Delivery day

After several months of prep, planning, hard work and contemplation we made the trek back to the hospital for our donation day. It was both a difficult and rewarding day being back in the Labor and Delivery unit. I felt both nervous and excited to be on that floor. The memories of my own delivery day flashed back along with an overwhelming sense of pride of how far we have come in the past couple of months. We were pleasantly surprised to spend a few moments with one of our favorite nurses as she delightfully perused all of our donations. The most tender moment was when she said to us, "I think about you guys all the time, you are written on my heart". As we got in the elevator to head down to our car, the tears started to flow. No matter how brief our son's life was, he too is forever written on our hearts. Making this delivery was such a powerful way to bring the year to a close.

Family outing to the Pumpkin Patch

I am not naive enough to believe life is perfect, but I have no doubt experienced moments in my life in which felt perfect. These are the moments I wish I could freeze in time forever. Last weekend we decided to visit the pumpkin patch earlier than we usually do. The weather was perfect, I was with my boys and we were embarking on my favorite time of year- Fall. It only seemed appropriate to select a pumpkin for our soon to be born son and one for each of us. After we selected our pumpkins and produce, we wheeled our wagon to our car overwhelmed with the sense that life was indeed perfect and even though we did not have it all it sure felt like in that moment we did.

Baby bump and a little pumpkin for our little mister.

Labor of love

I just recently finished my first quilt and I am very happy with the results. I knew how I hoped it would turn out, but it turned out even better than I had imagined. Between not using a pattern and this being my first time making a quilt, it was quite an adventure to make. I would have never been able to make this without the help of my very patient friend. Quilting reminds me a lot of scrapbooking; selecting all the different patterns and colors and finding a way to tie them all together.

To heed or not heed their advice.....

Most of my friends are astonished when they realize how many baby items I have already purchased, but frankly it is just my nature. I have been forewarned about skin tone and size of child making certain clothes not work, but that has not deterred me from becoming best friends with my local Baby Gap. Adorable little boy clothes are too irresistible to pass up and at discounted prices it seems like a shame to not just plan ahead. One question though....... Do you prefer footed or footless one pieces for your baby? Was there ever a case where they were too long and the footed items just did not work?

Preview to fall hiking

Fall is creeping up the mountain sides. The glimpses of changing color gets me excited for the upcoming season. Pumpkins, gourds, fires, and cooler nights.

We love Portland

We planned our trip to Portland in conjunction with the long holiday weekend to do some tax free baby shopping, stay at our favorite hotel and enjoy the many sights and sounds of the city. Where else do you find such cute graffiti or the opportunity to eat grilled cheese in a double decker bus?

Playing tour guide

We rarely have out of town visitors, so when we do we enjoy playing tour guide and taking people to the places we love. One such place is the San Juan Islands. Cameron's sister just loves the camera, she usually loves to pose and be the center of attention.

Work in Progress

Long before I told anyone I was pregnant I started making a baby quilt. I have been to enough baby showers and seen enough nurseries to know what color palette I wanted regardless of our baby's gender. I am an organized person by nature, so perpetual progress toward my end goal was necessary to make the weeks click by. Each quilt shop I visited in search of fabric, I quietly revealed my secret to strangers. It was a special time and while we enjoyed keeping our secret amongst ourselves I quickly started falling in love with the process of quilt making. I am now to the hand stitching part of my quilt and since I am only 24 weeks pregnant I am confident I will have finished this long before Fall comes, let alone our winter baby.

Let's go sailing

On a whim we booked a sailing promotion through Amazon Local. I normally shy away from deals like this, but this one caught my eye. I had never been out on a sailboat before and let me tell you after setting sail owning a sailboat is now on the top of my "want" list. The weather was perfection, there was a slight breeze and the view of the city is always inspiring for endless photography.

I know this is not our best photo together, I look chubby (a vicious combination of slouching, being pregnant and a bad angle) and Cameron is all squinty, but the important part is we were having a great time.

Quality family time

About this time of year I always start to reflect on the waning Summer and all the activities I still want to do before it ends. Although, we always find ways to stay busy on the weekends; I have felt like we have not camped enough this Summer. Record warm temperatures encouraged a last minute camping trip this past weekend.  We set out Friday night as the sun was contemplating setting and made it to our spot with headlamps lighting our way. Our tent is simple enough to set up and it was still a balmy seventy plus degrees out. We decided to keep our rain flap off which allowed us to gaze up at the stars in the night. There are moments like this in life which although are not perfect (ie. sleeping in a tent is not the most comfortable thing) you still have an overwhelming gratitude and contentment for your life.

Breakfast with a view....... lakeside at Talapus Lake.

Have you ever taken the time to notice what is underfoot while hiking? These "pencil shaving" mushrooms fascinated me our entire hike. Since children naturally like to explore I look forward to learning more about such things so I can teach my child about nature on our hikes.

Arriving early in the morning at Ollalie Lake and finding we are the only ones there. Score!!

Cameron checking out the fish in the water. The entire time we were in this spot two dragonflies darted to and fro.

Nature is always so picture perfect.

I am feeling so blessed during this pregnancy. My energy level is up, my appetite is fairly normal and I am still able to do all the things I enjoy. I really could not ask for anything more.

Just as the trail traffic started to pick up, we were heading down the trail and back to our car. Aaahh the joys of camping and getting an early start.

Baby nursery

Having a child is much like getting married, once everyone finds out they want to know the date and your color scheme. Long before we knew what we were having I started making my first quilt, the colors I was repeatedly drawn to were gray, white and yellow. I know they are a tad trendy, but our wedding colors were pink and green which seemed to have had their fair share of the spotlight. For the nursery, I am envisioning a room predominately white with gray and yellow accents.

The big reveal

Almost as important as when we told our friends and family we were expecting was "the how". We agonized over how exactly to spread the news and ended up doing it in a variety of ways.

First, we told my parents by inviting them over for dinner and at the dessert portion presented them with individual strawberry shortcakes topped with individual fortunes. Each fortune was the same and read, "we are expecting". There was a bit of initial confusion as to what exactly this meant, but once everyone caught on it was all smiles and excitement.

Next, we told our dear friends who had also just recently returned from a big trip. After we had returned back to their place for dinner we told them we had some vacation photos to share with them. Eager to see our photos while her husband was in the bathroom Lynn opened the box and was instantly ecstatic as she viewed the photos of us holding our ultrasound photos. Steve, on the the other hand was a tad confused as to what exactly we were holding and first asked if it was a photo of a bat. Upon given him a few hints he quickly caught on and joined Lynn in her enthusiasm.

We wanted to tell our friends in a group setting, so we devised a plan to host a backyard potluck. Before we sat down to eat Cameron mentioned to the group how people are always asking what our next big adventure will be. He told everyone our next particular adventure would be longer than usual and that it would be parenthood. Everyone was surprised and people were expecting we were going to announce we would be moving abroad or going on another trip instead.

Lastly, we told Cameron's entire family. A family trip to Disneyland had been planned for months, so we decided it made the most sense to tell everyone at once in person. Upon arriving to Disneyland we met up with everyone and Cameron mentioned we needed to take a group photo. With Cameron behind the camera he said, "one, two, three, everyone say Lisette is pregnant!" Being the jokester that he is not everyone thought he was entirely serious, but once he confirmed that he was everyone was smiles.

Preparing for our little man

There is no denying little girl clothing is over the top adorable. In my limited experience, there also seems to exist some pretty cute little boy clothes. Do you have a favorite place to shop for little boys? Here are some of my favorites so far.

Peek, a limited selection can be found at Nordstrom, but they recently opened a store at University Village.

Sparkle and Spin, a UK brand which makes trendy basic and sometimes offers great sales.

Baby Gap, they have amazing sales, great attention to detail and offer adult clothing miniaturized.

Tea Clothing, unique, timeless styles which can be worn now and twenty years from now.

Zara, hip, modern, but not overly expensive trendy looking clothes.

Kate Quinn Organics, rich colors and stylish takes on basics.