36 weeks....almost

Today is May 29th which means that our baby girl is due to make her arrival into this world in LESS than one month! The weeks all seem to be running together now. It's been a flurry of preparation in addition to our usual crazy, busy schedule. We went to a child birth class a couple weeks ago and have a Baby Care and Breastfeeding class coming up in the next two weeks. It's funny, I think the more we "learn," the less prepared we feel! The nursery is pretty much put together now - with the exception of waiting on a new window covering and hanging the curtains. I have included some pics below of some of my finishing details.

Last night we went out to dinner with another couple who is expecting their baby boy within days of us. It's fun to compare notes and bellies!
Here's just about 36 weeks.

I got this handpainted light cover and these drawer pulls off of etsy.com


Owl canvas for over the changing table - etsy.com

Cross that says "for this child I have prayed" - a gift from my friend Mary Kyle - I think it's perfect over the closet door.

33 weeks

It's hard to believe that in just about 6 weeks, Baby Girl Polanski will be making her scheduled arrival into the world. Since Steve and I are both so type A and punctual, I have decided that she is likely to be born right on her due date in true Polanski fashion. We attended childbirth class this weekend - I thought the class did a good job of touching on everything but not going into TOO much detail on any one area. It was the perfect amount of information for both of us. Steve's Sunday morning golfing buddies were so thoughtful and threw us a shower last night. Not only was it fun to celebrate the pending arrival of Baby P, but it was so nice to meet everyone and their wives. The shower was hosted at the beautiful home of Pat and Elizabeth...oh, I could have moved right in! Here are some pictures. First an overdue belly shot, then a few pictures from the shower, including one of my favorite gift, the cutest tutu onesie that I have ever seen!

33 weeks

Cute invite!

Nursery Progress and Happpy Easter!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind - family visits, showers, and you know, the rest of our crazy, busy life. It is an exciting time for Steve and I, and I find that the weeks are starting to go by quicker and quicker. We have made some more progress on the nursery. I have to credit my friend, Britte, for recommending http://www.etsy.com/ for nursery decor. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by how much stuff they have, but after I got a little more specific with my search criteria, I found lots of great, reasonably priced hand-made decor. I seemed to have fallen into a owl / bird decor - the artwork that I got is actually designed based on a Pottery Barn Kids bedding set that they are currently selling (I think it's called their Hayley Collection). The colors are similar to my bedding, so I think it works great. I am still waiting on a couple more things - picture for over the changing table, drawer pulls and curtains. Here are the pictures:

This was a shower gift - so precious!

Credit to FarmHouseFive on etsy.com


The shelves are filling up - baby girl is going to be so spoiled....

I really love this ryhme and wanted to find a way to incorporate it into the room

Her mobile - a gift from my bestest friend, Stacey and her mom, Barbara.

Easter Brunch at Ridglea Country Club (yes, that is the same dress that I wore to my shower, pregnancy wardrobe is limited :-))

On Friday, my friends, Erin and Randy threw me a shower to celebrate with my co-workers. They really went all out and every detail was so thoughtful. Thanks again ladies!

Spoiled

This weekend my friends here in Fort Worth threw me and Baby Girl P a beautiful baby shower. It was on Saturday morning at the house of my friend Claire - it was a perfect morning for the shower which was hosted outdoors in her large, shaded back yard. Baby Girl is going to be so blessed to have so many fabulous women for role models in her life. I am overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and support to help us prepare for her pending arrival. Both my family and Steve's came in town for the festive occasion - it was a great weekend!

Future Grandmas and Aunts

My beautiful hostesses

Best friends

More progress in the nursery

This weekend Steve went to pick up our glider / ottoman that had arrived in stock. While he was in the furniture moving mode, he went ahead and moved the rest of the furniture into the nursery. I am really happy with it and glad that we made the decisions that we did. The room is not huge, so I think if we had done anything else, it just would have seemed too crowded. I feel like all of the pieces are coming together - next on my nursery list are things for the wall and window treatments. If anyone had any great websites for nursery wallart, please share!

Here are the pictures with the furniture:

View from doorway

View towards doorway

View from closet

Closet organizer from Target - i love it!

Thanks Steve! (and herbie too)

St. Patty's Day Meets Martha Stewart

It's not very often that I do anything particularly "homemakerey" - beyond getting a few home-cooked dinners on the table each week, there just never seems to be enough time for anything creative or what Martha would describe as "special." When we were invited to our neighbors house for a casual St Patty's Day dinner, I really shocked myself when I volunteered to bring a dessert. But, I was committed - one St Patty's Day themed dessert coming up. Luckily, I remembered a green cake that my friend Carolyn had made in college. I immediately texted her for help. She sent me the recipe and i was set. It was actually a piece of cake - no pun intended and a big hit with our neighbors. Here's the recipe:

• 1 package white cake (whatever is required to prepare the cake mix - typically oil and eggs)
• 1 jar of hot fudge ice cream topping
• 1 container of cool whip
• 1 bottle of creme de menthe liquor

Instructions - Prepare the cake according to package instructions substituting creme de menthe for the water. (I used two 9 inch rounds for a layered cake). Allow cake to cool, then spread hot fudge on one cake for middle layer and stack cake rounds. Continue to spread the hot fudge on top layer and around edges. It is very helpful to slightly heat the hot fudge in the microwave before spreading. Pop cake into fridge for 20 to 3o minutes to allow fudge to harden. Finally, mix cool whip with a couple tablespoons of the creme de menthe liquor - add gradually as you want to be careful to not make the cool whip too runny. I also added a few drops of green food coloring to kick up the green color. Then spread cool whip over entire cake surface. Then decorate as so inclined - for me that meant a shakey four leaf clover and a few green sprinkles! Keep cake in the fridge until ready to serve - this cake tastes best right out of the fridge but it could probably sit out for a couple hours and still be great. The result is a cross between and bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream and a thin mint girl scout cookie. Yummmmmm.

We had a great time with our great neighbors last night - thanks Lindsey, Charlie and Nash for having us over - and thanks for inspiring me to make something truly "special." :-)

Beginnings of a Nursery

We had the nursery painted this past week and my bedding arrived, so I have to say, that we definitely have the beginnings of a nursery. In all of the bedding that I looked at and liked, there was one common color, light green, so I decided to go with that on the walls. I strongly dislike picking out paint colors - they all look so similar on their little 1 inch by 2 inch sample. I was able to narrow it down to three and had Manuel do a test area of all three. I went with the darkest / brightest of the three greens that i had picked. Our furtniture is espresso and we have a camel colored glider / ottoman planned. I am excited to see how it will look as it all comes together.

Here is the wall color. I never realized what a great window was in this room until we emptied it out.



And here is the link to my bedding:
http://www.babybedding.com/render/ebd576f3-1011-4ef7-9a16-24dad51cf81d