0 The Supporting Cast

This past weekend Tania E. Bracetti-Cahill (Lina's sister) and Aida Rosado (Lina's mother) held a baby shower for Lina. We had guests from Philadelphia, Florida and all parts of NY in attendance for an afternoon tea party in Manhattan honoring the mother-to-be.

Once we arrived home we had time to process our thoughts and take inventory of all the generous gifts. We are overwhelmed by every one's enthusiasm and generosity. It's understood that we all are doing our best to weather through these challenging economic times; so for people to graciously equip us with the tools for parenting is truly humbling. Although we are sending out the thank you cards this week, we felt compelled to say THANK YOU to everyone in advance. We can't thank everyone enough.

To our daughter: "You are not alone. You will always have God. In addition to his greatness, he has provided you with a supporting cast that is driven on putting your mom and I in a position to be the best parents we can be to you. They came out in support before you arrived and will continue to do so after you arrive. You will never be alone..." ~ Mom & Dad

8 Eviction Notice (Chapter 2)

Finally, we get a look at the infamous man cave transformation. I am about 90% done with the nursery. Minus some wall art, we are just waiting for the crib. I wanted to hold back showing you guys the room until we get the crib as it really ties the whole room together. Why keep everyone waiting, right? We based our paint choices off the crib's bedding set. To the right is a swatch of the bedding set that started the creative juices flowing.

3 weeks ago I had finally gotten the room empty enough to start painting. I assume from all the moving I threw my back out the morning I was going to begin. I literally could not move and was bedridden for 3 days straight. I became very depressed that I was not able to work on the room for a week and more importantly take care of Lina as she was 30 weeks prego at the time. I reached out to my family to pray for my recovery. Through the grace of God and some muscle relaxers I made it my mission to make up for the lost time. It's one thing to paint a whole room, but to do it with back pain is another story. What amazes me is what resulted after focusing on what this project was about and who it's for. I put it in my head that this is for our daughter. It felt as if the love I have for my daughter gave me the energy to fight through the pain. Similar to how adrenalin kicks in when you are in shock. The process was slow & painful. So I am particularly proud of this room. Less the design of the room, but more the journey it took to get here. Enjoy the pics.

Oh! If you are wondering what the room looked like before click here.

I guess it's safe to say that this is no longer a man cave. Unless you're a man that's really into pink and has a polka dot fetish. We didn't want to paint the room entirely in pink because we like to do our own thing. 

3 Evicton Notice (Chapter 1)

I'm happy to report on the status of my man cave exodus. The need to make room for the baby has added some warmth and signs of life to the mundane corner of our living room. That long plain wall and corner annoyed the hell out of me. I've never known how to furnish it much less give it some purpose until now. Kudos to the baby! More importantly Kudos to Lina. She has been really supportive in this process. Then again I knew what kind of women I was marrying. Now I have a comfortable corner to work on my graphics and music without impeding on the living room vibe. Our cat Lincoln also approves the update to the living room (see red arrow in above picture). Chapter 2 coming soon...