A nice long weekend...

What a fabulous weekend! Not only was it Presidents Day today... meaning a 3-day weekend (4 days for Brandyn)... it was also fun and productive!

Saturday, Valentines Day, we started the day off with a photo shoot! The VERY talented Kelly took our pictures... and while we've only seen a few so far... I love them. Here's one!

More to come soon!

Later that evening, we went out for a nice dinner. Normally dinner out on V-Day is NOT something B and I enjoy... its crowded... hard to make reservations... the fixed menus are always pricey, etc., etc., etc. BUT... being that this our last kid free V-Day... and likely one of the last times we get to go out for a nice dinner... without a babysitter... we splurged! Lucky for us... we were only able to get early reservations (5:30 p.m.)... so the restaurant wasn't very busy and we had a great dinner... and great service!

That was the FUN part of the weekend. Now... onto the PRODUCTIVE part. Yesterday and today... we were busy little bees. We ran to Target and Babies R Us for last min. items... and then began plugging away at the room.

Here's how I spent my time. (Pic is looking down on the dresser/changing table. I cut tags, did laundry and folded more clothes than I have in my LIFE!)


And Brandyn... well... he had a much bigger project. Remember last month when my family was visiting... and we put them to work removing the plain French doors awaiting the arrival of our newly ordered glass panel ones?? Well...

A BIG thanks to Mr. Matt... for his patience and time in helping Brandyn pull it all together!






And the finished product!! (Well.. we still need to get the paint coated plastic off the glass windows... but we're *almost* finished!)

Spoiled...

This past Saturday, my "oldest" group of friends (since Freshman year of college), hosted an amazing shower for Baby C! (THANK YOU Danae, Sandra, Michelle and Sonya!)

Honestly, its so overwhelming and amazing for me to be in a room with so many people I love!! Friends locally... friend and family from north Sacramento... and even my friend Lisa who came from Arizona!!

The shower was hosted at my communities' 1970's club house... which is not so hot looking, but you NEVER would have guessed... cause when I walked in... my hostesses had totally transformed it!

The decorations were awesome - all a pretty lime green and teal. There were pictures of the covers of children's books lining the room (which was also a game)!






They set up a craft station with wooden blocks for people to paint/decorate.








More decor included a BEAUTIFUL handmade diaper cake.











The tables were decorated with stacked gift boxes that looked like ABC blocks (which also houses the favors... cupcakes!!).










The games were so cute and creative!! Pictures of children's book (either name the book or name the author from just the cover picture)... remember the items on the tray (after seeing it for 45 sec).

And the last game... and VERY cute game where guests had to build a Baby C based on eyes, nose, and mouth images that came from both DH and I, and our parents (guests didn't know which features were which). I selected the winner "cutest Baby C"... which... was very narsacictically... MY eyes, MY nose and MY mouth from my baby pic!! It was very funny actually!. Here's the winner!

Everyone was so very generous with their gifts. My hostesses had asked that everyone bring a book to sign instead of a card - which was a to fun... and we've totally built up our library. I think we're now set with almost everything Baby needs.

And the "cutest" moment... whiel they were serving the cake... my Danae & Michelle passed out small glasses of Guinness for everyone to toast the baby!! Sooo cute!!

Here are my hostesses and I!!

More of my friends/family...

Five years later... oh so much has changed!

This weekend at my baby shower (more on that later)... for the first time since our wedding, almost 5 years years ago... I was back together with all my beautiful bridesmaids! Michelle, Jennifer, Lisa & Danae!

While we've gotten together individually many time, and even most of us have seen each together over the years, we've missed having Lisa in our group. Lisa and her husband moved from the Bay Area to Arizona a few weeks after our wedding, to buy a beautiful house and raise their two handsome sons.

So at Lisa's great suggestion, this weekend we took a picture of the five of us once again. Looks like I've put on a few pounds in the last five years... but I'm OK with that!! ;)

Chivalry is alive!! (Sort of...)

Aw, the trials and tribulations of commuting on public transportation. While I know that I've been complaining my BART commute a LOT throughout my pregnancy, I seem to have left all my complaints out of my blog!

The summary is... that over the past several months, I've had a tough time finding thoughtful people on the train who see a tired looking pregnant woman (me!) and want to give up their seat.

However, I have two great stories to share from the past week!!

Late last week... I was standing... waiting for a seat to open up. A nice young woman, about my age, who is also standing, sees me and asks if I need a seat. I told her that I was just waiting for one to open up. She immediately turns to a well dress man in his early 50's sitting in the handicap seats (which are clearly labeled for elderly, disabled or pregnant people)... and asked him if he could please stand up as "this nice young lady is pregnant and needs a seat." He (unwillingly) stood up and offered me his seat! YEAH for nice women who see a fellow female in need!!! I will admit, I was embarrassed... I could have stood... but I was very flattered that that woman would go out of her way for me! So, of course I took the seat!

Earlier this week... I was boarding a train out of SF that (amazingly) still had some empty seats left. But I was at the end of the line... and as I was finally getting in the train doors... I looked around and all the seats were taken... all but ONE that is. A very nice gentleman toward the middle of the train tossed his briefcase in a seat (before someone else could take it)... turned straight to me and said "Here you go miss... I saved you a seat. If anyone needs one... you do!" Awwww... is that guy married!?! His wife is one lucky lady!!!

Making even more progress... assembling the nursery.

This past weekend we began organizing and assembling the nursery. Brandyn has been moving out the office furniture and moving in the baby furniture over the last couple of weeks. So on Saturday, we arranged the room and began to hang the artwork on the walls. We also added a shelf (which came from my parent house, from my childhood bedroom) to hold some of the toys, books, etc. Here are a few shots.


I love this sweet wall decal. We ordered it online from Simply Stick It Designs. Their prices were great, we were able to customize the order as we wanted, it arrived with in days, and it was very easy to put up!


The other artwork, as you may remember, are a DIY (do it yourself) project that I took on a few weeks back.


All in all, I think its coming together pretty nicely. You'll note we still don't have doors on the room... but those are one order... and we should have them in less than two weeks. And with Baby C arriving in 7 (or so) weeks... I'm glad we've gotten things pretty well finished!

A little about... me.

This week seems to be a very contemplative week for me. First my post below about "My Normal Life"... then I listened to a podcast - Pregtastic - on Adjusting to your New Mom ID... then I started chatting about the topic with a few friends... then my friend Janessa wrote about the topic in her blog... so hear I am... contemplating ME... who I am... who I will become... and how I will balance the two "Lives."

And so I'm inspired to write it all down... NOW... before sleepless nights and fatigue take over and I can no longer remember my former self. Here it goes... a little about... ME.

- I enjoy time with family. Either just Brandyn and I out at a movie... or heading out of town for the weekend to visit one of our families. Time with family is important to me.

- "Hanging out with my girls" is very important to me. I have several "groups" of girl friends... and it really rejuvenates me to spend time with each of them. Every year for the last 6 or so years, a group of my St. Mary's girlfriends and I take a weekend get-away trip somewhere relaxing and fun. I belong to a girls book club (two of them actually!)... thought one of them is really more of a social excuse. I also *used to* belong to a wine group... we call ourselves "The Winos"... I gotta get that started up again... that was so much fun!!

- I enjoy entertaining. Each year, amongst other things, we host an annual "Cinco de Mayo" party (this year will be our third), and I host a girls night "Oscar Party." Brandyn and I both love having people over for meals, and have a fun time cooking/prepping together in the kitchen!! We love hosting couples game nights at our house as well!

- I enjoy being healthy. Planning out healthy meals, grocery shopping in advance of the week, having lots of fruit/veggie/snacks available for Brandyn and I to eat. I enjoy searching out new recipes (mostly Weight Watcher approved) and cooking 4-5 times a week. I very much enjoy long walks. Walks around the neighborhood, walks on the trails near our house, or walks on one of the many regional park trails in our area.

- I enjoy a good happy hour! Anytime... anywhere... any drink!! ;) Be it an after work drink with co-workers or friends... a Friday night outing to a bar... or just an casual night at home. I enjoy relaxing with a nice glass of wine... a cold stein of beer... or a crisp dirty martini!

- I love to travel/take vacations. They don't have to be big like our summer trip to Ireland (but that was GREAT too!!)... they can be medium... like last summer's trip to Boston... or just small... like our trip to San Diego a few years back.

- I love being a home owner... and all the things that go with it. I enjoy decorating/adding to/changing up our house. I love dreaming about the projects we want to undertake (a new fireplace... a new kitchen... a new front door). I enjoy gardening and having flowers blooming during the Spring and Summer.

Will I *ever* be back to my "normal" life?!?!

Lately, I find myself saying "Well, in my normal life..." followed by:

- I take a lot of walks.
- I eat very healthy.
- I am a wine drinker.
- I drink a cup of coffee every morning.
- Etc., etc., etc.

But now, a lot of things have changed. I've eliminated my my wine/coffee habits, for Baby C, and have replaced them with bad eating habits of hot chocolate, macaroni and cheese, and Top Ramen. In my "always tired" state, I've replaced regular walks with going to bed early.

While I keep treating this stage of my life as temporary... I keep wondering... will it EVER be back to "normal"... or will I just keep substituting my life around? Once Baby C is born, you won't hear me saying "I used to drink wine"... but you *might* hear me saying "I used to go to Happy Hour with friends once a week or so... but not anymore."

Aw, the beginning of so, so, so many changes!