did you move with me?

I noticed that some traffic is still going to this site, so I wanted to remind everyone to update your Readers and blog rolls with the new Blue-Eyed Bride blog.

Visit me at blueeyedbride.com!

See you over there!

a birthday!!!

Today is a very exciting day for me! I've been waiting for this day for quite a while and after finally getting everything together it has happened.

Today is the last day that I'll be posting Blue-Eyed Bride posts at this address, akincarroll.blogspot.com. This blog has really evolved from just a family blog to update everyone on our wedding plans to a place where I find my friends every day.

From now on, you can find me at BlueEyedBride {dot} com. Click on the button below to be directed to the new site and find out all of the exciting details!



I am so excited for all of you to see the hard work that has gone into the new site and I would be so happy if all of you come along for the ride with me. My blog friendships mean so much to me, so please don't forget to make the switch!

I have turned off the comments at this address. All of my old and archived posts can be found at the new address, too.

If you have any questions, please email me at eeakin11 {at} gmail {dot} com. Lots of exciting things are coming up, including the arrival of Baby Boy Carroll and the debut of his nursery. Please come with us and update your Readers!

Love y'all!

Erin

pre-baby maternity leave to do list

I'm really looking forward to the few days (weeks?) that I'll have at home to prepare before the baby arrives. There are quite a few things that I'd like to get done and just because I love making lists, I'm going to share the list with you.

• Finish reading Same Kind of Different as Me
• Read The Shack
• Finish reading The Happiest Baby on the Block
• Read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
• Clear out my DVR
• Catch up on my Netflix
• Go to Target to get last minute items for hospital bag
• Organize closet and put away most maternity clothes (while realizing that my old clothes won't fit immediately)
• Stock the pantry and freezer with ingredients for meals
• Make a list of desired meals and organize recipes
• Put together a good list of people to call when the baby arrives
• Begin working on big blog project
• Install car seats
• Get guest bedroom ceiling repaired
• Wait.

Does anyone have any good book suggestions or movie suggestions? It will be a long time before we can go to the movies, so my Netflix queue is in need of a good update.

Does anyone have a favorite recipe that they'd like to share? It needs to be easy and man friendly. Todd is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so the recipes need to be something that he's going to like, too. You can email any suggestions to me at erakin11 {at} hotmail {dot} com.

Finally, would anyone like to volunteer to bring a beautiful order of sushi to me in the hospital?

Oh, and an Arnold Palmer, please!

image via Hostess Blog

moving along

We've had quite the eventful week at our house. The nursery is coming together thanks to my wonderful parents (no, you can't see pictures yet) and we finished off our registry at Babies R Us thanks to Todd's parents. Now the baby boy has everything he needs. Now all we need is the baby boy.

At my last doctor's appointment at 36 weeks, I had an ultrasound to check out his position. At this point I'm reluctant to say anything about how things are progressing because 1) so many readers and commenters are harsh and judgmental and will tell me to change something about what I'm doing and I just don't want to read it right now and 2) things could change at any point on their own. I don't want to report news because I know that by my next appointment things could change.

Our little boy is currently a whopping 7 lbs 9 oz and at my next appointment on Thursday of this week I'm sure they'll tell me he's even bigger than that. He is in oblique position and running out of room to turn. I've had two ultrasounds in the last two weeks and I'll have another this Thursday to see what position he's in. If, at that point, he is still oblique, the doctor wants to schedule a c-section for 38 weeks. So this guy could be here before June.

We're frantically trying to get everything ready before next Thursday as we prepare for his arrival. We'll put the finishing touches on the nursery, finally get the car seat and extra car seat base installed, and now we've got one more project to tackle. We live in an old house and have had some leak trouble in our guest bedroom the whole time we've lived there. After a few repairs but not official diagnoses, the ceiling finally fell in yesterday. Beautiful. This is the room that my parents will be staying in when they come to help me with the baby, so it's crucial that we get it fixed as soon as possible.

Nothing like good timing, right?

Good news, though: my last day of work before maternity leave is Friday. It's so nice to have that light at the end of the tunnel. I'm experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions a few times every day and working is next to impossible. Sitting is next to impossible. I'm looking forward to being at home and preparing myself mentally for our lives to change!

I promise to post an update after my appointment on Thursday. Keep us in your prayers as we enter the final few days. Baby's health is of utmost importance to me.

holy prom photo, Batman!

I was going through some old boxes yesterday looking for books from my childhood to add to the baby's library when I found some fun old pictures. I had to pull this one in particular out because you may recognize a few other bloggers in it.

This is a photo of my friends and me at our senior prom ("Take My Breath Away" was the theme-- horrible, right?) in March or April of 2000. Nine whole years ago. Not possible. 

The dress that I'm wearing was really wonderful and I ended up wearing it again for something after college because it is so timeless. Too bad you can't really see it in this picture. Like my wedding dress, it is in a box where it is being preserved under our guest bedroom bed. 

Serving as the "bookends" for this picture, are me on the left and Ms. Nonsense on the far right. My hair was pretty short back then and I was in the process of growing it out.

In the background, in the lovely raspberry dress is Practically Perfect and next to her (standing, left) in the pretty coral dress is Mrs. H. 

How I Clean Now

A few months ago, I was approached to take part in a blogger cleaning intervention hosted by Pledge. I recently wrote a post about some of the challenges of pregnancy and how cleaning in our house has fallen to my husband (or fallen by the wayside) and the good folks at Pledge saw that post.

For the past few weeks I've been working for Pledge helping them to promote this product-- and they are paying me and offering me some very helpful advice on how to maintain a clean, baby-friendly home. This is the new Pledge Multi-Surface Cleaner. You can learn a lot more about it and a great contest for you at How I Clean Now.

You can read my blog posts, and the posts of four other bloggers who have some home cleaning challenges, at the How I Clean Now bloggers page.

We opened up our home to a video crew and those videos will go live in a few days so you can see me talk about my challenges and our problem areas. The lovely Trish Suhr will be offering me some very helpful feedback to try to get my house ready for Baby Boy Carroll and how to easily maintain a clean house once he arrives.

So if you want to see what I'm writing about and how I'm losing all kinds of control in my home because of pregnancy, dogs, and lack of energy, please check out the Pledge blog. And feel free to leave your cleaning tips as comments on that blog.

a year is long enough

A year ago this week we returned from our fabulous honeymoon on Maui. We both returned to work and got back into the swing of things. I always had a long list of housekeeping type things in my head that I needed to do now that I was married: get new driver's license, change name at social security office, change name at bank, get joint accounts, change name on insurance.

Over the past year I've gradually taken care a few of these tasks. I keep telling Todd that I'll do them sooner and without complaint if he'll come with me and just sit there. You know, since he married me and all. I am taking his name. 

I was allowed to change my name at the DMV without changing it at social security first. My doctor's office, though, won't change my name until I change it at social security and change it with benefits at work so as to avoid confusion. This is where Todd is upset and concerned. The baby's birth certificate (which should be filled out in about 3 weeks) will show that we have two different last names and he's not okay with that.

So, I am taking actual leave from my job today and braving the smelly social security office-- with all necessary documents in hand. I hope. And Purell in hand. Blech. If I'm catching Swine Flu that's where it's going to happen. So, dear friends, at the end of today I will officially be Mrs. Todd Carroll. And I promise I won't still be mad that I spent most of my day at the social security office.

Anyone else been married a year and still hasn't changed her name?