The best

It's Bretta's third birthday today! Happy Birthday to our first born!

And a little note about the human kiddo....
Today I have discovered what is and what I think will continue to be the best part of being a parent: Watching your child discover what they are capable of. Right now it's small but big things: realizing he can reach out and pick up a toy, or reach out and touch someone's face, I can't wait to see what's next.

Special Delivery!

Our expected due date was May 27 but my little cupcake had other plans!

Baby T arrived a full two weeks early, on Friday May 13 at 12:48am. He is beautiful and healthy and we are completely in love! Bretta has taken it as her personal mission to protect him at all times and doesn't seem jealous at all.

We are starting to get used to sleeping in short intervals and caring for an extra person, so far so good!

Nursery

I promised pictures of our nursery progress. Then our hard drive crashed and I lost all of the "before" pictures. So, here are the afters!

We had Mr. T's Grandma's dresser that was a perfect size to use as a dresser and changing table. It used to have a sort of honey colored stain and some very retro handles on it. We perused the web for some inspiration and found Clara's nursery over on Young House Love and I really liked what they did with her dresser. So I made asked Mr. T to duplicate it. I love that we can wipe down anything on the dresser because of the protective coat. Below you can see the "finished" product as we were installing the drawer pulls.

The handles on the big drawers are some sweet elephants we found on super sale at Anthropology (the only way I can ever shop at that store!)

To ensure proper placement we called in an expert to supervise. (Don't mind the mess!)

My siblings bought us our crib which I love and is dark like the stain on the main portion of the dresser. Below you can see Mr. T hard at work:

We only had to move the crib 3 times before I decided where I wanted it!

And here you have the finished product:

I found the crib bedding on sale for less than 50% of retail on gilt.com

My Mom got that rocking chair for $20!

Some things have changed since Baby T has arrived, the cradle is now in our room and we've added a lamp and changed the curtains. We're really happy with how it turned out! We had planned on having a few more decorations but Baby T made a surprise arrival before my parental leave from work started, so those will have to come later!

ABC's of me

10 things was clearly not enough...

 

A. Age: 25

B. Bed size: Queen

C. Chore you dislike: Dishes are the worst but I generally dislike all chores.

D. Dogs: Just Miss Bretta

E. Essential start to your day: A bowl of cereal and the news so that I can find out what the weather will be like.

F. Favorite color: Pink or Red

G. Gold or silver: Silver

H. Height: 5′8"

I. Instruments you play(ed): None

J. Job title: Registered Client Service Associate

K. Kids: One in the belly and our pup

L. Live for ______: Family

M. Most embarrassing moment: Ummm too many to pick just one. I'm a clutz and get nervous in new situations so they happen often.

N. Nicknames: They all involve my first name.

O. Overnight hospital stays: None yet.

P. Pet peeves:  Mouth breathing into the phone, chewing with your mouth open and talking to me with food in your mouth.

Q. Quote from a movie: I am serious and don't call me Shirley

S. Siblings: 6 brothers and 1 sister. 5 older, 2 younger.

T. Time you wake up: 5:30

U. University attended: None so far

V. Vegetables: My favorites are carrots, broccoli and green beans.

W. What makes you run late: Anything that is out of my normal routine. I am not well prepared for anything unscheduled. Should make having a baby interesting!

X. X-rays you’ve had:  Other than dental x-rays I've only had x-rays done on my back and hips for Scoliosis.

Y. Yummy food you make: Meatloaf, cupcakes. Cookies.

Z. Zoo animal favorites: The apes. But it makes me sad that they have to live in the zoo.

10 things

10 Things you may not know about me:

1. I love to iron.

2. It annoys me when the back of someones pant leg gets tucked into the heel of their shoe and they don't fix it.

3. If a towel falls on the ground it is dirty. Whether it just fell out of the drier or not.

4. People that don't care if their socks match freak me out.

5. I always shake milk in a cardboard carton before pouring it.

6. I love the feel of new socks.

7. I get excited about new toothbrushes.

8. I hate mice. I don't know why anyone would want them as pets.

9. I met Mr. T a year before we ever actually spoke. We sat in the back seat of my BFF R's car for a whole mile next to each other while I talked about my loser boyfriend. He said nothing.

10. My BFF N was actually trying to set Mr. T up with another friend of ours when she re-introduced Mr. T and I at her birthday party. N told Mr. T to "speak french to" me and left us. He had me at Bonjour.

Added later: I'm realizing that this list could also be called "things that qualify me for obsessive compulsive disorder" go figure.

About that....

Okay, so I have been avoiding this blog like the plague because I totally flaked out on my own promise. You may remember this post where I vowed to finish 52 Weeks of Deliciousness.

Then life happened. So, assuming that I don't get the urge to bake 25 different types of cupcakes in the next 2 weeks, its not happening folks. I'm sorry to disappoint but the truth is that I just haven't been feeling it. The events of the last few months have really put my slight baking obsession into perspective and there has just been a lot that is much more important than delicious cupcakes. I will continue posting cupcakes as I bake them but they will be sporadic as I find them. My lovely husband Mr. T has even agreed to guest posting about his cupcake baking experience so hopefully I'll get him to log in soon.

What is more important than delicious cupcakes anyways? Well, spending time with family, moving to a new fabulous house (with a full sized gas oven!!!) and keeping the little cupcake cooking happily in my belly.

I do plan to share some of what we've been working on lately, and nursery progress as it happens so hopefully you will all enjoy that. My deepest apologies for not giving you a full 52 cupcake experiences but hopefully you'll forgive me!

2010 Goals in review

You May remember my "10 for 2010"  that I posted back in January of last year. If you're wondering how I did- here you go!


10 for 2010 (in review)
1. Go to Switzerland
Check! Mr. T and I went in February and it was an absolutely amazing trip. I still think about it all the time and can't wait to go back, especially with a baby T in tow.

2. Brush up on my Francais by speaking more of it at home with Mr. T
Hmmm... This didn't go so well. I did improve a bit with our trip to Switzerland but it didn't stick once we got home. Definitely going to be moving over to my 10 for 2011.

3. Get my state insurance licenses (also a work goal)
Check! Got licensed in June.

4. Take a sewing class in order to finish bub Jesse's quilt
I did take a sewing and quilting class. Finishing that quilt will commence shortly.

5. Exercise 3 times a week regularly. (baby steps!)
I did okay on this one. I didn't work out as hard as I would have liked to 3 days a week but for the most part I exercised at least 3 times a week which I felt pretty good about.

6. Work through my new recipes: Cupcakes from bff Mad, Mastering The Art of French Cooking from Mr. T and plenty of new ones from Pampered Chef.
Turns out I'm not going to be the next Julia and Julia, though I will use the recipes from MTAFC. I did try a bunch of my cupcake recipes and they were great. I didn't try any from Pampered Chef because most of their recipes use pre-made ingredients or are heavy on the salt/fat/sugar factor. I think I made the right choice there.

7. Be the best damn Sunday school teacher out there
I don't know that I was the best but I think I improved. I really miss those kids!

8. Post on the blog more!
Certainly did much better than the year before!

9. Teach Bretta the commands lay down, heel and play dead
She's got heel. Lay Down and Play Dead proved to be challenges that Mr. T and I just didn't care about overcoming! Needless to say you won't be seeing us taking over Caesar Millan's job anytime soon.

10. Take my Pampered Chef business to the next level!
Took it exactly where I wanted to, I placed my last order and no longer have the monkey on my back of an extra side business. Phew!