Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts

10.26.2010

cinnamon

As the weeks wind down and D(elivery)-day approaches, I'm trying to keep up with increased work responsibilities while also enjoying the last remnants of my pre-child social life.  Last week held two nights in a row of rowdy concert-going.  We caught Foals at Doug Fir on Thursday night along with my coworkers Nikki and Emily, and Jesse's friend, Danny.  Surprisingly enough, I was deemed DD for the night, but still managed to have a good time despite my pregnant sobriety.  At one point, both Jesse and Danny each brought me a soda.  I felt like a princess.  Other highlights included seeing the singer from Spoon in the crowd and then witnessing a dressed-to-the-nines hipster chick falling off a couch she was trying to climb over (the 4" heels didn't help).

The next night we hit up the grand opening of a new location of Dr. Marten's on Burnside.  The Builders and the Butchers were playing (odd scenario) and free food and beer were offered.  The beer ended up consisting of 2 oz. samples in tiny plastic cups and the "food," if you can call it that, was a platter of crustless watercress sandwiches.  Bite size.  The place was packed, as you can see below.  Certainly provided for interesting people watching.  (See if you can spot the band.)


Toward the end of the show Emily (what a trooper!) joined us with her three friends, Erin, James, and Jaime.  We determined that more food was in order, so we set out into the streets of downtown on foot.  I had mapped out various food carts that were supposed to be open, but that was a bust.  Instead, we found ourselves at Mother's, dining on decadent Chanterelle mac & cheese and laughing up a storm about performing test procedures on willing (read: paid) volunteers in nursing school.  Scary stuff, I tell you.  I remarked that the evening felt like the "olden days" - those in which Portland would draw us in for hours and we'd aimlessly wander the dark, curious streets.  It was a good night, particularly with the last minute addition of Voodoo Doughnuts just before the rain started to fall.

Other than that I've been preparing for a Halloween bake sale I organized at work, which is to occur this Friday.  The event will benefit two non-profit organizations associated with my employer.  I've never organized anything like this before, but it's been a worthwhile experience.  I can't wait to see what my volunteer bakers will come up with!  I'm still trying to finalize what I'll be making in my home kitchen - likely bags of fudge and jars of homemade granola.  I'll do my best to complete my preparation in an organized, photo-ready fashion, camera in hand.

Here are some miscellaneous photographs in the meantime.

Oliver's green Halloween glare

This is where we live - isn't it beautiful? 
Our resident Red-Tailed Hawk is perched at the top of the tallest tree. 
We love him.


And lastly, a belly progression.  I'm sitting at 33 weeks now and am even bigger than the last picture here.  More to come later, I'm sure.

9.28.2010

laser beams

Ta da!  Skully's all finished - now what to do with him?


This weekend I finally convinced Jesse to hang the art we'd purchased for Quinn's owl and bird-themed nursery (this is a man's job, you know).  I also dressed her crib in the adorable bird bedding set my sister and mom got for us. 


There is a small bare wall above the "head" of the crib (on the right hand side of this photo) and I've decided to embark on a more elaborate embroidery project for that space.  In keeping with our decorating theme, I found this gorgeous vintage owl pattern.  I added Quinn's name (which won't be as contrastingly bold when I embroider it) and came up with this template:


How cute is that?!  What color scheme do you think I should go with?  I don't think I want to overdo it with pink on this.

As for a pregnancy update, I'm still feeling pretty good as I near 30 weeks (though Quinn is kicking my guts out as I type this!).  My belly is growing one centimeter every week, and I'm definitely aware of it!  It can feel pretty taut and uncomfortable at times, but warm baths and Bio-Oil help a lot.  Here's an amusing photo Jesse took the other evening (from above my head) after one of my Bio-Oil applications (that's the only reason I ever walk around the house with an exposed belly).  I look fairly misshapen, which would either be because Quinn was struggling to escape or I was having one of my mega-frequent Braxton Hicks contractions.  These poor laser cats don't know what to think.

5.24.2010

summertime giveaway

Much to my chagrin, I won exactly ZERO of the Giveaway Day giveaways.  Can you believe it?! 

I must have used up all of my luck landing the little lime-sized baby that's in my belly!  Well, that's a contest I was happy to win.  That's right, I'm pregnant with my first little one.  This little boy or girl will join big sister Chloe, my exuberant 8-year old stepdaughter, who has been waiting for years for us to break this news to her!  Here's a pic of her bouncing wildly right after we shared the exciting announcement:


I'm due on December 9th and hopefully we'll find out the gender on July 7th - little more than a month away!  Fortunately, Chloe will be able to accompany us to that appointment and will learn the news when we do.  She has already chosen the names Jordan, for a boy, and Sally, for a girl.  :) 

So in celebration of this great development, and despite my utter lack of luck in the giveaways, I have decided to hold my own giveaway.  I've settled on giving away a cute and functional Summertime Messenger Bag.  The best part is that the prize will be specially crafted with the winner in mind!  So leave a comment with what you'd like the inspiration for this bag to be if you're the winner. 

I'll accept comments until Thursday, May 27th at 11:59pm PST.  On Friday I'll choose a winner using a random number generator - so be sure to include your email address so I can contact you!  I'll probably solicit some more of your ideas on what you'd like the bag to look like, then I'll get to work on it after our long Memorial Day weekend at the Oregon Coast.  (ps: I'll ship internationally!)

In the meantime, here's a photo of the one project I've found the energy to work on in these harrowing first months of pregnancy!  This sunglasses case was a birthday gift for my dear friend, Sarah.  Kudos to her on snapping a great pic. :)