Going on vacation!

Yay! Lamine and I are going on vacation tomorrow.  A real vacation.  We've had little get aways since we've been married, but it's mostly been to visit family and friends and organize weddings, etc.  This will be the first time that it will be just the two of us.  We will be stopping to see our friend Christine in Portland for a day or two, but we are spending two nights at the Oregon Coast. Just Lamine and me.  It's kind of a belated honeymoon/last chance get-a-away before the baby is born/anniversary celebration.  I kind of wish we had been able to do this earlier in my pregnancy, but we are both very appreciative of this opportunity and very aware that this is probably the last time in a long time that we will be able to do something like this with just the two of us.  We may go to the Oregon Coast next year, and it will be wonderful, but it will be very different having a baby in tow.  It'll be a new kind of exciting.  For now, though, we're going to enjoy this weekend to the fullest.

We have a new car! A beautiful, orange, new car! We love it so much, and I can't wait for us to take it on a drive together (I arrived at work early this morning and Lamine wasn't up in time to go to work with me).

On a side note-Lamine's tooth chipped this morning, and I had a royal breakdown. I'm not sure why, but everything suddenly seemed overwhelming and impossible.  It took me a couple hours, but I think I've managed to put my head on somewhat straight again.

We've had quite a bit happen this past year, but I need to remind myself how very lucky we are. We are together, neither of us has a terminal or life-threatening disease, we're having a baby boy, and we are happy. That's a lot right there-never mind the fact that we also have a beautiful new orange car to cruise around in and the fact that we're getting away to the Oregon coast this weekend.  So thankful for the chance to vacation to this beautiful  spot.

Bedding Dilemna

So, a little while ago, I showed you the link to this awesome woman's site for a custom baby quilt.  The problem is....There are too many choices! I can't decide which fabric choices I like.  So, I'm going to show you some of the options. Well, two of the options.

Option number one (I'm leaning more towards this one):

Nice color combination-right?







Ok.  Now the next color combination is this.  Now, this is easier to picture because it's already done:

Now, both are super cute, but I'm leaning towards the top combination because it's just so bright and cheerful, and I think Lamine would prefer that one vs. the bottom one. That being said, I love them both. What do you think?

Crocheting and the Ever Growing Belly

Yay!  I got the PDF file to crochet the cute little things I showed you earlier.  I'm starting with the teddy bear hat because that seemed like the easiest.  We'll see! I'm excited to start tomorrow.  I picked up some yarn that is a little lighter than what I showed in the pictures.  Yay for 40% off coupons at Michael's.

Also-as indicated in the title-my stomach feels huge today. I'm starting to really feel pregnant.  I had tons of morning sickness for months which should have made me feel pregnant, but now I'm really starting to feel pregnant.  I make noises when I get up or sit down, and my feet and back hurt by the end of the day.  And still 12 1/2 weeks to go.  It seems like such a short amount of time, and I'm starting to get nervous.

home

Well, I wasn't feeling well today, so I am at home. I think was just dehydrated, but I wanted to take it easy to play it safe.

Anyway...I'm lying down at home and was listening to some quiet music, and I put one of the headphones on my stomach. The baby started kicking and moving with the music and has been going at it for a while. Not sure if that means he likes it or is trying to get away from it....

One Year

Today is one year since Lamine first arrived in the United States.  This year has been absolutely nuts, but it's been pretty wonderful as well. While there are aspects of this past year that have been difficult, it's also been a beautiful year of being together.  We've been through a lot this year, but I think that just means that we'll be better equipped to handle whatever may come our way in the coming years.  Lamine said that he hoped this next year would be the best year of our lives. I'm not so sure that I want to have the best year of our lives be over and done with already. But I do hope that this next year will be more beautiful and wonderful than the year before.

Winter cuteness

So, while I'm happy to be having a boy, there are so many cute girl clothes and not as many cute options for boys.  However, I found tons of cute wintry things that would be so cute for little boys. So, I've decided to take up crocheting. I mean, who wouldn't when you could make cute things like these?

And....

And.....

All from Polka Dot Posh.

So cute!

more nursery

So, more on the nursery.  Picture inspiration

                    So, the blanket I showed you earlier kind of has this nice airy, yellowy feel while still appeasing Lamine's love of blue.  The little circles off on the other side of the wall, though? I love the multi-colorfulness  of it!  Leading to me finding this decal....

           How cute would this be above the crib? And they're removable!

Nursery

 With only 100 days left, I'm realizing just how unprepared we are. We still have our little Mazda pickup (don't think we can put the car seat in the bed of the truck), we haven't even begun to figure out any sort of nursery or crib setup in our little one bedroom apartment, and I haven't yet started researching birth plans or anything like that except for knowing that I would like to do a natural birth.


That being said, since I found out I was pregnant, the one thing that I've been excited about has been crib bedding.  I'm not sure why, but I just love it!


So, with that being said, can I just say how much I LOVE this blanket?!
 

I wasn't sure how much blue I wanted involved, but this is so cute and modern, that I think we could get away with it. This is from a fabulous Etsy seller at http://www.etsy.com/shop/fingersandtoes?ref=seller_info.  I love her stuff.

100 Days 'till Thomas

That's what we're calling the little karate kid currently residing in my belly. We've named him Thomas for the time being (the "S" silent in true French fashion) after Thomas Sankara-a pretty revolutionary president from Burkina Faso. I'm not exactly sure how we came about using this as a nickname, but I think it had something to do with wanting our son to care about the poor and impoverished and live with integrity, etc. Just a note, though, we're still picking out baby names.

Anyway-so, we're only 100 days away from my due date, and I realized that I hadn't done much of anything to document this pregnancy-our first.  And it's such a big deal, really. I'm not sure how many people will actually read this blog, but I've just started reading a few other blogs, and I've been itching to start my own.

So here it goes....