San Diego or Bust {I mean Baby or Bust}

Last weekend the Dunaway's had quite a treat with family from Utah, Oregon and San Francisco coming to pay homage to the darling little Taylor. {eventually Ashley will recover}
Ashley's last peaceful moments before her child was kidnapped.

Grammie Central - good to see they know how to use that little hat.

Clearly I am having much more fun than Taylor.

All the girls (Caitlin, Allie, Ashley & Taylor)

Sean & Nana Flannagan

{This whole image is giving Brad a stomach ache}

Tara {Dusty's sister} and Taylor

Grandpa & Taylor - please look at how cute she is looking at him.

Hope your Easter was as wonderful as ours!

What time is it?

Today I decided that I need a watch. I've always had a hard time committing to a nice watch being as I love to change my accessories all the time and I can never find one that will go with EVERYTHING. I've finally decided I have 3 choices:

1. Settle on this clear acrylic Toy Watch that can mix with anything {silver OR gold}
2. Embrace my love of gold and splurge on this "seriously gold" Micheal Kors watch
3. Quit trying to match and make a statement with this retro red Marc Jacobs watch











What's a girl to do?

Recipe of the Week

As many of you know I love to cook and I love to share great recipes with my friends so I’ve decided to start a recipe of the week section for our blog.

This is a great, extremely easy soup. Dusty loves it and I could whip it together after work without much effort. Serve with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches!

Corn Chowder
2 tablespoons butter
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves,
minced 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups canned vegetable stock
2 cups heavy cream 2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced
6 ears corn Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Heat the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables are good and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour and stir to coat everything well. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream and the potatoes bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down (this will help to thicken the soup and give it a good texture).

Cut the corn kernels off the cob and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the parsley and give it another little drink of olive oil. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Retail Therapy

So I had a pretty tough day at work today- instead of going home like I should have I went to Anthropologie. I bought these {I love them}

Bunz

My Mom used to take pictures of our little baby bunz. I couldn't help but keep up with tradition.

The size of our little peanut

People keep telling Dusty and I that Taylor looks like she is three months old. Understandable since she is so beautiful and alert for only being two and a half weeks old. But I thought that I would take a picture of her next to a magazine so people could get an idea of her size. Plus look at cute little Lucy, always checking to make sure that Taylor is happy. What a good big sister.

Please note my husband’s Handle Bar Mustache!

Yum

So yesterday Brad and I visited the newest San Francisco craze - right down the street in our own little China Town on Irving Street.

You may imagine our surprise after waiting in the REALLY long line - we took our first bite of this fine treat only to find out that is was in fact actual "Frozen Yogurt" This was not your usual USA kind of frozen yogurt all soft and sweet - this was straight up plain yogurt - frozen.


Turns out after a while it starts to taste kind of good -
Those Asians might be on to something!

Wonderful Donney & Bourke

I wish I had $345 dollars to splurge on this little beauty. It comes in marvelous colors like bright yellow and blue. I like the red, it reminds me of mom.

WHAT !?!?

Apparently we have another new addition to the family...
Barbara got a DOG!

Welcome Bruiser! - I didn't know I would be so easily replaced.

{You have some very BIG shoes to fill}

Happy Birthday Brad!

Last weekend Brad & I went to Utah for his 29th Birthday Celebration!
#1 on Brad's birthday list...Teaching me to snowboard.

Here we are unpacking the car on the way up the mountain.


And here {I} am after taking a serious spill down the hill (by hill...I'm referring to the bunny slope) Just when I was starting to get the hang of things I flipped myself over and hurt my butt like your wouldn't believe - as I speak it still hurts.


Brad's loving words as he raced down the hill: "Are you ok? I knew it was bad when I saw the yard sale of your gear all over the mountain"

Little Monkey

WHAT?!?

Let me start by saying I love, love Project Runway. But I’m so disappointed that Christian won this season. (Taylor and I watched the season finale at 3 am this morning) Besides the fact that Christian was incredibly annoying. … His runway was horrible, unless you like all black, crazy ruffles with some over done feathers thrown in. Yikes!! I loved both Romi and Jillian at least I could see myself wearing some of their pieces. Take a look at the collections at www.brovotv.com

Happy Anniversary!

Warning!!! Non-Baby Post: BEST MOVIES

In case you don't already know, Brad and I are {big} movie people. We made a goal last year to see one movie a week...if we missed a week we had a double feature the following. That makes roughly 52 movies to judge. Here are my favorites...if you haven't already seen them...you should!

1. There Will be Blood!
Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing, not to mention the other actors {his son and his rival} that give amazing performances as well. Go see this movie for an an awesome story and some of the best acting I've ever seen.


2. Once
The sweetest story and the most beautiful music. This is the little independent movie that could...the lead actors won an Oscar for Original Score. {These people are not actors - they are musicians, they play and sing all their original music as the soundtrack for the movie}


3. The Darjeeling Limited
Wes Anderson...what can I say? The most visually amazing movie I saw all year {Wes does amazing things with color} Rent this movie today! and if you haven't seen The Life Aquatic...rent that too.

Does Pottery Barn Kids Need a New Model?

Pictures after Taylors first bath.

Her little Bunny Towel is

from Aunt Allie from Pottery Barn Kids.

Taylors first doctor appointment

Taylor had her first doctor’s appointment last Thursday. She is very healthy! She now weighs 7 lbs 6 oz and should gain an oz a day. She is small (just like we expected) she is measuring in the 35 percentile for her head circumference, weight and length. Nothing to be worried about, she is just a small little monkey. We have our next appointment for a wieght check next Thursday. I will keep you updated.

Uncensored... from the new mommy

You know me… if you can’t handle the uncensored version of my labor/delivery you will want to move to the next post!
Things that surprised me about passing a nearly 8 pound watermelon out of my who-ha.

1. 
   
   As you all know… I said that I was going to “try” to have a natural birth. Well that was crap. By the time Dusty and I got to the hospital I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes apart and when they hooked me up to the machine the peeks were off the scale. The nurse even commented to Dusty that it was incredible that I could be smiling and having a conversation while having such hard contractions…. I was only dilated to 3 centimeters!!! Well by the time I was dilated to 5 (2 hours later) I was ready to chew my own arm off. To quote my mother.
   “If god wanted me to have natural child birth I would have been born a pioneer”


2. 
   
   When your water breaks it’s not just a big gush of water. You actually pass fluid the rest of labor. So it’s like you are consistently wetting your pants. The nurses have to change a pad on the bed ever hour because you are sitting in all of this nasty liquid. Lovely.


3. 
   
   Go ahead and get over your modesty. Every person in the hospital saw me naked… Yes, everyone. People would just walk in and ask the nurses and doctor questions while I was in stirrups, even the cleaning crew. Not only that, but everyone needed to look at my boobs to make sure that I would transition easily into breastfeeding.


4. 
   
   You really can feel when to push when you have an epidural. I only pushed for 45 minutes, which is great for a first time mother. Another girl had actively started to push a full hour before I started. Three hours after Taylor was born they decided to give the other women a cesarean section because she was too tired from pushed for so long. The doctors and nurses said I was a great “pusher” Which makes sense since I am great at everything I do.


5. 
   
   I was shocked that Taylor didn’t look mangled when she was born. All of the books you read say not to be surprised when the baby comes out bruised with a cone head. Taylor didn’t have a cone head at all and she didn’t have any bruising at all! She didn’t even cry until they gave her a bath. Hello, she is practically perfect in every way… Just like her Father, and Mary Poppins


6. 
   
   People say that after the baby is born you don’t realize what is going on with the afterbirth… because you are distracted… well they are wrong!! I knew exactly what was going on and I did NOT like it. Hello, after birth.


7. 
   
   My biggest fear… yes the tearing… happened to me too L because I was such a “great pusher” my doctor couldn’t stop the tearing. Not too bad but I needed 2 stitches. YEP STITCHES IN MY WHO-HA


8. 
   
   The pain after the birth has been the hardest part of the whole experience. Swelling and stitches as well as contractions over the past 4 days while my uterus shrinks. I was really not prepared for the recovery. If my mom wasn’t here I would have lost my mind. Because it hurts to sit, stand and walk and lay down. But I’m starting to feel a little better.


9. 
   
   That giving birth was the best experience of my whole life and I would do it again tomorrow. Plus Taylor is a babe…. Just like her mom.
   

SO CUTE!

I'm going to buy a frame right now and put this picture in my cube!
{I love this baby}