Baby Room Revealed

Oh my. I posted the nursery sneak peak 6 weeks ago. How time flies when you wake up huger than you thought humanly possible every day!

Well, the wait is over. The baby room is done DONE DONE! Do you know what that means? The baby needs to COME! And that you get to see pictures and read all the details about the room.

Without further ado...

the view as you walk in

the view from the incredibly comfortable reclining rocker

the view from the crib

the bookshelf that Adam so handily assembled, but more importantly,

the orange and blue canvas bins I have been stalking for three months!

shelves over the dresser

Nearly everything in the baby's room was either a gift, or purchased with a gift card. We were so blessed to be able to put together such an amazing room. The crib and dresser are from the Nordells, the rocker was a gift from my parents, all the books and toys were gifts (other than the orange hippo in the crib... I paid $5 for that at Ikea because I couldn't imagine myself without it; oh and the puppy on the bookshelf... that was mine when I was a baby). The bookshelf, canvas bins, and blue laundry hampers were all purchased at Target with gift cards (so much more fun to shop with giftcards!). The blanket is handmade by Ashley. The framed print on the bookshelf is a card from my cousin Paula, the Eiffel Tower print is from the Welbourns. The "Once upon a time" print was a DIY project by yours truly.

And there you have it, the baby's room. We both love it and I find myself gravitating toward the rocker. I think it might be the most comfortable spot in the house. This room is definitely the only completed room in the house, and probably the cutest too. And now, if its occupant would please vacate his current quarters...

Monkey Bread

Adam talks big; like he doesn't walk in the house when I am baking and just throw himself at me in gratitude. He makes it sound like I force feed him the cake dips and the monkey bread. I am perfectly content to eat them all myself, especially lately, since the late-term prego cravings have kicked in. (read: I bought a Costco-sized box of ice cream bars, have been known to eat three cake dips while hovering over the plate, and considered getting out of bed in the middle of the night for a cookie... and I don't even really like sweets!)

But, for those who are interested in the monkey bread... this is what it looks like in all its glory. Yum! I used the recipe from here. However, I didn't make the cream cheese glaze. I just poured the leftover butter and cinnamon sugar over the top of the pan and called it good.

It was delicious. We ate half of it for breakfast on Saturday morning. Yes, I did get up and put it in the oven and then go back to bed for 40 minutes. No use being up and drooling over the oven.

When you flip the bread out of the pan, the bottom becomes the top. And the top is covered in gooey, yummy caramely delicious-ness. In my opinion, this makes the cream cheese glaze useless. However, after you eat the top half, the bottom half is a little sad. I think the glaze would be perfect here.

And, although I did make the dough from scratch... because it really is easy and I already had everything it called for... I suppose you could use refrigerated. But, it seems so much more impressive to make it from scratch. Plus, it gives my KitchenAid some love!

Temptation all around

I've been feeling fat lately-uh, let me start over. This is Adam, and I've been feeling fat lately. I've even started working out. Well, I've tried to create the habit of running a few times a week. Some weeks I'm more successful than others.
Today I got back on the running horse. I run a 3 mile loop around the neighborhood. Not much, but I feel better afterward.

Today I felt fat. Laura saw me looking at my gut and mentioned that I haven't run for a few days. She then went on to remind me that the last time she encouraged me to go out I bit her head off, so she wasn't telling me anything, just observing. I told her she needs to encourage me even if I bite her head off. She told me to go run. I yelled at her that "I just got home and I'm tired." She backed off. She's not very good at encouraging sometimes.

Actually, she's been downright bad today. I eventually went out for a run. And I felt better when I returned. But I came home to chocolate cake dips and the ingredients for Monkey Bread: cinnamon roll dough dipped in butter rolled in cinnamon sugar. And I'm supposed to stay in shape in this house? Yeah, right.

Swagbucks

So Laura and I are digging into the farthest recesses of the internet to get any kind of financial benefit. One of the most recent findings is Swagbucks. It is simple: you search, you earn points, you redeem those points for stuff. For us, the goal is a gift card to Amazon.

Guess what? You can Swag, too! All you have to do is click here:

I think if you do, we also get a Swagbuck kick back. So now instead of Googling something you can Swag-it. (I love how these terms have become verbs.)

Mommy to be

Mommy to be
Originally uploaded by ilovefremont2001

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to give a quick update. Yesterday we were at the hospital for our first birthing class. It actually wasn't as bad as my nightmares. Yes, I had nightmares about it! I dreamed that everyone in the class chastised me when I said that the video of a birth was gross.

In reality, we did watch a video of a birth. And it was gross. But I didn't say anything out loud. However, Laura says that the grimace across my face said enough.

The only other item of note was the placenta sock puppet. Our instructor enjoyed swimming it around the room like it was a jellyfish. She also enjoyed placing it between her legs so as to show what the umbilical cord would look like...uh...well, you should get the picture. And if you don't then you are better off for it.

Devil in the White City

Adam and I both recently finished reading the same book: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. The cover describes it as "murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America". It chronicles the World's Fair that took place in Chicago in 1893. Well, half of the book chronicles the planning and building of the fair from an architectural perspective. The other half of the book follows a psychopathic serial killer.

Riveting. To say we loved it is an understatement. I think that it speaks to the power of Larson's writing, when I realized that I cared as much if not more about the architects as I did the victims of the psychopath. And I am not an architecture-lover by nature.

The tale of the World's Fair reads like a marvelously composed memoir. And the rest of the book reads like a gripping mystery. Oh, and did I mention this is a NONFICTION. That's right folks, it is true. And yet, you feel as if you are reading a novel from start to finish.

Adam and I both loved learning all that America produced for the first time at the fair. Shredded Wheat, the National Anthem, and a number of other fun surprises we can't bear to ruin. And the list of those that contributed to the fair or attended the fair, reads like a Who's Who of America in the early 20th century. So fascinating.

The Devil in the White City recieves two enthusiatic thumbs up from the DeClercqs.

Grocery stores

Maybe it is because I really only frequest grocery stores.

Maybe it is because workers in grocery stores are paid to be friendly.

Maybe it is because people stand in line mindlessly and therefore do things they wouldn't do in another venue.

Who knows?

All I know is that I was the recipient of three comments in the last 2 days that I just had to share.

1. Costco

Adam and I were standing in line with one thing, commenting on the woman who was in the line next to us with an entire cart full of chocolate chip cookies. I considered offering to bake the same number of cookies for her for half the price, but then I would have to get out of line to buy more chocolate chips and it didn't really seem worth it. I digress.

We were standing in line and a woman walked up to us and said "excuse me". I assumed she wanted to squeeze between us and the man in front of us. I was wrong. She handed me a business card and said "I never do this, but I am a photographer and you two are cute are obviously pregnant, so I wanted to see if you would be interested in a belly session or baby pictures?" I didn't have the heart to break her spirit and tell her that the male portion of this cute, obviously pregnant couple is also a photograper. So, I smiled, said thank you and put her card in my pocket.

See proof of photography below.

2. Albertson's

Minding my own prego business in the chip aisle. Don't ask what I bought, ok, chips are my weakness. An Albertson's employee is sweeping down the aisle. I assume that with my wide load, I am probably in the way. I try to hug the chips to get out of his way. He gives me a thumbs up, a big smile and proclaims "Pretty mommy!" as he sweeps past me.

3. Same Albertson's as #2

The cashier pointed at my belly and asked "when?" That's it, just one word. I assumed that he wanted to know when the baby in my big baby belly was due, not when is my next doctor's appointment, when was the last time I slept comfortably through the night, when did the maternity shirts stop covering the elastic waistband of my maternity jeans, or when this child was conceived... so I smiled and said March 22nd.

I try not to be THAT pregnant woman, but seriously.