missing christmas

just a little. maybe because our last christmas was a blur. we had a new 2 week old little r ( he's almost 2 months now! yikes). i had just gotten a head cold and dealing with lack of sleep + new mommyhood. good times. and yet somehow i knew this would happen. so i celebrated early :)



early december i new i had just days to celebrate before christmas ( my favorite time to celebrate ) i never really got the nesting thing... with closing the shop just FIVE days before giving birth to little r. instead of nesting i BAKED! hahaa! and ate. oh goodness. so bad right?



well, with my priorities in check *wink*wink* i made cupcakes to thank my friends at both mr.handsome's office & at the post office. i know....the post office...weird right? but they are my pals now. most people hate going to the post office. i used to be one of them. long lines. rude people. waiting. blah. then i went often enough and learned names with faces and chatted and laughed my way to new friends. :) they've become almost my co-workers hahaa :)



so happy cupcakes for them. and okay me too :)
except for the photo shoot i dolled them up with little dear friends & mini trees. sprinkled with a dash of peppermint chocolate and voila... sweet treats for everyone yay!

and even though i was fighting a bit of a head cold christmas day... i couldn't help myself. i had to decorate our living room with my jolly box of christmas love. happy. happy colors. happy sprinkles. happy shimmery stars and i was happy indeed.

sigh.... and even though i just barely took my christmas stuff down a week ago, i am still happy for making the effort to enjoy the season and share some caloric lovin' with family & friends.  

and you know what's even better than all these pretty pictures?

my little r.

joy.  i love joy

( i love that even at 1 month he is this cheery & happy and filled me with so much joy. except you get too close and he licks your face off. well, honestly, i love that too ;)

i'm hoping you remember to have joy in 2012...  :)

and when you need a bit of joy, just remember little r and his cute little face & smile.

xo

-d

still alive :)

oh the joy. being a mama is hard work ;) and this little one has me wrapped around his little fingers.  If I could describe this past month as a mom I would definitely say "overwhelmed" would best describe it. Overwhelmed with joy. lack of sleep. love. tears. hope. fear. grateful. adapting. etc. it's all running around me a mile a minute. but we are still alive. still thankful for being mom & dad & little one.

little r is one month now, how does the time both fly by and yet seem to go soooo sloooow?! hahaa :) So here we are, completing the cycle. exactly where we started in 2011 with our baby announcement and now look, a baby :P every now and then i catch myself in a reflection and for some reason i still expect to see my baby bump and then when i see its not there it feels SO weird. crazy how i pushed out a baby just a month ago. even though i had a  HUGE fear of labor. even though i never ever wanted to go through labor. and even though it seemed impossible. its true. i'm a mama. i'm little r's mama. and we're a very blessed family. We ended 2011 on such a high note. i'm hoping 2012 gets better. Already making plans to take little r to his first baseball game, road trip, beach outing, picnic, etc. good times ahead. 

now if i could only get some actual Inspire Lovely work done...but SOMEONE seems to never want to  give mama a break. hint * hint* well with that little face,  my heart melts... and then a big party of  kisses & squishy hugs ensues.  this is how we roll... :)

taking it day by day

living in the moment,

xoxo

-d

happy little one

hello lovelies :)

With a full heart I would love for you to finally meet my squishy little baby. He's my new handsome little stud muffin. I cannot believe he is so sweet and adorable and all mine :) After 9 months of waiting it still amazes me that he was in my belly this whole time. Kicking away, growing, waiting for the perfect time. And he came and it was all not as bad as I thought it was going to be. During contractions I kept trying to smile through them. I mentally pictured little r in my arms and counting his little fingers and toes... one little piggie, two little piggies, three etc... and boy did that help me keep focused. I started contracting late thursday, all day friday and by saturday morning i had enough of waiting for the contractions to even up we just went to the hospital anyway :)  thankfully mr.handsome helped me through the entire process and we made it out alive :) 

Thank you SO much for your words of encouragement... i definitely channeled positive thoughts and prayers throughout the 12 hours of labor. I might have proposed marriage to the epidural doctor and maybe to a nurse or two. ;) But in either case, Mr.handsome and i are both bursting at the seams with pride and joy over our little man. He smiles after every feeding. He makes the cutest little noises. and he has the most beautiful happy eyes I have ever seen. little r has been getting so much auntie & uncle love around here. I still feel his newness. That's my baby. that's my little guy :) even at 2 am in the morning hehee.  this new chapter has been good so far. i'm looking forward to everything with anticipation and a bit of nervous excitement... but oh so thankful for every moment of every day. thank you for sharing in this personal journey with me and sending words of hope and comfort.  baby kisses to each of you 

xoxo

little r + happy mama

let's play...

spot the pregnant lady :)
last week mr.handsome and i took a fun trip to target for some popcorn & last minute maternity shopping. Okay, so we also bought a chocolate chip cookie & soda... but i will say i shared with the mister and it was all his idea :) jk.

So as I was wandering around trying to settle on new maternity items i have no idea about ( ie nursing bras, etc -SO confusing ) and picking out a new outfit for the hospital leave ( because you have to keep some cuteness and i don't want little r to think i'm a huge mess.) ... i walked past a little 4 year old girl holding onto her mothers hand and walking next to her grandmother. not even 3 feet from me the little girl stops and points and says... look mama that lady is REALLY pregnant!
nice.
i'm right in front of you kiddo.
and i feel like you just spotted a whale.
but thanks.
i just smiled and looked down at my huge belly.
yep. can't miss it.

- even though i can still see my feet.
- have only one cankle ( my right foot flares up for no reason and looks like an elephant foot-sexy right? )
- still fit into my boots ( okay, mr.handsome has to help put them on & take them off - it's so pre-school!)
- i wake up 4 times every night. no sleep. tinkle business. extreme back aches. ( i miss sleep )
- my face cheeks look more like i'm a part of the chipmunks gang. extremely hard to hide. thank you for not mentioning it. :)
- i still refuse to purchase any maternity clothes. even the pants. i wear my jeggings and the bellaband like it's my uniform. i am 10 days away... can i make it without purchasing one bit of maternity pants?! fingers are crossed...
- still trying to walk 3 miles a day. so far it's been good, despite the cankle :)
- and what do i do instead of packing my hospital bag last night? bake 2 batches of oatmeal cookies. i mean really. they were so worth it. except i have yet to pack my bag.  it's like i don't want to :) hahaa. afraid? yes. nervous? yep. excited? oh yeah.  in my defense. the bag + my clothes etc are both out and waiting to be packed. it's gonna get done. i just know it :P



so 38 weeks, a few days shy of 39 weeks. 10 days to go. the mister and i have been enjoying spending time together. we saw the muppets movie and everytime we do something like that i say awww... this might be the last time we do this or that. etc. i hope we look back on just us in a very happy way. ( thank you to my mister for agreeing to take another self portrait photo, above. I know he's not a huge fan of having his photo taken but man he looks great :)

december brings us to our birth month for little r. We celebrate our 3rd anniversary just a few days after that. but most of all, we get to enjoy our first christmas together as 3 + mr.rogers :) can't believe it!

I almost forgot to mention something totally fun :
Inspire Lovely was featured in this issue of Mollie Makes:

What a wonderful magazine and such a lovely place to be featured in. This is our little shop home. It's going to be fun fixing it up while on maternity leave and bringing in new things into the shop. We've already begun to jot down ideas of new items & things to feature for the shop. Some exciting stuff is happening in 2012 :)  and to think little r will be hanging around to enjoy it too *smiles*

So closing time... if you have any last minute items to purchase today is your day. After tomorrow Inspire Lovely will be a little quiet and sit waiting until Jan 2012. It's when i hope to come back :) but you know, it might take a little bit longer. Lets hope little r is good to his mama. :)

I am working on little r's birth announcements...hoping to share soon...thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement! I'm printing all the comments and keeping them in my journal to have when i go into labor and need some extreme words of hope. :)  

love & big mama belly hugs,

debee + little r

& my cankle. ;P

almost there

hello lovelies. happy day after thanksgiving :)
i meant to blog sometime sooner yet here i am late as ever but still here. little r is still baking practicing his ninja moves every day. he seems to be getting stronger and faster each day. i'm very excited about giving those little arms and legs of his a kiss soon :)

birthday card for mr.handsome... sometimes happy birthday isn't enough.
i thought i'd let him know how i felt about him :) felt leaves and crazy sewing lines = love xoxo

mr.handsome has put together the baby stroller and each time i go past it i look inside the baby car seat on top and see  how teeny tiny of a space is in there and sometime soon little r will be there too. i get all teary eyed each and every time i go past it. it's so crazy. we've also finished up our last lamaze class, toured the hospital and enjoyed eating out on our last and final date nights for a while. and to think only 3 weeks left. i have SO much i still need to get done and yet i feel like i have another 3 months to catch up on it all. but i don't. and this nesting thing hasn't kicked in hahaa! i'm lagging on packing my bag for the hospital. i haven't finished buying everything i need. ahhh.... so random. even still i'm very thankful for everything. mr.handsome snapped this shot a couple weeks back after a friends baby shower. babies everywhere! hehee. it's nice to not be the only one pregnant and have someone to relate to.

so three more weeks and i'm still trying to decide when it will be a good time to close down the shop and enjoy some maternity leave. being self employed has it's perks working from home and all. but maternity leave is not quite something you get while being self employed. you work or don't. seems to be something i'm not sure how long i need. lucky for us mr.handsome will be home for some time to help with little r and the shop if need be. but for now we've decided december 5th will be our official closing date. if not sooner ( just in case little r comes before his due date). I've enjoyed this roller coaster of a year. I've stocked up the store with last minute christmas items for you to enjoy.

Each order placed from now until December 5 will have a little gift to go along with it as a thank you for everything. :) I'm also extending the free shipping on all orders over $30 before shipping until December 5th. Happy shopping!

Opening up Inspire Lovely early December and now closing it for a bit for maternity leave have impacted my life so much. i'm truly thankful and sincerely blessed to have served every lovely who has shopped the store. I've been more than happy to gift wrap each lovely package for each person. and sending out over 2,500 items out all over the world. it's been quite wonderful. thank you. with my whole heart. thank you. i hope not to be gone for too long but one thing is for sure, i'm missing you already. in the mean time, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we go through the process of bringing little r into this world.

i'm not as strong as i think sometimes. and i could use all the prayer and love you send my way. i hope to be brave, stay strong and think happy and positive thoughts for both myself & little r. these past couple of months with little r growing in my belly, i've appreciated the role i've been given. this little guy is mine to bring into this world and only i can do that for little r. i can't wait to hold him finally in my arms and meet my new little buddy for life. xoxo

thanks so much for listening...
big baby bump hugs to you
xoxo

love,
d & little r