April 5th, 2007

So this is what we woke up to this morning. can't believe it's snowing in April!

The old-time Vermonter's told us that spring doesn't start until the Easter blzzard melts.

On top of this, our furnace decided on Tuesday to start spewing black smoke into the basement, so we had to turn it off until the repairman showed up this morning. It wouldn't be so bad except that our furnace also supplies our hot water. It has been a couple days of showering at the office, not a great thing for a hugely pregnant gal!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!

32.5 weeks... huge!

Well folks, apparently something happened between 28 weeks and 32.5 weeks. Maybe a twin appeared in there or something, but that belly is getting huge!! I can't get any bigger, right? Please tell me it's not going to get any bigger!!

Spring is finally here!

Well, the snow has finally melted (for the most part) and the mud season has officially begun. I find myself really wanting a pair of those rain galoshes that I had as a kid. I think it would be fun to run to all the mud holes and splash around in them!

A down-side to the spring thaw is that now every time the dog goes out for a walk, she needs to be cleaned before coming in. She obviously does not feel the need to have galoshes on to go splashing around in the mud.

Another signal of the changing of the seasons is the appearance of groups of joggers and cyclists everywhere you look. In Vermont, once the temperature goes over 40 degrees people become very active. They have been cooped up all winter in their homes and the sun and fresh air is calling. Soon stuff will start turning green and we will be full into spring. I am very excited about it!

The last thing that signifies the real start of spring in Vermont is sugaring. There are tons of sugar houses around the area, and they still go to all the maple trees by the 2nd week of March to tap the trees for sap. The last two weekends in March are boiling down the sap into Maple syrup. It is simply amazing stuff, and I don't think I could go back to Mrs Butterworth's or Aunt Jemima again! Check out the Dakin Farm for amazing maple syrup and lots of other Vermont goodies.

Happy spring!

Nursery Update #3

Well, one week of hard work on the part of Tara and Mom, and the Nursery is nearly complete. All we are missing is the glider/rocker and a couple more pictures to be drawn by our cousins.

Here are the pictures, hope you enjoy!
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(P.S. Tim, I put the slideshow in there just for you!)

These are the different words on the walls. Mom and I painted each of these. My neck and arms are killing me.

And here are your hard workers:

Tara and Mom

Announcement as promised

So here's one of the company announcements for Tara's Promotion.

The other guy on the page is the person who previously held the job and has been promoted to Director.

Spring Break for John

So all this week while my mom has been here in the cold and rainy state of Vermont John has been in Bradenton, Florida with the UVM baseball team. You can check on their games and scores here.

He is having a great time and is apparently very tan while his very pregnant, pasty-white wife is in Vermont.

If you get a chance, drop a harassing e-mail his way. munu20@hotmail.com

Big News for Tara

So Tara has some big news from work. I have been promoted at work to "Airbus Engineering Team Leader". I am now in charge of all the programs that this Goodrich Division has with Airbus.

This is very exciting news as it is a huge promotion! I will be overseeing the proposals and work for the new A350 variant of aircraft for Airbus as well as all the existing and legacy Airbus systems.

I will scan in the company-wide announcement later.

Nursery Update 2

Well, mom has been here for 6 days, and here's more updates on the nursery.

Enjoy!

Nursery Progress

Well, my mom is here for the week and while she is here our mission is for this little one in my belly to have a place to sleep when he comes home.

My mom is amazing when it comes to home improvement and getting things done. I had no idea what I wanted to do with the room, and she suddenly got inspiration from this onesie that my sister bought (and I put on my teddy bear).


SO from this inspiration, we got some letters for Ryan's name to place over his crib.

You can also tell I am a complete engineer nerd. I have spent the majority of the time (and budget so far) on a closet organization kit. I am a dork, but here it is. I love it and I think that Ryan will grow into it and it will serve as a great closet.

MUSE has a new look.

My Alma mater, Mercer University School of Engineering has been undergoing a huge renovation project over teh past 5 years. The local paper, The Macon Telegraph, has an article about it nearly being finished. It is really impressive.

Mercer has one of the most well-rounded engineering programs in the nation, adn should have more national recognition than it gets. Georgia Tech usually overshadows this small engineering school in Macon, Georgia but Mercer continually graduates out excellent engineers that make almost immediate impacts in their chosen fields.

Here is a link to MUSE. Check it out and check out the slideshow of the building progress.

March Arrives like a Lion

This morning when I drove in to work at 7:30am it was -5F outside. John had to take Soze for a walk... it was not a good morning. I am hoping that this cold snap doesn't last very long since my mom is coming to visit for a week. But the 10-day forecast doesn't look promising.

I really hope that the adage "When March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb" holds true this year.

Credit to Tim...

And because I was so inspired by Tim, here's a link to his blog about the life and times of wrking and living in Cold Lake, Canada. Think of it as "Northern Exposure" but instead of a Jewish doctor, you have a Greek Orthodox Engineer.

Here's the link to Tim's Blog

Valentine's Day Blizzard

I know that we tried to send pictures to family of the Blizzard from Valentine's Day, but some folks didn't get them.

Here they are for anyone that is interested. We still have most of this snow, and the extra foot that fell yesterday didn't help any!

Enjoy!

Family Update

Okay, since this is supposed to be a place where we keep family and friends updated, I suppose we should include a Baby Bruss update.

This week was 28 weeks and momma is feeling great. This picture is from 27 weeks (last week) so, I will post another one at 30 weeks.

EDD right now is May 24th, which is our wedding anniversary! We'll see if Ryan is interested in making an appearance then.

So here it is, the very first Blog post from the Brusses.

Hopefully this will be a site for family and friends to check up on us and see how our family is progressing.

Leave us some feedback on the Blog and let us know how you're doing!

-john, tara, ryan, soze and brady