Halloween Fun via Pinterest

In preparation for the month of October, I thought I'd share some cool things I've seen on Pinterest lately.

The perfect party invitation! {pin}

Serve up some bevies in a pumpkin! {pin}

Be creative with those little guys! {pin}

Who doesn't love a chevron pumpkin? {pin}

Or using your favorite cookie cutters instead of making a jack-o-latern? {pin}

Or heck, a complete pumpkin fireplace setup! {pin}

Feeling crafty?

Make a wreath out of tulle {pin}

Or paint some pieces of wood {pin}

Easy peasy!

23 Week Update

Old Image Removed due to Disgust

Here we are at 23 weeks! I may or may not have photoshopped this image.. so sue me! Maybe it's this ipad camera.. yeah, let's blame the camera bc honestly, I don't see that when I look into that mirror (and by that, i mean what you would've seen, had i used the actual original image).

Anyway!! We're still feeling great!

We had a doctor's appointment on Monday and baby girl's heartrate was around 150bpm. The midwife couldn't get a super accurate reading due to a wiggling little one. Funny that her heartrate is only going up, when they told me a couple appointments ago that it would start going down. We're measuring right at 23 weeks which is good and I'm assuming my BP and other levels are doing well.

Alex had a major milestone Sunday morning, he felt her kick for the first time! We'll be working more and more on that since the more she moves around now, the more I can feel it on the outside.

Our next appointment is in another 4 weeks and we'll be doing the Glucose screening as well as a normal OB appointment.

Things are definitely feeling bigger these days. I did play volleyball last Wednesday, which left my thighs a little bit sore but felt really really good to do some sweaty exercise. I hope to continue to play for another month or so until the bump really starts getting in the way. Sleeping is a little bit harder than before but nothing too serious. And the throat burn seems to have subsided which is good.

I'm thinking about teaching myself to crochet a baby hat, which could be interesting. This is the one that I like and also this little hat/cocoon set (though that's knitted, maybe I could just use the pattern from the left hat to make a longer hat to use for a cocoon). It can't be that hard, right?? Update: I believe Charmayne will be making these for me, so no need to teach myself something new! Ha! Just kidding, I still might do it. It's nice to have a trick up your sleeve every once in a while and would come in handy for baby gifts for my friends who just had or will be having a baby soon!

{pin}

{pin}

As per last week, nothing too crazy to report. Just counting down the days until we meet our little one!

Interesting..

Just some interesting tid-bits from yesterday/today..

Yesterday at work we had a biometric screening (to see if we're all overweight) to save us money on our insurance. I didn't know if they'd be taking pregnancy into account and they kind of did/kind of didn't.

The finger prick went well.. last year the lady squeezed the bejeesus out of my finger bc I guess she didn't prick it hard enough and the lady this year got lots of blood right away. Maybe it's because i'm pumping more through my body this year (thanks baby girl). Obviously, my waist size and my weight are going to be above average for someone of my height. This resulted in an over-exaggerated BMI. Obviously. They also told me that my LDL cholesterol is too high, my HDL is awesome and my triglycerides are great. Did you know, that pregnancy can increase your cholesterol levels? I just found out yesterday after I googled it because last year my cholesterol was normal. Interesting stuff. It couldn't possibly be all the ice cream i've been eating..... ha!

As I was waiting for my blood results to come back (2 minutes), the finger pricker lady asked me how far along I was. I said 5 months. She said, "wowww!" and I said, "I know, right" and I don't know if she was referencing my tummy size in a "woww you're huge" sort of way or a "woww you don't look 5 months" .. I'm going to go with the former. Regardless, she also told me not to sit with my legs crossed. Not because it cuts off circulation but because crossing your legs over and over again can wrap the umbilical cord around the baby's neck. I did not know this. And it's absolutely false. I googled it. I guess it's one of those pregnancy myths that people pass around as fact, like Mister Rogers (of Mister Rogers neighborhood) was a war veteran covered in tattoos which is why he wore sweaters all the time (this is also false, thanks wikipedia).

This morning I was taking my healthy survey (that follows the screening) we were asked lots of interesting questions to gauge how healthy we are, etc. Other then having to work on my cholesterol, I also need to work on the fact that I never get angry. I mean, I get annoyed, but rarely angry. I guess this is a bad thing. So i'll be working on getting angry sometime soon. This survey also didn't take pregnancy into account because at the end of it all, I needed to put goals to lowering my cholesterol and waist size. That should be easy when i'm not pregnant anymore.. cholesterol will go down and so will my tummy (eventually). Therefore my completion dates for these goals is in March. I just wanted a spot to write.. I'm pregnant, so this is skewed.

If anyone wants to read an article related to a healthy lifestyle, Alex found a good article on yahoo today, here is the link: The 7 Laws of Leanness

Have a happy Wednesday. I swear a Nursery post is coming soon. I already wrote it and now just need to add pictures!

Fabric Shopping + Victory Brewing + Brunch + Birthday Celebration

Very busy weekend. Definitely the kind I like except for the fact that the time flies by wayy too fast. (Sorry, no pictures!)

Friday night, Alex and I went to SKH to look for a birthday gift for Nick. We weren't successful but did get some grocery shopping in. We made a delicious mushroom risotto for dinner and spent the evening watching TV from the week. Mostly the new pilots as well as the new NCIS. Very relaxing evening.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early. We went to JoAnn Fabric with Alex's mom, Charmayne for quilt fabric. Alex did such an awesome job picking. I was still being indecisive and he put together some really nice ones that I really like. After JoAnn we headed to Intercourse to have lunch and hit up another fabric store. We found the last two pieces that we needed and choose a back color. I think it's going to turn out ah-mazing. I saw some other fabric there that I might have to go back and get to make crib sheets and to sew over the bumper that I bought for $8 at the consignment sale. After shopping we headed down to Downingtown to meet up with Alex's Aunt and Uncle (Debbie and Lynn). We had such a great time (as we always do) catching up with them and listening to their stories. Lynn shot a hippo! I mean, can any other story really top that? Who can say they've shot a hippo?! No one else I know. After spending a good deal of time at Victory Brewing Co, we headed over to a place nearby called McKenzies. They had a great beer selection as well, though obviously I didn't partake in more than a tiny sip or two. Such a great evening!

Sunday morning we met up with the Herr's at the Eden to have the best brunch available in Lancaster County. I won't even go into detail about the amount of food I consumed but I will say, it was delicious and filled me for basically the rest of the day (well, until dinner). After brunch, we headed to see Courtney and Derek and baby boy, Evander. Courtney is so amazing and she was just glowing when she talked about her baby and her experience. We are so happy for them and they're already proving that they're amazing parents to that lucky little boy. Evander is such a sweetie, he was sleeping when we were there but he looked so peaceful! That little one could be our baby girl's future boyfriend, we're prepping them early ;). After visiting, I took Alex to the farm so he could watch the Eagles game with his family. I had some errands to run and ended up stopping at the Jcrew outlet (score!) which I should really try to go to more often. They didn't have anything cute for kids but I did get a couple things for myself that will last through this maternity period. I went home to shower and then met back up at the farm so we could head to dinner for Nick's birthday. He decided on Saigon, which is a vietnamese restaurant that has the best pho in Lancaster (trust). It was delicious and light (after that monster brunch). After dinner, Alex's parents came back to our house to check out our garage door issue and to help take a dresser up to the nursery. I really need to get some baby hangers to start hanging some of the clothes that my sister gave me.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing, which is always how we like to end a Sunday. A little bit of time to mentally prepare for another work week!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

This is my normal go-to breakfast choice when we have bananas on hand.

The recipe is quite simple and takes minutes to put together.

Ingredients:

1 Banana

5-6 Strawberries (mine are usually small but whatever size)

1/2 or 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder or ground flax seed

3 spoonfuls of Plain or Vanilla yogurt OR greek yogurt for more thickness

2 cups of milk (i use organic skim)

Optional:

5 Ice Cubes (i do this when my strawberries aren't frozen to make it colder)

Directions:

Put it in the blender and blend. Doesn't get easier than that!

Variations:
Sometimes I do two bananas and some chunks of pineapple for a tropical version.
Or I use frozen sweet cherries and banana.
Really any fruit will work but having the banana in there adds extra sugar that you
would would probably miss if you just did a berry smoothie.

22 Weeks

Monday marked the end of week 22.

Things have still been going well. Over the weekend after dancing a lot at a wedding, my back was feeling it a lot. Mostly on Sunday and Monday. I'm back to normal now. I expect that after I play volleyball Wednesday that it will again hate me. I'm cool with it. At least I'll get some exercise in.

Not too much to report for week 22. I still feel normal other than the growing bump. She's moving around in there on a schedule which is nice. I've been trying to put my hand on the outside when she's moving on the inside so that I can try to direct Alex in the near future.

Alex spray painted the crib the last couple of days. And I think tonight we'll finally put it in the room (note to self, take a before picture). And maybe we can even set it up! We need to wait until another guy comes over before we can move the steal of a deal changing table I got from the garage since it's too heavy for me to help Alex move.

I'm still struggling a little bit with the fabrics for the quilt but I think i've finally found some that I like that all go together. And a pattern that I like. We're very grateful that Charmayne wants to make it for us, I think it will be one of our favorite keepsakes.

I basically feel hungry all the time and it's pretty difficult to make good choices all the time. I try to do my best though. Who can resist a double stuffed oreo? It just tastes so fresh!

Well that's probably enough, I can't really think of anything else too interesting to say about week 22. :)

Lobster, A Wedding & Baby Clothes

I lied in my other post that we were having Lobster on Thursday. We actually had it on Friday night. Alex went to Mr. Bill's Seafood market and bought two 2lb live lobsters and brought them home. We steamed them in the dutch oven, which was kind of sad, but surprisingly easy. They were accompanied by mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts. They were very yummy to eat! We spent the rest of the evening watching The Wire.


Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to attend breakfast at our neighbors before the East Petersburg parade (which starts on our street). After we ate, we watched the parade (it seemed shorter this year) and then went inside. I decided to go to the mall for a dress for the wedding we were going to attend later on and I didn't have anything to wear. First I went to the BonTon because they were offering coupons for donations. Their maternity section is tinier then tiny. After I tried on a regular dress, and found Alex's name tag from the morning stuck to my bum (thanks babe), I gave up on the BonTon. I walked a little ways up into the mall to the Limited and tried on a couple of the dresses that were on sale. I ended up getting one for $10 and a flowy top for $12, score! And some earrings for $10! I was so happy with the deals and that they were normal clothes that will allow for stretching!

When I got home, we got ready for the wedding and headed into Lititz for the ceremony. It was beautiful! I love weddings! Gretchen looked like wedding barbie. Her dress was amazing! We had a great time at the cocktail hour and then the reception. We sat with Derek and Courtney, so of course I was quizzing Court with tons of pregnancy questions since she's going to have her baby boy on Friday!! Woo!! Our drink of choice was Shirley Temples (yum)! We ate dinner, we danced to the music and had a great time! The DJs were great, which was to be expected since Eric is a DJ himself. The speeches by Jen and Mike were awesome! They did such a great job. Probably two of the best speeches i've ever heard! We had a really great time catching up with everyone. When we got home we hung out on the couch for like 15 minutes so Alex could have a snack and then we went to bed. It was a long day!

Sunday morning, I slept in until about 9:30am. It was lovely. The temp has been perfect for sleeping lately, even though we've had crickets in our basement that have been chirping nonstop and I knocked our fan a couple nights ago so it also clicks (i'm going to have to look at it today bc I can't stand another night with the clicking, also, Alex slayed the crickets this morning for me, what a gentleman, so no more chirping!) Anyway, I slept in. When I got up, I cleaned up the kitchen and headed to Home Depot to get Alex more spray paint for the crib. I got the wrong kind, turned around and got the wrong kind again! Ugh! So he is going today to get the right kind (hopefully) so we can get this part finished and put together in the room. This coming Saturday we're going to look at fabric with Charmayne and hopefully will be successful. We discussed again just going with one color instead of multi-color so I'm going to create some inspiration boards and such at lunch to work further on that theme so we can at least know something that we want by Saturday. I spent the whole day up at my parents house, going through Mak's baby clothes. I got two bins full. One full bin of just 0-3 and then another bin filled with half 3-6 and 6-9 and a little bit of 9-12. She thinks there's another bin, which there probably is, filled with 9-12 and beyond. That was a treat. Then I chatted with my parents for a couple of hours, which was really nice and we ended up going to dinner all together before I headed home.

It was a nice busy weekend. I love those kind!