my dream nursery

here it is folks! it's been months in the making, and turned out better than i even imagined! just wanted to share it with you.

it's even greater in person...just another reason for you to come visit me and the baby (whenever she chooses to make her entrance!)

so, the ALMOST before pictures (i completely forgot to take pics before we started...technically, the room started out VERY red...this was just after painting the base color, and the first few hours of the detailed painting...)



and after....

the pictures turned out much better at night, but during the day it's so beautiful with the curtains pulled, looking like three windows out to the castle courtyard


this part took SO long

the changing table/dresser is hiding in the closet...the room is just too small for very much furniture

the only thing left to be done is to decide where i want the letters and tiaras to go...ideas?

hooray! now our little princess will have a place to dream and imagine and play dress up! i'm basically jealous! it really makes the rest of our house look SO lame and boring! i just love sitting in this room and listening to the lullaby playlist i've put on my ipod (did you see the pink ipod speakers i got for the nursery?! so cute!)

i told the mister that if they were wrong and this baby comes out a BOY, well he's just going to have to be a prince or a knight in shinning armour or something, cause i'm NOT giving up this room!!!

cause just being this pregnant wasn't tough enough...

is there such a thing as bad luck? horrible karma? call it what you will, i seem to have it!

yesterday, i went to meet the mister for lunch near his new (and GORGEOUS) downtown office. he works right next to my all time favorite place in portland, so i just love going to meet him during the day when i can.

after a lovely lunch and walk/waddle around the city blocks, i started heading back towards home to meet a friend for coffee.

it was rainy and gloomy. i'm not making that part up. so it's raining, there's some huge accident on another freeway which is now shut down, so at 1:30pm there's horrible traffic. but i feel fine about it because i'm listening to the adam carolla show on my iPod (sidenote: adam carolla is a freaking genius. i can't get enough).

so, i'm in the left lane. it's stop and go traffic. adam's talking about how stupid it is to have stickers on fruit. then, JUST like those "life comes at you fast" commercials that i HATE, someone slams into me from behind. here are important facts to keep in mind at this point:

1. i've been in loads of car accidents, but NEVER when i was driving. this is new and terrifying to me
2. anyone remember how i'm 38 weeks pregnant?
3.the freeway is PACKED
4. it's raining like crazy
5. remember that part about me being 38 weeks pregnant?!?!?!?!

i had to tell myself several times that what was happening was real, that i had to make decisions. i couldn't find the emergency lights. i couldn't remember how to put the car in park. i was just in shock i guess, which only lasted for about 30 seconds. thankfully i work in constant crisis and stress, and was able to pull it together ENOUGH. since the freeway was packed, we just scooted a little to the left. but then i was trapped in my car, because the door couldn't open wide enough for my belly to get out. so i literally have to lift my stomache and maneuver it around the door. it takes me forever to find my phone to call the mister and ask him what to do. i'm crying like....well like i've just been in a car wreck. the guy was very kind, thankfully, although he wasn't nearly horrified enough that he had slammed his car into a HUGE pregnant chick.

let's skip the boring details about how all i could think was that i needed to call my doctor to find out it my baby was okay, so i didn't make a point of getting all the right info from this guy. (side note 2: for awhile it looked like he had given me bogus info, which made things even worse. but that all seems to have worked out now, so i can let go of the "why on earth didn't I....?" guilt) after the info exchange, i get back into my car, and immediately call my OB who i had just seen a few hours before. she tells me to go immediately to the hospital. that's comforting...so i drive myself there, shaking and crying and totally scared, thinking "i don't have my hospital bag...i don't have my birth plan. i'm not ready." meanwhile i'm also calling rebeccamarie to see if she can meet me at the hospital, which she did, and i can't thank her enough for that.

i get to the hospital and they immediately put me into a labor & delivery room, into the classic hospital gown and attached to fetal monitors and such. this was so scary, especially because i was still alone at this point, and there were so many nurses buzzing around and asking questions and taking my blood pressure, feeling my cervix....it was too much. thankfully rebeccamarie showed up and had me laughing after not too long which made the time go by much more quickly and calmly.

anyway, they kept me for about 4 hours to make sure the baby was okay, then they let me go home with a comforting"this could still send you into labor tonight or tomorrow, you'll need to be on bedrest."

and that's just what i'm doing. and i don't mind so much, at least not today. i needed a rest, if we're being honest. and it doesn't break my heart to not go to work.

i'm super ache-y and sore today, and my brain feels fuzzy. but the baby is doing great which is the most important part, and i don't seem to be thrust into labor which is also nice (for the moment).

thanks to everyone who prayed for me and the fetus yesterday. i'm just so grateful to have such faithful and generous friends. and to prove it, here's a few fun pics:

the obligatory "picture of self in bathroom mirror"


that's right. i'm due in 2 weeks and i'm still rocking heels. pay no attention to the leg stubble. i can slide my feet into shoes, but i can't reach my legs to shave.

the winning date: a dinner cruise on the Portland Spirit


the mister and i on the deck of the Spirit. we tried this shot twice, i looked horrible in the other one, so this is the one i'm posting, even though he looks a little ticked.

Your Help is Needed!

alright, the mister and i have decided (last minute) to have one "last" great date this weekend, knowing that a)this baby will probably show up early and b)we won't get a date for quite some time once she's here

here's the trouble...my brain has completely stopped working! i can't come up with much more than the cliche dinner and a movie...but i feel like this date should be so much more than that, given what it represents!

so, let me see your creative brains at work! help me out! i'll owe you one!

in fact, if you come up with the winning idea, you'll get a picture of the new little bundle before anyone else (family excluded) and can option it out to celebrity gossip mags and websites and make MILLIONS. that should be sufficient incentive!

the most beautiful part of pregnancy

"Guess how much I love you," he said.
"Oh, I don't think I could guess that," said Big Nutbrown Hare.
"This much," said Little Nutbrown Hare, stretching out his arms as wide as they could go.
Big Nutbrown Hare had even longer arms. "But I love YOU this much," he said.
Hmm, that is a lot, thought Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you as high as I can reach." said Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you as high as I can reach," said Big Nutbrown Hare.
That is quite high, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I had arms like that.
Then Little Nutbrown Hare had a good idea. He tumbled upside down and reached up the tree trunk with his feet.
"I love you all the way up to my toes!" he said.
"And I love you all the way up to your toes," said Big Nutbrown Hare, swinging him up over his head.
"I love you as high as I can HOP!" laughed Little Nutbrown Hare, bouncing up and down.
"But I love you as high as I can hop," smiled Big Nutbrown Hare - and he hopped so high that his ears touched the branches above.
That's good hopping, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I could hop like that.
"I love you all the way down the lane as far as the river," cried Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you across the river and over the hills," said Big Nutbrown Hare.
That's very far, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. He was almost too sleepy to think any more. Then he looked beyond the thorn bushes, out into the big dark night. Nothing could be further than the sky.
"I love you right up to the MOON," he said, and closed his eyes.
"Oh, that's far," said Big Nutbrown Hare. "That is very, very far."
Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed of leaves. He leaned over and kissed him good night.
Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile, "I love you right up to the moon - AND BACK."

i'll admit it

i've started missing my blogmunity and all the interactions. so i'm posting a renewed commitment to get back to regularly reading all my friends' blogs, and regularly posting on mine. if there were a blog alter call (blalter call?) i'd come forward and cry a little. take it for what it's worth.

also, i'm stoked to announce that the mister and i recently celebrated our 3rd anniversary. i'm even stokeder to announce that, after three years, i'm seriously head over heels for this guy, and i've got a hunch he'd say the same thing (in his own, less dramatic kind of way). life is goooooood. nah. God is gooooooood. here's a few pics of us, just to prove that he exists (sometimes i think people assume i'm making him up.)





speaking of celebrations, we went to a wedding yesterday. it was GORGEOUS and wonderful, so please don't think that the following is directly related. during the wedding, one of my favorite friends (that's you rlew!) and i started sharing stories about the WORST music we've heard used at weddings. and i said to rebecca, "that would make a great blog! let's ask everyone to tell us the worst music they've heard at a wedding!"

so here i am, asking YOU, dear friend. what horrifying/cheesy/cliche music have you heard at a wedding? some of our favorites from our conversation yesterday:

Wind beneath my wings
you raise me up
anything by twila paris

ready? set? surprise us!