Perfect.

Sigh... a stack of birth announcements, awaiting completion. I know I shouldn't be as frustrated as I am, because I've only just passed the due date. I guess I really believed she would be arriving sooner. Not to mention the hours of contractions on Wednesday and how exciting that was, believing that her arrival was moments away.

Oh well. Let's talk about other things.

I picked up an economy pack of blank cards and designed this exterior for the birth announcement. The flowers and leaves and birds were drawn on paper (inspired by some patterns from Paper-Source). I then scanned the drawing, added the text in Illustator, and compiled everything in Photoshop. The cards printed reasonably well on our little HP. The original intention was to cut a circle in the space that I've framed, so that her photo can be affixed to the inside - creating a windowed effect. I was frustrated to learn that the circle cutter I purchased only allows me to cut a tiny distance away from the paper's edge. (Who designs these things???) My solution will be to cut her actual photo into the circular shape and affix to the exterior. Not ideal but it gets the job done. I hope our friends and family enjoy them. I enjoyed making them.

Scenes from a Christmas morning walk, waiting for baby.

Christmas Eve Twister with Anne and Hailey.

It was a good day, but the day before was such a tease. I was contracting like a champ... 6 minutes apart all morning and through the afternoon and getting progressively stronger. Around 3:00, I decided to lay down for a nap and wait for the contractions to get closer. That was my demise. When I woke up, the contractions were completely gone and I haven't had anything timeable since. So unfair!

Now I'm just waiting for my big moment. Maybe my water will break or maybe the contractions will hit like a freight train. Keeping my fingers crossed...

This is a sneak peak at the dress I'm making for Kathy's baby-to-be. The fabric is recycled from a linen pencil skirt I bought at Goodwill that never quite worked out. I plan to make the same dress for Maggie in a winter weight fabric. Graham was already sweet enough to cut the pieces for me from a tweedy brown skirt, handed down from Anne.

To make, I modified a Simplicity pattern (3509) by omitting the cap sleeves, doing a center pleat rather than gathering, and running buttons down the back instead of a zipper. When cutting the pieces, I decided to remove two inches of width from both the front and back panels and, fortunately, this worked out to be just the right amount of fabric for the pleat and button plackets. The final step will be sewing in the buttons and for some reason this is giving me fits. One of the button holes has turned out to be an irreversible catastrophe.

We had a nice morning in Capitol Hill today. Jen and Joe were kind enough to make breakfast and then Graham and I walked over to Eastern Market to browse. Graham did his best to tolerate it... he's not one for open air markets. I love them. Plus, everyone keeps telling me that walking can help instigate labor. That didn't happen.

The highlight was this fantastic booth with vintage and antique linens. I spotted so many pieces to fall in love with. The turquoise table runner in the photo was especially pretty but we came home with a beautiful yellow paisley table cloth and some green linen napkins with white trim. Jason and Jesse are passing through tomorrow so it will be a good excuse to lay them out. Graham and I were thinking of putting together a nice lunch for the four of us. Maybe a soup and some crusty bread?

I'm not sure why I was acting like such a scrooge but we almost didn't decorate for Christmas this year. I'm glad I was talked out of that. Our holiday decor is not terribly impressive but it is nice to see little bits of cheer. My mom also reminded me that we may have quite a few visitors this season, dropping in to meet the baby. I'm happy they'll get a reasonably festive reception.

We still haven't quite gotten to the wreath. It's been sitting in the trunk of car and I'm afraid to check in on it. Thankfully, the weather has been cold so maybe it's been somewhat refrigerated? We can't find the pretty lemons that we wove into last year's wreath so we'll have to come up with something new and clever. Maybe I'll get to surprise Graham next week when he comes home from the office.

I figure Maggie will need proof that she was in my tummy at one point in her life. This is me at 39 weeks, patiently waiting her arrival. I have gained 25 pounds over the course of the pregnancy and feel pretty good about that. It's hard to imagine a full grown baby nestled inside that small space.

I have had a pretty good week, finishing off work obligations from home. It's been quite luxurious to go to lunch with my mom and take outings to the post office in the middle of the day. Today was particularly nice because I had a sweet chat with Nick Seay over IM. He's the best.

Nick: how are you feeling?
Meghan: hi nick
Meghan: feeling tired
Meghan: but otherwise ok
Nick: I liked you Xmas card
Meghan: oh thanks
Nick: Hold on until the 27th at 10 am. I've got money on you!
Meghan: haha
Meghan: thats way too far away
Nick: Thank you for all you have done this year, you are an asset to BSI. If I don't see you until after your blessed event, have a
peaceful Christmas!
Meghan: thanks Nick! Working for you and BevSeay is a great joy for me... I always tell people how lucky I am to have stumbled into it.
Nick: We are the lucky ones.
Meghan: thats really nice to hear. thanks

As promised.

Before I forget... Maggie's fantastic felted maryjanes. Made with love by Paba.

I'm hoping another benefit to this blog is that it can act as a memory keeper for things that may otherwise get lost. For example, I only have one Christmas card left and no thoughts on where to store it. I'm happy that these cards have made other people happy. After mailing them we've had quite a few people check in on us. Emily emailed me and I even got a call from Grace today, wondering if I was a "momma" yet. It was good to hear from her and she had lots of news to share... but I'll refrain from blabbing it here. She called our land line, which I love. She may be the only person (besides our parents) that uses that number. It makes me feel very old school to chat with a friend on a real phone in the living room.

Graham wants penne with zuchinni and bacon for dinner. It's been fun to play the dutiful wife this week and have dinner waiting on the table. I better knock it off before he gets used to it.

This may be the beginning of another failed blog, but I decided today that I'd like a space to gush about Maggie. I am perfectly content if Graham is the only reader... in fact that is really who this blog is for. I think it would be nice for him to have a place to visit during the day where he can gush about Maggie, too. Or at least read about what she is up to or admire all things baby related as I do.

This first photo makes me laugh because I discovered these two sitting arm-in-arm yesterday... wonder who placed them this way? I'm glad they're friends.