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! :)
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 :)
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...
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 ;)
This morning we got up bright and early to get ready to see our baby! Today I am in week 18 and definitely starting to show. It's pretty obvious now (at least I think) and I'm more than happy to be sporting a bump now rather than just an extra large looking stomach ;)
A good friend of mine lent me some maternity clothes yesterday for which I am so thankful! I have bought a couple things myself, but I am not generally one to buy clothes anyways and maternity clothes can be so expensive! So I've been picky on what I've gotten. But it's gotten to the point where my wardrobe is pretty limited, and I am busting out of almost all my regular clothes... yikes!
We were so excited to see our little bambino this morning! What a cool gift to get to see it all moving around and happy in it's little cocoon! We were also hoping to see if it was a boy or girl during this ultrasound, but baby just did not cooperate, not even enough of a look for a guess. Crazy huh? But I can't say I was all that surprised, I kinda thought that might happen. I was just so happy to see it happy and healthy ;) And we even got to see a little yawn! SOOOOO unbelievably cute! Absolutely melted my heart ;)
It was also the last time we had a family reunion, which we'll be doing again in just about a week!
Today I've spent a bunch of time remembering that summer of 2009... and I can't help but smile when I see how happy I was then, and how happy I still am! And everything is totally different :) Makes me happy to know that I really have succeeded in embracing my life and treating everyday like a gift.
I thought I paid pretty good attention to the friends around me who have been pregnant over the years... thought I would have a pretty good handle on what it would be like to actually be pregnant... but I was wrong.
I was utterly unprepared for the total body makeover. I thought that meant I would just get bigger. But um, question: how does one get bigger? The obvious answer is food.
I have never in my life had a problem not eating enough. In fact, I've always struggled to not eat so much!
Things are a little different now though. In my first trimester I lost 11 pounds. With literally NO exercise and little movement at all. I was stationary on the couch or in my bed for approximately 6 weeks... and while there's been more time of feeling notsohot at least I've gained enough energy back to be able to accomplish some daily tasks. AKA eating.
It seems no matter what I eat, or how much of it, I'm always hungry! and the scale is not reflecting this!!! It's a dream come true... lol.
Don't worry, I'm sure I will be gaining some needed poundage over the next couple months... I have no doubts :P
But what's a girl to do when getting up and going to the grocery store seems like an insurmountable task? You send your husband... well at least that's what I did. We have not made a comprehensive grocery shopping trip since the first saturday in June! That's insane right?
Anyways, the point here is that I never thought food could be such an issue. Yesterday afternoon I was resting for a bit in between a house project we're working on and I realized just how dang hungry I was... and how there wasn't really anything in the house I wanted to eat.
I wanted pizza.
I feel like a different person. I don't even know who this person is! I don't feel comfortable with the new me and honestly, I hope I don't get comfortable, because I want the old me back! And I am told that will happen.
My superman husband heard my plight and dropped what he was doing, went to the store, bought the ingredients and made me a homemade pizza. True love.
I have no pretty picture to show you of the lovely pizza he made, but let me tell you what. I couldn't have asked for a better man. It's a good thing I'm the pregnant one and not him because I doubt my compassion level would compare to his. He's the best decision I've made so far ;)
Once upon a friday night, Steve and I set out to make our more favoritest cookies in the whole wide world, we call them "backwards chocolate chip cookies"
They're cocoa cookies with white chocolate chips and a recipe I invented one day... soooo delish! But, the point of this post is that it just so happened that I was mixing up the batter and he offered to do the baking. I couldn't have been happier (albeit slightly skeptical). Since my baking abilities are rather, well, hap-hazard... I think it's because I multi-task too much! I can whip up a mean batter, but if it flops in the oven, what good is it?
But it turns out, Steve has just the right attention span to be an excellent baker. So since then, we have a system. I make the batter, he bakes it. Perfection!
Today I wanted chocolate chip cookies though, and my baker is working studiously at his, well, job.
I did ok for myself though. Maybe because I only have enough energy to do like, 3 things at a time ;)
Today cookies, tomorrow the house! (cleaning it that is ;)
I've been a little depressed with all I want to do but haven't been able to.
I've been happy to have the extra time to think about all the ways I am blessed.
I haven't taken a single personal picture...
But yesterday I had a sudden burst of inspiration and took advantage of it searching for nursery ideas online. I started to feel like my old self again! Summer is after all my favorite time of year, but I haven't gotten into a groove yet. I swoon over the silly romanticism of the summer months. Beautiful outdoor picnics, perfectly decorated. Huge chandeliers hanging from trees and such ;)
But alas, most of those things look better in my mind than actually played out. One thing however, that always seems to appease my desire for the romance of summer is a display of flowers on my table.
My church has been so amazing and has arranged for a few meals for us this week. What a huge relief! I haven't been as sick as I know some people get with their first tri-mester, but enough so that I have been down and out for over a month! It's been hard and I'm grateful for loving people to come to the rescue ;)
Yesterday, our dinner from Annette came with a beautiful bouquet of flowers picked right from her garden. The BEST kind!
I am 20 something years old. I love Jesus with all my heart. I love my husband. I love my bed. People sometimes tell me that I'm intimidating. I'm all fluff. I am a photographer. I am a care-taker. I am a wife. I am a sister, daughter and friend. I don't like snakes. I don't like mushrooms, unless I can't taste them. I like the idea of hedgehogs and turtles. I love getting dressed up but don't do it often enough. I love getting letters in the mail. I am a hopeless romantic, cliche, I know, but it's true.
Steve is my no-longer-twenty-something husband. He is a mechanical engineer at one of the universities near us and currently works as a lab tech. He fell in love with me, so you can guess he's probably a little crazy... but you'd never know it unless you got to know him :) Still waters run deep they say and it's true, especially with him.
We are expecting to meet our little one around January 21st, 2012 and couldn't be more excited ;)
