Brendan has been proudly wearing his new onesie- it says "Big Brother in Training". That's right there's another little Toon on the way! We saw the first pictures of Baby Zen yesterday and discovered that the new arrival is due October 5. We're all very excited, particularly Brendan, who has lots of training to do before he becomes a big brother.
Claire experienced her first Mothers Day as a Mom. Her sister, Jill, and grandmother, Nana, were here in Chicago to help her clebrate. They will be here the entire week until Saturday. I went to my Guitar class in the afternoon while the girls and B just relaxed around the house.. Claire goes back to class after having the week off. She's been fighting a little sore throat the past couple of days but I am still going to make her go to class. Good try Claire. I know you just want to stay at home with Brendan a little longer. I hope all the Mothers (new and old) out there had a great Mothers Day.
Yes, as crazy as it seems, Baby Buddha is scheduled to make his debut in seven weeks. My girlfriends Kiley and Jennifer threw an awesome baby shower (click for pictures) last weekend, complete with brunch and mimosas. After three baby showers, we have enough onesies, blankets, and burp cloths to last us for quite a while...or at least I hope we do. I'm starting to get the impression that when it comes to baby gear, you can never have too many of anything.
Greg and I have been taking Bradley classes for the past few weeks. Bradley advocates natural, husband coached childbirth. They stress that birth is a natural biological process that should rarely warrant medical intervention. My philosohphy is really closesly matched with Bradley- I figured that women have been having babies for thousands of years without pain medication, episiotomies, or even doctors so hopefully I'll be able to do it too. Greg and I are both learning an unbelieveable amount about the birth process (in some cases more maybe than we wanted to know) but its incredibly empowering to understand what will be happening during Buddha's birth and to connect with other couples that will be having babies at the same time that we are.
Buddha continues to get bigger every day; he's started kicking me in the ribs which I really appreciate. Check out all of the latest belly picks to see how big our little boy is getting.
Today my Mom and sister threw a beautiful baby shower for Buddha and me. They made tons of delicious food and the entire house was decorated for Christmas so it was very festive. So many people were very generous and brought beautiful gifts for Baby Buddha- toys, books, clothes to last till he's ready for kindergarten, and a "What Would Buddha Do?" bumper sticker. The best part of the day was just seeing everyone that came, especially my friends from college Liz and Megs. We all had fun showing off our buddha bellys (even if they had to cheat and add pillows to theirs). I want to say thank you to everyone who helped prepare and everyone who came to celebrate with us from the bottom of my belly.
-Claire
Let's see if Claire's Handwritting works? DOES IT? I think it does but need a better sample. My name is gregtoon NOT CLAIRE
The very first thing that I remember from the morning of the wedding was my dear friend Liz saying that the alarm hadn't gone off and we'd overslept- just what every bride wants to hear on her wedding day. The five of us who had spent the night together (Jill, Meg, Liz, Nicole, and me) rushed around to get ready, grab a bite to eat, and get to the salon to get our hair done. We raced over the Mt. Hope Bridge and were only about 10 minutes late for our appointments at the salon, which was no small feat for 5 women sharing one bathroom. The next mini-crisis came when we arrived at the hair salon to find that there was only one person to do everyone's hair (that's one bride, five bridesmaids, my Mom and Greg's Mom). We made the most of our time by painting our nails while we waited. From the salon, we headed to get some lunch at a nearby bagel shop. It was wonderful to relax a little with the bridesmaids and our Moms at the bagel shop. We sat around and had some laughs. If I hadn't been wearing a veil and tiara, it could have been any other day!
The sky was getting pretty dark at this point and the wind was picking up, so I had a feeling that the ceremony was going to have to be moved outside. I was a little disappointed, as the grounds of Glen Manor are beautiful when everything is in bloom. However, the one piece of wedding day advice I really tried to take to heart was to not let any minor glitches upset the day and to keep some perspective on why this whole day was taking place. I knew that rain or shine, I was still going to end the day married to a wonderful man, and after I thought about that a little, the rain didn't seem to matter.
We picked up a few things at the Marriot and then headed to Glen Manor. I was a little panicked at this point because we were running behind schedule and arrived at Glen Manor just as the groomsmen were scheduled to arrive. Luckily the groomsmen were running late too and weren't there either. I ran upstairs with my dress and set up camp in the bridesmaids' dressing room. We had a long narrow room with a large table, bathroom, and windows facing the river. It's a good thing we had such a large room, as one bride, five bridesmaids, two mothers, and a ceremony reader take up lots of room with make-up, dresses, and industrial strength garment steamers. It was still too early to get ready but I was very antsy, so Sandra (bridesmaid and one of Greg's sister) located a radio and got the music going. I danced around while my responsible bridesmaid, Jennifer (also Greg's sister) began steaming the bridesmaids dresses. (You thought I was kidding about the industrial strength garment steamer?) My sister and Maid of Honor, Jill, made sure that I stayed nice and calm. We had a few minutes to just chat, look out at the river, and discuss how insane it was that I was getting married . Eventually it was time to get ready and Liz (my friend from college, who performed a reading during the ceremony) applied my make-up while the other bridesmaids got ready. Once I was in my slip, Meg (also a friend from college) pinned a penny that Greg's Mom had given to me for good luck to my slip- it had a blue crochet covering, so technically it was something new and blue. Now came the very delicate process of getting the bride into the dress. Luckily, Nicole (my roommate from high-school) is a seasoned bridesmaid pro and managed to get me into the dress without disturbing my hair and/ or make-up. I was ready to go!
Now that I was dressed a few people stopped in to see me, including my five year old cousin Allison, who thought I looked "just like a princess". My Mom had been doing pretty well up till this point but when my grandmothers stopped in to see "Claire Coffey for the last time", she lost it. The bridesmaids decided that we needed some more music to lighten the situation, so in my final minutes as Claire Coffey I danced around to The Fugees "Killing Me Softly" with all of my best friends.
Finally, we got the go ahead that it was time to start the ceremony. As the bridesmaids lined up in the hallway, my Dad and I stood on the stairs and listened to the harp and flute music. Once the bridesmaids were in the ballroom and my song began, Dad and I started our walk down the hallway towards the ballroom. I could see Greg from the very end of the hallway, but he wasn't looking at me. As my Dad and I entered the ballroom, Greg looked up and I could see the tears in his eyes. In the four years I've known Greg, I had never seen him even get choked up. My Dad presented me to the officiate and as I stepped forward to begin the ceremony, I leaned over to give Greg a kiss. It was just a reflex- for the last four years, when I see Greg for the first time I give him a kiss. It startled me when he jumped away from me like I had cooties, but everyone giggled and it broke the tension.
Once the ceremony started, I remember trying not to laugh, trying not to cry, and most of all, being so happy! See Claire's Wedding Photos.
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2008
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