Baby Shower!

I can't thank everyone enough for coming to show love and support for our little boy!  I'll always remember this very special day in January!  I included a link below with a lot of photos as well as scans of the scrapbook pages people made.  


https://picasaweb.google.com/102206959859853950819/SmithGopfrichBabyShower?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Mr. Hippo Thank You Cards

Mr. Blue Hippo accepted the honor of modeling for an exclusive line of thank you notes, featuring some wonderful gifts our baby is looking forward to using!  In case you wanted to see the other card photos or how your gift was used in other photos (which you didn't see!) take a look!  If you haven't received one, you should be very soon!

https://picasaweb.google.com/102206959859853950819/MrHippoModelsBabyGifts?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Week 33

I'm getting huge in the home stretch! I have so much to catch up on and do before our baby arrives. I have been wonderfully overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and generosity of my friends! Thank you. My shower was a memory I will always cherish. If you haven't heard from me yet you should be very soon. I also recently had my 35th birthday! January was very busy, and I'm still trying to catch up to December. Pretty soon, though, I won't have time for anything other than the arrival of my little one!

On the pregnancy front I've been having a better time with the last trimester than the first two. Sure I suffer from the typical complaints of sore and stretched ligaments (I can't really walk far, or lift anything!), sleep disturbances, and heartburn--but overall I'm enjoying this phase much more. I have more energy and really enjoy communicating with my little one. I know he's still in the belly, but we already have a connection and I well up with tears thinking about how much I can't wait to meet and love him!

I'll post pictures of the shower and other news soon!!

How to tell if you are really, really pregnant...

This is just a little something I found humorous.....

One night not too long ago I decided to tuck in early after having just had a large chicken and rice dinner.  I was changing into my nightgown and as I was pulling up my shirt I noticed a few pieces of rice fall out.  I pulled some more and found some additional pieces stuck to my belly.  For some reason, probably because my stomach is stretched quite large, I could not feel the rice at all.

To my dismay and amusement, once the shirt was completely removed, I found an entire shelf of rice piled up at the top of my belly!!  I really could not feel it at all, and must have just tumbled down into my v-neck shirt while I was pigging out on my food (I do get quite hungry!).  There was really a sizable pile of rice just sitting there, comfortably tucked in between my breasts and on the top of the belly which now almost reaches my sternum. 

You know you're really, really pregnant when this happens not once....but almost every time you eat rice!!

Week 31 and 35th Birthday Brunch

Happy Week 31!  I've been feeling pretty good lately and gone swimming a few times!  We had a very low key small brunch to celebrate my 35th.  Time flies!
A lady nearby said she didn't even notice I was pregnant until I stood up and turned sideways.  Ah, the slimming power of the color black!  

Happy New Year!

Thanks to Jesper for taking these photos for us!  We had a lovely New Year's Day lunch with our Bay Area friends Noriko and Jesper. 
Happy New Year!!

Nesting Instincts: Nursery

Lately I've been feeling like "nesting"!  I was crazy to get my crib and set everything up in our bedroom nursery.  A huge thanks go to my lovely friend Janice who gifted us the crib, and wonderful Andreas who gifted the mattress! 

Here is the crib just assembled (sans mattress)--I absolutely love it! It's a "mini" crib designed to fit in small spaces.  I'm going to add a crib arm from which I'll hang our mobile as well as lace curtain I can drape around the crib to keep our cats out. To give you an idea of what I'm going for (only a little less frilly) I included a picture my mom has of a French baby crib from around the 1890's.

Below are some images of the mobile we'll be using.  My mom sent it to me as she used it for both my brother and I.  I love all the little hand-painted wood aircraft as we live very close to the Santa Monica airport and I'm sure my baby will recognize an airplane very early on!