washing and repairing an old toy

i can't remember exactly when i received my favorite stuffed bear, but i think i was under the age of 5.  he had many names over the years (i could never settle on just one), but when i was in 5th grade, i finally settled on Joey.  he is not named after any particular person.

being a girl, i don't know why my favorite stuffed bear was a "boy", but it certainly fits now that i'm having a precious boy of my own.  he will inherit my favorite bear and i'm hoping he loves Joey as much as i do.  the bow around his neck did used to be baby blue, maybe that's why i saw him as a boy.

i am not ashamed to admit that this bear has travelled with me all over the world, to Turkey, to Detroit when i went to college, to NYC when i graduated, and now back to Michigan where i first received him.  very fitting, i think.

after many nights of being cuddled in bed, afternoons being flipped around at gymnastic tournaments, and just general loving and adoring, Joey's neck seam started to rip a little here and there.  Until it was a giant, gaping hole!

so i took some quilting thread and sewed him right up!  and then placed him gently in the washing machine with a little detergent.  he's in for a wild ride!!  delicate cycle, of course.

good as new!!  cuddling with rabbit in my nursing corner.

the most wonderful time of the year

with my pandora station on "all i want for Christmas" yesterday, we hung ornaments on our tiny little tree and lit up the apartment with twinkle lights. there is something so warm and special about a house at night, all lit up by Christmas lights, the sweet smell of sugar cookies cooling in the kitchen.

i love all of the ornaments that we have collected over the 3+ years that we've been together. the shimmery Empire State Building, the fabric thistle we got in Scotland, our first ornaments that i bought on a whim the first Christmas we lived together (two tiny Converse All-Star high tops). i've always loved trees with collections of ornaments that tell a story. so fun to think about what baby's first Christmas will be like, he will be almost a year old!

for the rest of the apartment, i decided to have a glitzy silver and gold theme! partly inspired by West Elm and all of the lovelies they're selling this year for the holidays.

over the mantel: twinkle lights covered in tiny paper lanterns (actually from our wedding!) adorn the top, surrounded by cinnamon-scented pine cones (thanks, Michael's) and glass vessels with gold and silver painted berries (thanks again, Michael's).

close-up at night of the mantel, with the tree in the background.

in the dining area, on my grandparents' buffet, i placed our very first tiny white tree, which i bought with our first ornaments. no lights, just silver and gold ornaments adorn this tree.

there are a few other arrangements around the apartment, mostly glass vessels filled with silver and gold ornaments.

in the midst of decorating yesterday, we also baked some seriously yummy sugar cookies! we have quite the collection of cookie cutters (mostly thanks to Williams-Sonoma), so we had fun using them yesterday.

we baked Texas cookies, in honor of Brian's family and heritage. and then we finally got to test out the ultimate Star Wars cutters i bought months and months ago in anticipation of our future children loving the trilogies as much as we do. you can see Brian using Darth Vader, and Yoda is ready to be baked!

hand-made dough and frosting, with pearl candy beads and M&M's where Fort Worth should be.

what i love about these cutters is that they have a little stamper for the details. next time we might add food coloring to the dough and then do some fine detail work with the frosting. will be so fun to do with our kids!!

happy Christmas, Hannukah and any other holidays you might be celebrating this season!

preparing for our baby boy

these last few weeks have kept us so busy with organizing, research, and lots of reading. preparations for our baby boy that will enter the world in less than 2 months! we have also started taking a Lamaze birth preparation class, which i will expound on in another blog post.

i still can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone, and i know that Christmas and New Year's will be here before we know it. 2011 coming to an end, 2012 bringing with it new life and hope.

one of the preparations i have had the most fun with (and thank you to my sweet, understanding husband for letting me take charge of it) is picking out our baby boy's coming home outfit. since we have no idea how big he will be and what size clothing he will fit into, we are bringing a couple of options for onesies and little footie jammies. but my favorite part is the fleece bunting we will wrap him in, being a January baby in Michigan.

we actually registered for the bunting, but it was given to us by my friends Rachel and Bill back in NYC. such a lovely surprise to get in the mail! on the left is the pile of onesies and jammies, all match the bunting. on the right is the hat that i knit for baby boy, from Stitch 'n Bitch (the umbilical cord hat pattern).

it's just a very lovely coincidence that the navy blue and heather gray yarn that i picked out months ago for him matches the bunting perfectly! and i have to give Brian credit for suggesting to make the little umbilical cord knot on the top gray to match the stripe. best idea ever! i love knitting baby hats, they knit up so quickly.

now for some updated belly shots:

my pregnancy today: 33 weeks, 1 day. notable this week: baby boy can be felt and seen squirming, kicking, pounding and hiccuping almost all day long. it feels like he doesn't sleep much, though he probably does. i do have some discomforts, but mostly i just find it more and more difficult to move around in general. you can see in the background our new dresser for baby boy's giant mountain of clothes that Brian put together earlier this week!

my fingers are so swollen, i had to stop wearing my wedding band, which i don't think i will ever get used to.

off to the doctor!