Bad Bloggers and Baby's Nursery...

Happy New Year and Welcome 2010!


So much has been going on in the Brantley House but we have been horrible about blogging it!!

I am not even going to attempt to catch up on all the fun stuff I am just going to post what is up today.

Our baby is due this month - although he could come in February so who knows? But we are getting ready and his nursery is almost finished.

Here are some pictures...
this is what the nursery looked like after our Baby Shower!

this is today....we still have some small things we need/want to do but it's pretty much finished.

inside the drawers - yes i am really that organized.

coming home outfit - Thanks to Kareem's Mom!!!

and finally a little something for Mommy - a shower gift from my friend Lizz - can't wait to put this to use ;)

We have picked out his name - Deacon Morris - Deacon because we love the name, it is a strong name and unique but not too weird or hard to spell.  Then his middle name is after my Pop-Pop who is deceased - his name was Morris. Deacon will be formally named for him in Hebrew at his Briss after he is born!

Mabel is so cute - she is so good with all the baby stuff - none of it bothers her and she doesn't try to take anything - it's like she 'knows' it's not for her - EXCEPT the Sleep Sheep - let's just say she hates it - we aren't sure why yet but she despises the Sleep Sheep (noise making Sheep hanging off the crib).  She bites it's foot every time she goes in the nursery.  LOL!

Now I need to get serious about packing a hopital bag because he could really come at any time at this point!

love, a+k

Baby B is growing!

I don't think I look as big as I feel at this point but I really can't complain because I am still having a really great pregnancy so far :)

I mean of course I have had some stuff (back pain, heartburn, headaches, leg cramps) but all in all it has been great and none of those things have been debilitating so I feel lucky!

Blog going Private!

If you read our blog and want to be kept in the loop - send us an email to

alyssakareem at gmail dot com

we are going to move our blog and make it private - we have had some weird comments (non-published) and stalkery lurkers lately.

the internet is a good and a bad thing right?

It's Our Anniversary!

Today is our Anniversary - 6 years ago on 9/5/03 we had our first 'real' date - It was a Friday night and I knew within a couple of hours that something had just happened that was going to change my life. I'll never forget that strange feeling I had when I went into the ladies room at Restaurante Panorama and shut my phone off - I didn't want to be bothered by any distractions or interference from the outside world and was excited about focusing all my attention on Kareem.

We have pretty much been together every day since and last year on 9/5/08 (another Friday night) - five years to the day of our first date, we became husband and wife! Our wedding was so beautiful and amazing - set on the Big Island of Hawaii with 40 of our closest friends and family - it was perfect!

Today, we look back over all of our adventures, memories and challenges and celebrate the wonderful relationship we have built - settling into our new home, watching the baby belly grow and awaiting his/her arrival in January. A LOT has changed but I am grateful for all the ups and downs as we have only become stronger, more connected and fallen more deeply in love with each other as the days, months and years have gone by.

I love you Kareem - thank you for making me a better person and continuing to inspire me, challenge me and love me just for me.

xoxoxo
A

17 Weeks and counting!

I don't think my belly has changed much since 15 weeks but my ass sure has - luckily I don't have to take pics of that every 2 weeks! lol

marriage + baby = suburbs

more changes are afoot!

Most people who know me know that not only do I love change but I thrive in it - I love new things, organizing, decorating, exploring...K on the other hand thrives on stability and routine so while he is super excited about having a shorter commute and using his BBB'ing skills in the new backyard, he is not as amped as me about moving!

We are moving to NJ - yes, you heard me right - New Jersey, over the bridge, Dirty Jerz, South Jersey, the Burbs. hahaha

Kareem and I have been city dwellers for a long time...we are used to having everything at our front door and being able to walk anywhere in the city! Thankfully we are only moving 10 minutes away and to a great town where we can still walk to restaurants, shops, convenience stores and public transportation. We are not ready for "real suburbs" where you can't walk anywhere and have to get in your transportation unit to do anything outside of your house - lol!

Mabel hates change too so she is already anxious since we started packing and moving things around in the house - she does N-O-T like it.

Did I mention we are having a Baby?

Sooooooo - most of you already know this good news but Kareem and I have been blessed and are having a Baby!

Baby B is due January 31st, 2010 so we are looking at an Aquarius Baby which seems like a good thing for us (Gemini and Virgo)!

We are really excited and looking forward to this next phase in our lives and our relationship and practicing getting a lot sleep, quiet time and relaxation together before Baby B appears and rocks our world upside down LOL!

xoxo

a+k

Juicer Heaven....

We have been putting our Juicer to good use this past week and making fresh Fruit and Veggie juices every morning - there really is no better way to start the day!

It doesn't hurt that my mother in law has the most amazing organic garden and grows wonderful fresh Veggies - we supplemented from the local Farmer's Market for some fresh Fruit viola here are some of the combinations...

Here is our Omega Juicer ready to go...


Kale, Carrot, Beet and Grapefruit...






Peach, Nectarine and Banana...




Beet, Kale and Blueberry....


Beet, Kale, Blueberry and Peach...


Beet, Tomato and Kale...


Carrot, Peach, Apple, Blueberry and Sugar Plums...


YUMMMMMMM!

Movin on up....

Things have been very busy in the Brantley household as of late. starting with K's career news - referring to this unsavory post Furloughed in April - thankfully this didn't happen! not much more to say about that except it wouldn't have been very good for us.

however, it did turn out (much to our surprise) that K had almost 150 roll over hours (read: a month of PTO) of grandfathered vacation time (in addition to the regular time he has for this year) and he "has to" use at least 80 hours of it by Labor Day --- ummm, OK no problem!

So, he took off 9 days over Memorial Day and is doing the same over July 4th and Labor Day. Pool, Sun and Lounging - here we come!

We had sweet 'stay-cation' over Memorial Day which also happens to by my birthday week and did a lot of sleeping, hanging out, reading and catching up on things that we always seem to busy to do - it was AWESOME!

This year for my birthday we had a fun picnic at a local park - there were about 20 or so of us and Traci and Scott even brought their Eagles Camper for maximum luxury picnic support - that was sweet!

And K is so sweet - he did the most thoughtful thing for me - instead of buying me a material present he made a donation in my name to P.A.W.S so we can help save the lives of some innocent, abandoned, neglected and abused animals - my heart melted b/c that is so in line with what I really care about and a new pair of earrings or purse or whatever is cool but the donation is much cooler to me!

And in BIG NEWS........

Kareem has gotten a huge promotion and substantial raise - which is usually a really big deal but in this economy where people are getting laid off left and right and no one seems to be getting salary increases this is EXTRA HUGE so I am obviously very proud of him and happy that all of his hard work and dedication is paying off!

Busy Brantley's but I promise we (meaning I) will try harder to post more throughout the summer b/c we have all kinds of fun stuff going on!

It's Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was so nice again this year! We had everyone meet up at our place, hang out and have some Vino

we had some gifts for our Mommas and made sure to be earth friendly by putting them in reusable shopping bags instead of regular old gift bags...

Carol's garden is starting to come in and she brought me some amazingly fresh veggies

which I really love and appreciate!

We all went to Charles Plaza (the most amazing and healthy Chinese restaurant in Philly) and had a late lunch / early dinner.

then to Naked Chocolate Cafe for some hand made chocolates, coffee and Pop-Pop had his favorite hot chocolate espresso style

This year I was really wishing we had a large yard and could have had an all day BBQ ~ I am starting to think it is time to move out of the city and *gulp* move to the suburbs...I can't even believe I am hearing myself say it but I am looking forward to some birds chirping, a garden growing and walking barefoot on my own grass!

Anyway - Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there - I hope everyone had as nice of a day as we did :)