25 Going on 80

Last night I realized that I was sitting on the couch watching Jeopardy while doing needlework. And I had a cobbler in the oven. And I had just taken some Tums. If it weren't for my gigantic baby belly, one could have mistaken me for an Octogenarian. Yep, I'm cool.

Boy Oh Boy

Some pictures from the lovely baby shower that Ruth hosted for me last weekend, with help from Kelly and Jennifer. Thank you girls so much. It was so pretty and fun! And thank you to all you ladies who traveled to attend.

The menu included greek chicken salad, veggies and dip, pastry with goat cheese filling and sun-dried tomato filling, lemonade with mint and a most delicious raspberry and cream cake. SO yummy.







Yum. Have we talked about my love of raspberries? Well, I love them. Love love love.

Just for kicks, here's the shower invitation we sent out. I must admit that I 100% ripped off someone else's too cute idea -- but, I already had everything to make these anyway...so...that's what we did. (Sorry BellaBludesigns! I'm giving you all the credit!)

Hurray! It's done!

The cradle is done! It turned out better than I could have hoped for, considering my lack of painting skills, but thanks to lots of help from my little bro Ivan we got it done. The green turned out to be the exact color I wanted -- and now that this is done I feel like I'm pretty much ready for this baby to show up. Only 7-ish more weeks (hopefully)! I'm so so so happy!


Oh, hey what's that little critter?


It's a felted owl that I started yesterday and finished this morning. Isn't he adorable? Ruth sent me a kit from Crafty Alien on Etsy to entertain me while laying around. It was so much fun that I'm planning on getting a couple others -- I'm thinking the raccoon, the deer and the beaver. Adorable, no?

P.S. The quilt in the cradle is from Pottery Barn Kids -- Cottontail Friends.

Pilgram's Progress

Before:

During:


After: Coming soon!

P.S. Let's all pretend not to notice the dead plants in the first photo. K thanks.

Ta da!

Well, here it is, in all of it's glory. The Sofa. It arrived last Saturday while we were at the hospital for the maternity ward tour (luckily Ivan was here to let the delivery guys in). I love this sofa. I can't tell you how happy I am about it. It's so soft and comfy and big and the color just makes this place seem so much bigger and brighter and cleaner. I'm in heaven. It's amazing, and maybe kind of pathetic, that a sofa can make me feel better about everything in life. Is that shallow? Probably. But it does. I love you Maxwell Sleeper Sofa.


Obviously we still are on the hunt for either pre-made pillow covers or the perfect fabric to make into pillow covers -- these shown in the photo are just naked down inserts. Eeek!

Wow.

Okay, so I am somehow lucky enough to know a lot of really nice, cool people. I knew they were before all of this, but I mean come on, this is a little out of control. The gifts and favors I've been the lucky recipient of in the past week has been over-whelming. Those of you who know me know that I don't generally use the word "blessed", but that's truly how I feel. I am blessed to have so many giving, generous ladies in my life.

On Monday, Jenn was sweet enough to offer to go grocery shopping for me, which was a huge help. Right now grocery shopping seems pretty daunting so I was very grateful. Thank you, Jenn, and for the offer to do it again!

Also on Monday, I recieved two packages in the mail from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Christie. The first had some yummy Burt's Bees foot stuff and the second was a copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner). I finished this book today and it was excellent. Devastatingly sad, of course, but beautifully written and very powerful. Highly recommended. Thank you, Christie, it definitely helped pass the time.


On Wednesday I got yet another package, this time from Lisa and completely unexpected. The package included another copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns, a knitting pattern book with enough yummy yarn for two projects and knitting needles. Thank you so much, Lisa! You were way too generous.


Then, on Wednesday night, Ruth and her family brought dinner over. And wow. It was so good. Chicken curry, brown rice, naan, cucumber and tomato salad and chocolate cake. I wish I had a picture of the spread. It was so good. Thank you thank you thank you Ruth.

And THEN today, another completely unexpected surprise. I don't even know who this is from, so please, if it was you, let me know! It's a little embroidery/hand-sewing project for a needle book...with a BIRD on it, of course. It's so darling and I'm so mystified as to who sent it to me. All I know is that it was bought from Etsy. Please let me know if you sent it to me!

*EDIT* Ruth just came over to play video games with John (original Nintendo something-or-other) and I found out that she sent the bird needle book to me! Thanks Ruth!


I've also received countless calls and e-mails from family and friends asking how I'm doing and if I need anything. It's amazing really, all this attention. I don't really know what to do with it all. Except to tell you that you're amazing and THANK YOU.

Ya'll are TOO nice.

And another thing...

So another one of my favorite blogs is Crazy Aunt Purl, written by a witty, wise and wonderful girl named Laurie. I want to be her friend. Her blog (PS, I hate that word) is so hilarious,well-written and thoughtful. I just love her and I look forward to reading what she has to say everyday. I'm sad on the days when she doesn't post something.

Laurie has a book coming out in October which I am so excited for. I just can't get over how much I love the way she writes. She brings me to tears often and always makes me laugh.


Anyway, what spurred (spurred...is that the word I'm looking for?) me to tell you about Laurie today is her entry about house cleaning. Not a subject you'd think is all that thrilling or deep, but she manages to make it so. And she has perfectly put into words how I feel about having a clean house, but could never express myself. She has a way of doing that with most things. I just adore her.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Well well well. This week has brought about a few unexpected haps. It started with my doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I thought it was going to be a normal, boring, mostly pointless appointment like usual: wait to see the doctor for 40 minutes, have him poke my belly a couple times and then we're out. But, it turned into something much more. I thought the swelling I've had in my legs/ankles/feet was pretty normal. Annoying, but normal. My mom had swelling with all of her pregnancies and I thought it was something I'd just have to deal with.

But, apparently, mine is "severe" and the doctor ordered me to go on disability starting Monday. This is a full 5 weeks earlier than planned. Yikes! I will basically be on bed rest, though, as long as the swellng stays down, I can spend 1 hour up for every 2 hours I'm laying down. So...wow. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be put on bed rest. I don't know why, but I just have felt like I'm sort of immune to any sort of complications. I guess in the same way teenagers think they're invincible. Luckily, this one isn't that serious and there's nothing wrong at all with the baby. But, it's weird.

So, I'll be doing a lot of laying around for the next 9 or so weeks before this little boy joins our family. I'm bummed that I have to spend so much time that could be spent sewing/organizing/cleaning/hanging out with my brother, being bored and in bed...but hopefully on my "up" hours I can get some things done. I'm also bummed about the extra burden this has put on my employer and everyone I work with, but my job is a whole other issue that I'm not even going to talk about here...way too complicated and stressful. I may have gotten an ulcer this past week just worrying about that.

In other news, I've developed a disgusting sore on my lip that hurts like the dickens and is driving me nuts. I've never seen anything like it. And hope to never again.

Anyway, this is a lame-o entry filled with whining and feeling sorry for myself. Sorry about that. So, I think I'll end this on a positive note and borrow an idea from one of the ladies whose blog, creative little daisy, I read regularly. Autumn does a "Graditude Friday" entry almost every week. I think that's what I need now...

1) I'm grateful to have my best friend, and truly my soulmate, as my husband.


2) I'm grateful for my health and (mostly) sanity.

3) I'm grateful for this baby who will make us into a little 3-person family in a couple months. A dream come true.


4) I'm grateful to have a friend who will surprise me with a piece of Double Dark Chocolate Crack (err...Cake) when I've had a hard week/day, even after she's worked a 12 hour day herself.


5) I'm grateful for my family, who I know love me and support me.


And speaking of A Series of Unfortunate Events -- I LOVE that movie, yo. It's not even so much the story but the visuals. Brilliant. Especially the credits. Never before have I put in a dvd just to watch the credits. :) If you haven't seen this film yet, please do. Plus I want to be Violet Baudelaire. Or at least have her wardrobe.