"Nursery" Cubby

As many of you know, Adam and I have decided to stay in our studio loft downtown Los Angeles for at least the next year or so. Before this last week, I was kind of in a state of "I don't know where we will put the baby" until my mom came down to help. With her creative genius we began work on a mini "nursery" for baby Julia. With help from Adam, we moved our food storage out of the largest cubby we could find....right by the refrigerator. Here's what the cubby looked like when we cleared it out: Notice it is a 4x4 concrete space...not a place you'd normally think, "Hey, let's put the baby to sleep in here!" But just wait...
So we thought first of how to cover some of the concrete walls for a softer look and to keep the dust from falling on baby. As you can see, I have hung some things on the concrete walls before with Command Strips and Hooks. (The red squares in the left side of the previous picture.) So we looked around town for some cute sheets or some type of material we could hook on the Command Hooks. But...after a very successful trip to Ross Dress For Less (always a good place to go when looking for some cheap decorating) we came across some foam playmats for kids. You know, the kind you hook together like a puzzle on the floor. Mom came running over to me after getting a cart and said, "We could stick these to the wall!!" And about the same time I had thought of at least making a soft floor for the crib to go on. (By crib I mean the Pack'n'Play my mother-in-law Vicki bought us the last time she was out to visit, which, by the way, happened to coordinate perfectly, colorwise, with the foam mats we found.) So we came home and went to work sticking the foam mats to the wall with some heavy duty double stick tape from Lowe's. Here I am going to work sticking the foam to the wall, you can also see the floor is covered already.
When we finally finished, it was too cute!! Of course that wasn't all we did. We found a random nail sticking out of the concrete above the cubby that my mom thought would be perfect to hang a mobile, paper lantern, or whatever we could find that was fitting for the space. So we set out to find something and lo and behold, at Joann's there were some paper lanterns that matched our color scheme perfectly! We made a mobile out of them and some ribbon which you'll see in the next picture of the finished product. You'll also notice that we covered those red squares that I had previously mentioned, with a material that better coordinated with our little nursery corner. Here's the final product!!
And a picture of me in it....not the most flattering of pictures but I have a cold and I'm 9 months pregnant...give me a break!
Oh and here's a close-up of our little mobile. There are two paper lanterns hanging from a vintage hanger and ribbon. Fun!
And just in case you didn't get an idea of how big my belly is right now, here's a nice side view from yesterday. Look at my poor puffy feet! Only 5 more days to go! (Hopefully)
Anyway, hope you enjoyed our concrete-to-"nursery" transformation!

Lauren~

Baby Weight?

This was Carolyn's idea and it sounded like fun! I'm setting up a little competition for guessing the baby's birthday and weight. Leave a comment to guess what day the baby will be born and how much she will weigh! Just to give you an idea, as of last Friday, the ultrasound estimated her weight at 6 lbs. 15 oz. Good luck!

Lauren~

Baby Shower & Week 37!

Well folks, I think it's time I post some pictures from my baby shower. It was a beautiful and memorable day, April 24th, 2010. My friend Lauren Posey planned a gorgeous shower for Adam and I at her Grandparent's home here in Los Angeles. Their yard was the perfect setting for a great shower! Here's a few highlights: I mainly wanted to post pictures of me opening gifts from my family who couldn't be there. Enjoy!

First let's talk about the amazing spread of food: I mean it was Southern BBQ at its best! Potato Salad, the most amazing Baked Beans ever, BBQ chicken, ribs, and brisket!! Can you say YUMM?!!Here's Adam and I in the shade getting ready to open gifts! Doesn't he look thrilled? hahaOkay here are those family gift highlights I was talking about earlier:

Leave it to Carolyn to get all crafty....She made some beautiful burp cloths, cute as ever!
This next picture is part of my mom's gifts to me - a baby calendar to fill out with all sorts of fun details before and after the birth!
This is the softest blanket EVER! Part of my grandma's gifts to me.
My mother-in-law Vicki made me a dozen burp pads and seven bibs with so many different patterns, useful and adorable!
I kept pulling so many out of the bag, pretty soon I starting stacking them up on Adam! lol
My Aunt Lynne sent me some goodies as well! Here are the cute little sneakers!
And who can forget about the dessert? My friend Courtney made these beautiful fruit tarts!!
Thank you to everyone for the great gifts and to Lauren and the Vargas' for being great planners and hosts!

Lauren~

P.S. Here's a picture of me from today at week 37! I found out today I'm already 1cm dialated! Yikes!!

34 Weeks!

I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left! (Well that's if the baby is born at exactly 40 weeks...)
Here's a picture from earlier today. If I look tired it's because I AM!See how the baby just sticks straight out? It looks so funny to me because all the baby is right in front. My doctor gets a worried look on her face every time she measures me because I measure four to five centimeters over at each appointment. She sent me in to the specialist because she was worried and the specialist basically asked why we were there because our baby is perfect! As of a couple weeks ago, she weighed 4 lbs, 2 oz. Now she probably weighs over five but he said she's the perfect size. It's just my short torso that makes the baby stick out in front like that! Anyway, hope you enjoyed laughing at my big belly!
Lauren~

Week 30!

Just wanted to show everyone what I look like lately...10 weeks left! I can't believe it, it's really getting close to the big day!
Lauren~

New Car & 500 Days of Summer

So here's the latest: Adam and I got a new car! My parents wanted to do a little trade and because they needed to take my dear Subaru away, we were able to be provided with a new car. Yay! It's a 2010 Scion xB and it's perfect for our upcoming family addition...the baby! We are going to need some more room for all the baby gear we're going to be toting around. I'm sure after stuffing the stroller in the Impreza trunk a few times we would have been ready anyway. Here's a picture!Cute right? It's a fun little car.

So I don't know how many of you have seen the movie 500 Days of Summer but I would recommend it. It's a good story and set in downtown Los Angeles! There's a few landmarks in the movie from downtown but Adam suggested we go find the famous "bench" that plays a big part in the movie. So we found the park but there were a lot of benches and we weren't sure which one was "the one" but we took a couple photos anyway because it was such a beautiful day!
Here's Adam on a bench at the spot called Angel's Knoll:
And here's me by the same bench....I'm not too proud of the picture, I sort of look like a beached whale but whatever, I'm pregnant.
Lauren~

Tummy update!

Just wanted to post the most recent picture of my belly! This was taken last week, at 26 weeks of pregnancy. Goodbye second trimester! Hello light at the end of the tunnel! Haha enjoy
Lauren~