Easter

This year, Easter came just a couple of days after Lucas was born. We have gone up to our parents' every year so when I mentioned to the girls that they may not get to go this year, they were very unhappy. Being my children, and unwilling to take no for an answer, they gave their suggestions of how they could still have their Easter weekend with the extended family. They asked if they could have 2 Easters: the real Easter with Grandma & Grandpa and then when they got home, they could have a second holiday with Jeff and me. They also suggested we just put them on the train and have grandma pick them up at the station.

Well, since I had just had the baby and everyone was down for Easter, my parents took the girls for the weekend so they could spend time with their cousins. Jeff and I were also able to enjoy a couple of quiet days with just Lucas. It ended up being a win-win for all of us. Well, I hope it was a win for my parents who had a houseful.
The girls had a great time coloring eggs with their cousins, opening their Easter baskets, and hunting for lots of eggs in Grandma & Grandpa Moody's backyard.

Ronald McDonald House

I belong to a local association for interior designers and a little over year ago we decided to adopt the Pasadena Ronald McDonald house as a charity to work with. It was a perfect fit. The home (actually there are two of them) is a couple of historic craftsman homes in Pasadena across from the Huntington Hospital.

The master suite was adopted by the local Pasadena Firefighters association where inspiration for the room came from. It is called Firehouse 35 in memory of their firehouse that was closed many years ago. In fact, when firetrucks pass by, they give a little honk (we witnessed this first hand).

I collaborated with a couple of other designers and we completed a design plan for the room. It was submitted about the time that the home ran into some administrative issues so it was put on hold for quite some time. In the past couple of months though, the project was revived and today we finally had the chance to complete the room install-with a modified budget and scaled back plans for the space. It's a large room with its own bathroom, and two smaller rooms attached (a nursery and mother-in-law's room).

So here are the results--we're quite happy with what we were able to accomplish with our meager budget and volunteer help.

I was excited that I was able to help, in a very small part, make this a more welcoming place for families with sick children who may be away from their homes for an extended period of time. I hope that I never have to stay at a place like this, but I am so grateful that they exist to support families faced with the horrible reality of a severely ill child.

Belly Shots

I had never given any thought to preserving the memory of being pregnant in photographs. I mean, who feels cute when you feel like you're carrying around a tummy the size of a watermelon? ...Until a few weeks ago when I was getting dressed and Jeff brought it up. It got me me thinking. Since this is the last time my body will ever experience this, I figured I should look into it.

A friend of mine is a budding photographer and we were talking about these types of pictures and she offered to take some for me. So here are a few of my favorites...
I actually had no plans of ever sharing any of these. But seeing the finished results -I figured why not? Pregnancy isn't something we do very often and this also serves as proof that there is a belly here (for my kind friends who have said that I don' look very pregnant--HA!!). Thanks Liz!!

Showered with Love

My most awesome friends threw me a baby shower. It was such a fun morning with great friends, yummy food (a delicious quiche, sinful cinnamon roll cheesecake and yummy parfaits).

I was so overwhelmed by how much time and effort all my friends made to make this so special. You ladies are truly amazing!! Thanks for all who came to show their love and help me get ready for this little boy.

All You Need is Love...

Ok, I really don't agree with that statement, but I do love Valentine's Day. I usually try to make a fun breakfast for everyone, but Jeff had meetings at 6:30 that morning and we had church at 9am so that was out. Instead, the girls and I snuck into Jeff's car and filled it with balloons and decorated the outside. He loves all the attention and was thrilled to clean it off :) Tehee!

I was not in the mood to deal with restaurant crowds that weekend at all. Instead, I made a nice dinner for Jeff and the girls.

Since my traditional creme brulee wasn't ready in time to get the girls to bed, they had mini red velvet cakes (which worked out better since there was more creme brulee for me! ).

Getting Ready for Brother

Cara and Natalie are so excited for their new brother. They wanted to do something to help get ready, so we went to the fabric store and they picked out a few fabrics (with some guidance from mom). They cut out all the squares by themselves and I taught them how to use my machine.

The finished product!

We also signed them up for the sibling class at the hospital. The videos were hilarious, and maybe a little young for them, but they had fun changing diapers on their dolls, learning about how they can help take care of the new baby, getting a tour of the NICU and a room set up like where mom will deliver.

Happy Birthday Cara!

Wow! I can hardly believe my Cara is already 9 years old.

Time needs to slow down just a little.

For her 9th birthday, Cara really wanted to go ice skating. Since I can't get on the ice in my pregnant condition-and it's torture for me to just sit and watch the fun, Jeff took Cara and Natalie ice skating.

Later that afternoon, Grandma & Grandpa Moody, Uncles Mike and Ian and Aunt Kara and Desire came down to share her birthday dinner at one of our favorite dining spots.

Cara is growing up so fast and there are so many things I love about this child. She is such a sweet girl. She is so kind to her sister and always doing little thoughtful things. For no occasion, she will often make breakfast for me and bring it while I'm still in bed. She loves being busy. Reading, sewing, cooking, and drawing are some of the things she loves to do. She is very musical and I enjoy listening to her play the piano and sing. I am so excited I get to be her mom and love watching her grow up.