Wet Nose

This nose is in my face each morning when I wake up. Oh, how I love his little gray spot.

Then I roll over, and another beast is snoring in my face.

It's a good thing we have a comfortable mattress, otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep!

I just wanted you to know. That is all. Good-bye forever.

To Set a Table

I love formal entertaining. Like, love love it. I think there are few things that are more fabulous than a fancy dinner party. Unfortunately, I think it's a lost art these days, and "dinner with friends" has turned into crashing around the coffee table with paper towels as napkins. Don't get me wrong, I love doing this on weeknights when I just don't feel like cooking, but when guests are involved? I love the opportunity to break out the full force of my silver, Kate Spade China, and cloth napkins!

When I was in high school, I used to cater for the most wonderful catering company in Annapolis - Ken's Creative Kitchen. They pride themselves on preparing amazing food and also having the most professional and knowledgable staff of any other catering company. I always enjoyed the experience of catering fine events because I got to learn the essentials of setting tables correctly and thus, throwing a formal dinner party (or wedding, etc). From then on, I have always inspected formal table settings. It's a minor irritation when the bottom of the plate and the bottoms of the silver do not match up. It's also makes me want to go around the table and change things around when the sharp edge of the knife does not face the place. "Calm Down," I have to say to myself sometimes. When Bobby notices me inspecting the table on which we'll eat, he rolls his eyes and quickly pulls me away.

Is it really that big a deal? No, but if the Queen of England ever came to eat with me on Primevere Street, then I'd be ready and proper. And now, I've probably eliminated myself from any dinner invitations in the future.

So, for those of you who may be wondering where the wine glass goes in relation to the water glass, or what fork you should start with when there are multiples, here's a wonderful guide I found that will ease all your troubles.

And, in case you were wondering... you lay plates on the left side of whomever you are serving and remove them from the right side.

Meat should always be served on the plate at 6:00. That's all for now.

Until next time,

Mrs. Hoity-Toity Pants

One Year

A lot has happened in a year. I know, I know... time flies, right? We're all about maximizing time efficiency in this house, so let me re-cap all that's happened down here in case you missed it (or in case you have a poor blogger on your hands).

- One year ago TODAY, we moved into our first house! We shook those shiny, new keys all the way down Primevere Street to open our door and do "snow" angels on our brand new carpet.

- Shortly after we moved in, Bobby started work on THE DECK. Thwarted almost every weekend by unseasonably cold rain, a few snow storms, and no wife to help him nail boards against the house, it took us (and by us, I mean Bobby) about 10 months to finish the deck. Last weekend, he put the last nail in the coffin by staining the deck and thus blessing it as "complete." Now, if only I could find outdoor throw pillows to go on our new deck furniture this time of year...

- One project that I haven't even mentioned on here is the basement project. So, I have no pictures of what the basement looked like before we started. Fail. BUT, now this is what it looks like. We're attempting to finish it before the end of the year. Having a finished basement will add another living space for our newly expanding family, another bedroom, and a full bathroom. This bedroom will be our new guest room, as our existing guest room will be transforming into a nursery here in the next few months. And no, I don't have anything nursery-related planned yet!

The stairs are directly to the right. Straight ahead will be the bedroom, and behind me will be the living space.

The open space will be a living space with a TV and our poor red couch. Right next to the utility tub will be the bathroom (behind the wall) and to the left of the bathroom will be unfinished storage space. And, you know, Killian's little pan. There will also be a finished storage area under the stairs, which isn't visible in this picture.

- My photo business officially became MB Photography, LLC and I shot a total of 22 Weddings and no fewer than 50 other sessions with TONS more to go yet this year. And yes, I will be continuing my Photo Business in full swing next year after Baby Barrick arrives. We've been so blessed with this business as most of my picture-taking happens on weekends, when Bobby will be able to watch the baby. It's a huge feeling of satisfaction for me to be able to contribute financially to our family AND do something I absolutely love. Thank you, Lord!

- Hmm.... the last thing that happened this year? Oh yea... we got pregnant! We took belly pictures when I was 8 weeks along, but they are lost somewhere on my Mac and I can't find them. So here you have me at 13.5 weeks along. Not much of a belly yet, but I can feel it growing!

There's a little bump there, right?! Right?? Ok, so most of the bump may be from the Asiago Bagel I had at lunch...

Whew! It's been a busy year, but thank you all for following along! Coming in the next few weeks: gender announcement, 3-D Sonogram pictures and more!

Our Newest Addition

There's a lot going on in the Barrick Household as of late. Mostly, lots of sleeping, picky eating, tossing cookies *ahem,* and.... 1 growing tummy!

On April 18th, 2011, we will be welcoming a sweet, new addition to our family! Baby Barrick is currently 12 and a half weeks along and is growing perfectly! Most of you may already know as we tried to tell as many friends and family in person, but consider this the official announcement.

I hope to document this pregnancy as much as I can, so that means more blogging over here on the Barrick Times! I talk to so many people and they forget so many things about their pregnancies! Not this little Peanut (as we're affectionately calling it)... everything will be documented here.

Bobby and I have been completely overwhelmed with the kindness and support we've received from friends and family so far. We continue to count our blessings and thank God every day for such an amazing miracle.

So, to answer a few questions we've already received:

* Are you going to find out the gender? YES! We are planners and are just way too excited to find out! We're not telling the name though, so you'll just have to wait!

* Was this planned? Yes, we were hoping to get pregnant, but were trusting God as to when that perfect time would be.

* When did you know you were pregnant? I really had no idea! I thought everything happened as it normally does, but there was a little change. I didn't think anything of it, but called the Doctor anyway just to make sure. The Doctor asked if I was pregnant and I quickly responded "Noooo..." The next day, I was walking around Target and picked up a test just to check. The morning OF the Tea Party I just blogged about, I took the test first thing in the morning. It was positive! I jumped back in bed to tell my groggy, still-asleep husband that he was going to be a Daddy. There were a few tears, but mostly "get that test away from my face" as I was waving it around. I was about 6 and a half weeks along when we found out.

* Do you have morning sickness? Terribly. My food interests change on an hourly basis. If I don't eat soon enough, the nausea kicks into over-drive. I pretty much don't want to eat anything, as NOTHING sounds good, but fruit (namely Apples) and vegetables (namely carrot sticks) have been the best things. I also cannot stand the thought of anything Chicken. Except for one night when I devoured the dozen buffalo wings I bought for Bobby. That was pretty much the only time that Chicken sounded remotely good. I'm also really tired and have been napping every chance I get. My lunch break has been spent power-napping in my car. It's glorious to sleep so much, but I would really like my energy back at this point! Bobby has been incredible about going to the Grocery store at 10pm, not getting mad when I go to the bathroom 395403 times a night and wake him up, being patient while I complain about being nauseous. In spite of all of that, I think he's actually pretty excited!

* Any cravings? Nope, not yet. There are just a few things I can stomach, and most everything sounds pretty gross. I've actually lost weight, but no worries, they say I'll gain it all back later!

* Are you showing yet? Not really. I can tell a little bit, but only when I wear pants or a skirt. I bit the bullett and bought some maternity jeans with the full panel. Let me tell you - most comfortable pants in the whole world. I feel a little silly with the panel coming up to my chest, but let me tell you... I'll be in business come Thanksgiving time!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more updates...and I promise to be a faithful blogger from here on out. There are some house projects going on too, that I haven't even mentioned! Have a great weekend!

Tea Time!

News flash: I'm a huge girlie-girl.

Ok, so maybe that's not really news, but still. I love all things girlie. I loved dress-ups when I was a kid, and even today, I dress up every day for work and wear make-up. Every. Single. Day. My Mother prides herself on having well-groomed children. Although we're all older now, she taught us the importance of manners and table-side etiquette.

I'm a little jealous of my one niece. She got to take Cotillion. While I was never invited, I always drooled at the thought of dressing up in your fanciest party dress, sharing tea with a boy, and learning how to dance properly. You know, since Pride & Prejudice is real life and all.

Since my sister, Christina, and I are the only Aunts without kids yet, I wanted to host a fun "Girls Only" party where we would do all things girlie. It turned into a sisters weekend, since the six of us turned into three sets of sisters. The little girls had fun telling stories about their summer and most of all, I think they liked hearing stories of their Mommies and Daddies when they were younger!

Christina and I don't get a chance to see these sweet girls often enough since we all live so far away from each other, so it was a fun opportunity for us all to get to know each other and spend some quality GIRL time together. My, how these girls are growing up! The tea party itself was especially fun. Before we started, each girl got to pick out a hat out of Grandma's hat box that she sent down. This was great fun, until we realized no one knew how to work a hat pin! Two of the girls are very into the American Girl dolls, and have read most of the books. The doll Felicity, in particular, was the most discussed, since she had tea all the time! It was fun for them each to share a table manner. I think they liked holding each other accountable for the table manners discussed, but that's ok :)

I think we've found our annual girls-only tradition! Thank you to our brothers and sisters who drove the kiddos out to my house so we could make some new memories together!

Here's some of the fun we had over the weekend!

Cuppies!

Of course, we had to have Tea Sandwiches.

Recycling my Starbucks Tea Tins!

As a party favor, each girl got an embroidered Handkerchief to take home!

Beauty Parlor sitting before the Tea Party. Lip gloss and blush, of course!

Lovely Ellie.

Charity asked for bright red lipstick, but I didn't have any...

Pale Pink is just fine!

Patience didn't really like the blush part... it tickled her cheek!

She wanted red lipstick too... but I think she was happy with pale pink :)

Sweet girl wanted to go first SO badly and later informed me that the lipgloss tasted like the Cuppies. She wanted to reapply after Tea.

Miss Mary Claire

Cousins! They were attempting to Curtsey.

One set of sisters: Charity and Patience.

Second set of sisters: Mary Claire and Ellie.

The girls before bed time... they were so happy we let them stay up "late!"

Whew! I'm ready for a nap!