From Daily Daguerreotype

Kristine from Petite Peapods sent over this dress and bonnet (EEEEEEEEE!!!!) for Penny as part of the Etsy Baby Shower. I should have taken a closeup of the handmade bows, because they are tremendous, but I guess you’ll get a picture of those when there’s a snuggly little puggly sitting in this outfit.

You can check out Kristine’s blog or Facebook page where you can find out more info on how to contact her for custom clothing designs. She makes handmade dresses for special occasions, and I love the thought of a one-of-a-kind flower girl dress for the creative bride.

I also love the thought of BONNETS. Which I hope are going to make a comeback of Olympic proportions.

Thank you so much, Kristine!

Continuing on with my Etsy Baby Shower blog posts, here’s another adorable hand-made gift we received in the mail.

From Daily Daguerreotype

Angela from Amievoltaire sent Penny Cate this beautiful pillowcase dress. I told her I was a sucker for the blue and brown combo, but what I didn’t realize was how flexible this little dress really was. Apparently Penny will be able to wear it as a dress for quite some time, and then it can be worn as a little tunic top when she’s older. Talk about genius!

Yesterday while I was out at Old Navy I picked up a pair of brown leggings on clearance that will fit perfectly on Pen’s little diapered booty when she’s old enough to wear this as a top. When Matt saw the combo he melted into a pool of oatmeal on the kitchen floor. Guy’s more of a mush-head than I ever would have expected.

Angela sells a whole bunch of beautiful creations on her Etsy shop, but I’m especially loving her ladies skirts. Lord knows what size I’ll wind up when all is said and done, but I think one of these skirts might be in my future.

You can check out her blog, her Facebook page or follow her on Twitter. Thanks so much, Angela! Love the dress!

I was blown away when I was selected to be a recipient of handmade Etsy gifts from the folks over at Etsy Baby Shower. Essentially what happens is that a bunch of generous shop owners gift expecting mamas with their hand-crafted baby wares as of way of congratulating them. My sister tipped me off to it, and my due date with Penny (as well as my obsessive love for all things Etsy) qualified me to be one of the lucky mamas!

I’ve had such a fun time emailing back and forth with the various shop owners who sent me beautiful gifts. Once again, I was thoroughly impressed with how many talented and crafty people are out there, and I love that Etsy gives them a wider audience and hopefully more business. So this week, I wanted to show you the beautiful new gifts for Penny and tell you a little more about the shops behind them.

From Daily Daguerreotype

Tessa from T & T Crafts sent over these adorable blue and green booties with fun non-skid soles. Of course I died when I saw the colors and the little green rosettes, but I also loved that Penelope will have a bit more traction while zipping around on our wood floors. As if I’ll even be able to put her down for a second. I can’t wait to see these babies on her wee little feet!

Tessa sells a wide variety of crafts including homemade soap, reusable produce bags, and dog collars, not to mention her sustainable baby wares – cloth dipes and wipes! You know that makes my green heart squee with joy!

Check out her shop if you’re looking for a fun and eco-friendly gift for that person in your life who loves all things hand-crafted! And thanks so much, Tessa (and Etsy Baby Shower!), for your generous gift!

I’ve been putting it off and putting it off for weeks, and it wasn’t until my online checklist popped up a big red message with a crying baby saying I was way overdue that I decided to finally pack my bag for the hospital today. I started with the fun part – picking out what Penelope would wear home – CLEARLY a onesie with a turtle on the front. But after that it got very not fun.

Throughout pregnancy I’ve been a bit shocked by the advice columns and checklists suggested to pregnant women mostly because I think to myself, where are all of the men who would put up with these high maintenance women long enough to impregnate them? For instance, one list suggested I bring an assortment of lip balms and a brand new set of pajamas to wear in the hospital. Because I will have a flavor preference on lip balms when I am 8 cm dilated and will want to put on lovely pink silk jammies when all manner of fluids are pouring out of my body. THOSE women clearly used sperm donors.

But you know what DID make sense to me? Money for the vending machines. I was sitting on the bed sorting loose change when Matt walked in, saw my huge stack of coins, and said, “You really think we’ll need that much money for the vending machines?”

“$13.60 to be precise. And yes. What if this baby comes out at 3 am and the cafeteria is closed!? It’s not like you’ll be able to run to Chipotle either! Mama’s gonna need her some Snickers bars.”

So I’ve packed up what I consider to be the necessities, and I’ve decided to not think about my hospital bag again until I actually need it. My light packing might leave me in a pinch should I find myself with hours of boredom to kill and no magazines or set of playing cards to entertain me. But you better believe when Penny arrives I’ll be buying everyone a round of Cooler Ranch Doritos to celebrate.

I’ve discussed our car shopping before, and yes, we’re still shopping. Because we loved the Outback but wanted to wait until the 2011s are on the lot so we might be able to get a gently used 2010. At least that was our thinking until I found a used 2009 Nissan Rogue at an outrageously good price where we would be allowed a 3-day rental to test her out.

After much finagling, I finally picked her up today, and was surprised to see she was blue after being listed as grey. 8% of men are colorblind, so I chalked it up to that, and proceeded to drive her home with the volume cranked. Since we’ll be listening to music on Marshall 11 with sleeping kids in the back seat.

Most people would want to try out all of the funky features and see how it performs at high speeds. Not me. The first priority I had was to pull out both my infant carseat and my convertible carseat and snap them in with every possible configuration. Two rear-facing, one front facing, side-by-side, and with space in between. This I did crammed into the backseat myself, at 8 months pregnant, with both doors shut because there was a thunderstorm and torrential downpour taking place at the same time.

Take this photo, and then imagine, if you will, my big fat white booty squished in there between the carseats pushing, pulling and groaning to make sure the seats were secure. FOR MY INVISIBLE CHILDREN’S SAFETY!

From Daily Daguerreotype

Quickest route to premature labor EVER.

Tomorrow I’m taking the car for an inspection to make sure that no disasters are hidden under the roof. After which I plan on flying to DC to square away this oil spill disaster, then on to Baghdad to get our troops out, and then to Africa to stop world hunger. While my physique would beg to differ, I have never been so efficient, so stream-lined, and so thorough as I am now, at 35 weeks pregnant.

As I mentioned the last time I wrote, the past few weeks have been sort of busy. We did a lot of traveling in April, then came home to have two weeks of drywallers in our house followed by a week and a half of guests. And then there was the Tennessee Flood of 2010. Mixed in among all of that were trips to Home Depot to fix up other parts of our house, trips to the midwife, and more social engagements than I think I’ve had in the past five years.

Which meant Berlin spent a lot of time sleeping on her bed all alone.

After I dropped my mom off at the airport last Saturday morning, it was as if Berlin got a new lease on life and she’s been euphoric ever since. We were home most of the weekend, and while running around a bit this week, at least one of us has been home at almost any given time since then. Berlin’s getting evening fetch with her dad again, something she had gone weeks without. And she has morning snuggles with her mom, something that was traded in for rushed early mornings when I needed to be up to let the drywallers in.

In fact Berlin’s been so happy over the past few days that she appears to have sprained a leg while playing too hard outside. It looks really painful, yet her tail is wagging frenetically because to her, life seems to be back to normal! It’s just the four of us in the house again! So she spends her days randomly going in and out of her dog door – inside to snuggle for a while, outside to play. And she couldn’t be happier.

They say you’re supposed to prepare your pets for your baby’s arrival so that they don’t become territorial or aggressive. I’m not at all worried about that; Berlin doesn’t have an aggressive bone in her body. But I am going to be sad to see my happy girl return to long days sleeping on her bed from lack of attention.

We have about five and a half weeks (give or take a couple days) left of this life that we know so well before it all radically changes. Now that my nesting urge seems to be calming down a bit, I just want to spend each day soaking in the normalcy. Until we have a new normal defined for us.