I'm here!

I promise I'm alive.  Occasionally feeling like I'm holding on by a string, but I'm here.  And making it :). Baby girl is doing well.  Here's some of what has been keeping us busy before she gets here...

Baby V. Shower! (maybe part I?)

A few weeks ago we were blessed beyond measure at our sweet baby shower.  My best friend from junior high planned it and with the help of her moms it went off without a hitch.  It was so well thought out and every detail was done with care.  Everyone at the shower told her they want her to plan a party for them.  And really, she should.  She's wonderful.  My family was all there, and almost all my closest friends were able to make it.  I basically just floated around in a bubble of blessings and overwhelmed gratefulness of how loved we and our sweet little one are.  

I don't have a ton of photos on this computer yet, but I'll share a few.  There were tons and tons of balloons floating, with up to 7 foot ribbon hanging from them. Twas pretty magical.  She also spray painted lots of things gold (like the cute little animals on the table), had lots of flowers and rented chairs and tables that matched the decor. The topper was the little (BIG) giraffe she bought us, decked out with flowers, who we have lovingly named George Henry.  

We got lots of clothes (so cute and little!) and a lot of the must haves from our registry.  We really only have a few things left to buy, all thanks to our generous friends and family.   

I didn't get a good picture of my plate with food on it, but a waffle bar was served with fresh squeezed juice, mint and fruit water, and delicious yogurt (that I'm now obsessed with... it's from Trader Joes and its full fat french vanilla yogurt. yum).  

Here she is.  Isn't her dress darling?

I didn't get a good picture of the balloons on the ceiling over the tables, but this was after many of them fell and we put them all in the room off the kitchen.  We kept all the ribbon and are hoping to make a mobile with it.

Letters

via grey likes baby 

Sometimes when we think about it or have time, Brian and I will write letters to our future little one.  We have a small notebook that we keep them in and it's something I hope she'll treasure some day.  Sometimes the Lord gives us a word for her.  When will be the right time to share it with her?  I'm sure we'll know when that day comes.  

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

An Overdue Catch Up

Life has been crazy friends.  Crazy in a bad to good kind of way.  For a while it stressed me out, honestly.  But, after pushing through and handing the worry/stress over to God, I've come to a clearing.  A refreshing, much more full of peace, clearing.  And its oh so good.  

I spent much of January to March studying for an exam (project management professional - pmp).  I let it sort of consume me (my friends would probably remove the "sort of").  I really wanted/thought I needed to pass because I wasn't sure when it would ever be a good time to take again if I failed.  I missed out on a lot of social activities and opportunities to have fun, but... I passed! And now it feels like there's a huge weight off my shoulders.  What I wish I would have realized up front is that the weight didn't have to be on my shoulders in the first place.  But, we live and we learn, right? 

Let's see, what else has happened? I think we're on to the good now.  A few days after the exam, we left for vacation. It was beyond wonderful.  Just what we needed and so refreshing in so many ways.  

We headed to LA, Palm Springs, Dana Point and back up to LA. It was a mini road trip around Southern California. We were so grateful to find affordable plane tickets, and I'm now very grateful for the years I spent traveling at my last job because the hotel points allowed us to stay at some pretty fun places.  It was the perfect excursion before our family of 2 makes it 3. 

 We ate.. a lot :).  Rather than obtain points for checking in, we chose the breakfast voucher and at two of the hotels/resorts, it was so worth it.  Below is B patiently awaiting breakfast at the SLS hotel in LA.  Do you see the arms of the chair? so random...

And my crispy belgian waffle with lots of berries and cream at Norma's at The Parker. One of my favorite restaurants, hands down. ever. 

The decor at the SLS hotel was bazaar and off the wall.  In his search for a restroom, B came across this all white dining room.  The next door over was an all black dining room.

Lunch at Bottega Louie in downtown LA.  The macarons and beignets. Heaven.

Ah, and I can't forget to mention the coffee.  This isn't a picture of coffee, I know. But it is the awesome tiling in the Silver Lake Intelligentsia coffee shop that we frequented far too often.

My true goals for vacation were relaxation, connecting with God and Brian.  The hammocks really helped in accomplishing all these :).

And the spa (I didn't get any services, but we had access to the pools and the relaxation rooms in it.

I'll be back soon (hopefully!) to update you on the baby shower! 

Her Heart

With the slew of sickness going around this time of year, I'm so quick to pray for baby V.'s health.  While I know she's well protected right now, its so easy to think that something I do or come in contact with could damage her.  But, what I'm realizing more and more lately is that there is so much more.  What about her heart? What about her mind? Her future?  Brian and I have taken a different approach lately when praying for her.  Sure, we pray about her health, but more than that we've been praying for many other aspects. What does God have of her in her future life and how can we foster and nurture what she is blessed with?  What about her hopes and dreams? How can we protect her from the harm that will come against her? Prayer.  And of course sound parenting.

Baby V. Nursery: Part 4

You guys want to see some more fun coming along in the nursery? It's almost done.  I know. It's early and a bit unnecessary, but to be honest, having this almost out of the way feels like a relief.  I know there are so many other things that are more important and worthy of causing a little stress (you know, like childcare and balancing work), and I just didn't want this to be one of them.  Now, granted, the nursery has basically no eternal value - you know, other than providing a home for the little babe.  But, the decorations, the paint, the toys? They don't really truly matter - and I get that.  But, it's been fun, and it will be fun to watch her enjoy the things we've curated for her. I'm hopeful that they'll grow with her and get her through many years in a room.

Here are some frames we've put up over her crib.  They are from a Rifle Paper Co. calendar.  We took 6 images out of it that we loved and that sort of matched the color scheme in her room.  Ikea did us a favor by selling us super affordable frames (like $9?), and my sister tirelessly sanded them down so that Brian could spray paint them gold (thanks Sis, I owe you).  For those that are interested in this Ikea hack, I can't recommend sanding enough.  We thought we would just prime them, but it didn't stick.. at all.  They needed to have a rough coat on them to accept the gold spray paint.

Sorry for the glare and the crookedness; hopefully we'll get some good pictures when it's all done.

Here's a few pictures I took through the process.  Oh, and the organization of this project? That's all the husband, not me.  I would have probably spray painted them on the ground. Him? Nope, he made a little ladder-thing for them..

It's a new week!

Mondays.  They can be either dreadful or full of fresh perspective.  We can usually pick which one we'll follow.  Today, I pick fresh perspective.  Blessed with a new week, a week closer to meeting our baby girl.  Closer to some exciting things that are coming up in March (lots of time with friends, baby shower, vacation - ahh).  Hoping this week is productive for all of you and you're able to see it as a fresh, new day.

Joyful, Patient, Faithful

It's almost Valentine's day. A day I used to laugh at because I thought it was either silly or a ploy by the card companies.  But, honestly, nowadays I like it.  This world could use a little more love lately. 

Yesterday I had a rough day.  Nothing went so wrong that I even have a right to complain, but through a compilation of events, I was just downright grumpy.  So grumpy I was even admitting it to people, and had to apologize to someone once.  Now, the person gave me a free pass since I'm "pregnant and hormonal", but honestly I didn't deserve it.  Why was I grumpy? Why was I letting these harsh thoughts come through my mind?  Well, sure part of it might be hormones, but the other part of it is that sometimes its hard to be joyful and patient amidst affliction.  But, the honest truth is: I have so much to be thankful for.  I literally have no reason to complain.  Each day is a new day - in fact, each moment is a new moment where we can start fresh and be joyful, patient and faithful.  So today? Today I am thankful.  So very thankful for the blessings in my life and the opportunity to live another day. 

Baby V. Nursery: Part 3

I have a feeling I'm going to regret ever publicly committing to this stars idea.  Ladies (and gents) I'm stumped!  The stencil idea didn't work - paint bled through the stencil and the sticker stars idea looks like it's just going to be more work than it may be worth.  The sticker idea either means we use a machine like a cricut or cameo and buy a cartridge and contact paper (which could get expensive).  Or we could just cut out the stars ourselves - ha - that would kind of be a nightmare though.  It's probably going to be 150 stars and they are 8 point, so.. probably not going to happen.  Regardless, the ceiling is painted a really pretty champagne and it looks awesome even if we just leave it as is.

Here are baby V.'s current digs right now.  The shades depend on the lighting, but the walls are a very very light pink (we mixed 1 gallon white paint with about 1/3 gallon martha stewart ballet slipper) and the ceiling is martha stewart fledgling.  BV did an awesome job sanding down the ceiling and flattening it.  Can't wait to show you guys the final result.

We also made a fun trip to IKEA this past weekend to pick up a bookcase, curtains, frames and other goodies.  The frames have been a fun project.  Here's a little sneak peak of what we'll end up with: 

Hooray! I can't wait to share more soon! For now, I'm off to the gym to mope away how much weight I've gained since my last midwife appointment (ugh).  

Baby V. Nursery: Part 2

As I mentioned in part 1, we were really digging this lovely star wallpaper (below).  Not really digging the price tag though.  I've seen it range from $200 - $500 a roll, and considering we would need more than one roll just to cover the ceiling, well that really wasn't going to fly.  We've just painted the ceiling, and are now considering either going the stencil route, or applique like this smart lady did.  The problem with the latter is that we don't have one of those machines that would cut out the stars..

Here she is in action in a few little lady's rooms: 

I can't quite share a success story on this yet, but there's more to come on this little project!

Wow Brownies

You ready for a non-baby post to break up this mid-week action? Well, here's one for you.  I'm calling them WOW brownies.  Technically, they're called slutty brownies, but well, that just sounds dirty ;)

I took a combination of a few of those aforementioned brownie recipes and made a layer of pregnant lady heaven, as evidenced below.

Here's what we did:
- Greased parchment paper in a 9x11 (foil would work too)
- Layered bottom layer of pan with chocolate chip cookie mix (pre-bought)
- Layered on the oreos
- Thin layer of caramel (had this in the cupboard; what's the harm?)
- Layered on brownie mix (made by box directions)
- Layered on a cheesecake concoction (12 oz. cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla mixed together)
- Crushed up oreos and chocolate covered pretzels on top (I had these handy, so why not?!)
- Baked at 350 for 40 minutes

Too much? I think not!

P.S. here's the recipes I referenced when concocting: One, Two, Three 

Baby V. Nursery: Part 1

A year ago we didn't know where we'd be living now.  We felt like we were maybe supposed to move (not necessarily cities, but from our current house), but weren't sure of the details.  Well, a year went by and that desire truly subsided and we feel very content where we currently live.  If at some point we're called to move, well we'll do just that! But, for now, we know we've got a little room allocated for Baby V.  

For those of you that like these kind of details, here's a layout of the room and the measurements.  It's approximately a 10.5 x 11 ft. room.  

We messed around with furniture layout a few different ways, but because of the location of the closet, door and windows,  I think we're going to end up with a layout similar to below. 

With the above in mind, we mocked up an inspiration board. While I didn't originally think I was a pink person, I've changed my mind and we're going with a white paint with a pink tint.  It's not over the top, but it is definitely feminine.  Inspired by the Osborne & Little Coronata Star Wallpaper, we're doing a little DIY action on the ceiling.  Now we're on the hunt for vintage furniture, a crib, bookcase, curtains, art, ottoman and many other little things.  

Baby V. is a ....

We found out the gender of this sweet little one inside my belly the Friday before Christmas.  It was such a sweet gift and the suspense and surprise was just perfect.  We had an appointment Friday afternoon and decided not to find out in the room with the ultrasound tech. We had her write it down on an envelope and give it to us to open when we were alone. After the ultrasound, I took the tightly sealed envelope in my purse, went and got my hair done, then met Brian at home.  All the while, he was texting me like mad because he had gone back to work and simply couldn't wait to find out!  He asked if I had opened it already..oddly, I was more OK with waiting than he was.  Our plan was to go to dinner and open it together then.  Well, I made it home and upstairs to change and that was basically it.  We both really wanted to know.  right now.

We opened the envelope and discovered that Baby V. is a...

GIRL!

Oh, we're so over the moon excited.  We honestly were indifferent whether we had boy or girl, but now that we know the gender it all just feels so much more real and wonderful.

Ah, Shucks

Well its kind of a downer when you go and announce you're coming back to the blog-world then spend another 3 months doing just the opposite!  I realized its truly been too long when I just started typing in "www.vee..." and it didn't even appear in my history that I haven't cleared out in months.  Sad indeed.  But, hey, we all get fresh, clean starts right?

There's truly so much that I've missed sharing with this little space on the internet, and I think I'm finally at a place where I may be able to let my grip on things loosen and just be open.  Anyways, I don't think God calls us to be silent, or to hold things so closely to ourselves that we aren't letting others in (well I let most "in real life" friends in, but you know what I mean).  Last year was a rocky year for this little family.  It had some of the highest highs and the lowest lows I've ever experienced in just 12 months.  You know what's amazing? It all turned out for the good.  One of my biggest fears was lived for 7 months (still deciding if I'll elaborate more on this in the coming months), but also one of my biggest dreams was realized.  

Would you like to hear about that big ol' dream?  Many of you have already seen the photo below that we shared on Facebook, but for those that haven't, here you go!

This is me with our little babe at 18 weeks.  That's 5 weeks ago.  Oh boy do I have so many things to share with you in the coming days.. baby V's gender, our nursery plans and progression, dreams we have for this little one and so much more. While I'll try not to bombard with too much BABY(!), I have to warn, it might come on strong. At first.  Then, I'll back off :)  Please forgive me in advance, but we're SO EXCITED!