My mom threw Tom & I a lovely baby shower some weeks back. We had it at a local Italian restaurant that's very old school. The place always reminds Tom & I of Goodfellas. The staff is very attentive and they served up lots of Italian standards like chicken parm & rum cake (YUMMO!) & the not so Italiano standard Sangria. I just had to add some beautiful blue cupcakes, too from this fab place. It's not a party without cupcakes.
The moms (mine from NC & Tom's from VA) came in the day before to help put together centerpieces. We even had a few car fulls of Rhode Islanders in attendance. Included in one of those cars was my dearest friend Mary Lou who made us the cutest diaper cake ever. She did a jungle theme with a monkey on top. Guess what was in the center of the cake? The one thing I've been craving from the beginning of this pregnancy - a bottle of champagne!!!! My cousin Lea, who was so very pregnant, also made the journey. She was such a good sport walking all over NYC with swollen piggies all weekend long. Someone did take a belly pic of the 2 of us, but I haven't received it yet. She didn't have to suffer for too long because a few weeks later Ethan Mathew was born.
I must also mention that my TAO co-workers threw Tom & I a surprise shower some months back. It was just so beautiful & I wish I had pictures of it to share. Food, cake, champagne & lots of laughter filled the air. Their generosity was overwhelming. They took such good care of baby Awesome.
While Tom was in Colorado celebrating his sister Gina becoming a veterinarian, I stayed behind and celebrated the success of my webgirls. Hope, Leslie & Kathleen were featured in the Stationary Show here in NYC. Jes decided to come down from Maine to help me set up Hope & Leslie's booth. We worked very hard but it turned out great! Jes & I had a fun girlie weekend while the other girls worked the show. We went and had pedicures (Jes' first & yes Jes, your toes look pretty!) & went to a cool Brooklyn flea market. And we napped quite a bit because my preggo butt did get tired.
All of us got together one night for an Italian dinner in Hell's Kitchen. As always, my girls were so super generous, showering baby Awesome (Tom's nickname for our baby-to-be & the girls just love it) with cute outfits, funky leather slippers & toys. They did not leave the mom to be out in the cold, showering me with gorgeous jewelry & a spa gift certificate. I will not have to wait very long to see them again. Leslie will be back in August with her kids & hubby. Kathleen will be back for the gift show in a month or so. And Aunt Jes will be back with friends in September. They'll all get to meet baby Awesome when they return!
Kudos must be given to my sister-in-law Gina. She graduated from vet school in May & is officially a doctor. Whoo Hoo! We've all been on this journey with her. She emailed us updates on her rotations as well as pics like the beauty above. Then there was the time I got the mail and there was an enveloped addressed to Tom from his sis & it felt like there were cotton balls inside. The "cotton balls" turned out to be the testicles of a flying squirrel that she had neutered. She thought Tom would get a kick out of receiving such a gift......he did. So congrats Gina! you worked so very hard for this achievement & we're all proud of you.
I did an interior redesign for Real Simple Magazinein December. I've kept my lips sealed for months. Well, not totally sealed, family & close friends knew, but that's it. I had absolutely no idea if my design would make it in the magazine or when. Well, to my surprise and delight, I did make it in the May issue which is on the news stands now. And I'm the lead off story & photo spread for"Ready, Set, Redecorate". It's very exciting! I've already received some calls from potential clients saying, "I saw you in Real Simple magazine..." Tom's calling me his superstar, designing wife. And every once in a while he makes me to shout out, "SUPERSTAR!" & throw my arms in the air, ala Catholic girl, Mary Katherine from Saturday Night Live. Except it must look pretty funny with my pregnant belly & all. Hmm...that must be why he laughs so hysterically. Any hoo... here's a little peek at the article. And click here for photos.
What to Do When a Living Room Has No Breathing Room Douglas Friedman At 12 feet wide, this Jersey City town house couldn’t accommodate its furnishings. “If I see something cute, I buy it,” says Winston Gitonga, 34, who lives in the house with his wife, Charmaine Delarama, 35, and their daughter, Sibel, 1. As a result, says redecorator* Dawn Falcone, owner of Dawn Falcone Lifestyles (www.dawnfalconelifestyles.com), in New York City, “the family was always tripping over everything. I’ve never had to deal with so many chairs.” The SolutionAfter getting rid of bulky items, like “a large, manly media center,” Falcone started to rethink the room. “When the family had people over, everyone crowded around the TV, and no one sat anywhere else,” she says. To keep the TV from being the focal point, she carved out two distinct zones: one for conversation and one for entertainment. Falcone shifted the sofa to the opposite wall so that “it faces the home’s original coal-burning fireplace rather than a blank wall.” A sturdy ottoman found in the bedroom replaced the mini stool–cum–coffee table, while an acrylic chair swiped from the kitchen filled out the seating area without adding visual heft. For the entertainment nook, she placed the TV on a slender cabinet near the windows and traded a small area rug for a larger sisal. “Our guests love the new arrangement,” says Gitonga. “They say, ‘Wow, why didn’t you think of that before?’”
This is not the 1st belly photo that we've take, just the 1st one that we're sharing with the world. I'm officially 25 weeks (6 months preggers) and its also happens to be right around my birthday. Whoo Hoo! God, I could really go for a glass of champagne. That's one of the things I'm craving. The other is sushi. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait a few more months to indulge in either. We celebrated my BDay by having a dinner party with some friends. I cooked my gravy & meatballs and Tom's made pomegranate mohito's. Speaking of celebrating, there's been lots of it recently.
Cousins Matt & Dillon welcomed their first child a few weeks back. Nathan Robert (photo to left). Isn't he a cutie? I think he looks just like Matt did as a baby. And my California friends Roxanne & Owen welcomed their son Henry Hale. He too looks like his dad with that gorgeous jet black hair.
In other, non baby news, it's my dear friend Hope's birthday. And what better way to celebrate than a marriage proposal! Hope's boyfriend Mike proposed last night. She said yes! Congrats guys!
It 's amazing the things that come put of people's mouths sometimes. It's also quite strange, at least to me, that loved ones, acquaintances and even complete strangers feel the need to voice their opinions about everything when it comes to babies and pregnant women's bodies. Now, I'm very lucky because I have a close group of girlfriends, sisters and cousins that are already on the motherhood journey and are a wealth of information. Tom, my hubby, has also been great with cooking, cleaning, and basically waiting on me & trying to deal with my ever changing moods. I thought I'd compile a small list of things not to say to a pregnant woman unless of course, you'd like to get your butt kicked. Pregnant woman are fierce and and should not be messed with!!
"Wow, your butt has really gotten bigger!"
"You've got a big ass belly."
"You do not look pregnant, just fat."
"What's up chubs."
"Your boobs are ginormous...they look like Pamela Anderson's"
"Are you glowing or did you just puke?"
"Are you going to throw up dinner again? Do you know how much that wild salmon cost?"
"You look very small for 5 months, are you sure everything is alright?"
"You look very tired"
"Can't you walk a little faster?"
Suddenly, everyone is an expert on nutrition when it comes to telling you what to eat or not to eat.
"You shouldn't eat that shrimp, it's not good for the baby."
"You need to eat healthy, you know!" ( said while I was sitting and eating steamed broccoli)
"You should basically follow the caveman diet throughout your pregnancy"
"Cravings are not real, don't give in to them"
And my advice to mommies-to-be about telling people names that you are considering...Keep Them To Yourself!
"I went to school with someone that had that name... he ended up being a child molester"
"I don't like that name at all!"
"I went to school with someone that had that name & he was a big jerk!"
"That name sounds gay"
"I went to school with someone that had that name and he wasn't too bright"
I've been away for a while but, I have returned with some news to share. I'm 5 months pregnant! Tom & I are very excited. We found out while vacationing in Costa Rica. And as luck would have it the morning sickness started immediately after the news was revealed. It would have been great if I were only nauseous and vomiting in the morning and if it all cleared up by noon. That wasn't the case. I was sick all day & night for the entire 1st trimester.
Many different things would set me off. Weird smells, which are everywhere, especially in the NYC subways; the thought of certain foods, cooking, quick movements, loud noises, Tom's morning breath (I guess that goes under the weird smell category) just about everything. I also caught some kind of bug right before the holidays. Christmas Day & New Year's were spent in bed drinking water and eating saltines. It took me over a month to shake the thing. I guess my body was very busy & didn't have the time or energy to ward off infections.
Speaking of energy, I had absolutely none for a while. There were a few Saturdays that I did not even get out of my pj's. And the big task of the day was moving from the bed to the couch. I do think that Tom enjoyed this since I wasn't all over his case to go to Costco, Target or Trade Joe's or fix things around the house.
The good news is all of that has passed. I have my energy back, I'm feeling much better, I'm back on Tom to get things done before the baby arrives and most importantly our little guy is healthy. Yup, I did say guy. It's a boy!! Which I knew from about the time I was 8 weeks along. I had very strong feelings about it. And I had dreams. My mom believes that if you dream that you're having a boy, you are actually having the opposite, but this is also the same woman that told me that if a bird craps on you it's good luck.
The day before I found out for sure I had a dream about my grandfather. I've not had a dream about him since he passed. In my dream he was sitting in his chair in his home and holding my son. He didn't say a word. He just looked very happy. That's when I knew for sure.
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