Hopefully the Last Pregnant Post

If I have to take another picture by the countdown wall, I'm going to be upset. Hopefully I don't have to write a 40 on the board. Baby is aware she is welcome to come any time now. Luckily, I'm still feeling great and working. Wednesday will be my last day until after my leave.

Last week. This week. Do you like the little tissue paper lollies I made or are dumb? I needed more yellow in the room, and want the chalk board wall to be more fun. I may put them on a little string and hang them at the top of this wall so they're more orderly. Undecided.
Mom finished the crib skirt and it's PERFECT! I forgot to take a picture of the whole crib, but here's a closeup of the fabric. Good thing Mom will get here tomorrow to see everything together! She hasn't been here since July, so she's only seen the nursery in pictures.

Now on to Christmas Decor.

Dining room shelf. Features bottle brush trees, West Elm garland, shadow box that I didn't even update for Christmas.
This is a card that Mom made the Christmas before our wedding. She made it to look like our wedding with lots of feathers, and added Anticipate since our wedding was just around the corner from Christmas.
Dining room table with antler candle thing that Marc thinks is weird, but I love.
2010 wrapping paper scheme
Evergreen wreath on the front door. It was lovely in it's prime, now it's really dry. I did a bit of decorating. Wreaths aren't as easy to decorate as I thought.

Here's the Christmas tree. Keeping with the newsprint theme, I used an old book to make a paper chain for garland, and a tree topper.
Here's the tree topper. An expert copier, I stole the idea from a blog Katie Green sent me. If I didn't hate making all of those little cones I would have made this 2 sided.
Close up of one of my favorite vintage shiny brights gracing the tree.

I had a few newsprint flowers, so they were added to the tree. You can see the glittered A in the background...I got a bunch of metal numbers and letters from Hobby Lobby, glittered them, and threw them on the tree.
Here's the tree in baby's room with glittered Bebe letters from my shower in Freeburg.

You can't really see in these pictures, but all of my Precious Moments angel ornaments I received every year throughout my childhood are on the tree.

I love this little feather tree, currently on the chest in our bedroom.

Here's a random bonus picture of our bed and the new mirror hung next to it. There's one on the other side too. It's the same formula I used in the guest room, and that's because I like it.

I was experimenting with my new 50mm lens for most of these pictures-I know the lighting and focus are off in some of the pictures. I have to say, investing in a nice camera and learning how to use it is stressful and takes a lot of practice. I do love the new lens though. Its specialty is close ups.

Thanksgiving

I have been really tired after work. I think it's because of the constant darkness. Pardon my posting intermission.

We had a fun Thanksgiving in Nebraska! A few scenes from the festivities.

Little Mason helping in the kitchen.

Eating inappropriate amounts of dessert with Aunt Nancy and Cousin Amanda.

Some were watching football in the living room while others were having way more fun drinking coffee and playing cards in the dining room.

We came back to Denver on Friday night. Saturday was a really pretty day so I took some pictures of everything that was going on outside.

First, here's a picture of my NEW CAR!!! We bought it 3 weeks ago and I love it. 2010 Nissan Murano. It's the first car I've ever purchased from a dealership. You know I love black cars, I don't care what anyone says. I'm going to do my best to keep it clean (inside and out). We kept the Jetta too. Sometimes it makes me sad to see it sitting in the driveway not being used, but I know it would want me to be happy.

The City of Englewood's water main broke directly in front of our house. This shut down our entire block and the repair took most of the afternoon. The yard in this picture is the neighbor to our left.

Look what the neighbor to the right was doing while this was happening...Just putting up some giant blow up Christmas decor. This wouldn't be so bad except this was the one and only time they have ever been inflated. Now they just lay dead on their lawn. Sometimes I'd like to have an HOA.

Since it was a nice day, the chickens were free ranging in the back. Marc got them a heated water dispenser so their water doesn't freeze. They're laying has slowed down from 0-4 eggs a day to 0-2 eggs a day. Apparently this is normal for the winter.

Inside, I was unpacking Christmas, scheming new ideas for the trees. I finally finished most everything this weekend, so there will be a detailed Christmas post this week sometime. I will tell you that I used an entire old book to make various items. I was inspired by West Elm's newsprint theme Christmas.

Oh yes, and I'm still growing the baby too. Here we are at 36 weeks which is old new because now I'm 37...out of 40! I'm addicted to chocolate chip cookies and ready to get this show on the road. If you look really closely at my shirt you can see that during the day this picture was taken (maybe Tues) I had spilled various things on myself. I think there is a big coffee spot, a water spot, and possibly even a little sweat spot from where my belly button sits against my desk all day-a kind of disgusting reality.

Marc makes a rare blog appearance, and a sneak peak of Christmas decorations. Of course baby has to have a tree too. What is she's born before Christmas? Imagine her dismay if she comes home and doesn't have her very own tree. That's no way to start your life.

Final Touches

The nursery is almost done, just a few finishing touches going in. I love this new Ikea light over the chair! Baby's closet is filling up with sweet little outfits like this pretty dress from her Nana (Mom has officially decided on Nana, Dad will be Nol=Nana and Nol).

And this frilly Christmas dress from Kiki.
And her fancy fur snow suit, Marc picked it out. Dead serious. Bows on the feet and hood ahhh.

You might be wondering where all of the shower gifts went. There are a lot of big things hiding behind the couch in the basement. Surprise!And a lot of things in her closet. On cloth diapers...final verdict is that it's happening. Here is one of the diapers. Look how thin it is, and it closes with velcro.
These are the kind that have the liners already built in, so it's really just washing the diapers, line drying, and putting back in the drawer. I'm excited to give cloth diapering a try. I can't say my plan is being supported by everyone (including Marc), but I'm not that worried.
The diapers live in this drawer. They look so cute all together.Looking big, but still feeling great. 6 more weeks

Blissful Baby Showers

Lucky girl that I am, my sweet and talented friends and family threw me two perfect showers.

The first one was in Denver, hosted by Lindsey, Becky, Liz and Lisa.

It was a gorgeous fall day and all of my favorite Denver friends were there. The girls put on a beautiful brunch. I couldn't believe how pretty everything looked.


Liz, her MacBook and floral glue produced these water bottles, which have the same design as the invites. Well done.Pretty and delicious little cupcakes.

Such a pretty table.
Everyone enjoying brunch in the sunny living room. All of the other pictures of the shower are just of me-unflattering present opening pictures mostly. I really wish I had one with all of the hostesses, but Lindsey was playing photographer and the other girls were busy hostessing.

After the shower, we carved a bunch of pumpkins.
Cute little Mason played in the guts, but really didn't want to get too messy.

Fruits of our labor.
Last weekend I went home for a visit and for another shower. My old college gang/roommates

came up from Louisville to celebrate Sarah U's bday, visit Jordan who lives in STL, and to come to my shower. We all had dinner Friday night at Bistro in the Central West End. So. Good. My mom, Jamie, and Jordan threw a really fun and creative shower on Saturday. The theme was French Circus/Baby. It took the whole family helping to put all of these wonderfully cute props and decorations together.

Popcorn! Peanuts! Little boxes that say "ABOUT TO POP."
Mom, Erin and I had a great time decorating Circus animals. Especially not-so-crafty Erin. She ended up getting really into the animals, giving lions pompom saddles and veils.

Jordan did all of the graphics for the shower. Note the Cirque Fare sign. There were lots of cute graphic details all around that she designed.

Jamie, Mom, Erin...too bad Jordan isn't in this one. Thanks for a wonderful shower!

Dad and Lucas, kind of tired from having to help decorate for a shower. And look how cute Belle is, all dressed up for the circus.
Sunroom decorated.

More decorated circus animals. I outfitted a hippos with a tutu. She's hard to see in this picture.

All of my Freeburg friends! I really wish I would have moved that pinwheel.
College friends at shower.

After the shower, Dad lit the fire for the Shook family Apple Butter/driveway bonfire. Lucas, Erin, Jamie and Mom all suited up for the cold...although I think this was taken during their impromptu "wine tasting." I have no pictures of Jonas from the weekend, only one picture of Dad, hardly any pictures of people at the shower, no pictures at the fire or of the apple butter. I need to do a better job taking pictures.
Thank you so much to everyone who made both of my showers so happy, fun and perfect. I do really feel lucky such wonderful friends and family who care so much to make things special and memorable for me. Love you all.