Dana Burland

Oh baby is right. I came dangerously close to crying at work today. A conference room of lovely work friends gateshead on my behalf to celebrate and shower me and Bub with love. There were snacks, treats, drinks, a baby shower playlist, gifts, games, laughs and two of my overseas coworkers connected via video conference. I’m not so great at being showered. I don’t love being fussed over and find even a small group’s worth of attention overwhelming. But dang it if it didn’t feel good to be reminded of all the circles of people cheering for me, Ben and Bub so passionately. Let me remember this on that first, fourth and thirtieth sleepless night waiting for me.

We’ve wrapped up pre-baby prep work which means I’ve had more time to think about post-baby prep. I know thinking about dinner with a new baby will be a struggle, so I’ve prepped food we can grab fast once “the apocalypse” hits. A lot of freezer meals on Pinterest are, to be frank, kinda crap. I've seen mostly casseroles, 900 variations of chicken or CrockPot meals—and while I heart my CrockPot, it still involves mental prep, waiting for cook time, and ew cleaning. Some of these meals I’ve made and delivered to new mom friends before. All of them are yummy, healthy-ish, high-protein and fast grab options for a friend who needs food love or to stock for whatever upcoming “apocalypse” might be on your own horizon. Beef Burritos Brown ground beef, drain the fat, add taco seasoning and water and simmer for 20ish minutes until the beef is soft. Add a finely chopped onion and bell pepper in the last few minutes of cooking. Once the meat is done, put a couple spoonfuls on a tortill...

What it looks like when weekends as you know it are about to change… While Ben was away this past weekend on a boy’s trip, my mom came into town to keep me company. We shopped at the farmer’s market and downtown market (gimmie more of that Madcap coffee milkshake!), explored new construction in Grand Rapids, wandered around the Bizarre Bazar art fair in Eastown and tried out a few new-to-my-mom restaurants. The weather was perfect for lots of walking and with that and this six pound babe I got protruding in front of me I easily conked right out at the end of each night. Ben reported back that his guy’s weekend was equally successful—you know, swap the shopping and coffee milkshakes for beach volleyball shenanigans and beer drinking. He made it back home on Sunday tan, tired and with several big boxes in tow. Turns out Bub’s “uncles” are real excited to meet him, and want to ensure he’s properly diapered and happy. Ben is the first in his friend group to be expecting a ba...

This weekend was full of little celebrations. My neighbor Kate threw me and our little soon-to-be-here baby a beautiful shower on Saturday. She’s got great style and good taste so of course her decorations and yummy brunch were top notch. It was too sweet to be loved on by coworkers and friends. I came home with baskets of adorable little boy clothes, toys and gear. It still feels strange sometimes getting ready for the unknown but man are his little treasures stocked away in his dresser and closet adorable. Today is Ben’s first almost Father’s Day. He got a “I’m the force that awakens you” Star Wars themed onesie in honor of the day, plus a tasty breakfast and dinner and an afternoon of grad school studying—hey, you can’t win ‘em all.

Any friend of mine who gets engaged promptly receives a omg-yay! package from me with a copy of “ A Practical Wedding ”. That book was great in centering my planning on our relationship and marriage versus shiny things and who should have to sit next to cousin Ken*. *Cousin Ken’s name has been changed to protect the innocent yet annoying. Now any friend who gets pregnant promptly receives a omg-yay! package plus “ Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn ”. Our doula loaned us this book and its eased our fears and informed/empowered us more so than the other books we bought. Beyond that book, here are a few other must-haves (for me) that I’d recommend: Clothes - The BumpStart Motherhood Maternity line - Old Navy maternity jeans/shorts - Fitted stretch maternity dresses - Croc flats Nothing knocks your confidence while you’re expanding like a HGTV show house than clothes that don’t fit. The BumpStart line at Motherhood Maternity sells sets of plain t-shirts and leggings great...

At my last doctor’s appointment my doctor told me to stay pregnant until week 35— “then you can do whatever you want.” Well here we are, 35 weeks today, in official whatever-I-want territory. Whatever-I-want is such a strange thought right now. Whatever-I-want is to wrap up this pregnancy adventure—skip the last five weeks of constantly feeling like I just dismounted my bike from a 10-hour ride and to be done with bathroom breaks every 15 minutes. Whatever-I-want is to be in our next chapter—to be past with the unknowns of labor and to meet the little guy who has been growing, kicking, stretching and karate chopping my internal organs. Whatever-I-want is also to stay right here in this spot—this spot where the discomfort and practice Braxton Hicks contractions I’ve been feeling are no big deal. This spot where Bub’s wild man in-the-womb antics remind me he’s safe and healthy, and where my body seems to know exactly how to care for him. This spot where the life and love Ben a...

Currently it’s NeoCon season for Steelcase. NeoCon is one of the biggest design conferences for commercial interior design. We have a big presence at the Chicago show every June—a swanky showroom promoting new research, new product and new thinking on existing product. For the web team I’m on the start of NeoCon marks the end of our busiest season. The new research, product and campaigns we tout at the event need various amouts of web content to support them. Even existing web content gets a facelift before the show. It’s all hands on deck to make sure our website shines. Here are a few NeoCon related web projects I worked on this year. Umami Lounge Seating This lounge product is a big part of our showroom this year. I worked with the product marketing team and design vendor to build the page using layouts that made the most sense for the copy and imagery. We were aiming to organize the content and images in a distinct way to tell a story about Umami’s modularity/custom confi...