Monday Blues

Trying to keep the blues away after a super busy weekend. We had our housewarming party on Saturday. It was fabulous. Quite a few people we don't get to see very often made the trek down to West Chester for the evening. We had a ton of yummy food, and good friends. Can't ask for much more.

After being on my feet all day cooking and cleaning Saturday, doing a wedding Sunday really had me beat. It was an outdoor wedding, and we nearly blew away, but the rain held off and it turned out great. Needless to say, my feet were throbbing last night and my wonderful husband gave me a much needed foot massage.

It's kind of a dreary and cool Monday. I finally sat down with all my lists and baby recommendations and at least registered online. I did the baby registry through amazon. They have a lot more options than just doing Babies R Us, so it made sense to take advantage of the opportunity. http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/35D06HBNMSHQ7. If you see anything i'm missing or should reconsider, please let me know!

Hallelujah

I am singing some crazy songs of excitement today. I got the crib bedding. I am so in love with it. It is much more pastel or girly than anything I've liked or envisioned us getting. It is sweet, yet classy and beautiful. The lady at the store let me put it in the crib we bought so I could see how it looked.....Magnificent...Perfect! The pink, yellow, blue, orange color look awesome against the cinnamon wood. The crib sheet is pale yellow velour, an there is a tan corduroy piping across the bumper-with yellow ties.

I also bought this adorable wood sign to hang. It is a quote from one of my favorite oldies songs by the Archies. My mom has an awesome idea, from something we saw in homearama, to do a bakery/sweet shop motif on the wall. It would be her little cupcake store:) Makes me smile just thinking about the "sweet" innocence behind it all.

I'm finally feeling giddy. I thought we'd never find the perfect thing for Baby B's room, and I believe it happened. Yipee!!!!!

Crib-....CHECK!

We finally have something to check off the list. The crib set was ordered today. We ended up getting the Stanley, Young America Serenity crib. We decided on the Cinnamon color, shown above. I originally wanted the honey color, but we decided the darker looks better with more bedding options and will be a bit more functional in case it is used for a boys room down the road. We did the crib, dresser, changing table, and nightstand. I think it will be about 6 weeks, I can't wait!!! (We were going to do the munire majestic, but comparing the two side by side, the Stanley was a sturdier, better quality furniture.)

I am going back to the store on Thursday to see the bedding set I loved last weekend. They are getting it back in the store from homearama Wednesday. They are willing to sell it for a 10% discount if I decide I still like it. The set was custom made bedding, done by Pine Creek Bedding. It is much more pastel than I normally like, but the swatches were really pretty and i'm anxious to see it in person again later this week.

It would be quite a feat if we got both the crib and bedding checked off the list this week. I'll keep you posted!

Almost 25 weeks

Seriously, where did this belly come from. I swear in the last 2 days, my stomach has nearly doubled. Even Matt looked at me last night and said, your stomach looks huge today. I think she had a growing spurt overnight.

For some reason I am not feeling very well today. I am really nauseous and feel like i'm going to be sick. I hope it is only a bug and passes quickly.

Went to homearama in Cincinnati yesterday. Saw a bedding set that I really liked. My mom is coming down this afternoon to check the place out. Fingers crossed that maybe i'll actually find something I love! I am getting anxious to be doing anything to the nursery, so i'd like to make some decisions.

My new thing to be overwhelmed with is picking out a stroller and car seat. There are WAY too many things to consider. I'm trying to take it all one thing at a time, but this is so much harder than my wedding registry. I have my first shower the first week of August, I can't procrastinate too long on this one.

House Updates

I've been promising pictures forever, figured I'd finally get my tush moving and take some. The house isn't tip top shape right now, but it is really coming together. We aren't planning on painting at this time- we are content with neutral. We will do the nursery, but that is our only plan for now. With 5 bedrooms and a finished basement, many of the rooms are empty, so I didn't take a ton of pictures. The movie room is a bit ghetto, will be some time before we purchase a projector and screen.Please excuse the odds and ends of stuff sitting around.
Enjoy our home sweet home!

Humps and Bumps

Went to the doctor last Friday. All is well. I definitely had a rough day after stepping on the scale. I know I am supposed to put on weight, and I know I am still within a very healthy range but that doesn't make it easier when you see how much you've put on. I had some tears, and got sympathy from no one. They all told me to suck it up! Those are the days when only another pregnant person can understand. You are getting huge, nothing fits anymore, and the scale screams when you step on it. Not really a good self confidence booster to start the weekend. But I got over that hump and am just trying to enjoy being healthy and staying active.

Here is the most recent baby bump. I am 2 days shy of 6 months (24 weeks). Crazy to think the baby only weighs a pound. What in the world is it going to be like when she weighs 7?!?! This weekend was the first time random people touched my stomach. It didn't bother me too much, we'll see if it gets old after 4 more months of it.

Hoping to order a crib in the next day or so. Thought we had it figured out, but now dad is throwing me random other ideas. Can't wait to get that one checked off the list and move on to picking out bedding.

Cribs

My parents came down to Cincinnati yesterday to look at cribs. I can tell the difference between a sturdy crib and a cheap one, but I still have NO idea what I want. Of course the most gorgeous set they have is the most insanely expensive. And my second favorite had a recall on it in December 2007....can't be a good thing!! So we are back at square 1, which is, I have no idea what I want. Guess I need to drag Matt into the misery and have him help me decide.

On a brighter note, had an interview today. It was more of a screening process than anything. They told me about the company and what all the position entailed. The next step is to pass an assessment test, then if I clear that I'd have to take an SPQ test. Geesh, not nerve wracking at all. I was the 65th person he had met with and they figure after the tests they'll narrow it down to 4 people for a second interview. Keep your fingers crossed I can meet the test requirements of what they are looking for.

What a year!

We officially made it to our 1 year anniversary. This time one year ago, I was slipping into my dress and getting ready for pictures. Crazy how quickly time flies.

We went out for an amazing steak dinner at The Precint to celebrate last night. It was so good! Figure we won't be back for awhile, so we enjoyed every second of our indulgence. Only thing missing was a big glass of wine to help celebrate. We thawed out the top layer of our cake and cut it together for dessert. It was sweet, and surprisingly amazingly moist and delicious.

Our first year has been perfect- with many more ups than downs. And even when we hit the downs, we totally lean on one another to get through. I couldn't ask for a more amazing marriage or better husband. Looking forward to another year of memories and happiness!

How to choose

Of course it makes the most sense for me to get the nursery together while I have free time and not much else to do. So why is it so darn hard to decide what I like!?!? I was really set on doing a turquoise and brown thing, but Matt said we have too much brown and blue in the house already and doesn't like that for the babies room. So now i'm back to square one.

What type of wood for the crib, what color to paint the walls, what bedding to pick- AAAHHH!! How in the world do people decide this stuff? Please send me anything cute you've seen, ever! I'm not into flowers or girly things. I like stripes, polka dots, or unisex stuff (jungle). Hate pastels and really not a fan of pink. HELP me!

*Don't even get me started on the name thing. I'm guessing this little gal won't have a name anytime in the near future.

Woes of Pregnancy

The best part of getting through puberty was surviving breakouts. Aren't pregnant woman so incredibly lucky that this is one of the lovely side effects of having raging hormones.

I may not cry all the time, or blow up at my husband- but I feel like a 12 year old girl going through puberty instead. I am blessed that these bumps of joy aren't spread across my face, but rather have formed a map of the united states across my back. It looks like a big rash of tiny little bumps. UGH! Sometimes it is so fun being a woman.

Basically there is nothing I can do except wait till I have the baby and my hormones go back to normal. So bring it on Baby Bayer, I might not be wearing stringy tank tops this summer- but I'm ready and dealing!

No hiding it now

Ok, I officially look pregnant. 4 people asked me when I was due at a wedding last weekend, and 2 random people asked me yesterday. I'm still pretty small, but it is obviously noticeable. A nice plump little ball right in the middle of my belly. She's getting bigger everyday.

Here is a picture before I went to the pool yesterday. I am 2 days shy of 22 weeks. 5 1/2 months down, many more to go:)

Mom

Not only do I hope to be an amazing mother, but I have been blessed to have the most amazing mother.

That is why it breaks my heart that she has to go through this. We got the unfortunate news upon returning from vacation that they had found spots of cancer on her lung and under the breast muscle. She went in for surgery to remove the spot on the lung on Monday, May 19th. The spot they had seen in the scan was actually scar tissue, but rather she had microscopic vascular spread of cancer cells throughout the whole lung. Obviously not the news any of us were hoping for. The surgery required them cutting open her rib (extremely painful), so she was in the hospital recovering for 4 days before being allowed home.

There have been many tears, fears, and every emotion possible over the last two weeks. Of course she is the most amazingly strong woman, she just wants to get healthy and beat this. She will start chemo the first week of June. Once treatment begins, they monitor her cell markers and we will not know how it effects the cancer cells.

Please keep my mom, and all of our family in your thoughts in prayers over the summer. It will be a trying time for everyone, and we do what we can to stay positive and optimistic. There are way too many great memories to come so we appreciate all the prayers we can get! We WILL beat this again.