7 Months - 28 Weeks




Wow!  Where has the time gone?  It scares me to think that only yesterday it feels like we were reading the positive pregnancy test and I was thinking ten months seemed a long ways away.  What scares me most is that I know if time flies being pregnant I can only imagine how it flies when you have a child.  It seems like only yesterday my niece Emily was born, and she'll be five in a couple of months!

I have definitely grown the last four weeks!  I keep looking at myself in the mirror wondering if this is really my body.  Pregnancy is such an amazing thing.  I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how many pregnant women you are around in your life, when it happens to you, it's totally different! 

We begin our birthing classes this evening and I'm really excited.  I've been reading like crazy and am eager to feel even more prepared for the birth.  In my eyes, you can't ever be too prepared, especially for something as important as this!

I feel our little baby move multiple times every day.  Did I say multiple?  Because this little person LOVES to move.  It's so amazing and I love that Zach has also been able to feel the baby's movements a couple of times as well.  We definitely have a pattern down.  This little baby wakes up like clock work at 12:30 and 3:30 every morning.  He/she also is very active in the morning after breakfast, during the middle of the afternoon, and in the evening before bed.  Let's hope we stick to this schedule after birth! :o)

A Baby Shower, A Birthday, and Mother's Day x2!

Last weekend was the first of many busy weekends this month.  Due to the busy month, and the outrageous gas prices right now, my family squeezed all of our events for the month into one weekend. 


A Baby Shower
We began on Saturday afternoon.  My mom hosted an absolutely perfect family baby shower at her house.  Everything was wonderful, the food and tea, family, and games.

My sister designed these adorable invitations.  She also made onesie cookies that turned out SO cute and yummy!



Jack LOVED playing with the balloons.  He thought it was hilarious to look through them and see everything in orange!

I'm not a big shower game person, but we played a couple of fun games...

Write down as many nursery rhymes as you can in one minute, and match the baby socks game.

Emily was a great help opening all the wonderful gifts from everyone!



A Birthday

Saturday evening we celebrated my dad's birthday.  My sister, the kids and I took him and Patti to our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Casita.  Emily brought a special birthday hat for her special grandpa.

Mother's Day

Emily and I stayed the night at my mom's house on Saturday night.  We woke up early and began preparing a special Mother's Day brunch.  When my mom and I told Emily it was a special day and we were making a special breakfast, she sweetly asked, "Does that mean we can order anything we want for breakfast today?"  We both smiled and answered yes.  "Ok, I'll have french toast with butter and powdered sugar!" She excitedly replied.  I LOVE this little girl!  She is absolutely precious.  My mom got started on her french toast while I began our menu for everyone else: poached eggs, toast, bacon, and fresh berries.  This is my mom's, my sister's and my favorite breakfast.  I served Emily her breakfast in bed.  She thought this was wonderful. 

When Anne, Bryan, Jack and Charlie arrived we ate our delicious breakfast.  Jack decided he also needed a special breakfast tray like Emily's.

Emily then gave Anne her special Mother's Day present.

After a wonderful morning, I headed back down to Fall City to begin preparing dinner for Zach's family for a Mother's Day celebration.  Unfortunately, I was too busy preparing food and entertaining and forgot to get my camera out to take pictures.  We had a great time and stuffed ourselves with lasagna, salad, bread sticks, and apple tarte tartin.

This Mother's Day was especially memorable for me.  I can't begin to explain the emotions and feelings that come with knowing in a few short months Zach and I will have our own little baby.  We are both SO excited and nervous at the same time.  Family is so important to both of us, and we soon will have our own little perfect family!  We have truly been blessed by God, and feel so fortunate.

  

Cake Pops

I had a cake pop for the first time at my friend Tiffany's baby shower.  They were delicious!  Anne wanted to make them for my shower this summer so she did a trial run for Easter and they were delicious!  I decided it was my turn to try them out.  They turned out great and were super easy!  I like that they're so small, just a couple of bites.  If you want to give them a try here's how:

Things you'll need:
1 box of cake mix (plus ingredients to make it)
1 can of frosting
1 bag of white chocolate chips
1 Tbls. canola or vegetable oil
sprinkles (optional)
lollipop sticks (you can find them at Michaels')
a piece of styrofoam

Make the cake according to the directions on the box.  Let it cool.  Once it has cooled crumble the cake into tiny pieces.  Add about 3/4 of the can of frosting and mix until well combined.  Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Make about 1" sized balls with the cake mixture and put them on the lined cookie sheet.  Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for one hour.  (I found that 1 box of cake mix makes about 30 cake balls.)

After about 45 minutes begin melting the chocolate chips.  I think the easiest way is to melt them in the microwave.  Put them in a 2 cup glass measuring cup with the 1 Tbls. of oil.  Begin by heating them for one minute on high.  Stir, and then repeat in 30 second intervals until they are completely melted and smooth.  After each 30 second interval make sure you stir them well.

After an hour in the freezer, take 4-5 cake balls out at a time.  Do not take them all out at once.  I made this mistake!  They start to thaw and the chocolate doesn't adhere to them as well.  Stick the lollipop stick into one side of the cake ball and push it through until it is about 1/2 way up. 

Then dip the cake ball in the melted chocolate.  Roll around above the chocolate, letting the excess run off.   

Immediately dip the cake pop into the dish of sprinkles before the chocolate has completely hardened.  Stick the cake pop in the styrofoam.  

Continue with the process until you have completed all of your cake pops!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms in our lives, and especially to these two extra special moms!

Easter Weekend

We started our Easter weekend out on Friday.  We drove up to Mount Vernon in the early afternoon.  When we got there Zach spent over three hours pressure washing my dad's driveway for him.  While he was doing that, I went with my sister and the kids out to the tulip fields.  I haven't been in a couple of years and really wanted to go this year.





Emily thought it was fun to splash in the giant mud puddles, while Jack stayed clear of them saying, "Ewe!" every time he came to one.

Charlie kept trying to eat the tulips every time Anne tried to get a picture.

After the tulip fields we stopped by Schuh Farms to see the animals.

Charlie and I LOVED this goat.  It reminded Anne and I of my goat, Sugar, growing up.



Friday evening we celebrated Zach's birthday at my mom's house.  Zach and Bryan had a whiskey and coke to celebrate.  Friday night we had to go pick up the RV from Camping World from having work done.  This meant that I had to drive the RV from Camping World to my dad's house.  By the time we got to Camping World and got hooked up it was 8:00 pm and dark.  I wasn't scared until I got behind the wheel and realized that I was over 40 feet long with the Expedition and trailer!  I decided to take the back country rodes because I was too scared to drive on the highway with all the cars.  I didn't realize when I made that decision that the back roads were VERY poorly lit and there was little shoulder on the side of the road.  Zach was a great coach and guided me the whole way.  We made it safely to my dad's, got unhooked, and settled in.

Saturday morning we woke up early and Zach began pressure washing again.  I drove into town to help my mom watch Emily and Jack while Bryan and Anne took Charlie for his check up appointment in Bellevue.  I took Emily and Jack to their house and we made some Easter cookies.

 

 

 

I then headed back out to my dad's for a BBQ.  As usual we ate and ate, and then played some outdoor games.

Zach found a new favorite: a hotlink in jalapeno cheddar bread with ketchup!

Zach and I had gotten pedicures earlier in the day and Emily decided it was her turn.  The only color I had in the trailer was bright blue left over from fourth of July last year, but she had no objections.

Sunday morning we all went to mass and then met up at my sister's house for our annual Easter brunch.  Emily, Jack and Charlie opened all of their special Easter baskets and gifts.  Emily then read from her special Easter book she had made at preschool.  It was so precious to listen to her tell the story and real meaning of Easter at four and a half years old.  It melted my heart to think that some day we'll have a little one doing the same thing.

The Easter bunny brought Zach and Bryan special presents as well.  If you've seen the movie Step Brother's you'll be able to enjoy the humor behind them.  If not, you'll be able to enjoy the humor behind seeing two guys in their 30s wearing matching outfits!

Then it was time for the real fun to begin!  A few years ago Anne and I started the tradition of doing confetti eggs.  Each year we begin blowing out the eggs in March and saving them.  We then spend the Saturday before Easter making dozens and dozen of confetti eggs.  We die the eggs, fill them with little bits of cut up tissue paper, and then cover the hole at the top with a larger piece of tissue paper.  Then it's time for the cracking to begin!

While Emily enjoyed cracking them on my head, Jack enjoyed stomping on them on the ground.  I tried to get him to crack it on my head, but he didn't like that idea.

We ended the morning using the bubble wand to make giant bubbles.



Finally it was off to my Grandma Toddy's house on the hill for our annual Easter lunch.  The kids got to find their Easter treats down in the basement just like we did when we were young.  We had a great afternoon with family before heading home.  It was a great weekend!