the never ending pregnancy...17 days to go

I know that every pregnant woman probably says this, but I the last days of pregnancy seem to go so slow! I'm really looking forward to actually having the baby now, like as in right now...tomorrow, hell even the next day, but sometime soon would be great (can you hear me kiddo?) Here he is at the last sono back in early October:

Yes, that's a full head of hair, and with those cheeks there's no doubt who's baby it is!

Our baby shower was back in Ocotber, definately the bigest party we've had at our house so far! It was really great because we had family from both sides, friends from work, and dear friends, all of whom had never met before, so it was interesting to see the different parts of our life converge on this one day. A great time was had by all...here are some highlights:

We received many beautiful and thoughtful gifts. Many thanks to all that were there to share the great day!

This time of the year is always a little sad for me, yesterday would have been my mother's 69th birthday. Of course, now more than ever, I wish she were still alive to see all of this. I have picked out a special picture to put in the baby's room, it's of my grandmother, my mother and me as a baby. So that he will always have her there to watch over him. Happy birthday mom, we miss you.

Only 66 days to go...holy cow!

Wow, I can't believe that it's October 1st already! What happened to September?? Now that school started I feel like I've been on a speeding train! I am happy to say that things are going very well with the baby...he's moving around an incredible amount (usually when I'm trying to sleep!) It is truly the most bizarre thing to see your stomach move like that. I've been trying to play tag with him. A kick on the bottom right usually means I'll see a hand on the upper left just under my rib cage, so I try to wait for him and tag his hand when it passes by! The baby movement totally freaks out my husband though! Every time I get him to put his hand on my stomach and the baby moves under it, he flips out! I think he believes it's going to be like that scene from "Aliens" where the creature pops out of the guy's stomach. I'm just amazed by the whole thing.

So a whole lot of events have gone by since I last blogged. We've attended 2 weddings, one for my husband's colleagues from school, and one of his good friends, Adam (on the right).

Now the blue dress is totally attack of the Mommy boobs, because was still trying to fit into an old dress. That was at the end of August. I gave up the fight and actually bought a maternity dress (my first piece of maternity wear!) which I wore to the Adam and Christina's wedding (on the right) . I still have one more event to go to, later in October, so I knew there was no way in hell that I would fit into anything other than a maternity dress. It's actually quite a pretty dress an feels like a nightgown. As you can tell from the pics, Eric was one of the ushers in Adam's wedding party. t was a beautiful day with the exception of the slight detour we had to take to the hospital (!) just after the ceremony. I won't go into the all the details here, but needless to say everything is absolutely fine with the baby, and the doctors and nurses in the Maternity urgent care were wonderful! One of the nurses was so nice she even agreed to take a photo of us as we made our way back to the wedding! Other than that, the wedding was wonderful, and we were so happy that we were able to share in their special day.

Since it is September, school has begun once again for Eric and I. Although you can't tell it by the weather! It's been so warm and pleasant here, definitely an extension of the summer. We'll be closing the pool soon since we really have not had the time to go in since the week after school started. Although we seem to always get that last blast of Indian summer here in the northeast sometime in October. I love this weather, 75 and sunny does me very well. The new school year is treating me fine, I really like my students and the new classes I'm teaching (Fashion Design and Jewelry Design). The fashion classes are working on International Mood Boards right now and the Jewelry class just finished Peyote stitch bracelets. These photos are showing off the finished bracelets!

Besides school, we've finished painting the baby's room...being all artsy fartsy I had to pick 2 different colors to paint the room, so 2 walls are like a pistachio green and the other 2 walls are a light ocean blue. When the furniture gets delivered I will post some photos. Baby shower is this weekend so I'm hoping to have the furniture delivered before then. Sonogram tomorrow, so I'll definitely post and update the Flickr account with new images of the baby! I'm still trying to get better at posting here more frequently.

Peaches, Artwork and assorted stuff...

I have to get a lot better at posting on the blog, I know. Anyway, here is a bunch of stuff that has happened in the past month. Baby is doing well and getting big (and still a boy!) My in-laws were here for two weeks and basically bought anything we wanted for the baby (THANK YOU!!!!) So we ordered a crib and furniture for the nursery, we got lots of cute baby clothes, and (thanks to a tip from another pregnant girl I took a class with) some great gently used items from craigslist! We got a spare stroller and car seat for my husbands car, and a bassinet. It was a lot of fun (and exhausting) to shop, but as my due date gets closer, I realize how much more I still have to do!

Except for the past few days the weather has been lovely here, I've had a chance to relax and hang out by our pool (knitting a blanket and working on a tan). My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen and we ate an orange heirloom one with dinner last night! Luckily we live close to the East End farms and can partake of some of the locally grown goodness! We went peach picking in July at Lewin Farms. It was a nice day and not too hot. I made a simple peach cake from about half the peaches, which we brought to our friend's, Adam and Chris, wedding rehearsal party. It was a big hit!

Besides teaching 4 classes this summer, I had the opportunity to take a graduate class at my Alma mater LIU/C.W. Post. The class was on papermaking, and non-toxic printmaking techniques. Although it was exhausting (45 hours over 5 days) everyone in the class was extremely prolific and I created over 50 sheets of handmade paper, about 25 mono types, and another 20 pulp paintings. It was awesome. I'm currently framing some of the work for an art faculty exhibit at my school at the beginning of the year, and then it will be hanging in my home. It was very inspirational and the professor, Rick Mills, was my professor over 15 years ago when I was an undergrad. I dug out some of my old work to share with him. You can check out come of the work on my flickr page, they're under a set call Artwork 2007.

That's about it for now...I will post some more by the end of the week.