Baby Shower

Yesterday marked a watershed in the ongoing story of preparing for Newbie. My friend, Sarah, hosted a perfect baby shower for friends and family. And while the ladies gathered, Sarah's husband, Jack, rallied the men for some manly activities (read: Sunday morning pubcrawling).

Sarah had a gorgeous (and yummy) spread, complete with Dry Sodas, fruit, flowers, strata (dubbed "Eric Strata" after my first childhood crush), and...CAKE BALLS! The mood was made even more perfect with background music including many French favorites for the francophiles.


After a delicious ritual of "ladies who brunch," the showering began. Walker Starr, Jack and Sarah's little boy, was indeed the star, as he entertained us, helped open gifts, and gave the best impersonation of Oliver Twist as he nabbed all the blueberries ("boo") from our plates.





It was fun to share some family stories, look at baby pictures of each of the ladies, and "ooh" and "ahh" over the cutie-patootie onesies, caps, booties, etc.





And when the men came back from the Old Monk, we had just enough time for a father-daughter round of dueling bellies. I think we're neck-and-neck...

As long as the cats approve

With Newbie arriving in ~7 weeks, I don't think Kiera and Wiley know quite what they're in for. They live quite blissful lives, sleeping more often than waking, using our laps as furniture, and shedding to their hearts' content.

Kiera has shown obvious signs that she likes the belly. As with a few weeks ago, we've captured her again nestling on the belly. Newbie was particularly active during this catnap, and I wonder if she could feel anything (or really noticed/cared). I think she likes that the bump props her up a bit higher and she can get closer to my face.

To all those leery of cats sleeping with baby...we do have a "tent" installed over the crib should they feel the need to explore Newbie's territory. They'll have to wait a few years until the third lap is ready.

It's All Belly from Here

So, there's a little gap between belly pics...

The last "official" shot being at 28 weeks. Well, Newbie has been growing, so at 33 weeks, the belly has become worthy of capital letters: BELLY.

And you know all that talk about how your hair grows faster when you're pregnant? Hello! I think it's just mostly thicker (apparently because less of it falls out) as opposed to longer. But good-hair days are a great balance for big-belly days.

33 weeks

Like-bellied Ladies

Last weekend, we visited our friends Cari and Eric, who live in Long Beach. They showed us around LA and hosted us in their groovy condo in LB. Not only was it great to catch up, but also great to talk so much about shared experiences. Cari is also pregnant, about 8 weeks behind us, and she's having a girl. So we talked a lot about how our lives have changed since our younger days living in Austin and how our lives are about to change even more as we approach parenthood.

While we were visiting one of her condo neighbors who just had a baby in late January, our bellies were captured on camera. Pretty cute!

Working Mom (to be)

My mom came to visit last weekend, which was great. We got to talk pregnancy and parenting and she helped me register at Babies R Us--really one of my least favorite places to be. It's so overwhelming.

As luck would have it, I had to do some work over the weekend, which meant bringing my mom up to my office for a little bit. And she took these pictures...so THIS is what it looks like to be a working (almost) mom!

By the way...those are Ashley's paintings on the walls...my "windows" of escape within a window-less office.

Ah...belly...like a big pillow

Kiera has always been a lap cat, and as my lap changes, she is finding ways of leveraging the changing landscape. She's probably not going to know what hit her when Newbie arrives and our laps are suddenly much more scarce.

Third Trimester Begins

And we're off and running! Okay...there's no WAY I'm running with this belly. But it is off to the races in the sense that I know these next 12 weeks (and now, really 11) will go by quickly. Time is flying so quickly that I'm horribly behind on the belly-bump-photo front.




Yes, indeed...we do have BABY in there...

28 weeks