Oh, how I love thee.

There is a bottle in the nightstand, in my purse, in my desk and in the car. You never know when you are going to need one or two or three.

Stroller Fun

One by one our collection of baby items is growing. Our stroller came this weekend so we decided to test drive it... with Dixie of course. Sydney doesn't allow for such shenanigans.

Baby Shower (Picture Overload)

My mom and SIL, Amanda, hosted a baby shower for me back in PA. My wonderful Nanny, even flew in from sunny Florida to attend. It was wonderful. I loved it. So many of my loved ones attended even in the not-so-great weather. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to fly out. Of course, I drug Brad back there with me. You see his frequent flyer status (which I like to call i-travel-too-much status) came in handy to take everything out west. It was such an amazing party, my mom knows how to party. My only regret. I never got a picture with my Nanny. Probably because she was the one snapping the pictures. :)

Here is Brad with my adorable niece. She spent a lot time with us, which was good because I couldn't get enough of her.

Thank you favors my SIL made.

I feel very loved.

My cute cousins made our little "Apple" this blanket.

And my mom this pillow.

Another cutie patootie.

My aunt who helped with everything. I need to take a picture of the blanket and sweater she knitted. Beautiful.

My brother and SIL. They did so much for this shower. Jeff, was the runner boy.

Cousins.

Belly shot (We are both having girls).

This was the amazing cake my mom ordered. My mom always outdoes herself. AND, this cake tasted amazing. It is as delicious as it is adorable.

A Rippin' Good Time

My morning had a casualty. My pants.

As I was walking into the office there was something on the ground. I bent down to pick it up and "RIIIIIIIIP". Luckily, I work with nurses who are always prepared. One of them had a skirt. At least I'm not wearing a sweater around my waist. My laughter ensued as soon as I heard the ripping noise, and it hasn't stopped.

My Annual Dear Jane

Dear Sunshine,

Why must you break up with me? Every year you leave me and it forces me to sit in the misery of the cold. Don’t you know how much I love and miss you when you are gone? When you are gone I crave your presence. Of course, I know you are still there because it get’s light during the day, but really it’s feels like you are teasing me. I see that you are there, but you are out of reach so I can’t feel your warm embrace. I am such a loyal admirer. When you come I don’t complain how hot you are. I frolic in your beams and happily soak up your rays (with sun protection on of course). Please come back, soon. I miss you so much it hurts.

Sincerely,

A pasty white and pregnant winter hater

Helloooo Etsy

Thank you my wonderful friends for ideas of where to find decor for the baby room. I went to etsy (which to be honest I've never looked at before) and well fell in love. It looks like the "love birds" win my vote for the way to decorate the nursery. I'm still using all the different colors of pink.

Here is my favorite. LOVE IT. I sometimes call Brad, "Mon petit chou" - and when we were first dating and I was still taking french I called him it often. It's actual translation is "My little cabbage" which is a term of endearment in France.

This one comes in a set of 3. They had another one with just pink and brown but I liked the blue color throughout.

Just because. It's the birds plus three different colors.

And this one. However, I can change the colors to my preference. I'm having a hard time deciding which ones. But she will send me a preview of it first, so I can see a bunch of different combos.

A Legacy

Brad and his family lost their beloved grandpa this week. He was honestly, one of the sweetest men I've ever met. He was a cowboy, and as he told me, "A real cowboy, nothing like the ones in the movies."

This is the last picture Brad has with him up at his ranch, however, this is at Yellowstone, not even the ranch. Brad and his brother Chris took a week trip up to Idaho and spent it with him. This was one (or two?) year before he went into as assisted living home, the man was 94. Many fond memories were made that week and I think both will look back thinking, "Thank goodness we went."

Grandpa J (as he was so fondly called), was kind and sweet (and looking through old photographs I've noticed Brad inherited his crooked smile, which I love so much). The first time I met him, I was impressed with how pleasant this 96 year old man was. He would just sit and smile. Not grouchy or cantankerous, just pleasant and content. Visiting him was always a treat, never a burden. He passed away just shy of his 101st birthday (yes, you read that correctly). I don't know if Brad thinks those genes are a burden or a blessing.

The first question Grandpa J asked me was, "So do you ride horses?" My response, "No, I've had someone lead me around on one." His look, was priceless, pure shock. The look he gave Brad said, "And you still married her????" However, he did his adorable laugh, "HA" and said, "Well, I'm a real cowboy, if I still had my horses I'd have you riding in no time." He then asked, "So you a city girl?" Again, his laugh "HA".

The thing that touched me the most, was the way he spoke about his wife. How much he loved her, and how much he pined for her. We were newly weds when I first was introduced to Grandpa J, and I remember thinking, "I hope when Brad is 96 he'll talk about me the way his grandpa talks about his grandma." Everyone should have someone love them as much he loved her. And he often spoke of her. It was rare when he didn't. I'm sure their reunion was tender.

Help!

As I'm trying to figure out the nursery. I'm in need of some help. Our nursery will remain neutral colors with the paint. (We are doing bead board on the bottom half of the wall and a "warm" beige on the upper wall. However, the bead board will be higher than half way with a shelf). Like this (except beige paint not blue):

That way it can remain the nursery for every baby without having to repaint, and the decor will be either boy or girl appropriate. I'm a little stuck on how I will decorate for this little one. I don't like the princess/diva stuff (I'll spare you my tangent but let's say I could devote a whole blog post on this subject). I prefer the bright colors to pastels. I'm thinking lady bugs but then I saw this picture from one of my email newsletter I receive. I love the wall pictures in this. The problem, in the newsletter it doesn't tell you where you can buy the decor. I'm on the hunt for this wall decor. PLEASE HELP! I love everything about these pictures. I love all the different tones of pink, and the bright colors.

Merry Christmas

We went back to PA for Christmas. We haven't been back for that length of time in 2 years, and it was wonderful. We soaked in as much family and friend time and it was marvelous. However, the trip didn't start out with great expectations. Brad came sick. We spent the night before our flight in the urgent care with him hoping they could give him something. It made him slightly better, but he wasn't healing. So back to an urgent care we went, where they increased his antibiotic and gave him some wonderful cough syrup with codeine. We tried every thing under the sun for his cough. Every medicine every wise tale with no avail. We tried the Vick's vapor rub on the feet which I've heard people swear by, but alas, that didn't work either. But luckily, the new drugs did the trick and he was much better on the return. At the urgent care in PA they gave him a bracelet. However, even the sickness didn't seem to damper our spirits too much.

Here we are celebrating Christmas with my mom's family.
Here I am with my cousin. We've been close since we were young. And we are both pregnant! Which is really not shocking to our family. She is around 15 weeks and I am now up to 24 weeks. Here we are with a bump picture. I couldn't resist it.

I loved his ear over his eye while he slept. This dog ate well. Everyone kept feeding him.

During our trip we went to NYC. I love the big Apple, love it. It feels like home to me. I love the sites and the sounds, not so much the smells. Here we are on board the train to take us to Penn Station.

We met some of our favorite people in the world. It was their youngest girl's birthday, who we loved to pieces, and she was surprised for the trip. They even kept us a secret. We ate at the most delicious Italian restaurant.

We saw the "Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall" a very festive show. This was actually the very first NYC show I ever saw, at 8 years old. My Nanny took me for my 8th birthday (I got to skip school that say and all!) I've been in love with shows ever since.

Of course, the photo opt must at the Rockefeller Center.

Breakfast with friends.

This is "Auntie LuLu" as my children will refer to her as. She is my longest friend. We've been friends for 18 years. If we were Catholic she would be our little Apple's godmother, we aren't but I still think it's cute so I'll refer to her as such.

Christmas with my Dad's family - it was so nice visit everyone.

Brad with my uncle. If you can't tell the resemblance of my uncle and my dad. They speak "computers" with each other.

My aunt and my Nanny.

My brother and his family and an aunt. The baby he is holding is the sweetest little thing. I took all these pictures of her while I was there, but I realized I did them all on my mom's camera. I'm going through with drawls from her.

Birthday Celebration

So I got this shiny beauty for my birthday/Christmas. It's so pretty I don't want to messy it up with my finger prints. The screen is nice and big and it actually runs longer than 15 minutes with out it being plugged in!! Yes, I know this means I part with my old one, which served me faithfully, but it is going to a good home, my dad. Yes, my dad actually said he would like it. My Nanny got him a kindle a few years ago and little by little he is accepting technology. The man even checks his email daily.

My birthday was a wonderful day. I decided to give Brad his Christmas gift early on my birthday. We took a half day of work and went a received a couples romantic massage package at beautiful resort. Oh, my was it heavenly. We then made reservations at their fancy shmancy restaurant and ate a glorious dinner.

In the lobby of the resort was this gingerbread house - Hogwartz Castle.