Nursery Update

Happy March!! The weather in KY this weekend has been fantastic (expected high of 62 degrees today!) which makes me hope that it is not too much longer until spring is on the way. The coming of March is further significant to me because it means baby girl will be here the month after next!! As I'm typing this, I'm 31 weeks and a day to be exact so we only have about 9 weeks to go. With that being said, we have had A LOT of activity going on with the nursery the past few weeks and I wanted to post a few (okay, several!) pictures to show you our progress. The furniture is all in, the window treatments are up, and the overhead light fixture has been switched out. Please keep in mind that it is not yet complete and is a work in progress - there are still pictures to be hung, shelves to be filled, etc. So with that being said, here's a peek at our daughter's nursery......

These first few pictures are of the alcove in the room where the glider and ottoman, as well as side table, are set up. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the glider and ottoman - it's pretty but more importantly it is so comfy, which is a good thing because I expect that I will be spending many nights in this thing. The gorgeous window treatments and table skirt were made by my incredibly talented mother (with the help of my father on the table skirt!) with the fabric I had picked out. Please excuse the number of photographs, but I have to show off my mom's handiwork:






The next couple of photographs are of the crib, which unfortunately only has a fitted sheet on it at this juncture. I'm having the crib bumper and bedskirt made so I'm still waiting on the finished product and hope to have it in a couple of weeks. There are also some pictures of the other window in the room next to the crib:





Finally, here's a picture of the dresser/hutch on the wall opposite from the window alcove:


So that's the status of our work on the nursery thus far...I know, I know, it's pretty girly, but what do you expect, she's a girl! (Or at least that is what 2 ultrasounds have indicated). I'll be sure to post some pictures of the finished product once it is complete.

Oscar Thoughts

Let's face it....the Oscars were pretty boring this year, for the most part. With the exception of the surprise winner for Best Actress, all of the winners were shoo-ins weeks ago. I typically like to see at least some, if not all, of the Best Picture nominated movies prior to the Oscars but this year I have not seen a one (although I have made plenty of time this year to go see some chick flicks like 27 Dresses and Definitely, Maybe - both of which were cute!). I do really want to see Juno and No Country For Old Men - maybe they will be out on DVD sometime during my maternity leave!

No, the true reason I tuned in to the Oscars this year was to, of course, check out what the actresses were wearing on the red carpet. Oddly enough, almost all of my favorites were wearing red! Katherine Heigl (my favorite of the night), Anne Hathaway, Heidi Klum and Helen Mirren (don't have a picture of her) all rocked red and looked fabulous.




I also loved the dress worn by the Best Actress winner, Marion Cotillard. It was unique, sexy and elegant, all rolled into one dress:


There were few duds out there this year, to Hollywood's credit, but there were a few notable standouts (I failed to include a picture of Best Supporting Actress winner Tilda Swinton - hers was by far the worst look of the night!):

Cameron Diaz - I thought this was a gorgeous dress style, but the color was horrible on her:


Ellen Page - This dress just didn't do anything for me at all. You can wear black and it not have to look frumpy:


Sarah.....does anyone know the last name of George Clooney's girlfriend?? I really dislike this dress, from the ruffles to the various pastel colors. It really is a shame, too, since she is standing next to such a gorgeous native of Kentucky. Sigh....maybe I am just jealous of her!

Happy February Birthdays!!!

Oddly enough, everyone in my immediate family has birthdays in February! Dad's is the 6th, Rachel's is the 7th and Mom's is the 20th. I was born in June, go figure. I wanted to extend on my blog a very belated birthday wish to my father and sister Rachel. I love you both dearly. Also, happy Birthday eve to my wonderful mother, you're the best!

We had a chance to go up to Boston the weekend before last and visit Rachel and Jeff in their new hometown. I'd been to Boston before but Ryan never had - I love Boston but I'd much prefer our next trip to take place in warmer weather!! It was a short but busy trip with lots of walking around, shopping, and good dining had by all. We had a blast and it just made me realize how proud I am of my sister. As you can tell from the picture taken of us below while dining at a restaurant on the Harvard campus, she is a gorgeous girl, but her beauty is easily matched by her extreme intelligence, wit and heart.



I miss Rachel so much but am so proud of all the wonderful things she is doing in Boston - the pregnant women of that great city are lucky to have a wonderful doctor like Rachel to deliver their babies! She is so excited about being an aunt and will make a wonderful one. Probably one of my favorite memories from the pregnancy thus far was when Rachel placed her head on my stomach during the visit to feel her little niece kick around.

I have said it once, I'll say it again - I'm blessed with the most wonderful family. How lucky our little girl will be when she is born into an environment of such great family members who love her dearly! Happy Birthday to you all!

Lindsay Lohan as the new Marilyn Monroe??

I first heard of Linday Lohan's risque photo shoot that will run in the New Yorker on yesteday's Today show program. This raised 3 questions for me:
(1) Why on earth is the New Yorker running naked photographs of Lindsay Lohan?
(2) Does anyone truly think she looks a thing like Marilyn Monroe?
(3) Finally, does anyone truly care?!?!

Again....Sorry for Being a Neglectful Blogger!!

I'm really getting terrible at keeping up with my posting - I don't know if I can blame it on how busy I am right now with work and the baby's due date rapidly approaching, or whether it can be chalked up to sheer laziness! Some updated posts will follow this, I promise!

Baby Bump

For those of you, dear friends and family, who do not live in Louisville and thus have not had an opportunity to observe on a somewhat frequent basis my ever-expanding waistline, let me just say....I definitely look pregnant now. Several of you have told me that I need to get around to posting a picture of my bump on the blog since you live in an area where we don't get to see one another that much. Since my 14th week of pregnancy, I've had Ryan take pictures of my stomach every 4 weeks just so I can look back on these one day with fond memories. Little did I know that I would finally break down and (horror of horrors).....actually post pictures of my bare stomach on the internet for everyone I know (and don't know) to look at. What on earth am I thinking?!?!?! However, I did state on this very blog at the beginning of my pregnancy that I wanted to share this experience with you all, so in the interest of staying true to my word, here goes.....

The first two pictures were taken tonight by Ryan - I'm 26 weeks as of yesterday (for those of you who have not had a baby, that means I have 14 weeks to go....). Yes, please also note that I have returned to my blonde hair - while the brunette was nice, I missed the blonde!:



For comparison, here are pictures taken earlier in the pregnancy at. . .

14 WEEKS


18 WEEKS


22 WEEKS


I cannot BELIEVE I have put these pictures on the blog, but it's your fault - ask and you shall receive!!

Nursery Update

Over the past couple of weeks, we - okay, I - have started focusing in on baby girl's nursery. Yes, that's right, she doesn't have a name yet, but her room is in progress!! A couple of weeks ago, we went to USA Baby and picked out the crib, cabinet/hutch/changing table, and glider with ottoman. The first picture below shows the crib in the color we got it in (espresso):


We also got the matching cabinet and hutch that looks like what you see in the picture below, except imagine it in the same espresso color:


We also picked out the all-important glider and ottoman. The first picture shows the style of the chair, the second picture shows (albeit poorly) the fabric we're having it made in:



As you can see from the last picture, we are going with a pink/brown/cream color scheme. Ryan's happy about that selection because we won't even have to re-paint the room as the existing taupe color will work with what I've picked out!

Here's the main fabric:



Oh, and for those who haven't been to our house, here's a few pictures of the front bedroom that will be used as the nursery:




Slowly but surely, it's coming along! I'm going to have to get the lead out, though, if I want it to be done in the next three months before her big arrival!

Bad, Bad Blogger

Wow, it has been over 3 weeks since my last post - I have been terrible with keeping up with this blog lately! I know it's a terrible excuse, but I really have been remarkably busy in the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, as busy as I am there hasn't been a ton of excitement in our household, but I'll share anyway....

I'm 24 1/2 weeks along at this point in the pregnancy - technically this falls in the 6th month according to the pregnancy books. Don't even ask me to explain why the typical pregnancy is broken down in 9 months, but is technically 40 weeks long (more like 10 months) - I still don't get this! Things are moving right along for us - literally. I finally felt the little girl move a week ago, at which point it was the slightest movement that I really had to be concentrating upon to feel. Since then, it has become more pronounced, though she isn't the most consistent kicker in the world. It is a really neat sensation - the only way I can explain it is like a bubble popping gently right against the inside of my stomach. Sounds weird, huh?? I had my monthly appointment last week at which point the doctor said I was still on track for May 3rd. After my appointment at the end of the month on the 29th, I will be seen by the doctor every two weeks as opposed to every four weeks. I am finally starting to "show" and have a bump - it's funny to say this, but how pregnant I look depends upon the time of day and the shirt I am wearing!

Not to sound baby-obsessed, but with her arrival less than 4 months away, you kind of have this stuff on the brain. I've toured four daycares over the past week and am happy to report that there are openings at two of my favorites, so I went ahead and signed her up today. We also found a pediatrician over the weekend, registered recently at Babies R' Us (talk about an overwhelming store!!) and ordered her baby furniture yesterday. We're also signed up for all the pregnancy classes at the hospital - I know, I sound obsessive compulsive with all this planning, but I feel as if I don't do it now, it will never get done!

Work is good, just hectic - I have three trials scheduled to take place before baby girl arrives. I get tired just typing that I have three trials (one of which is scheduled 5 weeks before my due date - that should be interesting, I'll have to waddle up to the jury!). We also have a family trip planned the weekend of February 8 to see Rachel and Jeff in Boston, which we are really looking forward to. Hopefully the snow won't cause a problem with our travel plans.

Like I said, there has not been too much exciting stuff to write about, but I knew I had to post something because I've been so delinquent in keeping up with this thing. I'll try to do better, though I can't make any promises!

Until then....Sara

A Clothes Horse is Soon to Be Born....

Upon learning that we are having a little girl, most of our friends and family have talked about how much fun shopping for little girls can be. They were not kidding. It's so, so tempting to run out and buy every cute little thing out there, but I'm exercising (some) restraint, especially since I don't want our little girl decked out in everything pink.

Our little girl's wardrobe has grown quite a bit today, however, and not all by my doing! One of the other attorneys in the office brought me the cutest little outfit from Old Navy this afternoon - consisting of a pink and brown onesie, jeans, and matching jean jacket. Of course, standard "oohs" and "aahs" escaped my mouth as I opened the gift. Additionally, my secretary and paralegal were very kind and gave me a Gap gift card for Christmas, which I turned right around and used during the lunch hour on the onesies pictured in this post. In my defense, I truly could not help myself!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice....

I haven't posted since this weekend regarding our latest doctor's visit and the BIG NEWS we are having a girl, so here's your pregnancy update (sorry it's kind of long, there's much to tell). To keep you on track, I'm 21 weeks along this Saturday, so we're clearly past the halfway point....

We FINALLY had the big appointment one week ago. As you might recall from a previous post, we were supposed to find out the sex of the baby two weeks ago but our appointment had to be bumped back one week for some odd reason. Well, those seven days (actually, the past 14 weeks that we have known I was pregnant) slowly crept by till the big day was upon us. Ryan and I knew from the beginning that we wanted to find out the baby's gender. A few people tried to talk us out of it, saying we were ruining one of life's biggest surprises, but I figured that by finding out, (a) it would be easier to plan nursery, clothing, etc., and (b) it will take nothing away from that moment when we welcome our first child into the world.

So, there we were in the doctor's office, waiting to be called back. Our appointment was one of the last of the day at 4pm. To say I was impatient is the understatement of the year! As always, Ryan was calm and collected. By 4:30, I was crawling the walls and was just getting up to see if someone had forgotten about us (we were in a special waiting room by ourselves to the side and I was afraid the office would close at 5 and they would forget we were back there!) when the incredibly nice ultrasound technician came back to get us. We went in, she put the device on my stomach, and she went right for the "goods" because she knew we wanted to find out. When the image flashed on the screen, I thought I detected the absence of a special male component, which the tech immediately confirmed. I cried...shocking, I know!

Speaking of shocked, I think that explains Ryan's initial reaction because his family is chock full of boys. Of course, Ryan and I were both very happy to hear the news. All along we have said when asked that we genuinely did not care what sex the baby was, so long as the baby was healthy (and she is, I might add - a healthy 10 ounces and right on track to welcome the world on Derby day). I thought all along it might be a girl, though I had no basis for that hunch. However, the predictions from our friends and family that the baby was a boy clearly outnumbered the votes for girl, so I completely expected to go in and see a little penis flash up on the screen - imagine our surprise!

She was sleeping, I think, during most of the ultrasound - much different than our last ultrasound when she couldn't sit still for a minute. The best part of the ultrasound was the tech took 3-D images of our little girl's face, and we got to see her perfectly shaped eyes, button nose and mouth. I'll have to post one soon, the clarity of these pictures is amazing!

Ryan and I are tickled pink - literally. The evening we found out it's a girl, Ryan turned to me and asked, "Is it weird that I already feel overprotective of her?" I had to laugh and tell him no - it made me reflect on my own relationship with my Dad, and how even at the age of 29, my Dad (and my Mom, for that matter) still worries about my welfare.

I've kicked into planning mode and already picked out the fabric for her bedding in the nursery, and the best part is we don't even have to paint the room, which thrilled Ryan to no end!

We will continue to keep you posted on this incredible adventure in our lives....

The news is in and . . . . .

2007 Gubernatorial Ball

Check out this picture of my parents at the Gubernatorial Ball for newly sworn in Governor Steve Beshear. How cute are they?!?!

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!

Wow, I've really been bad the past few weeks in posting regularly....that should soon change, though, with the exciting news we are about to get. By this time tomorrow, we will know if we are having a boy or a girl! To say we're excited is a huge understatement, to say the least. I will be sure to post the big news ASAP.

Uh....okay

I stumbled upon a sneak preview of the cover I can anticipate seeing on my next issue of Marie Claire. Wow....talk about extremes! One day, Christina Aguilera consistently denies she is pregnant (despite obvious evidence to the contrary), the next she is posing nude, belly and all, on the cover of a popular national magazine. Hey, I'll be the first to say it takes guts - you won't see me flashing my pregnant belly in public. I see lots of beautiful pictures where very pregnant women have had professional pictures taken of their stomach - it's just not me. Looking at this picture, I have to think that (a) it's extremely airbrushed (MC does ALOT of that), or (b) Christina has the prettiest baby belly ever. I mean seriously...no stretch marks, and her stomach is tan (big no no for pregnant women)! I am going to have to go with option (a).

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!

I hope all of you, my friends and family, had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was pretty relaxing. Since getting married two years ago, Ryan and I have switched Thankgivings - one year we will spend with my family at my grandmother's in eastern Kentucky, and the next we will spend with Ryan's family in Paducah. This year was our year with Ryan's family, and Ryan and I enjoyed a nice visit with all of his extended family. This was the first year I have even attempted to eat two Thanksgiving meals in one day - it was tough, but Ryan and I gave it our best effort! I don't even want to think of how many calories I consumed that day.....

We got back on Friday and just spent the weekend around the house. I spent Friday afternoon and evening putting up our Christmas trees. Yes, folks, I said trees - we have two this year! I know, I know, it's insane. I wanted to have our traditional tree in our den where we spend the majority of our time. However, I have always wanted to have a "fancy" tree with matching, color-coordinated ornaments. We have a big bay window that faces out onto the street in our living room, and I thought this would be a perfect place for our new tree. It looks fantastic from the street, all lit up - too bad we don't have any furniture in that room yet! Hey, it takes a long time to furnish a house.....

I'm really happy how both trees turned out - while my "fancy" tree looks just how I wanted it, I am still partial to our traditional tree in our den. Not only does the latter contain all of the beautiful Christopher Radko (spelling?) ornaments that we get every year from Ryan's dad and stepmother, it also has ornaments with alot of sentimental value - like the ornaments my Mom made from the mobile which hung over my crib.

Here's some pictures of both - I had to show off my handiwork!

Our "fancy" tree:





Our traditional tree in our den:





Ryan and I really do have so much to be thankful for this year, and consider ourselves blessed. It's a really exciting holiday season for us - knowing that the baby is on the way makes it that much more special.

Kelly & Josh's Baby Shower

I'm so, so late in getting around to posting pictures from the recent couples baby shower that was held for our friends Josh and Kelly, who are expecting a boy in February. Here's a few pictures from the fun evening:

The proud parents-to-be:



I never realized how much Josh loves the Green Bay Packers until I saw some of the baby's gifts - this bib was hilarious:





Congrats Josh and Kelly - I know you'll make wonderful parents.

Kentucky IS Southern Living at Its Best

Wow, I am a blog posting machine this morning - I'm so inconsistent with my posting, I go a week without anything new and then you have four posts back to back! At any rate, I have to go on a small rant this morning, and I think you women from Kentucky will understand why.....

I've been a devoted subscriber to Southern Living for the past couple of years. My mother is a subscriber, as well as my grandmother and probably many other women in my extended family. Since I love to cook, the recipes are great - there are also tons of home ideas and great articles on different places to visit in the Southern region (and, I should point out, locales in Kentucky are always prominently featured). For some reason, I haven't gotten the latest issue of Southern Living in the mail - I can only guess that my subscription has expired. While I was at a local Rite Aid last week, I just happened to look in the magazine section to see if they had SL. Imagine my horror when instead of my beloved Southern Living I found a copy of ...... brace yourselves .... MIDWESTERN LIVING. What the hell is this?!?!?! I stand firm in my belief that Kentucky is undoubtedly a Southern Living state. This was confirmed when I got my 2007 Best of Southern Living cookbook in yesterday's mail and noted all the Kentucky influences in the recipes (such as hot browns, bourbon balls, etc.). We might not be the deep South, like Mississippi or Georgia, but by God, all the good things about Kentucky - Derby, horses, bourbon, landscape, charm - are all things Southern. This girl will NEVER switch her subscription over to Midwestern Living!

Nursery Thoughts

So yesterday, I got the disappointing news that the ultrasound technician is booked solid on December 6th (the day we anticipated finding out the baby's sex), and now my appointment is pushed back another whole week till December 13th. So disappointed - Ryan puts it all in perspective, of course, and repeated that it is only one more week, but damn it, I wanted to know what this little peanut was YESTERDAY, so another week seems like an eternity!





In the meantime, I've started to look around on the internet to gather possible nursery ideas - here's one I have fallen in love with if we have a girl. And no, for the record, I have absolutely NO idea what we're having. I've had three gender dreams - the first was boy, but the most recent two were definitely girl (we even named the baby in the last dream). Half of our friends and family say boy, others say girl. I guess we'll just have to wait 3 weeks and 6 more days till we know for sure!

Love, Love, Love Project Runway

At long last, Project Runway is back for another season. I didn't get hooked on this Bravo show until last season, which was the third season, I think. I don't watch a bunch of reality television, mostly because it's so cheesy (okay, I admit it, I'm still a closet Bachelor watcher!), but Project Runway stands above the rest. It doesn't hurt that Tim Gunn is so fabulous. This looks to be a pretty talented cast - my early favorite is Rami, whose beautiful gray dress pictured to the left just happened to be the winner of the first challenge. I can't wait to see what else he's going to come up with.

Freak of Nature

Have you seen the latest cover of Fitness magazine with Kelly Ripa on the cover?? She looks skinnier than ever - I can't get over the fact that this woman has had 3 children (I think that's how many - no matter how many she's had, any one that has that body after ONE kid is amazing). A woman can only hope to get such washboard abs after having a baby - of course, if I had my own personal trainer and dietician, like I'm sure Ripa does, that might be a more attainable goal!

4th Month Check-Up

Just wanted to put up a short post following my monthly check up with the obstetrician this morning (I am 15 weeks along this Saturday, or almost 4 months, however you want to look at it). Ryan has been with me for all of the appointments but unfortunately he could not be there today as he is working in Bowling Green this week. I invited my Dad to go with me so he could meet the doctor and hear the heartbeat.

My blood pressure was normal and I had gained a ½ pound since my last appointment – so far, I’ve only gained 1 ½ pounds in this pregnancy, which I’m pretty happy about, but I’m sure that will change before too long! The doctor reviewed my last ultrasound and blood work from the first trimester screening and said everything looked great. She measured my stomach, though there is not really much there to measure, and then used the Doppler so we could hear the heartbeat, which was very strong. Dr. Kuntz also confirmed that she will perform an ultrasound at next month’s appointment on December 6, at which time we will be able to learn if the baby is a boy or girl. It is safe to say that the next four weeks are going to go so slowly because we are so excited to find out what we are having!

More Wonderful News to Celebrate

Two of our dearest friends in the world - Andy and Amanda - got engaged on Halloween evening. Ryan and I just couldn't be happier for them if we tried - not only are they wonderful friends to us both, they are a wonderful couple and they really compliment one another. Now we get to look forward to their fantastic wedding (maybe in Chicago?). Recently, a group of us went out to L&N Wine Bistro to help them celebrate (yet another fantastic restaurant here in town - huge wine selection, unfortunately I couldn't enjoy it!). Here's a great picture of Terry, Amanda, Natasha, Ryan, myself, Mark and Andy following our dinner.

American Gangster

My sister got into town from Boston on Saturday and is leaving to head on to Las Vegas today. I am very thankful we got an opportunity to hang out some this weekend and just catch up on all the crazy things going on in our lives.



On Sunday, we went to see American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. I'd heard great reviews about the movie before going to see it - with those two Oscar-winning stars, I couldn't imagine it being bad. We were definitely not disappointed, it was a fantastic movie! It was long - about 2 hours and 45 minutes, which is a long time for anyone to sit in a movie theater, especially a pregnant woman - but well worth it. The fact that it is based on a true story made it that much more interesting. I'm going on record right now to say that Denzel will win another Oscar for that performance!

Congratulations Shanna!

I went to a baby shower this past Saturday for Shanna, a sorority sister of mine from UK. We had a really great time celebrating with Shanna, who is quite possibly the cutest pregnant woman I've ever seen. Really, look at these pictures and try to tell me you are not shocked she is due in just a few weeks! Farrah, another sorority sister who hosted the shower, broke out a few old scrapbooks from our college days, which made for some interesting stories, flashbacks, and lots of laughter (especially over the transformation of my hair over the years!). Congrats, Shanna, you'll be a wonderful mom.