Life has been flying by, and I haven’t been very good about documenting it. (At least, not here…I’ve been keeping up a bit better on the family blog.) But then I remind myself that someday this will be fun to look back at, so here I am, despite having about 1,000 things that need to get done. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately:

1. Sadie turned 4 at the end of March. She’s still as much a puppy as ever, just more cuddly and capable of mellowing out from time to time. I think that will work to everyone’s advantage once the baby arrives!
2. The nursery is coming along little by little. All the big furniture is in, including this comfy cozy rocking chair. Sometimes I look at it and picture myself sitting there with a newborn baby in my arms — an overwhelming but amazing mental image.
3. One of those aforementioned mellow moments. Sometimes this dog just kills me with cuteness.
4. In April we spent a week in southern California: LA, Laguna Beach (where this photo was taken), Dana Point, and San Diego. It was a perfect mixture of activity, relaxation, sun and sand.
5. Baby Rambach overlooks San Diego. He was pretty much the star of most of Zach’s photos while we were on vacation.
6. Speaking of that baby…yep, he’s still cooking! At 34 weeks, I only have 6 more to go. After 2 baby showers, a tour of the labor and delivery floor at the hospital, and several other big milestones, it’s starting to feel really really real.

I know that blogging is most likely going to fall by the wayside (at least for awhile) after the baby is born, so I’m going to try and make a better effort up until that happens. However, I have a lot of nesting and a month of work left, so no promises!

If you’ve seen me perform in my acoustic duo, then you are no stranger to the fact that I am a HUGE fan of The Civil Wars. Matt and I cover 4 or 5 of their songs, and I’ve listened to the their “Barton Hollow” album about 4 million times since downloading it last year.

Needless to say, I was devastated when they broke up — but I am holding out hope for a reconciliation and new music. In the meantime, my heart lept when a little gem of a song popped up on Pandora one morning during a workout. Turns out it was from an EP by Joy Williams before she became one half of The Civil Wars.

The song is called “What Can I Do? (But Love You)” and it’s my new favorite. I loved it so much that I learned it by ear (since I couldn’t find the sheet music) and recorded it this week.

It’s not as fun as singing the incredible harmonies in the Civil Wars’ songs, but it’s close. I haven’t had much of a songwriter’s bug lately, but this song motivated me to get on it. You know, in all that free time I have ;)

It’s been a wacky couple of weeks in my world. Between puppy troubles, weather woes, a quick trip to Chicago, and getting things done around the house, I am ready for a relaxing weekend. Here’s what made my Instagram feed since last time.

1. Poor Sadie was sick for almost two weeks! It started with a cough, and then progressed into complete lethargy and refusal to eat. I think maybe she had a touch of seasonal depression? I’m just glad she’s back to her happy self now.
2. It’s hard to beat the winter blues when you get 18 inches of snow on March 24. Seriously, it was insane! The snow is almost all melted now, thankfully, but I was none too pleased that it set back our carpet cleaning — and therefore, setting up the nursery — by another week. Ugh, come on, Spring.
3. Thanks to my extremely generous grandma, Baby Rambach has his first set of wheels. I am in LOVE with the stroller we picked out (the Bumbleride Indie). It’s so pretty and will be perfect for long walks/jogs around the neighborhood and on the trails.
4. Now that the weather is finally starting to warm up, I get to break out some cuter spring maternity clothes. I couldn’t take much more of the black and grey ensembles that have made up most of my wardrobe for the past 4 months.
5. We made our annual trek to Chicago for Zach’s AAA awards banquet this past weekend, where he was named “Agent of the Year” for the 4th year running. By now, everyone just expects it and jokes about how his trophy case must be completely full (that’s actually true).
6. I am officially in my 3rd trimester and still feeling great! I had a good doctor’s appointment last week, made even better by the fact that I’ve only gained 16 pounds so far AND passed my glucose tolerance test, which means I don’t have gestational diabetes. Yay for me and Baby R.

This weekend will be very low-key compared to last. I’m excited about indulging in Easter candy, sleeping in, seeing some friends, and daydreaming about our trip to California in two weeks!

Oops, I did it again…I let an entire month go by without a single update. February was crazy, and I was not sad to see it end. But March has been a bit more relaxing, and I feel like I have control over my life again. And that’s always a good thing.

I didn’t take many photos this past month, but now that spring is almost here and there are lots of fun events coming up, I have a feeling that will change. In the meantime, here are a few that aren’t so exciting, but they are pretty representative of my life right now.

1. Thanks to my very generous mother-in-law, we now have an entire nursery’s worth of furniture sitting in boxes in our front hall. Once we have the carpet cleaned in the nursery, we’ll get it put together and then comes the fun of decorating!
2. Matt and I performed our final two shows before the baby’s arrival, one of them being a concert for the Prairie Grapevine Folklore Society. It was fun to play in a new venue to an appreciative crowd.
3. I’m wrapping up my 26th week of pregnancy — getting super close to that 3rd trimester! Since it’s been awhile, you can read more about the baby’s week by week progress on my family blog.
4. Sadie and I have been spending tons of quality time together lately. While I do my hair and makeup, she sits right outside the bathroom door. Without her around, I would probably go stir crazy being home alone all day.
5. Earlier this month, I started my brand new early childhood music classes. They are so much fun! It’s been great meeting the moms and making music with their cute kids on Tuesday mornings.
6. My “Snoogle” pregnancy pillow has been a lifesaver over these last couple of months, but someone likes to steal it the moment I get out of bed. Seriously, this is an everyday occurrence.

Even with so much going on and so many items on my work and baby to-do lists, life just feels kind of “blah-ish” thanks to the cold, gray weather. I really need some sunshine in my life…maybe next week?

This past week was a big one! So big that I’m happy to be spending this weekend at home relaxing, while Zach is in New Orleans for the Superbowl.

1. I got a new car :) As in, brand new — a 2013 Honda CR-V LX. It’s got pretty much everything I could ask for in a car, including heated leather seats, bluetooth technology, power everything, and 4-wheel drive. Needless to say, I’m in love. The same day we bought the car, Zach managed to sell my Mitsubishi Eclipse to the very first potential customer.
2. We had our big “gender reveal” dinner at Thai Kitchen, and Zach’s dad caught this action shot of us getting ready to open the cake that was decorated according to the baby’s sex.
3. It’s a boy! After months of feeling like I was growing a little girl, I got an awesome surprise…and needless to say, Zach was thrilled to find out he’s getting a son.
4. All of these exciting events had me feeling TIRED AS A DOG, bad pun completely intended. I didn’t quite make it as far as turning the lights off and getting under the covers, but at least I made it to the bed!
5. Speaking of sleep, I am completely in love with this surprise gift from Zach. It’s a Snoogle, which is a giant pregnancy body pillow that has given me two nights of completely uninterrupted sleep for the first time in weeks.
6. Speaking of pregnancy, I’ve made it to week 21. My belly has gotten noticeably bigger, which is why I decided to forgo the bare belly photos (although this decision was protested by quite a few people on Facebook, believe it or not!).

Sadie and I have spent most of the day lounging around the house, although I did venture out with my mom to Carter’s for the first time, where we picked out some cute baby boy stuff.

I have to say I’m a bit overwhelmed with everything I have to pick out, buy and prepare for the baby, but luckily I have a lot of help :) Not to mention plenty of time…four and a half months to go!

This past week has been super productive and just all-around great. I’m feeling happy and excited about work, the baby, and life in general, not to mention that my morning sickness has (finally) all but disappeared.

Winter is always a pretty low-key season in my world, because I can’t stand the cold and try to avoid going out in it as much as possible. I think this week’s photos are pretty evident of that fact.

1. He did it again! For the 4th year in a row, Zach received the title “Agent of the Year” for his company, AAA Insurance. We’ll be celebrating at the annual banquet in Chicago in March, and the again in April when we go to Laguna Beach, California.
2. I’ve been trying to expand my horizons in the kitchen lately, and Pinterest is helping me out with that. I found a recipe for healthy breakfast “cookies” that turned out pretty yummy.
3. This baby is almost to the halfway point of being born! At 19 weeks, I am feeling lots of movement and getting a bit of a bump, though it still isn’t obvious to most people.
4. One thing I’ve been craving like CRAZY is sour candy, particularly Sour Patch Kids. One night, Zach even made a 9 pm run to Walgreens to satisfy my urge.
5. I’ve been playing my ukulele a lot lately and remembering how much I love it! It’s so small and easy to play compared to my big guitar, and its happy little sound always makes me smile.
6. One of my favorite blogs of all time is Young House Love, which I’ve been reading since its beginning. John and Sherry, the couple who write the blog, recently came out with a book which Zach surprised me with last week.

Did you notice that something — er, someone — was missing from this week’s round-up? That’s right, no puppy pics to speak of (for once). I figured that after featuring Sadie in 3 out of 6 photos last week, I’d better lay off this time around. After all, the girl needs her privacy from time to time ;)

My weekly photo round-up is back after a three month hiatus…oops! I could sit here and list plenty of excuses (conference, pregnancy, trips to Florida and Hawaii, pregnancy, the holidays, did I mention pregnancy?) but I will spare you.

I’m going to try and be better about not only taking more photos, but also posting them on a regular basis. I am feeling MUCH more human these days after several months of nausea and just overall yuckiness, which makes life infinitely more enjoyable and photo-worthy. I was scraping the barrel a bit for this week’s round-up, but I had to start somewhere, right?

1. Lucky me — I got to spend the last days of 2012 and first days of 2013 completely knocked out by a horrible cold! In addition to being miserable, I had to suffer through two performing gigs including one on New Year’s Eve.
2. Once I felt well enough to do some recording, my workmate Sadie joined me in my office and listened to all of my song ideas. She’s so agreeable ;)
3. Zach has been taking weekly “baby bump” photos to track my belly growth, all of which you can check out on our family blog. There’s still not much of a bump to speak of, but I’m definitely noticing it.
4. Just another gratuitous Sadie shot, because she’s so darn cute. Her new favorite lounging spot is our bed; we’ll find her just chilling there sometimes when we come home from work or dinner.
5. This little Pinterest project was a hit at our holiday parties, and although most of the licorice got eaten, I had no trouble polishing off the last few remaining vines.
6. Sadie’s second favorite spot in the house is the couch in our living room. She has this weird new thing where she buries her head under whatever piece of furniture or couch accessory is laying around.

Okay, so this week was not all that exciting. If you haven’t already seen all of our vacation photos from Hawaii, go check those out…they are much more exciting!

In case you haven’t heard the big news, here it is: I’m pregnant! Yep, it’s true…Zach and I are expecting our first baby on June 14, and we are super duper excited.

So excited that I decided to revamp our family blog so that we can chronicle the pregnancy and all of our other adventures in the coming years. I used to be really big into scrapbooking, but let’s face it, blogging is way faster, easier, and much more sharable :)

I’ll still be posting my weekly photo round-ups here (I know I’m way behind, but as you can imagine, I’ve been a bit occupied) but I’ll keep all the baby stuff over on the family blog…for the most part. If that sort of thing interests you, feel free to stop by and check it out!

This fall has been awesome so far. I’m not completely overwhelmed with a million different things, for once, which makes life SO much more enjoyable. I have several trips coming up that I’m super excited about — beginning next week when I head to St. Charles for the annual national music therapy conference. October is shaping up to be a great month!

This week’s photo round-up is my lucky number. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it was such a good week:

1. Sadie LOVES going to the bank with me, because she knows that the teller will send her a treat along with my receipt when I use the drive-through. Seriously, she starts salivating as we pull in!
2. Last Saturday I took a day trip to Maryville University in St. Louis to give a presentation to music therapy alumni. It was a gorgeous fall day for a drive, and the presentation went very well, too.
3. Later that same night, Matt and I played a gig at Boone’s Saloon using our new monitor for the first time. My mom actually took this photo — it was her idea :)
4. Even though I always hold a bit of a grudge toward fall because it replaces my favorite season, I have to say that I do enjoy all the beautiful colors. This particular tree is just down the street from me.
5. I came home on Saturday night to a beautiful bouquet of no-reason flowers from my sweet husband. He always has little romantic tricks up his sleeve.
6. Sadie and I spent the morning lounging on the sectional in the basement, and as you can see, she had no trouble getting comfortable and falling asleep for a few hours.

Zach is up at Illinois State University celebrating his alma mater’s homecoming (he tried to get me to go, since it is one of my alma maters, too, but I opted out this time) so I’m enjoying a laid-back weekend before conference craziness sets in next week. The best kind of craziness, though!

I took a little break from my “Week in Photos” series…mostly because I figured you needed a little breather after being bombarded with photos from my European vacation! Not to mention that daily life seemed a little less Instagram-worthy after 10 days in Italy and Spain.

But now that I am fully readjusted to the real world, I’m finding all sorts of excuses to ‘gram it up. Here’s my latest round-up of snaps:

1. Have I ever mentioned that I love Starbucks? I relapse into full-blown addiction each fall when the pumpkin spice latte returns, and this year is no exception. I’ll find any excuse to grab one, including wearing “Starbucks green” as I just happened to do on this particular day.
2. September is the month for stocking my studio up with piano books. This is just a sampling of my purchases…thank goodness for my teacher’s discount at Samuel Music.
3. Puppy wuppy! Last weekend, Sadie and I took two LONG trips down the trail near my house and clearly, she was worn out.
4. Zach and I finally made use of our backyard firepit the other night. It was so much fun making s’mores, listening to music and just hanging out (while Sadie hid far away from the flames).
5. I had a big craving for grapes while grocery shopping earlier this week, as evidenced by this photo. You can’t really tell, but that is a HUGE bowl. Oh, and I may or may not have polished it off in under 5 days…
6. This is me refusing to admit that summer is over. I always have such a hard time letting it go, which is why I was laying by (and in) the pool on September 15th.