First Shower

Wow.  Nate's mom and her husband showed up on Friday on their way from Iowa to the UP, and she basically had her own shower for us.  Baby socks, baby blankets, a diaper bag, maternity tops, and so much more!!  Rebecca found a hilarious card that perfectly captures how I feel about my bosom...

Front of card

Ridiculous inside

That same day, my dear sister sent me an original from SeasonsKDesigns in Portland!  It's so...Portland...  It's hard to believe that the little creature is only going to be that big.

My first OB appointment is tomorrow afternoon, and I'm super excited!  It all feels a little bit more real, but honestly, I'm bummed that all my pants don't fit as well as they used to.

Good News Travels Fast

I couldn't wait any longer.  First it was going to be three months.  Then, I negotiated until the date of my first prenatal visit, which is next week, the 29th.  Last weekend, I whined to Nate that even that was too long of a wait, so we spilled the beans to everyone yesterday.  I think the best part of it is knowing how many people are genuinely excited for us, and how blessed we are that so many people care.


I called one of my aunts, and she said, "I knew it!!  You were so tired Labor Day weekend, I just knew it!!"  I then gave her free reign to spread the news, and I'm not kidding you, within three minutes, I had a phone call from my uncle (her husband) and her son-in-law (my cousin's husband).


Nine weeks today, and I'm feeling pretty good.  I just ate a bizarre dinner--cauliflower with cheese, a side of sauerkraut, and some pasta dish I whipped up with cannellini beans, butter and garlic.  I bought the sauerkraut last week at the store because it looked super yummy.  And it was.  I've never bought that before in my life.


I'm still riding my bike to work just about every day, making it 3.5 miles each way, for a total of about 30 minutes of exercise everyday.  I'm pretty convinced that exercise helps with the exhaustion, although I would love to have nap time with my 8th grade Spanish class at about 1 PM.

Crying Over Master Chef

My goodness. We were watching the finale of Master Chef last night while we ate dinner, and the producers flew one of the contestant's mom all the way from Israel so she could be there.  My eyes welled up, and a few tears leaked out.  Nate just laughed and said, "Oh honey, you're so cute."

This was tear-worthy.  Master Chef is not.

I can get emotional watching TV--like the 1996 Summer Olympics when Kerri Strug vaulted, hurt her ankle and then vaulted again and stuck the landing.  Or watching the opening sequence of the movie Up.  But Master Chef??  Come on.

What's in a Name?

I can tell you where the title of the blog came from...  Nate and Jeff are starting a design firm in Cincinnati in 2011 when Nate's done with school.  They've toyed with several names, but one in particular has won out: Cincinnati Design Project.  In trying to come up with a name for this blog, I liberally borrowed from them.  Nate smiled when he read it, so I think it's okay.

Speaking of names, when I was in Greece back in 2001, I spent some time with a family that had a 6-month old son.  When I asked what his name was, they said something like, "We think it's going to be X."  Confused, I inquired why he didn't have a name yet.  They explained to me that in their culture, the parents don't pick out a name for the baby before it's born; rather they wait to see what name he grows into.  I thought that sounded like a relaxing way to name a baby, so I brought it up to Nate.  He liked the idea of procrastinating.