Our First Ever Baby Shower!
 
My two awesome sisters in law threw us our first ever baby shower this past weekend. 

It was lovely. 

The details were adorable. 
 
The food was delicious. 
 

Another friend is hosting a shower in May, so this one was mostly relatives and friends of our families. 

In fact, there were a few people I'd never met before - and it was nice to put faces with names. 

Daniel and I got such nice gifts. 

Lots of onesies, and lots of other baby necessities. 

The laptop is my sister Heidi, skyping in from Louisiana for the whole shower :).  
I was afraid nobody would try the registry at NellsNaturalBaby.com because the internet is intimidating to some--but not so! 

We got our first cloth diapers--some pre-folds and cloth wipes.  Haven't seen the BumGenius Organic All-In-Ones we registered for in person yet, but I'm excited about them. 

They are pricey at $25 each - but I think they will be worth it, since you don't have to stuff them and they can go in the washer and dryer.  Plus, they grow with the baby.  After much internet searching, they are the ones we settled on to use after the first few months (which is when we'll use pre-folds with diaper covers).

This is my adorable niece Abby, being held by Daniel's grandma.

And this is adorable nephew Jonathan, Abby's sister.  He talks like a 4-year old and has the memory of an elephant. 

My SIL Heather with Daniel.

Baby Lucy's future Nonnie, Mommy, and Mimi.  

Did you catch that??  Daniel decided tonight he is definitely in favor of "Lucy" as baby's name, and he gave me the 'okay' to put it on the blog!  Yay--she has a name!  Baby Lucy.  Lucy Pruessner.  I have only been in favor of that name for 3 years :).  Middle name is still up in the air, but we both like "Lynn". 

A Change of Pace


This week I visited my aunt and uncle in Tennessee.   It's amazing a quick trip to a different part of the country can reveal such a radically different way of living.

In the part of TN where my aunt and uncle live, there are a lot of do-it-yourselfers, and a lot of people who could survive for long stretches of time all on their own.
My aunt and uncle are joining that crowd. 


They have 2 goats, 13 chickens, and 2 rabbits.

Actually, while we were there one of the rabbits gave birth to a litter of bunnies, so they have more than 2 rabbits now.

And they have a really large garden and their own water supply from a spring.
I got to spend some quality time with my brother Thomas, my sister Ginnie, and one of my adorable nephews, Jack.  This is us, watching a movie.

We spent part of our time scavenging for rocks for this makeshift walkway.  Nice, isn't it?  It required more effort than you'd think, from looking at it. 

I didn't realize what a city-girl I must be. It was nice to be out in the country... but things are hard out there!  Suburban living is so convenient.  I am glad to be home.

Super Simple Black Bean Soup

This is Rachel Ray's recipe, and it's a recent hit in our house, so I wanted to share the recipe with you, Pioneer Woman style. 




The ingredients you need are pictured above. Black beans (3 cans), Petite diced tomatoes (1 can), onion, celery, red bell pepper, jalapeno, garlic, chicken broth, olive oil, salt, cumin, and ground coriander.


Start by pouring about 3 Tbs of olive oil into a soup pot and heating to medium-high.

Now dice up all the vegetables:

That would be 1/2 onion.

 
About 3-4 ribs of celery.


2 Cloves garlic.  1 Jalapeno (remove the seeds if you are not a fan of spicy).

 
1 Red bell pepper.


Add each vegetable to the pot and cook about 5-10 minutes, until soft.


Season with about 1 and 1/3 tsp of coriander and about 2 tsp of cumin.



And add some salt in there.


Next add the three cans of black beans, lightly drained.


Now add the can of tomatoes with liquid.

 
Add as much chicken stock as you want, depending on how thick you want the soup.


This step is optional, but I think it improves the soup's texture.  Remove about a cup of the soup.


 Pour it into the blender.

 
And blend until smooth.


Then add it back into the soup.


You're done!  Super simple, right?  Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips.  Delicious, cheap, and easy.  Enjoy!  

Our Future Daughter?

A few years ago my college roommates made me aware of this website, where you can see what your kids would look like, based on two photos.  This is the theoretical product of Daniel and me. 

Besides the obviously incorrect proportion of her forehead-to-total-face-length, I think baby-girl-Pruessner could totally look like this in a few years.  

 

Imagining a Nursery

I've been filling my head with all sorts of ideas of what will occupy my soon-to-increase free time.  Not all of the ideas have to do with baby or nursery, but a fair amount do.  This is the "nursery" right now.




Blank slate, right?  That's how I'm choosing to think of it.  Nothing on the walls, no furniture.  Just some stuff I need to find homes for.

Our big plans for this room:
1. Remove the popcorn ceiling and replace the ceiling fan.




2. New window shades (or plantation shutters? love them, but they are "an investment")



3. Remove the carpet in favor of hard wood flooring matching what's in the hall
4. New baseboards and a chair rail (both will be white)




5. New paint!  I like Valspar Seaside Retreat "Garden Fairy" for above the chair rail and "Seaside Moss" for below.  I couldn't get the colors to look right in this photo--they will actually be a really, really light avocado green on top and a slightly darker shade of the same color below the chair rail.



6. Clean out the closet and replace the shelving system... with... something.

7. Move in the furniture!  We've got the crib and changing table and will acquire the rocking chair sometime in the next few months. 

We decided on #1 bedding option for the crib: Cocalo Sophie.  When I compared it with the other two options, the color (in person) turned out to be much better.

Will update with progress picture when I actually begin to make progress!

The Dallas Arboretum

I love the Dallas Arboretum.  It is beautiful.  We went last weekend with some friends.


Actually, "Dallas Blooms" begins this next weekend, March 6th.


And I know it will be even more beautiful then, but it was probably a lot less crowded this past weekend, which I appreciate.


We and our friends were experimenting with our (relatively) new cameras.  Daniel and I have learned quite a bit about ours, but there's still so much more to learn.


We really need to take a class, but we haven't yet.


Maybe when life slows down a little.  I wonder if I'll ever wise up to the fact that life isn't going to slow down.


Hope springs eternal.