Our trips to Philly and New Orleans were smashing successes, and we are currently gearing up for a few more big ticket adventures over the next few months. In March we head to Nashville for a baby shower for some wonderful friends, and then to NYC to celebrate my future sister-in-law's bridal shower. In April we head back to Nashville for a family wedding, and then we move into our beautiful new apartment.

Since our condo finally sold, I was able to take a (guilt free) trip to the mall to pick up a cute outfit, complete with two pairs of heels...sorry hon! It is official, my feet have spread so much that I now wear a 8 1/2. I have all of these adorable shoes that are way too small for me, but by April they will be out of the house and on their way to new homes.

Last year I was so excited to move into the townhouse, but the third trimester, a newborn, and te knowledge that our lease was only for a year put a damper on my decorating mojo. It wasn't worth the financial investment to really make this house shine, especially since we were waiting for our condo in Omaha to sell. This time we plan to create a comfortable and cozy retreat that will hold us over for at least five years. With B going to grad school, and the extremely high cost of living here, we are planning to save, save, save while our family grows. (No, that was not a pregnancy announcement.) By the time we leave for Nashville, I hope to have a plan of attack for the whole process. I'm going to use this blog to document the process, because apparently pinterest isn't enough. I'm going to try to attempt mood boards, play with fabric swatches, and moon over paint swatches. If anyone has any suggestions on how best to do that, I would love to hear them!

In between all of that brainstorming, I'm just going to stare at this gorgeous face. It really is the most beautiful thing in the world.

You're so vain...

I am so overwhelmingly excited about our upcoming weekend that I can barely contain myself. We are taking road trip to Philadelphia to visit my brother, his fiance, and some of my best friends. Duke is going to Puppy Summer Camp (the vet), and R and her wagon-loads of stuff are coming along for the ride. This will be the first trip that she will be in cloth diapers the entire time, as well as eating solid food. We use cloth on all of our day trips, and I don't see why we can't manage it for two and a half days. I'm not positive how we will handle feeding her in the bumbo only, but I'm sure we will be able to figure it out.

I am so amused with myself at the moment. Usually when I visit my loves in Philly, I plan every outfit down to the smallest detail. I pack pounds of makeup and hair products, two curling irons, and at times a weave. I schedule a hair appointment, a brow wax, and a mani-pedi for the week before to make sure I am as camera ready as a tub-o-lard can be. However, this trip I am packing my four everyday outfits, which are all different versions of the same silhouette. I blame nursing, but really I just no longer know how to dress fashionably for my new life. I life in J. Crew cardigans, Bravado nursing tanks, and a pair of dark wash Gap jeans. My collection of heels has been replaced by a pair of sneakers thanks to my injury, and other than a scarf here and there my accessories have dwindled to a simplistic set of jewelry. I am honestly quite surprised at how little I care. Of course I wish that I looked better in my lactation uniform, but I don't feel stifled or drab because of what I'm wearing. No one really pays attention anyway, since there something much more adorable to focus on.

I am hoping to get some inspiration from my most fashionable friends, but honestly I am so excited to bask in their presence that I don't care if I look like I live in a van by the river. I know in October I will focus on my costume as much as I always do, but this trip will be all about simply enjoying each other and delighting in their introductions to R. Those will be all the memories I need, and I don't care if I am camera ready or not. It is a little freeing, and also illuminating on just how vain I am.

You know, I kind of think that song is about me.

I finally cut my hair, after not allowing myself the luxury for a year and a half. Finding a new stylist can be exhausting, and I just didn't want to potentially feel frumpier than I already do. I stopped investing in my appearance a few years ago as a way to try to protect the tatters of my self confidence, and I've allowed that to go on for far too long. So I let the lovely Jill from Elements McLean cut four inches of my hair. While I'm sad to see it go, my hair seems to have this lovely swing that has been missing for far too long. B was extra handsy, and made me feel beautiful.

I don't want R to remember this version of me. I want her to remember me smiling, willing to pose for a photograph, put together, and most importantly, happy with myself and my place in the world. Now that we are on the other side of the haze that is newborn-induced exhaustion, I am trying to focus on myself in a way I have blatantly refused to before.

We are eating better, and I'm hoping to convert all of our regular recipes to clean and organic ones by the time R turns 1. I'm making all of her food from scratch, but roasting a few sweet potatoes and pureeing a few steamed pears isn't exactly rocket science. I spectacularly failed at my first attempt to make organic whole wheat bread, but B ate it anyway. A few months ago, that failure would have depressed me for days. I'm so proud of myself that I simply found a new recipe and moved on to the next task. I feel like I've been stagnant for so long, and that lack of forward momentum has negatively impacted my life.

Today we spent the day at the University of Maryland, where I helped a chapter of my sorority with their recruitment. R wore a version of the round "uniform", and we had the best time. B spent the afternoon playing video games with random frat guys, but he didn't mind (supposedly). On Tuesday I will be clarifying my role as a volunteer with a local theatre, and honestly I couldn't be more excited!

By the end of the week I hope to have everything where it should be in R's room, and to post those elusive nursery pictures. Tomorrow we are going to follow our lazy morning up with a (potential) tour of new apartments and a million baby cuddles. If the rain goes away enough, we may take a family walk with the puppers. It should be a wonderful day.

I'm so happy with my life right now. I have so many opportunities to create a way of living that fulfills me. How amazing!

We are so excited about the rest of this winter and spring, and I really think it is permeating everything we do. We spent last Saturday at the Museum of Natural History, and a lazy Sunday finishing up some projects around the house. We are finally starting to catch up and get back onto a normal(ish) schedule.

The last six months of our lives have been the most exhausting and rewarding times of our lives. R spent today eating apples, barley, and sweet potatoes, laughing, giving kisses, petting Duke, and cuddling with B. Seeing her smile at me while hugging her father's arm, resting her cheek on his bicep, was one of the best moments of my life.

We have so many upcoming trips, and we are moving to a new place this spring. There is so much ahead of us, and my goal for the year is to document our adventures consistently. Whether through blogging or scrapbooking, I want to make sure that once life slows down B and I have the opportunity to reflect and celebrate this time.

Hopefully, by the end of the month I will have completed R's nursery (and shared it!), gotten our daily lives back on track, and planned our February down to the last message heart. I am also challenging myself to take more pictures with our good camera, as my IPhone is no good at focusing on the adorableness that is my child with our dog!

A rose by any other name...

Raquel received her Hebrew name last Friday, and we could not be more pleased with how it went. Even though it was past her bedtime, she was excitedly basking in the attention. After the service, we came home for a party dedicated to the occasion. Of course, the guest of honor was asleep as soon as we got home, but we had a wonderful time celebrating her. I had a lot of fun decorating and baking for our little shindig. One of the best parts of being a parent is getting to make days like this special!

Our table-scape! For some reason I'm obsessed with polka dots at the moment.

The proud Grandmommy!

This is a better view of the decorations.

My brother and his fiance put up what I made/ ordered in a frenzy off the internet.

Paper lanterns can be used all the time...right?

I'm so happy with this cake. It isn't bad looking for homemade.

It was white cake with raspberry filling and salted buttercream icing...so delicious!

I'm now obsessed with food coloring, so I hope B doesn't mind brightly colored cupcakes from now on.

B made fresh homemade popcorn for everyone.

I will never be able to top that gift; he uses that popcorn popper nightly!

The following is a link to the service. The naming starts at 11 minutes in.

http://www.templerodefshalom.org/live/archive2.htm

Things to be thankful for

Yesterday, while she was napping, I was overcome by the sight of my daughter's feet. She has the most adorable feet I have ever seen. I immediately started to play with them, as anyone with a pulse would have done. I ran my finger along the bottom, trying to memorize the texture of her perfect skin. She opened her eyes for a second, saw me, smiled a sleepy little smile, and went back to sleep. That was the first moment that I realized that she is mine.

Right now she is working on giving her arm a hickey thanks to that whole teething process thing. Our little lady is very, very needy right now, and being constantly held is at the top of the needs list. In the haze of exhaustion it can be really hard to appreciate this unique time. For the only time, ever, I am completely loved by another person. I am exactly what she needs, just being myself. So I'm going to go back to pacifier patrol...because teething isn't easy, and someone needs me to get through it.

Sunny days...

This is my life now, and I am enjoying learning how to live it. I hung up these diapers at 8 am, while my coffee was brewing. I had been up for over an hour, first feeding R and then settling her down for some more sleep. She likes to be awake all evening while Brian is home and awake. I've been baking all kinds of apple and pumpkin flavored things, and I'm almost back to cooking a meal from scratch every night.

This stay at home mom thing is much harder than I thought it would be. I am way too lazy and disorganized right now, and so I'm trying to find ways to make sure that our house runs smoothly. Once I feel like I've gotten a handle on that, I'm going to try to actually keep it neat. Yep, I am going to try to live in a clean house!

Right now we are super behind on that, but that is because I still can't really move around much. Also, I'm kind of hating the multiple floors, which is quite strange to me. I'm looking forward to apartment hunting this spring, because for the first time...wow...EVER, I'll be able to actually take my time and pick out a home that I like. Brian picked out our house in PA by himself, we had three freaking days to pick out a house in Omaha, and we had a day, yes, one day to pick out a place here. We are planning on staying in our next place until R starts kindergarten, so we are going to take our time and really try to make the best choice possible.

The best choice with one floor. Who knew that it would be so much harder to keep stuff neat when you had to go up and down stairs? (Falling down a flight has not really helped my opinion of them.)

Can someone come over and yell at me to decorate for Halloween? It is this week, and all of my decorations are in piles instead of out! Maybe tonight I'll get it done. Tacos don't really take that much time, and maybe I can convince Brian to help, if R will let him.