It's a start!

Mike and Sarah are starting to amass the large amount of "stuff" that you need to raise a baby thanks to friends, family and lots of garage sale-ing! This Saturday Sarah and her sister, Rachel, hit the jackpot of all baby garage sales. A large neighborhood in Eden Prairie was having their annual sale with 45+ families participating. Sarah and Rachel both found so many great baby bargains. Sarah was able to check a lot of items off of her baby hit list such as an umbrella stroller, receiving blankets and lots of onsies through size 12 months. Pictured above is Ruby diligently guarding her new little brother's loot. One day in the near future this haphazard pile will be transformed into a lovely and organized nursery. Well, it's a start at least!

Garage sale-ing aside, it was a very busy week in the Gray household. Monday night was our first of two "All About Babies" (aka Babies for Dummies) class at St. Francis Hospital. Mike and Sarah sat in the front row and absorbed a lot of information about what to expect from a healthy newborn in regards to appearance, procedures and reflexes. They also got to see a demonstration on a 6 lb. baby born just one day earlier of how to give a newborn and bath and how to take a rectal temperature. Both of which Mike and Sarah have never done before! The class was great - it was nice to see and hear other expectant parents going through the same things the Grays are experiencing. We're looking forward to part two tomorrow!

Tuesday after worked we raced home, walked the Rubester and headed to Target and Babies R' Us to register for all of the baby essentials we don't yet have. After a few hours of hemming and hawing over the plethora of baby options out there we were exhausted but feeling good because we could check yet another item off of our baby to-do list.

Wednesday night Sarah hit a few maternity consignment shops with Rachel and then headed to bookclub. Her bookclub has a nice tradition of celebrating new marriages and babies. Moms-to-be are given baby books by each of the members. Lil' Mikey now has a nice little library started with lot of adorable new board books that I'm sure will get a lot of use soon. Mike had his friend, Mike, over for a little "band practice" aka Guitar Hero marathon.

Thursday after work we finally went grocery shopping and ran errands after a week of scrounging in the house for food. Work has also been extra hectic lately - Sarah has a lot of projects going on and is feeling the pressure to get things in tip-top shape for her leave and Mike was in training all week. With all of this going on Sarah and Mike spent a quiet night at home on Friday. The Gray's were exhausted!

Saturday evening Sarah and Mike headed to their friends' Mike and Becky's house for a delicious dinner of grilled halibut with a roasted tomato, basil and edamame sauce. Sarah has the recipe and will be making it soon. It was a sad night because Sarah's good friend Becky will be leaving for a summer internship in Portland. It's a great opportunity for her but she will be dearly missed by all here.

Today, Mike worked and Sarah had her prenatal yoga class. Yoga is helping Sarah so much to stay healthy and focused during this pregnancy she's going to try to do two classes a week from here on out.

Thanks for checking out our blog. Have a great week everyone!