Nursery - Furniture Arrives!

Our furniture has finally arrived and now the nursery is just about complete. We received a glider and ottoman, a dresser that will double as a changing table once we get the changing pad, a nightstand, and a bookcase. I spent the last hour organizing toys, books, diaper caddies, lamps, etc. and now feel as if I need a nap on our comfy new glider! Everything fits perfectly in the room and the dark wood looks great with our lighter walls and carpet.

This weekend we'll get our Alphabet Soup quilt and some other pictures/wall hangings put up, we'll hang our curtain rod and valance, and we'll work on getting the closet organized with the baby's already-extensive wardrobe. We'll also be making a trip to Babies R Us very soon for some final accessories that we'll need to use right away when the baby comes home. Enjoy these photos and we're excited for all of you to see the nursery in person very soon!

Nursery - The Decorating Begins...

Tonight the decorating of the nursery began and we are really pleased with the final product! As we get through these last two days before our furniture gets delivered, when we'll be able to decorate the nursery entirely, we decided to go ahead and setup some of the accessories we were able to move at this point into the new room. We do have our crib already so Andrew assembled that, I washed all of the bedding and we relocated it to its new home in the nursery. Below are a few photos of the crib outfitted in our Alphabet Soup bedding. Barney was quite nosey as we set up so many new things and so that we don't forget about him, he made it a point to star in many of our photos!

We also were excited to finally be able to lay out our Alphabet Soup area rug. It really adds a nice touch to the room! Again, Barney seemed to be under the impression that we had bought him a comfortable new mat to lay on, as he made himself at home directly on top of it within a few minutes of our laying it out!

Finally, we placed the big frog chair and some other cute stuffed animals around the room:

We'll be able to get the rest of the decor placed around the room once the furniture arrives on Thursday - curtains, baskets and accessories, lamps, pictures, quilts, etc. We'll be uploading the final photos later this week so check back again!

Nursery - Almost Finished...

The nursery is on its way to being complete! This weekend we painted the molding and although it was sort of tedious, it came out great - exactly as we had pictured it. Tomorrow we will add the second coat of antique white paint, which will mark the end of the "home improvement" phase of our nursery and prepare us for the part I've been looking forward to for months: getting our furniture delivered and decorating the room with all of the cute accessories that have been taking up temporary residence in our guest room these past few weeks.

Below are some "action shots" of us painting the room. It was an extremely cold and windy February day so we bundled up, cracked the windows for lots of ventilation and worked hard all afternoon.

What an accomplishment it was to see the finished product...and to have no major painting casualties such as spills on the carpet or smudges on the already-painted yellow half of the room. We did, however, nearly have a run-in with a wildly excited Labrador Retriever tail on wet paint when we had a weak moment and let Barney come into the room while the paint was still tacky. Luckily we were able to banish the beast before any damage occured :)! Below are some photos of the "finished" room after the first coat of white paint:

Tomorrow we add the final coat of paint, after which we will be finished for good with painting. Stay tuned for more photos later this week after Bellini delivers our furniture and we begin accessorizing. We expect the entire room to be complete by Friday of this week and are very excited to share the final product with all of you!

Nursery - Painting Begins!

This weekend we began painting the nursery and all of a sudden it seems more like a baby's room than a construction zone! Andrew finished the molding, put up a chair rail, and we placed some wooden pegs just below the chair rail for an added organizational and decorative touch to our custom look (but really as a means to satisfy my sudden nesting instinct!).

We decided to paint the walls a cheery yellow above the molding and will next paint the molding an antique white, to match the rest of the woodwork throughout our house. The yellow half of the room is now finished and looks GREAT with our bedding ensemble and the green and red gingham accents we plan to incorporate throughout the nursery.

Below are some photos of the nursery as big brother Barney poses for the camera after weeks of moping because we wouldn't allow him inside the room while it was under construction! This week we'll mix up our antique white paint for our next step: painting the molding...

Nursery - Work in Progress Continues

We're continuing to work on our nursery and Andrew is making so much progress with the molding. He is nearly finished with it and it looks great. By this coming weekend we should be able to start preparing the room for painting, as he only has a few last pieces to put up and then I just have some wood puttying and spackling to do. Our new impetus for really getting the work done in the room is that Bellini called us yesterday and our furniture has arrived. They will hold it for as long as we need but we are aiming for mid to late February to have everything painted and ready for move in!

Above is Bob Vila in action, securing some of the molding to the wall with one of his *many* power nailers. Below are some views of the room as it is progressing. It's really coming along and should look so nice once it's painted!

Pregnancy Pictures

I was pregnant from June 2005 through March 2006 and it was one of the happiest times of my life. I gained 27 pounds over the course of my pregnancy and although I did not gain an abundance of weight, pregnancy photos is one aspect of the experience that I preferred to avoid. There's just something about seeing yourself 20-something pounds heavier that isn't as appealing to me as it is to others. Nonetheless, I have been asked numerous times for pregnancy photos and so I am posting the few that I do have. Enjoy!

Our alma mater, Lehigh University, has a formal gala every year and in 2005 they had Bernadette Peters perform at the event. As she is one of my favorite performers, we decided to buy tickets and go out for a date night. I actually made my own gown after seeing that formal maternity gowns cost well over $100, so luckily I could put on my seamstress hat and made something suitable. Here we are on our way out. I am 4 months pregnant.

My father-in-law was remarried on New Year's Day 2006 and my new mother-in-law, Cheri, bought me a lovely maternity dress to wear for the occasion. I did opt to wear a shawl over my shoulders out of modesty since I was starting to feel a bit flabby, but at over 6 months pregnant I don't think I looked too bad :).

Finally, my friends and I went out to Lancaster, PA for a girls' shopping day at the end of January 2006 so at the time I was nearly 7 months pregnant. My friend Julie (magenta sweater) was also about 5-1/2 months pregnant at the time.

Front row: Julie, Heather; back row: me, Amy

Now Julia joins us for the photo.

Julie and I sporting our pregnant tummies. Our little ones Ben and Talya are buddies now :).

Liz's Surprise Baby Shower

On Saturday, January 21, 2006 my four friends - Amy Kriebel, Julia Spencer, Heather Ferrence, and Julie Delp - threw me a wonderful baby shower at Amy's house in Harleysville, PA. Approximately 30 of our closeby family members and my girlfriends were able to make it out for the special day. The girls know that I love to read so they gave the shower a "children's book" theme and every guest was asked to bring her favorite childhood book as a wishing well gift. Thank goodness we purchased a bookshelf for the baby's room because we certainly have plenty of books to put in it now. To go along with the theme, the girls made beautiful hand-stamped bookmarks as shower favors for each guest, which had a poem printed on them from "Baby Martin." I may be a bit biased, but it definitely was a perfect shower!

Above is me with all of the girls: (l-r) Julia, Heather, Liz, Amy, and Julie.

And here we all are again with Andrew's step mom, Cheri Martin, and my mom, Lisa Caulfield.

The girls prepared a delicious spread of food and were considerate enough to make items that I was allowed to eat per my diabetic diet!

What a cute cake! I love frogs so the girls got a froggie cake and used a frog motif on some of the shower "extras" as well.

Like most showers, much of the time was spent opening all of the beautiful and generous gifts that everyone gave to us. We were fortunate enough to receive so many things that will be useful for us over the next few months, both in decorating the nursery and for when the baby does arrive. Below are some photos that I've prescreened and allowed to be posted on the Internet :) ...and remember that the camera adds ten pounds (at least that is what I'm telling myself!):



My goodness, does someone this little really need all of these things!?! I was completely out of breath after opening some of the larger items, even though I had lots of help.


The ADORABLE froggie chair from Aunt-to-be Maggie will go perfectly in our animal-themed nursery.


So many cute little outfits! Although she wasn't able to be there for the occasion, this one was sent by my good friend, Sandra, in Holland. The baby isn't even born yet and already he has an international wardrobe!


The Alphabet Soup Toddler Quilt is adorable. This is the last item that we needed from the bedding ensemble so now the crib is fully adorned and just awaiting the nursery to be complete.


One of Nana Caulfield's famous gift baskets! It was almost painful to disassemble it since she had it pieced together so perfectly...

Dad-to-be Andrew decided to stay at the baby shower while the two grandpas-to-be and some of the other men went out for dinner. He enjoyed seeing all of the gifts being opened and was a big help moving some of the larger items!

Nursery - Work in Progress

We started to work on our nursery and have made great progress so far. Andrew has been meticulously routing some custom wainscoting (with Pottery Barn Kids as our inspiration) for the bottom half of our walls and is close to halfway finished. We've also installed a white ceiling fan and lighting fixture. Finally, we'll be adding a chair rail above the wainscoting as the finishing touch once all of the molding is in place and then will begin to paint!