a little valentiney

Oh, sugar overload.  Isn't that what Valentine's Day is about?!  

My tiny little bit of Valentine's decorating involved buying THREE bags of m&m's and one bag of caramel Kisses and pouring them into my precious heart ramekins.  Excessive?  Yes.  I did have a coupon.  :)  It's not like I walk around buying m&m's all the time, but at the holidays I'm a sucker for their color-coordinated cuteness.  Christmas, Valentine's, and Easter - count me in.  

My favorite - peanut butter, in case you were wondering.  I had high hopes for the pretzel but they were disappointing - not salty enough.  I need a bit more kick to my pretzel.  

I made a cheesy little 'love' display.  Makes me thankful.  Baby is representing in his 10 week ultrasound photo.  Precious little bean.  

 

Speaking of excess sugar, I made some Valentines scones on Saturday morning while waiting for Matt to return from his LAST night of call.  (!!!!)  

I had to buy these napkins at Target because they had a lovesick bulldog on them.

The scones, by the way, were super easy and super yummy.  And super bad for you.

And that's the extent of my Valentiney enthusiasm, seeing as my Valentine left for work at the grand hour of 4:45 this morning.  And after he clocks out of a 15 hour work day, we'll both be glad to just be home tonight.

step one

About two weeks ago, I made our little registries at Target and Pottery Barn Kids.  Then I went ahead and ordered something off my own registry!  I was anxious to get started on the nursery and I needed some of the bedding as a jumping off point.  I made a bold step and picked something I saw online without ever physically seeing it.  We don't have a Pottery Barn near us.  We went to the outlet a few weeks ago and they didn't have our bedding . . . but I loved all their other patterns so I was pretty sure I'd like the one I found online . . . but I was anxious to see it in person.  I ordered a little pillow sham and waited anxiously for it to arrive.   And waited.  And waited.  I checked UPS regularly until they had a list of "Delayed due to weather" a mile long.  Until finally, literally two weeks later, Matt and I came home to a battered package tucked between the screen and the front door.  There was also a crostata in the door, too, that a friend had dropped off.  A dessert AND my pillow sham?  An awesome Friday night.

I'm easily pleased.

So, I really like the pattern we chose.  My inspiration was a placemat I got at Anthropologie this summer that I wanted to make into a pillowcase.  It was a patchwork of blues and khakis, and I thought it would be a great pallet for a little boy's room in a house by the sea.  The Pottery Barn bedding hits pretty close, with the addition of a light green, which adds a little dimension.

I realize I sound a little crazy writing so passionately about my pillow sham . . . but I've been thinking about it for so long, it's nice to have something concrete!

So, once we had a sample of our bedding colors, we were ready to head out and get our paws on some paint.  We got it last Saturday and Matt got to work that night, painting away.  He's since banned me from looking at the room since he's getting fancy with some trim, so we'll all have to wait for the big reveal.

But I WILL show you my Pillow Sham!!

I love it . . . the ticking . . . the gingham . . . the contrast stitching . . . some of my current loves.  

I also like how they snuck a little red in there.  I like red accents.

So, I'll stop talking about the pillow sham now.  It's just step one in getting our little room ready for our little buddy!  

slush puppies

I hit another bump of un-inspiration and have been taking a break from prattling about the weather.  But sometimes I miss writing about nothing, so here I am again.  Today's topic will be Matt's call schedule.

Last week we hit the stage of the residency where Matt is required to be 'on call' in the most brutal sense of the term - as in physically at the hospital, and most likely working.  His other rotations have had call situations where he could go home at a certain time and wait for a case to come in before going back to the hospital.  This latest stint requires that he work a full day (starting at 6:30 am) and then be on call through the night.  Since our local hospital is a fairly large one, he ends up working the majority of the night on emergency patients.  It's pretty rough, but we are SO thankful that he is getting this part of it out of the way before the baby comes.

So Matt's first call day was last Wednesday, during which I managed to get my car stuck at work and was driven to and from my house by the family I work for.  Now I know why Long Islanders love their Jeeps.  Because they are Necessary.  It was kind of stormy that night and Moose woke me up at 2:30 in the morning going bondoogles over some snow or branches falling, but other than that it was uneventful.  It was a little unsettling being at home without a car, but the condition of our driveway meant I probably wouldn't have been able to drive myself out without a Hummer.  My car remained stuck until Saturday afternoon, by the way.  It's just been that kind of week!

Last night Matt was on call again.  This time I made it home with no problem.  It was the leaving home that was the problem!  I lost control this morning on our slushy driveway and plowed right into a little snowbank.  Fortunately Matt was on his way home and dug me out in no time.  I felt bad that he had to stand in the rain and shovel after working all night . . . what a guy.  He's very good at digging me out of messes!  So we've got one more day of call this week and I'm wondering what scrapes I'll get myself into.

The light at the end of this wintery tunnel has been our upcoming vacation with Matt's family.  We're headed to a tropical island and I am euphoric.  I have been experiencing some symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (primarily irritability, increased appetite, and weight gain) and am looking forward to a big dose of Vitamin D to get me back on track.  At least in the irritability department.  I think the increased appetite and weight gain could be attributed to the cabbage-sized baby boy I've been hefting around.  Then again, the irritability, too.  :)  

We are so thankful that our friends have volunteered to watch our firstborn, Moose Tash Yezerski, while we're gone.  Brendan and Erin took in our boy the last time we headed out of town on our Seattle Adventure.  They are SO sweet to have him again.  I think that speaks highly of Moose's character - or at least their kind souls!  We know he'll be loved and taken care of.  Last time we even got "Daily Moose" photos, including my favorites below.

We don't have a fancy front-loading washing machine, and Moose was really enthralled with theirs.

Apparently they had tucked him in for bed and then left the room to get something, so he got a little miffed and followed them out into the living room, dragging his blanket behind him.

In conclusion, another note about Moose - I think it's absolutely hilarious how much he loves bedtime.  At night we say "Let's go to bed, Moose," and he gets up and walks right into our room and sits down on his bed and waits to be tucked in.  It's so funny!  What a guy. 

bump extraordinaire

These should keep the adoring fans satisfied for a little while!  We are at 28 weeks and counting.  Hopefully we'll be meeting our little guy in exactly 12 weeks. :)  Many thanks to our friend Lori, who lent us her talents for the afternoon.  

        

                   

what to do on a snow day

Thursday the kids were home from school due to snow, so we pulled out all the stops in the Valentines' department.  We made cupcakes and some decorations to bring some cheer to these winter days.

I read online how to make pretty decorations by melting shaved crayons between wax paper.  It was pretty time consuming - I think it took us about 2 hours - but we had all day!  

Of course making snowmen was on the agenda.  The boys rolled some giant snowballs that took all three of us to get to the right spot in the yard. 

Snowman Accessories:

 

And a snow lady:

unbelievable

Surprise.  It snowed again.  Wednesday night we got about another foot . . . on top of whatever we'd had before.  Observe:

First Snow:

Second Snow: 

Latest Snow:

Where is my house?  Back there somewhere behind all those snowy trees.  And each time we have our driveway plowed.  And each time it fills up like you wouldn't believe.  

We both went to work on Thursday.  Matt had parked on the street the night before since his work is vital and life-changing and hospitals never shut down.  So he left the house around six swinging a snow shovel and dug the car out.  That took an hour.   And when he picked me up from work that night, the car still had a foot of snow on the roof, like a mohawk.  I wanted to take a picture of it, but we hit a bump in our driveway and all of the snow slid onto the windshield.  It was like driving through a carwash.  

Around seven I left the house to meet my ride on the street.  I took these pictures of our winter wonderland while walking, thankful that Matt had already been that way and I could follow in his footsteps, which he made extra close together just for little old me.  

There's a road somewhere out there . . .

It's hard to tell from a picture how deep the snow is, but to me it just looks so different.  I really noticed it when we walked out our kitchen door.  Our large tree was more like a canopy, with the branches bent down so far the ends were stuck in the snow.

This is the tree in the fall, with our Very Tall Friend standing next to it.

 And in the winter:

It's safe to say that we are moving South after this residency is over.  

baby business

Hello, third trimester!

(and hello, Christmas boots!)

As we get closer to D-Day, the nester in me is ready to get going on our nursery and just baby world in general.  I really like 'nesting' and don't need a baby as an excuse - you should've seen how excited I was about the sheets I found on clearance for our bedroom!  Having a whole room to completely transform is quite fun for me.  The room is really tiny, just over 10x7 feet, so it is manageable and does not need much to feel full!  We'll also only be here for another year and a half, so I feel the freedom to make choices without having to worry about if our kid will like it in the future . . . because in the future we'll be long gone.  That being said, we're only here for another 18 months and don't need to go all out.  A coat of paint and some window treatments will be our biggest jobs.

We just started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class at our church last night, and we watched a session where Ramsey talks about the differences in shopping styles between men and women.  He said that men go straight to what they want and negotiate for it, while women hunt around for the best deal.  I laughed at this, because I have been hunting for what feels like AGES for the 'perfect' baby bedding.  I'm sure if you looked at what I picked, you'd be rather unimpressed, but I have certain hopes and dreams for this little space and this little set seems to reflect that.  I'm also hoping to make my own crib skirt so that we can adjust it to hide whatever we store under the crib, but I'm leaving the rest to Pottery Barn.  :)

After finally picking the all-important room scheme, I had to get cracking on the old Target baby registry.  Oh, my.  For such little things, they need a lot of stuff.  I've been talking to some varsity moms about what gear is best and slowly building a list.  Because I have some other friends who are approaching this stage as well, I thought I'd share some resources:
A spreadsheet of recommended baby items
A list of everything used by one mom in the first two months
I don't actually know the girls who wrote these up but I do appreciate the ideas and thought others might, too.  I am still trying to get a handle on what we need and what is not necessary.  Our baby room is tiny and I don't want to be left with swings and bouncers and walkers strewn about the house!  Thankfully a friend here will lend us some of those items as we need them.  I still have to measure to see what kind of storage bins and containers we want, but I was loving my time in the basket aisle of Target today!

So, varsity moms, what baby gear do you love and hate?