Ice cream

You probably wouldn't guess if you knew me, but I do not want to give Eleanor "tastes" of things she shouldn't have until she is at least a few months older. However, having said that, I will confess that one night a few weeks back I was enjoying some Haagen Dazs chocolate ice cream and couldn't resist. So I gave her a drop. A drop I tell you. I took a picture afterwards to illustrate how much I gave. You can barely see the amount on the end of the binkie.

At first she seems annoyed. Probably at the cold, then she licked and licked and made a grand old mess. Seriously- note her onesie. She seems to be a fan. I only gave her three drops total.
Ya- that messy brown line above the words? All chocolate. How can such a small amount make such a huge mess? And I'm not sure about the books that say babies can't distinguish tastes yet. She seemed to know it was good stuff. Oh well. Bad mothering, I know. I haven't tried it again, but I can't make any promises about frosting.

Eleanor's First Easter

Sweet Eleanor really enjoyed Easter Sunday. We had planned to take her to church for the first time, but due to a very late night (and morning) only Clayton made it. We did make it over to Grandma and Grandpa Firth's for Easter dinner though. Clint and Alison and their kids were also there so we had a great visit. It was Jonah, Micah and Gabe's first time seeing their cousin.

Here are Jonah and Autumn welcoming her to the house.

Micah is a strawberry eating machine.

With so many hands to hold Eleanor, I had time to give Autumn a manicure.

Alison holding Eleanor. Gabe became very interested in the baby after that.

Daddy and baby taking a nap.

Our attempt at an Easter family portrait.

Here she is with her Easter Basket.

This is my first attempt at posting video. So I hope it works ok. This is how we hid her basket. Put it to one side and waited for her to turn her head. She loves her prizes. Barrettes, tights, candy (she and mom are sharing a basket this year) and a new movie! Son of Rambow- highly recommend it.

9 days and counting!!!

I wish it were 9 hours left (and I suppose it could be), but alas. Right now it is almost 2 am and I am having trouble sleeping. Again. Always it seems. Boo-hoo though, right? No- I am ok. The end is definitely the hardest part, but it's exciting to know that we will soon have our daughter here. And I still have a few things to finish around the house. A bit of sewing, a bit of painting and a lot of putting away. So I am happy to have the nine days or so. I love the preparation of it all, no complaints.

This past Saturday my Howell family and friends threw me a baby shower. And last month my Firth family and friends threw me one. Can I just say that both parties were amazing? My family really has my number, as the food was divine at both. I do love to eat. Fresh fruit and crepes at the Firth one, and bagel sandwiches and cupcakes at the Howell party. Plus salads and goodies galore. It was so fun to see everyone all together. And boy did baby get showered with gifts. Let's just say that our sweet one is already one spoiled little girl. For someone who is still naked, she has a wardrobe that could rival Suri Cruise. It is so nice to feel we are set up in all of the necessities- and overly set up in all of the frou-frou, fun stuff as well. Thanks to everyone who has shown us so much love and attention in the past few months. And thank you for all of the lovely gifts. They will all be happily used and loved.

Here are a few shots of the festivities. First the Firths.
Adorable girls (and one fellow) at the party. I kind of know their names, but would undoubtedly get them all wrong if I tried.

Grandma Firth, Rebecca and Kathy (Clayton's mom.)

Charlotte, Jenni-Jo, Tiff, Wendi, Alison and Kaitlyn (on the floor)

Me and Autumn. Could she be any cuter? She is so fun to chat with.

And now for the Howell's. My very young niece was my personal photographer, so I didn't get too many shots of who came. Kir has all of the pics of who was there, but here are a few anyways.

The cupcakes were there. Very important.

My friend Cristy was in town (she lives in Boston) and so we got to hang out. Such a treat! Here are Julie, me, Cristy and Diana. Former roommates all together again. It's been a few years!

And here I am with Kirsten and Ayla. My niece and great-niece. (Niece Allison's daughter.) Kirsten put all of the party together. She had help from a few others she said, but adorable touches like the marquee sign out front that matched the fabric wrapped soap favors that matched the quilt... all her.

So much fun. And my one wish was that I wouldn't go into labor before the shower. Wish granted. So remind me if my water breaks at Ikea or something, that I need to be grateful. (Ya- I have one more exchange to do tomorrow at Ikea. Dreading. Luckily they sell towels.) We will keep everyone posted!

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day Clayton and I have a grand tradition of saying we are not going to do anything for each other, then breaking our promises. He surprised me a few days early by picking up these prints for the baby. They are by his friend JJ. I saw one on his blog a while back that I adored. It's of these two robots in love on a moped in Paris. JJ didn't have it for sale on his site:

http://www.bampop.com/

but Clayton asked him to make a print and now we have it for our baby's room.

Here it is sans frame.

And Clayton got one that he loved as well. It's called Ice Cream Social. Note all of the robot superheroes. JJ also has a whole series of ninguins that are pretty adorable. Oh- a ninguin is a ninja penguin of course.

So I got an amazingly thoughtful gift of super-cute prints, and Clayton gets... frames for them. Ya. I am a wild romantic. Poor guy. Is there such a thing as a romantic V-Day gift for guys? Madden? He already has it. Anyhow- we did even more for the "big" day. We flew to Chicago!
If any of you are keeping track of the creepy floating baby off to the right here, you may have noticed that I am a few weeks away from delivering. I got the wary ok from my doctor, but was too chicken to ask her for a formal letter saying I could fly. The good news is that Delta has no restrictions for flying. You can fly on your due date if you want to. The bad news is that Delta has no restrictions... so ya- we went. And it went fine. We had gone in October but wanted to go back for one reason. Clayton's all time favorite art piece (Picasso's The Old Guitarist) is at the Art Institute of Chicago. When we went in October the Impressionist wing was closed, so we couldn't see it. It opened back up in December. However, for a reason no one could explain fully to us, it isn't on display right now. Argh! Poor Clayton. We had a great time anyways, and really enjoyed the exhibit of photographer Yousef Karsh. You can check him out here:

http://www.karsh.org/

Even without the Picasso, we had a wonderful time.

Here is Clayton in front of the Sears Tower on Adams street. He looks a little pained, but it really wasn't that cold. Of course I am a traveling E-Z Bake Oven, so maybe my opinion on temperatures doesn't count. Our hotel was right behind Clayton in this picture. Just between the Sears Tower and the museum, and a train ride from the airport. I love the convenience of not renting a car.

We had dinner at a great sushi restaurant called Oysy. Lest you think that I am breaking all of the pregnancy rules, rest assured that I only ate what I should. Also- sushi gets a bad rap. As long as you watch for the fish you shouldn't eat anyways, (ones with possibly high mercury) sushi is only as dangerous as a cold cut sandwich. (Did you know that you aren't supposed to eat cold cuts when you are pregnant either? Ya- lots of fun rules.)

Here is a picture of the rolls. The one on the right is a dragon. Cute food is always better.

This is an untitled piece by Picasso. Familiarly called the Chicago Picasso. Not the one we went for, but great none the less.

Here is a comparative shot of me from our trip in October at four months. John Singer Sargent is one of my favorites.

And in front of the same Sargent piece in February. Notice anything different?

Here is Clayton and a Rembrandt. One of his favorite artists.

And here we are outside. The weather was lovely, and we really enjoyed our LAST trip until the baby comes. I swear. Once she's here, who knows, but for now I am staying put.

Things I Heart

This will be my Thanksgiving address of sorts. What I am grateful for right now. Sure, I am grateful for Clayton and our baby and blah blah blah. But these are the little things that have made me happy as of late.

1- Cadburry Chocolate.
So I could act like a snob and say that I prefer the stuff you get in Europe, but to be honest I haven't seen enough of a difference to make it worth the trip. There are other reasons for that. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to chocolate. Around Easter and Christmas they come out with the hard shell chocolate balls. Here is the Easter version.

Those things.

They rule my world around now. I get panicky on a Saturday night to make sure I have enough to get me through Sunday. As today is Sunday my count is 2/3rds full big-size bag in my purse and an individual sized pack under the front seat of my car. I should be able to make it till the stores open tomorrow.
Sadly around Christmas I lament that there aren't the good old Cadburry Eggs. You know, the ones most grownups can't eat as they are way too sugary and odd?

Ya those.

In one of my pregnancy cravings of late (Uh huh right, blame the pregnancy. I want them all the time.) I have been jonesing for one, wishing I had squirreled some away in my freezer like I have done in years past. Then: Christmas Miracle! Happy happy day! They make them for Christmas now too! Hooray! Next to world peace this ranks pretty high. Anyhow, if you are a fan, just know that there is another reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving.

2-Fabric Shopping.
I love Joanne's. I recently went through all of my fabric and sorted it by color. I thought it would clear out a ton of totes, but alas, no. I am trying to get organized for baby but my results are a bit slow. I have trillions of ideas for blankets and clothes and happy little projects but never quite find the time to complete them. Which is why I love the moment of purchasing the fabric. It's so full of hope and giddiness. Then it sometimes becomes a chore. Where did the love go? Here are some recent purchases that I still adore and have aspirations for.

This will be a dress.

This will be a blanket.

This will be a dress, blanket... possibly cover the whole darn room. Can't decide.

3. Twilight Movie.
Alright, for all you naysayers out there, I don't care. I loved the movie. It was clean which is a refreshing change, and it was very entertaining. What more do you really want from a movie other than a great two hours of diversion? Totally delivers. A lady bought out an entire theater at Thanksgiving point and sold all the tickets to her friends and coworkers, which is where my mom got our tickets. This group had free popcorn and soda for everyone and gave away prizes before the show started. Super fun. Almost as fun as watching 56 year old women in "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" shirts squeal in delight over every scene. My niece Megan won a hat that Clayton is modeling with pride here. Go see it. The movie, not the hat. You have to make special appointments for that honor.

(PS. Like who would be on Team Jacob?)

4. My Visiting Teaching Companion Laura.
She is on the ball and totally motivates me. She's been a sorely needed kick in the pants for me in that department. Which is fantastic. And of course she is moving in three weeks. Hopefully her enthusiasm will stay behind.

5. Alright, Clayton.
Not in the grand "I am so thankful that we found each other..." kind of way. Well, I am. But right now I am thankful because he always lights the pilot light for our furnace. It blows out about five times a day. Very annoying. I technically know how to light it, but hate doing it. He just snuck out to relight it and now I am typing under a glow of warm air. Maybe I should say I am grateful for warm air. And water. And bedding, and socks etc... etc... Hey- I am also grateful that we have had such a lovely warm Autumn season this year. We all have to appreciate that right? It's still sunny and nice out today, November 24th. (I started this blog yesterday.)

6. November 24th, also known as the day that Kirsten joined our lives!!!!! Woo hoo! Happy Birthday Kirstie!
Let me tell you about our niece Kirsten. She is my oldest sister Cassie's oldest daughter and she joined our family when I was six years old. Until then the sun had pretty much revolved around me, so her arrival wasn't noted by me as a good thing until a few years later. As a kid she was an exceptionally bright and motivated little girl. She loved ballet and reading and was a wonderful eldest child to four sisters and her brother Ryan. She still is all of those things. She is classy and responsible and super cute. She does things that most people only talk about doing. Like getting season tickets to Ballet West, or redoing her bedroom walls complete with wood trim and other tricky stuff. She has the most glorious hair you have ever seen, and I can't recall a time in the last three years or more when she just threw it in a pony tail. She is very patient and deals with a lot of crap that would send most people into a tail spin (Mainly her job, I pretend to understand what she does but it is actually way beyond my comprehension.) and always comes out with aplomb. She uses words like aplomb. She runs a great blog. She had to go on a vegetarian diet for a while, her doctor's orders, and did so without becoming self righteous or obnoxious. (I or anyone else couldn't do that without becoming extremely smug.) And she's tiny. That's not a trait that should be applauded per say, due to women's low self esteem issues blah blah blah. But she is just a mite of a thing and I can't help but admire her petite little jeans and shoes. Especially since she really loves good food and treats. No one likes a skinny girl who has no pleasure in food. She makes her own sushi. Hello. Oh, and she dresses like she stepped out of a Banana Republic ad at all times. Yet she's not a credit card loser. She is insanely responsible with her finances. And best of all she is funny. That should maybe be trait #1. She has a good laugh too, it's a cute girly giggle. She is loving and kind to everyone, not just the people she likes. She throws awesome parties. All the cute details of my wedding shower? Kir. She would drop anything to help anyone. She is always the shoulder that her friends turn to cry on. She has good taste in music, hmm maybe that should be trait #2. Well, I could go on and on, but I need to call her and wish her a happy birthday. If you know Kirsten you should too.

Favorites Tag

Thanks Michelle. I've said it before, but Michelle Cannon has the best quizzes and tags. This is all about threes. Here goes.
1- 3 Favorite Last Purchases
A. Robot stuff at Oh Sweet Sadie. Little puffy magnets and wall clings. If we don't have a boy, I am giving them to Shauna, whose idea a robot room was.
B. I will say the shiny green shoes I didn't buy at Oh Sweet Sadie, because I now plan to hunt them down and buy them. I was all proud of myself for restraining, but haven't stopped thinking about them since. Durr.
C. Our Cannon Photo Printer. We actually purchased it well over a year ago, but I finally hooked it up. My life has been changed forever.

2- 3 Greatest Fears
A. Spiders. Generic, I know. But seriously. I can't even look at pictures. I love Halloween, but hate all the fake spiders that are everywhere. The giant ones on that Mt. Rushmore thing along I-15? They're killing me.
B. Street grates. Can't walk on them without trepidation. Long story.
C. Lava. The end part of Lord of the Rings with Frodo and Sam on the rock that gets surrounded by lava... therefore no where to escape? I have nightmares about that, only it's my house. Ugh.

3- 3 Favorite Movies
A. Emma
B. Cold Comfort Farm
C. Move Over Darling
...these change on a daily basis.

4- 3 Facts About Me
A. I love our fish Wart, but am worried about his loneliness. All his buddies died this year.
B. I wish we got the Bravo channel so I could watch Top Chef, Project Runway, Top Design and Sheer Genius.
C. I love my job, but hate going to work.

And when I asked Clayton, here are three that he decided for me.

A. I love when Kevin Costner does a British accent.
B. I love waking up to Rhiana's "Disturbia" playing from downstairs. Aerobics instructors are the BEST neighbors!
C. I think the best place to build a house is in the middle of a condo parking lot. Preferably ours.

5- 3 Things I Have Not Done Yet In My Life (and might?)
A. Tried Beef Wellington (it's so weird that Betsy just had it and blogged about it, probably wasn't her first, but I was just thinking about this yesterday.) or real truffles. (Not chocolate.)
B. Been to Asia.
C. Skydived or hang glided or hot air ballooned.etc... These are less interesting to me lately. Maybe....

6- 3 Things I Can't Live Without
A. Clayton
B. Good music
C. Good food

7- 3 Things on Today's List
A. Wash our cars, hard core.
B. Sort through fabric totes. (unlikely to really get done)
C. Sweep off our front steps.

8-3 Favorite Foods
A. Dad's turkey dinner.
B. Sweet & Sour Meatballs with rice.
C. Steak with mushrooms and creamed peas.

9- 3 Places I've Lived
A. Manson Washington
B. Rexburg Idaho
C. Fresno California. (ugh)

10- 3 Favorite TV Shows
A. The Return of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett. On PBS at 11 PM on Sunday nights.
B. Good Eats with Alton Brown.
C. The Soup with Joel McHale.

11- 3 Last Places I've traveled
Disclaimer- these were for work, so not too exciting.
A. Twin Falls Idaho
B. Denver Colorado
C. San Diego California

12- 3 Favorite Desserts
A. Dad's chocolate cake with his chocolate cream cheese frosting.
B. Banana Spring Rolls at P.F. Changs. (Bananas fried in won ton skins served with warm fresh berries over pineapple ice cream with caramel and coconut sauce. How is it not every one's favorite?)
C. Right now? Peppermint patties. Not really a dessert, I know. OK, how about Sam's Club or Costco cakes?

13- 3 Things I Would Buy If $ Were No Issue
A. A Disney cruise for each year for my whole family.
B. An awesome Serger machine. (They're not that much, just enough that it's hard to justify.)
C. A real Rothko.

14- 3 Wishes
A. Lots of healthy babies.
B. For no one close to me to die until they (or I) are super old. What am I, five?
C. For the election to be over. So. Sick. Of. It.

15- 3 People I tag
A. Kirsten of course.
B Shauna
C. Camille
D. Anyone who wants to. Oh crap, that's four. Only three? I wanna know what Monica and Tiff and Betsy and Leigh and Shelli and Jenni and..... you get the point.

Image Tag

Michell Cannon has the best quizzes and tags. http://mcannonfam.blogspot.com/ She did this one not too long ago and I thought I would give it a whirl. The idea is to answer the questions by typing your answer into Google Images and picking the one from the first page or so and pasting it in. It's so fun. Who knew that Michelle once liked Devon Sawa? Totally takes me back. Here goes!
1- My first name: Marianne. Marianne is also the title given to French liberty or values. This is Delacroix's Lady Liberty Leading the Republic. I liked it better than the porn that came up with my name search. So much for filters! Oh, I guess she is a little naked. Art naked isn't naked.

2-My Middle Name: Marguerite. This is a Marguerite daisy. I didn't know there was one.

3- My Last Name: Firth. Here is cousin Colin at his actual wedding to Livia Giuggioli. I thought that was cute. Ya, the first seven pages of Firth are pretty much devoted to him. Clayton is much sexier.


4-My age: 32. This is a famous photograph, I don't know the photographer, but it had a subtitle saying the woman was 32 years old. Made me feel pretty awesome. And pretty sorry for her. I imagine I too would look that haggard if I had 11 kids during the dust bowl.
5- Favorite Vacation Spot: This one is tough. So I choose two. First Paris.
And second, Disney Cruise.

6- A Past Love: Much much harder! At age eight or so? John Taylor of Duran Duran? Ricky Schroeder? Kirk Cameron? At age 12? That would be Jordan Knight of New Kids. In the end I went with my 14 year old obsession with Depeche Mode. Particularly Dave Gahan and Martin Gore. Major daydreams. Listened to 101 daily and imagined being Dave's girlfriend. Ahhh. By the way, all of the noted above have aged very well.
7- College Major: Fashion Design and Production.
8- If I was going to do it all over? Probably the same. I loved my major. But if I had to finish it now I would go all Humanities or Art History.
9- Where did I grow up? Manson Washington!
10- Where do I live now? Provo Utah! A million beautiful shots turned up, but I liked this one best.
11- A Past Pet: Sadly we were pretty tame on the pet front. My favorite though was my cat named Patches.

12- A friend's nickname: Well, nothing came up for Juliettabeth. So I went with what I often call Clayton. Claytone. And oddly enough this came up. I don't question such gifts.

13-My First Job: Aside from babysitting? I worked at Rocky Mountain Drive Inn. Ugh.
14- Favorite Food? Today? Possibly Chicken Marsala. Or Sweet and Sour Meatballs on Rice. Or my dad's Turkey Dinner. Or Sam's Club Cake.

Ya, I couldn't choose. Note: we never do Brussels sprouts and the cake should be chocolate.
15- My Favorite Color: Pink. Most of the time. Blue is a close second. An entirely pink painting of Freud holding a hot dog? Heck yeah!
16- What am I doing right now? Well this obviously, but I will go with how I am feeling right now. Nauseated. I am home sick from work today, thus the long and frivolous blog. I guess this poor bride looks that way too. Maybe her mom just had "the talk" with her.
17- A Bad Habit of mine: Popping my knuckles. Not because it is bad for you, it isn't. There are miles of research (Kirsten, I said research.) papers and studies on it. See here. Or ask any doctor. It's only bad because it annoys the heck out of people. For that I am sorry. Sorta.
Ok. I now tag Kirsten, Shauna, Sarah, Camille, Shelly, Elisa, Adam, Lisa, Darren, Allison, Alison, Monica, Tiffany,Leigh, Melissa, KaRyn, Jenni and whoever else. P.S. Once you find your image, look at it full size, right click to copy image location and then insert that in the photo uploads under add an image from the web.