bella on board

this past weekend we had irina's baby shower. (she's due august 7th, so baby bella's arrival is just around the corner.) i just wanted to share some of the craftiness i did for the shower.

the invites:
it was decided we'd do a beach-themed shower. (if you couldn't tell by the decor in the first pic.) i was able to find a hibiscus image that sorta seemed girly but not too girly. and since the colors of the invites were brown and pink, my first diaper cake followed suit.

diaper cake:
ideally i would have loved to have used brown hibiscus flowers but i don't think there is such a thing. in the end i had to settle for these gerber daisies. i used about 70 size 2 diapers and one bottle to make the innards of the cake. tissue paper, 2 different ribbons, a feathery boa and gerber daisies contribute to the "icing" on the cake. all in all i was really happy end result of my first diaper cake!

the shower was a great success and my brother and sister-in-law are very well equipped for bella's arrival.

my dad went to NYC...

...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt! lol! but I do look pretty darn cute in it.

if you build it

some of the latest construction going on around the house. nothing like a baby to get you motivated to get stuff done. above is a flagstone staircase being installed. it's currently getting rocked and i'll have finished photos next week.

below is a bump-out to our deck. we decided since we can't use much of the back yard anyways, we'll make our own flat land via more decking. it's amazing how increasing it a few feet gives you a ton more space. eventually i plan on staining it black or a dark walnut so it's not so mismatch.

got to finish packing for our trek up to maryland for my sister-in-law's baby shower. we've got a jam-packed weekend but i thought i'd update the blog while i had a minute.

a little help from my friend

if you're wondering if the dogs are getting accustomed to having the wee one around, here's your answer.

oh petunia

a few months ago, katie's sister asked me if i had heard of the petunia picklebottom diaper bag. (she too has a infant a few months older than avery) she told me they were the cadillac of diaper bags. i had never heard of them and had forgotten about them til we went shopping in charlotte a few weeks later. when i saw them, i was instantly infatuated. yes, i couldn't believe i was ga-ga over a diaper bag either. when i saw the price tag, i cringed. no way was i paying that much for something that's sole purpose was to carry diapers, bottles and anything poopy.

i got home and looked on ebay, hoping i'd find a gently used one in a color/style i liked. i had decided i wanted the glazed boxy backpack in a somewhat gender neutral color. (i did consider aaron might be carrying this thing around) i had set my maximum price i'd be willing to pay...and i pretty much got outbid every single time. i felt like if i was going to spend that kind of money i might as well get exactly what i want. my birthday was coming up, so i decided this was gonna be a great birthday present to myself. my logic...since this was pretty much gonna be my "purse" for the next couple of years, i can indulge. yes, my reasoning is somewhat skewed when it comes to anything avery.

so when my bag arrived, i was surprisingly giddy with excitement. you would have thought it was christmas morning at our house.

now, a few months later, do i regret getting it? heck no! i absolutely love it! i take it with me pretty much everywhere. and it's been perfect for all the traveling we've been doing lately. added bonus: i've gotten so many compliments on it. yes, i love a diaper bag! (the one pictured above is the one i got)

vier monate

he's 14 lbs. 14.5 oz. and still growing.

today we're leaving on his first plane ride. of course, i have a million things to do before we leave and he's not able to entertain himself for one second. so far i've done his laundry, packed his suitcase, fed him, burped him, played with him, rocked him to sleep (slept for half an hour) and now he's mad at me for leaving him on his playmat. how come on the the day i have things to get done he becomes so high maintenance?! ;)

boy, you got a purrrty mouth

sometimes when mama has too much time on her hands, little man get's a make over. lol!

jerome came over a few weeks ago to borrow our mullet wig for an 80s party (yes, we own a kentucky waterfall wig) and since i had the box out anyways... avery and i played a little dress-up. more him than me. i'm tempted to put him in a dress just to see how purrrty he'd be. i've had three people ask me if he's a boy or girl. apparently his long lashes make people second guess his gender.

i am beginning to think avery's looking more like aaron than me. at least that's the comment i'm hearing these days. his hair is starting to lighten up and i'm pretty sure he's gonna keep his eye color...blue! who knew my asian traits would be dominated by daddy's blonde hair, blue eyes. my dad told me that my grandfather had blue eyes, so i may be carrying that gene. we'll see if they stay blue in the upcoming months. so far, it looks like it could be a possibility.

tomorrow i'll post his four month photo.

westphal warriors strike again

"our ALS fund-raising walk in winston-salem was great fun and very successful. we had a fantastic turnout and the boone dermatology crew raised over $3000 for a worthy charity. in fact, the walkers took home the reward for most money raised by a corporate team! a big thank you to all of those who helped out! let's do it even bigger and better next year!"

this is the update from aaron's work website. as you can see the team has doubled since we first started walking in nc. thanks again to all those who walked, donated and contributed in any way to help us fight this disease. and especially thanks for sporting those ultra-brite t-shirts!! ;) and yes, little man also participated!

club tres

it's hard to believe the little guy is already three months old, soon to be four. above is his month marker shot. i actually took a little time and messed with the levels and whatnot in this pic. i muted down the colors to give it a somewhat aged look. below are two more versions of the same photo. the first being the original, the second a super saturated version and the third a color highlight.

i quickly threw these together, just imagine how stunning my pics could actually be if i took/had some time. but for now these will have to do! yes, i know, my kid is really, really, ridiculously good looking. :) lol! if you've seen zoolander then you'll get this reference.

taste the rainbow

Friday Avery and I attended a mommy and me class. the activity of the morning: painting. Avery was no joke, got down and dirty with the big kids. we both had a good time playing in the paint and meeting new friends.

blogging from my phone as I'm feeding little man. way to multitask. got an iTunes giftcard last christmas so I thought I'd go ahead and use it for the blogging app.

i love it when you call me big papa

since i did progression shots with my pregnancy, i've decided to also capture the first year of avery's life in the same way. here are a few shots from his first photo sessions. i've decided to go ahead and add a watermark since this blog is public and i don't want anyone claiming my little man as their own. i know it's hard to believe but i know of two people who've had this problem. insane, i know!

the picture below is his two month photo. when i showed it to some family members the first thing they said was he looked like notorious b.i.g. and that's exactly what i thought when i was scanning through the pics. i'm sure it's the hat. tomorrow we'll be taking his three month photo. hopefully we get a little sunshine. yes, we actually got more snow yesterday and it stuck! blah. i'm so over winter. spring get and stay here already!

this is a test

I downloaded a free version of an iphone blog updater. it's pretty limited. not sure if it will be worth the deniro to get the full version.

we haven't figured it out yet. but one of the dogs has decided ripping up dirty diapers is his/her new past time. I have my suspicions. a little newspaper toy sitting by the wastebasket has me thinking it's the one of the female persuasion. but I have yet to catch her in the act. hmmm maybe it's time to install a nanny cam.

living mobile

if you're a friend of mine via facebook then you've probably already seen these pics. the first three months of avery's life, i've pretty much had to do everything via my cell phone. lucky for me, my cell phone can just about do anything. i haven't had the time to figure out if i can update the blog through my phone so that's why posts have been few and far between. little bugger is now entertaining himself on his playmat so i have a second to update the blog. still a short post but with lots of personality. yep, little man is getting to be so big!

a conversation between two friends

neglected, i know. with the weather being the way it has, (got another 4 inches of snow yesterday.) avery and i have become big-time home bodies. what's the best way to cure cabin fever? fill your days with lots of activities. one of those activities has been our countless photo sessions. although most of the time avery is an indifferent participant.

i've been gravitating towards black and white lately. no particular reason. just love how it captures the moment, particularly the one below. i think if it was in color it'd be a cluttered mess.

"happy chaos"

kate and natie

this weekend we'll be making our way back to illinois to celebrate the nuptials of nate and katie westphal. they were married a little over a month ago in jamaica. unfortunately, with the birth of avery, i was unable to attend. so i'm looking forward to seeing everyone and introducing the little man to friends and family.

if i get a chance tomorrow i'll post some pics of what a cabin-feverish mom does when she's snowed in. yep...still snowing in the mountains.

the photo above was taken by my youngest brother-in-law's talented girlfriend, karla jensen.

snow baby

so this has pretty much been our winter so far. snow, snow, snow! of course it's nothing like the record breaking snowfall the rest of the east coast got this past weekend, but it's been pretty consistent for us. there was probably a day, maybe two that we haven't had snow on the ground since avery's arrival. so we are getting a little stir crazy waiting the arrival of spring.

yes, i started this post about 3 hours ago and am just now posting it. someone asked me what i do all day and it's pretty much the same thing avery does. eat, sleep, poop! lol! avery is starting to nap on his own so it frees me up to get a little housework done. so blogging has taken a backseat to other duties. i would like to get back into it, mainly so i can document the goings-ons in the westphal house. it's hard to believe it's already been six weeks since avery's arrival. time is definitely flying by!

welcome to my roboto crib

here are some long overdue pics of avery's nursery. i ended up going with different bedding i found on ebay. i loved the original one i picked out but this one seemed more appropriate and matched a little better with the prints.



of course, he has yet to sleep in here. spending a majority of his time either in our room or the living room. as you can see, i tried to make it not so babyish. i think i somewhat accomplished that.

below is the robot painting my sister-in-law and i worked on while she was here for my baby shower last month. it turned out great. you can also see the name plaque i was finally able to hang after his birth.

right now i'm uploading more photos and trying to figure out how i can share them via snapfish. apparently it says i can load them to blogger, so we'll just see about that.

avery mark westphal

avery mark westphal arrived december 24, 2009 at 6:26 pm. little man came in at a whopping 8 lbs. 15 oz. and measured 20.5" long.

shortened birth story: at around midnight the previous evening, i started having consistent contractions about 7 minutes apart. then aaron and i went to the hospital around 3 a.m. when the contractions started coming closer together. when we arrived at the hospital i was only 2 cm which was what i was at my appointment earlier that morning. my contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart so i decided to labor naturally til the doctor arrived to check the next morning. she arrived around 9 a.m. and checked and i had only progressed to 3 cm. she then broke my water and the baby had a bowel movement while in utereo. since his heart rate was good she wasn't too concerned. i decided then to go ahead and get an epidural and that's when we decided to add pitocin to help progress the dilation. around 4 p.m. the nurse came in and asked if i shifted positions cause the baby's heart rate had dropped. she started shifting me around to find a position the baby would like. unfortunately it was difficult to do. the doctor checked again and i was only 4 cm by this time. she thought maybe since my contractions were coming so close together it was causing the baby stress. she also said the baby was still riding high and if i didn't progess much in the next few hours we'd have to consider a c-section. at my final check, barely any progress had been made and with that and the meconium in the amniotic fluid we decided it was best to do a c-section. we went in at 6 p.m. and 26 minutes later i could hear the cry of our little big man. "no wonder you weren't making much progress," the doc said, "he's huge!" after getting a clean bill of health we were soon holding avery in our arms.

so our lives have been pretty hectic the last few weeks. hopefully with a little down time i can update the blog fully. i'll try and post daily til i can get updated. lots of pics and news to come. stay tuned.

baby still on board

yep, baby westphal is still on board. he's been teasing me the last few days with contractions, but not on a regular basis and not painful in nature. at first i wasn't sure i was having them, but as time passes i'm pretty sure that's what they are. they just feel like really strong menstrual cramps at the moment. very tolerable so i don't think he's coming any time soon. we were hoping he'd arrive today, my dad's birthday, but we've pretty much given up on that idea.

at my last appointment, i was only 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced. i go in tomorrow for my last check up before my actual due date. hopefully progress has been made. i'd be quite surprised if it hasn't since i'm having more contractions. fingers crossed.

i'll try and update more tomorrow. right now we're just taking it one day at a time. part of me is excited to get this party started but there's still a part of me freaked about what's to come. physically i'm very ready to have this baby. very ready!

above is my 36 week pic and below is my 38 week pic. i'll have to take another one in a few days, i can hardly believe i've almost made it to 40 weeks.

serious slacker

here's my 34/35 week progression shot. as you can see, my face is starting to fill out. almost as round as it was in high school. not too much to report on the pregnancy front. next week i'll start my weekly visits to the ob/gyn and before you know it baby westphal will be here. i can't believe i only have 30 days left!!

i do have one complaint...swelling. unfortunately, the swelling is getting worse the bigger i get and thus cutting my time on the computer to a minimum. if i sit/stand too long, my ankles become unrecognizable and my legs are a complete mess. thank goodness it's winter and i can cover up the veiny/bruised goodness. as far as self image goes, it's crazy but my legs bother me more than the baby gut does. hopefully once i'm no longer carrying 45 pounds of extra weight, they'll go back to normal. fingers crossed.

next week i'll post pics of the nursery. it's pretty much complete. all i have left to do is make a robot print to place between the windows and i also have to finish painting a cabinet i decided had to go from brown to white. it wouldn't be such an issue if the primer i bought, that specifically says 'no sanding needed,' actually worked. i gave the whole cabinet a once over with the paint and it pretty much peeled right off. i just finished putting on the second coat and next week i'll hopefully finish the paint job.

right now we're waiting for the arrival of nate, katie and their pooch jet. they'll be spending the thanksgiving holiday with us and it'll probably be the last time i see them before the baby comes and their wedding. aaron's dad, mark, and youngest brother, danny, came down saturday with mark's girlfriend linda. we went down and met them in asheville and no sooner had we walked into aaron's grandma's house, mark made the announcement that he and linda were engaged. it caught us both off guard. actually i think everyone he told was a little surprised. so it made for an interesting visit. i don't think it's quite sunk in. (there's a long history here and i think it's really hard for anyone to be truly happy about this, especially the boys.) hopefully with time the shock will wear off and we'll all come to accept it. we'll just have to wait and see.

i better get back to cleaning, according to their gps, nate and katie should be arriving at 3:47 pm. LOL!