MAXI-mize

I have never really been one to want exactly what the celebrities are wearing- mainly because it's too expensive to try and keep up and because you can achieve a similar look for a lot less. However, I am a firm fan of a trend that has lasted a long time and has carried me through my pregnancy: the Maxi-dress. And not just any maxi, the Gypsy05 maxi. 

I love how simple and effortless this dress is, even when you've got a big 'ole belly! I was first turned on to the brand by the ever eclectic Ashlee Simpson Wentz, and her fabulous pregnancy style (which was too expensive to emulate, but I would have tried). After seeing it on Tori Spelling, Christina Aguilera, Denise Richards, Paris Hilton (ugh) and Lauren Conrad, I was convinced I needed one and that I could wear it before, during and after pregnancy. 


The first one I picked up was the standard "Organic Maxi Dress." It's a fantastic dress, and comes in such a range of colors. I had a tough time deciding on a color- I finally picked "crystal" and love it- very summery. However, if you're interested in this dress, I have had a problem with this color being a little too translucent... so much so that I have to really pick out undergarments carefully.

My second foray into the world of the maxi is with the "Dawn Maxi Dress." I picked it up in the blue shade as well, but it's a darker periwinkle color, not quite so see-through. It's on major backorder, though, and I don't expect it to arrive until long after baby is born...

Now I'm thinking about the "Neon Organic Maxi Dress." It wasn't available when I looked at the Dawn and I'm crazy about the color combinations. I have to say, this is money well spent- especially since I have a discount code (I've never paid full price on their stuff, you can often find codes on People's Style website or if you're on their email list, you get them once in a while) for the 4th of July. I have literally worn my maxi from before my pregnancy to just last night- and I'm 8 days until my due date! It's never had a problem with fit, and I know it's going to be comfy and cool when the baby's born and I'm wanting to find something easy. 

Interested? Let me know if you want my code :)

lucky liam

It's been a week since I last posted and I figured I better jump on it! I have a lot to post about, so this is going to be both long and picture filled- a bit of a change as of late. I have yet to go to the doctor today so I'll be posting an update either later today or tomorrow morning about Liam's progress (or lack there of, which usually seems to be the case!).

{UPDATE}
The doctor said we still have very little progress with Liam- still no dilation. To make matters worse? My 2:15 appointment was highlighted by the fact that the power had gone out in the building earlier in the day and the AC hadn't come back on when the power did. So on a day when it reached over 100 degrees, in my OB's office full of preggie ladies, the AC was out. H-O-T! Also, the lady who used the restroom before me had somehow managed to get her urine sample all over the seat of the toilet and didn't clean up after herself. Ew, ew, ew! Not a great visit, but oh well!
Zach and I spent yesterday evening ordering new t-shirts for him and some prizes for the baby. A whole, whole lot of Zach's clothes got thrown out in our move to Richmond (cue massive cringe) and he decided it was high time to replace a few shirts, and so we got a Metallica dining set for Liam and a Rob Zombie bib that says "spookshow baby" (it's the name of one of their songs). Zach's excited to dress his boy in things that make him particularly happy. Today we're on the hunt for Liam's UFC "crib fighter" onesie and, perhaps, something Northwestern?

1. Liam's Baby Shower!!

My mom threw a wonderful ladies' shower for Liam on Saturday. It was adorable, she went all out and made me and baby boy feel very special. It was really nice to get to see Mandy and Ivy especially, since it's been ages since I last saw them and I was so glad Ivy could come- she's such a busy girl! Zach was an angel and stopped by to pick up presents and do a quick tour of duty. I think he was glad when he walked in and saw Lindsay, Liam's Godmother, because (besides my momma and his) she was a familiar face. Liam was showered with lots of love and lots of wonderful things!

{disclaimer: I had NO idea I was so huge until I saw these pictures... oy.}

Mommy & Me!

{me}, Christine, Mandy and Ivy!

Thanks, Miss Emily!

Liam's swing... which is too cute.

From Mandy- this one I'm really excited about!

Talking with Mandy and Ivy

Liam's getting some love!

I have worked with/known these girls for years and years! I look forward to their company every summer- except we left Mandy all alone this year :(

Me and my Baby's Daddy {he's so cute!}

2. Nowhere to go...

Zach and I have accumulated quite a few things for our lucky little man- and Zach's been the best about getting things put together and helping me figure things out. What a good daddy!!

I found Zach a metal Radio Flyer wagon- he didn't want plastic!

A massive accumulation- I'm slowly but surely getting through everything and trying to find places for it all. Keep in mind we don't have much in the way of "storage space."

Liam's car seat- it finally came on Monday and Zach's already gotten his base installed in his truck. In fact, he installed it not an hour after we got said seat in the mail. :)

Lucky Zach got to put together the swing his parents gave us at Liam's shower. It wasn't hard, but it was in a lot of pieces. It's cute, versatile and not too heavy- plus it makes "nature" sounds, which I thought was neat. It scares the dogs, though.

Liam's present from his Uncle Ross and Aunt Trish {Talbert} -- my cat has decided she wants to join Liam in his tummy time when the time comes.

Daddy putting together Liam's Jeep walker. It's really funny- and I can't wait to watch him scoot himself around the house in it. I foresee much destruction because of this toy.

3. Liam's Nursery: Ready and Waiting!!

We've gotten the nursery into shape and now it's just waiting for the baby. I'm not finished washing all the mattress pads and whatnot for the bed, but at least we have a bumper now and that's ready to go for the most part. Aunt Darlene single handedly stocked Liam's changing table... please excuse the paper labels on all the drawers in the room- it's helpful to me to have them, especially since things are still getting sorted and put away and Zach and I have to share the dresser in Liam's closet with him... my poor baby doesn't even get his room to himself.

The view from the door- the bed is slowly being taken over by stuffed creatures... which is fine, I'm sure he'll love it.

Liam's changing station- with Nigel the Pelican on the wall.

My favorite thing in the whole room. I love the seagulls and I love his name :)

Liam's crib! You can really see here how much work went into the room- it's quite something... I love how the bumpo seat matches the walls as well.

My parents went to Walt Disney World in May and in addition to bringing Liam home the cutest little outfit for NEXT summer, they brought him home Bruce, the shark. This stuffed animal talks and says more phrases than any stuffed animal I've seen before- I hide Bruce away when people are coming because I don't want him getting messed up, but here he is in his rightful place. The lion is from the same line as my own beloved Bunny- the YumYums, which was a thing for about 5 minutes in the mid 80's. I've always wanted each of my kids to have their own YumYum, so Liam gets the Lucky Lemony Lion (I have the Jumping Jellybean Bunny).

Liam's PACKED closet- I've kept it set up cute for my own pleasure- I like looking in and seeing his little Pediped shoes and his baseball cap and all the other cute little things... I like the closet. Not really sure why.

What started it all... not really. I bought this when Zach and I went to Walt Disney World for Spring Break in March of 2008. We had no plans to get pregnant, I wasn't pregnant or expecting to be but I saw this and knew I had to have it. Needless to say, I am very glad I did. It's also a favorite thing.

Mommy and Daddy's diaper bags. We each picked out our own, and I wasn't about to make Zach suffer through mine, since it's so feminine, so he got his own.

Finally, the shelves over Liam's changing table. I love all the little things up here... I'm sure they won't look anything like this once he arrives and I'm practically using them every day, but I can set them up cute for now!

If you made it to the end of the post (and actually read!), congrats! I know I had a lot to update on, and it's difficult for me to find a lot of time to sit and write at the moment. I'm a busy momma-to-be, my husband is home for a couple hours in the afternoon for lunch (it's heaven) and then I usually have lots of places to go and things to do in the afternoon when he's gone back. I'm hoping tomorrow can be a slow, calm day and I won't have a lot to do so I can really tackle all of the things I need to before Liam arrives.

Can you believe I haven't packed a bag for the hospital yet? Oh, I know, I need to and badly. He can come at any moment and I keep reminding myself I need to get that done, but I get overwhelmed when I walk upstairs and see all the work ahead of me. I also really need to find some mommy friends in the area- I'm desperate to find companionship during the days for myself and my baby (when he comes).

So before I get whiny and to feeling sorry for myself, I better go. I have got to go get ready to go- my mommy will be here to pick me up before you know it and my hubby could walk in the door at any moment. Keep your fingers crossed I come home with good news- or at least news that will be good to me- I'm hoping I can deliver my son when my dad can be present... so let's all pray for that!

the doctor said... & stuff

I am getting frustrated. There is still "no change" with Liam. He's in there, and he's in there good.

Also, can we PLEASE learn to pronounce my son's name? It is pronounced "lee-yum" not "limb." I didn't name him after a tree, or an appendage, please stop calling him "limb." Think about Liam Neeson- that's where we got the name from. You never hear his name mispronounced.

In other, exciting news, we found out today that Liam will have a GIRL cousin born in November! Hooray! She'll miss this season of Aggie football, but I'm sure the daddies will so be looking forward to the 2010 season with their toddlers. There's a lot of brainwashing to be done, we have to start early in the Clark family.

Lastly in baby-land, we ordered a car seat! We spent a lot of money on said car seat, but it's got good ratings, it's a nice brand and it should be here on TUESDAY!! I'm ecstatic- Zach and I chose a Peg Perego, and we figured it was worth the moo-lah because we'll put it away and use it for baby #2 when the time comes. Besides, we really want to make sure we have good, high quality, nice stuff for our boy. love.

Tomorrow's Friday- HOORAY! My in-laws have a quasi-reunion tomorrow night so it'll be me and hubby. Saturday my mom is throwing me a baby shower (so excited! I have a surprise for her!) and my baby's Godmother is driving in specially. LOVE! This weekend is also a 3-day weekend for the Doc since his associate is going on vacation and he gets his day off a day early. Heaven. I love my days with hubby! I've got great things to look forward to, and if I get to see you Saturday, I can't wait!

i named my car...

I was told today that I'm a "weirdo" for naming my vehicular mode of transportation. 

My husband's has a name too...

The Doc has a beautiful 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 in the most gorgeous shade of blue. He's named it "The Beast"-- I believe in reference to the size of his engine, but I like to think that the color of the truck and its size reminds him of the character from X-Men. Comic book nerds? Anyone?

I drive a 2005 Ford Mustang in Legend Lime (and yes, I chose that color and yes, I think it rocks)-- my car's not a GT- I just couldn't find a decent picture. Her name is Marilyn the Mustang. I'm alliterative with my naming. 

My mom's always named her cars... 

In Norway we had Penny Passat

I can't recall the name of the station wagon she drove when we got back from Norway... it wasn't cute ;) Sorry mom. 

In Australia we had Victoria Vienta 

Our Explorer's name is Emma

Does anybody else indulge in naming their vehicles, or are we really that strange?
(and is it bad that I already know what I want to name my next car?)

cupcake complaint

Will somebody please explain to me why there isn't a single, solitary place in Sugar Land that sells cupcakes (good ones, mind) that is open on Monday?

Dessert Gallery? Closed.
Cupcake Cafe? Closed.
Even Julie's is CLOSED.

And speaking of cupcakes... when is Sprinkles ever going to open? They've pushed back the opening like 4 times...

something new and different

Today is payday for the Doc- for the first time. We're going baby shopping tomorrow. I know "payday" seems like a silly thing to post about, except that you have to understand that from May of 2008 to May of 2009, he was essentially paying to be a practicing 4th year. Now, he's seeing the results of that and it'll be wonderful... our family even has a pool going right now on the size of said check... my father-in-law and I are the outliers, and thus are the only two who can lose.

I'm excited we're going baby shopping tomorrow. We understand that we don't need to stress ourselves or our bank account by buying the high chair or things for safe bath-tub time right now because he won't need those for months. We'll wait until we've got a little bit saved away for those things. Right now, our main focus is on the car seat (because I'd like to take my son home from the hospital), baby gates, and bottle paraphernalia. And while you're thinking that baby gates seem a little premature right now, I'm not focused on corralling my child, I'm worried about keeping the dogs away from his spaces, and off the stairs.

Officially 37 weeks today. I'm grumpy a fair bit, mainly because I'm not even close to getting a good night's sleep anymore. I know, I know, get used to it. My right foot has officially decided that if it doesn't look like I slammed it in a door, it's not happy. It's swollen so badly that I have 1 pair of shoes I can wear and I'm afraid I'll have to retire them after the baby's born because they'll be all stretched out. I'm officially into that point in my pregnancy where I'm never comfortable... which is fun because I've started having trouble with stairs (great) and bending over. So you can imagine how much fun my afternoon is going to be since I'm spending it doing laundry out of our room upstairs. Ugh.

baby update

Keeping you updated... 

Monday I registered at the Methodist Hospital in Sugar Land, the one right off of Hwy 59. My OB was actually there while I was registering, it made me happy to see her smiling face.

I went to see her yesterday- I am not dilated, I'm not effaced and my baby boy hasn't dropped yet. I'll be 37 weeks come Monday. Either Liam has decided he wants to have a good marathon bake in my uterus at the end, or my pregnancy has decided to mirror my mother's and we'll be looking to enter the operating room instead of the delivery room to meet our little boy. Either way, as long as I have a healthy, happy, screaming baby boy in my arms, I don't care how he enters the world. My Dr. did love that he gave her one heck of a kick when she went to measure my belly... she even played with him for a minute or two and was thrilled with how active he is.

I'm having problems with my wrists, which has put a huge damper on my progress with the needlepoint for Liam's nursery. Boo.

Lastly, I've enlisted the help of Marina again to spruce up the blog- I'm not sure why I decided that seafoam green and coral pink were good choices... but after visiting my grandmother's house and seeing how closely my blog's colors were reflected on every surface of her house, I knew it needed a change. If YOU have any need for the most fabulous new designs for your blog, you should definitely check Marina's website out: Penny Lane Designs. You won't regret it, promise!!

monday mania

... and I say 'mania' because there's so much for me to do today!

We had our first shower on Saturday with Roger's family, some of Steph's family, some people from church and my momma. We got a lot of really cute stuff- I'll post pictures later, we didn't actually take any during the shower and I'm sad. I wish somebody had been there to snap photos of our 'nephews,' Jackson (almost 7!) and Aiden while they helped us with our gifts. I love those boys- known them their whole lives and love spending time with them. We officially have gotten 4 -that's right 4- of one gift for baby Liam... I'll divulge that info later, we're waiting to see how many we rack up... a total tally at the end to see who really knows the Clark family.

I'm waiting for my momma to get off work (30 minutes) so that she and I can do our running. Here's how our day looks:

- register at Methodist Sugar Land hospital
- visit La Madeline to check out their catering menu
- Bath Junkie for Mutt Mist
- head over to Julie's to order shower cake
- find a brace for my wrist and a cooling pad sock for my foot
- Find a Tervis tumbler I don't have to refill every 10 minutes
- Dessert Gallery for a slice of cake to share with my hubby

What a busy afternoon. And Zach and I have to drive up to College Station tomorrow on his day off to finish up everything we need to do up there- cancel utilities, return the cable box, leave our keys at the house, head over to the bank to change addresses, head to the post office to fill out a "forwarding address" form...

Maybe Wednesday I'll get to relax? Seriously- I'm too pregnant to be doing this much!

trend setter

APPARENTLY I was much trendier than I thought when I was planning my wedding.

Since I got married, I have seen no less than seven-- SEVEN -- girls I know use peonies and hydrangeas as their wedding flowers. I did that over 2 years ago, thank you. 

I just wanted to point that out, because when you think about it, there are a lot of other flowers out there to choose. I know there are a few other girls out there who strive to be original (Ivy... Ivy... Ivy...) when planning their nuptials, and it's fun to point out who went there first... and best, in my opinion.




An aside: I managed to electrocute myself last night while I was plugging in a night light that fell out of its socket upstairs. Felt it, hard. What was my first thought? Oh my God, I have killed my baby. I went into panic mode, called the clinic (at 11:30 at night) and talked to one of the OBs from my doctor's office... she said to sit up and wait for movement and if I hadn't had "normal" movement in 30 minutes to call her back. A kick to the belly, a simultaneous punch to the ribs and a swipe at my bladder have never been more welcome. Dear God, I am ready for him to come!!

pop up pleasers

Did you love pop-up books as a child? So did I, and was amazed to see how far pop-up books have come since I was small.

The last time we were at The Galleria, Houston, we stopped in the Metropolitan Museum of Art shop and were thrilled to find a whole section of fantastic pop-ups. By Little Simon publishing, these books will surely be something you and your child will treasure. 

This is the one we bought for Liam, it is currently waiting to be enjoyed on the shelves over his changing table. No lower- we don't want it getting torn up. Zach is a huge fan of The Jungle Book, and it just seemed like the perfect choice. 

For the little girls, they will be enraptured by the beautiful renderings in this book!

Although the price may seem a little high for a simple book, these beauties are dazzling even to the adults. Don't see a story you like? Check in your local Metropolitan Museum of Art shop- last time we looked they also had classics like The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan! I promise you, this is one purchase you will NOT regret!

moving monday

It's official! We're out of our house in College Station and we're back in the Houston area!

We're staying with my in-laws until we're able to move into our own place, and for now just about everything we own is in storage... I cannot tell you all how disconcerting it is to see your entire life packed into a storage container. It was a long, hard weekend and we never would have been able to get it all done without the help of our parents- most especially my dad, who not only was a super packer (I am so worried about my china and crystal!) but also helped Zach with the heavy lifting. The upstairs- which we've taken over here in Richmond- is a maze of boxes at the moment, but we're getting there. There's a lot of work to be done upstairs...

Jump over to Meredith's blog and check out her son's nursery. It's precious, and Meredith has great style which is reflected so keenly in this space. She's posted in response to another blogger's posting, and you can read about it there. I wish I could sit here and work up a beautiful post about Liam's nursery, but right now we have no bedding (!!!), no accessories and it's kind of in a state of disarray. The painting is done, for the most part, so now it's up to me, mom and my mother-in-law to get the rest of the pieces together. I'm working diligently every evening on the needlepoint pillowcase for the twin bed (so mommy can stay in with Liam on rough nights and Doctor Daddy can get a good night's sleep) and then I've got to get his crib blanked stitched. It's going to be a big job. Roger has added more characters to the wall. My mom recently introduced my in-laws to a company called Uppercase Living, which allows you to create custom wall/glass/whatever decals for your home and they put Liam's full name over the closet. Then Roger painted two of the seagulls from Finding Nemo- one on either side of his name. To finish off the space, Roger painted Nigel, the pelican voiced by Geoffrey Rush, looking through a porthole behind the door. The seagulls are my favorite thing in the room now. They're just so darned cute. And he free-handed the pelican and the gulls... it's incredible. We're having our first shower this weekend, so hopefully we'll get some of the things we're hoping will help finish off the nursery. Zach and I need to make a run to the Container Store-- he needs bins for the dog food and I am bound and determined to find a few small boxes to put on the shelves over the changing table to store pacifiers, pee-pee tee-pees, q-tips and various other paraphernalia in. I'm hoping to get the nursery finished fairly soon so that I can put up pictures.

Well, really, I'm hoping to get the nursery done soon because Liam will be here before you know it-- I'm 35 weeks TODAY!!

(I'm starting to think waiting until 1 month before my due date for showers was a bad idea...)

Anyway, that's the update for now. I'll try to stay diligent, but I'm going to be busy and with limited internet access since the family computer is in my in-law's bedroom and we haven't gotten a wireless router yet so that I can use my laptop. Once that's up and running, I'll try to keep everyone posted better. It's the last month before baby, I'm sure a lot will be going on! As for me, I have to go get ready, I have errands to run today, a full car to unload, a husband to meet on his first day of work for lunch and an anniversary to plan for (two years tomorrow)!!