Momma in Focus... Although I'm Not His Momma! ;) GMYBS/PSF

Let's face it... this week has been all about Cliff.  And rightly so-- it's not everyday you get a new baby in the family!  Doodle has been looking at the photos and saying, "Baby Cliff," with a huge smile (although it sounds more like "Baby Tiff!"), so I'm pretty sure she's okay with him in the spotlight.  Heck, she doesn't even know she's been in the spotlight thus far, but we'll see how she reacts when she meets her new cousin next weekend!

This week's "Momma in Focus" on Love Roars is going to be more like "Auntie in Focus" as I share some photos of me hogging Cliff just an hour or two after he was born:

See, I wasn't lying... once I got him in my arms, I didn't want to let go!  I'm so grateful that Mary grabbed the camera and took some photos of me-- that's always the hardest part for the photographer (you're usually taking all of the photos, so others rarely think to take one of you!)!

Uncle Colin, Uncle Steve & Aunt Kristen, the Grammes, and Grandpas were all there to celebrate Cliff's arrival... I felt bad that Ally was so out of it because it was truly a very cool moment as this little guy brought two families together forever!

p.s. I graduated High School with Cliff's (twin) Uncles Colin and Patrick... and while they were far more popular than I could have ever wished to be, they're the nicest guys ever!  Aunt Caitlin and I were on JV Cheerleading together my junior year (still need to find those photos!)... she's now on TV (wwnytv.com) and will surely be the cool aunt (much like my very own ABC!)! Also, one of my best friends is married to one of Dave's best friends... both Dave and I were in their wedding party (he started dating Ally a few months later!)! I'd say "It's a small world," but that's just Willow Grove!

p.p.s. I can't lie... Since I knew Cliff was on his way when I got dressed that morning, I totally picked out my favorite dress (Lilly Pulitzer Clare in Hotty Pink First Impression)  to make sure I looked good when he first met me! You know, because babies remember everything from the second they're born! ;) This is seriously my favorite dress and don't be surprised when I'm wearing it in nearly every photo you see of me. Doodle even has a matching one!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli



Say Cheese!

Last week we headed up to Mountainside for an impromptu photo session! One of Nancy and Joe's church friends, Laura Franklin, is a FABULOUS photographer whose work I've been admiring since I saw the photos she did of James (Lauren's sweet little boy) a few months ago. I cannot wait for Baby Girl to get here so I can rush her over to Laura's house for her first photos!

Until then, you'll have to settle for some photos of all of us... and me with my 5 1/2-month preggo belly. Here are a few of my faves:

I'm almost as pale as Joey, I need some sun!


Am I really this short?!


I looovveeee this one!


Brandy's little boy, Mason, is due Sept 2nd!


Can't wait for Drew to get home in August so he can be in the next family photo!


Yes, we love our Caps!

Here's a slideshow of the rest of my favotites:

Already Working on the Mommy-Daughter Wardrobe Coordination...

...and you thought it would be Lilly Pulitzer or Laura Ashley! ;)

Those will come in time, but seeing that baby girl will be about 3 weeks old when the 09-10 Capitals season begins, this simply took priority! :-D

Oh; and in case you live under a rock... turn on Versus at 7pm on Wednesday to catch the latest installment of the Caps/Penguins series!

LET'S GO CAPS!!

Oh MICKEY You're So Fine... ;)

Okay, so I've been totally horrible at posting lately, so here's my attempt to fill in the gaps. Yep, I'm expecting and totally excited... I'm officially in my 15th week, so we're closing in on 4 months! I don't have another doctor appointment for a few weeks, which kinda stinks b/c I had gotten accustomed to being in there every 2 weeks or so! Regardless of if we can see it or not, baby is growing and is approximately the size of a naval orange! Ok, so oranges aren't that exciting, but seeing that it starts out at poppy seed-size, it's progress! Here's a photo from Disney this weekend (more to come below) of Jill and I at Magic Kingdom that shows just how big/little the little booger is!

For those who are wondering, the official "gender determination" ultrasound doesn't come until week 20, so it looks like we'll be finding out around the last week of April/first week of May! Clearly, the little one's parts have already been established, so its not like we can change the outcome, but I've added a fun little poll on the side of the page for you to vote for your guess... I'm not really showing, so that doesn't help much, but feel free to ask any questions that you think could sway your opinion, etc etc. Most of you know my opinion, but I'll let you get your guesses in before I weigh in!

On the non-baby front, I had a FABULOUS weekend in Orlando with the girls! Since Dayna conveniently planned to tie the knot in a fabulous location, we took advantage of the trip and had a little girls (plus Adam!) weekend! Jill's fab sis-in-law, Kelly, actually works at Disney, so she totally hooked us up and got us into the park gratis! Given my "condition," I'm not exactly Splash Mountain-bound, so we opted to spend the day at Animal Kingdom! We had a great day seeing the shows and had killer views of all of the animals on the safari! We finished the day at the Bug's Life 3-D show.... it was totally adorable and the bug-eye glasses were a total bonus! :)

Towa had to tend to her bridesmaid duties on Saturday, so Jill and I spent a few hours at Magic Kingdom and Epcot... when it came down to it, we really only had about 3 hours to play with, so we popped into Magic Kingdom for the obligatory photo opp and headed to Epcot to tour the countries and sit down for "Turtle Talk" with Crush... I highly recommend this show! After the rehearsal dinner, Jill and I bolted back to Epcot for the famous light show! The fireworks are always my favorite part and these were just great!

Dayna and Bill got hitched on Sunday... and it was B-E-A-UTIFUL! The location was picturesque, the bride was totally gorgeous, and there were just smiles all around! It was so nice to sit down with everyone (especially after all of the walking we did all weekend!) and enjoy each other's company!

And now, I'm back to the grind and totally counting down until maternity leave... 175 days to go! ;) J/k... I'm not in that huge of a rush, but I am looking forward to it!

Cel-le-brate Good Times... Come On!

Flashback to October 2005...

Can you believe we've been married for three years?! I know that the length in years isn't a huge milestone, but I sat back to think about it the other day and realized something... time flies when you're having fun! ;) At this time last year, we had a list of big milestones that we had accomplished in the previous year... mainly the new house and the new puppy! This year, we're just happy to have the house (especially in this market!) and are loving the crap out of Sirius Black! Of course, this past year has had some highlights... an All-Chamberlin Thanksgiving... vacation in the Dominican Republic... a new car (Yay Jetta!)... and a great year of Caps Hockey!

Which leads me to our anniversary celebration... instead of trying to go out on a Wednesday night (Hello?! Project Runway Pre-Fashion Week Show!), we decided to wait until Saturday and spend the whole day downtown! Kim & Josh were in town, so we had a nice lunch with them and Jeff Enama over at Rio... I hate that Kim & I live so far apart (i.e. not living around the corner from each other like we did growing up), so I totally jumped at the chance to spend some QT with her and Josh!

After lunch, Joe and I headed downtown to start the Anniversary celebration... dinner and the Caps Home Opener! Wedged between the Verizon Center and Clyde's, the Caps had a little pre-game fun going on... they had a huge block of ice with sticks in it... if you could pull a stick out, you got a prize (like a team-signed jersey or free tickets)! Yes, our chances were as good as Wart pulling the sword out of the stone, but if he could do it, maybe we had a shot...



Okay, maybe not! ;) We didn't have much luck... they were kind of sticklers with the rules, so no wiggling, no posting your foot against the ice for leverage, just one swift pull! Luckily, my spirits were lifted when Slapshot made a cameo...



We killed some time around Verizon Center before our dinner reservation... at ZENGO! I had been there a few times with work colleagues, but Joe had never experienced their Latin American-Asian Fusion wonders... so I gladly made the executive decision to have our anniversary dinner there! We had a killer meal and left full of Volcano Roll, Ahi Tuna, and Steak... and were ready for the game!

We got to our seats early enough to catch the pre-game skate and the ceremonial raising of the banner (Southeast Divisional Champions) into Verizon Center's rafters... which was pretty cool. As for the game, we beat the Blackhawks 4-2 and you can read about it on ESPN... I'm getting a little tired of writing! We had a great day... and it was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary!

The rest of the photos are online at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Richardson.Rory/CapsHomeOpener#