30 Weeks

Well, I'm officially 30 weeks.  I can't believe I have less than 70 days to go before I meet this little guy!  That is amazing!  I don't have a lot of new stuff to report in the baby department at this time.  Other than going from feeling baby "flutters" to being the recipient of full-on baby ninja kicks, not much has changed since my last post a few weeks ago. He's still doing great.  I'm still giant and loving it.  I only had to have tacos three times this week, so I think the cravings might be slowing down a little bit.  I'm also starting to experience the joy that is swelling and water retention, but whatever - no complaints here.  

Mac's nursery is pretty much done and that feels great.  I'd love to share pictures, but since we've got his name on some of the decor, I'm going to wait to post that until after he arrives.  We're not ready to spill the beans on his name quite yet.  But the nursery is bright and wild and fun - perfect for an active little boy.  I think you'll love it, I know I do.  I already spend a lot of time in there, just sitting in the rocker and day dreaming about him.  

So that's about it!  We're all doing great.  The dogs are enjoying their last few months of being the center of attention and Ryan and I are getting in some date nights and evenings out while we're still footloose and kid-free (although I can't make it out past 9:30 p.m., which is totally pathetic).  We finally have a weekend with no plans and I intend to take multiple naps and make enough lasagna to feed a small country.  The next few weekends are completely packed with baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties, bachelorette parties, dinner parties, photo shoots, weddings, baptisms, holidays and birthing classes.  So much fun stuff going on!  Don't worry, I'll take lots of pictures and make sure to keep you updated.  

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

I Heart Faces - Beautiful Black & White

Well, it's been a while since I've done one of these photo challenges, but I just couldn't pass up this week's I Heart Faces theme of "Beautiful Black &White."  I'm posting this picture of Gus pushing his wagon of pumpkins not only because it's one of my favorite pictures ever, but because Gus has asked me to go to "Special Friend Day" at his school with him on Thursday and I'm so excited!  I can't even tell you how honored I am.  I'm probably going to cry through the whole thing, hug and kiss him in front of all his friends and thoroughly embarrass the poor kid.  I must hold it together.  Wish me luck.

Go check out all the other beautiful black and white entries at I Heart Faces.

Just a Sprinkle

A few weeks ago, I helped host a "sprinkle" baby shower for my best friend, Claire.  She's expecting twins - a boy (George) and a girl (Charlie) - and is due just a couple weeks before me.  I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it's been having Claire as a source of information throughout this pregnancy.  I love that we are getting to go through this together and that our little ones will be so close in age and such good friends.  Plus,  Mac will automatically get two of the most adorable older siblings in Gus and CeCe (who you've already seen a million pictures of on this blog).  I'm SO excited to meet the newest additions to the family and to be able to raise our kids together.  

The shower was at Claire's friend Sarah's beautiful home and I freely admit that she did most of the work and did an INCREDIBLE job.  I did what I could, but I must give her credit for basically everything!  She is a party planning goddess and made this so easy on me.  I want to plan every party I have with her for the rest of my life!  I think we made a pretty outstanding team -- it was such a great shower!  

We decided on an "owl theme" shower, with some rustic elements.  I ordered the invitations from Fancy Schmancy Notes on Etsy and I love the way they turned out.  

As for decor, Sarah went all out.  She set up the most beautiful table arrangements, complete with spring bouquets of hydrangeas and little owl napkin rings.

I had the easy task of creating some owls from paper lanterns.  

I think these guys turned out pretty darn adorable.

A few other owls made their way to the party as well.

But the highlight of the decor, were the banners!

These are the name banners that Sarah made for the twins.  Aren't they AMAZING!  We all went to the fabric store together and picked out the fabrics for the banners.  (Yes, I made one for Mac too, but I'm keeping that a secret for now.)  Claire's doing the nursery in an assortment of colors with grey, mustard, red as some of the main colors.  She picked out a variety of fabrics, which look incredible together.  These turned out so beautifully!  Claire now has them hanging on the wall of the twins nursery (and Mac's in hanging in his nursery).  I'll post a tutorial on how I made Mac's banner, but if you don't want to attempt it yourself, Sarah is also now selling these in her etsy shop!  Click HERE for the listing.  

The banners looked amazing, but so did the desserts!

Sarah also set up a mimosa bar, with all different kinds of juices, which was a big hit.

And a water bar, for those of us that couldn't drink the champagne.

Much appreciated.

And then the guests started arriving! 

This is our sprinkle honoree with her mom.

Does she not look INCREDIBLE for having twins (or even just one baby)?  

Seriously, she's glowing.    

And the twins are SO active!  

Everyone had to take turns touching the bump.  

Here she is with the two hostesses, the dynamic Sarah-Sara duo.

These are our girlfriends from law school.  

By June, we'll have 9 babies between us.  Crazy!  

Sarah had an incredible spread for lunch.  The menu consisted of a variety of mini quiches, crostinis with toppings like bacon jam, with roasted vegetable orzo, chicken satay with peanut sauce and fruit kebabs.  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the food - I think I was just too busy eating it all!  

After lunch, we moved on to presents!  

Claire mainly wanted clothing for the twins, so that's what she got.  

Such adorable stuff.

And then the shower was over!  It went so fast!

Claire, I hope you had a wonderful time.  

I had so much fun helping out and I'm so excited to meet the twins.  

Leap Day Engagiversary

Four years ago today, the love of my life asked me to become his wife.  Four years into our relationship on a day that comes around once every four years, he asked and I said yes.  So, you can imagine that Leap Day holds a lot of significance in our house.  It's the day when my life with my husband really began - the day that changed everything.  The day that will rank up there in my all-time favorite days, with our wedding day and our children's birthdays.  And I've been waiting four long years to be able to celebrate this day all over again.  


So much has changed us in the last four years, but we've really become a great team - we are stronger, we are wiser, we are sure in our relationship and we are ready to take on our new roles as parents!  And thinking back to this day four years ago, I can't help but be excited for that young couple, so in love, so hopeful, so clueless to all the wonderful things that would be happening to them in the next four years.  I'd love to go back in time and tell that girl to be patient and enjoy every minute of it.  To tell her what a wonderful man she's marrying, what an amazing father he's going to be and what a fabulous adventure they're going to have!  But I bet she already knew that.  :)


Well, I don't know about you, but I love engagement stories.  I think they say so much about a couple.  And ours is so "us."  So without further ado, here's our story...


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Friday, February 29, 2008 was Leap Day. Because it takes the Earth 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to travel around the sun, an extra day was added to the calendar every fourth year. It was the Romans who first designated Feb. 29 as Leap Day. In the 16th century, a more precise formula was adopted when the Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the calculations to include a leap day in years only divisible by four. Years which are evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are also evenly divisible by 400, in which case they are leap years.However you look at it, Leap Day is a little gift, a special extra day in our lives which only happens every four years.

My Leap Day started out like any other day. Run in the morning, work, meeting over lunch, afternoon conference call, etc. Ryan and I had talked about going out for dinner that evening, but we both decided to get as much work done that day as we could to help with hours, since we have a few trips planned. He sent me an email around 5:00 saying that he was ready to go home and told me to hurry up and finish my work and meet him there. I told him to just go home without me and I’d be there as soon as I could. He called and emailed a few more times and I started to get a little ticked off that he just wouldn’t go home without me. What was the damn hurry?!

I left the office a little before 6:00. Traffic was bad, as usual. I stopped by Walgreen’s and got a bridal shower card and wrapping paper for a friend's bridal shower the next day.  I took my time and thought about when and where I was going to do my long run the next day. As I pulled into the garage I noticed the floor covered with something…”What did he spill?” was the first thing I thought. When I got out of the car I noticed they were rose petals. There was note on the door with my name on it, telling me to go inside and follow the notes.

Inside the house, the entire place was covered with rose petals. Thousands and thousands of them. They were all over the floors, the countertops, everywhere. And there were hundreds of tealight candles lit. There was music playing and pictures of us flashing on the laptop. I started crying immediately. Ryan was no where to be found. There was a bottle of Veuve champagne on the countertop and more notes. I made myself a glass of champagne and followed the love notes into the hallway.  

There, I found another note and a little plastic fishing pole next to the laundry shoot. The note told me to go “fishing” down the laundry shoot and see what I caught.  Of course, with Ryan, I should have known this would somehow involve fishing!

I made my way over to the laundry shoot and I cast my line down to our basement.  After a few minutes of  waiting I felt a tug on the line and I reeled up a card.  “Do you love me? If yes, cast again.” 

I cast again and I reeled up another card. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me? If yes, cast again.” 

I dropped my line down the shoot again.  By this time, I was smiling and crying and laughing. I couldn't believe this was really happening.  This time I reeled up a card and a little blue box with a pink bow on it.   The note said, "Will you marry me? If yes, turn around.”

I turned around and Ryan was standing there, smiling and laughing and crying. Of course I said yes! I jumped up and hugged him so hard I thought I’d strangle him. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!” We were both crying and laughing and completely freaking out. He finally pulled me away and asked, “Does it fit? Do you like it?” I started cracking up because I hadn’t even opened the box or seen the ring!! But when I did…WOW!! Perfection!!

We poured ourselves some champagne, made a toast to our future, gave each other a good long look and both started cracking up.  I finally said, “Oh my God, we’re getting married! Holy shit!  I have to call my mom!” So we both spent the next 45 minutes on the phone calling our families and closest friends, giving each other hugs and kisses in between calls. Finally he told me to go get ready; a limo would be picking us up at 8:00 to take us to our favorite restaurant. We had a romantic corner table in the back and a fantastic bottle of champagne waiting for us there, compliments of friends who had called ahead and ordered the surprise for us. 

At dinner he told me all about his secret proposal plan: how he got the idea, how many roses it took, how he made the music mix and the picture montage, how long he’d been planning, and how he pulled it off. Turns out he wasn’t at work waiting for me to leave, after all!! I was so surprised, which was exactly what he wanted. I couldn’t believe he went to so much trouble. And he couldn’t believe I stopped at Walgreen’s on the way home!! Dinner was fabulous (as always). Afterwards, a few close friends met us at the bar to toast our engagement and celebrate with us. More champagne, hugs, dancing, laughing and toasting. It was such an amazing night!!! Ryan, I love you more than you’ll ever know. I have been blessed beyond belief!! My cup runneth over.

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So there it is!  Anyone else have a fabulous Leap Day story?  I'd love to hear it!

Hope you all have a very merry Leap Day!

Italy 2011 - Two if by Sea, the Amalfi Coast by Boat

Vatican

Roma

Forum & Colosseum

Sorrento

Pompeii & Herculaneum

Capri

Amalfi

Well, here we are...at the end of our Italian adventure.  I've had so much fun reliving the trip through the blog posts that I don't want the recaps to end.  Sad day.

Fortunately, our last day in Amalfi was definitely not a sad day.  It was actually one of the best of our entire trip.  We decided that we wanted to spend the day going up and down the coast, checking out the other little towns and enjoying the beautiful weather.  We could do that by land (i.e. crowded bus or expensive taxi) or by sea (i.e water taxi or private boat).  If you know my husband at all, you know that there's nothing he likes more in this world than being on the water (whether it's boating, fishing, swimming, snorkeling or just putting his feet in the water).  So, it was a pretty easy choice for us.  The day before, we went down to the shore and priced getting our own boat for the day.  We first considered renting a boat in Capri, but it was SO expensive.  However, in Amalfi, it was about a quarter of the cost and we'd get the boat for the entire day.  Done deal.

Our little boat was pretty sweet.  It costs us about 100 euro for the boat rental for the entire day.  It came with a full tank of gas and we could take the boat wherever we wanted, as long as we were back that evening by 6:00 p.m.  So, Captain Ryan and I set out to sea.  I was thrilled to be able to take so many pictures of the coast from the boat.  It was such a great way to see the coastline and the incredible homes and hotels along the bluffs.

The Italians have done an amazing job just carving their towns directly into the cliffs.  

Yes, it's steep, but it's also spectacular!

Yep, that's the road we took a few days before to get to Amalfi.

Below is the town of Positano...from way far away.

Getting closer...

And closer...

And closer...

And finally we were there.

We docked the boat in Positano (for 3 euro) and made our way to shore.  We spent a few hours walking around town, shopping, eating and drinking.

Positano is a very pretty town.  It has a much "richer" feel than Amalfi, with tons of expensive boutiques and shops.  The restaurants were pricier and the hotels were elaborate.  There are also no roads in town, making it a little more secluded, but very clean and pretty.  Definitely a gorgeous resort town worth checking out.

Me on the beach.

The streets were lined with colorful shops selling linens and jewelry.  I loved that many of the sidewalks were covered with ivy canopies that made them cool and shaded.

We had lunch at a little restaurant right on the shore so we could people-watch.  

Plus, we could keep an eye on our boat while we were dining, which is always nice.  

That's her in the middle with the blue canopy.  

And then it was time to head back out to sea.  

We headed West (back towards Sorrento) and checked out a bunch of islands off the coast.  Then we headed back towards Amalfi and beyond it, nearly to Salerno.  

The views were just unreal.

And the houses were ridiculous. 

Below is the famous "Sophia Loren" home.  Le sigh.  

Wouldn't you jut die to live there?

There's even a staircase carved into the rock from the house all the way down to the sea.

The houses below, that jut out over the water were amazing.

And I don't know if this is a hotel or what, but I want to live here forever.

It was so wonderful to be on our own as we explored the coast.  

We weren't rushed and didn't have to deal with anyone else. 

We got to set our own pace.

We stopped occasionally to check out the water temperature.

We picked a spot to anchor while we laid out and read our books for a while in the sunshine.

We stopped to check out the wildlife...

And explore the caves...

(Can you see even Ryan in that picture above?  That's how giant these cliffs were.)

And the sun was setting as we finally made our way back to Amalfi.

(Atrani below)

We were completely spent and completely happy.

It was the perfect way to spend our last day in Italy.

I cannot recommend doing this enough.  

Get your own boat!  You will not regret it.

Hope you all enjoyed the recaps.  I loved reliving the trip with you!  Since I know a few people that are planning trips to Italy in the next few months and have asked for advice, I'd like to do a post on some of the things we learned and any tips I can give.  If you have ANY questions about the trip or Italy in general, please let me know and I'll add them to the post.  

Ciao for now!