POD "Where's Waldo"

Can you find my little friend in this photo? You'll probably have to right click on the photo to make it larger (Enlargement can't be done in email. You have to be on the blog page to do so.) These squawky creatures always make my day, reminding me what a "tropical" paradise we live in. If only I could get a good picture of them. They are SO hard to photograph!!!

POD "Primero Paella"

Yesterday for lunch, I joined my friend Shelley and her daughter Brooklynn for a typical Spanish dish: Paella! Truth be told, we were headed to the Italian joint next door for pizza, but found it was closed on Wednesdays. :) SO we said, OK, let's try this Venta la Feria place that supposed to be the best around for Paella!

We ordered a Paella for two and the waitress asked if we wanted anything to start with. Paella, for those of you who don't know, when made fresh, can take some time. Alright, you twisted my arm. Bring us some chocos fritos to start. :) (Fried cuttlefish. Tastes a lot like calamari.)

Paella is a popular Spanish saffron rice dish that usually comes with assorted meats and/or fish. We went with the "paella mixta" so we could get a variety. I was pretty excited to try the paella, considering I haven't ordered it since coming here. Why? Well, because you don't order paella from a place unless A) you are in Valencia (the home of paella) or B) the place specializes in paella. Otherwise, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.

And the paella arrived! HOLY that's a lot of food. Are you sure that's just paella for TWO?
Time to dig in! My lunch comrades, Brooklynn and her mom Shelley (AKA quilt maker extraordinaire).
It was soooo good! YUMMO! I highly recommend this restaurant for the paella mixta!
*Note, now I know how I got that oil stain on my shirt. Sighhhhhh. Yes... it's resting on the plate. No... I never dealt with this problem prior to pregnancy. ;)

POD "Another Sundown as a Pregasaurus"

Last evening, as I was enjoying some quiet time at the computer (Matt was already in bed snoozing), I glanced out the window next to me and noticed the pretty sunset. The sun was already down, but the soft pink layers it left behind were so peaceful and calming. I raced to grab the camera (knowing how quickly these sky scenes change), whipped on the "distance" lens (not sure what its actual name is) and snapped a couple pics. I wondered many more sundowns I'll have to experience as a pregasaurus.

Turning around to head back inside, I caught the moon rising on the other horizon.
I fiddled with the camera, wanting to capture more of the moon than just a white blob, but of course, couldn't figure out how to adjust the shutter speed/exposure. Yeahhhhh, finishing reading the manual is on my to do list. :) Ah well, for now you'll just get a photo of the white dot in the sky. Soon, I'll have a beautiful, detailed POD of the moon, proving JUST how much I learned from reading the rest of the instruction book. :)

By the way, little man in my belly, speaking of the moon... it is NEARLY full. According to all the local Spaniards, that means you should be coming VERY soon. AKA FRIDAY. I know that's still a little early, but I'm sure you're MORE than ready... right???

I'll be waiting. VERY patiently. In the meantime, I'll use all this free time to finish reading that manual. ;)

POD "Typical Mishap"

Today's POD is capturing something that has become a common occurance for me.
1. Put on something cute and comfortable.
2. Eat something de-lish.
3.(Unbeknownst to me) spill.
4. Have grubbace belly stain pointed out by someone who can actually SEE the rest of my lower half.
5. OR worse, walk around all day smiling at people (as they stare at my talking stain), only to discover the mishap later. Wait, do you NOT remember that Super Bowl commercial with the talking stain?! It was easily one of my favorites. I shall share it for those of you who missed it, or just need a laugh this morning:



Ah yes. Good times. Typical. (PS. Upon seeing this photo I JUST realized that there are TWO stains on my belly. The shake AND the huge water stain that is now an inevitable part of washing dishes. Nice.)

POD "The QUILT!!!"

Soooooo remember this fun fabric my friend Shelley and I picked out back in April? Wellllllllll (drumroll please) the finished result is finally here!!!!!!
The baby's quilt!

I am absolutely in love with how it turned out. It's SO beautiful and so perfect for the room and SO extra special considering that we were able to design it all ourselves.

I LOVE it (started crying when I saw it... damn these hormones) and I am so appreciative of all the hard work my girlfriend put in! THANK YOU SHELLEY!!!

POD "Our Nephew Has ARRIVED!"

Of course, the POD today has to be of the BIGGEST thing going on in our lives today: Isaac is here! (Although, Matt killing 71 flies this morning while filling the pool was a close second.)

We got the call at 8:30 AM (Spain time) that Rosemary was in the hospital, and by about 1 PM, the chunky monkey was here (10.5 lbs)! Seriously, that woman was just MADE to birth babies! She's a champ!

Now, these photos, of course, weren't taken by me. As much as I would have loved to be there in person, we are waaaaaaaay over here on the other side of the Atlantic. However, thanks to modern technology (iphones and facebook), we were recieving minute-by-minute updates and were able to see pictures of the little man JUST after he was born! I think this is the most appreciative I've ever been of the internet!

Yaaaaay ISAAC! We can't wait to meet you! :)

POD "Sneaks for my lil Spidey"

The POD today is just a shot of the SUPER cute sneaks I picked up at the Gypsy market yesterday for only 2 euro! What a steal! Can you tell I'm ready for my lil Spidey to arrive already?!?!

POD "37 Weeks"

The POD today is just a photo (or two, or three) of my 37 week figure. I donned my festive Fourth of July "get up" and decided that it was a perfect time for a photo (okay, so maybe it was just the headband). Well, Takoda decided he would join in on the picture, but upon sitting down, he tooted. Rather loudly actually. Matt, taking the picture, even heard it. Yeah, this is why I'm laughing in the pic. Of course, now we'd need a photo with Sultan too.
37 weeks down... 3 or less to go. Or atleast... we hope it's only 3!!! :)

POD "Lounging Poolside"

Yesterday I joked with Matt... that I needed a pool. Not a big pool. Just a plastic little kiddy pool that I could get into and cool off in. Summers are hot here in Southern Spain, and although the beaches are very beautiful and relaxing, sometimes you aren't up to making a trip to the beach (ahem... 37 weeks pregnant). Sometimes you just want to take a quick dip to cool off and then get back to whatever you were doing.

I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to my crazy pool purchase. So, upon finding that the NEX had little to offer us, we made the 20 minute drive to Jerez in search of my glorious bath. After stops at 2 stores... we still weren't finding what we wanted. Matt had decided that we could "upgrade" a bit from the little plastic tub to something a little bigger, but everything we found was MUCH too big, or too darn small. So Goldilocks, I mean Matt, continued on to the third store where he found the pool that was juuuuuust right. :) She was a beaut. Not only was she the perfect size... she wasn't your typical borrrrring blue pool. She had FLARE! Hehe

Anyway, I had a long list of things that I should have been doing yesterday, but with our exciting new purchase, they all went to the back burner. My new to-do-list included: blow up pool, fill pool, get in pool. Needless to say, it was a pretty fabulous afternoon. Enjoy the photos of "classy" me... lounging poolside. :)

Filling up the pool

Annnnnnnd I'm in. Check out the sweet decals.
It was a bit chilly with the water fresh from the hose, but it was a hot day... and I managed to slowwwwwly slide in.

What an ingenious purchase. :)

The Finished Nursery :)

I am SO excited to FINALLY be sharing the photos of our Nursery make-over! What started as a cold, white, empty room is now a warm inviting nook! :) Matt and I had a lot of fun making this place special, but I did feel it was truly important to make the space ... well... happy. Not just for the psyche of our lil man, but also for me! I'm going to be spending a lot of time in that room, so I'm thrilled it's feeling so cozy. In fact, just now, I took advantage of my insomnia and decided, for the first time, to scope out what the finished room looked like in the wee small hours of the morning. :) Of course, I took some photos for you. BUT, I don't want to get ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning.

We started the transformation in early April. Matt's first task of putting together the dresser was done, (used in these photos as a prep table!) and it was time to get started painting! Here are some photos of us setting up and getting ready to start. Side note: We were a bit nervous that our crazy idea of painting the ceiling was going to be a bust... but we were brave... and went with it! Here's the stark room before we got started! (You can click on any photo to enlarge it!)
Matt starting the measuring and taping.
And now for the paint test. Wait a minute... that doesn't look navy blue. That looks PURPLE! Our first setback! We had to wait for 3 different coats to dry in our little "test area" just to make sure we were going to be okay with this strange shade of purpley-blue. A day later, we decided with all the different shades of blue and purple we were going to have in the room, the color was going to be okay. :)

And so we got started! Well, atleast Matt did anyway. I erred on the cautious side, avoiding the paint fumes. :)
I couldn't beleive we were finally off and running! While Matt began slaving away, at 24 weeks, I shot our first ever video message to our baby.



Matt worked so hard!
Almost finished!
Ceiling COMPLETE! And our crazy idea was a success! WE LOVED it!
And so, the finished ceiling sat for over a month while we anxiously awaited the shipment of our crib and various other baby supplies. Finally, around mid May, we had a nursery! There were still some finishing touches that we needed (You know, like a mattress!) and other fun decorative gifts that wouldn't come until later, but all the main items were in place!
I just love the wall decals we picked out together off Etsy and Ebay!
I was also very excited to find the perfect place to display a very special nursery room item: Matt's very own tattered and worn baby blankie! :) It's now safe on display under the glass of the table. :)
Again, we waited over a month, and just yesterday, I decided now that the nursery was TRULY complete (Only awaiting the beautiful handmade quilt to come from our dear friend Shelley!) I needed to take a video tour. :) So here it is! Yes, it's 8 minutes long, but it's not just the nursery. You get a 36 1/2 week belly shot too!


As I told you earlier, I awoke with a bout of insomnia this morning and finally, at 5 AM, decided to just get up for the day. Little did I know, this would be my opportunity to creep into the nursery and take some "sleepy" photos. Still very dark outside, while Matt and Sultan snoozed away in the next room, Takoda and I clicked on the nightlights and enjoyed some peace and quiet. I just couldn't believe how cozy it felt all lit up with his solar system of stars. Yeah, there will be many sleepless nights, but how amazing is it going to be snuggling up in the corner of this room, gently rocking him back and forth while he snoozes and makes his cute little baby noises?



Well baby boy, the nursery is finished, and we are ready for you. We can't wait for you to get here. :)