Busy, Busy Weekend

Warning....long post ahead! It seems that the closer we get to baby girl's arrival, the more jam-packed our weekends become (but in a good way!). I was 35 weeks as of yesterday, so it means I have 34 days till the due date - yeah!!! Don't get me wrong, this pregnancy has not been very difficult on me (knock on wood...), but I am ready to have this baby to welcome her into the world. It will also be nice to enjoy a couple of glasses of good wine, too!

We had our second baby shower last night that was here in Louisville, hosted by Amy, Amanda and Natasha (who unfortunately could not make it because of her work schedule - we missed you Natasha!). We had a great time, and I even think most of the guys in attendance could say that, too!

Amanda, myself and Amy:


The very cute cake:


We played the "yarn" game where guests cut off a piece of yarn which they think represents how big I am around the stomach. (Uh...Andy, I think the goal is to measure around the pregnant woman's stomach, not the father-to-be's stomach!):



A few pictures of Ryan and I opening gifts. I wish I could remember what was being said or who we were looking at in the third picture - I look bemused and Ryan looks just confused! Also, note Ryan flashing the double thums up in the last picture:






Perhaps the funniest moment of the evening came when two little girls met for the first time. To set the scene, two babies were at the shower - the first is Hattie, daughter of Hayden and Catherine, who turns 1 next week, and the other is Charlotte, Amy and Nick's daughter who is about 1 1/2 years old. Upon meeting on the couch, Hattie promptly started leaning over to give Charlotte nose kisses. The look on Charlotte's face was priceless....she wanted nothing to do with these new signs of affection! Equally priceless are the expressions on Catherine's face, who had a front row seat to all of the action. We were all laughing so hard - I laughed to the point of crying, so it's a wonder I don't have mascara streaming down my cheeks in these pictures!:





We had a wonderful time at the shower, as you can tell from the photographs. Once again, our friends were entirely too generous - below is a picture of one of the gifts we got, which is the infamous swing (my parents are still amazed that this thing has an Ipod hook up, which actually is pretty wild!). We assembled it today and it is waiting to be used in the corner of the den:


We've also already assembled the stroller and its matching carseat, which were generously gifted to us by Ryan's mom and stepdad:


I think the only thing that remains to be assembled is the very cute pack and play that my Mom and Dad bought us to keep on the first floor.

In addition to the shower, some other excitement this weekend was that Ryan's dad and step-mom came in this weekend to see us and came with armloads of gifts for the baby....

A too cute child-sized chair with the first initial of baby girl's name monogrammed on the seat (Yes, we have selected a name, but for some reason I hesitate to announce it on the blog! Maybe you can figure it out from the pictures if you don't know it already!):



A huge stuffed Laborador Retriever (looks like Pearl has found a new friend):




And a cute pink and brown monogrammed bag for overnight trips when she is older:


Wow, this is a ridiculously long post with an overload of pictures! As you can see, though, we had a lot to share!

Too cute to drool upon....

I really think I'm going to have to buy this bib for baby girl. How appropriate is that?!?! It could be a gift from our first "baby" to the new baby.

Baby Shower #1

Well, folks, we are getting down to the wire!! I have about 6 weeks, 5 days till my due date, but hey, who's counting? It's hard to tell who is more excited - us or all of our friends and family! Baby girl is fine. We think she's moved around so she is "head down" now - or at least it feels that way, based upon all the kicking she is doing in the vicinity of my ribs. I wish I could explain to those who have not been pregnant how this feels - it's so weird to look down and see your stomach literally shift like a tidal wave as this little being inside of you does somersaults! I have my next doctor's appointment a week from Friday, and then I will start going once a week for the 4 weeks until my due date (or until I deliver, whether before or after Derby Day). I have about 3 1/2 weeks till I am considered "full term" so that if the baby comes after that, she won't be considered premature.

The nursery is really coming along, especially due in large part to the generosity of all of our friends and family! We had our first baby shower this past Saturday - it was an all girls shower, consisting of my mom, Ryan's mom, Ryan's aunt, a bunch of my sorority sisters, friends from college, friends from my last firm and friends from my stint in the Junior League (oddly, only one of us remains in the JL, the rest of us are JL dropouts!). My sweet and dear friend Lavin hosted the shower at Standard Country Club in Louisville - Lavin is a real trooper to have thrown this for me, particularly in light of the fact that she and her family moved the day before into a new house! The day was wonderful and I had such a blast celebrating with all of these wonderful women/

Here I am with my huge belly that is obstructing the view of the hostess, Lavin!:


My sorority sister, Tara, made the incredible cake. Not only was it a work of art (all of those flowers are icing!), but it was one of the best cakes I've ever had (yummm...strawberry). Tara, I've said it once, I've said it a million times - you could make a fortune in the wedding cake business!:


Here's some random shots of the guests, and one of me opening presents:




This last picture is great - it's of my sorority sister, Kim, and I. Kim is due 5 days ahead of me with her first baby, a little boy. We're already playing matchmaker with our kids! Everyone cracked up when Kim arrived and she and I hugged hello - we had to do a side hug because of our bellies!


Thank you to all of my wonderful friends who came to the shower (in spite of the rain showers outside!) to help us celebrate this wonderful time in our lives.

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.