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The Sprout’s due date is rapidly approaching and I am starting to slow down due to my ever-expanding belly and waning energy. I’ve only got about 8 weeks until July 21st! Holy freakin’ crap!

The nursery is coming along though, and thankfully the big things I’m responsible for are done. I painted Mike’s old furniture a nice glossy coat of black, which I think really livens them up. I painted the walls in Sherwin Williams, Harmony no VOC paint — colors: Frolic and Universal Khaki. I ordered and installed the Flor tiles. I sewed a fancy crib sheet using these SUPER-EASY instructions. I also sewed a pair of valances for the windows with some awesome Christopher Lowell fabric that was on clearance at JoAnn, but I have yet to hang the rods. Also on the list of to-dos: disassemble the crib — which has been sitting in the den for months — and bring it upstairs. Replace all the electrical outlets in the room. Install a ceiling fan. Choose and hang the artwork. Buy lighting. Obviously, some of those items Mike will have to do… :) But there’s still some time. Here’s the progress so far.

Luckily my old Isaac Mizrahi duvet cover from Target matches!

This past weekend was my shower in NJ. I have to admit: while I was a little overwhelmed at times, it was a really nice day. My mom outdid herself, as usual. I got a ton of nice things including some beautiful hand knitted pieces from my mom! Also, I would never have survived if it weren’t for my wing-man, Jenn. She came all the way up from Kansas City just for the shower. She’s the best!

I love this picture!

Me and the parents!

Funny bib from Mom. God, I look enormous in this picture!

I had such great plans for today… Go to work, go shopping, sew some stuff for the Sprout’s room, have friends over for dinner. But instead, I am stuck at home nursing what I’m calling The Most Annoying Cold of the Century™. Start it off with sniffles and a hacking cough, and finish it with a stomach ache and GI distress (The opposite variety of what pregnant women are supposed to experience — enough said). I am in Hell. Seriously, what did I do to deserve this?

But on the up side: George has been at my side all day. Snuggling with me in bed and basically following me around like a puppy! He’s the best kitty ever — and he really knows how to take care of his Mommy.

However, enough of this complaining… and speaking of mommies, I am excited to announce that my guest post for Have Stroller Will Travel is up today! During the month of May, my friend Alissa is featuring guest posts from many of the moms she knows on her blog. Enjoy, and please take the time to read some of the great posts so far!

Our Wedding Day: Photo by Christopher Lane

Just want to take this opportunity to say Happy Anniversary to my partner in crime, love of my life, guy who leaves his dirty underwear in the bathroom etc. etc. — without whom this website probably wouldn’t exist. Six years ago today we tied the knot and life just keeps on getting better and better; Seriously!

I’m totally looking forward to the next chapter in our lives once the Sprout arrives! I just know we’re going to make it great. Here’s to many more years. :) LOVE YOU!

I am going to show you two photos that you have already looked at by now since you probably look at pictures before reading text.

It's snowing SIDEWAYS!

This is from 10:42am, it is April and snowing like CRAZY… big huge fluffy flakes.

This is the same place!

This was taken at 11:20am, it is April… and… BWAH! Wasn’t it JUST SNOWING???

There may be no global warming or there may be, NY is screwy either way.

Well… that’s not news I guess…

Working on clearing out the Sprout’s room has proven to be a much more ambitious undertaking than I initially imagined. I foolishly thought I could simply take out the things that don’t belong in there, and, Voilà! turn it into a baby’s room. Oh, how wrong I was! The thing is… we need to clear space in other places of the house for those other objects to go. What was once just “clearing out the nursery” has evolved into a whole-house purge — from the baby’s room to the garage and beyond! At first I considered having a garage sale, but who am I kidding? I don’t have the time or energy for such things! So in two weeks we have taken 5 CARLOADS of unwanted swag to the Goodwill! Think about that for a second… I know I’ve said it before that we have too much stuff, but I didn’t realize how much of it there was. The sick thing is that even with all that stuff gone, it barely looks like we’ve made much progress! There’s still so much more to go. And then there’s the not-so-small matter of finding a place to put a full-size electric piano. Oy!

The current state of the Sprout's room – we're working on it!

The other side of the room

Someone said to me, “It sounds like you’re nesting!” And, while that kind of comment kinda gives me the rage, I’m going to be honest here… maybe a little of it is nesting, but Mike was the one who initiated the purge — starting in the garage. This massive clean out was long overdue, and the baby coming has been a great mobilizer for both of us; No more lazy procrastination.

Here's what the garage USED to look like a few years ago – Hello, HOARDERS!?

I have to say, it is sooo liberating to get rid of your unneeded stuff; it’s definitely habit-forming. I recently read an article that talked about the psychological aspects of getting rid of stuff. It said to ask yourself these three questions: Do I love it? Do I use it? How does it make me feel? You’d be surprised how easy it is to let go when you go through the exercise of self-evaluation. I’m almost embarrassed to admit the amount of stuff I was holding on to just because it was easier to ignore it.

So we’re making slow progress, but we still have a few months. And I think we’ll all benefit from having a more organized life: Me, Mike and the Sprout.

I don’t know what possessed me, but something made me do it. Maybe it’s because I had a bunch of heavy cream and didn’t want it to go to waste… or maybe I was craving it, but I made a chocolate cake last week—drum roll please—FROM SCRATCH! With fresh whipped cream on top! I know! I’m sort of shocked about it too.

I had been eyeing a recipe in Natural Health Magazine from way back in November. I dog-eared the page, and since it’s been in the bathroom… I’ve been seeing it a lot. Enough said about my tiny pregnancy bladder. I looked on the Natural Health website, but it’s not there. However, I found it here (recipe is at the bottom of the page). It’s the dark chocolate chile cake. The only omission I made was the pumpkin puree in the whipped cream. I didn’t want to buy a can of puree, only to use 1 tablespoon. Plus, I added a couple of shakes of cayenne pepper to the cake batter to give it a little kick (although Mike claims it could have been spicier).

Just revel in its chocolatey goodness! Mmmmm.

Given my experience with baking debacles (of which I’ve had MANY), this cake came out perfectly! I will definitely be making it again.