A Day in the Life of Karen

The Wal Mart Canopy Bed Saga

2009-11-07T09:02:00.001-08:00

I have been wanting to complete our bedroom set ever since we bought the Wal Mart Canopy nightstands almost a year ago. On line, this set looked fabulous, and all of my friends from the Decorating & Renovating Board on The Nest who have tried this line of furniture have all raved about the quality. So I ordered the nightstands just to see what I thought. We really needed a bedroom set and I really didn't want to spend a lot of money considering we have practically a whole house to furnish. So I ordered the nightstands and we loved them, great quality, great color, an all around good product. And from Wal-Mart!!!
So I decided to order the rest of the set and soon realized the sleigh bed we wanted was out of stock!!!! I kept checking Wal-Mart's website for months to see if it was available! I was really starting to get nervous, what if this was a sign of the bedroom set being discontinued? I started to think of what I should do with the two night stands that we had, should I put them in another room? Use them as end tables? Ugh! I didn't want to start from scratch again and have to look for another bedroom set. This one really fit our needs perfectly and it was beautiful and so reasonably priced! I decided to check Wal-Mart's website again this week just by chance that the bed was back in stock. I really wasn't holding my breath, but did try to check the availability at least once a week. So I checked it on Tuesday and holy lord, it was there!!!! I even sent an email to my sister so she could confirm that I wasn't seeing things. I told Jeff that night that I really think we should order the bed before it went back out of stock again and he gave me the go ahead. The next day, I went on line to order the bed, clicked on the link that I had saved in my favorites, and a big fat red OUT OF STOCK stared at in the face. What the heck? It was only in stock for a day? I was so ticked, I couldn't believe it! Now what was I going to do? Was this really that hot of an item? So I emailed Wal-Mart's customer service and they gave me their basic response that the item would be back in stock eventually but they couldn't commit to a date. Of course. So I tried again the next day just to see what the status was. A beautiful green AVAILABLE! I couldn't believe it, so I ordered the bed immediately. Today I received an email confirming that our bed had already been shipped. Yay!!!!! I can't believe we are finally going to get our bed after months and months of chasing this thing down. Do you realize if you were to check the bed on line just now it is still saying it is out of stock??? I will post pics once we have it, let's pray it arrives in one piece and it is the actual bed that I have been wanting after all these months and that their website is not just playing games with my head!

Take care,

Living Room Update

2009-11-04T17:47:00.001-08:00

This room has been two years in the making and I am happy to say it is just about complete! We have had the furniture and drapes for almost a year but it has taken me awhile to find end tables. I decided that I really just wanted this room finished so I purchased the Avington end tables from Target. I have to say they look great and now my room is finally furnished! The two lamps I purchased at JCPenney this winter and they have been sitting in our basement just waiting for me to pick out end tables. With the arrival of our baby just 7 weeks away, it has really put my unfinished home decor projects into over drive!!! It feels good to finally have another room done.

I am thinking of hanging these mirrors above the couch eventually for some wall decor and would like paint the room a warmer brown color.

32 Weeks

2009-11-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

How far along? 32 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 28 lbs. Do I still need to answer this question? It is my blog though, and I do want to document EVERYTHING about this pregnancy, we'll just hope she is a big girl! :) All the Halloween candy I have eaten this week certainly does not help matters! It's all coming to work with me on Monday, it needs to get out of the house.

Maternity clothes? All I do wear is maternity clothes. I am in that stage where I am longing for all of my old clothes and shoes and will be happy if I never see maternity clothes again! At least until the next pregnancy. I miss my stilettos, I miss my tall boots for Fall, I miss my Seven jeans. Most of all, I miss my Ann Taylor and professional looking clothes!!!! I have become "casual Karen" at work lately but it's comfortable and it gets me through the day. Thank god our company has a business casual dress code. Target maternity has become my new friend these past few months and it's hard for me to even justify buying anything else maternity even from there with only 8 weeks left when there are so many other wonderful baby items to buy!

Stretch Marks: Still none to report! My mom and sister didn't have any so I am hoping that it's just great genes working to my advantage.

Sleep: I get up around twice a night to pee and have twice experienced a funky nerve issue in my neck recently that has woken me up from a dead sleep. I have read about some pregnant women getting a sciatic nerve thing from the baby sleeping a certain way. I am assuming this is it!

Best moment this week: Interacting with her. I can push down on her feet and she moves them away from me. She will then put them back and I start pushing on them again. I can play games with her now. I wonder if she realizes it's her crazy mom picking on her?

Movement: Just feeling her whole body move around has been so much fun for me. I love just feeling around my belly and finding out where she is at. She is easy to find now and I love just waking her up when I want to make sure she is OK. Some days she is really active and I can see little body parts pushing out of my belly. I love resting my hands on her little butt, especially at work when things are going crazy. I am really going to miss having my "little buddy" at work!

Food cravings: Really nothing significant unless you want to count the Halloween candy. I have also been wanting Panera a lot too, I just love all their different soups for Fall. They have recently built a Panera right across the street from our office so I have been occasionally grabbing a Asiago cheese bagel with sun dried tomato cream cheese or a reduced fat blue berry muffin in the morning before work. I have been doing this at least once a week latey. Yum!!!

Gender: Girl! After all of the ultra sounds we have had, this has remained the same! Thank god, what little boy would want a pink room???

Labor Signs: Thankfully none so far. I have had only one or two braxton hicks contractions that really haven't been anything to speak of.

Belly Button in or out? Still out.

What I miss: diet pop! I broke down and had a few sips yesterday of Jeff's and it was heaven!!!!!!

What I am looking forward to: finally meeting her, I am in the final stretch and these last few weeks are going to drag I have a feeling!!!! Work has been nuts lately and just knowing I don't have to deal with it for around 12 weeks is really keeping me going!

Weekly Wisdom: My neighbor was telling me last night at our neighbor's Halloween party how this is the time where everything starts to hurt and my hip's really start to spread out. Ugh, can't wait for that! Luckily I have been still feeling pretty good, no major aches or pains to complain about.

Milestones: Making it to almost 32 weeks, my niece Nicole was born at 33 weeks in March. I have been watching this video all weekend just amazed that our little girl looks like this now! In the beginning, she looks small, but you do not realize how small she is until my sister's husband puts his hand out and it takes up practically her whole body!!!!!

Take care,

More nursery progress.....

2009-10-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

We officially have our first piece of baby furniture in Baby Jillian's room. We bought her glider this week at Babies R Us and Jeff put it together today. It's so wonderful to watch the progress of her room. I can now sit in there and just picture myself holding her and enjoying the view of our backyard. I can not wait!!!!!!

Her mommy is already taking full advantage of both her closets!

All her clothes...

I had to buy her the same lamp base as mommy and daddy!!!

Take care,

Show Us Your Life: Fall Decor

2009-10-25T08:49:00.001-07:00

It's time for another post from Kelly's Korner, "Show Us Your Life". Today's post is all about Fall Decor. I do not have that much inside fall decor to share with you so here is the outside. The mums are from our shower this year which makes them even more special to me!!!!! The little black sticks in the front are pumpkin votive holders, they are a little hard to see. My fall decor is not that outstanding this year since I am at the mercy of my husband, I am on "house arrest" until the baby gets here which means no shopping alone time for me. I can certainly understand his concern, there are just too many crazies out there with obsessions with pregnant women, not to mention the risk of being exposed to H1N1. I made the decision NOT to get the H1N1 vaccine. Our future pediatrician advised against pregnant women getting it due to the lack of research on unborn babies and my OB recommended I get it. The fact that they both have differing opinions is enough for me to just lay low and prevent the flu the old fashion way, a lot of hand washing and hand sanitizer.

Take care,

Our Baby Shower!

2009-10-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

Our baby shower was so much fun, I can not believe that it is already over with! How is that possible? I feel like we have been planning it for years and now it is over. Our home obviously looks like we are a couple with a baby on the way. What a whirlwind of a day it was. I didn't even get to take that many pictures because from the moment I arrived, I was too busy talking and laughing with my friends and family. Thank God my sister sent these along for me to remember one of the best days of my life.

My mom, sister, and mother-in-law did such a great job which I am so thankful!!!! The shower took place at Pine Ridge Country Club which is extra special for us because this is also where we had our wedding reception. The table center pieces were decorated with purple fall mums which are now planted in the urns outside of our home. I hope to take a few pictures of them with the next sunny day. (That may take awhile given our weather these days, but I am hopeful!).

I thought for sure I was going to cry that day, but the mood was so much fun, that I didn't. I was just too happy for words all day. After we ate lunch, played a few games, Jeff showed up to help me open gifts. He is so sweet, he showed up with a bouquet of roses for me which was of course met with all sorts of ooh's and ahh's from the ladies. He is just so cute sometimes, I don't know how I got so lucky. At the end of the shower, we decided to reveal her name. I wasn't sure if Jeff was ready to do it but I was so happy that he was! We finally 100% committed to her name. Her name will be Jillian Ann, and we will call her Jill. I just love it, Jillian is just so pretty to me. I am so glad we finally agreed on this! Now I can order all sorts of cute items with her name on it!!!!

I also have to share a crazy story that happened the morning after the shower. Once we got home from the shower, we placed all of our gifts in our den. It's the first room to your left as you walk into our home so it was an easy gift drop off place for us. I tried to keep the gifts to the back of the room because anyone could easily see them if you were standing on our front porch looking into our home. Our shower was on a Sunday and I really didn't have the time or the energy to look at the gifts that evening after everyone left our home. Boy did it feel like Christmas morning in our house as I came down the stairs the next day. I couldn't wait for that Monday workday to be over with so I could finally go through all of our beautiful presents.

I am at work for only an hour when I received a scary phone call. It was a dispatcher from our security system saying that one of the motion detectors in our home was going off and it triggered the alarm. The police were on their way to our home to check things out. She then asked me how quickly I could get there and what I would be driving. I tried to call Jeff and let him know of what was going on and then I remembered he had an early morning meeting. So I drove home in a panic thinking to myself, was someone trying to steal all of our baby gifts? Living in a new construction development, people were in and out of there all day long, who knows if someone caught a glimpse of all the great presents sitting in our den. I called my father-in-law who I knew had just gotten off of work. I asked him to meet me at home since Jeff was in a meeting. I did not want to meet the police myself and certainly wasn't going into a home that had been broken into. I don't think a pregnant lady would be able to scare off any burglars.

When I arrived home, the police were gone, but my father in law had just arrived. I was a bit ticked off that the police hadn't bothered to wait for me. So my father-in-law and I walked into our home, alarm still going off as we entered. We slowly walked into the hall, not sure what to expect on the inside. No main entryway had been broken into or the woman who I spoke to over the phone would have told me. As soon as we walked inside, it was obvious to what had happened. We had placed the huge bouquet of mylar balloons from our shower in our great room, next to our fireplace, for us to enjoy. Apparently these balloons also set off motion detectors!!!!! So the balloons were our "burglar". Apparently when the furnace turned on and off, the balloons started to sway, setting off the motion detector. Unbelievable!!! I returned to work feeling a little embarreseed, I had left in a state of panic and then had to try to explain to my co-workers that a bouquet of balloons was the culprit.

My sister and I:

Her first Cleveland Indians shirt:

My sister-in-law Stephanie admiring the bump:

So blessed....

The beautiful tables, note our "burglar" in the back corner!

Our den after the shower...

Take care,

Indian Summer

2009-10-24T16:05:00.001-07:00

We had a very brief and pathetic two day Indian Summer this week that we took advantage of. On Wednesday, we decided to take the afternoon off and head to a local pumpkin patch. The day was gorgeous and I couldn't imagine spending it inside in a cubicle. It would be one thing if we were having a beautiful October, but we are not, not one nice day to speak of so we had to take advantage!!! So off to Pattersons Fruit Farm we went and it was so much fun. We bought pumpkins, sampled the apple cider, and even had an apple cider donut from their bakery. Yum! I can certainly seeing enjoying one of those a new tradition for us. I have to be honest that this trip to Pattersons was also monumental to us for other reasons. Looking back, we have not been to a pumpkin patch since this. We had only been trying for a few months and even then little thoughts started to enter our heads about what if something was wrong with one of us? And when would it be our turn to have a cute little baby to take pictures of at a pumpkin patch? That feeling stuck with us for awhile and we knew even the thought of returning to a pumpkin patch while dealing with infertility and loss would have just been a miserable time. It's little moments like this that just make us so happy and grateful to be blessed with a healthy baby girl on the way.

Take care,

BOO!

2009-10-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Our neighborhood loves to boo each other and this year we received the cutest boo on our door step. Apparently the neighbor who booed us knows we are expecting from all the little baby gifts that we received. Isn't that the cutest onesie ever? I can't wait for her to wear it next Halloween.

What is "booing" you ask? The purpose of booing your neighbor is to surprise them with candy and other fun Halloween items and leaving them on their doorstep. You have to fill a plastic bucket or pumpkin with a bunch of candy and Halloween trinkets including a poem and a "BOO" sign. The poem contains the instructions on what to do next once your received your boo. The boo sign hangs on your door so other neighbors know that you have already been "booed". You are supposed to create two boo packages similar to the one below for two other neighbors who have not yet been booed and secretly place them on their doorstep. You are then supposed to ring the doorbell and run so you don't get caught. We were totally busted this year by both neighbors who we tried to boo. Who is hanging out by their door at 9pm at night? I am thinking these neighbors were anxious to receive their boo gifts from us, I know I would be :)

BOO

The air is cool, the season is fall
soon Boo's will come to all.

The treat that came with the special note
Is yours to keep, enjoy them both.

The fun comes with friends like you
now copy this and make it two.

Then others here among our friends,
will give warm fuzzies that will never end.

We'll all have smiles upon our face,
no one will know who BOOed each place.

Just one short day to work your fun,
or a big ZAP will strike, SO RUN!

And don't forget a nifty treat,
like something cute or something sweet.

Please join the fun, let's really hear it,
and spread some Boo's and lot's of spirit.

Directions:
1. Enjoy your treat.
2. Place the picture of your BOO on your front door.
3. Now you have 24 hours to copy this twice, make 2 treats and 2 BOO's and secretly deliver them to 2 neighbors who do not have BOO on their front door.
4. Then watch how far this spreads by Halloween.

Take care,

I am an Etsy Virgin!

2009-10-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Moms, I am seeking your help. I am admittedly an Etsy virgin. Over the years I have heard so many wonderful things about Etsy.com but have not had the honor yet of buying anything. I haven't really had a reason to until now and I would love to hear from you. I have read so many of your blogs and seen all of your adorable babies with their monthly onesies, cute bows, hats and other adorable baby wear. Please recommend your favorite Etsy sellers for baby gear!!! I went on their website just to briefly check things out and right away I was blown away by all of their creative sellers. I have been wanting to get her name spelled out in pink and green letters hanging over her crib with ribbon and these are just so cute. If this is any indication of what this website has to offer, my debit card is in big trouble.

I am just speechless over this baby pink tutu:

My inner organizational freak is loving these:

Beyond cute:

She will be needing one of these for Christmas, I can see it now..."Jillian":

Take care,

29 Weeks

2009-10-10T16:25:00.001-07:00

How far along? 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 24 lbs. I would love to just gain the average 30 pounds but it is not looking like it's going to happen. I don't even eat that badly and work out 3-4 times a week. Hopefully I already have a 5 pound baby in there :)

Maternity clothes? I still wear a few non maternity tops but mostly wear all maternity clothes. I have to seriously start thinking of long sleeve tops now since I only have sleeveless and short sleeve maternity tops from the Summer. My sister was so nice to give me her winter tops, I see myself wearing a lot of these in the next two months. I recently bought these two tops from Old Navy and Target. I have to personally thank D over at All Things G&D for suggesting the Old Navy top, it's beautiful and so comfortable. For $16 you just can't go wrong.

Stretch Marks: Still none to report!

Sleep: I am still getting up every night to pee and it's really frustrating. I have to mentally talk myself into going back to sleep and keep my mind from wandering about things I have to do at work and things I want to do before the baby gets here. Some nights are easier than others. We also seem to be having a bit of a coyote issue lately, it's the craziest thing. We have coyotes that live in our back woods and have become a huge nuisance these past few weeks. I will lay in bed in the middle of the night and listen to them howling, arguing or chatting about whatever they are doing that evening. If an ambulance or police car happens to be heard in the distance, this really gets them all riled up and they can go on for a good 15 minutes. It has gotten to a point where I looked up Coyotes on the Internet and read that they are most vocal in the Spring and Fall. In the Spring, they mate, and in the Fall, the pups leave the nest and try to establish new territory. Apparently our backyard is their new favorite choice for marking their territory. Lovely.

Best moment this week: I felt a foot or something that was definitely an appendage. I was laying in bed this week before I got up for work and I felt her stretching. I pushed down on my belly to say hello and I had a big foot sticking out at me. It startled me at first, I was not expecting to feel something so pointy and strong! I haven't felt it since and I have been really hoping she will do it again. She also loves to play hide-and-seek behind my placenta which freaks me out because I don't feel her as much then and I have to lay on my side and really concentrate on her movements. She is starting to venture off onto my left side too which she has never done before. It must be a sign of her getting bigger and taking up more room!

Movement: She seems to be really active every other day. She is a crazy lady one day and then sleeps all day the next. Being so active must really wear her out!

Food cravings: I haven't really had too many cravings to speak of recently, I am still having my milk and morning cereal.

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: Thankfully none so far.

Belly Button in or out? Still out, it's becoming even more of an outtie. I read a cute story recently where a teacher was having trouble covering up her outtie and one day one of her first graders asked her if that was the baby's nose!!! LOL!

What I miss: I am really starting to miss my real clothes and shoes. I gave up heals this summer and have been living in flats ever since. It's for good reason because I am a bit klutzy and would feel terrible if I fell because I was too vain to wear flats. Two more months, two more months! I also miss shopping at my favorite girl, Ann Taylor. There are so many cute fall styles this year that I would love to be wearing, I just can't seem to justify spending a lot of money on clothes at this point in my pregnancy with only two more months left. I do keep my eyes open and will take advantage of a fashion deal here and there. I will save the big bucks on clothes for when I lose that baby weight!

What I am looking forward to: my shower this coming weekend! I can't believe it's a week away! I really need to find a dress!

Weekly Wisdom: While Jeff was painting the nursery, I read nearly every new mom must have posts from Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life - Baby Gear" post. There were so many amazing suggestions on there and I added several new items to my registry if I found that they were mentioned by several different moms. This post was such a valuable resource on what new mom's really thought were must have products and what items are just not worth it.

Milestones: Making it to almost 30 weeks, it is really starting to feel real!

Take care,

Nursery Progress

2009-10-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

I just love my husband, he was up until 2:30am Friday night finishing up the nursery. We used Sherwin Williams Harmony paint which is their low VOC option and shortly found out that you need two coats when using low VOC paint. Sherwin Williams was also able to color match the Benjamin Moore Sweet Taffy that I chose from the Pottery Barn Catalog. The Sweet Taffy color is the exact color of the lightest polka dot in her sheets:

I love how it turned out, it's a little lighter than in these pictures and it will look beautiful when it all comes together.

We are still torn on what furniture to buy for her room. We really like the Munire Essex collection and also the Hartford set from JCPenney. They look identical to each other, it's all a matter of which one we pick. Their are pros and cons to both. I also plan on changing out the knobs to nickel, I am not a fan of the wooden knobs on either set. The JCPenney set is sight unseen though which has us a little concerned. I really need to make up my mind by this weekend. If anyone owns either of these sets, I would love to hear from you and what your experience has been.

Munire Set - We would be ordering this in white. The dresser pictured is not the dresser we would be ordering, it would be the combo dresser similar to the dresser pictured in the JCPenney set below.

JCPenney Hartford - We would be also be ordering this in white:

Nursery Sneak Peek

2009-10-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Jeff is upstairs painting our baby girl's room pink as we speak. Here are a few pictures that I just snapped of it all taped off. Good bye SW Nomadic Dessert, hello SW match of BM Sweet Taffy!!!

This is going to be one happy little girl with TWO closets!

I have already started to fill one of her closets with clothes and other baby items. The towels on the top shelf are the color scheme of her bathroom. That is next on the list to be painted!

Do You Blog Frog?

2009-09-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

I started noticing The Blog Frog on a few blogs that I read when I got back into the blogging world. I decided to add this cute and colorful widget to my blog. I have so say, I am loving it. I really shows you what kind of blog traffic you get and from your favorite blogging buddies. If you haven signed up already or added it to your blog, give it a shot! It's so cute. You can find the widget instruction on my blog frog to the left. Enjoy!

Take care,

A Tour of Shaq's New Cleveland Shack

2009-09-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

I have to be crazy but I am a true Cleveland Sports fan. I have had my heartbroken by the Browns in the 80's, by the Indians in the 90's, and hopefully not by the Cavs in the 00's. That is why they have brought Shaquille O'Neil to town this year to give our beloved LeBron a hand and finally bring home a long awaited championship to Cleveland. Shaq has bought himself a Shaq size home in the Cleveland area and I had to show all my home decor fans how a seven foot tall man decorates! I have to say he has done a great job, enjoy!

Take care,

Show Us Your Life: Desserts

2009-09-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

It's time for another post from Kelly's Korner, "Show Us Your Life". Today's post documents Dessert recipes. I admit to be cheating a bit on this post, this recipe is actually one of Kelly's own from her Recipe Blog, however, I have been wanting to try this dessert for awhile now and I can't stop thinking about it. Yum!

Ingredients
2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar, plus 3/4 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping
2 (3-ounce) packages strawberry gelatin dessert mix
2 cups boiling water
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen strawberries
Whipped topping or whipped cream, to garnish
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Press this mixture into a 9 by 13-inch pan and bake for 7 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and 3/4 cup of sugar. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled.

In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

To serve, cut slices and serve with a dollop of whipped topping.

A Few Updates this Summer

2009-09-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

I have made a few small changes around the house this Summer that I wanted to share. Nothing major but a few things I have been wanting to do for the last few months. We bought yet another set of bar stools, this is the fourth set we purchased and brought home, second set that we have actually used in this space. I don't know why this was such a difficult decision for me!! I am finally happy though, it only took two years in the making. I really like the banana leaf texture against our light granite counter top.

Here is the before:

I also changed out the cream and brown drapes with nickel grommets to a chocolate brown drape with black grommets. I think the black curtain rods and grommets seem to create a nicer contrast with our paint color than the cream drapes did. Don't get me wrong, I love these drapes, they have just been moved to the brown and blue guest bedroom where I think they are better suited.

Before:

After:

I also purchased this cute tall vase with the sticks at Marshall's. I think it looks cute in the entry way for now, I am thinking it is ultimately going to end up in the great room since it is red but it looks nice in the space for the time being.

I also bought this cute banana leaf serving tray at Target for all of the Summer picnic's we had this year with the neighbors. While the tray is not being used to transport drinks and burgers, it has found a home on our coffee table to better organize our magazines and remotes.

My Nursery Homework is Done!

2009-09-19T11:48:00.001-07:00

One advantage of living in a new construction development is that you certainly have a lot of home decor and paint color ideas right at your finger tips. On our evening walk around the neighborhood, I noticed a home that is just about finished, had it's door wide open. Of course, I wanted to go check it out and see what options they had picked out so far and came across two painted little girls rooms. One room was painted pink and the other purple. They are so adorable, apparently this family has two little girls! I quickly ran home and got my pink paint chip to compare to the paint color on the wall of the pink room. I really liked the soft, light color of this particular pink so I wanted to see how it compared to Benjamin Moore's Sweet Taffy, the color that I was close to choosing as our paint color. It was pretty much a comparable match which confirmed my decision even more to go with pink paint color instead of green. I think the soft, light pink color will go well with the bedding, I will probably end up accenting the rest of the room with dark pink, white, and green.

What do you think?

Here is the purple room, maybe for when she is older?

I also like the look of this room I found on line with the Pottery Barn "Penelope" bedding. The pink walls and the pink and green bedding are so adorable. Our room will be a little lighter than these pictures:

Happy Birthday Colin!

2009-09-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

I hosted a diaper shower on Tuesday for my neighbor Laura. She is actually being induced as I type this!!! It's so hard to believe that her baby is here already, I feel like she was just telling all of us girls at Bunco that she was expecting! Since then, seven more women in the neighborhood have announced their pregnancies, there will be 8 of us total with little ones born between September and April. I am so happy our little girl is going to have so many playmates!!!!

A Day in the Life of my Neighborhood: Cluster Homes

2009-09-16T04:31:00.001-07:00

Cluster homes are ideal if you are looking for a maintenance free life style. Landscaping and snow removal are included in a cluster home purchase, however, for a higher monthly homes ownners association fee. This home just sold so I wanted to snap a couple of pictures before the new neighbors moved in. It was originally built as a spec home, not a decorated model. I loved the paint colors, granite, and rubber bronze hardware that was used in this home. It had such a warm feeling inside!

25 Weeks and Our First Baby Gift!

2009-09-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

I came home from work on Thursday to find this waiting for us on our front porch. My brother and his wife in Arkansas bought us our high chair! We were so surprised and so tickled to receive our first baby gift in the mail. It really made it seem real for us that this was actually going to happen! Wow, our house with an honest baby item in it. We are so excited!!!!!!

How far along? 25 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 19 lbs. I swear half of this is in my boobs, they have literally tripled in size. I have bought more bras then I ever thought I would. Thank God for for cheap Target bras.

Maternity clothes? I finally broke down and bought two pairs of GAP jeans. They are a part of their new 1969 collection and not only are they trendy and cute, they are quite comfortable. My mom also surprised me with a great pair of black work pants from Target. Target is always so hit or miss with their maternity clothes so I was so grateful she found a pair that fit great. Thanks Mom!!!!!

My neighbor has also been very generous and lent me a few of her maternity clothes. I have been wearing her t shirts and long sleeve tops around the house which has been so nice, at least I don't need to buy too many casual tops. She really hooked me up.

Stretch Marks: Still none to report, woohoo!

Sleep: I always get up at least one night to pee, recently, I have even gotten up more than once! When I do get up, I notice my little peanut is awake and she starts moving around when I crawl back into bed. So I lay there waiting for her to move again and then my mind starts to wander to what I want to get done at work that day and then it's just all over and I can't fall back to sleep. I am definitely in boot camp sleep deprivation training for when she is really here. It's apparent she likes to be up at 3am!!!!

Best moment this week: Jeff finally felt her move on Sunday night after a Blizzard run at Dairy Queen. She loved the ice cream, I have never felt her move so much! She made it very easy for her Daddy to feel her. It was so cool!!!!

Movement: I feel her at least once a day now, usually around 4:30 while I am sitting at my desk and laying in bed at night. I was so worried about being able to feel her for so long and now all of sudden I can't remember not feeling her. It's wonderful!!!!

Food cravings: I have been on a cereal kick lately, between milk and ice cream, she definitely likes her dairy!!!

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: Thankfully none so far. Keeping cooking peanut!

Belly Button in or out? their is no mistaking my outtie now, it gets to the point where I am noticing it a lot in the mirror when I workout and I really need to start thinking of how I am to cover this thing up before it takes some one's eye out!!! Any tips on how to cover this up????

What I miss: I still miss my diet pop, drinking wine with the girls, and my strength training classes. I have gotten back into working out more and have recently began to use the elliptical machine. There is no aerobic impact and it's a great workout. I was getting bored of just walking all of the time.

What I am looking forward to: stalking my baby registry. My baby shower invitations were mailed this week!!!!

Weekly Wisdom: I had book club this week with the girls. A lot of them are seasoned mother's and they advised me of what baby items I need and what baby items are a waste of time and money. Jumperoo's, onsies, and pack and plays were at the top of the need list. The controversial wipe warmer came up again and they advised me to remove it from my registry. They claimed all it did was burn out half the wipes on the bottom if you are not careful and it's pretty much a pain to deal with. It has since been removed from the registry....again. They also claimed they didn't use their bottle warmers too much and mostly used the microwave. I am still leaving mine on there, I know my sister gets a lot of use out of hers.

Milestones: Making it to the viability stage. She actually has a good chance of survival if she decides to come today!! I can't believe we are here, I am actually starting to refer to how many weeks I have left instead of how many weeks I am. It's just so good to be here and to be making progress.

Home Made Chunky Salsa

2009-09-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

I was in the mood this weekend to cook up something that I have never made before. I decided on some delicious homemade chunky salsa. I am a salsa addict, I think it's because it's a mixture of all the fresh vegetables that I love. With a little kick. I found a recipe on line and altered it to my own taste. You can easily change up this recipe too to satisfy your own salsa craving. Enjoy!!!

One thing you can always catch me doing while I am cooking in my kitchen is watching "Get it Sold" on HGTV with Sabrina Soto. This show is my crack so to speak. No, we are not trying to sell our house, Sabrina is adorable and I just love all of her staging and design tips. I love a properly staged home, even if you are not trying to get it ready to sell. I DVR this show every day and enjoy having it on in the background as I cook in the evenings or on weekends.

Home Made Chunky Salsa

2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 green bell peppers, diced
1 white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1/3 cup of purple onion
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, for garnish
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, mix tomatoes, green bell pepper, garlic, onions, cilantro, lime juice and jalapeno chile pepper. Dash lightly with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving. Serve with your favorite Tortilla chips!!!!

For a little prep tip, I found chopping up the jalapeno, onions, and green pepper with my OXO Chopper really cut down on the prep time.

As a side note, I decided to come up with a weekly poll for my readers. This weeks poll features the debate on whether or not to get the H1N1 vaccination. Since I am expecting, it's a little closer to my heart than it normally would be. At this point in time, I don't think there is enough evidence about the vaccine yet to make me want to get it. I am only going to have a little over two months left of my pregnancy when it is available and scientists are still in the testing stages of the affects on pregnant women and their unborn babies. It's just too up in the air right now for me to make an educated decision. I have several pregnant friends right now and some of their doctors have recommended it and some of them have advised against it since the vaccine is so new and not enough evidence is available yet on affect to the unborn babies. I would certainly advise all of you to make your own decision on whether to get vaccinated, pregnant or not. At this time, I am just going to avoid schools, overly crowded public places, and just wash my hands constantly.

Take care,

Band Alumni Night

2009-09-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

As much fun as I had on Friday with the girls, it was a hard decision to make to attend Lynne's shower. I originally had plans to go to the Band Alumni night back at my old high school. Our band director of 35 years, Mr. Lydecker, is retiring and a huge Marching Band Alumni night had been planned at the home football game. I was on the Royalaire drill team back in high school and loved every minute of it. Our high school band was seriously good, I am not just saying that as an alumni. People didn't go to our football games to watch football, they went to see the band. We won state every year when I was a member and they only got better as the years went on from what I have heard.

My whole family attended the event that night so I did get to live vicariously through them. The marching band includes two drill teams, the Royalaires and the Royalettes. I was a Royalaire (flag team) and my sister was a Royalette (dance team). My brother also was in the band and played the snare drum. My brother went on to become a member of the Ohio State Marching Band and my sister was a member of the Ohio State Dance team. The Marching Band has been a big part of our family for many years in both high school and college.

Luckily for me, I found a lot of coverage of the event on YouTube and Facebook. Here are a few video clips and pics of the event. Enjoy!!!

The NRHS Marching Band with the 350+ Alumni who attended. I used to do this march up the hill every Friday Night before the football game!!

A song from the halftime show with the combined high school and alumni marching band members. My sister is down there dancing in the front. She was very sore the next morning!!

My sister before the half time show. I can't believe she just had a baby!

Ahh, those were the days, that was me, um, 15 years ago?

My sister in the far bottom right hand corner with the name tag and hands on hips:

The NRHS Marching band and 350+ alumni marching out for the pre-game show:

I guess it wouldn't be a proper band event if Mr. Lydecker wasn't rolled sometime during the night. I still can't believe they did it! Leave it to tradition....

Take care,

And the Winner is....

2009-09-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

The "Katie" bedding set from Pottery Barn! I bet you didn't even know this set was in the running, did you? Well, either did I. I had a lot of time on my hands yesterday since Jeff went out of town so I really tackled this decision head on. I looked at all the nurseries in Rate My Space,The Bump Nursery Bio,
and picked based on what I was truly drawn too. I originally thought brown and pink polka dots would be it but I found myself liking the light and airy look of pink and green together. With the "Katie" set, I get a little bit of everything, pink, green and even brown polka dots with the sheeting along with the light and airy look of pink and green. I am so happy this decision has been made, I feel like we can finally start to get moving on the decor!!!

With these curtains:

Take care,

Girls Night Out - Lynne's Shower

2009-09-05T04:36:00.000-07:00

My friend Lynne came in from Texas this weekend so we decided to all get together and throw her a baby shower. Lynne is due on November 8th with a little boy. It was so, so great to get together with the girls. I just can't stress that enough. All of these girls were in Pi Beta Phi with me at Bowling Green and I have known them for years. I can't even think back to when we could all get together like this, it was probably Lynne's wedding several years ago.

We all met at "Players on Madison", a trendy restaurant in Lakewoood. Lakewood is to Cleveland as Lincoln Park is to Chicago. A lot of young professionals live here after college. The houses are adorable and the rent is cheap, the bars and restaurants are fantastic, and it's ten minutes from downtown. I lived in Lakewood for several years as a young professional bachlorette in my early twenties. I have so many fond memories of my time living in Lakewood before I settled down and got married.

Take care,

RMS Spotlight: Getting Ready for Fall!

2009-09-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

It seems like Fall just showed up without too much warning this year. We had an extremely mild Summer here in Cleveland so it's not surprising that Fall seems to be making an appearance already! On my walk around the neighborhood this evening, I already started to notice a few mums and glimpses of Fall decor already. I too am having dreams of mums and cute Fall decor. In honor of the upcoming Fall season, I thought I would show a few fall decorating ideas from my love, Rate My Space. These photos are compliments of "Ilikebeingmedebbiedoos".

Thank you everyone for all of your opinions on my baby girl's bedding, I still don't feel like I am any closer to making a decision if you can believe it. You just can not go wrong with either one.

Take care,