{Guest Post} From a Father's Perspective

{I finally got Alex to do a guest post! I think you will all enjoy hearing a man's perspective on the upcoming arrival of a first child. It basically made me cry because it was so sweet! (that's right, i'm not a robot) Anyway, enjoy! And if we get a good turnout from this posting, that'll help me convince him to do more in the future!}

I am honored to be the first “guest” poster on my wife’s blog. While it took a little time and convincing for me to commit to it, I am excited to embrace the digital media platform and share my thoughts, experiences and feelings about the pregnancy and upcoming parenthood. Forgive me if this is long winded but I have over six months to cover.

To be honest, I know that Michelle and I have been extremely fortunate during the pregnancy. The only bumps in the road were some minor back irritation that has gotten better and she had a cold for two weeks.  She acts the same as her pre-pregnancy self.  On a more important note, there have been no health complications with mother or child. I cannot wrap my head around the stress, anxiety or emotions associated with health complications.  Up to this point in the pregnancy, worries and anxiety have been the last things on my mind. I hope the next eleven weeks will be just as smooth.  

While anxiety and worries have not consumed me, excitement, joy, amazement and love have been growing since I found out Michelle was pregnant. The most amazing experience to date was when I first saw her at 19 weeks. Seeing our child for the first time is something I will never forget. That experience filled me with emotions I have never felt before.  I instantly fell in love.  Another highlight is when I felt her kick for the first time. Another absolutely incredible experience!!! 

Another part of the reason for the overwhelmingly positive experience is the fact that I have always wanted children and had confidence in my ability to be a parent.  I have always loved being around children and playing with children.  Was this something I learned or something I was born with?  All I know is that it has been something in me since I can remember.  My belief in my ability to parent hasn’t waived, and this has made the experience very positive.  

I am excited to share my happiness and love with my daughter. I know it isn’t going to always be easy, but I know it is going to be the most amazing adventure. I can’t imagine sharing it with anyone else. Michelle has played a major part in how positive this whole experience has been. She has been absolutely amazing during the whole pregnancy.  Our daughter is going to have an amazing mother and raised in a house filled with love.

{isn't he the best?}

Sparkling Cranberries

Last week, I saw an awesome tree skirt on pinterest. The thing about pinterest is, most of the pins are actually from other people's blogs, which is pretty awesome because it's like a gateway to the world of the best bloggers. Obviously if you've made it onto pinterest, you've made it (light sarcasm but it's also for real!).

Anyway, from that tree skirt I started following The Johnston's mostly because she looks like a nice girl and she's also pregnant and I tend to follow nice girls, nice girls that are pregnant, or nice girls that are moms. I'll add a list of the sites I follow regularly on the side when I get a chance.

{Picture taken from The Johnson's Blog}

Anyway, while perusing her blog I saw these little babies. And I thought, those look delicious. AND easy!

So the next time I was at the grocery store, I picked up some cranberries since they're in the produce section right now. Alex was all "what are they for" and I was all "I'm going to sugar them up and we're going to eat them" and that's what we did. With some other friends joining in on the fun as well (of eating them, not making them).

They're insanely easy to make. Check out Ashley's blog for not only recipes but pregnancy updates and crafting and basic awesomeness.

Here's a link to her post on the Sparkling Cranberries. Seriously, try them you won't regret it.

Busy Week Kids

Feels like such a busy week already which is going to be flooding into a busy weekend. I enjoy it too, because that just means time is moving faster toward the holidays and then baby!

Let's start with Monday. We grocery shopped, Alex made tuna steak and brussel sprouts for dinner and then went to our Birthing Class where we learned about medicated childbirth. We watched another birthing video and then did the hee hee hooo relaxation breathing on the super hard floor. I did not enjoy this technique and I could not look at Alex while he was breathing with me. It made me laugh too hard. Imagine me laughing in a room full of other couples taking it seriously. I did a silent laugh but my body was shaking like crazy (it felt like)!

Tuesday, we didn't have to do anything that was scheduled. So we cleaned and relaxed and I printed out some envelopes for my baby shower. That was a pain in my rear end. The printer would NOT listen to what I actually wanted so it took over an hour! And Alex made yummy cabbage and beef for dinner.

Wednesday, we spent the early evening prepping for the Nowaks and McHenry's to come have dinner with us. Alex did all the cooking of the super delicious meal which consisted of stuffed pork tenderloin, roasted fingerling potatoes and sauteed broccoli. I helped with some of the prep, set the table and did dishes that he was done with. And finished my sparkling cranberries which I plan to share the recipe for tomorrow (yum!). So overall it was an amazing meal. And it was nice to catch up with the two couples and see baby Evander. He's growing up so fast already! He was super well behaved though and slept most of the time. He's such a little angel. Anyway, the girls watched Bad Teacher and the boys did.. boy things? Alex and I had a great time and hopefully everyone else did as well!

Thursday (today), after work we'll be doing more dinner prep. Then we'll head off with both sets of our parents to Womb with a View (again) to try and get some pictures and a better DVD. Baby girl is in a much better position currently and I'll definitely be drinking some OJ prior to going to the appointment. Then we'll have the parents back for a Chicken Fajita fiesta! Pumped!

Friday, we're celebrating 11/11/2011 with friends!

Saturday, Alex is working, then hopefully we can hit up Target real quick to register for our carseat and stroller since there's one so close by now in Lititz and then we're headed down to DE for Nick and Laurel's Wine and Cheese Party!!

Sunday, I have a baby shower to attend and some nursery projects I just have to finally finish!

I'll do my best to take pictures of all of these events (even if it's just a snap with the iPhone) so that these posts are a little less wordy! mmkay?

Look out for the Sparkling Cranberry recipe tomorrow. So delicious and seasonably appropriate!

Rug Fail

Welp, I talked about the new rug we got..

It's going back to the store. Despite the fact that the cats wouldn't stay away from it, it was actually shedding fibers all by itself. That's what I get for getting it from Home Goods I suppose but honestly, I'm not disappointed. I know we'll find a rug that I like better.

Anyone know a place to get cheap (but good quality) rugs? I like a modern style and won't do anything too floral or traditional. Thus begins an actual rug search. I'm thinking at least 8x10 feet now since we know the 6x8 or whatever that was didn't fit the room correctly.

We'll see if I can find one, rug shopping is tough, yo!

What's a weekend without..

..seemed like a good title. But i don't have the answer. Fun? Family? Shopping? Sleep?

Friday night we went and got me an iPhone. We didn't get the 4s because I couldn't bring myself to do it. I don't need Siri to do my dirty work, I can do it. And I don't need 8 MP when 5 is good enough. So a 4 is what I got. I'm loving it. It makes me want to text people because it's so much better than a blackberry in that regard. After we got the phone we hit the blockbuster box by the grocery store and picked up Limitless. I really enjoyed it. I think Alex found it entertaining as well. It's a good way to kill a couple of hours, that's for sure.

Saturday, Alex was up bright and early to help his dad put on a roof. I, on the other hand, slept in til about 10. It was glorious. I watched Grey's Anatomy on the DVR and thought about going to JoAnn Fabric to exchange the felt glue for more fabritac. This didn't happen. Alex arrived home earlier than I thought he would and we needed to go to the grocery store before heading to my parents. We hung out at my parents for a while, visiting for my mom's birthday. We had a delicious dinner at Carrabba's. That place is sooo good. I don't know how I fit all that food in my stomach. Dessert might have been the best part of the meal!


Sunday, we slept in. We're trying to soak it up while we can ;). Alex installed all the new fun stuff he got for his kegerator and then eventually went to the farm to see the roof and then to Dan's to watch football. I watched Private Practice and then vacuumed and then cleaned the vacuum. Fun! Then I finally hit up JoAnn Fabric and then the grocery store for a snack. My mom and Julia came down to do some shopping and I did some damage at AC Moore and Home Goods. Christmas decor in the Brubaker house is going to be awesome this year, I can just feel it! When I got home I watched Something Borrowed, which was a cute movie and then Alex came home. I took him to Home Goods to show him a rug that I liked earlier and we ended up getting it. I don't know how much I currently like it in the living room (i imagined it being bigger and maybe more square?) but we have a while until the return by date, so this is our little test drive. The cats have been driving me crazy with it already. They were smelling it and I am terrified they will 'knead' on it pulling up the fibers so much that we couldn't return it even if we wanted to. We ordered Bun salads from SaiGon cafe which were delicious (and filling) and then I wrote a couple of blog posts before hitting the hay.

Such a fun weekend but it went way too fast. Slow down weekends but speed up weekdays, amiright?

11 weeks to go!

Tomorrow marks the start of Week 29.

Baby girl is over 2 lbs and about 15 inches long. She's moving and shaking in there almost constantly which is quite exciting. She doesn't wake me up at night so I'm sure she's just sleeping along with me (hopefully).

Last week we went to Womb with a View to get a glimpse of her little face. And here's a picture from the DVD we brought home. Her face was shoved into my placenta most of the time, with her hands and feet in her face. So we're actually going back on Thursday for another visit (free, sweeet) to get some good pictures.

It was a really awesome experience that we shared with our parents, some of whom have never seen an ultrasound. We sat in a big room, I was in the back corner and the parents sat in chairs watching a big screen TV. Alex took some pictures of the occasion but I look gross in them so I won't be posting it on here for the whole world (potentially) to see.

We did come home with a 24 minute DVD. It's decent but I think I might ask for a redo on that as well.. Because mostly what you're watching is the tech switching from 3D to 4D back and forth which doesn't make for a great viewing experience. We'll see what they say.

In the picture to the left, you should be able to make out her eyes and nose. I think her mouth is open at this point, probably taking a practice breath or trying to drink some of the juice flavored amniotic fluid (since they made me drink a juice there). Oh.. I didn't mention she was sleeping the whole time, did i? She was. She would not wake up regardless of the juice and some moving and belly shaking from me and the tech. Deep little sleeper!

Things are still going well comfort wise. I've had some round ligament pain (stretching feeling in the lower tum tum) but something I just realized this week is that my back pain has gone away for the most part. Overactive days make it hurt a little bit but nothing like before so that's a success. I've also been getting more throat burn which I'm pretty sure is normal. Other than that.. things are still going easily.

I'm still living it up in normal clothing (other than jeans) and hope it continues. Still no news on the coat front but Alex is excited that he gets another coat.

I wish I could say I worked on Nursery Projects this past weekend but alas.. I did not. I did however buy some awesome stuff to make some christmas decor (pinterest style) and will share those as well. I need to get my booty in gear though with the other roman shade (I finally have more fabritac now) and the other projects I'm working on. When the weather is cooler and it gets darker earlier it just makes me want to relax under my super soft blanket on the couch. I'll work on it though!

11 weeks to go! Can't believe Thanksgiving and Christmas will be mixed in there somewhere!

Sunday Celebration

Sunday we celebrated Alex's mom's (Charmayne's) 60th birthday!

It began with a delicious brunch at The Stone Barn in Kennett Square followed by a visit to Longwood Gardens followed by a selection of appetite satisfiers and dessert at Nick & Laurel's apartment in Newark.

We had a great time of course and I should've taken a picture at brunch and at Nick & Laurel's but I didn't have the camera out, we were too busy having fun, obviously.

We did however take lots of pictures at Longwood Gardens so here they are! It was mum weekend or something of the sort so there were tons of different kinds of chrysanthemums in the conservatory. There was snow on the ground outside so pictures of the outdoors are limited. Enjoy!

Mums!

Also celebrating 35 years of marriage on this day

Our favorites :)

Spider Mums

Sweet parasol design on the ceiling

My favorite mums, I don't know their technical name.

Laurel & Nick

Passion Flower Vine