More Quilt Craziness....

Niter's craftiness has struck yet again! She is a sewing wizard and got together this doozy in about a week or so....Loving the colors!

Loving it!

I also have been picking up some pillows here and there and got the multicolored (yes I am aware it has pink in it) chevronish for $7.50 at Pier 1. 

I thought the bird painting matched the colors of the quilt and it was only 20 bucks...before anyone is too fearful that we are going too feminine, hold tight. The rest of the room is going to be full of colors and visually appealing elements to even the most masculine of children. Ha. 


And without further ado, look how big I am this week

rocking that boom boom pow

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and with all we have to be thankful for this year, I cannot wait to celebrate with family (all in from NY!). My mom is hosting in West Virginia and I cannot wait to stuff my face and catch up with everyone!  YUM

13 weeks (!!!) Bowling and Brunch

Great news, avid viewers. We are now in the 2nd trimester! That was the slowest/fastest 12 weeks ever. Happy to have crossed yet another milestone!

This week went by super fast - and was filled with fun and friends over the weekend. Our football team won their playoff game and we celebrated by going to a party at Brett's and then did a little Baltimore Style duckpin bowling.

Bowling swag by way of Target flouncy shirt, I should buy 8 more of these

Some beer was consumed and some laughs were had

just got the punchline

We got to see Tbird and Kate for the first time in ages and it was fantastic!

Everyone was shocked at the size of Baby Bump...thus far Keri is the only person who has been "Team Pink"

ladies...and Brett

I had a new variety of non-alcoholic beer via Odoul's (amber!), and felt like such a criminal sneaking glasses bottles into the wonderful bowling establishment. Almost like I was 16 and sneaking beer into the drive in. (Not that that ever happened!) 

bowling, beer  and bumps!

Sunday I spent some time with the other loves of my life, BY, Chris and from out of town, one Brian Pizza!

this is so "them"

My Peetzy Pie!

It was nice to catch up and hear all about the fun gay club and other queer oriented shenanigans I have missed out on since becoming preggers.....thanks for still including me, boys! 

In other fantastic news I have things squared away in terms of finding a local for the Baltimore Baby Shower bonanza in April! 

My dear friend Christina "Tanner" shall be hosting, and I know she will do an awesome job! She is an event planner by trade for a large non-profit in Maryland, and having attended showers she's hosted in the past, I am confident she will blow this one out of the water!

Tan and I post-football a year ago...

Tan and I post football this year! 

Another great friend, Tom,  has allowed me to use the space of his amazing abode to have the shower, and I am super grateful! I can't wait to see how everything turns out

Tom and I at Pride 2011

Fab deals and quilt steals!

Ok so no one stole any quilts, but for the cheap cheap price of free, (minus the backing) my mom threw together quilt number 1 (of 5....thousand).


Didn't she do a fab job!? This one shall stay in WV. I call it, "An Essence of Watercolor". Or something. I call it amazing! Bravo, Niter!

Stellar work! I can't wait to see how the others turn out!

We also did some Craigslisting and got a good deal on a changing table. 

It is Storckcraft and retails for about $230-250.00

We got it for $75 bucks, ballin!! It's actually pretty large, See photo of Jerome modeling size

We intend to sand to it down and paint it minty/seafoamy/blueish a'la this

Stay tuned whilst we get our craft on!

Spurts of productivity and such

Glenn decided (oh, Thursday) that this weekend would be the one in which to tackle the wood flooring in the baby's room since we are mid-November and nice weather may be lacking soon. He would need to cut the pieces requiring him some outdoor sawing time (sorry neighbors) and to my proud amazement, he knocked it out in one weekend! This was on top of playing  2 football games and of course a day full of Sunday NFL. Impressive indeed! Some fun in the sun football photos below:

this basically sums up our football team, Love at First Pump

Enjoying the day with Miss Kara! Go Orange!

sweet action shot of Daddy & Team

Fall Football 2011

This of course, does not mean that my end of cleansing the room of clutter and clothes and shoes and lord knows what else is complete....nooooo way not even close. It's stressy for me to even think about, but it WILL get tackled. Soon. Currently there are baskets and clutter all through the house but I am hoping to consolidate soon.


Glenn spent Friday night while I was out for sushi tearing the old carpet up, which apparently was alot of work, ripping out the nails holding everything down.

Fab deal on Pergo! Shade is "oak something or other" (I forget)

Don't worry - the tablet was on hand for up to date football news

Gross under-carpet padding stuff. Be gone!

He had got the first portion of flooring (to the closet door) done before football on Saturday - and finished to rest today! Big props to this weekend project, Glenn is a pro!

Sneaking a peak...

doin work, son!

busy getting those last few in place

Finito!

We (I) decided it would be good to start taking "shots" in the baby's room, so once we start to fill it up with baby things it can be a bit livelier (no more blue wall in the kitchen!). The lighting is alot different with the 2 skylights so do trust I am not this pasty in real life. 

Post jog (2.5 slow miles!) later....

yeah baby yeah!

Bonus view:

freckles and floor!

Cheers to 12 weeks!

Completely thrilled to have crossed this milestone - after 12 weeks, and a visual or audio of the heartbeat, all systems are go! We went to the GBMC Harvey Institute for a Nuchal Translucency screening to make sure Baby Lovelace was a healthy grower at 11 weeks 6 days. 


It was a great experience! Glenn's sister is an ultrasound technician and was pleased we were going to be seen by Dr. Jari and her team (who went to school in Pennsylvania where Regina works with one of Dr. Jari's colleagues). I think it gave us a little bit more "visual time" to share this tidbit with the technician.


Everything looks great! The Nuchal Translucency measurement is at 1.5-1.6, and baby is completely healthy. Anything 2.8+ is a marker for Down Syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities. We got a good half an hour or so of time looking at Baby, and the technician was very thorough with detailing the heart, arms, and legs as well as taking many measurements. 


I apparently follow directions too well, the technician said my bladder was ginormous and let me "release" about a cup and a half to be more comfortable. In that time baby had flipped upside-down! It's crazy to see how much they move around. I can't wait to start feeling those movements in these upcoming weeks!

We also shared the news with the world, aka FACEBOOK! It was a very exciting moment to tell everyone, and the enthusiastic feedback makes me smile! It's nice to see how much love is out there for a new baby.

Baby Lovelace's big debut...eating a "burrito" like Erin said :)

12.5% of  my facebook friend population is excited, ha! We also told our respective jobs, so it is good to have that cat out of the bag, or the baby out of the bunting as it were....my boss was supportive and offered to call HR to get me some feedback on the maternity leave policy (as it has been at least 5 years since anyone was pregnant at the company). I am curious and excited to see how the rest of the company will react to the news! One thing is for sure, at least everyone will know what this bulge is, and why I've been drinking all that gross decaf coffee. 

little teeny wiggle worm 

Below is one of my favorites, because you can see the full development of the hand, much like baby is waving at us! Sup Ya'll?! See ya in May!

The shot on the left is taken sorta "head down" so you can see the arm waving, and to the right we see Baby "giving us 5" . I have upcoming standard prenatal visits, and next ultrasound is the anatomy at 18-20 weeks! Stay tuned!

11 weeks and a taco party!

This week I felt like I looked preggo...as in, wow is that a bump for real? One day at work I did a double take in the mirror at my expanding belly. I am not sure if it was the outfit, or my lunch, or what, but I felt all bumplicious!


I kinda feel like my coworkers who aren't in the know, are doing double takes...probably thinking my gym slacking is paying off in a fat way. Soon enough we shall share!


This weekend also brought a cooking party with good friends...the theme was FANCY TACO NIGHT, which was right up my alley. Sheena made a bazillion salsas, and I managed a queso via our pal Emeril. 

cheesey deliciousness

It was so good to eat and be merry with fab lady friends

We nommed on mexican delights and watched the Steelers-Ravens game (boo). I had some delicious German non-alcoholic beer (Thanks Sheena!) and had a blast staying out on a school night. 


Black & Gold Glory weekly pix:

this pic makes me feel like fatty fat 3000 %

Today I had my 12 week appointment - and from here on out until the 36th week things should be pretty routine. Pee in a cup, get my weight and blood pressure taken, and detail any changes happening since last visit. The good news of the day is that my pap came back normal (hooray!), my blood work was fab, and my cervix is apparently free of scar tissue (that the OBGYN can tell at least) thus far so I am free of any restrictions. It was great to meet a doctor I actually liked, who actually smiled and told me congratulations. She also checked for the baby's heart with her doppler and said it sounded great! Love those machines. Up next: the diagnostic screening and (hopefully) our big reveal!

Quilting Craziness

The nesting era has begun! I have been sleuthing different nursery oriented crafts via pinterest and Niter has been great enough to get us started on some quilts. She has a veritable treasure trove of fabrics gleaned from a sale of samples (likely from an upholstery store going out of business). While most of the fabrics are circa 1985, some of them were winners! 

We also hit up Hobby Lobby and Joanne's for some other goodies. My original color scheme (in my head) was as follows:

We'd like to do chair rail, in white...on the lower part of the room. Chair rail and up will be the gray color. All other colors will be accents (namely the yellow, coral and blue). I am not a hgue fan of the brown tone of this yellow, and intend on using more of my favorite mustardy yellow.  I also have haphazardly picked up a number of green pieces as well. So it is one big hodge podge, which I like. I am going for a colorful eccentric look and am not that pressed about things being all "matchy matchy".

I found a few fabrics at Joanne's that incorporated the coral and blue and we went from there. Currently Mom has...*ahem* 4 quilts planned. 2 of which will stay at her house in West Virginia, and the other 2 shall reside here. 

I'd like to disclaimer everyone and let them know I am aware of the SIDs risk with having blankets in the crib, and let you know, dear reader, that the baby won't be covered. The quilts can be on the side of the crib early on as decor, used as blankets for tummy time in the future, and will perhaps be that favorite blankie in the toddler age. Rest assured we practice safety up in here!

In any event, we had a fab weekend picking out fabrics and arranging them in orders we liked. 

swatches and swatches for days!

bright and dotty for at Grandma's house

a groovy ass tribal fabric I found in clearance in Joanne's

Quilt 1 : the coral with blue flowers and the large abstract florals are my favorites

The fabrics above will be cut into thin strips and will be put together to look somewhat like this:

simple, easy and bright! (well less babyish than this)

Quilt number two will have these colors"

again, the coral fabric with the blue flowers is my go-to favorite

I don't have an example of what this one will look like (yet) , since the pattern came out of a quilting book, but it is decidedly more complex than the jellyroll. 

Update: It is a "quick trip" quilt made in the diamond pattern (idea below)

 I like these colors for a boy or a girl...well more so a boy since that is what my intuition is telling me. If it is a girl, then we will throw some ruffles on it and call it a day! Or we can have Niter make quilt number 62 in purple and pink! I am excited to see how they will all turn out, and thankful for such a crafty mother!