30 Weeks with only 10 more to go!!!!

Well its hard to believe that I have reached the 30 week point!! Its going buy so quickly!! In 10 weeks we will get to meet this little one kicking, turning, and hiccuping inside me daily.  We are looking forward to meeting this miracle.  Things are getting harder and I am more uncomfortable these days.  Sunday I did the outside Christmas light with Kevin's help but he really didn't want me to do them.  I should have listened. My back was so painful I couldn't even walk I was in tears and had to crawl that night. I felt so much better the next day, but now I know that I am very limited as to what I can do.  Over all I am feeling pretty well, my energy has lowered but that is to expected.  Below is a picture of my belly as of today. I really think it looks like I have swallowed a basketball.

Below is a picture of a maternity top I had knitted this summer. It was a regular tank that I made larger to fit for maternity.  I may have shown this earlier in my posts, but it fits much better now!

I hope to have an update on some baby items for you in a few days!!!

A Visit with my Sister and her family

Normally on Thanksgiving we have a big dinner here at our house and Mom and Dad Sours come to visit.  This year with me being pregnant and not wanting to leave all the work to Kevin, we decided to go visit my sister, BIL, niece and nephew for Thanksgiving. The main reason we went is so my sister and I could get some quality time together which was much needed. The past 4 years have been nothing but stress and taking care of some issue either with health of a family member or some item that needed to be cared for.  It was really nice to see her and the family and relax and talk.  We all had a wonderful time. Thanksgiving we went to my sister's IL for dinner.  Then Friday the weather was so gorgeous that we spent the whole day outside. Kevin and Russ raked while Amy put lights on her bushes, and the kids and I played.  Then Saturday was even more gorgeous so we went for a walk on the Ocean City, NJ board walk and played putt putt.  That evening we visited Pat and Amy Costello and met Spencer. Sadly I left my camera at my sister's house and didn't get any of them. Sunday we went to my church then I helped my sister with her tree.  It took us 4 hours to cut lights off her pre-lit Christmas tree. Half of the lights she replaced last year and this year we did the other half.  We had a nice dinner and played games with the kids.  Monday we flew home. Kevin and I had a nice time and I am very thankful  I got to spend the long weekend with them. Below are  a few pictures I took while we were there.

Thanksgiving day

Dance Party and Dress up!

 Gertie

 

 The kids in front of their own special tree

Since we have been back I have been busy trying to get the house decorated for Christmas and doing my Christmas cards.

28 Weeks!!

Well I can't believe I only have 12 weeks left and I will finally get to meet this precious package who keeps kicking me!! Its all going so fast! I am excited but just can't believe it!  We have been to our birth class already and  I have 2 more in January. I had my 28 week appointment today and things seem to be going well.  The heart beat was in the 140s and my belly is measuring where it should be. Haven't gained any weight since I was really sick last week and didn't eat much!  Things seem to be going well so far!! I haven't worked on my baby blanket since I was sick this week.  Below is a picture of my belly at 28 weeks!!

 I will not likely post anything here until mid next weeks with Thanksgiving and we will be busy over the next few days!! I just want to wish every one a very Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you enjoy the nice long weekend with friends or family!!!

Nursery Theme and Projects

     Well, I figured it was about time I decide on my nursery theme, colors, and get it together.   After much searching it took me a few months to decide on a theme. Since we do not have a clue on the gender and it has to be neutral, its really hard to find something I liked.  Honestly, I have to say that I am more happy that we are not finding out the gender because I feel it took the nursery to a whole new level.  After much thought I started to wonder why do we have gender specific colors for our babies?  Do women only wear pinks and purples and do men only wear blues and greens?  It just started to make me think of how babies are treated so different and held to a  different color level then we are as adults.  If they could speak what would they say?  Any way, I then started to wonder why I would spend so much on crib bedding when I don't even spend that much on bedding for myself?  Why is it that retailers think the word "Wedding" or "Babies" gives them the right to jack up prices?  Now I am not trying to be cheap, I just don't see the point of spending that much money on something the baby doesn't really care about.  Lets face it, its for the moms, dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and everyone else you are going to show the nursery off to.  So after much thought and much consideration I decided to make 80-90% of the nursery decor myself.  I have some fabulous ideas and I am so excited to get started. First the theme.  I decided to do a nursery theme and I was first  inspired by this set which was labeled as gender neutral but looks boyish to me.

I fell in love with the concept of the alphabet theme and how the crib blanket looked.  So I went to Joanns and I bought some fabric. Now I didn't buy fabric for the borders at this point, I just bought the front panel, the colors for the letters, and the backing.  The fabric choices are pictured below.

Once I was finished cutting out the letters and decided to cut the top fabric, I stopped and stared for a minute.  As  I looked at it I noticed how pretty it was and I wondered if I really needed to do a border. So I looked on the internet some more to see if I could find something to inspire my thought. Here is what I found below.

I decided just to make the top one color and place the letters on how I wanted. So I cut my 37" x 61"  ( I had to leave some extra fabric for the binding. The blanket will be 36 x 60 when finished.  After cutting I pinned all the letters on and I am pretty happy so far.  The w is missing since it broke when pinning.  I will make a new one over the weekend.  In addition the yellow letters are hard to see in this picture.

Once the letters are sewn on I will then add some appliques to some of the letters of the alphabet. For example a kite to go with the letter k.  Once the appliques are on, I will sew the backing and attach the binding.  I am really excited to see how it looks when its all finished. I also have many more projects in mind for the nursery and will update you on them as I go. 

26 Weeks

Well, I am 26 weeks this week and this baby is growing like a weed.  From all the baby sites the baby should be about 14 1/2 " long and weigh about 2 lbs as of now.  I can feel it moving more and more. Although, I think the baby is worn out from mommy working out the past two days and is sleeping mostly, with a little movement here and there.  From what I have read the baby should be able to hear the conversation between Kevin and I , so I hope he/she will be able to recognize daddy's voice. Its so amazing how all this goes by so quickly.  It will not be long before I am holding this little blessing in my arms. I am so excited and can't wait to meet him or her!!!!!

A Visit with Mom and Dad Sours

Every year we have Thanksgiving at our house and have loads of  fun.  This year however, no one is in town and I really wanted to go to my sister's and visit with her family.  Usually, Mom and Dad Sours come to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Since we are not having it this year we decided to head to Smith Mountain Lake and visit with them for a short weekend last month.   Even though it was a short visit it was a nice time had by all.  I got to be lazy and relax a bit which was great since I don't get to do that too much these days.  Kevin and I learned to play Bridge.  I found it interesting, Kevin not so much but maybe in time he will learn to enjoy it. We had a nice lobster dinner at their house for Kev's graduation.  Saturday we all went into Roanoke and went shopping for maternity clothes. I have to I say I got some real nice things from things from a consignment shop and a really nice sweater and cords from motherhood maternity.  I don't know about the guys but I enjoyed it and I think Mom Sours did too, or at least I hope she did. Sunday we went to church. I got some really nice pictures before we went.  The first one is of the lake just after the fog lifted.

 
 Just looks peaceful doesn't it!!!  The next two pictures are right before church. The pictures look hazy due to the position of the sun.  I have to say I am not impressed with the picture of me at all, but I guess these days with being pregnant its hard to find ones you are excited about.

 

 

 Well, I will post an updated picture of my belly tomorrow. I just thought I would post about our visit. I will be posting more soon I promise. I have a lot coming up that I want to share with you!

Is there a contest for the world's largest carrot?

Well In my previous post you saw that we got our first snow storm.  We had heard there was a threat of snow and freezing temperatures so we decided to harvest the last few items in our garden.  The only things we really had left were leeks, carrots, and a few spare onions.  So Kevin went ahead and harvested our Garden.  He came in smiling and laughing at the carrots. So I had to rush over to see what all the fuss was about.  We had 3 really large carrots.  One of them broke as he tried to get it out of the ground, so that one is not in the picture.  How ever, I think we could have entered one carrot in the oddest carrot contest if there were such a thing.  I think the one on his left could have been entered into the largest carrot contest, is there such a contest? Tell me what you think!

 

I have no clue what we did differently this year except we started acupuncture with Chinese herbs. Many of these herbs went into the compost, if not all of them. I wonder if that is  was caused these carrots to look as though they are on steroids?  Last year we grew carrots and most of them were short and fat. We did have a few normal size carrots. So you can imagine how shocked we were to see these large, and Odd carrots.  So far the carrots are very tasty. I have heard people say they are going to be too meaty, but when cooked they are delicious and tender. Very tasty!!!! I would not change a thing, and hey the look on Kev's face is priceless!!!!