All clean (a.k.a. after the showers)

So, i have become horrible at keeping up with this whole blog thing . . . but, I think I have a good excuse. Becoming a doctor, growing a human, these things take time people. But, still no excuse for not putting up pictures yet, and also no excuse for not getting out all of the thank-you notes yet (they are actually all written, I just have about 11 or so addresses to find. . .)

But, I did take some pictures with my kick ass camera so instead of boring you with my words, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Here's the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G cake that Irene made at shower number one. The picture certainly doesn't do it justice. And it tasted so good. I had these wonderful intentions of taking home the top tier to freeze and eat when we got home from the hospital, but my will power has gone the way of my waistline and I ate a a few slices that night when I got back.

Can you believe that she made an edible pram and a little bracelet too! So precious. 

Little tissue diapers stuffed with butter mints.

Look at that spread --those Fessler ladies know how to make sure everyone has a good time---give them all great food. 

And now, on to shower number two. Thrown by two of my favorite people, Katie and Ali. I was pumped to give them cheesy "from my shower to yours" gifts of shower gel, packaged as flowers in a pot.

 

But, I was way more pumped about the food. Homemade baked french toast with fresh blueberries and whipped cream. I can't tell you how good it was. It was so nice, I ate it twice. . . literally, I showed up at Ali's morning after the shower and ate breakfast there, again. 

The whole party was awesome. Even though the weather was absolutely awful, friends traveled from near and far to come, which was the best part of it all. It was like a reunion. We even got to skype Angela in from Rome (who btw is doing an awesome job saving the world with her work with the World Food Programme--Angela, you are my hero!!!) Here's a group shot (which took quite a bit of practice). 

And, because I love my fur-babies, I had to include a picture of them doing what they do best, snuggling with dad!

Showered with love

I am so lucky--I have been blessed with wonderful family and amazing friends that are willing to shower me with love on a daily basis. But, with the new addition of the bun/parasite/lovely little girl in the oven, they are also going above and beyond their usual showers of love and affection and showering me and the little lady with PRESENTS in a baby shower!!! Scratch that, make it two baby showers. And this is in addition to the lovely three-way tailgate shower that I was blessed with earlier this year. Though I hate/despise/would rather pull teeth than be in the center of attention, I am really looking forward to the showers. For the first, lovingly thrown by MIL, SIL, and the lovely Elise--I am really looking forward to seeing everyone, and the FOOD (especially a lovely, cookbook-cover worthy, wedding-esque style cake by the talented Irene, and cuisine by the lovely lady Fesslers (side note: apparently if you are a female with the last name of Fessler before 2006 you are exceptionally culinarily skilled; however, the became-a-Fessler-as-of-2006-or-after set of females--i.e., me--didn't get the magical skill with the change of name at the social security office . . . BUMMER!!)
Here the invite:

And, for the second shower, thrown by my confidantes, collegues, and partners in making the world a better place one dysfunctional family/couple/individual at a time, the lovely and newly engaged Ali, and the goregeous and worldly (even before her latest almost 4 month stint in ITALIA) Katie and I looking forward to just being in a room with friends, both new and old.

I am so, so, so blessed.

My first Nursery DIY

Well, we've got about two months to go, so its time to kick things into high gear in getting the nursery ready for Cleatus. I got an awesome rocker from the in-laws for Christmas and after I Curtis and I put it together, I realized I needed a little side table. But, babies are expesive. I mean, like Tiffany's and Chanel type expensive, not Red Lobster expensive, so we are having to figure out how to cut costs as much as possible. So, I found this table under our house, in our dusty, dirty, crawl space.
 Here's the price breakdown:
Sander from Wal-Mart: 19.99
Primer from Home Depot: 8.98
Foam Brush: 0.87
Black paint: Free  (left overs from something else)
So, for just under $30, we have a new refurbished end table.
Here's what it looked like before:

And here is the primer we used.

After 1 coat of primer:

After 1 coat of paint:

After two coats of paint:

Finished:

So, what do you think . . .? I know, I know, I could have got the $7 table from IKEA, but that would have been way too easy. . .

Oh, and I got a new camera, which I used to take the above picture and I FRIGGIN' LOVE IT! Its a Nikon d3000. I am still very new at using it, but here are a few of my favorite pictures that I have taken so far with it, using my favortie models--Bruce and Annabelle.

Home for the holidays

Well, some time has passed since I last posted--well over a month. But what a month it has been. I finished up teaching for the semester, finished my last round of coursework ever in my life, unless I decide to get a Ph D in something else (not likely), shopped for the holidays, celebrated with loved ones, and continued the process of growing a human. The nursery is coming more and more together everyday. We finally purchased a crib today, and I love it, though it is quite princessy--it even has princess in the name--but I have plans to dial down the bows and lace a little bit. I also finished caulking and painting the trim after replacing them during the re-flooring process, I finished one of the family potraits (Annabelle's), put up some wall decor, bought a rug and a chandlier, received a rocker/glider and ottoman as a super awesome Christmas present from the in-laws, found some drapes and DIYed them to match with the decor, Curtis has developed an obsession with all things little girl in the Ralph Lauren line, which I could see as a problem in the future if our little one begins to accumulate a wardrobe rivaling the size of her fathers, but right now, even with a full dresser with a giant tupperware bin full of other clothes, she still isn't even coming close.
Pictures to come later, but i am writing this from my ole, relilable macbook pro, which doesn't seem to jive well with blogger, so they will come later.

It begins. . . the start of the belly pictures

So, imagine this. You find out you are pregnant . . . shock, awe, disbelief, panic, exuberant joy, paranoia, all day sickness. You know, the works. Then, you get sick at the smell of just about everything--food, people, standing water (the absolute worst in smell in the entire world). And lost lots of weight fast because you throw up. And then, you continue to throw up for 6 weeks after everyone said you would stop. And then you finally get your appetite back, and food tastes good. And then you feel the little Cleatus moving around inside of you (BTW, it feels very strange, sometimes like you are really hungry, sometimes like you are nervous or excited, sometimes like a little gerbil doing acrobatics in a bowl of jello, you know, the usual stuff). And then you start to eat. And eat. And eat. And that weight you lost is back, and then some. Enough to grow a giant Santa Belly. Except instead of sugar cookies and spice, its a little, tiny, fast growing fetus. If this was you, then your belly might look like this . . . 

More Belly

Here is me and Kelly (who is obviously not pregnant) at the park. Its kinda like a before and after, but at the same time.

6 month Belly!