'Twas the Night Before Christmas

and everything finally came together... peaceful and serene. Oh wait, we were up til 2am fixing food and wrapping presents ;)

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve though. We spent it at Grandma's house with a nice dinner and afterwards came home with Mom and Dad Robinson to finish getting ready. When all was said and done, Mom and I took some pictures of the house before all the presents were opened.





In years past, I have always jumped the gun on Christmas decorating. In fact, 2 years ago when Steve and I got engaged, we bought our tree the night before Thanksgiving. This year, we didn't buy it until December 10th. Because we have had a lot of projects going on since we moved. We removed the carpet from both the living room and dining room and the baby's room, revealing beautiful hardwoods. Hardwoods that desperately needed some refinishing. So that project happened beginning of December... and it's a big project. So no decorating was begun until the floors were completely done.

Even then, I thought, "the more I put up, the more I have to take down" so I didn't put much up. Til Christmas Eve... when I decided the house needed more sparkle. So I did what I could with what I had to make the house twinkly and I was happy with the outcome :)





This is a view into our front room that used to be a front porch but has been remodeled (not by us) to an additional room in the house.



This is the other side of the front room. Eventually, when the baby is a little older, this will be the play room :)



And here is the living room, looking in from the front room.



And from the other side of the living room... you can see how the front is connected.



I wanted to wait until next year when it's officially Baby's first Christmas to get her stocking and all so this year I just bought this mini Yankees stocking and we put a little Aflac duck we had in it and hung it on the tree... lol



And since we don't have a chimney, fireplace or appropriate stairway for stockings, this is how it went down this year! I'd like to come up with something better for the future :) But I thought this was cute for now :)

Merry Christmas 2011!

36 weeks on Christmas Eve :)

Maybe I should rename this blog so that it's about the baby ;) hehehe it seems like that's all I ever think to post about. But I suppose that makes sense being that it's about my life, and currently, baby is my life. Basically.

Anyways, I wanted to keep posting on my progress. Today is Christmas Eve and I am currently 36 weeks with the little Robinson. I don't see the growth day to day but when I look at the comparison that 6 weeks makes (since that's the last time I took a picture) I can see she is definitely out there more! I just got back from Wegmans and while I was there I couldn't help but notice that most people would look at my face and then their eyes would go down, right to my belly. I guess it's hard not to see... :/

I'm thankful though, so far in my pregnancy I have had zero complications or health issues. Everything has gone very smoothly. That isn't to say I haven't been uncomfortable or felt amazing ;) just that nothing bad has happened. And while I originally thought I would pack on weight like a water buffalo, I've been shown that just isn't true. So far I've gained a net total of 13 pounds. With 4 more weeks to go, I'm hoping for only a couple more :)

moving right along...

I'll have to add 33+ soon, since the latest picture at 29 weeks is already a month old! Insane, it seems like it's going by so fast but at the same time it's taking forever!

baby blanket

At the beginning of my pregnancy, a friend of mine told me to journal. I am a random and sporadic journaler... not one to really write out all my feelings. Somehow I feel that thinking my thoughts, thoughtfully, is more effective than writing them down. Problem is, I tend to forget those thoughts.

So I thought to myself, why don't you want to write these things down? Well, because in the beginning it was pretty darn depressing to write down what was going on. And not only that, but my place of choice to "journal" is here on this blog... and not on paper. Knowing that certain people would see what I was going through kept me away as I didn't want to cause any more pain than I already had.

Sounds a bit silly, but it all made sense to me. Anyways, I am loving the new-found freedom in knowing that no one I don't approve can read this. I feel at liberty to express myself without fear of judgment.

Today I finished up another project I've been working on. There are so many! But I am determined to get them all done in time for this baby's arrival. In fact, I've determined to get it all done before CHRISTMAS!





This is the blanket I've been working on, finally complete. I had looked around at different baby bedding but didn't find anything that stood out to me as being what I was really looking for. And since the quilts that tend to come in the bed sets for babies seem to be pretty impractical, I decided to make my own. Not without help though... I have connections ;)

So I put my list of things I would like to make together and set out to find the right fabric and patterns. I found exactly what I wanted, and so far Molly has helped me to make a crib bumper as well as start on the crib skirt. We're finishing that up as well as a hamper liner and some other random things next week. The blanket though is my major accomplishment... I can't believe I actually knew enough about sewing to do it!

It's very light. In fact, I have one just like it my mom made me a few years ago and that's where I got the inspiration for it. It's the patterned fabric on one side and flannel on the other.

So, I am very proud. Makes me wonder if I will start sewing more... umm, maybe ;) if I have time... lol.