Baby Baer's Digs

Here's a look at Baby Baer's nursery... we can't wait for it to be filled with a crying, smiling, pooing, cooing little baby. Our due date was Wednesday, July 10, so we're playing the waiting game now...

Thanks to my Mama and Scout for helping with the curtain-sewing. As you can see - a sunblocking liner was a definite necessity. We got the dresser off Craigslist - the 2 pieces here; the end table that's in the closet, and an awesome huge mirror in our guest room.

 

All my life I've wanted a house with a yellow room... check that off the list! That cute little "E" frame was made by my cousin Marissa.  She made us an E and an S, so we've been alternating it.  We don't know the sex and we've kept the names secret. But the initials are EWB (for a boy) and SGB (for a girl).  So at our family baby shower people had fun trying to guess the names.

The sweet quilt on our craigslist rocker was made by Chris' mom Kim.  We picked fabric out together back in early spring and she gave it to us a few weekends ago.  She also made some cute little baby pillowcases and a blanket.  Such a special treasure.

 

Wade Bowen is our favorite Texas Country artist. Who I Am was our first dance at our wedding. These lyrics I painted onto this old window are from a song he wrong for his son called Before These Walls Were Blue.  The minute I heard it I knew I'd one day want it in our nursery. (And that day came sooner than we were expecting!)

"I believe in HEAVEN; I believe in MAGIC; I believe in the LIFE inside these walls."

We bought the orange figurine on our "baby-moon" trip to New Zealand in February.  It's an ancient Maori symbol - the double twist - meaning the combining of two people for eternity. The tractor is from Chris' parents as part of a birthday present for Chris and Baby. He had a "life size" version as a kiddo that he rode around until the plastic wheels wore out.  It even has a little dog that looks like Beaz - red collar and all.

Pictures of us as little tots and the sweet WillowTree figurine from Greg and Katie Bielski when they heard we were expecting.

Lots of keepsakes: Rattle pin Aunt Shera made for our shower; White booties that Mary (the head of housekeeping at my office complex) knitted for B-Squared; A little bear Florence made; Baby's first cup from Meme; Baby's first spoon from Coach Breuer, Wishes for baby from our first shower, Fabric swatches from the quilt Mrs. Stark is making for baby; Lots of guesses on baby name, gender, and birth date from showers.

Changing area - yes we're attempting cloth-diapering. We've "rented" newborn diapers to give it a shot and see if we can do it.

The closet had those louvre doors that are major "finger pinchers" and I've never liked. So we took the doors off and put a curtain on instead. Look at all those precious baby clothes.  See - gender neutral is still cute :) Chris' sister Lindsey made the enlarged ultrasound pictures for us.

Lots-o-Books.  B-Squared better start learning to read quickly!

A little mirror for Baby to check out his or her reflection.  The little bear is from our trip to Germany - a replica of the United Buddy Bears that are all over Berlin (and that travel the world). And some "chew necklaces" from my friends Anna and Christin.

Baby's crib - until there's actually a baby to sleep in it and all the cute pillows and animals have to clear out.  The crib is a "Jenny Lind" style, which is the same type we both slept in as babies.  The prayer bears are from Meme for Christmas - she wanted to give Baby his/her first teddy bear, and had to get it in both colors of course.  Scout knitted the yellow blanket (and some washcloths) for Baby - such a special gift. And Emily made the Baby Baer pennant for our shower.

Sada took these pictures and I made the little lab silhouette frame.  We're hoping Beaz recognizes her own presence and importance in the nursery and thus will be less jealous of all the attention B-Squared will be getting. She's going to be a great big sister :)

These little plaques were in my nursery when I was a baby. Thanks for sharing them Mom :)

 

Here's hoping this gets a lot of use...

We bought this pinot noir in New Zealand, with plans to drink it in celebration once baby gets here... not much longer [hopefully]!

We're ready for you to come out and play Baby Baer!!!

Kitchen "After"

After our 2nd anniversary trip to Germany, we sort of forgot to document our kitchen progress, but there was still quite a bit of work to be done - putting in the recessed lighting, painting, all the trim work that was such a pain in the..., installing under-cabinet lighting, installing cabinet hardware, refinishing the floor, installing the vent hood, endless punch lists of all the little details, etc.

But here are some "after" pictures of how it all looks now.  All done except the backsplash... who knows when we'll ever get to that! And someday we may get around to hanging things on the wall and "accessorizing". My Meme sewed the new curtains for us - love them. love her. :)

Imagine it with one day having a stainless steel double oven and fridge. We got the new microwave super cheap from Sam's because it was a display model.

That big blue bowl above the fridge was my great-grandmother's bread bowl.  She used it all the time to make homemade bread and my Middie just gave it to me.

Chris and Wes discovered that awesome vent hood at Sears Outlet.  It was originally something like $2K! It really sucks! (pun intended). And the gas range was a scratch-n-dent store purchase. It had 2 tiny scratches on it, which we would have caused eventually anyway.

Love how this coffee/wine bar turned out.  This used to be the "pantry".

Sorry.. a little dark. And I have a cute old little side table to go where that chair is that was my mom's boss' from about a million years ago.  I'm painting it bright yellow but it's been too cold/damp to finish it the past few weeks.

Huge walls intimidate me when it comes to decorating/hanging things.  Especially with the table not being centered on the wall... need help!

I love walking into the kitchen in the morning to see this.

The under-cabinet lighting is one of my favorite parts - Chris did such a good job with it (and all the lighting... and the whole kitchen for that matter!) It's these LED strips that use basically zero energy.

Pretty birthday flowers from Chris

Clever potato/onion/garlic basket storage

Spice drawer and trash can drawer were must-haves.

This viewpoint makes washing dishes so much more enjoyable - I can look at the garden, check out the chickens, watch Beaz chase squirrels...

Ahhh.... I love our kitchen!

Day 20: The End of our Fabulous Adventure

We had a nice breakfast and coffee at the cafe across from our hotel and leisurely packed up and got ready for the 17 hours of travel ahead of us. It was pretty much a perfect trip with only a few minor travel complications. We had our last pretzel (or brezl) in the Berlin airport before boarding the plane for our trip back via Amsterdam and Memphis. Just being in the Amsterdam airport reminded me how much I want to go there - LOVE the tulips everywhere. Time to start planning our next trip! Croatia, Africa, Holy Land are top of my list right now.

Tschüs Deutschland!!!

Day 19: Berlin - We Heart Berlin

Having five days and four nights in Berlin was awesome! We were able to slow down our pace, see everything we wanted to see and then some, and have more time to act and feel like locals. I wish we could have given every stop this much attention and time, but we would have been there 3 months instead of 3 weeks! I really liked Berlin. It sort of reminded me of London in some ways - mix of old and modern, very open, very international, and pretty much everyone could speak English. A great place wrap things up.

Day 19: Berlin - Dinner and a Spa (Last Night)

For our last night in Germany, we headed to Oranienburger Strasse - a stop we always went through on the subway and referred to as "Orange Burger Strasse" - to eat at Hasir Turkish Restaurant. Berlin is actually home to the largest population of Turks outside of Asia Minor, so there are tons of doner kebap food stations. But this was actually a fancier, sit-down place with very formal-looking Turkish waiters carrying around huge platters of meat. We had the mixed grill for two - a sampler of all sorts of meats and vegetables and salad, and a great Turkish red wine.

If you know Chris, you know he's a sucker for any type of sauna/spa/massage, but rarely gets to indulge. Europe has lots of spas, baths, etc. and he'd been wanting to go to one the whole trip. If you know me, you know I'm not very good at relaxing, much less paying for relaxation... but he talked me into it. So we took the subway south to a local favorite, the Liquidrom. There are several different pools, saunas, and lounge areas, but the highlight is this large round saltwater pool where you float around and there's underwater music and colored lights on the dome ceiling in sync with the tunes . (They have a DJ on the weekends.) I won't go into all the details, but it was a pretty crazy couple of hours in this clothing-optional bathhouse. The intensity culminated in the Finnish sauna with the 11pm"infusion"- honey poured over our heads with 210 degree air thrust at us by the pool boy/masseuse. There were moments when we actually thought we would pass out and die. Seriously. Intense.

Day 19: Berlin - Berlin Zoo

Our last day in Berlin and we felt like we'd seen all the "sights" we needed to see. So we packed a lunch, walked to the train station, and caught the S to the Zoolischer Garten Berlin (aka Berlin Zoo). It's the 2nd largest in the world behind the San Diego Zoo and you know we love us some animals. We thought we'd spend a couple hours there, but ended up staying for over five. They have a great aquarium, over 1400 kinds of animals, and we got to see them feed all the large cats - awesome and a little petrifying. And of course we walked through the farm area and fed and baby goats and sheep with all the other children at the zoo.

Day 18: Berlin - Tiergarten

On our way home we stopped for awhile to lay in the grass in the Tiergarten, Berlin's Central Park. This land was one the hunting grounds for the royal family. We enjoyed the cool breeze, people and dog-watching. There are some great trees with leaves that are silver-ish on the underside so they glimmer in the breeze like sequins shaking.

Back at our hotel we did our workout --spa--pool routine then had our first leftovers of the trip - spaghetti! (I love leftovers, by the way...)

Day 18: Berlin - East Berlin

We walked all around Berlin, primarily checking out the historical sites in East Berlin: Checkpoint Charlie, Cold War/DDR monuments, the Stazi Museum, Holocaust Memorial, and the Victory Column which leads to the Brandenburg Gate and the famous street from there through the heart of former East Berlin - Unter den Linden. Named for its thousand linden trees, the street was once one of Europe's grand boulevards. Hitler replaced the trees - some 250+ years old - with Nazi flags. Residents were so outraged that he actually replanted the trees you see today.

We also spent a couple hours at the Topography of Terror - an outdoor exhibit/timeline at the site of Hitler's Gestapo and SS command center, located behind a remaining chunk of the Wall. Like most Third Reich sites in Berlin, this place is, and will always, remain a rubble due to the horrible things planned here. Done very well, the exhibit traces the story of the Nazi movement specific to its role in Berlin.

Day 18: Berlin - Reichstag Building

We spent our 2nd full day in Berlin on-foot checking out the sites we had gotten a glimpse of on the bike tour the day before, beginning at the Reichstag Building, which houses Germany's Parliament. Being the frugal German that I am, I had bought the cheaper 2010 Rick Steves guidebook instead of the new 2012 version and didn't know that the policy on visiting the Reichstag had changed in the past year. Apparently there was a minor terrorism scare and now you have to register several days in advance to go inside. Big bummer.

Like many buildings, the Reichstag has a short but complicated history. Inaugurated in the 1890s, it was called a "house for chatting" since the real government work took place inside the city center at the Imperial Palace. It was at the Reichstag in 1918 that the independent German Republic was proclaimed. Then in 1933 it was nearly burned down. The Nazis blamed the Communists but many believe Hitler himself had it burned down, using it as an excuse to frame the commies and grab power. When the war was coming to an end, 1500 German soldiers made their last stand here, extending WW II by 2 days. The Allies had the glass cupola with its double helix walkway built on top so the people could look down into parliament. Glass was a major theme in the reconstruction of Germany to promote transparency and show the people there would be no more secrets in government.

Day 18: Berlin - Schumannstrasse!!!

The next day we started walking from our hotel in Mitte (the historic core of Berlin) toward Alexanderplatz. Schumannstrasse (strasse = street) just happened to be along the way.