4 days late... and still waiting!

i'm working really hard not to be one of those whiny pregnant women who complain every minute that the baby won't come out. but let's be honest, i'm starting to think she really won't ever come out! i think she must be stuck! have i eaten too much? have i coddled her so much she's comfy and just doesn't care to leave her watery home?

or - even more frightening - is she displaying classic signs of stubbornness which she likely inherited from me, making her first statement about who's really in charge here? i must really be in for it!

i realize that, in theory, she has to come out at some point...but i've forgotten what it feels like to bend over, pee less than 15 times a day, and climb into bed without flopping like a fish.

please come soon baby madeleine!

musical gems

i'm always so thrilled when i come across fantastic music like this - unexpected gems that just outshine all the junk on the radio and make me feel like there is hope left! just downloaded the entire album, and i haven't even heard it all but wow i love it.

a few other favorites that have blown me out of the water recently: melody gardot, tristan prettyman, frou frou, the new frontiers, and my recent go-to girl, natasha bedingfield (order the album N.B. from somewhere - she didn't release it in the u.s. but it is fantastic!)

check it out...i'm a published advertiser!

most people know that i run a small marketing/graphic design business from home, ispectrum marketing. well, my first ad just got published in a nationally recognized magazine! this appeared in "scrapbook trends" magazine - not a small fish for that industry, either. i was rather limited by the product photos we had to work with, and the very small size of the ad, but i think all in all it's not too bad...

not exactly the type of thing i can brag about at work though; "hey, congrats, you hired a marketing company so new we just published our first ad!" oh well, it's at least great fun for me :)

handmade guest book

so, a very good friend of ours got married over the weekend. we're hoping a little time in the temple, along with a little spicy food, will convince madeleine it's time to come! in yet another attempt to give myself plenty to do over the summer, i offered to do their guest book, and i think it turned out pretty well...these are so fun to do. here are a few of my favorite pages! i used a very cool felt-feel scroll decoration on the cover - really made the binding beautiful, i think.

2 years later... our honeymoon in hawaii

well, it's only been 2 years, and it only took a bit of bored desperation before we finally got around to going through our honeymoon photos! we were lucky enough to spend about 18 days in hawaii, both on kauai and oahu.

here are a few of our favorites (only 300 or so to choose from!):
here we are at the top of diamondhead - a beautiful view of honolulu! our hotel is right along the coast, just above my shoulder...
waimea canyon, at the top of which we spent a night in the quirkiest little rundown (translation = scary) cabin.
horseback riding through the countryside in kauai.

flowers the size of your FACE.
our hike along the napali coast - one of the most difficult hikes i've ever been on, but also probably the most beautiful thing i've ever seen...
i found my true love at the polynesian cultural center.
at the cultural center luau, they made all the honeymooners do a little dance on stage. it seems there were a lot of us!
yes, that's us literally dancing on the bar at the hard rock cafe...ok, so maybe we got a little crazy!
at the laie temple, which sadly, was closed while we were there :( ...but at least we got to see it!

still baking

well, the baby bun still seems content to just hang out. i'm starting a pool - my bet is she'll be born toward the middle of next week. 2 to 1 odds here people, anyone want in?? (ok, i have no idea what i just said, but it sounded convincing, didn't it?)

we're all ready to go - her clothes are all pre-washed, folded, and sitting in drawers...her empty, forlorn swing is sitting in the living room...her car seat is installed and gathering dust in my car (and apparently emitting a strange smell as well; new plastic and hot sun don't seem to mix well)...hospital bags are packed...

so did you know, madeleine will make the first living 5th generation baby in my family? yup, her great-great-grandmother is still alive and living in salem. here we all are:

maddie's middle name frances is after this lovely eldest lady you see in the photo! and, apparently, her great-great-great-great-grandmother another two generations back as well, who has a pretty fantastic pioneer story that involves hiding in a barrel. pretty special baby, if you ask me!

hola from mexico!

more catching up here... (geez, it's only 10 am and i'm bored stiff as a board). right after graduation, fred and i took a surprise cruise to catalina island and mexico, courtesy of hotwire and about a week's notice. SO much fun. i was about 24 weeks along.

kayaking in catlina (i'm pregnant, not sick people, yes i can wield a paddle! they almost wouldn't let me go.)

in catalina, the first time a complete stranger saw me and assumed i was pregnant. very exciting moment for me.
great room service...
at la bufadora in ensanata.

pregnant women should never carry their own bags. that's what mules, er, husbands are for. i guess goofy faces run in the family!

priceless photos are worth 1000 words...

so we recently returned from a family reunion for the whetten clan... we camped up american fork canyon, and yes, i slept in a tent at 35 weeks prego! i was so proud. (ok ok, we had an air mattress...but still...)

while there, all the adults went to the temple together, which was really cool. afterwards, my aunt cathy took what i think should go down in history as quite the priceless photo:


not sure how i managed this face, but for once, here's a pretty hilarious picture that even makes ME laugh, rather than want to find the nearest flame-thrower. (ok, so don't look at it too long...)

more glamorous sewing - burp cloths galore...

well, i think i might set the world record for most time spent sewing for the sole purpose of avoiding boredom. case in point: burp cloths! since they're used for the oh-so-glamorous job of sopping up baby projectile fluids, they're obviously the most important thing to spend hours making by hand.



but, despite my overzealous efforts, i think they turned out pretty darn cute. i made up my own pattern (combined what i liked about several others - the curvy shape, but larger-than-normal size), and sewed a grand total of 12. yes, 12. i already admitted to being overzealous, and i figure if i don't end up needing that many i can give some away as baby shower gifts. (if you want a pattern, feel free to let me know...i sure love this particular shape.)


i decided against the traditional crocheted edging (not exactly my specialty), and used the beautiful decorative embroidery stitches on my bernina instead. zig-zag or satin stitching would probably work just as well, and it's easier than doing it by hand. i think the contrasting thread adds a nice touch.


so, another xx hours wasted? can i have my baby now?

baby bump

i know, i know, show us a picture of the baby bump... not much to choose from, as i'm typically the one who wields the camera.



here we have more literally a baby "bum" - she likes sticking it out at least 5 times a day for some reason, and creates a lovely lopsided tummy!

thoughts on pop culture, tim burton, and ultrasounds

i realized just now that although i've said plenty about this baby girl of mine, i haven't actually shown any pictures.

and then i remembered a recent, major pop-culture faux pas. i promised i'm not totally stupid, just a little airheaded sometimes. let's blame it on pregnancy hormones.

i was going through the ultrasound pictures i got of madeleine when we got home from the doctor about 18 weeks ago, and commented that the picture of her face looked remarkably like something from tim rice. ummmm..., it only took me a couple of months to figure out that i meant tim burton! yes, i suppose you could argue that you see something lion-king-the-musical-esque about the face, but it certainly isn't what i meant. why do they make pop culture so confusing? i think there are two famous "tim's" out there to deliberately confuse me.

the picture in question:



well, there she is, madeleine frances johnson. i'm sure she looks much prettier now that she has some skin and baby fat on her :)

baby quilts!

so, in an effort to keep myself busy this summer while waiting for the bun to bake, i decided to get a little crazy with the sewing... i grew up with an amazing seamstress and have sewn all my life, but this was my first foray into the quilting world. i made a quilt for maddie and her cousin chris jr., who was just born sunday night (wahoo and congrats to becky...can it be my turn now please? :) these babies have no idea how lucky they are!

apparently, these take a bit more work than one might think, but i totally love them. had the hardest time parting with chris's quilt, but at least i have maddie's to console me (until she's born and i have nothing but a baby...wait...)

welcome to the blogosphere...

so recently, i've finally come to the conclusion that i needed to enter the blogging world. i've had a lot to share lately, and with baby madeleine on the way i think i'll only have more, and probably no time to individually tell people about it! not to mention, i'm incredibly bored just now.

why a color bug, you ask? i mean, ask fred and he'll be the first to tell you i'm a complete baby about insects (i think marriage has softened my years of tomboyishness - i used to battle spiders with the best of them). honestly, i found it extremely difficult to come up with any names for a new blog. i nearly settled for "just pick a #$^% name rachelle". i know i like color, and spring, and just about everything else under the sun. color bug just seemed appropriate.

i hope you enjoy reading posts as much as i enjoy writing them!