Showered with love!

At some point, when I get on my work computer, I'll post the shower pics of the great surprise lunch/shower Natalie threw me in July.

But for now, here's some pictures of the shower held at my mom's house from late August

My mom worked very hard on all of the little details

My friend, colleague and Toby's mother-in-law, Ursula, prepared the most delicious spread! Here she is getting the chocolate fondue station ready... yum.

And she gave me this cute little bouquet made up of little baby clothes to loook like roses.

Some other little details...

But the BEST surprise of all was my sister-in-law Monica's surprise visit from Texas! She flew in that day and out the next morning- all to be a part of Baby M's shower. What a sweet sacrifice! Love you, Mo!

The guests dutifully playing along with the games

And Baby M made out like a little bandit!

He's got a nice little library of books started- thanks, English faculty!!

And here he is!

Thanks to everyone involved for making me feel so loved and for spoiling the little guy already :)

A song for baby

Before I was pregnant, I used to hear this song and the lyrics would always make me think about future children for me and Andrew. I know it's actually a love song from a man to his future lady, but the sentiment rings the same: when the time is right, we'll meet the person who will become part of our family- someone we never knew we could do without.

So now that I am expecting the newest member of our family, this song resonates even more with me, and has sort of become the anthem for our little baby. Here are some lyrics that feel like they could be about Baby Mitchell:

"Wherever you are, whenever it's right,
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life"

"Baby, your love is going to change me"

"I promise you, kid, to give so much more than I get,
I just haven't met you yet."

We should be meeting him in about 6 weeks! And once he's old enough to dance with Mama, we can still have it be "our" song.

Have a listen!

Doggie DIY

So when I was browsing the web for ideas for the nursery, I came across the following framed picture from Green Frog Art, and I LOVED the aesthetic- especially because we are using a lot of pops of that kelly green around the nursery (well, and I love dogs- have I ever mentioned that?)

...and then I saw the price tag- $160. Whoops. Not going to work. So I started browsing some other items on their site and saw the following pic, which was in a series of four: nap, tickle, sing, and I can't remember the last one. I thought the idea of a little verb above a dog was cute, because it could easily translate to things babies would also do.

But, each picture was listed at $100, so the series was $400 total. Neither of these paintings was reasonable for our budget. So I had to get crafty! I decided that I could try and blend what I loved about each picture and create something on my own at a fraction of the cost. Here's how they turned out:

I paid a few bucks for the three doggie stencils (the bone I had to freehand) and I already had the painting supplies, so the only real cost was the frames. It was really hard to get a pic of all four without getting the glare from the glass, but you get the idea:

For obvious reasons, my favorite is the beagle!

Here's one of my two muses:

And no, we're not doing a doggie-themed room- we're not doing any theme. Instead, we're doing more of a color story. I'm really excited to post pics of the crafts my mom has been working on, but I think I'll wait until the room is a little more finished. Don't come too early, Baby Boy Mitchell, we've got a lot left to do!

Growing, growing, growing!

Here are the three prego ladies from TCC's CH division at around 18 weeks, 21 or 22 weeks, and Hilary is obviously about to pop! I think she is at 35 or 36 weeks, so she'll be meeting the little one very soon! This was taken last week at Hilary's baby shower.

And although I like to blame the stretchy dress for making me look like I'm further along than the lovely Shelly next to me (when I'm actually 3 weeks behind)- there is no denying that Baby Mitchell is growing!

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I've been noticing the baby kicks for a couple weeks now, although it took me awhile to figure out what they were! Now I can predict when the kicks will come- when I sit down at a computer after breakfast or lunch and when I'm falling asleep at night or just waking up in the morning. I just really want Andrew to be able to feel them on the outside and I know we're still a few weeks away from that.

* * *

Hopefully we will have some big news at the end of this week!

...and baby makes three

I haven't had a chance to breathe- let alone blog- since the onset of the Spring semester of my 2nd full year of teaching college. Okay, I am being a little dramatic, but this was certainly the most challenging semester I've ever been faced with. And that was due in part to our wonderful (albeit surprising) news that we can expect a little one this October! Unfortunately my first trimester was pretty miserable (morning sickness), but now that I am in the second trimester, I am feeling MUCH better. I've only taken a couple profile shots to track the bump growth, but here is a picture from my birthday when I was about 15 weeks along:

And here I am at almost 17 weeks:

This is the month when the little one starts to grow like a weed! So in another two weeks I should expect an even bigger bump- right around the time we learn if the nugget is a boy or a girl.

Oh, and all the Indians gear was a surprise from Drew for our tentative trip to Tampa to see Jason play (he may not be playing for the Indians due to an injury) but we're Donald fans no matter what! Although the boys' size jersey probably won't fit much longer because as Andrew says to me "You're growing by the day!"

The Adorable Stillwell Family

So when I got my camera, I told Hilary that I would learn more about it and once I got better at taking photos, I would snap some shots of their super-cute family. Well, it's been over 3 months since I made that promise, and have I learned anything about photography in that time? No. Haven't even cracked the Canon booklet...sigh. But the Stillwells are such a fun and lovely family, I really didn't need any talent to capture their beauty.

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We had a lot of fun at Dorothy B. Oven Park today. Here are some of my favorites:

Some kisses!

For Daddy

And Mommy, too

I can't get over how beautiful this kid is!

Whoops the dress got a little wet. Time for a wardrobe change!

"I'm not sure how I feel about this baby..."

Sierra is a nature girl already!

And a few shots of Mom & Dad

And we even had time for a little treat afterward:

Thanks for being patient with me, folks!