Getting close!

1) Mindy and Doug will be having their baby any day now!  I'm super excited to meet my new little nephew, and also SUPER jealous that I will still have to be pregnant for a few weeks after Quinn gets here.  Maybe Quinn's arrival will make Gavin want to hurry up a little -- he'll want to meet his new best friend, after all!

BFFs

2) Work has been crazy lately because I've been picking up shifts here and there and learning a whole new set of tasks.  I feel good because I'm now cross-trained on most office jobs -- even though my job will change drastically once I get back from maternity leave and the office begins the transition to electronic medical records.  Then the real fun begins for me, as a huge portion of my job will be to help with the transition.  As for now, though, I'm trying to learn as much about office management as I can and really increase my rolodex of skills.  Stephen is also trying to broaden his professional horizons -- there have been some job postings at Mitsubishi that sound interesting to him, so we're getting his resume and cover letter together this week.  He's had a few people at work ask him if he'd be interested in applying for the open positions -- including the man who is currently doing one of the jobs -- so that's made him feel confident that there is no harm in applying at least.  He's such a hard-worker, and SUCH a team player at Mitsubishi, so we'll see what happens!  He also starts a new term in mid-November and will be taking a writing course and his first computer course (7 credit hours total), so it'll be a busy but really exciting end to 2011.

3) It's been awhile since I've posted some photos, so here are the updated photos of our finished nursery and bathroom:

We are so happy with how everything turned out!  The dot decals in the bathroom cost a whopping total of $15 and made a huge difference, and we love our new custom glider in Gavin's room!  He won't be sleeping in the nursery for probably 3-6 months (we have a bassinet we'll be setting up in our room), but the room is all ready for Gavin to love.  Plus...we can't wait to dress him up in all his cutie pie clothes.  

4) We're done with holiday shopping!  Since the baby isn't due until the end of November, and rumor has it that most first time mothers deliver up to two weeks late, we thought there might be a chance that Gavin will be a December baby.  That being said, there was no way we wanted to spend our first few weeks of maternity/paternity leave fighting mall crowds with a newborn.  So everything is purchased, wrapped, and ready to go!  :)  Now the hard part is keeping our gifts a secret.  I'm the world's WORST secret-keeper when I find a gift for someone that I know they'll love.  I usually end up giving Stephen his gifts early because I just can't wait to see him open them!  So I'll have to keep my mouth shut for the next two months, but I'm really happy to have that huge task knocked off my to-do list.

5) Speaking of our to-do list, there is still a long way to go before reaching the end of it, but we have managed to take some time to enjoy typical Fall things like pumpkin patches and football games. 

HAPPY FALL!