daisy may

love this sweet face

guess where she slept this past weekend?  yep. . .in the guest room on the bed that her visiting grandma was sleeping in.  she still keeps going and checking to see if the guest room door is open and it's not.  she is wondering where her grandma went!

awesome baby shower!

my baby shower was yesterday and my oh my was it a wonderful affair.  none of my family nor many of my oldest friends were able to attend since they are all so far away.  but everyone sent presents and books and i'm so appreciative that they were so thoughtful! 

you see. . .little did i know that there was a book theme to this party.  so guests not only brought gifts from my registry (and beyond), but each also brought their favorite book (or books) from childhood.  such a great idea, and i was thrilled to get so many great books for our little one's library.  up until this point, she had a fairly empty book shelf.  but now, like her closet, her bookshelf runneth over.  i've already had visions, when she's older of course, of reading books together at night before bed. 

anyhow, first things first.  the decor and food were awesome.  my business partner and friend Rachel coordinated most of this with the help of her sister (who flew in from Chicago for the occasion) and her mom.  knowing i see beyond pink when thinking about baby girls, they used an orange and green color scheme that i loved with gorgeous roses, daisies and tulips (my fave) and green and orange jelly beans in baby bottles.  here are some pics:

did you see the tiny baby booties handmade with frosting by Rachel's mom on top of the cupcakes?  the detail on the little laces is amazing.  my special beverage was a mango-apple mocktail that was delicious.  guests without a bun in the oven imbibed on orange dream cocktails which also looked delish.  the cute little party favor boxes included two delicious French macaron cookies.  have you tried these?  not macaroons. . .but macarons.  they are all the rage in LA right now. . .google them. 

so this is what i looked like on the big day.  everyone kept telling me to sit down.  this was my perch on the couch when i complied.

this is Rachel and me.  she was the hostess with the mostess!

 this was the co-hostess Josette and her new five-month-old baby girl Milana.  you might remember her from this past summer when i co-hosted her shower at my house.

these are some more of the girls, from left to right: Eunjoo, Tiffanie, me and Kathleen.  Kathleen is an old friend and roommate from KU days that lives down in Orange County.  i learned at my shower that she is five months pregnant with #2! 

this is Eunjoo, me and Rachel.  note i'm following orders and at my perch.

the ladies who made it all happen: Rachel's mom (far left), Rachel (middle) and Rachel's sister (far right).  the blonde in the middle is our friend Heather who is also our client and that's her baby girl Harper who is only 10 weeks old.

once we started the big gift unwrap, i moved over to a new perch.

opening all those presents sure was fun!  the two new mommies took it upon themselves to give me goody bags filled with all the stuff you need after giving birth that no one tells you.  some of this was a bit shocking to the ladies in the room who haven't had babies.

butt paste for baby's bum.

Tuck's medicated pads for MY bum!

and we can't forget the disposable underwear.  these got a lot of oohs and ahhs.  but as i mentioned, the books were my favorite part.

my sister sent these books, two of our favorites from childhood: The Pokey Little Puppy and the Saggy Baggy Elephant.

she also sent the Town Mouse and Country Mouse. . .well because that's us!  i was explaining the significance in this photo. . .and getting a little teary-eyed.  my mom sent Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes because she thinks all kids need a good foundation of traditional nursery rhymes to get a good start in life and because she is the mother goose after all!

towards the end of the evening, a group of us somehow ended up in the nursery.  this is from left to right: Janice, me, Josette (and Mila), Kym and Roz. and then Adam showed up and took advantage of a little baby holding practice.  he's a natural!  that's him and Harper.

and a good time was had by all.  thank you to all near and far who participated and helped make this such a wonderful event.  your thoughtfulness and generosity, but mostly your friendship, is very much appreciated and treasured.  i am blessed.

revelation

we had our final ultrasound today.  the report was good!  sweet little Baby H is catching up with her growth, although still a little small for her age.  but we're small people. . .so hey, only makes sense.  and all of her organs and parts seem to be growing just fine. . .especially her brain.  it's measuring slightly ahead of the rest of her body.  she's gonna be a little smarty pants.  

usually our ultrasound appointments involve Adam and I staring at the screen with the perinatologist explaining what each thing is, but us not really seeing much.  and then we walk out with a couple of blurry photos of bits and pieces of body parts that we can't really identify.

today was different.  suddenly the screen was filled with a face.  a real human face.  i got goosebumps and Adam's jaw dropped.  and we walked out of the office with this amazing photo of our baby girl.

and suddenly everything feels different. . . real.  there's a real little person bouncing around in my belly.  she's perfect.  and we are filled with love and excitement for her arrival.

multi-purpose!

well fancy that. . .this big ol' belly can come in handy after all.  who needs a night table when you can simply stash your water bottle on your belly?

and the update for today:  tomorrow i will have reached the 34 week mark.  considering my mom delivered my sister (her first, but not favorite child) at 34 weeks, i've started considering that this baby could really come any day now!  so, for that reason, we installed the car seat bases this weekend.  we put one in each of our cars just in case.  i also started packing my hospital bag, but didn't get very far.  i have a very limited wardrobe at this point. . .so i really can't pack anything yet because then i couldn't wear it.  and then i'd have nothing to wear!  but i have a list and started putting some stuff in the bag at least. 

had another NST today.  my OB popped up and surprised me.  she does that if she happens to be at the hospital when i'm there.  it's always a nice surprise.  today she proclaimed that my baby has become "the best baby on the block!"  she said she's looking stellar.  a month ago when we started these tests, it would take up to 3 hours to get a good enough reading. . .but now we're getting it done in 30 minutes to an hour.  our baby is smart.  she just needed to know what they were looking for, and now she gets it done quick!  we go in for an ultrasound tomorrow and we expect that to go well as well.  will be interesting to see how much bigger she's gotten since i've been overloading on the protein.

Christmas and New Years were both very mellow around the Hamilton estate.  let's just say we proclaimed "Happy New Year!" at the same time they did on the East Coast (ie: 9 pm Pacific time) and we were asleep shortly thereafter.  but we did have a delightful dinner at Morton's just the two (er three) of us.  i have a feeling next Christmas and New Years are going to be VERY different.

very much looking forward to 2011 and the wonderful new adventure that awaits us.  and looking forward to all the visitors who will be coming from new and far to see our new addition.  feel free to start booking your spring travel now.  we'll still have a guest room. . .right next to the nursery complete with up-all-night screaming baby.  sounds enticing doesn't it. . .