House = Warmed

I took this picture of my beloved city while waiting on the library steps for Matty to come whisk me back to Dorchester.

This weekend we had our first big bash at our new place and it was super, duper fun. Lots of friends came by throughout the day and night - work friends, HONO friends, high school friends (of Matty's), friends of friends; it was lovely. There was a ton of food and beer (of the root variety for me) and lots of laughs and good times. There were even a couple little ones running around the backyard being adorable. It really made our new home feel like just that - our home.
I can't wait until we have a permanent little one around; she is going to be here in a few months now, though the running around will take a while, I hope. It will be so, so wonderful to finally meet this little lady who is the center of our lives and thoughts and window shopping. By the time she is born her little floating fetus will have been in more states than I had been in by the time I was 20 and this weekend we will cross into Canada with her smuggled away inside my tummy. I hope they don't make me claim her at customs!

This guy, however, I would totally leave with customs. What a menace.

So, our travels: Thursday morning Matty and I leave for upstate NY where we will spend a few days with his aunts, cousins and uncle that live there. I can't wait to see everyone (it has been since our wedding that we have seen most of them) and visit a new place. I also plan on eating buffalo wings in Buffalo and have two recommendations for where to go, of which I plan on going to both. We has also originally planned on just stopping by Niagara Falls on our way home for a quick glimpse, but after looking at pictures and reading about the boat tours and nightly illumination of the Falls, I convinced Matty that we absolutely had to make a day/night out of it and that there was no way we could stay anywhere but the Niagara Falls Hilton in a room overlooking the Falls. Never one to doubt my travel intuition, Matty let me book a King suite with a Falls view for Saturday night and promises to take me on the Maid of the Mist boat ride too. What a good husband I have; he didn't even get mad when I realized (after pressing the send button) that the hotel I booked was actually in Canada and not on the US side as I had thought. Thank goodness we both have passports!

I am looking forward to our romantic jaunt up North, and have decided that this is the beginning of the first annual Anniversary month. Usually, we only have Birth month (in May, when our birthdays are) but now we have another wonderful thing to celebrate, so why not take the whole month, right? Right!

In addition to Niagara, Anniversary month will consists of a fancy dinner out on our actual wedding night (perhaps Aquitaine) and then a trip to Captiva (anniversary/baby moon) the following week. I am very much looking forward to an entire week on the beach, in the sun, with just Matty, my belly and my library books to keep me occupied. I am not even feeling run-down or in dire need of a vacation, which almost makes it better, because it's just something awesome that we get to do instead of something that we are going to die over if we don't get it as soon as possible. Not to say that I can't use a little extra r&r these days, what with this big ol' baby bump I'm lugging around to board meetings (for my new position as a board member of the Boston Cyclist's Union), volunteer projects, dinners out with our friends, trips to find the perfect bookcase for the nursery (I am still on the hunt) and all those other places and activities that make my life so full and awesome, but you know, such is life when you are Stefanie.

This is the rug that pushed me over the edge and made me stop buying gender neutral things for the nursery. If we have a boy later, we can get another rug! Also, check out that bump!

Aside from travels and daily life, we are getting ready to begin twice monthly appointments with our OB and in a couple of weeks we are touring the rooms where this little one will take her first breath. I am feeling as prepared as I can for laboring but do need to spend more time doing yoga and letting Matty get refreshed on the massage techniques we learned in our childbirth class, for his sake, you know? I have the curtains hung up in the nursery (care of the awesome Aunt Jane) and am waiting for my grandparent's to order our crib so we can go pick it up and I can start to hang up the wall decor we have to match the curtains and the crib sheet. I am also on the hunt for a couple of bookcases that I can strip down and paint with one of the awesome Disney colors they have at Home Depot (oh my gosh, I just admitted a love for something at Home Depot! I knew we were spending too much time there! The sawdust has gone to my head!). I am also planning on clearing out my "favorites" list on Etsy very soon, they have every cute owl thing I could possibly want including a nursing blanket that is oh so adorable. Nesting mode is right around the corner...a really short corner!

And finally, a short list of other things that I love so much right now:

• The new season of Breaking Bad
• Greek yogurt with honey and granola
• Dr. Pepper (I have to limit myself, seriously)
• Going from my living room to my guest room/office then out to the porch, just because we have so much room and I can
• Looking at the man I married almost a year ago when he talks to my belly (that I love the most on this list)
  

XoXo,
Nestyface O'Shea