Anyway, 11 days in, we’re feeling pretty good… we are getting some sleep and trying to get our breast feeding down (been a little precarious – but improving each day) and my emotions are starting to level off a bit.  I’m also feeling much better physically (felt like I was hit by a bus for a few days post delivery) – now getting outside and going for short walks has been a total blessing for the mind and spirit.

Meanwhile, without further ado, here is a picture of our little man:

Theodore Harry Reid (Theo):   Check out that hair!!  I mean… what a little peanut – right?

Our little rockstar - Theo at 6 days old

Theo was born a St. Patrick’s baby – at 1:15 am on Saturday March 17th (his due date… he’s very punctual).  He weighed 7lbs 14 oz. and was 21 inches in length.  The labor and delivery was honestly way more intense than I ever imagined, though I made it through as intended… no epidural, no c-section.  We had some slight complications – my water broke at 2am on the 16th and then labor wasn’t progressing very quickly.  We went to my OB for an exam at 2pm and though I was 5cm dilated, Theo was “sunny side up” (facing the wrong direction), so we went back home to labor for more hours in an effort to get him to turn around.

Thank god for my incredible, amazing, angel of a doula – Megan.  She rocked my world and I don’t know if Adam or I would have made it without her calm, competent presence.  Megan made me do all these exercises over the course of about four hours and then my labor picked up so we went to the hospital at 7pm.  When I arrived, I was 7cm dilated and he had flipped and was facing the right direction.  I continued to labor until around 11pm, at which point I was finally 10cm and started to push.  2+ hours later and lots and lots of crazy pushing, our man finally arrived, with this fabulous head of hair!

Anyway, must keep it short right now, as he’s sitting on my chest in my Moby wrap sleeping – and he’s starting to stir.  I will definitely take more pictures and return to the blogging world once we situate a bit more.  Adam is going back to work next week (I’m a little nervous!) – but I am looking forward to lots of long walks with the stroller, lunches with my other new mommy friends in the neighborhood and blogging while Theo naps.  It’ll be nice to get on a routine!

I’ll leave you with this adorable little video of him waking up in the hospital.  (PS – hated the hospital – but that’s for another blog post).

Meanwhile, I participated in two photo shoots this week (one way of keeping myself busy).  On Sunday, I was the subject and on Tuesday, I was the photographer.  Here are some of my favorite shots from each:

Me at 39 weeks – with my darling husband Adam as the photographer!  PS – I love getting my pictures taken by Adam.  Because I’m so comfortable with him, I can really flirt with the camera and have some fun and the pictures come out so much better when you’re having fun!

Check out that belly!!

Love this one with Adam in the mirror!

As for the other shoot, I went to visit my friend Megan, her husband Dave and their new little man Max on Tuesday to do a family photo shoot.  Max is SO darling and Megan and Dave were pretty chill.  They were making it look easy!  It made me so excited for our little guy’s arrival.  Here are some of my favorite shots:

Aren’t they beautiful?!!  (the people – not the photos… though I am very happy with how the photos came out too.)  Taking pictures of newborns and their families during this happy magical time is a real joy for me.  I’d like to do more of it now that I’m surrounded with friends who’ve just had babies!  But first priority… our baby.  Out of my belly.  Soon.  Really.

Anyway – happy Thursday everyone.  We’ll keep you updated!

xoxo

EATER came out with this list of the city’s (and surrounding borough’s) twelve best new grilled cheese sandwiches on Friday.  I am sad to say I have only experienced ONE of these grilled cheeses personally (from Beecher’s when I was in Seattle).  I’m a bit disappointed in myself.  I like to think I’m on the cutting edge of cheesiness in New York – but oh well.  TASTING PROJECT for 2012!  Yet another thing to add to my list of 33 things to do while I’m 33!!

Meanwhile, here is their list along with photos and a little description of each.  All photos and descriptions come straight from EATER’s article:

#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

#7:

#8:

#9:

#10:

#11:

#12:

May the cheese be with you.

Happy Monday.

Oh and PS… no baby yet.  Obviously.  I probably wouldn’t be writing about grilled cheese if I just had a baby.  Although – it is me we’re talking about.  :)

Yesterday I had a lovely day.  I woke up in the morning really sore and achy so I called a few places in the neighborhood to see if they could fit me in for a massage.  I found this place Melt  massage right around the block from me and they fit me in for a seventy-five minute massage (free extra fifteen minutes on your first visit!).  Despite the fourth floor walkup (whatever – stairs supposedly bring on labor – I’m down), this was a LOVELY experience.  Becky was my massage therapist and she was excellent… a nice blend of relaxation and some decent pressure (I tend to like the deeper massages better).  Have I mentioned what a massage junkie I am?  Literally, if I could get a massage every day of my life, it would be perfection.  I don’t understand people (like my sister – HUH?) who don’t like getting massaged.  It doesn’t compute.  To me – getting massaged is absolute bliss.

Oh – and here’s my theory (tell me if I’m way off here) – but I’ve always been able to handle a lot of DEEP pressure when getting massaged.  My usual massage therapist (he doesn’t specialize in prenatal – so I’ve been cheating on him – but he’s AMAZING), told me that I can take pressure better than most men he massages!  Because pain while getting massaged is a kind of productive pain… you know you are not hurt, you know you are not sick, you know the pain is helpful, I find it doesn’t bother me much and I have a high tolerance for it.  My theory is that labor will be a similar pain situation for me.  Makes sense right?  (work with me here).  So in my head – I’m going to be a badass who can take the labor pain like a champ!  I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

Meanwhile, after my massage I stopped by Connecticut Muffin – a little neighborhood coffee/baked goods spot and read for an hour while sipping on some chamomile tea.  I finished Bossypants and loved it… now I’m on to Fifty Shades of Grey, which is an erotic novel that’s been getting tons of buzz (my friend told me about it).  I’ve never really read an erotic novel before, but I figured it’ll make for some fun and entertaining reading when I’m up at three in the morning (as I’ve turned into an insomniac lately).  I’ll let you know how I like it.  Oh – and PS… I’m reading it on my iPhone.  Yes, now that I have an iPhone, I’m officially attached to my phone 24/7.  Between reading on the Kindle App, checking my email and Facebook and playing Words With Friends and Word Scramble, I can hardly put my phone down these days.

So anyway (forgive me for my rambling… I’m very rambly today), my friend Michelle, who is also nine months pregnant, met up with me at Connecticut Muffin and we went for a nice long walk.  A slowwww walk.  If I walk to fast these days I feel like the baby’s going to drop right out!  It’s a weird sensation.  I had been reading about all these restaurants in Clinton Hill (some new, some old), which is the neighboring neighborhood to Fort Greene, so I wanted to walk around and check them out!  It was a great walk and now I have a whole list of restaurants I am eager to try!

Locanda Vini e Olii 

This is a supposed DELICIOUS Italian restaurant that resides in an old pharmacy.  It has been around for over ten years.

Locanda Vini e Olii - Image from NY Magazine

Cochinita

A taco spot on Fulton Ave in Clinton Hill… I love me some tacos.

Cochinita - image from The Village Voice

Speedy Romeo 

A pizza spot – one of the head chef’s/owners – Justin Bazdarich previously worked as a chef for Jean Georges’s restaurant Perry Street.  The menu looks AMAZING… and you know how I feel about pizza.

Speedy Romeo - Image from Brownstoner

Urban Vintage

An adorable bakery/cafe with baked goods, sandwiches, salads, coffees, teas, etc.  We stopped in for a drink yesterday and this definitely looks like a place I’d like to hang out and BLOG in!!  I wonder if the baby will sleep while I blog at a cafe?  That will be fun.

Urban Vintage - Image from Urbanvintage.com

Finally – there is Brooklyn Victory Garden.  This is the cheese shop my friend Tess opened up in October 2010.  If you were reading this blog back then, you’ll remember that Tess put up a bunch of my photos from my 365 project on display in her store for the grand opening.  They are actually still up today (as I don’t have room for 12 huge prints – and they look so fabulous up on the walls there!).  Meanwhile, Brooklyn Victory Garden is no longer just a cheese shop and market.  Now they serve soups and sandwiches as well and their menu looked yummy.  I’m looking forward to going back and eating a delicious grilled cheese sandwich.  Mmmmm.

The adorable Tess - owner of Brooklyn Victory Garden - image by ME!

So now I have these fantasies, that once the little man is born, it’ll be spring and he’ll be sleeping a lot… so I’ll just walk all over creation and eat everywhere.  And then I can blog about it!  Hopefully he’ll be a nice easy baby and will enjoy dining out as much as I do.

Now I’m exactly a week away from delivery date (D DAY)!!  Any bets on when I’m going to go?  My dad says Tuesday… I was shooting for yesterday, but missed.  We should get a pool going.

Ok – enjoy the weekend everyone!

In terms of getting everything in order… we have officially finished our nursery space and I’m really proud of it.  Many of you have already seen the picture on Facebook… but if not – here it is!

Once I switched my bedding, I was worried our tree wall decal would no longer go with the vibe of the room… but that turned out to be a total non-issue.  I am officially obsessed with our tree (and obsessed with wall decals in general – my new favorite thing).  Every couple hours as I wake up to pee in the dead of the night, I stand and gaze lovingly at our little nursery space and drool over that tree.  It makes me so happy every time I look at it.  And that cream shaggy rug?!  LOVE IT!  We had some friends over the other night and instead of everyone sitting on the couch per usual… we all just gathered on the shag rug and had a little carpet party.  It was exactly as I had envisioned the space.  I wanted that big shaggy rug to be an inviting hangout area where we could laze around on the floor with the baby.  Ahhh… it’s so sweet when a plan comes together.

Meanwhile, I was talking to Adam about this as we were going to sleep last night…  It’s now been almost three years since I left my job in Advertising Sales.  For a while, the whole ‘not having a career’ thing was a source of much anxiety for me – I felt I had to figure it all out and was frustrated with how slowly that was happening.  However, since becoming pregnant, it has felt less important to me.  I’m about to become a mother, which is probably the most important, challenging and rewarding job I’ll ever do.  And I actually have faith now, that being a mother will help me to determine what type of professional work I’ll want to throw myself into someday.

But I still get those twinges of guilt here and there about not working – or feelings of inadequacy and panic when people ask me “so what do you do?”.  Then I stop and think about all these experiences I’ve been able to throw my whole self into … planning our dream wedding and honeymoon, planning for and traveling the film festival circuit with Hello Lonesome, starting and completing my year-long photography project, volunteering with the elderly, starting and growing my blog, learning extensively about cheese as an affinage intern at Murray’s, finding our dream space in Brooklyn, having a healthy pregnancy, preparing for natural childbirth and building and decorating a nursery space from scratch.  All of these things have been challenging, new and a bit overwhelming for me at times.  None of them have really resulted in any sort of significant monetary compensation (as of yet).  But I know I’m growing tremendously as a person (more-so than I did during my eight years in ad sales) and I feel genuinely proud of what I’ve accomplished.  I’m ever grateful to have had these varying experiences and to have developed so much more confidence in so many different areas before becoming a mother.  I think of this time as a tremendous gift and I believe it has made me a better person/wife/friend and I’m sure it’ll make me a better mother.  I still miss making money (sometimes), and I still miss feeling like a total pro at something.  But I’m a lot more trusting in the process at this point, as I feel the process has been good to me thus far.

I’ll leave you with two quote magnets that are sitting on my fridge.  I look at them every day and they continue to fuel and inspire me.

and…

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

The one thing I have said goodbye to already is sleeping through the night.  That is no longer happening.  Though I guess that’s inevitable anyway with a newborn on the way.  I go to sleep on my left side (snuggled with my humungous body pillow named “Hans”) and then I wake up with hip pain on my left side.  So I flip over (which is a bit of a project these days), hoisting Hans over as I go, and go back to sleep on my right side.  Then I wake up with hip pain on my right side… and the drama continues.  Then at around four in the morning I wake up to pee and then I’m usually wide awake.  So I read in bed for a while until I fall back to sleep.  I just downloaded Tina Fey’s Bossypants, which has been a fun middle-of-the-night read for me.  Oh yeah, and most nights I have to chew a couple TUMS at some point because I’m enjoying that lovely heartburn.  My TUMS are now kept in my bedside drawer.

So yes, this is a little bit of a drag.  But really – I don’t even mind that much because I know it means he’s coming SOON!  And within a matter of weeks, I won’t be pregnant anymore and I’ll probably miss it a little bit.  I have definitely liked being pregnant.  It has felt rather natural for me.  But don’t get me wrong… I can’t wait to meet this little boy in the flesh!  And it will be nice to be able to bend over and tie my shoes again without grunting like a body builder.

Meanwhile, I’ve been playing with the camera a bit more this past week.  My friends Rob and Amie (writer of awesome baby blog Bohemian Babies) were over on Sunday for bagels.  I have this crystal hanging in my window and the sunlight was streaming through creating this awesome rainbow on the wall.  So Rob was playing around – stepping into the rainbow and posing for me.  Here is my favorite shot:

"Rainbow Rob"

I promise I will post more photos of the nursery once we finish it off with our tree wall decal!  That’ll hopefully get done this weekend or on Monday.  In the meantime, enjoy your Thursday!

Oh yeah – one more thing…

This February was the biggest month yet for views on nellsdish.  In fact, this little blog broke through the 6,000 views in one month mark (which is huge and tremendously exciting for me)!  In February 2011, there were under 2,000 views – so in just one year lots of new people have discovered my blog. That makes me happy – because I have been trying to just keep it really intimate and honest and just write about my life and what I’m into.  I’m touched that all of you care enough to keep up with me and check in with me and say hi to me with your comments.  And seeing this little baby (my first baby) grow (just to be clear, I’m talking about the blog) just gives me more fuel to keep it up.  It has definitely evolved over the two years since I started it.  From photography, to career change, to cheese, to Adam’s film career, to cooking, to Brooklyn, to restaurants, to pregnancy … thanks for joining me along on the ride.  I hope to keep you on board as I start this next phase of my life – motherhood.  Though I promise to write about more than just motherhood… because you know me… I have way too many interests to just focus on one thing!

Anyway – happy March!!

I’ll write more tomorrow!  Just wanted to keep you all posted.

Adam and Sabrina Lloyd on the "Purple Carpet" - aren't they lookin' good?

A shot from inside the tent before the show began

Adam enjoying some Jameson (an event sponsor) - silly boy

2012 Independent Spirit Awards

For those of you who don’t know already, my husband Adam has been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his first feature film, Hello Lonesome.

Hello Lonesome Poster

Being a part of this filmmaking process has been one long, wild ride, which started back in 2008.  (You can read my post about part of the process here… and many more posts by clicking on the “Hello Lonesome” tag in my tag cloud on the right).  Meanwhile, here we are today and Adam is out in LA, with the red carpet activity starting up NOW and the awards starting up in a couple hours.  God I wish I was there with him!  I mean, I’ve been all cool and collected for the past two months leading up to this, but now it’s here and I’m no longer cool.  I’m a big dork and I’m all nervous and excited!  He’s going to be in the company of all these movie stars and industry greats!  I’ve made him promise to text me consistently throughout the event.  I want every star sighting texted to me in real time.  You hear that babe?

Anyway – you can follow the live streaming of the red carpet here.  You know that’s what I’ll be doing!

And the awards show will be televised on IFC tonight starting at 10:00pm EST.

As for his category, Hello Lonesome has been nominated for the John Cassavetes Award, which is given to the best film made for under $500,000.  There are five films nominated in this category – here are the trailers:

Bellflower:

Circumstance:

The Dynamiter:

Hello Lonesome:

Pariah:

We’re thinking Pariah is the favorite to win… but we’ll have to wait and see!  I swear… if Adam wins, I’m going to spontaneously go into labor out of sheer excitement.  Good thing my friend Susan will be here babysitting me.  :)  Anyway – good luck baby!!!  We’re rooting for you here in Brooklyn!  Love you so much!

GO HELLO LONESOME!!!!!

Meanwhile, this basketball belly is now more of a beach ball and is getting bigger and bigger!  Here are some recent photos Adam shot of me:

Me at 36 weeks! Photo by Adam Reid

I made these ones in black and white to try to make them a bit artsier…

Me at 36 weeks! Photo by Adam Reid

Me at 36 weeks! - Photo by Adam Reid

Oh yeah… I’m getting up there!

Anyway – I was very excited this weekend because I was bitten by the photography bug once again.  It’s actually been a little while since I’ve been super inspired to pull out the camera and go to town.  It started with these tulips I got over the weekend.  They are those peachy ones that have a bit of yellow – they’re my favorites.  Anyway, as I was sitting over breakfast, I was staring off into space – transfixed by the gorgeous tulip sitting on my kitchen table.  It was opened up pretty wide and the inside was just magical looking.  I instantly grabbed my macro lens and thus began a little twenty-minute photo shoot in my kitchen.  I just started snapping away with the macro lens… enjoying all the different colors and textures in my kitchen.  Here are some of my favorites:

"Inner Tulip" - 100mm Macro

"Pair of Tulips" - 100mm macro

"Tulip in Window Light" - 100mm macro

"Green Glass Jug in Window" - 100mm macro

"Red Rose in Window" - 100mm macro

"Window Woman Giggling" - 100mm macro

Aren’t those tulips delicious?  They were so inspiring to me.  I must say – I love taking pictures of flowers.  They are so intricately designed – with such gorgeous colors and textures – and they’re all natural?!  It’s amazing.  Plus – I don’t get nervous when I take photos of flowers (vs. people)… flowers don’t care if I take a long time and I find I can really get in a zone.

I also really love that green class jug photo – the texture in the glass is so cool.  It’s almost fluid-like – like an impressionist painting.

This weekend I’ve signed up for a free photography workshop all about photographing newborns and babies! I thought that might come in handy.  The workshop is through a site called creativeLIVE.  They offer a bunch of different photo workshops – and you can take them for free in the live version… which basically means, I’ll have access to it live through the internet over the course of three days.  You can also opt to pay for it and watch it at your leisure… but this is my first, so I figured I’d try out the free version.  It feels good to be feeding my photography brain once again after a little break.

Finally – since September, I’ve been meeting with a group of pregnant gals from the neighborhood once a month.  We found each other through a local list serve and it’s been great gaining a community of women going through their pregnancies (the first for all of us I believe) at the same time as me.  The best part – is once all our babies are born, we’ll now have a local network of new moms to hang out with!   So, Sunday we hosted the February get together at our place.  This time we invited husbands/partners along so they’d have a chance to meet as well.  Adam was the amazing pizza chef (he cooked up nine pizzas over the course of the evening – with the help of a few of the other guys) and we all had an awesome time.  So here is our group photo.  I think by the end of March, all our babies will be born (half the group already had their little ones).

The Preggy Gals (and Jessica, who now has an actual live baby)

The Preggy Gals With Hubbies

Adam’s obviously behind the camera.

So to my fellow preggy mamas reading this… it’s going to be a big month for all of us!  Good luck my new friends!

That’s all for today.  Hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday.

xoxo

My second cry of the day happened a little later.  I was so excited because all my furniture was scheduled to arrive yesterday between 11:30 and 2:30 (I’ve been waiting MONTHS).  As I anxiously anticipated my furniture’s arrival, I washed all our new bedding so that I could make up the crib as soon as it came!  Meanwhile, the furniture didn’t come until after four.  Everything was beautiful and in great shape (thank goodness).  But as I started to make up the crib, the sheet didn’t really fit on the mattress.  It was too small.  I don’t know if it shrunk in the wash or what – but that thing just wouldn’t fit right!  I also didn’t really like the way the furniture was arranged and I was having trouble visualizing what to do with it.  I had promised Adam I wouldn’t move around the furniture by myself (I’ve been known to do dumb things that he gets mad at me for… like climbing up ladders and trying to fix things at nine months pregnant)… so I’m on lockdown.  Anyway – between the sheet not fitting and the furniture not looking the way I imagined, naturally, I did what any rational person would do.  I called my mommy and started crying.  :)

And that’s not all.   My parents came to visit this past weekend and when they left on Sunday, we realized that the next time we see each other, I’ll either be in the throws of labor or I’ll be a mother.  That thought did it to me as well.  As they were walking out the door to drive back to Massachusetts, waterworks again.  Adam walked them down to their car and by the time he came back upstairs, I was in a full bawl.

I swear I’m not sad at all.  I couldn’t be happier.  It’s just all so big – you know?  I think I’m just overwhelmed by the enormity of what’s about to happen.  Having a baby is something I’ve looked forward to and anticipated my entire life – and now we’re only a month away.  And once he comes, nothing will ever be the same.  I’m getting prickles in my eyes again just writing about it now.

Meanwhile, here’s a photo (iphone photo) – so you can see the baby’s little nursery area.  I’m still waiting on our cream shag rug, which should be here in a week or two.   And I actually just ordered a different bedding set.  This one just wasn’t doing it for me!

I’ve ordered this one instead – from Rickshaw Design:

Bombay Bedding by Rickshaw Designs

This one just looks more Anthropologie-esque (my fave)… and goes better with the overall aesthetic of our apartment I think.  With the apartment being one big studio loft space, everything sort of has to jive with everything else – you know?  I’m just digging this feel a bit more.  It’ll also go so nicely with our blue glider and the creamy shag rug.  I’m happy.  :)

I also ordered this changing pad cover by Oilo:

Changing Pad Cover - Oilo Cobalt

Now we just have to see if the tree wall decal goes with the new look… hmmmmm.  We’ll dive into that this weekend.

That’s all for today.  Hope you all have a happy Thursday!

 

xoxo