Baby Ann is in Croatia... (and she has a blog too!)

21 years ago....

My little sister (known better as "Baby Ann" by our family and even by her younger cousins) just arrived in Croatia for 8 weeks on a program for school. She is going to be a senior at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and LOVES to travel (the one thing we don't have in common). Last year she spent the first semester on a ship traveling around the world through a program called, appropriately, "Semester at Sea." We all love following her detailed accounts of her trip on her blogs. The new one is:

http://annbsimo.blogspot.com/

I am lucky to have a sister like Baby Ann, even though we are 8 years apart in age... she is my best friend and one of the funniest people I know. My brothers and I are all giving her a hard time to move back home immediately after she graduates next May... we all want her here to entertain us! She thinks she may stay an extra year at Vanderbilt to get a Masters degree in Childhood Development, which is her undergrad major. I keep reminding her she doesn't really like kids, but she says she just like to find out what's wrong with the little brats. :) Just kidding, Ann... you are great with kids and you're going to be a really great Aunt to Cletus!!

Some more old photos I found...

Have fun Baby Ann and be good!

The Nursery

Heff and I and Jan have been busy working on the nursery this weekend... and it's done! (at least 80% done, which is where we usually get to) We have a beautiful crib from my parents and a matching changing table from Tom & Claire (thanks grandparents-to-be!)

I wanted to paint something on the walls, after seeing a cute A-B-C border from a Pottery Barn photo shoot they did at the Johnets house for the next kids magazine. We got ABC bumbers in primary colors at PBK so I matched the colors and style of letters on a little flag border that says "Sweet Dreams" above the crib and will have the baby's initials above the spot where our rocker/glider goes (it hasn't been delivered yet). The only problem was after I painted the flags and lettering, I changed my mind on the wall color... three times!

SO finally Heff helped me pick a really light blue on Saturday that was perfect. We had a painting party Saturday night, Jan came over to help since my dad was out of town while Heff BBQ'ed rib eyes and made us dinner. Today Heff and I put up a "chair rail" molding aong the wall to finish off the final touches. We are excited to have a baby in our new baby room in less than three months!

Bradley Class

Heff and I had our first childbirth preparation class on Tuesday night. We decided to try the Bradley Method classes which is also known as "Husband Coached Childbirth." I told my mom I was going to buy the "Husband Coached Childbirth" book after Heff and I had looked into it a few weeks ago and she said "Oh just come over I have that book!" So we've been reading the 1964 version that says "there is no medical means to determine the sex of your baby" but other than a few changes is still pretty accurate. It's similiar to the Lamaze methods and works on relaxation and encourages natural childbirth.

The class Tuesday night was in a woman's home in Redwood City with a few other couples. It was what you would expect of a natural childbirth class! However :) Heff and I actually enjoyed it and found it really informative and not too hippie-ish.

My parents met our good friends Ann & Earl Skidmore in their Lamaze class when they were pregnant with me and one of my best (and definetly my oldest!) friend Jenn... I think we can safely say there weren't any Ann & Earl couples in our class! But since I've signed my willing husband up for about 15 classes before this baby come maybe we still will!

Happy Father's Day!

Heff's first (unofficial) Father's Day! He says it's like a Father's Day with training wheels on :) We had a relaxing day recovering from the parties. We slept in, went to the Johnet's for breakfast (John cooked us all eggs), helped clean up the carnage and the whole family sat outside enjoying the sun while Dad opened his birthday gifts and Father's Day cards. Then Heff and I did some cleaning of our own at home, he worked hard most of the afternoon cleaning out our garage then we went to the grocery store and he cooked me a yummy dinner! We're spoiled by the "dad's" in this family doing all the work AND feeding us on their big day!

I am so lucky to have Brian. He is an incredible husband, he always takes such good care of me, he's my best friend in the world and I can't wait to watch him be an absolutely fantastic father. Three more months to go! I love you Heff.

John's 60th Birthday BBQ

John's big 60th Birthday BBQ was a hit. Janet did a great job pulling off TWO parties in the backyard in one day, we had lots of great food, John got to show of his BBQ, we all got a chance to visit with old friends to celebrate Dad's big 6-0 with our family and the cops only showed up twice (they don't like illegal fireworks for some reason). It was great to see everyone and felt like old times with a big "Simo style" BBQ in the backyard!

Happy Birthday Dad!

A Slideshow of pictures from the party... (can you tell I love Picasa's new features for Macs!)

Jill's Wedding Shower

My mom and Ann and I threw a shower for our good friend and neighbor growing up, Jill Carter this afternoon. Jill is getting married in August and we are so excited for her. Above; Mary, Baby Ann, Jan, Jill, Georgia and Beth. We had a great group of 24 ladies for the "pink and orange" themed shower, Jan made pizzas for everyone and Jill got a lot of beautiful wedding gifts (which we walked back to her house in the Pram!) Congrats Jill!

... now off to help get reay for John's 60th birthday party BBQ at my parents house tonight! Jan thought it would be "easy" to have both parties in the same day. Should be fun!

The parents-to-be!

We're about to hit the third trimester! I can't believe how fast it's going and how soon Brian and I are going to be parents. I am still feeling really great and the baby (who continues to be better known as Cletus the Fetus) is moving and kicking pretty often. Today the baby was going crazy when Heff was talking as I stood behind him, leaning against his back... I guess he or she recognizes his Dad's voice!

Tonight, Katherine had us all over for dinner a great dinner at her house, across the street from my parents, with the Johnets and our good friend Joanie Huck, my sister who is still in town before she heads to Croatia for 6 weeks and Mark Heffernan who just started his first week at Google so is living here during the week before his finace, Sarah, moves down to the Bay Area too. Heff and I are so lucky to have so much family so close by and to have so much fun together. We can't wait to have the baby along at family dinners too! (move over Baby Ann:)

I'm getting bigger everyday... as you can see from this photo our friend Susan took at the polo fields last weekend, she did a lot of our wedding photos and takes care of the horses too, Thanks Susan!

Baby Shower SQUARED

Cathleen Cahill (Claire's twin sister/Brian's Aunt) and Brenda Snider (a good family friend of the Heffernan's) threw Andrea and I a double Baby Shower at the Snider's home in Cottonwood (just north of Red Bluff) on Saturday. We all caravaned up to Red Bluff early Saturday morning with Kat, The Johnets and Baby Ann (only after Heff was helping move the playhouses out of the shopping center at 5:30am Saturday!)

The shower was so nice and so fun to talk about babies all afternoon! Margaret was there with Baby Ronan and Maureen had Ellie and Kate, along with our moms and friends who've had babies we got lots of good tips and advice. My sister was a little overwhelmed I think, watching us with wide eyes talk about having babies, I had to change the subject before she passed out (Sorry Baby Ann, we all know you're a fainter, good luck when it's your turn!) Everyone gave us adorable gifts for the babies... and lots of cute matching stuff we will have fun dressing Baby Heff 1 & Baby Heff 2 in very soon! Janet did the "ring test" holding a wedding band on a strand of the mothers hair over the belly and Andrea's baby said BOY but mine said GIRL (twice! once for Jan and once for Claire!) We'll see.... I've been thinking boy all along but might be feeling girl lately.

The Grandmothers-to-be (Claire times 2!)

Andrea's Belly is a little bigger than mine! She is 8 weeks ahead of me (so she's 33 weeks here, I'm 25 weeks)

Mare, Jan & Baby Ann

A Book from Aunt Kat for both babies called "My Daddy is a Giant"

Cousin Margaret & Baby Ronan

The hosts, Brenda and Cathleen with Mary and Andrea

Grandma Wichmann came up from Southern California for the shower!

Mary and Ellie making faces at Baby Ann

Aunt Kat helping Mary write the gifts and gift givers... after the wedding shower and Maid-of-Honor duties she joked "This is the job that never ends!" THANKS KAT!

Ellie and Ronan

Nativity Carnival

We had a busy busy weekend...

Friday we BBQ'ed Tri-Tip at the Nativity Carnival! Academic Trainers sponsors the Tri-Tip BBQ for the school and parish (where we got married!) Heff and my dad along with the "SRBT" (St Raymonds BBQ Team) helped us, as usual, put on a great BBQ to raise money for a new gym and kindergarten at Nativity School. The carnival is always so much fun and a great way to kick off summertime, it has always been the big event aaround here since we were in junior high. We saw lots of friends, played a few authentic carnival games but luckily no one won a goldfish (last year if you remember our website post.... I sort of ate a goldfish on a dare from my brothers, but I don't think that's an allowed food on the pregnancy diet!!)

"Captain John" and Mare

James and Em wouldn't miss the Carnival either!

Mare & Heff

PRINCESS SOPHIE came to the Carnival too!

Happy after Churro's and Tri-Tip!

Happy Birthday Jerry!

My brother Jerry turned 25 yesterday on 06-06-07 (last year was an interesting birthday date:) We went up to the city with Baby Ann and Kat to meet Jerry, James and Em, my parents and Jerry's good friends Gary and Jeet (Hi Gary, thanks for the nice comments about our cheesy blog and good luck studying for the bar :) We had a fun dinner at Sam's and Jerry opened lots of funny birthday cards. My dad even brought back a few cards from our old, dead pets... leave it to John! Dad also took a few photos with his new camera but I think the telephoto lens was a little much for the booths at Sam's...

Happy Birthday Gerald Sheehy!

Dogs

On Sunday Heff and I had a very unbusy day after Dreams Happen. We took my mom and Kat to breakfast at Scott's for Bloody Mary's (I wish) and then went to the polo fields to try and sell one of my horses to an old friend who plays down in SLO. I haven't played polo in over a year so it was weird to be back, but I am pretty sure polo is behind me... it's much more fun to hang out with my husband on Sundays and even though I couldn't play being pregnant, it's a little too dangerous to play as a mom so I'll stick to riding them around the orchards in Red Bluff. It was fun to see everyone and smell the horses :)

It was a really nice day so we decided to put a pool in the backyard for some lounging time... yep, you can see from the picture it's a pretty high-class pool! Heff even went to Target with me on a Sunday and spent $9.99 to keep me happy :) We were entertained all afternoon by our awful dogs playing in the baby pool. Yes, the dogs continue to drive me insane getting up several times a night to go out or barking at squirrels and shedding so much our living room looks like a dog groomers unless I vacuum everyday. Sage is getting more odd lumps and bumps and tumors and might not be long for this world (is it bad my fingers are crossed?) but he has been a good dog to Brian for 10 years and even though he drives me nuts we'll miss him when he goes to doggy heaven. Ollie, on the other hand is just as bad and is only 4 years old, sorry Heff!

Dreams Happen was a Success!

We had a great event on Saturday night at the Dreams Happen Playhouse Auction and raised lots of money for Rebuilding Together. We had a fun group of guests joning us for the evening and although Brian and I did not go home with a playhouse for our backyard, our friends made up for it and took home three! The event started with a VIP reception at Williams-Sonoma Home, then drinks in the courtyard at Stanford Shopping Center... I was busy selling raffle tickets while everybody mingled around to check out the playhouses. After dinner we staked out the last row of seats and were a busy section during bidding! Heff welcomed everyone to the event and then passed the microphone on to Diane Dwyer, the NBC news anchor, who announced to all 500 guests, "Did you all know he met his wife here last time! Where are you wife?!" It was pretty funny :) The Playhouses went for $14-56K and the autioneer did a great job keeping it going quickly and getting people to raise those paddles. After the auction we danced to the "Cheeseballs" and everyone was happy to report there were no glitches and the event had gone well. Heff and I had so much fun remembering just two years ago, being there and meeting, talking and even dancing together for the first time... I knew that night I had met my husband and I am so lucky just 2 years later to be married to him and expecting our baby in 3.5 months!

Heff kicking off the event and turning the stage over to Diane Dwyer.

Some of our friends who joined us... We had so much fun!

Emily and her mom Marla

Anne and Heff after the bidding closed!