Congrats Ev & Marcy!

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend got engaged last week! I'm so happy for them!
I can't wait to start talking wedding plans with Marcy. I LOVE helping with details...it's such a creative, personalized process and I just love seeing people's "vision" come to realization. This makes me think that I should be in event planning - which is a blog for another time.

Here they are...



Dain and I obviously wanted to get them something for their engagement...and I was thrilled that we collaborated on a "homemade" gift! I love making things - crafty and otherwise. I've made jewelry, scrapbooks, growth charts, lampshades, clocks, jewelry boxes, latchook rugs, Christmas stockings, calendars, you name it!

My dad has been making bean bag game boxes for a few years - and gave us a set last Christmas. I don't know how he got his hands on the plans - but he gets requests for them right and left! Dain always wanted to start some kind of handyman woodworking project - especially since he worked for a tool accessory company for so long. So he got the plans and we went to Home Depot - and he had them built on a Saturday. They looked great and I'm super impressed with Dain's craftsmanship! We decided this would be the perfect gift for Evan and Marcy - since they are a lot like us and have friends they'll entertain frequently. To personalize these wooden gems - Dain asked me to draw and paint the St. Louis Cardinals STL logo on the fronts. So I sat down the next Saturday morning and freehanded the logo and then painted it in.

I think they turned out AMAZING...and Evan and Marcy loved them.

I Hope

Since I'm so very theatrical - I hope some of it rubs off on my offspring.

I was sent this video as a forward today, and just hope my little entertainer-to-be has even half the "talent" as this little star.

Plus...it's one of my favorite songs of all time!

And the Doctor Said...

I had my first prenatal appointment with my doctor last night.  All is confirmed...it's a baby!

I got a bag full of goodies, a bunch of questions answered, and an order to go to the hospital next week to get the ultrasound and bloodwork.

I was a little disappointed that they didn't do the ultrasound right there, and I think Dain was too...but we will get to see it soon enough.  The thing I'm NOT looking forward to is the bloodwork, yipes!  I'm not the best when it comes to having blood drawn.  Let's just say that as a senior in high school I donated blood at the Red Cross Blood Drive - and the nurses told me not to come back!  That's when you know it's serious.

Hopefully I will have a picture of Petunia to post soon!

Along Came Petunia

I'm pregnant.

WEIRD!

Yeah - it's weird to type those words.

So here I am, all knocked up and nowhere to go. So - I thought I'd share how I came to discover that I have Petunia (named by my sister) growing inside of me.

My husband and I have been together for 10 years. Yes, a decade. We met while we were both students at Bradley University. (A WONDERFUL place that changed my life in many ways). After we had both graduated, we got engaged a year later, and married a year after that. We've been happily married for 4 1/2 years.

Of course in that time the "when are you guys going to have a baby?" question came up more often than anything else. But, after a few times of answering that we were in no rush - they slowed. I've always been a fairly non-traditional person, and whipping out several kids right away wasn't really in my game plan. Everyone started assuming we were just enjoying our time together and it would be awhile.

What you didn't know was that we talked about it...several times. Nothing came of most of the conversations - but we knew that it would someday when money/time/the moon aligned. Finally after I got a new job with a nicer paycheck, and Dain got a new job with a nicer paycheck as well - we started talking again. Not that money is important, trust me I'm the least material person you may meet, but it was important to know that we wouldn't have to have our child grow up in a refrigerator box. So after New Year's we thought "this could be the year."

It is! 2008 is the Year of Petunia! Here's what we saw (twice) on Easter Sunday!

So - here begins Petunia. I have my first prenatal appointment on Wednesday. It should be exciting!

In The Wings?

Welcome to my newest undertaking...this blog!

I've been a journal-keeper/diary-writer/memory-keeper for most of my life. I like the idea of "looking back"at a period of my life someday in the future. Most of the time, these thoughts have been extremely personal and not something I would post for all of cyberspace to view. However, times they are a changin'! I decided long ago that when I got to this phase of my life I would start a website/blog that I could update with photos and news that my friends and family can keep up with.

I'M PREGNANT! And although you may not become privy to this site until weeks from now...I want to welcome you - and explain myself...

You're probably saying "What the heck does In The Wings mean??"

It's simple. While this is essentially the pregnancy journal that I've wanted - I also want to be able to include pieces of myself that may not relate to pregnancy. I myself am quite the eclectic collection of creativity and passion. One of my biggest passions is theater (which you'll surely see blogs about in the future).

In the theater world - when you're "in the wings" of the theater - you can get a glimpse of what's going on center stage - without having to be on stage or in the audience. You're looking in. Now the title makes sense eh?

So take your seats - it's going to be an interesting performance.