Thursday, April 24, 2014

Family Reunited for Wedding Fun - Week 33

After last Wednesday at the Tax Office, we packed up our bags and jumped on a plane Thursday morning to head to New York, then Canada, for my brother Jeremy's wedding.

The flight and travel was mostly uneventful. We landed in Albany and were picked up by my mom. We drove that night from Albany to Sherbrooke, Quebec to be on time for wedding festivities.


Friday morning we woke early and headed to the Hotel where the wedding would be taking place. Here we spent the morning decorating and setting up the room for the special event.

In the afternoon we headed to our friend's the Buchanans for the rehearsal dinner where Eric and I skewered kabobs and prepped salads for all the family and friends that evening. The dinner was such a wonderful time to meet all of my Sister-in-law-to-be's family, not to mention amazing food!


Oh and lets not forget the Meringue dessert!!


Our weekend "home-base" was Grampa and Grandma Strout. This was also a huge blessing as we got lost of time to sit around as a family and encourage one another through the busy days of the wedding. Also, we got to care for our niece Leah as her parents prepared to get hitched!


 Gave me lots of time to see Eric in "dad" mode! (He's going to be an awesome father BTW.)



The wedding was on Saturday and beautifully done as both father of the bride and father of the groom preformed the ceremony together. It was a blessing to see my brother SO HAPPY marrying the love of his life. 


Sunday morning we had brunch at Eggsqui - my favorite breakfast place - with Jeremy, Leah, mom, dad, and us. The most delicious food you could ever experience!

That afternoon we spent time with different family members we haven't seen in a long time. And Monday morning we headed back to New York where we dropped Eric off at the Airport to head back to Tampa and I got to spend a week with mom and dad seeing friends from around the area.

Week 33 was very eventful! Baby Roo handled all the stress VERY well. The only change this week was how quiet he was!! I think he's running out of space so he moves around a lot less. Our family was so blessed to have some time talking to him and seeing how much he's grown since Christmas.

All in all we had a great trip! And we're one week closer to the arrival of our little guy!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Time to get your Knowledge on - Week 32

This past Saturday, we took our first of many prenatal classes at the hospital. This one was a little brutal as it was 8 hours straight of  labor and delivery information. The morning covered mostly the anatomy of labor and delivery, how the body functions under the stress to bring a child into the world. The afternoon covered pain medications, complications, and the Hospital's procedures for L&D.

For the most part I found this class to be helpful. There was a lot of information and I'm sure I didn't take it all in. I think the most helpful part of the entire class was knowing HOW The hospital does things.

I had a great fear that once Baby Roo arrived, they would take him away to wash and clean then put him in a nursery for our entire stay. Thankfully we learned that this is NOT the case.

The Hospital is a big advocate of Kangaroo Care. Once the baby is born they will hand him directly off to me. They also do delayed clamping and will allow Eric to cut the chord. We'll get to skin to skin with little Roo for an hour or more and start feeding him as soon as we can. They also delay washing the baby as the vernix coating on the baby helps him adapt easier to our world as well as make his immune system much stronger.

Knowing we can choose to never have the baby leave our side is a huge comfort to my poor little soul. The class was great to help settle some fears and unknowns for me.

This week also marks the end of Tax Season!! I am no longer employed and loving it. Tax season was great for a little extra income, but I am so happy that this part of the year is over.

And now we are on our way to Canada for my Brother's big wedding day!! I'll write more about all that next week.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

A Jedi by Any Other Name - Week 31

This week baby Roo is the size of a Squash. This was also the first week I got a good visual of my baby boy (not an ultrasound)! He's currently head down and his feet have been up by my ribs. He decided the other day he wanted to push his little foot all the way through my belly and left a little bulge coming out my side. I laughed so hard I think he decided to move back to where he was.

I've been working really hard since my last OB visit to not gain much more weight. We made some significant changes to our diet, including cutting out more than half the carbs we eat on a daily basis. I was so proud of my efforts when my OB stated I had only gained 1 pound!! I still like my sweets and things but I eat a lot less than I used to and try to choose diabetic options to reduce the amount of calories I've been indulging in.

This week also marks the week we decided on a name. But don't ask us what it is - we're keeping it a secret until he joins us this side of the world! We've been test marketing several different names over the last six months and I think we've finally come to a combination that we both love and works well with our last name. I smile every time I talk to Roo and use his name... what a blessing it will be to have him in our lives!

As a side note, my father in law suggested we call him Jedediah, not only for the biblical reference but so that we could nick name him Jedi. The nerd in me almost couldn't resist! But then again - Roo might hold it against me the rest of his life.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Avenger Me!

Our friends David and Amanda are hosting an Avengers party today in honor of the new Captain America movie coming out. The day consists of an Avengers movie marathon then a viewing of the new movie this evening.

They asked that we bring "superhero" themed snacks - Challenge accepted!

I started checking out Pinterest but every snack idea that came up in searches were for DC superheroes and NO AVENGERS! WHAT? So I came up with my own ideas

Here what I came up with!


Hulk Jello Cups


Hulk Jello Cups

I drew the Hulk on each cup and filled them with green Jello!

Hulk Jello Cups

Thor's Meat and Cheese Hammer

I cut up Summer Sausage and Mozz Cheese and stuck a pretzel in them!


Captain America's Cupcake Shield

I made mini cupcakes and topped each one with colored icing red-white-red-blue. Captain America would be proud!

So take some inspiration - pass it on - and throw your own Avengers party!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Not Much to Go On... - Week 30

Week 31 has been 100% uneventful...

The week was mostly full of restless nights, lots of baby movements, and no projects accomplished. I think right now I'm at the point where I'm just waiting for things to calm down before we move forward on our plans.

In two weeks I will be done with Tax Season and we will be traveling to Canada for Easter weekend. My brother is getting married so we are excited to be able to go! After our trip is done it's time to 'hit the books" and get in all our maternity classes before Baby Roo comes.

Then it will be all over - and he will be here!

One thing that did stand out to me this week was my intense desire to hold our son. I was driving home from Awana's after a particularly frustrating evening and pulled over into a Laundromat parking lot to just cry for a minute (this has become a more regular happening in my life now). The only thing that kept passing through my mind was how much I desired to cuddle with our baby... that day will come soon enough!

Side note; I think this might be why expectant mothers rub their belly's so often. It's not that baby is kicking or we are in pain, but rather we're imagining holding the young one in our arms one day soon.

I do have to give a kudos to my amazing husband Eric. He has really stepped up and helped with my emotional moments of late.

So here we are, in limbo, waiting for the busy season to be over so we can crack down and get things done for baby!