Inevitably Keely

In honor of my husband's 30th birthday, I thought I would share with you 30 things I love/admire about him. This list was easy and difficult to write all at once because their are so many great things about him - it's hard to narrow it all down. But here is a Brief Glimpse into Daniel: He's hot. Have you not seen his eyes or his fabulous smile? Either of them melt me, but combined I am a puppy dog. They're what caught my eye years ago - it was all the rest that intrigued me... His sense of humor. While it's quite possible that no one besides Zoe and I think he's hilarious ... he makes me laugh like no one else can and so I consider him the funniest person I know. His optimism. Invariably, when a situation arises Daniel chooses to see the lessons learned, the opportunities available and the light at the end of the tunnel. He is my light, and when he says everything is going to be OK, I believe him. His intelligence. Whether it's his aptitude for languages,...

March 4th - My Dad getting a clean bill of health regarding his cancer. Best news ever. April 19-27th - Taking Zoe to Texas for the first time so she could meet her aunt, great grandmothers, great aunts & uncle and see her Grammy & Grandpa. It was our 1st big family vacation! May 1st - Getting an unexpected but welcome positive from a home pregnancy test and then having it confirmed the next day with a blood test. May 25th - Seeing Zoe take her first steps - at her 1st birthday party in front of an audience of at least 20 people. What can I say, she's a performer. June 25-29th - My cousins wedding which was a mini family reunion for my side of the family. Special highlights were introducing Zoe to some of my favorite people and dancing with Daniel & Zoe at the reception. July 25th - Having a gender ultrasound and finding out we're having a son! November 4th - Voting and then later finding out who our next President will be.  December 25th - While not planned, we cel...

This last Saturday we got the family up and ready so we could have a family/maternity photo shoot. You know, to sort of document this pregnancy even further and have some nice family photos of us when we were a family of three. One of our theatre friends (Danielle Radon) who in addition to be completely lovely, and a great actress and writer , is also a very talented photographer. What I realized from our shoot is that I'm no longer quite as comfortable in front of the camera now that I spend so much behind it. I got over that quickly though between Danielle making me feel at ease with me just being natural and Daniel making me laugh. What is very, very clear from the photos (I think) is that there is a lot of love and laughter in our family and I fully expect this to grow exponentially with the arrival of our son.* Anyway - let me quit with my words and show you some pictures! You can see all the pics HERE : *We're still set for 12/31... I've made absolutely no progress in...

1. I'm still pregnant. Remember when I said I thought Finn was going to come early? Well, I've changed my mind. I think he's so darn comfy in there it's a good thing we've scheduled the doc to get him out because I think he'd live in there forever if he could. 2. My toes are pretty, pedicured and blue! The last time I got a pedicure was at the very beginning of this pregnancy 10 years 9 months ago, so I did not feel at all guilty for shelling out a little bit more for a "SPA pedicure". I'm partial to a pedicure where I get to sit in one of those fancy chairs and not have the entire salon talk about me to each other in their language or try to convince me that I really "need" my eyebrow done/legs waxed. Anyway, it was heaven except for the conversation: "So, when is your baby due?" "I'm having a c-section on New Years Eve." 15 minutes later.... "So, what are you doing New Years Eve?" "I'm having ...

Last night around 11, Zoe woke up in tears. We hadn't turned her humidifier on (which seems to be a must have these days) and she was having a coughing fit and trouble breathing through her nose. Daniel was in her room first (he moves faster than I do now and I always try to hold back just a moment because my first inclination is to run to her when she cries and she knows this). I followed quickly and just in time to see her projectile spit up in her crib (hey, being a parent is glamorous). The two of us cleaned her up, kissed and hugged her, and told her everything was going to be OK. And then I took her into our room while Daniel cleaned up inside her crib a bit and filled the humidifier. I rocked her in the new chair that we got to use for Finnegan (the wood glider we'd gotten when I was pregnant with Zoe just isn't comfortable). The chair has since become the family chair and my favorite place in the house to hold my fast growing daughter. She had barely woken up durin...

I thought I'd share my view: I am HUGE! But I love it. And I am so looking forward to meeting Finnegan. Such a wild ride this has been!

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. I did this because I was tagged by some friends on Facebook and decided I might as well post it here too. I'm not tagging anyone here, but if you want to share I would love to read your answers. Here's mine: 1. I have a blog , as well as Twitter , Flickr , Facebook, and Myspace accounts so I sort of feel like coming up with 16 things seems silly because I feel like I've shared so much already. 2. I'm such a sap that sometimes I hide behind my sarcasm/humor/complaining to cover up how nervous, worried or scared I am. I worry that this coping mechanism sometimes makes me sound like I don't love being a mother or that I'm not enjoying my pregnancy. I do and I am - honestly. 3. Becoming a mom ...

So, remember how I've been going on and on about Finnegan being evicted on December 29th? Scratch that. Turns out that despite us telling them a month ago that this was the date we'd chosen, they got their wires crossed and forgot to schedule it with the hospital. You know what that means? That means that a very hormonal and unreasonably emotional Keely nearly lost it in the car after our checkup. Because unlike most pregnant women, I had gotten to form a plan. I had everything worked out perfectly in my mind. We were going to spend a leisurely early morning with our first child on Monday, December 29th before dropping her off at her Cheryl's (and Chuck-Chuck's). The "plan" had been to be at the hospital at 10:30 am for prep and Finnegan would be making his debut via extraction c-section around noon-ish. We chose this day specifically based on multiple criteria that I had in my head. 1. I wanted to make sure we got to spend Christmas at home with Zoe and my p...

Just make a guess, mmkay? Here's some quick info to help you out a bit.... - Finn will be evicted via c-section on December 29th 31st* at the latest**. So don't guess after that date! - Zoe weighed 8 lbs, 5oz and was 19 inches. - My due date is Jan. 4th, 2009. - At my last appt. on 12/2 - I was 35 weeks and 2 days, but measured 37 weeks. - At that same appt, I was 25% effaced and 1 cm dilated. - I had three hours of false labor on 12/9... - And... Zoe was induced and then arrived 2 days before her due date, but I had no false labor with her and was not dilated or effaced at 35 weeks... *- Yes. That just changed. ** - I'm not holding my breath about any guarantees regarding this baby from here on out. So, whatever. ;)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards This video would not be possible had Jen not given me the heads up via twitter. I couldn't resist multiplying my little monkey by five too. Cute, funny and a little bit scary all at once, yes?

Soon, life is about to get a whole lot MORE hectic and if I can manage to find a style that looks good without too much effort, that would be awesome. Who better to go to than the lovely and talented Whoorl ?! She's featured me on Hair Thursday this week and it's perfect timing because I am just itching to do something with my hair. So, help a lady out, will ya? Go take a look at her suggestions, vote and give your opinion. Thanks!

Four years ago tonight Daniel took me out on a fancy date. We ordered great food, delicious wine and had wonderful conversation. Somehow, we decided to pretend like we were on one of our first dates and asked those "getting to know you" questions you ask at the beginning of a relationship. Never mind that at that point we'd been together for nearly two years, had been living together for almost as long and had a "daughter", our Boston Terrier, Bailey. We still behaved like a couple of lovebirds, leaning close to each other, holding hands, asking each other what our goals and dreams were. And then in the most perfect moment, Daniel looked at me very seriously with eyes beaming and asked me if I would marry him. There was no hesitation, "Yes!" We stopped pretending like we were on one of our first dates and spent the rest of our time in the restaurant laughing and kissing and smiling from ear to ear. It's amazing to think it's been so long - that...

I had my my prenatal check up yesterday afternoon and it looks like all those contractions I had on the way home from my parents house did *something*. Not much, (I'm 1 cm dilated and 25% effaced) but something is better than nothing in the grand scheme. At least I know all that pain was getting something accomplished, however a part of me says I'm having a c-section anyway so I wish my body could just relax. Whatever. :) The doc says he thinks I'll make it to December 29th. Me: "Are you sure? I'd really like to stay on schedule" Doc: "She likes to be in control, huh?" Daniel: "She's a planner." That might be the understatement of the year. What?

On the mornings that I wake up Zoe and get her ready for the day, we have a little ritual. I give her a hug, she says hello to Bailey and Max (and is more interested in them, by the way). Then I go to her closet and pull out a couple clothing options for her consideration. I sing, "What are we going to wear today?"* which is received with big smiles and this twisty, kicking, dance move she does when she's happy (she does a variation of this dance while in her high chair eating something she thinks is particularly yummy). And then she points to one of the outfits. It's our thing. Zoe is a Grabby McGrabbersons. Like most kids at this age if she sees something within her reach (or even not quite in her reach) she wants to grab it. She wants to touch it. She wants to inspect it and see how it works (I think she might get this from her father). But when we take her to a store with clothing (like, Target) this behavior changes a bit. She's more careful with what she cho...