Husband Assistance

HEY! BOY! LOOK HERE! (Parents too)

My holiday list is as follows:

La Vanilla The Healthy Fragrance Mini Roller-Ball Set

What is better than a new perfume? FOUR NEW PERFUMES.

Henri Bendel Candle in Firewood

I looooveeee candles. Especially woody smelling ones.

Have It Sweet's Fleur de Sel Caramels

Pregnancy cravings . . . activate!

BabastudioPrague's The Penny Farthing. Three way messenger bag.

This bag has been in my Etsy Favorites for-EVER and I think it would make a spectacular diaper bag.


Be Maternity Over The Belly Leggings in Black (Small)
Admittedly, not so glamorous. But they'd really help me stretch my maternity wardrobe and the over the belly panels are the most comfortable, in my opinion.

Crabtree and Evelyn La Source Body Lotion



Recently got a hand cream tube in this scent and I NOW WANT EVERYTHING TO SMELL LIKE IT. So body lotion would be perfect.

Thanksgiving Festivities

So much with the festive, right?! I had a marathon of a Thanksgiving weekend.

My husband's mom was in town and we had the big meal on Thursday at my brother in law's house with my parents, both of my husband's and both of his siblings:



On Friday I started off the day with Smitten Kitchen's Pumpkin Waffles which were DIVINE and adored by all SEVEN PEOPLE who I made them for (except for my dad who suddenly and inexplicably won't touch pumpkin). Then, on my suggestion, we dragged everyone out to Hollywood to see Disney's A Christmas Carol in 3D at the El Capitan. FORTUNATLEY, for me who suggested the outing, the movie was spectacular. Far darker and more interesting than I'd hoped it would be and seeing it in such a huge, historic theater was tons of fun.

Saturday! I had a craft day planned with my sister in law and mother in law. My SIL and I worked on makeup bags, earrings and flower pins as holiday gifts for our friends while my MIL worked on a stocking for me to match the one she made for my Boy when he was small (awwww, right?!). I had both of my sewing machines out in the living room, the ironing board set up by the big window and blankets on the floor for us to sit on while cutting the PILES and SCADS of fabric and ribbon strewn around the room. We made a HUGE mess and had a TON of fun. Also ate the better part of a box of Peppermint Jo Jo's and watched Elf, which contributed tremendously to the PARTY! atmosphere.


Regular readers can probably guess what we did on Sunday. YEP, Disneyland. We went with my MIL, SIL and her boyfriend and a great time was had by all. We hit up all the usual suspects: Small World Holiday, Pirates, Mansion, Star Tours (preggo sat that one out), Peter Pan, the train and ASTRO BLASTERS on which I achieved the following astounding, and let's be honest, FREAKISH feat:


Boy and I are going back to Disneyland this Sunday so WE'LL SEE whether that score was a fluke (and I highly, highly doubt it wasn't). Meanwhile, I'm looking for a frame to put the photo up in the condo, obvs.

Hope your Thanksgiving was festive and fun!

Like I won the freaking lottery

So, yes, yes, I'll go over Thanksgiving and the myriad of fun things we did, but MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THINGS HAVE HAPPENED in the time between my last post and now, so I'll start with them:

MY BABY BEAN IS A BOY!!!

A perfectly formed, perfectly sized and perfectly adorable little boy.

And you know what else? I can feel him kicking. I felt the first kicks last Monday morning while still in bed. I didn't want to say anything right away because it isn't like I've got lots of experience in the baby kicks department, but I felt one little tap on my left side, followed by two more quick taps and I was pretty darn sure they were Bean related.

I had been waiting to feel the "fluttering" everyone describes and honestly? Never did. I felt kicks. Then on Thanksgiving day, at dinner, Beanages started up kicking again and my mom just happened to be sitting next to me so I grabbed her hand and SHE FELT HIM TOO! Over the next few hours and days, Boy felt him (has a few times now!) as did my mother in law and sister in law.

I felt Bean banging around in there before my big ultrasound yesterday, and when the doctor commented on how active Bean was it was a nice confirmation for me that, YES! I have been feeling movement!

We saw a few somersaults, a lot of hand waving, and, you know, THE GOODS. Which were definitively BOY SHAPED. He also did a fair bit of grimacing and wiggling away from the ultrasound wand. Methinks he isn't a big fan of being poked and looked at.

Things have been crazy good lately. My baby is healthy, I'm feeling great. My husband has been a true champ and has reminded me more or less daily why I married him. My Etsy shop has been doing spectacularly and I'm trucking right towards my 1,000th sale (hoping that will happen by year's end!). There's the small matter of how sometimes when I sneeze I pee . . . but that's a minor inconvenience in the face of so much HAPPY. Things are good . . . really, really good.