New Year, New Life

Seems crazy it's the last day of the year. I've been thinking a lot about how my life will change in 2009 and it's a little overwhelming. Hazel is 7 weeks (well technically speaking 6.5 weeks) away from entering our world. Our lives will never again be the same. Of course I'm excited about that but also scared (as any young first time mother would be). I'm excited to meet her though. To see what or who she looks like, to hold her little tiny body in my arms, to show her off to the world. It's the ultimate art project. "Look what we made!" I'm also excited to be on maternity leave for at least 8 weeks. I can't imagine not coming into the office everyday for 8 entire weeks. I've been working here for 8 years now and can't imagine my only job being to take care of my baby. Entirely new world for me. I'm also hoping to get some sewing time in while I'm home with Little H. I've been spying some patterns I'd like to try out. I would imagine jeans and a cotton top will be my outfit of choice for the next little while. My friends say not even jeans but I've never been much of a sweatpants person. I didn't wear elastic waist pants while pregnant until I couldn't possibly breath in my others. Even then I tried to squeeze myself into them. I do miss real pants. And heels. I know I won't be needing those for some time now but they are still fun to look at and dream about. I have an obsessive love for impractical shoes. Like these for example. I've been flat out drooling over these for ages now. However they are now out of my size and have a 4 inch heel. Infant & four inch heels don't go hand in hand I'm guessing. Sad. I am excited to get back to wearing "real" clothes again. Even if they aren't fancy dresses or the same size I used to wear. Heck, I'll be excited to be able to see my non swollen feet at some point again.

I don't like the idea of making resolutions. People always put so much pressure on themselves to come up with a list of things they want to do in the new year and then feel terrible about themselves when they fall off the wagon. I'm content just knowing that everyday of 2009 will be an adventure of some sort. Might be just something as simple as Hazel slept for four hours straight but I'm going to be thankful for every single day of it.

Happy New Year Everybody! I hope your new year rings in bright and full of hope. I know ours will...

Forgot to Mention

Yesterday when I arrived home from work there was a giant box on my front porch. Strange because I hadn't ordered anything. Turned out to be Haze's gift from my sweet grandparents in Colorado. This stroller system ROCKS! John was so excited he had to put it together right away and spent an hour figuring out how to use it. I'm totally in love with this thing and can't wait for H to use it!!!

Holiday & Hazel

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Amazing! I've all but two presents purchased and wrapped. Thank goodness. I have to do a last minute sewing project tonight and will be all done. I'm looking forward to not having to get up early tomorrow and the yummy dinners in my future. Of course spending time with family as well. I will be experimenting with some new (well not new, I just didn't know I had them) settings on my camera over the holiday. Hopefully I will have some fun shots to share once I'm back on Friday or maybe Monday. Snow and ice is forecasted to be heading our way tonight, so looks like we might have a white Christmas after all. Doesn't matter to me really. I just hope the roads are safe for travelers.

Work is a lot busier than I thought it might be. I do work for sales people however, so even though it's near the holiday it's still end of quarter at the same time. I always feel for them this time each year. I know my brain normally shuts down a few days before Christmas and I have trouble getting anything done. I can't imagine having to be super focused during the holiday on anything other than family and fun. It takes a special brand of person for that I think.

In other news, I've been looking at baby rooms online. Way back when my Mom and I first started talking about Hazel's room she mentioned painting a large tree on one wall of her room. I was totally against the idea because at that time I was going to make her room very neutral colors and not "kiddish". Well I saw this one the other day and I've fallen for the tree idea. How dang cute is that! I think I would want it all in white given that the walls will be that amazing shade of aqua that I can't wait to see on the walls. With her white crib, dresser/changing table and rocker to help it not overwhelm and be more girlie. I'm also planning a white shag rug but haven't found one I really love yet. Also, I'm STILL looking for bedding. How amazing is it that I can't find anything I love that isn't $300. Who in their right mind would spend that on infant bedding? I just don't know. I'm also still in search for curtains but don't want to get anything there until I find the bedding. I don't want it to clash. So, no idea. I'm stuck. I do love the tree idea though. Mom: You were right.

If I don't post before the holiday officially begins, Have a Merry Holiday! I'll be back on Friday (sadly).

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

Can't believe Christmas is next week! I'm scrambling around trying to figure out what is left to be done (actually a lot at our house because I've been pretty out of the Christmas mood this year). I've got my work cut out for me this weekend I think. My plan is to stick with simple, not expensive, holiday stuff. Gifts, food, etc. I don't have a ton of people to buy for, so that's a blessing and I don't have a ton of food I have to make either. Also a blessing. I want to be in the Christmas mood, I'm just having trouble finding it this year. Thus the reason for the silence around here lately. I TRY not to post grouchiness here for me to read later and think "Man! What the heck was I thinkin?!". So let's just leave it at, I have a lot to do in a little amount of time with not a lot of energy.

I hope your holiday planning is coming along better than mine. More later about Hazel's room.

How Many?

Interesting facts for today:

-There are 246,220 people in the U.S. with the first name Hazel.
-Statistically the 271st most popular first name.
-There are 835,008 people in the U.S. with the last name Martin.
-Statistically the 16th most popular last name.
-There are 672 people in the U.S. named Hazel Martin.

We just thought we were being unique!!! Find out how many people in the US have your name here:

http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/

Mini Obsession

Having a mini obsessive moment over Etsy today. I do this from time to time. I forget how much cute handmade goodness is out there just waiting for my little heart to yearn for it. Here are a few of my faves today:The cuteness that is this clutch simply can not be denied. PLUS, it has a bird on it. See it here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5251093

I have a strange love for paper stuffs recently. These hand printed cards are so pretty and sweet. Maybe I would do more hand written notes. OR I could just save them and look at them. See them and other cute here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=54503

I'm down right nuts over this bicycle mug for some odd reason. Maybe it's because of the color or the fact that I've totally been wanting a old school bike lately. Not sure, but I love it. See it and tons of other cute here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=81916

I know what you're thinking, "Another Bag?" but seriously, this one is super cute. I love the light color for spring/summer and the texture of the gathering. PLUS, it's called the Hazelnut Mini Truffle bag. I mean seriously, it's named after my child for heaven sake. Of course I love it! See it and more here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5531346

Lastly, this sweet necklace. I think it would be adorable to get mine with J, N & H for our fast approaching new family. Such a cute idea. See it and more stuffs here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5600180

This year I'm thinking a ton about home made gifts. Not because I don't love to buy things or because money is an issue per say. I just can't seem to get homemade coolness out of my head. I'm cooking up a list of great gifts for the people in my family. Can't wait to share pics with you when the holiday is over. Can't share now because it would give away the surprise!!!

We did end up getting snow yesterday. Enough to make driving home interesting but not enough to keep us all home from work. I actually was stuck at home for two hours today because we live on a steep road with a lot of shade trees shading the road from sun lights. The tiny amount of ice that was out there was right in my way. Oh well...

Rachel W

Has anyone else noticed lately how extraordinarily gorgeous Rachel Weisz is? Seriously. I didn't know anything about her till The Mummy came out (cheesy but fun movies. ONLY the first and second. They didn't bring her back for the third and I refuse to even watch it). Then she was in Constantine and I loved her in that too. I also love her accent. She's just dang pretty if you ask me.

She & Him

No, not the band. Even though they are great too. She, referring to our Hazel. Him, referring to my JZM. Her story, last Monday I had a mini glucose test done at the baby docs office only to find out shortly there after I'd failed it. They scheduled me for another test (a full glucose test this time. A three plus hour ordeal that entails me getting my blood drawn tons of times and drinking a really foul tasting liquid). My dad was gracious enough to go with me as we both suspected I would get rather woozy after having nothing to eat or drink for hours besides this gross "soda pop". We witnessed every sort of weird things/person you could imagine while sitting in that waiting room for three and a half hours. Long story short, test results came back negative. No diabetes for me or Hazel.

Now Him. The Mr went on Sunday to play paintball with some friends from work. His first time. He loved it and had a great time of course. He came back with only a few welts (notice the nasty one on his arm in the above pic) and a lot of fun stories to tell.

We're suppose to get snow today. Was suppose to come overnight I think but we got nothing. Snow doesn't seem as exciting now however since I have to drive in it and it rarely gets me out of work. I am looking forward to seeing that first big beautiful snow this season though. After that, I'm pretty much over it.

Work continues on our house. We're still in the prep stages as far as doing all the small little things that really make a big impact once the paint goes on the walls. Dad put on all the pulls for my kitchen cabinets yesterday. We picked out a cute mini ceiling fan for the kitchen over the weekend too. Got the back splash ripped off and picked out new tile for that. We just have to make a decision about the counter tops before the back splash can go up. Can't remember if I mentioned here or not. I've changed the green color for the main living space. Less sage, more of a yellow green. More us for sure. That should go on the walls soon. Oh and we've also decided to add a new five shelf cabinet in our kitchen/entry way area for linen storage/food storage. For some reason my house doesn't have a real linen closet and we end up stashing towels and sheets where ever we can. I'm so excited to have a place to actually put all that now. A really life linen closet!

Christmas Time

This year I'm not feeling particularly Christmas-y. I mean don't get me wrong, I love to see the lights and think about someday Hazel running in to presents under the tree but I'm not with it like normal. I normally start listening to Christmas music right after Thanksgiving dinner. I normally have my tree up before the Thanksgiving dishes are dry. I typically love this holiday and yet for some reason, I'm not feeling that cheer this year. Maybe it's because I'm pregnant and tired all the time. I'm just not sure. I DO however love the above idea and am thinking about doing this at our house this year instead of our tree. With all the painting and stuff going on, I can't imagine dragging that thing out and putting all those shiny pretty things on it only to have to move it around again when we need to move furniture and such. I'm in the baking mood. That's about as holiday as I'm feeling today at least. I'm going to start the Christmas card list (I did proactively buy those over a month ago now) tonight and who knows what else. I'll keep you posted on what I actually end up doing.

Interesting Thought

"There are no miracles for those who have no faith in them."

-French Proverb