nautical harajuku mini

the second installment of harajuku mini recently came out.  i kept telling myself that i wasn't going to go crazy but then i found out it was all nautical themed and i can't resist nautical cute stuff.

so here are the items baby "e" scored.  my mom tried to tattle on me as we were shopping.  she text will telling him i was going to buy a bunch of stuff and his response......"e" already has me wrapped around her finger, tell skye to have fun.

i love all of it but this little jacket is something i REALLY love.  i wish it came in my size!

there was a little mermaid backpack and this shark one.  originally i had the mermaid one in the cart but for some reason i couldn't stop thinking about the shark version.  my mom voted shark and then i text will a picture of both and he voted shark too so even if it is kind of boyish we don't care.  i've already daydreamed about her carrying this around on her first trip to disneyland. 

a package from tco

he did it again.

i got home and saw a package at the door from tco.

i called will right away and excitedly blurted out that there was a package from the calico organization at the door. 

he laughed, told me he loved me, and then said i had to wait until he got home to open it.

my response was....you are so MEAN! 

then i begged a bunch to open it right away but he wouldn't budge. 

luckily he was home within about 30 minutes and i got to open my christmas present.

it was the vintage style lock necklace that i had been admiring

and i couldn't be happier about having it.

he always seems to know how to make my day.

a different christmas

our christmas was a little different this year and actually i liked it. 

we decided with the expenses of a new baby it wouldn't be smart to buy gifts for each other. 

i absolutely love finding the perfect gifts for will, as does he for me, and i really love wrapping them up all pretty so i was worried it would feel weird without that fun stuff.

not that i think it's all about the presents anyway but let's be honest....who doesn't love that traditional thing? 

i still got a few fun things for will's stocking because i couldn't resist and he still managed to be sneaky and get me one gift because he couldn't resist. 

mine is supposed to be here today and he wouldn't give me any hints which has nearly killed me.

we also gave each other cards and since i'm such a sucker for the perfect card with the perfect words written in it that was enough for me. 

well that and this gift in my belly.

the baby girl.

when a giant box arrived at our doorstep a couple days before christmas i told will... this is our gift.

i still have a hard time believing that in a few short months a sweet little baby is going to be sitting in this carseat and going for rides in that stroller.

i have always been the type to love the anticipation of an event only to feel blue about it afterwards.

all of the excitement building up for days only to be over in a matter of minutes. 

since i was a little kid i remember being sad after the presents were opened and christmas was over. 

the bonus of this year was that i didn't feel that way. 

we enjoyed time with family. 

my mom and i had extreme laughing fits while running errands and baking cookies. 

we saw a movie with my mom, brother, and grandmother then went out to a nice dinner.

it was a lovely break from the day to day busy schedules we all have.

highchair stealer

this highchair was no longer needed by some family members of mine so it was passed to us. 

i kept wondering what pellegrino would think of it since he has already been so curious about other baby items we have acquired.

yes he climbed right in and sat there like it was his job.

he thought it was his very own highchair much like i expected. 

hopefully pellegrino is cool with sharing because in approximately 3 short months it'll be time to share.

24

hello 24 weeks and belly that seems to be growing by the minute!

the secret knock

it seems like every single time i tell someone the baby is kicking and they feel my belly she instantly stops kicking.  i've been trying to get my mom to feel her kicks for a few weeks but it wasn't happening.  all that changed last week, i think it was last wednesday.  i had stopped at my moms office on my way home and e played her trick the second my mom put her hand on my belly.  so then my mom says she needs to do a secret knock to let e know that it's her grandmuzza.  there is this secret knock my mom has done for as long as i can remember, she does it whenever she comes over to our house.  so she does the knock on my belly and within seconds she gets a response from e in the form of a kick.  we laughed so hard.  so my mom tried her secret knock two more times and instantly she got a kick both times.  it was the funniest cutest thing in the world.

my first minnie

my friend alex recently went to disneyland. 

being the super thoughtful guy he is, he brought back a my first minnie for baby e.

made my day!  

alex is as disneyland obsessed as we are so he must have thought we needed to start e's obsession early.....smart thinking alex! 

that first date

3 years ago today my life changed...

all because he took me on our first date. 

i'm so happy he asked me even if i wasn't exceptionally nice.

♥

my tiny ecosphere

this is a neat little story for you.  over the weekend my mom, will and i attended a couple christmas parties.  at one of the parties i saw a glass globe full of water and a few other things,  the items were all sealed in....never to be opened.  at first glance i thought it was interesting until i noticed there were tiny alive creatures in there and then i was amazed by it.  come to find out a few people at the hospital had received these ecospheres as a gift from some company.  i wanted one and i wanted it bad.  it was all i could talk about on the way home and the first thing i looked up on the internet that night.  my mom said how when she initially saw these spheres she knew i would love one and if we were all exchanging christmas gifts this year she would have purchased one for me.  come to find out they are pretty pricey.  so i basically gave up the idea of owning one since items for the baby are more necessary to purchase these days than ecospheres containing itty bitty shrimp.

today i got a text from my mom saying she had something for me and she was really excited about it.  i had a feeling it was the little glass globe i desired but i didn't want to get my hopes up so i talked myself out of thinking that was what it could be.  turns out my mom went to a meeting at work that included a white elephant gift exchange.  someone who didn't think the ecosphere was so amazing gave this as the white elephant gift.  my mom spotted it and stole it from the first person to open the gift.  she then promptly hid the sphere so that nobody else would decide to steal it.     

i didn't mean for the flash to go off because i didn't want to startle the little guys but if you look closely you'll see all 4 shrimp.....which i plan to name.  if you have any name suggestions feel free to share.   

my new little shrimp friends are very low maintenance.  everything they need to survive is in the sphere and they can last for two to three years or longer.  with the proper amount of light and being kept at temperatures between 60-80 degrees this tiny ecosphere has all the right ingredients to thrive on it's own.

i'm so glad my mom was able to snag this for me today because i love it.

e loves her grandmuzza

taken at 23 weeks...

i told my mom this last week that i'm pretty sure her and baby girl have some sort of magic chemistry.  i've noticed the last few weeks in particular that when my mom and i get together we laugh like crazy over the most silly things, and i can't help but think that it's because "e" really loves her grandmuzza.

i just got a few hard kicks as i typed this so i'm pretty sure that is e's way of confirming what i've been suspecting. 

ornaments with history

so my mom came over with the following ornaments this weekend...

this was my very first ornament many moons ago.  love that she found this.

every year when we were kids gram would make an ornament for us grandkids.

this one is from 1983.  she would usually pick a theme and then we would pick which character or color we wanted most.  that particular year she made carebear ornaments it seems. 

apparently i was all about funshine bear.

this is just a pretty my mom knew i'd love.

and same with this.

i especially enjoy the history on those old ornaments and that is a major reason i'll most likely never do a themed tree....i find the random assortment (with stories) much more interesting.

my favorite eotm

so last night the four of us...me, baby e, will, and my mom...went to the hospital christmas party to celebrate the employee of the month one more time. 

i had hoped he would win employee of the year but it didn't happen. 

i don't know the person that did win but i hear she is deserving so good for her. 

still i selfishly wished will would win because in my mind he was the most deserving.

you can say the same about cullen, right nicole? 

i made will do embarrassing things again like pose with his picture up on the wall. 

he didn't seem to have any trouble being silly for the camera as soon as cullen arrived. 

there were several great people nominated this year....

although these two goofballs kind of stole the show.

i am starting to understand what having a baby belly really means....it means that you have to be prepared to be the center of attention even if you don't want to be.  it means you get extra hugs and plenty of belly rubs even from people you wouldn't really expect to receive them from.  also you get asked a lot of the same questions over and over.  but you know what....i'm actually enjoying all of it even if i originally thought i wouldn't.  i realize that in a few short months i might miss those moments, so for now i'm taking in every bit of celebrity my expanding waist brings.

employee of the year 2007 posing with employee of the month september 2011.

my mom is one of will's most hardcore fans so of course she was there to cheer for him.

oh and my mom....she did it again.  she managed to make me laugh really hard over silly things.  as far as i'm concerned there is some sort of magic spell that takes over when she is near the belly.  she and baby e must have a special connection that makes me turn into a giggling lunatic.  luckily this time my laughter didn't result in changing outfits like last time.

tiny bracelets

my friend camille sent us a surprise this week.

these adorable tiny bracelets that she made for our baby girl. 

so sweet....i love them!

missoni baby bedding

i have spent all sorts of time browsing the internet for the perfect crib bedding.  while many of the options were cute and something i liked i didn't love any of them.  i wanted something that really spoke to me and something that wasn't traditional.  well today i found it.  another thing i didn't want is the whole billion piece crib bed set with the matching this and matching that for several reasons.  so what i did was order the quilt and crib skirt then i'm going to get plain jane sheets and a plain mesh breathable bumper.  i've been reading about how babies can get up against the bumper and smother themselves so i'm opting for the safer kind.
so here is my colorful wildly patterned choice of baby bedding!




thank you missoni for target for having something different that excites me!

snow pictures with my loves

here are a few more shots from our winter wonderland excursion at my moms. 

we didn't dress in enough layers so we were freezing, but i couldn't pass up the chance to take pictures in the beautiful snow with my love and the tiny love in my belly.