We decided that since these could possibly be the last days of having the belly around, we would take an evening stroll in center city and shoot some belly shots.  Evening shots are difficult, but we got a few really fun ones.  I will be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow and I can feel that Elzie is moving her little body into position.  She has dropped pretty far into my pelvis and my braxton hicks are picking up in frequency.  This is such an exciting time.  Jon and I are cherishing our last weeks together and, at the same time, looking forward to expanding the family circus.

Here are the results from our rainy evening photo shoot.  Enjoy!

Posted on September 28th, 2008 by BabyMama in Pregnancy | 2 Comments »

Every time I watch this video (created by the band Jon used to be in: www.thisistheclassic.com) I get all teary eyed. I want hope and change for Elzie. Obama is our future.

Posted on September 22nd, 2008 by BabyMama in Babies for Obama | No Comments »

So I have NO clue how almost 4 weeks have gone by since my last post.  I feel like I have been sucked into the “end of pregnancy vacuum” and every day just slips by that much faster.  Hopefully Jon’s post about our superior craftiness was a nice hold over   I have grand plans of showing off all of our other crafting skills that will inevitably make the Bongornos feel less than adequate with their decorating abilities, but I just haven’t gotten around to it (oh and so many other things) yet.

September marks the beginning of our birth classes.  Last week we endured our first.  From the get go, the instructor let us know it would be 2.5 hours of info and boy was she right.  By the end Jon and I just looked at each other like, really, did we just sit through some horrible college lecture.  We were promised however, that as the weeks went on the classes would get more interactive and we would learn very specific techniques for pain management.  We have a class tonight, so fingers crossed!  Last night we had the pleasure of attending a breast feeding class.  It was FANTASTIC.  Look, we got to practice nursing with these creepy dolls! They were surprisingly heavy too.

Here are some pics of insanely huge 35 week belly.  I just realized I have pregnancy face too.  How fun for me!

Posted on September 16th, 2008 by BabyMama in Pregnancy, The Birth Center | 3 Comments »

Liz and I love our house, but since we’re renting and the landlord just had the walls repainted, we’ve needed to get a bit creative in adding the fun and color we desire. The most difficult room, by far, is the office/baby room. Simply the fact that it will (hopefully!) serve both of these needs makes it inherently challenging. Add in the fact that the room is small, has one window and a single overhead dome light, and you’ll start to get an idea of what we’re dealing with. In most of the rooms, we’ve been able to utilize curtains for controlling light, increasing energy efficiency, and adding much needed color to the very nicely toned but monotonous light gray walls. With the office’s single corner window, curtains just won’t cut it. We have plans for some creative shelving arrangements on one wall, and for some custom frame jobs on another wall (more projects!), but ideas for the large empty wall behind my desk have been eluding us since move-in day.

Last weekend was a thrifting weekend, and we had our sights set on baby clothes. We decided to check out a flea market right down the street, where we met some very nice people and happened upon this gem:
 

Measuring in just shy of 4ft x 5ft, it was the largest frame I’ve ever come in contact with. It was in pretty bad shape — water damage had stripped a lot of the finish, stained and warped the mounting, and left a less than pleasant looking residue on the glass. 
 

 
It was $15. It was fantastic! We told the seller we were going to use it in our baby room, and he remarked that we could do a map and planet theme with glow stars. It’s like he had known us our whole lives. Actually, it wasn’t anything like that. We told him we had other plans, and after learning that our purchase was too big for our vehicle, and then driving back home for supplies, and then slapping a huge frame with a huge sheet of glass on the roof of our car, and then very carefully arriving home, we started to flesh out our ideas. After a trip to Ikea, Jomar, and A.C. Moore, we were ready to get down to business!

And here’s my butt!

Removing the original stain with a power sander:

Liz wiping down the bare wood. With all that baby stuff happening inside her, she had to stick to the “special” tasks.

Here’s the beautiful wood that was just below the surface of all that nastiness! If we weren’t after vibrant colors, this grain would have made for a wonderful staining. 

Here’s my face!

After a priming and several coats of bright green paint, we mounted some large-pattern fabric and hung carefully on some heavy-duty hooks. I had been on the lookout for some up-lighting, and on our fabric run we happened upon these perfectly matching clamp lights on the cheap! Wooooo!

Posted on September 5th, 2008 by BabyDaddy in Projects, Shopping | 2 Comments »