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I have been diligent about documenting the progress of this pregnancy since the day I found out the news. Mostly because I am a crazy psycho who is obsessed with making albums of our life. I make an annual album every year full of our ‘every day’ life in pictures and posts from my blog. But I knew I would do a pregnancy album, too, full of belly shots, nursery decor, and posts about my thoughts on pregnancy. I think it will be something I love to look back on in the future and maybe baby will even think it’s cool to see how mom changed during these 9 months.

But as far as the belly goes, things like this call for a little collage action. For instance, my first trimester:

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As I head towards the halfway mark of my pregnancy (at 18.5 weeks, if you want to be all technical about it), I’m starting to pull together the nursery and thought it would be nice to share. I fully intend on this being a long, drawn-out project full of extensive research, bargains, and excitement. So far so good! :)

My inspiration all started with these images from the wonderful Jennyology’s blog:

I am obsessed with the bright apple green walls, the vivid curtains, and the fact that she avoided all pastels. I am on a mission….NO PASTELS in this nursery. I want all bright and bold colors which proves to be a challenge in the sea of pale pinks and blues in nursery world. But I have faith that I can do it!

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Let me preface this by saying that we don’t have kids, and we don’t even know if we want kids.  That said, I have been thinking about decorating a nursery… basically just for fun.  One idea I’ve toyed with is a fairy tale themed room.  I’d love this chandelier and castle wall decal for either a boy or girl:

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Not only can Etsy dress a baby like none other, but it can also decorate a nursery like a pro. Of course, you’ll need to be the one to pull it all together but nothing like handmade goods to inspire a room for the baby.

Pillows for the rocker:

by seller ManicMuffin Totes:

from seller ginia18:

Then come the wall prints. Don’t even get me started.

by seller Ferntree Studio:

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We’re gaining a new addition to our home come April 2010!

While planning my wedding I learned about all of these creative and innovative projects people embarked on during the engagement period. So it figures that now that I’m in the pre-natal period I would be dreaming up projects that apply to baby. Nursery decor projects? Those are off limits for single income couples like us that plan on moving 5 months after the baby is born to go to business school. So I had to be a bit more creative with my thinking. What if, instead of working on something tangible, I focused on creating something… bloggable!

Unlike the lovely Julia, I do not have a sexy tight belly with a cute little bump. I have a belly gained through hours spent in front of the computer editing photos and years of bad food choices. But that’s not going to prevent me from embarking on the belly bump slideshow project I’ve been dreaming of for months now.

For this project to happen I need tripod, camera, good light, neutral background, the same outfit for every photo, the same pose for every photo, and all of this happening in as close to the same spot as possible each week.

I chose to wear white because it’s the most revealing color (usually the reason why I avoid it!) as I wanted all of the changes in my body to be seen. I chose to take the photos on Sunday, a day I end up doing my hair and wearing makeup, something that doesn’t usually happen the rest of the week. I picked a spot on our office with good light and a blank wall and set up my tripod across from it. I put duct tape on the floor under each of the legs of the tripod, and also where my feet needed to go.

After I had the settings on my camera where I wanted them I began running back and forth, setting the timer, and then getting back into position. I decided my favorite pose was the typical “hands resting on the small of the back” pregnancy pose, and did a shot of my front with shirt down, side with shirt down, front with shirt up, and side with shirt up. Each week I’ll take a shot as close to this setup as I possibly can, and then at the end of my pregnancy (and definitely as I go as well) I’ll assemble it into a little video where each shot is shown side-by-side so the growth and changes can be seen.

I’ll update you when I feel like I’ve “popped” so you can see the progress!

Whether you are expecting a tiny tot of your own or buying baby shower gifts for friends, chances are you might have scoured the internet for cute baby clothes. A little internet shopping never hurt anyone, right?

When I found out I was pregnant one of the first places I went online was Etsy because I just cannot get enough of that site. And who knew that Etsy has an amazing ‘children’ and ‘baby’ section full of gorgeous handmade goodness?

I’m pretty sure you could create an entire wardrobe for a baby out of amazing Etsy finds. And perfect shower gifts, too!

Here are some of my faves that I’m lusting over as we speak:

ONESIES:

(I’m obsessed with giraffes and my husband is, in fact, tall) From seller Bugga Love:

(For the Patrick Swayze fans) From seller TrulySanctuary:

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One of my bridesmaids in our recent wedding is literally my oldest friend. We started at the same day care at age 2 and even attended the same preschool before ending up in the same grade school classes every year from 4th through 8th grades. Somewhere along the way, she met my cousin and they both developed junior high crushes, although all the way through high school they were both dating this person or that person and never each other. Low and behold, somewhere during the college years they met again, fell in love and just over a year ago got married. Now they are expecting their first baby next month and this weekend everyone came together to celebrate the impending arrival with a really fun jack and jill baby shower. There was a delicious cake topped with momma and baby rubber ducks, lots of balloons, a miniature army of kids running around playing in the water and fishing off the dock, and an overwhelming sense of excitement. Oh, and there wasn’t a single cheesy baby shower game! (Ohhh how I loathe such silly games.) Truly, I’ve never had such fun at a baby shower before and loved getting to celebrate this amazing occasion with two of my absolute favorite people.

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You all know my love for Some Ecards, right? Well, this one sums it up nicely because I’m pregnant! (Nate helped but I cringe when people say ‘We’re’ pregnant). If you read my personal blog you already know my big news but I have to share with you EADL gals, as well.

This little guy is in for a big surprise as he’s been an only child for nearly 4 years. Poor baby. Look at him sniffing the test (and yes, it is covered so he wasn’t tarnished by my pee.)

So I have a feeling my posts are going to be a lot more….focused from here on out, dear readers. But my nesting instinct is already in full effect and I have tons of ideas for decorating, saving money, and organizing. Just you wait.

We are so excited to start this journey together, sharing it with you along the way. I hope this doesn’t make me the crazy pregnant lady on EADL….I swear I’ll still be fun. :)

Do I mention a lack of time in all of my posts? When I was pregnant and dreamed of being a stay at home mom, I thought I’d have all this time to make dinner and when my husband got home from work I’d meet him at the door wearing my high heels and beautiful dress with my delicious meal waiting on the table for him. The baby would be peacefully napping and the dogs will have been fed and snoozing on the floor. But I don’t live in Stepford and I’m not perfect.

After we got married, we were pretty much on our own every night for supper. I got home a lot earlier than my husband did and I was usually ready to eat well before he ever came home. He’d come home around 8:00 p.m. and not be too hungry, so he’d eat a bowl of cereal. Unless we went to a restaurant, we usually weren’t eating together. But when the baby was born, I wanted to make family dinners a priority.

I have cooked one meal since the baby was born. One. To my credit, our friends brought meals to us for twenty days after the baby arrived. We didn’t have to think at all about what we were going to eat. It was just there.

Now that he is two months old, it’s about time I figured out this time management thing. Now, I’m not going to say anything to stir up a debate about who has more free time between stay at home moms or working moms, but I will say that I’m busier than I’ve ever been in my life. My free time happens when the baby takes a nap. I know it will get a little easier as he gets older and is able to play more and entertain himself for a few minutes, but right now he needs me every second of every day.

Meal planning is the answer to my Stepford dream. On Saturday, I make a list of the meals that I want to prepare during the week and the ingredients needed for each meal. On Sunday, I grocery shop for everything I need and on Sunday night, I begin the preparations for Monday night’s meal. Having the necessary ingredients at hand is essential. I definitely don’t have time to zip down the street to the grocery store to pick up the green onion that I forgot.

Because there are only two of us, we can eat leftovers for at least one day. There’s no need for any food to go to waste. I’ve got a stack of some good recipes that can be split into two casserole dishes so one can be frozen for a later date. So while the baby naps, I get dinner started and I finish up when my husband comes in from work. As he progresses with his milestones, I will have a little more time to get back into cooking and will be able to move away from casseroles and back into fixing delicious pork tenderloin and fresh vegetables.

How do you make it work for your family? Do you manage to get dinner on the table every night?

Memories are very important to me. When we found out that we were expecting a baby, Todd got our family a Canon Rebel. Then we purchased a pretty good little video camera after he was born. We don’t want to miss a second of his life and want to make sure that we capture the important little moments for him to look back on later.

Scrapbooking used to be one of my biggest hobbies. In college, my roommate and I would pull out all of our scrapbooking materials on a Saturday morning and sit and watch movies while scrapbooking for two days.

I love to scrapbook and have high hopes of putting together some gorgeous albums for Hudson that will be his someday. Here’s the problem: I don’t have a lot of free time! Scrapbooking requires space, making a mess, planning, and cleaning up. It could take 45 minutes to complete one page. That’s the extent of nap time some days.

My other option is to get some beautiful leather albums where I can just slip the photo into the sleeve and move on to the next one. I still have some scrapbooks from college that I haven’t completed and would like to finish before starting a new project. I have found some beautiful leather albums that can be engraved with his name and the year.

I guess I just have some dreams of being the super mom that scrapbooks her child’s entire life and gives it to him as a gift at his high school graduation. (I had some friends whose mothers did this for them in high school and I was seriously impressed—and jealous.)

How do you store your memories? Photo boxes? Albums? Scrapbooks?

Do you set aside entire Saturdays to catch up on your project or do you just find a few minutes here and there to work on them?