baby Cletus the Fetus and now everything is all about Cletus! In case you're wondering, we do have names picked out and neither a girl or boy will be Cletus (maybe the next one:)

Lake Almanor

Heff and I spent Memorial Day weekend up in Lake Almanor at the Heffernan's cabin with Claire and Tom, Katherine, Cathleen, Margaret and Baby Ronan. We had great weather and lots of time to relax. The girls got me hooked on a new game I played for way too many hours, but we managed to sneak in some Scrabble, Trivia Pursuit and even a couple of walks around the lake.

Here is a photo of Heff with Baby Ronan Sunday morning

What a cute baby!

Happy 60th Birthday DAD!

We celebrated John's big 60th last night at The House of Prime Rib in San Francisco. Baby Ann has her Nashville boyfriend, Justin, visiting for the weekend so he joined us for a California Prime Rib dinner... kinda like a "Meat N' Three" :) The boys brought Emily and Allison too, Ann thinks this is the first dinner we've all had dates at! We had a great dinner and showered John with funny birthday cards. Ann won best card with her proctologist and a birthday cake card, sure to get a laugh out of dad :) We bought Dad a new Canon 30D SLR camera with all the attachments (just think of all those pictures he can take of Baby Heff!) He used to be the camera man of the family (lots of close ups!) but since film cameras became old news he hasn't been taking as many pictures... we can't wait to post John's new shots :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Justin and Baby Ann

Dad and Mom

A new cousin.... Welcome Baby Ronan!

Brian's cousin Margaret had a beautiful baby boy on Mother's Day! His name is Ronan and from the pictures we've seen he is adorable. We'll get to meet him and spend time with cousin Margaret this weekend at the Heffernan's cabin in Lake Almanor!

My sister-in-law, Andrea and brother-in-law, Craig (Brian's youngest brother) are expecting a baby in July too... there's going to be a baby boom in the Heffernan Family

Here is Ronan in his first few days...

Cousin Jimmy's Wedding

We were all in Fresno for the weekend for Cousin Jimmy Simonson's wedding to Erin Molthen. They had the same band that we had at our wedding and Jan loved seeing (and singing with) her old friends:) Erin's family, Aunt Tere and Uncle Bill put on a really fun weekend for us all to celebrate Jimmy and Erin's wedding, thanks for having our rowdy crowd!

James and his girlfriend Emily with Jerry and his girlfriend Allison

Baby Ann and her....

Jan and John with the band, "Pure Ectasy"

Link to a slideshow with LOTS of pictures from the weekend!...

http://www.photagious.com/slideshow?372f4a613473b90c1565111179721882

Jan's Pram

My mom is so excited for the arrival of her first grandchild she found a Silver Cross Pram for Baby Heff on eBay, similiar to the one we had growing up! It came in lots of huge boxes and Jan has been trying to get Heff to put it together for a few weeks now :) We finally got it unloaded and assembled last night for a test spin... it's in great shape and will be really fun to push the baby in around Menlo Oaks!

VEGAS!

We just got back from celebrating Baby Ann's 21st and Mothers Day for Jan in Las Vegas! Baby Ann and two of her friends, Jackie and Christine, drove out from Nashville with her after classes ended to kick off their summer vacation. We (my parents, brother Jerry, Heff and I) arrived early Saturday morning and enjoyed the sun and extra-large drinks until the college girls arrived. We gambled, sat by the pool, had a great dinner together and as usual in Vegas, just wanted a shower and our own bed by the time we left Sunday night! It was fun to see my sister and I'm glad she's home for awhile (at least a few weeks before she heads to Croatia for most of the summer!)

Mare and Heff with his 32 ounce Bloody Mary by the pool

Poolside drinks again! My 32 ounce VIRGIN Pina Colada left a lot to be desired :)

Happy Mother's day MOM! (with her gift, a book on the history of Flight Attendants) and it was a record 11 seconds on this flight before Jan told the Southwest flight attendant about her "glory days" as Kat says!

Christine, Jackie & Baby Ann headed out for dinner and the Blackjack Tables

Mare and Heff (pointing to Baby Heff!) at waiting for dinner

The boys (John, Heff and Jer)

Baby Ann and her sis (She finally gave me back my ID! Now she can be 21 again, not faking 29 to get in bars at Vandy... really Ann?)

Heading home winners! We didn't too too well at the tables, but Jan and I made up for it on our way out the door... we played the "2 cent" slots in honor of my mother-in-law Claire and between Jan and I walked away with over $350 in winnings! We're going back to those machines next time....

We graduated from Ultrasound

So we had our 7th attempt this morning in Radiology at Palo Alto Medical to take an ultrasound picture of Baby Heff's backside. This baby either likes to snuggle in and not go anywhere or it's embarrassed for those people to be taking pictures of it's rear end! After 2 weeks and 7 visits, we were really starting to get worried that something might be wrong, even though the techs were telling us it's normal for the baby to be in a difficult position to get every picture they need. They did tell us today they think we set a record and they don't want to see us in there again! After the Ultrasound we had a regular doctor's appointment with Dr. Nicole Hong who will hopefully deliver Baby Heff. She reported everything looks normal and is progressing along. Revised due date of September 22 (which we like since we were married July 22!) and we go again in 3 weeks. She told us it's time to start signing up for childbirth classes at Packard Children's Hospital and getting ready for the third trimester! We can't wait to meet you Baby Heff and thanks for finally cooperating so your parents don't have to spend every other day in the ultrasound department worrying about you!!

We're off to Vegas tomorrow for "Baby Ann's" 21st birthday celebration with the family... more virgin Pina Colada's by the pool for me and Baby Heff!

Kicks!

I've started to feel the baby kicking and it's so cool! Last week I left work and the girls asked me if I'd felt the baby yet, I disappointedly replied "no, nothing yet." Then as I was driving home I felt this little pop against my seatbelt and thought "What was that!?" I slowly started feeling little fluttering and tiny kicks over the next week or so... Heff is so excited but he was a little jealous he couldn't feel it too. :) Last weekend at the wedding, every time I'd tell him the baby kicked he'd put his hand on my belly waiting to see if he could feel it too, I wasn't even sure it would be strong enough for him to feel, but the baby never wanted to kick when Heff had his hand on my tummy. Then last night the baby was going crazy kicking and I put his hand right where I was feeling the kicks... nothing for a few minutes and then I felt this really strong kick and looked at Heff to see if he felt it, his eyes were huge and had a big smile on his face! He finally felt the baby kick too!

Back from the Bahama's!

Heff and I just got back last night from an incredible trip to Musha Cay in the Bahamas. Our good friends were married on 05-06-07 and took us on a whirlwind four day weekend wedding extravaganza! We'll have some good stories to tell this baby when he/she is older about it's in-utero experiences in the Caribbean :) A few pictures from the trip...

Heff and Mare on the boat

Deep Sea Fishing for Dolphin Fish (Mahi Mahi) We went out on a boat a few miles off shore from our island to fish for an afternoon, my husband was in heaven! We pulled in a boat load of Mahi Mahi, most about 30-35 pounds, but the last fish Heff and I reeled in together (ok, he did most of the work but let me help for a little while:) was a 55-60 pound dolphin fish... the recorded biggest fish of it's kind ever caught is 72 pounds so needless to say it was a once in a lifetime fishing expedition. They cleaned the fish for us and sent them home on the plane packed in ice, more fresh sashimi than anyone could ever eat!

Look at that blue water!

Mary and the fisherwomen

Heff doing what he loves

Our trophys

A Day's Catch

Our house for the weekend "Blue Point," right next to the beach and heli-pad, we shared with another couple from the bay area who were also expecting a baby... Heff called it the incubator. :) The island only has housing for 24 people so guests were spread out between the houses on the island, yachts off-shore and a "tent city" on the beach. There was so much to do all weekend as you can see from the assortment of toys on the beach! There was an island scavenger hunt one morning and our team caught the competitive spirit to WIN (imagine that?) which we did but only after some much talked about stealing of golf cart keys!

The house we stayed in

The Beach (as we were leaving the clouds rolled in)

Looking out

View from the house

Setting up a Fireworks Show on the heli-pad in front of our house, with 600 tubes it was quite a show

Mare & Heff on our way to a Cinco de Mayo Party after Heff's haircut (see below!)

Mary's favorite part of the trip... the professional LA stylist Brandon Martinez (who was on the show Blowout!) came to do our hair for the wedding, including Heff's! My husband is a very good sport :) This pic was in our "living room"

One more try....

We had our third try at the Ultrasound pictures of the kidneys/lower spine today and this baby is way too comfortable hiding it's rear end in a corner! We were starting to get nervous that something was wrong but they said this is normal and happens sometimes, the tech just said it's probably a mellow baby who's comfortable in there... hopefully he or she isn't saving up for after it's born :) But we certainly aren't complaining about getting to see him or her on the big screen again. This time the tech was so nice said "Since we can't get a good shot we might as well have fun" and showed us lots of angles of the baby. He or she was moving one hand by it's face and actually waving the fingers around, it was amazing to see every bone in the hand already formed. The other hand was down by it's right side and then the legs were contorted back up towards the head (Vaulter in training Ann?:) The coolest thing we watched was the baby's mouth moving up and down like it was sucking or trying to swallow fluid, we couldn't believe how big and real Baby Heff seems already. We're due to go back for another try next week on Wednesday afternoon after our trip to the Bahama's! We leave tonight and are so excited for some sun and fun with friends. We'll post when we return!!

A "picture" of Baby Heff!

We had the follow up Ultrasound this afternoon (Monday) to try to get the last pictures they needed of Baby Heff. (The picture posted above was from last Friday and the first one we saw) I had a Coldstone ice cream on our way over to get the baby moving but they still couldn't get the right shot! It was fun to see the baby again, this time he/she had flipped over so it kind of looked like it was crawling, but still tucked up in the fetal position (I suppose that's why they call it the fetal position) The tech said it's fairly normal to take a few tries and everything looks fine, they just need all the angles to measure and make sure the baby's anatomy is all on track. So we go back Thursday to try again... We're not complaining, it's fun to see the baby moving around on the ultrasound screen!

Tonight, Heff and I are getting the baby's room ready for the crib and changing table that are arriving soon. (Thanks to the Grandparents-to-be! Claire & Tom gave us the Pottery Barn changing table and Jan & John are giving us the crib) Heff put in pull-down stairs in our hallway and finished off part of the attic for a whole area of new storage! We'll need it :)

Rebuilding Together Day

Saturday was "National Rebuilding Day" for the organization Brian is Board President of this year. It used to be called "Christmas in April" and every year they take one Saturday in April to help renovate local homes in dire need of repairs. This year they did 72 houses and had over 4,000 volunteers out, everything went smoothly and we had a great day touring the houses to see the progress and meet the families and volunteers. Heff usually always works on one of the houses, so it was hard for him not to get in there with the power tools! There were so many great volunteers that made a big difference in so many houses in the bay area.

Brian's sister Maureen and her girls, Ellie and Kate, were here from Salt Lake City all weekend with Brian's dad Tom (while our moms and Brian's sister Kat were in Nashville visiting my sister Ann, good thing our families like each other so much! Kat ran a half marathon in Nashville and placed in the top 10%!) So we had fun with the girls all weekend :) Here is a picture of Kate at the Rebuilding Together BBQ after the work day Saturday...

20 Week Ultrasound Appointment

We had our big 20 week Ultrasound Friday morning which was a marathon 3 hours!! Turns out Baby Heff is like his/her mom and likes to sleep in :) Heff embarrassed me by thelling the nurse, "This baby must take afer my wife's side of the family... too early in the morning for movement" to which the nurse replied "Uh, it's almost noon." Brian said, "Exactly." :) The baby was curled up in a corner and they couldn't get all of the pictures they needed of the heart, kidneys, and lower spine. It was pretty comical to see what I had to do to try to get the baby to move! First jumping up and down, drinking apple juice and gatorades, "knocking" on my belly... which all escalated to me on all fours on the exam table shaking my hips and doing half-way headstands! Heff was just laughing at me and threatening to take camera phone pictures of me (sorry, no one has to see that!) BUT we did get to see the baby! I couldn't believe how big he/she was, I said to the nurse "That looks like a real kid!" she replied... "what did you think it was?" We saw little arms moving in front of it's face, feet that Heff said are as wide as they are long, and a great profile of the baby's face. I'll scan the pictures in from work this week. It was so much fun and made this baby seem so much more real. We're now past the halfway mark!

Day at the park

I had my adorable godson James and his brother Wil this afternoon/evening while my good friend Janna (their mom) had a meeting in Menlo. We had so much fun with the boys! Heff and I took them to the park near our house first... James couldn't get enough of the slides and Heff worked on teaching him how to "pump" on the swings and helped him cross the monkey bars. Wil was racing around after his brother and loved the slides too, although he needed a little more help! Afterwards we had pizza at home and played with the dogs, James told us he is a dog trainer and he taught them so much that they are "good dogs now" I sure hope that's true :)

19 Weeks!

Ok, my sister (Baby Ann) made me promise I wouldn't put any pictures of my belly on the website or else she'd "barf and pass out" but sorry pissy sissy... :) Heff took this picture yesterday afternoon in the backyard. I know it's not a very impressive belly but it sure feels a lot bigger than it looks! We have our 20 week Ultrasound appointment on Friday morning and are very excited to see the sonogram pictures of Baby Heff and to be half way there!

Red Bluff Rodeo Weekend

Heff had to work a ton this weekend but we snuck up to Red Bluff for Rodeo late Friday night and Saturday. Craig and Andrea came up from LA and Katherine brought a couple of friends so we had a crowd at Claire and Tom's house. We went to watch the Rodeo Friday night with the Flynn's and had great seats in the sky box above the roping shoots....
Saturday it was COLD in Red Buff! The rain came in and it was cold and wet all day long. We were in the stands on aluminum bleachers that just seemed to suck the heat out of you... Heff packed dry pants and my hunting jacket, but even all bundled up we were freezing. But we stuck it out to watch the cowboys, the rodeo acts, and my favorite the "crazy horse race." It was still a great day, especially with corn dogs and rodeo food! :)

After Rodeo we went out to Cow Pie Field on the Weber's family ranch (where Heff and I got engaged!) for a BBQ with a bunch of Red Bluff families... it was still cold but the girls all hung out in the trailers families brought to camp out in while the guys manned the BBQ and bonfire. We finally dried out and had a great time with the whole crowd.

Back at the Heffernan's playing with Claire's dress-up chest! I guess I should explain this picture... Jane Flynn's grand-daughter Mary Claire was over for dinner with us Saturday night and found Claire Heffernan's stash of dress-up clothes, she chose outfits for everyone... including Craig! In the picture, left to right: Craig, Andrea (28 weeks pregnant!), Claire, Kat and Mary Claire, Jen and Cathleen (Claire's twin sister, can't you tell:) Always fun at the Heffernan's house!

Organizing

We've been doing a lot of work at home to get the house organized and ready to start a nursery for Baby Heff! I have a very patient husband who has now moved our bed into every room in the house trying to figure out where I want things (actually the last time I moved it while he was at work because I felt bad for changing my mind again!) But we love the new layout and the nursery-to-be is cleared out and ready to go. We decided to move our room into what was the guest room and make our old room into an office/playroom, then the baby will be in the third smaller bedroom that used to be Heff's "hunting room." My mom has Pottery Barn Kids coming for 5 days next week to shoot their fall catologue at her house so she's going to opt for a few days of gift certificates to PBK instead of cash (the house makes good money!) and we'll order the crib they gave us and maybe a few other things :) We'll post nursery pictures when we get some baby stuff in there.

Here is a picture of the new office... we both love working in here!

And our new blue bedroom! Heff Just replaced the last aluminum window in the house with a nice new one on the right, we just have to paint it now. :)

And my husband cooking me dinner last night :) He takes very good care of his pregnant wife!