Click, Click, Click, Flash

This past weekend, we did something very special with a very special person. The very special thing: Pregnancy Belly Photo Session. The very special person: Ms. Beth Belluzzo.

I've referenced Beth before here, but to recap, she is my very best girl friend that I met back at JMU freshman year. She is gorgeous both inside and out and is the best gal pal a girl can ask for. She is hilarious, successful and one of the best darn amateur photographers I know. When asked if she would take some photos of our family with the baby belly, she jumped at the opportunity which made me love her that much more. It takes a truly wonderful person to agree to give up several hours on a Sunday afternoon to take photos of a big fat belly. It takes an even more incredible person to drive from Arlington to Centreville to do it!

After assessing the best place for natural light in the house we got started and just had loads of fun. We took some in the bedroom...

...and then some in the baby's room.

We hit the lower deck...

... and the upper deck.

The living room made the shoot...

...and we even managed to grab some in the snow.

All in all, the photos came out great - we couldn't be happier. But the best part was spending time with such a great friend. Thank you so much Poochie Girl!!! We love you tons and truly appreciate your friendship. For a peek at the rest of the shoot, check it out here.

Whoa

While I was in NY last week, my loving husband went all out and put together all the great stuff we got at the baby shower last weekend. So this...

...became this...

...and this...

...and this.

The house became a smaller version of Buy Buy Baby thanks to the generosity of our friends and family (thank you all again!!).

My original Cabbage Patch Kid, Julianna Vanya, got to get some action as did Lots-O-Huggin' Bear. They are just place holders of course, but that didn't stop Lucy from checking them out.

Talk about being prepared. :)

A TIA Baby Shower

I work with the greatest people on earth. And I'm not exaggerating. Not only do these people support the companies that make toys and bring joy to children, we manage to have a good time during the busiest time of the year. Not Christmas, but Toy Fair. We are officially 3 weeks out from the largest toy industry trade event in North America and these wonderful people took the time to throw me a wonderful baby shower while I was in NY last week.

Superstar Robyn was the ring leader and transformed the conference room into a regular party room complete with a baby clothesline, Maurice the giraffe (who somehow I will steal from Adrienne one of these days), baby boy "blue" sparkling cider and all kinds of other goodies. I was touched. I was even more touched to see that everyone on staff brought baby James a copy of their favorite childhood book complete with their personal anecdote.

After 2 beautiful speeches from my amazing boss, Marian and our wonderful CEO, Carter I was officially overwhelmed. I feel so lucky and blessed that I am part of such a wonderful team and could not be more grateful that they let me work for them remotely from VA. Good bless a VPN! Thank you Robyn, Marian, Carter and the entire staff for a wonderful afternoon. I appreciate all your love and support and can't wait for you all to meet baby James. :)

The Swelling

I hate how my feet have gone from this...

...to this.

I am lucky that it took 34 weeks to get this way, but I'm not so pleased to see that my legs are running straight into my feet with no ankles in sight. I know this is a typical side effect of my current state, but it is still hard to swallow. It's bad enough that I have so many stretch marks that I can create a map of the United States on my belly. But they are safely hidden behind my lovely maternity jeans. The heartburn I can live with thanks to Tums and the carpal tunnel is just a daily pest that I am dealing with. But my ankles...I just want my ankles back!

Showers of Love...Seriously

An entire week has gone by without my reporting on the beautiful baby shower that my sister and Mom threw for me and I feel terrible that I have not had a chance to share the big day with you. Between being sick and traveling to NYC for work, the last thing I have been able to think about is blogging. But I'm happy to report that I am on the mend and resting under doctor's orders. So here goes...

January 14th marked the day of the Mangiaracina Family baby shower ~ and it was an amazing day. We were so lucky to welcome family from New York for the big day. Ed's Mom, Adriana and John and Aunt Connie headed down along with Grandma B., Aunt Ruth, Aunt Linda, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy, Cousin Jeannine and Aunt June and Uncle Billy. I can't tell you how special it was to have them here to celebrate our baby boy's pending arrival. In addition, many friends from near and far traveled to be with us - but no one further then my awesome sister Sue who flew in from Chicago to put together an amazing shower for me, James and Ed.

The event was held at Sylvia Mulherin's beautiful house ~ good friend to Mom and Dad Q. She welcomed us with open arms and I can't thank her enough for her generosity. When I arrived, I was greeted with little nooks of baby in all corners of the house. From the clothesline over the fire place to the baby photo board to the custom made cupcakes, everything looked amazing.

The guests slowly arrived and were treated to a delicious lunch from Lebanese Taverna - so good! For whatever reason, I am addicted to hummus lately so the huge tray of it made me smile. The best part, though, were the people that were there. I loved seeing our NY world and our VA world collide - in a good way of course. :)

We truly feel so blessed that we have so many wonderful people in our life. To Mom and Sue - we love you more than you will ever understand. Thank you so much for doing everything you did to put the beautiful shower together. To our NY family - thank you for making the long drive to be with us on this wonderful day. We love you all and appreciate all you do for us. To Michelle, Kim and Laura - thank you so much for helping us haul all the beautiful gifts back to the house. You have no idea how much your friendship means to us. To my Poochie Girl Beth - thank you for being photographer and for being the most wonderful friend a girl could ask for. To Sylvia - thank you for letting us crash your gorgeous house to throw the shin dig. Your generosity overwhelms us. To those of you that were there, thank you so much for your love, support and beautiful gifts. All will come in handy to help us welcome Baby James to the world.

And to Lebanese Taverna - thank you for the delicious hummus. I am enjoying it now as I type this blog. :) I'm sorry...I had to change the tone as I was starting to cry as I wrote the above paragraph.

More photos to come. :)

Lucy's Recovery: Week 3

I'm happy to report the Lucy is on the mend and is actually doing really well. It is week 3 and her stitches have been removed. The wound is looking great and according to the doctor, her knee is tracking well and her range of motion is perfect. We have started taking her out for walks vs. just in the back yard. First it was to the Newland house and back. Then it was to the mailbox and back. Over the weekend, we decided to do our normal nightly walk around the cul de sac. And she did great!

Our real problem now is that she thinks she is fine, when really, the joint still needs time to heal. She is ready to run and jump and play, but in actuality, she still needs to rest and take it slow. Trying to get a 2 1/2 year old Terrier to sit still is not an easy task...at least without drugs, but we are doing our best.

The other night, she looked so sad and depressed so we decided to give her a treat. And by treat, I mean her Lamb Chop doll. Lucy is a BIG fan of her toys so it has been upsetting to her that they have been on lock down in the closet. When we brought Lambchop out she lit up...and I'm not making that up. Her little nub started wagging and her face turned from sad to happy. She immediately grabbed it and started sniffing and licking. It was a amazing!

Soon enough, she'll be 100% and running around like a crazy person with all her toys strewn about. For the moment, she is very content with her little lamby.

Sicky Pants

I know that I am WAY behind with my posts, but I promise I have a really good excuse. I'm sick. I'm sick and pregnant which is the worst combination because there really isn't much you can do about it other than drink lots of tea, suck on lots of halls and rest as much as you can.


The first 2 items are definitely working out. That whole rest thing...not so much. Who can rest after the amazing weekend that just took place (baby shower - details to come) and the fact that I'm in the New York office not only for work, but for another amazing baby shower (I seriously work with the best people!). Rest will come later this week and weekend ~ especially since I am scheduled for a prenatal massage on Saturday morning. Can we say YUM! Thank you Ed for my gift card! Once I am home and back on my feet I promise to let you all in on the baby shower details, Lucy's recovery and all other fun stuff that is going on in the life of Being Mangiaracina. In the mean time, I'm going to go make another cup of tea.

The Nursery: Take Five

We made major headway in the nursery this weekend - so much so that I think the next blog post about the nursery will actually be the final reveal!

So you have seen where we started, the paint job, the furniture, and the accessories. Now it's time to share the decor. While our Home Improvement Super Hero, Doug Kidd, was here helping us out with some kitchen projects, we got him to help us hang some shelves on the wall of the nursery.

I had ordered some shelves from West Elm...

...and when they came in Ed declared that in no way was he hanging them. Wall shelves are always tricky and we wanted to make sure they were very secure since they were in the baby's room. So we hired a professional. And thank God we did because they were tricky to hang and secure to the wall.

And we didn't stop there. We really needed some shelves for the baby's books. We don't have much floor space in the room for a book shelf so we needed some high quality bins to put the books in. I loved these from Pottery Barn Kids...

... but they were too big for the space we wanted to hang them up. In came Doug. I sent him the above photo and he made them for us and hung them for a fraction of the price. May I present, our newly outfitted nursery walls:

We do plan to paint the new shelves white, but you get the idea. We are soooo close to being done and I am LOVING the way it looks. I had a vision before we started and I have to tell you, it's great to see it come to fruition.

Only a few more things are needed and then we will be done. It's been a long journey...but totally worth it. Coming soon...THE FINAL REVEAL!!!!

Pantry Makeover

When we moved into this house, we knew we were missing one important element in the kitchen - the all important pantry. Many of the houses we looked at had lovely pantries behind doors with ample shelf space. In this house ~ not so much. But we made do. One of the cabinets naturally lended itself to being a pantry, but it was somewhat of a pain in the you know what.

The problem: really deep shelves.

One wouldn't think that would be a problem, but think about if you need that one thing that is all the way in the back. In order to get to it, you have to take everything out, grab it and then re-organize the shelf. Not fun.

So we called Doug Kidd a.k.a our Home Improvement Super Hero. He transformed our mediocre pantry...

... into a stellar pantry by installing drawers. Check it out:

I am SOOOOOOOOO excited about this change - you have no idea. Now I have an easy way to reach the stuff in the back. It really is the little things in life that make you happy. :)