Monday, January 31, 2011

Prayer Request & Update

I'm itchy.

For no known reason I've developed a rash that won't go away. It comes and goes throughout the day and basically keeps me pretty miserable all day long.

I've been banned from being around babies or prego people. I cried.

I had so many plans to see my friends this week and I had a plan to do something with Sarah nearly every day since Gabriel should arrive next week. If I'm not released by this weekend I'll be sitting at home sulking on Super Bowl Sunday all by myself.

Please pray that this is not a virus and that whatever it is it GOES AWAY very soon!

I have 2 more months of being pregnant and my plan was to enjoy these last few days of just Ty & I. The last few days of no diapers and no midnight feedings. I did not plan on being itchy and frustrated and wishing each day would hurry by.

I'm praying it's an allergic reaction and not a virus. We will know for sure in a week. I don't think I can wait that long!

Current Stats
I'm 31 weeks pregnant - I have NINE more to go! (please Tabor make it SIX!)
I've gained 28lbs so far - YIKES! I hope this goes away QUICKLY!
Tabor is about 3.5lbs and is healthy and strong - Praise God!

The TO DO List
-No the nursery is not finished. I'm working on it though! I will really be celebrating on the day it's done! I don't want to think about shopping or what I need after Tabor arrives. I want it all done at least one month before he gets here!
-No we haven't scheduled any classes. Sarah & Richard came over and taught us everything we needed to know. I'm perfectly content with this!
-No we haven't scheduled the hospital tour. Ok ok that one I will get done this week!
-No we don't have a pediatrician. Again, I'll do that this week!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Happy Birthday to ME

I'm officially 28!

I have a list of milestones that will happen before Tabor arrives (it helps me wait as patiently as possible for his due date) and my birthday was one of them. There aren't many milestones left so Tabor's arrival is just around the corner! By the way since we're talking about birthdays...we are praying for Tabor's to be in 6 weeks. SO if you would like to add that to your list of prayers I would GREATLY appreciate it!

I was completely spoiled with gifts and lots of love this year! Thanks for all the birthday wishes and another wonderful year full of amazing blessings!

I got a new apron & matching recipe box!

It fits & I can prove it!



Sheesh Tabor! There's no way you're coming out as a Newborn size!

My amazing hubby spoiled me with new Pandora charms for my bracelet and took me to an amazing Italian restaurant for dinner. I wanted a low-key birthday since it'll be at least another 20 years before I get a quiet dinner with my husband! I'll be turning 48 then! CRAZY!

Mama & Papa Colorado sent us flowers! They said Happy Birthday Danielle & Congrats Ty! What a great week! We celebrated over and over again!

We also got a joint birthday gift from the Colorado's (I think even Tabor's birthday was included in this gift!) It's a new camcorder to catch every one of his memorable "firsts". I'm sure this kid will be a blast to video! We'll post some of our new videos soon! We've already started recording videos for him. He is going to think we are SO COOL! ;-)

And finally I'll end with an updated Belly shot AND take the opportunity to thank Tim & Marlene for the awesome new maternity clothes! As you can see...I've grown a bit so some of my maternity clothes just isn't fitting as well as it did in the beginning! Seriously I've grown out of some of my maternity jeans & shirts! Is that normal!?! Either way I'm so so so grateful for the new clothes! I feel cute again! Thanks Tim & Marlene!! I love you guys!


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Week of Celebrations!

Ty PASSED the CFA Level 1 EXAM!

Hip Hip HOORAY!!



Tuesday, January 25, 2011

SEW I'm turning 28!

What's square and big and makes me giddy all over?!

This was probably the most amazing birthday so far! I've been wanting a t-shirt quilt for um...a while now. I had given Ty's mom all my Texas Tech T-shirts and had asked her to see if Mema would make me a quilt with them. Well... I've been bugging her about it lately (A LOT) and she somehow kept it from me that she was working on it.

So while we were in Texas they sang me an early birthday song and she handed me the most amazing T-shirt quilt I've ever seen! Little did I know that a year ago she had taken a class to learn to make one and with the help of Sue (her sister) and Mema they made one for me! It's even more special because all 3 of them had a hand in making it! It means so so so much to me! I teared up and still get super giddy just looking at it! I've shown it off to everyone and it is on display on our couch. I will let everyone LOOK at it but there will be no drinking tea near it and only super special friends will even have access to maybe using it. :-)


Here's a pic of the entire quilt. It's so fun to look at it and remember each time I wore each of the shirts! I LOVE this quilt!!!!


The back of the quilt is beautiful too! It has double T's sewn into it too!


Thank you so much Flo (and Sue & Mema)! This was an amazing present! One I will treasure forever!! THANK YOU! I love you so much!!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Showered with blessings in Texas

I can't even begin to describe how blessed we felt this week. Our families got us tickets to fly home since we didn't get to be there over the holidays. Our friends threw us an amazing shower where our friends and family showered Tabor with gifts in preparation for his arrival. AND we were able to spend a good few days with everyone that came from near and far! It was a wonderful weekend!

Here's a pic of all the amazing, wonderful and beautiful hostesses that were responsible for showering our family with blessings!

Christina, Kenley, Kimberly, Monica, Erica & Amber we love you all so much and are incredibly blessed to have you in our lives! A special thanks to Monica for having the shower at her house (even though she has a newborn and 2 other boys to run after everyday!)

  
Kenley, Erica & I! Thanks to everyone that came back to Lubbock for our shower! It was so fun to be together and to have everyone be a part of this special time in our lives!


Erica you're way too cute to stand by! I still love you though!


Kimberly same as Erica- too stinkin cute to be allowed to stand near a prego woman! Yes the blue bow was on Tabor. It looks like it's attached to Erica & Kimberly instead of Tabor!


Ty came at the end to say thanks to everyone and to help load the car. He also got food & cake which I think he was really happy about!


Christina helping me look as pretty as possible before the shower. Tough to do when I can't hide the big basketball that is Tabor in my belly! Thanks Chris - I LUV U!


My other sisters/mothers/aunts/best friends - they fall in every category!! Ilka & Kuky it really was amazing to see you! I wish you could've stayed longer!


Some of the shower guests enjoying the yummy food!! Stephanie, Michelle & Erin it was SO good to see you girls! I've really missed you!

Flo with Michelle & Stephanie! I love this picture!


Here comes trouble. Fela, my mom, Ilka & Kuky seem to be plotting something. There is never a dull moment around any of these fabulous women!


Brittany holding precious Baby Quin! He was an angel throughout the entire shower. He basically slept through the entire event! He LOVED being held by so many pretty girls!


Grandma RUBY practicing with Baby Quin. Her assistants are Michelle, Sue & Brittany. :-) Looks like she's doing a great job! (note: Some people think she should go by Grandma Fluby - she's not so excited about that name though :-)


Fela & my mom loved playing with Baby Quin also. I think Tabor is getting a bit jealous!


Mema (Ty's grandmother) made us a Minky Baby Quilt! We LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Mema you are so talented!!


Ty with his Mema!


We love you so much Mema!! We can't wait for Tabor to see all his new blankets! Tabor will be her 15th great grandchild!


Erica getting kicked by Tabor. Tabor you didn't sit still the entire shower! Oh look there's the bow you wore! :-) I'm such a nice mommy!


The happy Grandmas to be! Aren't they the cutest!!


Jonathan & Erin with the soon to be parents. Maybe they will catch the baby bug by being around us all weekend! We love you guys! It was so fun to get to catch up!


Ty & I with our mommas! Ok yes there are a lot of pics but I couldn't narrow them down!


AND a Danielle blog wouldn't be complete without showing off her favorite sweet treat! Oh my gosh these little petit fours were DELICIOUS! I probably ate an entire tier all by myself! They were little bites of heaven! YUM! The pom poms in the back were made by designers E & K. I wanted to pack them in my suitcase they were so cute! (I did pack the Tabor sign which I'll have to take a picture of sometime and post! It's hanging in his nursery right now!)


Oh and finally a pic with Monica! I love you Mon! (By the way I hope I look half as good as you after having Tabor! You are one HOT momma!) Thanks again for opening up your home to us!


Thanks to everyone for helping us prepare for Tabor's arrival! We are so blessed! It was great seeing so much family & so many friends! We can't wait to come back again so Tabor can get to know everyone too!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Meeting Baby Quin

We finally got to meet precious Baby Quin! We tried really hard to wake him, but he wasn't having it.

Well until he realized Tabor was kicking him and he preferred Ty's lap to mine because there wasn't a huge basketball in his way!


Here we are practicing being parents! Ty wins right now ONLY because his belly is smaller! I love the big open eyes on Quin's face! Quin I can't wait until I can really play with you! Only a few months to go!


Thursday, January 20, 2011

Texas here we come!


We're headed to Texas today! Tabor's Texas Baby Shower is Saturday and we couldn't be more excited to see all of our family and friends! Thanks to everyone that has helped put this together and thanks to our families for flying us home so we could spend time together before Baby Tabor arrives! We can't wait to be back in good ole' Lubbock Texas!!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sarah's Bebe Shower

January 15th finally came AND it was 80 degrees here in Southern California! It was a perfect day for a Baby Shower!

Here's the Mom-to-be all smiles and ready for the festivities to begin!


The shower was at Rachel's house and it turned out SO beautiful in her backyard! It was a perfect spot and an amazing day!

Here's a pic of the tables that Marlene decorated & centerpieces that Rose made!

I had to sneak in another picture of Sarah's cake with the 2 chefs! :-)


Also, a picture of Pigachoo's bottom. He sat on Gabriel. :-) We filled him with quarters to start off Gabriel's college fund!


The happy mom-to-be in her new glider!


Gabriel & Tabor giving each other high-fives! They do this all the time! It's so cute! (We are dorks - we already know this!)


Sarah with her amazing & wonderful hostesses (minus 2 that couldn't make it Sarah & Lauren!)


Sarah with her cake! (Sorry we're just so proud of it!)


We played the "How many times will the TP go around Sarah's belly game"

Here's the game card:


After everyone made their guess we started wrapping! The answer was 22 times!


Erin with Evelyn and her stylin shades!


We also played the Baby Bottle game:


We had some great volunteers!


We realized halfway through that we forgot to put the sugar into the Kool Aid so apparently it tasted pretty GROSS!

They were still great sports and finished drinking their bottles anyway! Sarah's had a lid on it though so she wasn't able to get much out! :-)


Gabriel we can't wait to meet you! Now hurry up and get here!!!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Making of Sarah's Baby Cake

After months of planning Sarah's Baby shower the date finally arrived!!

Everything was set and ready to go except for...the cake!

Sarah makes the cakes! Marlene & I are her assistants. Sure we ARE amazing, but without Sarah we are like 2 chickens with our heads cut off. Ha!

So the Thursday before the shower - I started baking. I bake for a living so this was easy enough. Although, it's NOTHING like baking a cake for cakeballs! The cakes have to actually LOOK perfect when they come out of the oven! I can't just crumble them and cover up any lumps or uneven spots!

Luckily Sarah did let me borrow all her cake supplies. The special pans & bake even strips were fun to use!


The White Cake Recipe I used was also delicious! Thank goodness because it needed to be the right texture in order to stack properly and yet taste good! We were able to get both!

I baked 6 cakes on Thursday (plus filled a cakeball order). I should've taken pics of those too but I didn't. I was too concerned with how the cakes were turning out!

Friday I was up by 6am purely out of excitement! I began by making the cakes even and ready to be stacked and dirty iced.


The first challenge was the car. We wanted to put a car on top of the cake because Sarah's theme for Gabriel's nursery is transportation. Trains, planes & cars! We already had a plane planned to hang above the cake, a train painted on the piggy that would sit beside the cake so the only thing missing was the car. (That and the other cake we had picked out would've taken us years to complete) So the cake car won!

I had fun slicing the tops off the cakes! Especially because this was how we were able to sample it to see if it was tasty or not!


After dirty icing the bottom and stacking the 2nd layer of cake on top, I carved the cake to look like a little VW Bug car.


Then I dirty iced the entire car. To those non-Cake Boss fans the correct term is "Crumb coat"
Crumb Coat or Dirty Ice: used to describe a thin layer of frosting that keeps crumbs where they belong–on the cake–not the frosting! Allows fondant to lay and stick smoothly against the cake.


Then I covered it in blue fondant. I have NO idea how Sarah would've done this, but I am certain she wouldn't have had folds on the sides. I really had no idea what else to do with the extra fondant fold. At least I made the folds where the wheels were supposed to go. 


About this time Marlene came over to help! Thank goodness! It really took ALL day to get this cake done.

We began by stacking, dirty icing & decorating the bottom layer. This was the largest layer & adding stripes to a round cake can be tricky. So I cut and handed the stripes to Marlene & let her do the hard part!


It turned out great! Perfect actually!

Then we worked on the top layer. We covered it in white fondant and then decorated it with light blue & dark blue dots.

Then we rolled teeny tiny balls of fondant for the borders of each layer. Our fingers were sore after this part!


Finally we decorated the car! This was the fun part! Tim suggested we use Baby Gabriel's initials and due date for the license plate which made it even cuter!

These pics are from my iphone (sorry that the quality isn't great!) It was also getting late and very dark outside!


Yay for our VW Bug! We were so proud of how it turned out!


We stacked the 2 cake layers and added the fondant border. We knew we'd be rushed for time in the morning before the shower so we decided to risk stacking it ahead of time. Luckily (and after LOTS of prayer) the next morning the cake was still standing & looked just as it did the night before!

We did wait and stack the car on top AFTER transporting it to Rachel's house for the shower. This we were not willing to take a risk on!


Finally, after adding Gabriel's name in edible marker on white fondant and stacking it all together.

Here's the finished product!


Sarah we hope you LOVED it as much as we did! Pigachoo (get it - Pig + Choo Choo) even looked cute sitting by the cake! The flowers were done by Rose at Ultimate Affaire. She's AMAZING! They matched the cake perfectly!


Here are a few more pics of the cake!


A close up of the license plate!


YAY for Baby Gabriel! I know it looks like Sharpie, but the letters were definitely written with Edible Markers!


Marlene and I survived our first SOLO Cake Experience. We really missed Sarah though! It was funny because Sarah kept saying we could go to Plan B which I guess she thought was buy a cake, but Plan B for us would've been CALL SARAH! ha! So teacher Sarah I hope your 2 assistants made you proud! We love you and can't wait to meet that precious baby boy in your belly!!