susuwatari

So had a one on one meeting with my old people manager and my new people manager and during the course of the conversation my new people manager said that people in our building already know me and like me. Then she went on to say something about meeting people outside of…blah blah blah. She said people like me they really like me. I confess I’m a little baffled by this since I’m a bit of a grump at work and generally think I’m not nice, but clearly I must be mistaken for THEY like me. I don’t know who exactly THEY are but all that matters is that they like me.

This may be why my previous people manager was few and far between with the praise as clearly it tends to go to my head and I perhaps forget to pay attention to the rest of the message. But guess what, that doesn’t matter because I am liked.

Okay, so I’m thinking the pregnancy cravings have officially started. As in last night I rolled over at 12:30am in bed and said to Wes, “How much do you love me?” Things went sort of downhill after he figured out I was more in the mood for him to run to the grocery store than for some “loving.” But seriously, what can I do? My mind has fixated on the object of my mouthbuds’ desires and there is no stopping it. Of course the current obsession is the one thing I’m pretty sure I will not be able to find. (**IMPORTANT: If you live in the St. Louis Metropolitan area and you know where to find the below object you had better leave a comment STAT. Thank you.**)

I present to you… the Japanese Crepe.

(The above pictures were shamelessly stolen from a random google image search where I tried to stop myself from licking the computer screen. No credit to artists or whatever. Sorry.)

Hello crepes come to Mama. Seriously… these are the best thing ever. These are no stinking snobby French food. You buy these babies on street corners and subway stations. One thing I can assure you of is Japan + street food = Heaven/Nirvana/Unrequited love. You can customize these at the shop. The crepes are HUGE and folded so that there is no leaking and they are amazingly delicious. I like the mixed fruits crepe (kiwi, strawberry & banana) with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Oh yes. I do indeed. But that cookies and cream one is looking pretty good right now too. I haven’t had one of these since Wes and I were in San Francisco a year ago. Like to the day. And oh, how I miss them.

Now, seriously, I can’t go around eating stuff like this all the time because then I will get fat and my unborn baby will get fat and then I’ll have to give birth to a 400 pound hippo and rupture things I don’t like to think about and die. Instead I am trying to be good and eat healthy alternatives. In this case, I can settle for the mixed fruit part and sort of meet the demands of the craving. So getting back to last night, after I had described my fantasy of us flying to California or Japan so I could get this amazing confection, my next best idea was for Wes to run to the store and buy me some kiwi, strawberries and bananas. This was a no go. I’m pretty sure he thought this was a passing fancy, something I would sleep on, forget, and then move on to the next thing. Of course I immediately started salivating this morning when I woke up and the craving is back strong as ever. So I’m off to the grocery store to get me some fruit.
love, Christina

I wanted to post some pictures since I finally uploaded the files off our camera.
Here’s Patience on her birthday.  I made cupcakes with sprinkles and princess wand candles.

Here’s me on the day of my ultrasound.  I was 20 weeks pregnant.  Wes got yelled at by the technician right after he took this.  I guess no pictures are allowed.  Woops.

Here are some cute frame magnets that I picked up for super cheap at Michael’s last week.  They were less than a dollar each.  We’re ready for baby pictures!

I’ve been thinking butterflies lately for the baby.  I’m ready for spring and I want to surround myself with cute spring things.  In the spirit of that I made some new throw pillows this morning.  I’ve put them on the couch for now but they will probably migrate into the baby’s room later.  I picked up this butterfly fabric at the Japanese mall in San Francisco last year.  It was very small and very pricey.  I’d been debating how to use it for a long time.  I backed these with ivory fabric and lucked out by having pillow inserts I could repurpose in just the right size.

As you can see Popper was using the sofa and was not very interested in moving just so that I could show off my sewing skills.  But it’s hard to complain when she looks so cute.

I’m sure you understand.

I’ve been tempted to buy this “chandelier” from Pottery Barn Kids to use as a mobile in the nursery.  It’s a little pricey but I love it.

I love that it’s papercraft and white and airy.  And butterflies!    I think it will look like a little cloud of butterflies against the aqua walls.  (Not that we’ve painted yet but maybe sometime soon!)

One last thing. I love the artwork over at Sarah Jane Studios on etsy. I’m thinking of ordering her May print. You can get it without the month written in. It fits the spirit I’m in perfectly right now.

~Christina

This post by Country Doctor’s Wife made my chuckle today.

So I had my hands full with my lunch bag, my shoe bag (wearing new shoes today and wanted to bring some sneakers if my feet start hurting), and some not very good cinnamon muffins that I was planning on pawning off to the human garbage disposals that populate my work space walking swiftly to the work shuttle bus stop. And what luck because as I was only like 8 to 10 feet away a bus comes up, no waiting for me! Except no wait…..the bus driver is only slowing down but not stopping. There is a brief moment where the bus driver and I meet eyes in his rear view mirror and then off he zooms because I guess TECHNICALLY I wasn’t ALL THE WAY TO THE BUS STOP!! Now I’m going to be late to my 9am meeting because this jerk hates his job! Sadly my hands were full and I could not give him the visual message he clearly deserves.

a Kisser?

If so I think he’s of the french variety. 

So I’m finally posting some pictures of the fabrics I used to make a blanket for the baby’s crib.  I really love the colors in these fabrics but am starting to freak out that the room will look too boyish.  Here’s what I’m working with so far.  Please feel free to leave suggestions!!

Amy Butler Fabrics used for blanket:

Belle Chrysanthemums in Mustard

Lotus in Mustard

I’m thinking of painting the room to match the blue in the Chrysanthemum fabric.  I’ve selected Crystal Aqua by Valspar.

Crystal Aqua

The trim in the room matches the rest of our 1950s ranch house.  It’s been stained to look sort of a glossy teak color.  This is not my top choice since I think it makes the room appear smaller than it already is.  (And it is pretty tiny.)  However, I don’t want to paint the trim if possible since it is a big selling point in our house.  Also, Wes would kill me.  Also, there’s really not too much of it in the room.  Just the main door and the closet door.  Here’s an old picture from before we bought the house that shows the trim color.

Nursery - Trim Color

The crib we were lucky enough to get for free from Wes’s sister, Marcie, is the Paula crib by Pali Design.  I have a picture of it from the website but ours is actually in the darker wood color which matches our trim color pretty well.  See below:

Paul Crib by Pali

Crib Color - Cognac

I’m also looking at this dresser in the Essex Collection by Munire Furniture to use as a changing table in the room.  I think it’s a piece that can grow with the baby and be repurposed later.  I’m not going to get the hutch with it because I don’t want to overpower the room by taking over the whole wall.  i think the color goes well with the crib.

Essex Collection by Munire Furniture

I’d like to keep this piece of furniture in the room.  I think it would be cute to put aqua and ivory canvas bins in here to store baby items.  The bottom shelves can tuck away diapers and toys so that Popper doesn’t destroy everything.  (She is fascinated by all the baby stuff and likes to drag things all over the room.)  Sorry for the low quality photo.

I’m still on the look out for a cute bookshelf.  I’m thinking I might want this to be painted in ivory or green to mix things up… we’ll see though.  I need a comfy chair for feedings.  I found a nice one that is a rocker/glider/recliner but I’d like to see if I can find something a little cheaper.  I’m thinking the chair should maybe be green or brown.  Ivory would be pretty but would get dirty too easily.  Hopefully I can get all that to fit in the room.

Here are my concerns about the room.  The color palette is blue, brown, yellow/orange, green, and ivory, which are traditionally colors you’d find in a boy’s room.  I’d like the keep the room feeling like it’s for a little girl.  (She’s already getting a nontraditional name for a girl so I don’t want her to hate me completely.)  I’m hoping the floral fabrics on the bedding help with this.  Pink and purple clash pretty badly with the colors I’ve chosen.  Unfortunately that’s most of what I’m finding in stores for girls.  Also, the room is really small.  I’m trying to pack a lot of functionality into the room but don’t want it to feel overwhelmed by too much furniture.  I probably won’t be able to really test drive this issue until we start throwing furniture in there, but it is one thing I worry about.  If anyone has any ideas to contribute to the room I’d love to hear them!  Or if you think I’m being silly and worrying too much let me know that too!

~Christina

Old Navy Maternity is having a sale.  Of couse, when are they not?  So I picked out some new clothes to spruce up the colors in my maternity wardrobe.  Hopefully I won’t be tempted to buy more later.  I’m trying not to go overboard on clothes that I will (hopefully) not be wearing that long, but I’m SICK of wearing black!!  I’m also hopeful that if I splurge on cute spring tops and dresses that the weather will get the message and make it worth my time to shave my legs if you know what I mean.  Better do that soon while I still can anyway!  (Sorry for the TMI… try not to visualize.)

So here’s what I’ve picked out:

Spring Dress

Shirred Printed Cami

Matching Cardigan

Cute Eyelet Top

Pleated Empire Top

I know it’s a lot of blue but hey, it looks good on me and it’s not black so whatever.  While I was happy clicking away on the website I picked up these for the baby.  Yes, I know I’m influenced by Dooce.  But so is every other blog reader out there on the internet.  I thought the plushie was cute.  It looks like something I would make except I didn’t have to.  Also, I’m not that good at embroidering faces so I’m happy to throw down $3 on a cute toy.

Charley Harper ABC Board Book

Missy Prissy Plushie

I’m officially broke now but I’m returning some things so that’s sort of like getting a discount right?  Right?  Yeah, it is.  I’m realizing as I write this that WordPress may not be the best way to display a lot of images like this but then I have no idea what I’m doing.  Patience would know how to put the pictures side by side but she is smart like that.  (Sorry for taking over the whole main page of the blog Patience.)

I also made some more zoo animals for the baby.  I made a hippo, elephant and lion.  They match the bedding perfectly!  I love them.  I was going to sell them on etsy but I don’t really have a shop set up and I’d have to charge about $15 each for these since they are pretty labor intensive.  I don’t know a lot of people who want to throw down that much cash for a 5 inch plushie that is sort of unsafe for babies anyway.  (It has bead eyes because I suck at the embroidery and beanies in the butt because the heads are top heavy.)  Luckily I’m allowed to expose my own child to whatever hazards I want.  Plus I’m really just using these as decorations so don’t hyperventilate!

Take care, Christina

To my dear friend who is feeling pretty lousy. A gift to that should cause you to chuckle a little, maybe even SMILE!

Your Friend,
Patience

Yay!!  We just found out last Tuesday that we are having a baby girl!  I’m super excited and have already moved to picking the perfect shade of aqua for her bedroom while Wes is sort of mourning that our child may never be as excited about Transformers and GI Joes as he might have wished.  (Don’t worry he’s excited to have a girl too.)

Introducing: Baby Ehrlichman at 20 weeks – with girl parts!  Woo!  The baby looks super healthy.  She weighs 12.2 ounces right now and has started to enjoy kicking her mama.  (She did this before but now she’s strong enough that I can feel it.)  The baby was breech at the time of the ultrasound but there’s plenty of time for her to change positions while she’s practicing her gymnastic routine in my belly.  And yes, my baby is mooning you in the last picture.  (Wes calls this the “sitting on a copy machine” picture.)  Enjoy!

Baby Ehrlichman - 20 Weeks

Baby Ehrlichman - 20 Weeks

Baby Ehrlichman - Girl Parts!

I feel like I’ve been trapping all this nesting energy until I could know the sex of the baby and it’s coming rushing out now that the mystery is over.  I made Wes take me to the mall last week so that I could browse.  I feel like I’m exploring a new culture when I go into these baby stores.  I have not bought anything yet, I am merely going to study what is there.  Then I go online and stare at the options some more and then finally I write down a list of things I think I really need.  Our room for the baby is not going to be very traditional in color.  I’m okay with that but I am starting to get nervous that I’ve made things more difficult for myself by not choosing a traditional pink and purple palette.  I’m wanting aqua walls, mustard yellow, sage green, and aqua bedding with ivory accents throughout the room.  I’m not saying I don’t like pink here and there, I just really fell in love with these fabrics and want to see if I can make it work.

On Saturday night we went to our nephew Brody’s first birthday party.  While we were there Marcie loaded us up with a bunch of infant items to take home with us.  We brought them in the house and it looked like Babies R Us had thrown up in our living room.  I need to start sorting through everything to figure out what can stay on the main level of our house and what needs to be stored in the basement.  We are so blessed to be given so much from our family.  However, I’m sort of terrified of the giant pile Marcie showed me in her much larger basement and told me needed to be moved to our house.  The main level of our house is about 1200 sq. ft. so we don’t have a lot of free space.  My idea is to put a few small toy bins in the nursery and put the majority of stuff in the basement.  Then I can cycle through the toys periodically to mix things up.  This might also be delusional but I’ve been thinking that I’d like the baby things that we do purchase to match the rooms of our house as much as possible so that they aren’t huge eyesores.  I’m not trying to deprive our child of color, I just don’t want to turn every room in the house into an Elmo palace.  We’ll see how well I do at this in practice though. If you can’t tell my mind has been totally preoccupied with these thoughts and I have been known to just sit and stare off in space on the sofa for long periods of time.  I will try not to bore the general public with my craziness too often though.