Andrew Lawrence

I received a text message just after 3am that Lauren's little man arrived. I don't have a picture yet but Andrew Lawrence came into the world at 2:05am after 31 hours of labor. Weighing in at 7lbs, 3oz he's healthy and strong.

Some of you may remember I was in Syracuse with Lauren when she gave birth to Andrew's big sister Grace on October 5, 2008.

Congratulations to the Lawrence family. We are so excited for you guys and cannot wait to meet Andrew!

p.s. Now that I've gotten the photo, it's crazy how much Grace and Andrew look alike in their first moments on earth.

What I'd like to learn from a few of my heros...

I have been blessed with some amazing friends. And some of these amazing friends are moms. Moms that are my heros. These are the women I hope I can be when AJ comes along. Each of them has a "super power" that I can only hope I learn from each of them to become a super mom myself. Allow me to introduce a few of them and their talents.

Abby - Mom of Anna & Oliver. Of course many might think I'm partial to these little people. I am crazy about them but you would be too if you met them. Abby, and her husband Dave, have raised two fabulous kiddos. Anna is a fountain of information who has a brain like a sponge. I love to see her fascination in action. Some days I can't believe she's only 4. Oliver is the happiest kid. He has the best laugh and the most award-winning smile. I absolutely love it when he flashes me that killer smile and hearing him laugh makes my heart happy. I want Abby's ability to raise such happy, loving children. I want my daughter (and whomever else comes into our lives later on) to love me as much as her kids love her.

Amber - Mom of Claire & Cora. I haven't seen Amber since we moved out of Yuma, AZ when I was in the 5th grade. And, until September, I hadn't talked to Amber since then either. Thanks to Facebook, we've reconnected and Amber's blog has become one of my favorite reading materials. I don't know much about Amber or her family except for what she's shared online. However, I can tell she has her act together. She has a gift for writing and I envy the way she can express herself so beautifully. She has daughters that I imagine to be full of life, witty and loved immensely by their mother. From Amber, I want to remember to take time for me. I don't want to lose myself once this life-changing person makes her arrival. I still haven't figured out my gift but whatever it is, I hope I pursue it.

Ann - Mom of Sophie & Isabel. These two little girls could be models. They are beautiful and they've got the sweetest personalities to boot. Ann's husband Rey is in trouble when these girls get older. Any boy who looks into either set of wide, beautiful eyes will be proclaiming their undying love in seconds. These girls will be heartbreakers. But her daughers' beauty has nothing to do with what I want to learn from Ann. I want her super power of an amazing sleep routine. Her girls love bedtime and don't fight about it. I've even seen each ask to go to bed or down for a nap. And, they started sleeping through the night early on. I want that. I want to know how to do that with AJ.

Jen - Mom of KayLee & NataLee. Jen was my best friend in high school. She even lived with me during senior year. Jen is the definition of strength. Since I met Jen, she's been struggling with Crohn's Disease. Even back then I was inspired by her and how she coped with such a difficult illness. During her first pregnancy with KayLee Jen's Crohn's reared its ugly head and made her life miserable. But, she prevailed and even got pregnant again soon afterward. Luckily this time things went much better. However, she was still strong because she was raising KayLee while her husband Herbert was in Iraq and not with her when she gave birth to NataLee. (Well, he wasn't physically there but he did get to watch via webcam.) Anyway, as always, Jen got through it with flying colors. Even now with her husband home and a surgery in the last few months, Jen continues to battle her body and show her strength. I want that strength. I want that ability to prevail in any situation as graceful as she has continuously over the years.

Lauren - Mom of Grace & Andrew. Lauren and I were neighbors and best friends while we lived in Yuma. I stayed in touch with Lauren for a few years after we left Yuma but unfortunately I think we both got too tied up in life. Luckily after 14 years since seeing each other, we caught up with each other a few years ago. And lucky for me, it was at a time when I needed another good friend and someone to remind me who I was.

Anyway, Lauren gave birth to Grace prematurely last October. I was in town for her shower and ended up in the hospital waiting room as she brought a tiny life into the world. Tonight, she's in labor again. This time she's full-term with her little man, Andrew who will hopefully stop putting his mother through labor and arrive already. We thought he was coming Christmas Eve and now here it is over a month later and she's been hanging in there all day. From being there the first time, I know Lauren handles labor well. When Grace was born she was in good spirits and focused on what needed to be done despite the earliness of Grace's arrival. And I know for a fact how incredibly hysterical she was when she got her epidural. From our texts today and her Facebook posts, I can tell you that yet again Lauren is in good spirits. And yet again, she's loopy from her epidural. :) Good for her. From Lauren I want to learn how to get through labor gracefully and with a sense of humor. And, the calmness she always seemed to have about it all.

Rhonda - Mom of Avery, Brody & Rowan. Rhonda is a friend from college who lives in NY with her husband and 1-year-old TRIPLETS. While I haven't seen Rhonda in person since college, I follow her on Facebook and her blog. She makes raising three kids sound easy. She even cooks real dinners for her and her husband. I want her patience, juggling ability and calmness. Anyone who can raise triplets and make it sound like life is easy is doing something right.

Steph - Mom of Kaelani. Lani just turned two in December and I can't believe how smart she is. Steph has posted videos of her demonstrating her knowledge of her letters, colors and numbers. It's so impressive. I am often picking my chin up off the ground when I watch these videos or hang out with them because I forget that she's two. Not only is she smart, she's a sweetheart and such a happy girl. From Steph I want the patience to work with Amelia on these same things.

While there are many other amazing moms in my life, I figure I've got my work cut-out for me so I better not get too ahead of myself. Or too greedy in what I want. :) While I know I can only do my best, I hope I find my own "super power" and maybe one of my other friends will want to learn something from me when it's their turn. :) But for now, I'm going to continue spying on my heros and hopefully learning a few of the tricks they have up their sleeves.

The furniture is in the room

Shaun completed the finishing touches of Amelia's room today. Of course, with the furniture all done I was eager to get it back in her room and see how it all came together. I am partial because it was my vision but I LOVE it and think it looks FANTASTIC. Now I am just trying to practice patience until the arrival of our glider.

Changing table, crib, closet & dresser

Bookcase, Shaun all proud of himself & changing table.

The glider will go in that corner.

Shaun made the comment tonight that it's his favorite room in the house and he could just sit in there all night with the baby. :) I'm SO happy that he likes it as much as I do.

Now I just need to hem the curtains, hang the picture shelf and a few other touches before it's done.

31 weeks

Shaun thought I looked particularly pregnant today. LOL! I would say I'll probably look particularly pregnant for the next 9 months. Especially since it seems like my slow, gradual weight gain has not been so slow and gradual lately. Oh well, I guess that comes with the whole package.

He's so good to me!

I have an amazing husband. I sometimes forget to tell him that enough. He has put up with some pretty crazy stuff from me for the past 7 months.

Today he got some help from our friend Andrew and put up the chair rail to finish off Amelia's room. Well, almost. We hadn't bought enough molding so there's one wall that has unpainted molding but I would say 85% of the room is done. And it looks awesome.

Then, to top it off he dove into painting her furniture tonight. Yes, you read that correctly. We found our nursery furniture on Craigslist. It was a great find. If you have a good memory, there was a post about it back in August. It was a crib, dresser & changing table for $500. I thought it was white. It was off-white. But it's beautiful and what we wanted for so much cheaper than we could have bought it for in a store.

So, why is Shaun painting? Because he loves his neurotic wife. I had to have my pink and green room. It's exactly what I've been picturing in my mind. Except for the darn good-deal, off-white furniture. The pinks made the off-white color look more yellow than white. I was disappointed. I knew I should just suck it up and deal but Shaun was a gem and said he'd paint it. So, off to Lowe's we went to buy white spray paint.

And after spending four hours putting up the chair rail, he hauled the drawers down to the garage and started some of the painting process. Here he is in the act...

It already looks so much better than it did. I'm so happy. So happy to have WHITE furniture and such an AMAZING husband. I'm a lucky girl.

More baby gifts

Last night we went to Stowe for a baby shower thrown by the women Shaun coaches in tennis. It was such a nice evening. It was potluck-style so there was YUMMY food and it was nice for me to meet some of the women I've heard about but didn't know. And of course, see the ones I do know but never see anymore since I'm not in Stowe so much.

They also got Shaun a birthday cake, which was super sweet and a nice surprise for him. He turned a shade or two of red when they started singing. It was cute. Here's a picture of the cake. Isn't it great?

After cake I was told to open presents. We got some cute stuff including the tiniest little socks ever and a really beautiful knitted sweater. Our last gift was from all the team members and so incredibly thoughtful and generous of them. It was the car seat we registered for once Amelia's too big for the infant seat. If you look closely at the picture above, all the other gifts are laid-out on the car seat.

Oh and because I'm not allowed to post this picture on Facebook, I am totally putting it on here. Jane, one of the team members put all the ribbons on a plate and made a hat for SHAUN to wear! LOL! He was a good sport but he promised me death if I put the picture on Facebook.

(too bad my cell phone didn't get the greatest pic. I might have to call Jane & see if I can get a copy of the picture she took...)

Shaun the Weather Man

Shaun is OBSESSED with the weather. He loves The Weather Channel, watching weather-related TV shows, checking on the radar online and anything else that goes along with the weather. Sometimes I think he was a meteorologist in a past life. I was struggling with what to get him for his birthday since he didn't want me to spend any money. So, I racked my brain and finally came up with what I hoped was a good idea.

I emailed a meteorologist at one of our local TV stations and told him a little about Shaun and how he has informed me on several occasions that if he wins the lottery he'll quit his job and become a meteorologist. Gary Sadowski, from WCAX Channel 3, was very happy to setup a time for Shaun to come in and learn more about what he does.

Today was the day. He had no idea where we were going, what we were doing or why until we pulled in to the TV station parking lot. The look of confusion on his face was pretty priceless. I t

hen asked him if he knew who Gary was and he said "yes, the weather guy at this station." I said, "Yup. And you have a date with him to learn about being a meteorologist. He's going to show you what he does to get ready for the Noon news, watch him do the broadcast and then you will get to talk to him about how he pulls the information and whatever else you want to ask him." I wasn't sure what he was going to think about this adventure but luckily, I could see the excitement appearing on his face as I explained to him why were were there.

So, we headed inside and met "Weather Boy" as he's nicknamed by his co-workers. He showed us a few things as he updated the forecast for the Noon news and showed us a few things about how and where he pulls information. Then, he set us up on the set to watch the broadcast. After the broadcast, he let Shaun play in front of the green screen to test it out. Luckily Gary asked if I had a camera or I would have completely spaced on taking pictures. Here are a few I got with my camera phone...

The Green Screen

Getting his bearings in front of the Green Screen

Taking a chance at presenting the weather. He did well.

Then, when he thought he was all done, Gary told him to advance one more slide.

He had a surprise "forecast" just for Shaun! :)

Afterwards we sat down with Gary and Shaun asked him all types of questions, learned about all the different technologies available for forecasting and all the science and math classes that Atomic Science majors take in school to become meteorologists. It was actually pretty interesting and Shaun knew way more than I would have guessed. I was quite impressed!

ZZZZZZs, please...

I have always been good at sleeping. Maybe too good. Put me in a comfy bed with no alarm clock and no one to bother me and I could sleep the night and next day away. I love sleep.

I knew that venturing into parenthood would change my life as I knew it. I also knew that adding a kid to the mix would mean no more sleep. However, I think that it is downright cruel that pregnant women have a hard time sleeping in their last trimester. This is our last chance to sleep and we've been robbed. Our husbands sleep soundly next to us oblivious to our predicament, which is even more maddening.

For several weeks I was getting up religiously at 3am and 5am to use the bathroom. This wasn't much of an issue because I'm used to getting up at least once anyway (always kind of have) and can basically sleep-walk myself through it. Well, I guess that hurdle wasn't challenging enough so for the last week I've been waking up every couple of hours. If it was just to pee, it wouldn't be an issue. Now it's a mixture of discomfort, insomnia, headache, hunger, thirst or just plain awake and don't know why.

Last night I was exhausted when we went to bed. Per normal routine, I got into bed around 10pm and despite how tired I was feeling I laid awake until almost 11pm. My first wake-up came about 12:15am. I wasn't awake too long. I just needed to use the bathroom and find a different position to sleep. Then at 1:30am I woke-up hungry, thirsty and uncomfortable. Hindsight as it is, I probably should have gotten up and found food and water. But no, I refuse to leave the comfort of my bed and digest anything besides water (which I forgot to bring up with me) because I don't want to eat something and have it "wake me up" and then leave me lying there trying to fall back asleep. So, I forced myself back to bed to awaken at 3am with the same scenario. This time I peed, tossed and turned to try and find comfort and eventually at 3:20am checked my emails and friends' Facebook statuses. Finally around 3:45am I feel asleep. I woke once more for a brief minute at 5am and again at 6:15am to find yet another sleeping position and told myself I must stay asleep until Shaun woke me at 7am.

The other thing I do well is shower. That sounds weird, I know. I'm not a coffee drinker. I LOVE the smell but cannot stand the after-taste. Yuck! So, I am someone that only functions after a shower. (unless it was during college when I was on the fire department and that high pierced tone would waken me from a dead sleep and shoot adrenaline through my body at high speeds). So, this morning I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the next glorious space of the morning. However, even my shower was almost ruined as the scalding water caused me to dance around the shower to avoid the torture I was putting myself through because I was so tired that I kept turning the knob the wrong direction. Once I got the temperature figured out, I was so content and happy that I FINALLY figured out how my best friend in elementary school mastered the art of falling asleep in the shower. I get it now. I did not fall asleep but I now see how this can happen.

So, now I'm here at the computer with my eyelids hurting to stay open while I make myself late for work. Maybe I can close my office door and take a nap under my desk or in my closet at some point if it makes getting through the day any easier.

30 years & 30 weeks!

Today is Shaun's 30th birthday and I'm 30 weeks pregnant! :)

(Thanks to Mac for yet another photo credit)

At work today some of the ladies Shaun coaches threw him a surprise birthday party/baby shower. He was so excited to show me everything when he got home. It was very sweet of them. Amelia is a lucky girl and Shaun is very loved guy! Here's a picture of the stuff he got today.

We also got a present in the mail from our friends Brian & Michelle and their daughter, Avery. Michelle won't be able to make it to my shower so she sent this along.

29 weeks

I keep forgetting to have Shaun take a picture this week.

Then I remembered the Mac has a camera right on the monitor so I had it take my picture. :)

Another room painted!

We also had the painter finish painting the fireplace room (the room that was the dining room). It's a bit hard to tell that there's a difference but it went from a creamy color to a gray. The colors were based on a photo of Stowe we received at my bridal shower, which hangs above the fireplace. Now we just need to get the carpet we found for the floor and that room will be all set.

BEFORE

AFTER

The nursery is starting to come together

Today the painter came to start on Amelia's room. If I wasn't so darn excited to share the pictures, I'd wait until tomorrow when I'm sure the natural light will make the brighter pink on the bottom look more pink than the red it looks like now. Oh well, you'll get better pictures later. For now, here's some pics.

Once we get the chair rail up, this is the the final look.

The pink room, no chair rail yet, with the valance on the window.

I just propped up the chair rail near the window so you could see the colors all together.

The greens don't look like they match but they really do. I think it's the lighting.

Our little gymnast

Last night I was lying in bed at the hotel I was staying at in southern Vermont for work. I was lying on my side and trying to get comfortable to go to bed. All the sudden I feel Amelia butt up against my left side (the side I'm not lying on) and saw her make a little bulge in my belly. It felt weirder than it had before so I watched intently. Then I saw her wiggling around. Luckily my cell phone has a video recorder and was right next to me. And even more lucky, she didn't stop and I was able to catch her in the act. I can't believe I was so silent but I think I was in such shock about how crazy she was being in there.

Remember, this is the side of my belly and that bulge you see sticking up is all her. And the movement too!

Shaun just informed me that he thinks it is AJ practicing her backhand or serve. :)

AJ's Valance

Abby and her mom came over this morning to help make the valance for AJ's room. I am SO

grateful for their help and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the valance. It came out great! They are pros and I'm lucky to have them around!!

This picture came out the best but the curtain is NOT the curtain we'll be using.

Phew!

I THINK I was under the wrong impression with the conversation I had at the doctor's office. It was really bothering me that my stomach was 28" laying down. That didn't seem right. I went online and did some research and I think I was 28 CENTIMETERS. Now THAT makes more sense. I have not measured my belly around my torso and if I do, I'm not sure I'll share that number...

And, if she was talking in inches, do me a favor and don't tell me!

Pink & Green!

Amelia's nursery is starting to come together. I talked to the painter today and he's coming on Monday to paint!! Don't worry, I'll definitely be taking pictures and posting them!!

Today I also got the rest of my Christmas present in the mail from my brother. It was my crib skirt. I had the bumper already to pick out the paint colors so I put both on the crib.

Crib with bumper & skirt. Ryan also got me the blanket over the back right corner.

This is the material we got to make a valance for the window in her room.

Here's the crib bedding with the valance material. Doesn't it look great?!?!?

28 weeks!

I had my 28 week appointment yesterday. I gave the midwife quite the chuckle when I about had a heart attack when she informed me that my belly was measuring at 28". I asked if that was good and she told me that my belly should be the same number of inches as the number of weeks along I am. My eyes got bigger than saucers and I said, "let me get this right, you think my belly is going to get another 12 inches bigger? I don't think so!" She laughed and told me that I am not even close to being big and I am in for a big surprise if I don't believe her. Dear God, help me!

p.s. If you can't see my belly - blame Shaun. I tried to get him to take another picture because I felt like I blended into the fireplace but he told me he could make out my bump just fine and I didn't need a different photo.

The 1st storm of 2010

It started snowing around Noon on Thursday, December 31st and didn't stop until about 9pm on Sunday, January 3rd. It was a record snow storm with approximately 28" at our house.

The funny part is that Stowe, the ski resort town where Shaun works, only got about 15".

Here's some pics I took on Sunday morning so we got a few more inches by the time it stopped that night.

Standing on our front porch looking out to the street...

Our back deck...

Shaun went out to shovel off part of the deck. The snow came up to his thighs.

He decided to sit in it.

And then when he thought I put the camera away he tried to get up.

Hahahaha.

2 years!

I just realized that I started this blog 2 years ago and this entry makes my 190th post. Looking back, it's so funny to see how much our lives have changed in even this short period of time...2 houses, tons of travel, pregnancy, new job, etc, etc. And things are only going to continue to keep changing.

I look forward to a year with the addition of our own daughter in March and a niece or nephew in July. I am excited for year that so many friends will be expanding their own families and adding more people to the circle of ones we love and care about. I am hopeful that I can continue to share insight to our lives as things change and other priorities take over my time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can convince Shaun to share his stories so you're not just hearing from me. :)

Looking back on all that I've captured through these last two years I'm so glad I started and I promise to try and stay with it.

27 Weeks & Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve with our friends Erin & Andrew. Erin's 30th birthday was on Dec. 31st. The last few years we've spent with them and it's been one of my favorite ways to ring in the New Year.

Best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and wonderful 2010. May it bring you all that you want, and all that you need. I for one am looking forward to the changes to our little family! :)

It's about time!

Finally Shaun is a Permanent Legal Resident of the United States. We started the process soon after we were married and now, almost 3 years later we are done with paperwork until he decides to become a US citizen or his status expires on 12/18/2019 when we'll file more paperwork, pay more money and make him legal for another 10 years.

The only bad part is now he doesn't have to stay married to me to stay in the country. I guess it's a good thing we're having a baby! :) Just kidding!!