Preparing

The last month has been a busy time in our lives.

First off, Ben decided to close Brandsen Jewelry and was offered a fantastic position as retail director for Watoto Canada. For a while Ben was running two stores and working 6 days a week. Brandsen was a fantastic little store and a great learning experience for both of us. The location just did not offer the kind of growth we needed, so we decided to sublease our space and try something new for a while. Ben has all of the same connections in the jewelry industry so we can still hook up friends and family with great deals. Ben is currently busy remodeling and restructuring a store for Watoto. Watoto is an international organization that places Ugandan aids and war orphans into loving, permanent homes in a children's village. It is a very worthwhile cause and we are excited for the opportunity for Ben to serve with this organization.

Next up, we traveled down to the San Francisco Bay Area to celebrate the forthcoming birth of Lily Joy. Tiffany and Lizzy gave us a fanastic baby shower/dinner party at Sarah's parents' place. Lily received a pile of pink clothes, baby essentials, toys that make noise and a fancy new diaper bag. She already has a wardrobe that rivals the size of her mother's.We loved the opportunity to bask around in the warm California sun and hang out with friends and family. We even got to spend a quick afternoon with the Booth family down in their new hometown of Gilroy. We checked out their posh new townhouse and strolled around the Gilroy outlets. Our favorite store was definitely the Jelly Belly outlet. We managed to purchase 6 pounds of jelly beans and even sampled some of the 'bamboozle beans' which include lovely flavors such as vomit, ear wax, diaper wipes and much more. It was a tasty afternoon.

We are now back in Victoria and going full force into nesting mode. Lily's room is far from done. The pictures below show the before pics of the room, hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will be able to proudly post the after pictures of her 'Enchanted Forest' nursey. Only 2 more months until our baby makes her debut into the world. She is squirming and kicking ribs furiously these days- letting us know that she will be ready to burst out soon!


Lily's baby shower loot strewn about in our spare bedroom. We are in serious need of organization.


Before shot of nursery- very unsure about this color. We were hoping for a neutral browny/ beige color with a hint of pink and somehow this paint ended up looking purple once on the walls. I hate how paint always looks different once it is on the wall!

Lily's room before shot from the door.

A little image to leave you with... a 31 week belly starting to burst at the seams.