Shower Time

My sweet, sweet childhood friends Lauren, Carrie, and Emily, and my sister-cousin Laurie threw a shower for Baby Zoe this weekend. It was wonderful to see everyone--especially those who came in from out of town--my cousin Amydell and my Aunt Connie drove all the way from Houston and my godmother Jan came from San Antonio, not to mention out of town hostesses Carrie from Natchez and Lauren from Dallas. And Mumsie (my mom) flew in from New Orleans for the occasion. We missed all of Zach's family from Indianapolis, Dayton, and Tampa very much, but I definitely understand the importance of saving those airline miles for the BIG SHOW when Zoe finally arrives! It's so incredible to see how much she is loved already. 

Three of the four baby bumps at the shower. My friend Jill
who is due in 2 weeks was also in attendance. I'll post
more pictures as soon as I get them from the photogs
Allison, Emily, and Laurie.

Check out the video below courtesy of Lauren. The desserts were amazing--all made from scratch by Laurie and Lauren. The favors were soooo adorable and delicious! YUM. Thanks, Lauren!!

In other news, Zach and I are starting to feel like we're making progress on our "to-do before baby arrives" list. We still have some painting left to do. I'll post pictures of painting in progress next weekend. The nursery color is, well, a bit bold to say the least. The official Benjamin Moore color name is Dark Salmon. Some who have seen it have raised questions, but I LOVE IT, so I guess that's what counts, right? It's kind of like choosing the name--we don't care too much if you don't like it! Haha. And for those of you who don't know, we have officially chosen a name for our little bambina. She will be Zoe Margaret Baumer. Margaret for BOTH of her grandmothers. It doesn't get more perfect than that! The biggest things going on right now are washing and sorting all of the cute little clothes we have for her and waiting for my nursery chair to arrive. I know, my priorities have changed already. 

Love you all and I'll post again soon (PROMISE!) 

Nesting in the New Year

Happy 2011! Third trimester is officially here and nesting is in full swing at the Baumer house. I didn't realize that the nesting instinct would be so strong or that it would extend beyond the nursery, but it has taken over my brain. Our house is being cleaned out, rearranged, painted, and organized! I do realize in my rational brain that I don't have to get EVERYTHING done before the baby arrives, but it's hard when my hormones are telling me one thing and logic is telling me another. I have to admit, (and you can ask Zach to verify this) the hormones usually win out.

Zach and I used some of the gift cards we received for Christmas to pick up a Flip cam at Target last week. Check out our very first video below. You don't want to miss Cosmo in the Bob stroller or my ever-growing Baby bump!

'Tis the Season

Christmas has landed at the Baumer house! I've taken a bit of a holiday hiatus from the blog--I hope you all will forgive me. There's not too much to report. We're still working on the nursery and will post pics as we piece it together. Baby girl and I are both doing great. Second trimester has been a breeze compared to the first. I hear that third trimester can get a bit challenging, but I think I'm up for it! We're headed to Indianapolis next Wednesday for a week with Zach's family. We're looking forward to a (hopefully) white Christmas in the midwest! Merry Christmas, everyone.

We'll have to make room for a third stocking next year!
Our current baby Cosmo is in for a bit of an awakening come March.
Hope he's ready!!

Baby's Got a Brand New Bed

We spent a good chunk of the weekend getting the house ready for our new family member. We moved furniture...well, Zach and Adam moved furniture while Laurie and I watched, pointed, and directed! And Zach put the crib together while I tried desperately to get the sticker residue off of the headboard. After trying regular cleaner, rubbing alcohol, and Mr. Clean magic eraser, I found out that vegetable oil works miracles on sticker residue. Go figure! I'm sure this is one of the many, many Mommy factoids I will be collecting from here on out. It's such a thrill to see the crib every time I walk by the nursery! I hope she knows how much we love her already.

Proud Papa working on the crib.

And we're ready! We decided to go with a local shop
called Furniture in the Raw. All of their pieces are 100% hardwood.
I love it and can't wait for her first night in it!

Big Bump, Little Bump

A little Friday lagniappe for y'all! Laurie just sent me these pictures from last weekend and I wanted to share them. And I swear I am a few days MORE pregnant than she is. This is Laurie's second baby, and apparently, you start to show much sooner with your second than with your first. It's like your body says, "Oh, yeah! I remember how to do this." Enjoy and happy Friday!

Believe it or not, we did not plan the matching outfits.

Although it looks like I'm about to start break dancing,
we are actually introducing the girls to each other.

 

The Baby Bump Has Landed

It's official! I finally look pregnant. The last few weeks have included a major growth spurt for both mommy and baby. Baby girl is right on track--headed for one pound in the next week or two. Zach and I went in for my monthly check-up today and I have gained a whopping nine pounds in one month! My doctor says it's totally normal to have a jump in weight gain between 18 and 22 weeks, especially because I hadn't gained much at all before now. I have to say though, it was still a bit shocking to see that number on the doctor's scale!

Check out the bump! (And please excuse the post-work hair
& strangely stiff hands. You can tell how much I love to
pose for pictures!)

And a close-up. We're at 20 weeks--HALF WAY!

In other news...

Since moving to Austin, I've been able to live out some of my childhood dreams like:

1) Live in the same town as my cousins Laurie and Anna (check! Even though Anna is traveling most of the time, we still count Austin as her home base.)

2) Not only live in the same town, but live in the same neighborhood (check! Laurie, Adam, and Samuel live about one mile from us.) AND...drumroll please...

3) Have daughters the same age so they can be as close as we are (This week, I finally get to put a big fat CHECK mark next to this one! As most of you know, Laurie's due date is March 30--three days after mine--and we found out on Monday that she and Adam are expecting a baby girl. We couldn't be more excited!

AND to top off all the amazing news, our very close friend Beth found out on Tuesday that she and Steve are expecting a baby boy in April. Thank goodness we'll have a little testosterone in the mix. It's officially raining babies in Austin, TX, so, ladies, if you're not interested in having one right now, you better not drink the water! Till next week...

Thank Goodness for 2nd Trimester!

Hello friends and family! I've decided (after falling in love with Lauren's dalalimama blog) that this is by far the easiest way to share updates and photos of our very own Baby Girl Baumer. She'll be here on March 27 and Zach and I are busy preparing for her arrival. I'm so glad to have made it safely out of my first trimester and into the much more pleasant second trimester. And with the second trimester came the extremely exciting day when we found out we were going to have a GIRL!

This is the delicious (fully homemade!) strawberry cake Zach made for me on Oct. 27--the day we found out BB is a girl!

A profile picture of our sweet girl.

Her long legs and cute little feet!

A lot of you have requested pictures of my belly--those are to come very soon! It's still pretty small, but it's growing every day.