Wednesdays in the Womb: 20 Weeks

How far along: 20 Weeks ~ OVER 1/2 way there in my book :)
Net weight gain/loss: up 16lbs
Maternity clothes: Yes
Stretch marks: nothing new
Belly button: Out
Sleep: Any chance I get
Baby movement: YES! :) Nothing REAL consistent but on Monday night Husband reached over and starting pushing a bit on my belly and baby girl KICKED HIM BACK :) Two quick jabs and we both looked at each other amazed! :) I said DID YOU FEEL THAT!? :) He had! :) Such a neat experience :) I hadn't felt anything from the outside yet so AWESOME that her Daddy was the first one :) That is the BEST!
Food cravings: No and I'm a little disappointed. In fact last week some of the "carsick" feeling came back... come on now... I thought we were DONE with that...
Food aversions: Mexican and Husband cooking french fries in the oven.
What I miss: My "normal" clothes and I know it is WAY too early for that...
Looking forward to: The CountryRents coming home! :) I have projects...ooooo I have PROJECTS :)

Had an appt with the diabetic NP this week... A1C was 6.0 which she was really happy with. Last time it was 5.7 and I WAS really happy but she thought I was having too many low blood sugars so this one made her more pleased. My sugars are more consistantly good vs. a lot of lows... we'll take it... baby is happy and healthy and that's what I work for everyday... She was so happy I don't have to see her again for another SIX WEEKS! What a difference this time :) Yahooooooooo

Warm SUMMER? Days

The weather here in Northern New England has been OUT OF CONTROL for this time of year... 70's - HIGH 80's in March is UN-HEARD of... Global Warming? Yes please :) We have been taking advantage of the sunshine with no bugs! :) the best part! We had to go to a wake on Sunday that was very close to this beach so we just headed there after to enjoy the sand, sun and some outside time before dinner... Mostly these pics are to try and get Nana home QUICKER :)

Don't get the "chucks" wet!!! :)

My LOVES!

ah.... paradise... at least as far as my girl is concerned. This is her ULTIMATE FAVORITE place in the whole world... the swing AT the park. :) She LOVES it. Leaving the park...eh... not so much her favorite thing to do :)

Sweet eyes...

And the park is SO much better when our FRIENDS ARE THERE!!!! Lil with Charlotte in the background :)

and just because I can't.resist.him. Lookin' like he's stealin' his sister's bag 'o snacks while she takes a potty break... His smile is to DIE for! :)

Next week "they" say we are back to the 50's which is "normal" so for now... we'll wear summer clothes and enjoy the outside while we can. :)

Baby GIRL 2.0

Mama H brought up an interesting point... what will the NEW baby girl nickname for the blog be?

Do you know how few and far between cartoon/famous GIRL mice are? Husband assures me that Jerry (as in Tom and) had a girlfriend but no where on line could I find her name...

So the options were limited but I AM really fond of this one... I own the "Rescuers Down Under" and who DOESN'T love Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor? :)

So... from now on... it will be Miss Bianca or probably just Bianca for short. :) I can only PRAY my baby girl has eyelashes like this one :) and I assure you... while a lovely name for some...Bianca is NOT on the "list" :)

*img source

Wordless Wednesday: I love my "goose"

Gender Reveal Party

It was JUST as much fun as we had hoped! :) We had an AMAZING turn out and most stayed to BBQ and just hang out after the cake cutting. What a BLAST :) The DELICIOUS cake made by "Yiz's" Mom. It looked AND TASTED so good! :)

Try as some might (Mama H!!!) there was no seeing through that frosting. :)

Family votes before the party guests arrived. My loves were all BOY. Don't knock Minnie for her pants, she didn't have anything else that matched :) She has been saying it was a BOY for weeks. No deterring her. Husband... well.... would you expect anything less? :)

Mama was all on her own... but I truly had NO.IDEA. :)

Once everyone arrived I took "Team Green"...

and "Team Pink" pictures :) Special shout out to Heather O for grabbing my camera at this point to take pics. THANK YOU!

Cutting into the cake we could see NOTHING...

Until we took the piece out and saw the pink on the bottom! Tricky cake maker :) Showing the CountryRents in GA via Skype. What would we have done YEARS ago?? :)

I can't believe it. (but I would have said that even if it was green :)

As usual our friends and family go above and beyond in the food department. YUM YUM AND MORE YUM! :)

SUCH a fun way to celebrate this new baby girl :) We are so excited and NOW... Husband will FINALLY start talking NAMES with me! :)

IT'S A....

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it 4:30 yet?

Dear Baby ~ in just a few short hours we will cut into a cake to see if you are a boy or a girl in my belly right now. I am over the MOON excited about this! I am so thrilled to be able to share the fun with our family and friends and I LOVE how no matter WHAT everyone is just beside themselves with the anticipation.

I wanted to get these thoughts out to you before we even know. Daddy and I HONESTLY do.not.care. one way or another. For real. We prayed and prayed for healthy and to us, that was REALLY all that mattered...

We would LOVE for you to be a boy... to carry on your Daddy's last name and so that I could get that "special mother/son" bond that people tell me you just can't explain. We'd love to watch you play "boy" sports and only have to pay for a rehearsal dinner. :)

We would LOVE for you to be a girl... to be a sister to Minnie, you girls could share a room forever and we would literally need to buy...NOTHING. :) Your cousin and sister would take care of all that for you. We would love for Daddy to be able to coach YOU as well as Minnie.

No matter which way it goes this afternoon, God has the plan and design for our family already worked out. What a peace and reassurance we can have knowing that He is in control.

That being said... Daddy's wearing green... Mama's wearing pink. Guess we'll see who's right. *wink*

It's a HEALTHY....

BABY! :) We can't WAIT until Saturday at 4:30!!!!

Had a "little"... like left the U/S and went to the RN appt without the gender... Baby was cross legged with the cord between its legs... our poor U/S tech was SOOOO disappointed. She felt TERRIBLE. We tried to assure her, "you told us our baby is healthy, that is ALL that matters right now. You did a GREAT job today. Our friends and family will just come and BBQ and we'll find out later...." :) but that didn't really fly because she checked in with another tech who said "I'll give it a try after the RN visit"
The next tech was quick to see as baby had changed positions and I got the sweet lady who is making a cake for us (Yiz's Mom) on the phone. Handed it off to the tech and she left the room with my cell coming back to say "YOU'RE ALL SET! :)" :) Have fun! :)

SO the party is on. We are thrilled with the good news on our babe ~ and were even MORE reassured by the RN who said because of Baby's position the 1st tech was able to see a LOT of views of the heart which rules out all KINDS of things so they were super happy with that.

I have updated Wednesdays in the Womb as well.

BIG goings ONS

Last week was a HUGE transitional week for Minnie ~ and us. I think she turned 10 overNIGHT. On Tuesday AM she bit through the side of her 2nd to LAST and not quite favorite but pretty close... bink. I told her it was unsafe now and we had to throw it away. She was ok with it. Wednesday EARLY AM she woke up crying in the middle of the night... 1ish? Husband was able to go in and settle her quickly (a gift I.do.not.have.) but at 3AM she was screaming again. Weird. That is NOT my kid. Because we only had a mere 2 hours of sleep left before the alarm we did something we, in 2+ years have NEVER done. Brought her into bed with us... She slept great. Us.... not so much. :) But when she woke up, with her FAVORITE bink, sitting in our bed... she again... bit through the side of it. I decided then and there... we were done with the bink. SCARY. Thankfully... after the rough night sleep and making a decision like that, we headed off to Mom's Prayer :) I can't TELL you what these girls mean to me :) but they just covered my girl in prayer to be strong and make it through nap, nighttime and the next few days. She did. We are BINK FREE!!!! Still a little rough sometimes when she is going down for her naps and to bed for the night... tears for less than 5 minutes but she doesn't even ask for the bink. I think it is just because she doesn't know how to settle without it. She'll get there. Big HUGE deal in this house where my girl has had a bink from LITERALLY day 1 of her life. :)

The other NEW thing she is doing...is "WIMMING WESSONS with Headder O'Mirror" :) She LOVES LOVES LOVES it! We knew she'd have so much fun but we just were not sure what she would think about a pool INSIDE...

she didn't miss a beat... water is water to our girl and she jumped RIGHT in :)

The "funniest" part for us was leaving MIL's house where we have to drive past Heather O's house... Minnie immediately welled up with tears and started to cry... I asked her what was wrong and she said... "I go to wimming wessons at Headder O'Mirror's house!!!!!" :) poor thing knew who her teacher was so why WOULDN'T they be at her HOUSE :) I quickly explained they were not in "Headder's tub" and we had to go to her WORK... :) Ah... the way those little minds work :)

Wednesdays in the Womb: Week 18

How far along: 18 Weeks ~ well... I am... and so is the little peanut next to me in the purple stripes... 27ish weeks for the one in white and 35/36ish for the REALLY she is almost "full term" in the pretty pink :)
Net weight gain/loss: up 16lbs
Maternity clothes: Yes and that's a whole story in itself. Thank GOODNESS for friends that have went or are going through the wardrobe issues at the same time and a mother who doesn't even blink at her daughter calling her all.the.way. in GA to RANT about spending $$ and nothing CUTE out there. RAH.
Stretch marks: no more than before
Belly button: Coming out
Sleep: Any chance I get
Baby movement: Same: I don't THINK so but maybe... feeling something when I'm really still and paying attention
Food cravings: Sweets and Salad still...
Food aversions: Mexican and Husband cooking french fries in the oven. Called in a favor to SIL L this week, Husband wanted to bring them for lunch the following day. I called and asked her to make them and send them with Daws... worked like a charm. She didn't mind and my house didn't REEK FOR DAYS. BARF the smell of french fries in my house!
What I miss: My "normal" clothes and I know it is WAY too early for that...
Looking forward to: "Big" ultrasound that is scheduled for THURSDAY :) Praying for healthy!!! WE won't find out gender until Saturday when we cut into a cake that is either dyed green for a boy or pink for a girl! :) at the SAME TIME the rest of our family and friends find out. Super excited and I think it will be SO fun! Heart rate on baby this week was 146...makes me almost change my mind...

What's YOUR guess?

It's a big 'un

Everyone has gotten a "big" blogger birthday shout out but I thought this year Dad needed another one... after all... you only turn 60 ONCE right? :) Unfortunately for US he is away this year on his birthday... so WE... don't get to celebrate with him...

but SHE does :) They have been doing missions work and are now traveling around enjoying each other, their friends, family and warmer than up here in Northern New England weather :) Speaking of missions...

I thought my proudest moment EVER of my Dad was watching him stand next to Pastor Pickard at Pastor's retirement party. I knew that my Dad had been one of a select few to be in service next to a man I loved and admired for 19 years and I thought that was pretty neat.

Until... this past year. And I've watched him LEAP out of his comfort zone and start working with Samaritan's Purse. And he's addicted. To THE LORD'S WORK. :) This... might be my proudest moment.

Thanks for the example, the love, the support ~ emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually and we wish you the HAPPIEST birthday! Love you!!!

The face....

of bronchitis...three days of antibiotics and THANKFULLY we are not "contagious" :)

A post for Heather F :)

On Saturday my girlfriends and I are getting together to "make" freezer meals... You make (in this case 7 meals) and take home your own meal and 6 others for your freezer... Heather F is coming to "scope" out how this all works and since I made mine ahead of time in my own kitchen (vs. using the church, which MIGHT not have everything I "need") I took pics for her! :) The assembly of SEVEN, white veggie lasagnas. TracyMichele... look away. There is so much dairy in here your belly will hurt just from looking at the pics :)

Homemade Alfredo sauce and the biggest stainless steal bowl I have filled with the "filling" (spinach, cheeses, spices and eggs to hold it all together) lasagna noodles, more cheese and veggies to fill the lasagna with...

In order to make sure I had enough filling for each of the 7 lasagnas I separated it out into 6 pie plates... more dishes but made it easier for me to make sure it was "fair" and that I had enough.

The first finished product.

They are all covered in foil with instructions on them and freezing in my chest freezer for Saturday, next to the pre-made cookie dough balls I have to go with. Because if the oven is going to be going, you mine as well bake cookies at the same time :)

I started in the kitchen at 8:30 and finished (meaning, dishes washed and taken care of, supper made for tonight, and multiple trips to the basement to get all the casseroles IN there) sat down with my own lunch at 1PM. Kinda time consuming but nice to have it all done!

See Heather... NOT.THAT.BAD. :)

p.s. I should also note that Minnie was off plowing with her Daddy so I did not have a two year old "helping" :) Made it go a bit quicker I think :)