'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.

back by popular demand

Sooooooo, since I decided to privatize my blog I've had a few people complain that they won't be able to get auto updated as to when I actually post...

A long time ago I had it set up for email subscription and even though the blog is private, it seems to still work! Therefore, I've inserted a link at the top right corner of the page so that you can still subscribe to the blog. As long as you use the email you log in with it should work for you :)



Click on the link and it will prompt you to enter your email in order to sign up. Hope it works! :)

2 years

It was 2 years ago (11/25, day this picture was taken) that Steve proposed to me and we were engaged to be married. How much things have changed!

baby girl's shower!

Last weekend was my first baby shower and it was at my Mom and Dad's house. Everything was sooooo beautiful and just perfectly appropriate. We were so blessed with all the gifts and love that our baby girl received :) It's amazing how much a baby can be loved even before anyone can see her!

I took some pictures before everyone arrived, and after that, I didn't. Ha! I'm not much into taking pictures when I could be enjoying people really... in fact, I'd rather enjoy the moments I'm in while I'm in them than take pictures of them... I didn't used to be like that, but I'm finding that to be true more and more lately. I kinda need to find a better balance ;)







I'm not actually using Winnie the Pooh as a theme... contrary to what you might think :) But it was a perfect theme for the shower. Steve's and my favorite growing up was always Pooh... I think him more than me even (hehe)

The clothes hanging on the clothes line my mother-in-law collected here and there for the shower and everything hanging together looked so cute!

There's also 1 cloth diaper hanging there, and that is because we are planning on cloth diapering. If you look closely, you can see in one of the pictures above that Pooh is actually wearing one of the diapers ;) If this blog were still public, I know I'd probably get some questions about that, but I'm figuring pretty much noone reads now. However, if you DO read and you want to know anything about cloth diapering, just let me know!





My mom and I made the bee hive and the hunny pot out of paper mache and the bees were just some little pom poms and wire. I loved them so much I want to eat them. OK, maybe that's a little extreme... but I'm kinda a little out of control.





Like I already said, it was a beautiful shower... I was very blessed by everyone there, and even some that weren't there! This past Sunday I had another shower given by my church... I just can't say enough how grateful I am to have such loving and wonderful people in my life! (I have no pictures of the church shower because I didn't take my camera... but if I get some from others I'll probably put a few up :)

update on life

Since it's been so very long since I've updated on well, anything, here's a quick update.

Last time I was getting ready to head to my 18 week ultrasound and we were anticipating finding out if our little Lemur (our nickname for baby...) was a boy or girl. Well, if you've scrolled down any, and/or follow me on facebook, you're well aware that we now know she is a she ;) But at the time, she wouldn't show us!

We ended up having a third ultrasound at 26 weeks and she was very forthcoming this time. Steve and I were so happy to know what we were having, though we had braced ourselves to not know and were ready to proceed with everything being a surprise.

As soon as we found out, we began painting and working on getting things ready... it's been a slow process though and still continuing. We painted our front room and the baby's room right away then removed the carpet from her room. It is hardwood underneath and we had planned to do this no matter what from the beginning.

The floor underneath needs some TLC though, so we've made plans to finish the floor in there as well as our dining room and living room (which we tore carpet out of earlier in the summer)

So in the meantime, we've painted the hallway and had some baby showers, began making nursery decorations, collected large baby items... and none of it has a home! We've tried to keep it mostly in the attic so that it's not everywhere, but I am soooooo looking forward to that floor being done so we can start moving things in!

This is the view from the hallway into her bedroom and I only took a pic of that because I thought the balloons with the car seat looked extra cute sitting there from yesterday's shower ;)



We put Pooh in the car seat because it would just be ridiculous to carry a car seat around with nothing in it... right? hehehe :) And actually, yesterday, my mom and I went out for a little stroll with the new stroller and the car seat... ya know, just to make sure everything works well ;) and Pooh quite liked it, he never made a peep ;)

At this point, my house is not ready for a baby to arrive, but my arms are. I am so happy to be having this baby girl I can't explain it. More happy than I ever thought I could be when we had that conversation many months ago now...

last call before the big move

Over the past few months there has been a lot of change in my life. Ok I guess it's really been more like a couple years of change now! I don't really see it stopping very soon!

Anyways, all this has gotten me to thinking about my blog and the fact that it has been a very public account of my life in the past. For some reason, I found it absolutely fascinating in the beginning knowing that total strangers would read what I wrote... now it's totally terrifying. Ironic huh? Am I just paranoid? No, I don't think so. My life has evolved into more than just me now and I want to still share, but only with those I know are reading.

Therefore, if you would still like to read my (much more frequently updated) blog please leave a comment with your email, or send a message to me aboynamedbarry{at}gmail{dot}com and I will be sure to add you!

I have so many things I want to post about... pictures, personal things, random things etc, but I just haven't felt the freedom to do so. This is my solution :)

ps if you have already commented on facebook to let me know you want to be added, no need to comment again :) I gotcha ;)