Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful and blessed this year. Most importantly, I am thankful for this time with my family. We have enjoyed this long holiday weekend celebrating Ian's first Thanksgiving with friends and family.

Casey had to be at work at 5 AM on Thursday to get the pre-game meal out for the football players before their departure for Nebraska ( they lost! loss=no bowl game=Casey home more!) Ian and I watched the Macy's Day parade. I made cranberry salad and egg noodles while he was sleeping. When Casey got home, we headed to the Nelson's for good food and company. In honor of Ian's first Thanksgiving, we figured we should introduce him to the world of meat...his first meat, why Turkey of course! Ian couldn't get enough while Uncle Jon was feeding him. FYI - still a hater on the mashed potatoes. Ian had fun exploring a new place and hangin' with his Uncle Jon. I am thankful to have my brother near me because we still have each other even if we cannot be with our parents. It was a great time, but we had to call it an early night. We were all exhausted!

The only thing getting us up at 3 AM on Black Friday was Ian. Fortunately, he was back in bed a few ounces later and so were we. We had a laid back morning at home. I met my friend, Kate, for a pedicure in the afternoon. We had plans to get a pedicure back in July, but she had to take a rain check since she went into labor. We were finally able to make up for it! It was so nice to hang out with a girlfriend and get pampered.

That night I prepped the hallways and started painting. I have been wanting to add just a dash of color to our hallways for awhile and I finally had the time. It is subtle, but good. I have spent time catching up on a lot of home decor projects this weekend. We are going to update the dining room with new art and such tomorrow. I am excited about the new design. Once we have new dining room chairs, it will look fabulous! There is a lot of decorating that I want to do, but it often drops to the bottom of the priority list so I have enjoyed these past few days to catch up.

We woke up Saturday to snow! Technically, it is not our first snow of the season. But it is the first snow that has lasted past Noon. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I cannot wait to get our tree next weekend. I really miss living in WI this time of year. I always loved going to chop down our tree and we don't have that tradition here. However, we have found a local family owned business that we like to frequent. The Flower Bin. I love them year round!

Despite the wintry weather, we bundled up and hit Boulder for some last minute Christmas gifts. I am officially done with all of my holiday shopping! I think this is the earliest I have ever been done. Impressive. It helps when you have to ship about half of your gifts across the country - anything to avoid the super long USPS lines!

Tomorrow our friends, Moses & Amanda, are coming over. They have a 6 month old daughter, Emily. Moses is going to be taking some shots of Ian. We are hoping it goes well. We have never been in a photo "shoot" type of situation so it should be interesting. In the meantime, take a peek at our slideshow for some amatuer shots of our peanut!

Life's Little Favorites

Life is crazy. Work is intense. I am knee deep in a payroll conversion - it is consuming my every moment at work - nothing like the financial livelihood of 100 people looming over you. I haven't had time during the day to answer emails and such, so that leads to putting in a few hours each night. Home is intense too. Ian has been out of sorts these last few days. We are taking him to the doctor tomorrow to make sure our unit's systems are functioning correctly. Maybe an ear infection? Not sure. We are hoping not, but I would rather know for sure. He is also teething, so it is hard to know what the real issue is. Poor little man.

Despite life being crazy, I had a precious moment last night. I was getting Ian ready for bed. I grabbed his (i.e. mine) favorite PJ's and struggled to squeeze Ian into them. realized this was going to be the last night he would be able to wear them. Bummer. I could have tossed them into the box of other clothes he has grown out of, but I didn't. I was determined to have him wear my favorite PJ's one more night. Fortunately, he didn't seem phased by his second skin and moved about his room with delight. He also wasn't phased by his Mom getting all sappy over a pair of PJ's. Really? True.


I went to a yard sale a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant. I was drawn there by the magic words "Large selection of baby clothes - like new." I did the typical drive by to see if the sale was worthy (fact: Colorado yard sales could learn a thing or two from Wisconsin yard sales). There were 3 young women selling their baby clothes. Jackpot! I saw these PJ's and instantly fell in love. Before I knew I had an entire box full of baby clothes. Grand total $6.

It was a sweet memory to drift off to for a couple of seconds. It got me thinking though - what makes something a favorite? I have plenty of favorites - mashed potatoes, green, Madonna, shoes, water, fall, carrot cake, rings...I could go on and on. Yet, I rarely stop to think about them. 50 cents is all it took to make me think about my favorites. Take a minute for yourself and think about your favorites. It will bring a smile to your face - just like the picture below!

Introducing...Sofia Aviva!

The newest member of the Berghoff Family

Sofia with her big sister, Elana

Goodbye swollen ankles, Hello sleepless nights...

My dear friend, Michelle, gave birth to a baby girl this morning! I don't have pictures yet, but will post them as soon as I do. In the meantime, dig on the stats below. Congrats to the Berghoff family. We love you and your new bundle of joy!

Sofia Aviva Berghoff

11/6/08

1:00 AM

6 lbs. 7 oz.

19 inches long

Mr. President Elect

As I sit here listening to President Obama's speech, I have goose bumps. I remember saying months ago, "I don't know if our country is ready for an African-American President." Today I have come full circle. The first moment I heard Barack Obama speak, I got goose bumps. I believed him. He gave me hope. He was the change I wanted to believe in. I also wanted to believe in the American people. I wanted to believe that the American people were able to look past the color of one's skin and realize that it doesn't define you - your integrity and character define you. I had heard one too many people utter the words I couldn't believe I was hearing in 2008 and I started having doubts. It surprised me and made me stop to think for a second. Race was never a factor for me and I knew there were others that agreed with me, but were there enough of them? I am proud to be an American in this moment. I am proud that my son will be raised in a world where an African-American will be the President of the United States of America. I am so happy that the American people denounced my thoughts and have restored my faith in them. It is a great feeling. Excitement comes to mind. Excitement for Obama and the adventure that lies ahead of him. Excitement for this country and the change that he will bring to us - good or bad. It is about time for some change. I think that we can all agree on. The challenge that lies ahead is to have faith in his leadership and believe that we, as a people, have the power to make all the difference in this world.

You know what to do...

VOTE!

Today is the day. After days, weeks and months of... surveyors at the grocery store, ads on TV, ads on the radio, stalker messages on our cell phones, e-mails about who is right and why, rallies, more ads on TV, random people knocking on my door to see who I am going to vote for, calls to make sure I got my mail-in ballot, researching amendments, spirited debates, hounding friends to register, SNL, completing mail-in ballot and dropping off the ballot. It will all come to a close today. Now what will I spend my time doing? I guess it depends on who wins!

Happy Halloween!

Grandpa Andrews arrived safe and sound on Wednesday night, but his luggage - not so much. Grandpa was waiting for us (and his luggage) when we arrived home that night. His luggage showed up later. Always a bonus! Grandpa has been enjoying the beautiful Colorado weather and we have enjoyed hanging out with him. He was able to get a couple of golf games in - which he loved. Casey was able to get time off from work and joined him for one of them. Most importantly, Ian is loving his time with Grandpa Andrews.

Friday was Ian's first Halloween! He wore a Halloween outift to daycare - it reads Mummy Loves Me. Maggie gave him the orange/white striped socks. They completed the outfit and he enjoyed "snacking" on them on his drive to daycare. It is the funniest thing...he always has his left sock off in a matter of minutes. That night my brother had a party. We stopped over before the guests showed up so Ian could hang with Uncle Jon and show off his costume. Of course, Uncle Jon was a big fan of our little skeleton. We didn't stay long - just long enough to see a couple trick or treaters and for Ian to use his arm extension to attack the candy bowl (confession: I was way more into than he was). Good thing he isn't able to figure out the wrapper just yet. Ha!

Saturday we headed to Pearl Street. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend - high 70's and sunny. We had a nice stroll. I was just geeked to be wearing my flip flops in November. Life is good:) We stopped off at Buddha Cafe for lunch and then came home to get ready for another Halloween party. Maggie and her roommates had a party on Saturday night. Ian joined me for an hour or so, then Casey picked him up so I could stay at the party longer. We had a nice time. There were 2 other babies at the party - the boy was a monkey and the little girl was a peacock. Too cute! Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos from the party. I hope to get my hands on a couple this week and I will post them if I do.

Sunday was a lazy day, of sorts. Ian slept until 7:30, but since daylight savings ended it was really 6:30 AM. Silly if you ask me, but that is another post in itself. We all were well rested though and enjoyed a quiet morning together. I ran some errands in the morning while Casey and Doug spent most of the day working on the house. Casey and I are blessed with the skill set of our family members. Someone always leaves having helped us knock at least one thing off our new homeowner check list. Thanks to all! Ian also wants to thank his Grandma Andrews for this super cool ball she made for him.