9.23.2013

Name Change?

From time to time, I think we all get to that place where you contemplate how as our life is changing, how it then changes what we blog about and how that may change the name of our blog. 
For me, this has been on my mind for quite some time. 

Probably because when I first started this blog, I thought that I would be blogging mostly about my new home and the decor as we had set aside a great deal of funds to paint and decorate our home and I wanted to share that, in addition to trade information and tips. 
I named my blog Hello, Good Morning Sunshine because it was the first thing I said, the first day in our new home as there is a huge like 5'-6' tall arched window in our home on the main living floor and we live on the sunny side of the street. 

I swear we never turn on a single lamp in our house because its unnecessary, even on a cloudy day. 
The first purchase of course was light blocking shades for the bedrooms. 
But ummm, yeah - I think I can count the number of posts I have ever written on my home because I have come to realize that decor changes happen in spurts around here since we both work outside of the home with the exception of Mondays. And who wants to do housework on Mondays - I swear when I make lists of things I want to get done, thats when my husband retreats to the basement where his music studio is. LOL. 

Now, newlywed no longer applies. Years later, "new home owner" doesn't really apply.. but what still applies, I am still married to a professional musician where I have to drop all plans to go to random concerts on work nights, I am pregnant with my first child, which I already know will come with a whole bunch of experiences in itself, I still work in law enforcement in the District of Columbia, hmmm ... I still have other aspirations like book writing with a pending book deal and other goals in the forefront that I want to accomplish... 

All that to say, I think I want to change the name of my blog to something more generic and encompassing of ... ME. 

Probably something more simple - because when Baby Girl gets here, since we have no family here - this will be the one place where they will be able to keep up with her ... and us for that matter. 

Le Sigh. 

Lately though, after seeing pictures of what my daughter looks like now, I can't help but to think that she's going to have so many fun daddy/daughter moments. 

Just like this video on YouTube. 
I swear this would be my husband and our daughter. 
Poor girl kept thinking she was hearing fireworks and wouldn't go to sleep so her daddy did the one thing I know my husband would do.. 
 
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9.19.2013

Birthdays, Baby Girl and Bump Update


September 14, 2013 was my 31st Birthday (YOIKES!) - I can NOT believe that I am that old. It has not even sunk in yet. I think that I will probably still hold on to 30 (not that its any better) for a little while longer. 
This year of course being pregnant, I honestly didn't feel like celebrating in ways that I would have if I wasn't pregnant. But that doesn't mean that I didn't celebrate at all. I had a great time celebrating this year. 
I spent the day with my husband going to brunch at my favorite diner. 
He took me to get my nails done right after - 
It was only right that since the Football Season just started that I would get my nails done in my favorite teams colors: Purple and Gold for my Baltimore Ravens Baby!


It would later be a pre-cursor to the best Birthday gift my husband could've ever gotten me. 
We travelled down to Annapolis, MD to go try this Ice Cream shop that I had heard so much about. 
Its been voted the "Best of Annapolis" for like the last 6 years even while its surrounded by other ice cream shops on the same block. 
So who better than me than to see what the hoopla was all about?


Hubby had Coffee Cookies and Cream in a waffle cone. I couldn't decide so I went with Mint Cookies and Cream and Coffee Cookies and Cream. Grant it I didn't want to show you just how big my bowl of Ice Cream was. LOL it was kind of bigger than I expected and sadly I ate the entire thing - I was so ashamed. It was totally worth it!

We walked down to the Boardwalk and sat there reflecting as we watched the water and the Yachts go by. It reminded me of my childhood where we would go down to Annapolis to visit my grandfather who lived down there and had a boat. He would take us out on the boat and we would go check the crab traps and go fishing and bring back the catch of the day and indulge. 


Well on Sunday, my Birthday gift from my husband was tickets to the home opener in Baltimore to see my Super Bowl Championship Winning Baltimore Ravens!





We played the Cleveland Browns that day. 
Truth be told, I really thought that there was a chance that we may actually lose this game. 
The turf appeared to be super slippery. Our receivers were not catching the ball to save our life. Our brand new defense doesn't play with the fire that my Super Bowl Champs did so they weren't making stops as quickly as they used to. 
It ended up being a low scoring game, but in the second half my team managed to at least score a few touchdowns while Cleveland was held to two field goals that were kicked by our former kicker. 


And now a Bump Update - We are Officially in the 3rd Trimester! 
28 weeks!
It's like getting to Senior Year of High School ... and I am trying hard not to get Senioritis and start to dread the last days. I want to continue to enjoy it to the very end (probably to prove all the debbie downers wrong even more). 
I got every horror story once people found out I was pregnant and what I have learned is that we really are that much more different. Where someone can only remember the miserable, I can still remember all the good times despite being sore at times. 

So now as she is approaching her arrival, you can imagine that people are giving me the whole "get your sleep now because you won't sleep once she's here" speech. 
That doesn't stand true for everyone. I'm going to pray that when she comes out she gets her nights and days right. (one can pray right?!) Because right now, lately, she has kept me from going to sleep at 11pm with her latest gymnastic routine and then she goes into a straight Floyd Mayweather mode at about 4am. I literally have to rock for her to go back to sleep and then I am up for the next hour... smh I can already see how this is going to go. 

She wears me out I tell you.. after work if I make it upstairs in the house, I just have to lay down to stretch out and hopefully give her more room because thats what it seems like she is looking for. 
I get into my "cleaning the floor" stances in order to help her turn because she is still breech and of course I read some where that would help. We shall see. 


Either way, we did a 3D sonogram - So HERE SHE IS... 
Isn't she a cutie pa too tee!?!
Poor thing is JUST like her momma, even though she looks just like her father - she loves wearing her umbilical cord like a necklace. That was exactly what I did in the womb. I got myself all wrapped up that I gave my mother and the doctor a great scare. I am hoping that baby girl continues to wear it like a Lei instead of getting wrapped all the way around like I did. 


Someone was good and sleep but was smiling the whole time.
She is so funny to me. 




Someone was definitely a sleepy baby and could care less about which position mommy got in, she was still fast asleep. 


She is so anti-paparazzi. She was like Mommy ENOUGH! LOL this little girl is going to be so funny to me. 


So what say you?! Who do you think she looks like?


I would be so tempted to go back in a few weeks, but I am going to sit on my hands and try to be patient until she comes out so I can love on her even more. 
But I can not lie, seeing what she looks like has definitely made more excited than EVER!


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9.16.2013

The Risk of Working in D.C.

As with living and working in any major city, sadly there are times where outrageous acts by persons happen from time to time. In Washington, DC we faced dealing with yet another tragedy. 
Thirteen people lost their lives today on the Navy Yard that is situated on the Anacostia River in Washington, DC. 
Its such a shame that people who went to work like any other Monday, did not make it home to their loved ones. These were people who were either civilian Federal Government workers, Metropolitan Police Officers or Naval Employees that were in the Cafeteria, 3rd and 4th floors of Building 197 within the gated and secured grounds of the Naval Yard. 

While many will see this story on the news and shake their heads at it being just another tragedy, this one hit way to close to home for me. 


For one, the Naval Yard is REALLY close to my job. See on this map below - where the Nationals Park is, my office is on S. Capital Street. 
The Navy Yard area is an area I drive through almost daily and plenty of times where I head for lunch. My favorite place to eat while pregnant is on Tingey Street right behind DOT Headquarters. 
Plenty of times, for one reason or another, I may head out alone there just to grab something quickly. 
If you follow me on Instagram - my posts about Truckaroo - that takes place at Half Street where that M is. Chipotle is on 7th street right in front of the Naval Yard along with the Cupcake spot. 
These were my people - my lunch break buddies. 


Thankfully, Monday is my day off - this particular Monday, I was going into work because they offered a mandatory training that I had to take and today was the last day. The blessing was that the training was not in my building but it was in NW D.C.
While I was headed there I heard the news of the shooting - 
when training was over, I was headed back towards the crime scene to go to my office when I got a call that they closed our building due to the fact that there are basically no law enforcement besides ourselves available in SE D.C.
They were all deployed to the Navy Yard. 


That meant, we would be sitting ducks. 
We work in partnership with Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals almost on an hourly basis. Without them we can not do our job effectively not to mention if anything were to happen, they would have not a single person they could dispatch to help us. 

Case in point, the school right near the Navy Yard was on lock down all morning. Parents who came to drop their children off were on lock down with their children most of the day. On the news they showed that only one lady was allowed to leave the building because her car was parked in front of the school and was being broken into. 
It is so crazy how people will take advantage of such a tragedy for personal gain - especially on that side of town. 

Hearing the recaps of the persons who were there, who survived the shooting is so heartbreaking. 
A Captain recounted his story of running from the building, while having a one minute conversation about what was going on with a co-worker, that co-worker was shot dead right next to him. He ran literally for his life.  


There is a real risk to working in D.C. especially working for the Federal Government and extra especially being in Law Enforcement. If you work for the Federal Government, your badge can be used to enter any Federal Government building without search. You can have a real fear of the fact that so many people target the Nations Capitol for one reason or another. 
Who knows if we will know what the reason is for the shooting this morning since the shooter has been killed. 

My heart and prayers go out to the families of those persons who lost their lives. 
I am glad that the person that I knew was in the area this morning was ok.
You can only hope that these incidents become more and more rare. 
Tomorrow, its back to business as usual - but not business as normal, I am sure. 


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9.09.2013

Birthdays and Anniversaries


This awesome couple - my parents
Celebrated their 45th Wedding Anniversary on August 30, 2013
45 years ago these two were married at St. John's Episcopal Church in Baltimore, MD. 
Since my serious interest in dating, I have taken so many cues and learned so much about relationships and what to look for in a man from my parents. 

Briefly, one of the most interesting things about my parents was how they came to be a couple. 
My dad is from Miami, Florida. He was drafted to the NBA to play for the then Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards) after graduating from NYU. Mom was enrolled at Morgan State University and was living with her roommate. Her roommate started dating one of the players (I'll just leave the names out because these people are still alive LOL). Either who, my mom was casually dating a veteran at the time who was kinda just around but not really a good fit. 
My mom went with her roommate to dinner at my dad's apartment. He was living with my moms roommates boyfriend. Needless to say, my mom went begrudgingly but didn't want her friend to be there solo. Either who, at the dinner, my dad started kicking my mom under the table to get her attention. They started dating, sadly my mom's roommate and her boyfriend broke up and my mom and dad were married 9 months later. 
The entire wedding party was the entire Baltimore Bullets team and all the Bridesmaids were my mom's cousins... single and looking. 

My dad proposed one night over the phone and the next day they went and picked out a ring. 
45 years later, 3 kids and a future grandkid later - they have never looked and truly are more happier then that day. My parents are always together. For every trip my mom has to go on, you can expect my dad to be there. The same way that my mom was there for my dad at every game. Even breaking rules and sitting on the sideline to wish him luck before the game. 

How they became a couple, became engaged and were married let me know its not so much about the fairytale presentation that TV and movies would have us hold out but the emphasis is so much more on the person. Thats where our expectations should lie. Thats truly why I believe when I met my husband so many things happened the way that it did because of the example of longevity my parents gave me and his parents gave him. 

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Also, September 4th was my husband's 34th Birthday!
He has decided to celebrate from September 1st all the way to going out on his last outing last night with his friends on a party bus around D.C.

On his actual birthday, I took my husband to one of our favorite restaurants, The Chop House. 
I love the quality of food at this restaurant and I love love love the new digital menus that show you pictures of the offerings on the menu so that I can choose with my eyes and not so much on the description on the menu. 


We also went for a dessert date and redeemed our free Burgers at Red Robin.. after all my Birthday is Sept. 14th


One of the perks of being married to a professional musician is him having friends who play for so many people. We got tickets to go see John Mayer yet again, but this time none of the musicians that play for John we knew but my husband actually happened to know the Bass Player for the opening act, Phillip Phillips. 


It was good to see John Mayer during his "comeback" post throat surgery. But can I just say that although I didn't watch the season that Phillip Phillips won American Idol, he was AMAZING!
His show had so much energy and he was so versatile with his set- playing classics, his singles and then remixing some hip hop songs. I was so impressed!


Of course we couldn't enjoy this solo - 
husband invited one of his besties (our daughters Godfather) as 1. a way to ask him to be our child's godfather, 2. a late birthday gift for him 3. because he is a huge music fan as well, after all he is a musician as well - one of the baddest Bass players I know. 



Its been a really fun summer - let FALL begin!


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Less Than 100 Days To Go

Here we are 26 weeks and 4 days pregnant. 
We have just about 13 weeks to go before baby girl arrives and yet, I am not sure if the surreal feeling will ever go away. For many years (although for some its been longer) my story was the waiting patiently to conceive newlywed that had been tested and diagnosed with unexplained infertility and now here we are less than 100 days (or so) from welcoming our baby girl into our family. 

I want to savor each moment of pregnancy. 
I may have been discouraged during the wait of trying to conceive but I consider myself to be blessed because I have had a wonderful pregnancy. 
So much so that I told my husband, he can have as many children as he wants as long as all my pregnancies are like this. 
He has restrained himself to requesting 4 children at the moment over the next 10 years. 
We laugh because we say we will be the ones with the family of 7 or something... (God please no!)
It is our desire to have our children close together so that they will have a special relationship with their siblings. So who knows... its all in God's timing. 

Until then, I will remind myself to: 





So this week in pregnancy I had to take the gestational diabetes test.
I have read and heard so much about how awful the test would be. Even from my doctors they suggested that it would be something that was so miserable. 
What was funny, I get there and there are two other ladies there to take it. 
We were all handed our orange drink that had been refrigerated in the lobby and told to drink it within five minutes and then wait one hour so they could draw our blood. 


We all had the look of hesitation as we cracked open the top. 
We took one sip and all said "oh"... as in "oh its not THAT bad".. 
seriously, I liked it. It tasted just like the orange Hugs drinks that they used to serve us in Summer Camps when we were little. 
You know, these things - 


Needless to say, I drank it down rather quickly. It also helped that all my cravings have been super sweet sugary things. And despite me fasting for 12 hours and having a first thing in the morning appt. I passed my test literally by 1 point. Hey, a pass is a pass! So I am happy about that!
I don't have to adjust my diet and I don't have to test my blood sugar on a daily basis nor take injections! Wonderful!

We have also been getting the nursery together!
We were so fortunate to already start receiving gifts for Baby Girl. 
We were gifted her nursery furniture (crib, changer, rocker and ottoman) and it was sent to the store closest to our home.  We are super thankful and appreciative to our family! 
We packed into the truck and brought it home.. 
Consider this momma SUPER EXCITED!


We have also received her bassinet and bedding as well ... among some outfits. 
I can not explain the overwhelming appreciation that we feel for the love that is shown towards our family. 

So of course that meant that it was time to paint some walls!
This is Baby Girl's Room. It is a room that we have never filled with anything when we moved into our home with hopes for this day.  

It went from this (up top)
to this (below)

Valspar Paint: Sweet Lilac and Party Pink
(although, I believe the Lilac came out a little more pink due to the fact that color tinter was on the fritz when we went to go pick up the paint - I am still very happy with it). 


It will match her new bedding perfectly!
Can I just say that it took some time, but I have embraced the pink in her room. I was one who definitely wanted any color but pink. But, might as well just go with it. All the accessories will be the shades of plum, the animal print and lots of sparkle for the princess. 

I got the idea of course from Pinterest to paint the stripes on the wall... needlesss to say, I could only do so much on my own without wearing myself out - And I definitely wore my husband out with all the requests I put in for him to help me. 
I think after this he will prohibit me from looking at Pinterest for ideas. 


Like this idea: only two of the walls have stripes and the solid wall that is to the right of the entrance door, I wanted to add possibly a Cherry Blossom mural since they are so prevalent in D.C. 


Similar to this: 


I don't know if it would be too much... or if its something that I would be able to complete.. I don't know. What do you think? It's the wall that her dresser would be on. 

Since she will be sleeping in a pink room, its only right that I had to get her, her first Red outfit. This newborn dress for her Christmas pictures. 
I can't wait to see her in it!



Also I have been searching for unique shoes because I believe I will pass my love for shoes down to baby girl- 





Finally, we still pray over her daily. 
We pray for the big and the little things. 
We pray that she won't have food allergies or have to suffer from seasonal allergies like her mother. 
We prayed that she would be surrounded with love and have friends.. and look at God.


It's almost like when you start praying for your mate to come because you see all of your friends getting married. I wanted to get pregnant for a long time because my friends were having children and I didn't want to go through the experience alone. And yet, I am not alone - out of my college fraternity sisters, 6 of us are pregnant. Two just had their babies within the last month. 
In my neighborhood, on my block alone- 5 of us were pregnant. Two have already given birth. 
At church, 4 of us are pregnant. And only 1 has just given birth. 
She will be surrounded by friends! and so will I.. 
not to mention the countless blogger friends who are expecting!
I thought I would be alone and yet, my prayers were answered in that regard as well. 

As far as stats, 
Weight Gain: Gained 2 lbs this pregnancy (beaming proud of that)
Rings: half off (I can't wear my engagement ring, but I can wear my wedding ring) - I hate NOT wearing a ring because I feel like people judge pregnant people without a wedding ring and just view us as someone's baby momma who got knocked up. 
Cravings: Cake, Cupcakes, Cake, Cupcakes! Did I mention CAKE!
Movement: LOADS! She kicks pretty frequent and definitely often. She has definitely turned with her feet up at times because her kicks have gone from low pelvis to high under my ribs.

And yes, I have post-baby plans: 
I wasn't the healthiest person before and I am easily more active now than I was pre-baby. 
I am determined to get back to the size I was when I met my husband 6 years ago. 
I have posted motivation pics up, so that I keep that goal in mind. 


If you have read this far.. Thanks so much!
I have plenty to blog about but not so much time lately.. 
Playing catch up here. 
Hope that your weekend was wonderful!


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The Mom Diaries

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