5 Things

I'm taking a cue from my sister and posting a "5 Things" post. I've always been a list-maker so it does seem appropriate.

1- I'm now 32 weeks pregnant...8 more weeks to go! I really can't believe I'm into the single digits as far as weeks left. Part of me wants Elliot her right this minute and part of me feels like putting the brakes on. Am I ready? Can you EVER be ready?

A pic of me at my first baby shower...at 32 weeks pregnant.

2- Christmas. Yes, it's already on my radar. As much as I LOVE Christmas, it's usually not on my radar til at least Halloween. However, this year it's occurred to me that I will have a 3-4 week old baby at Christmas this year, yikes! When will I Christmas shop? decorate my house? get Christmas cards out? In theory, I could be Christmas shopping now...but I'm just not in that frame of mind yet, ya know? Guess I need to GET in that mindset quick! Or let my husband do all the shopping...yeah right!

3- I'm nervously excited about getting back into shape after the baby. Excited because I do love to be healthy and challenge myself with workouts. Nervous because I've never had to balance the needs of a child in with finding time to work out. To add to that- will I have time to cook healthy stuff? I know from personal experience (and being a former chef) that finding recipes that are healthy, quick AND inexpensive is NOT easy to come by. All I can do is look at this as a challenge. It may be challenging, but it's not impossible. With all of that said...I'm going to enjoy my last 8 weeks of not really caring what I eat!

4- Elliot's nursery is ALMOST complete. With the help of the baby shower last weekend I finally have some baby "gear" other than furniture and bedding. There are still quite a few important things that I need but I do have another shower at church in about a week and a half...so I'll probably get some of those things then. Also- I guess because the nursery bedding has monkeys on it people ran with that for his clothing too. I got TONS of clothes for him with little monkeys on them! Poor kid's going to think HE'S a monkey! It's OK...he'll be a cute little monkey...but still, no more monkeys in this kids wardrobe for a while...til it balances out a little. I have a few more decorative things to add to the nursery and then I'll do a full nursery pic post...but it's not QUITE ready yet.

Here are just some Elliot's monkey-themed outfit

5- Fall is FINALLY here! I've been ready for it for weeks now. The house already has a little fall flair but now the weather is actually starting to follow suite, yay! I plan to celebrate by starting to cook some great soups...soups and stews say fall to my belly =) I've already found 3 or 4 on Better Home's and Garden's website that I want to try!

And that's 5! I hope everyone has a great week! Enjoy this wonderful weather!

Lattes and Cupcakes and Pumpkins, Oh My!

After all of the talk about Fall, my sister and I thought it was time for the rubber to meet the road, and actually DO some of the Fall projects/activities we'd been mulling over. I'm quite amazed at what we were able to accomplish in the 4 short hours that Rylie was at pre-school. Wow!
Our first stop was Starbucks for an Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte...same great Fall flavor, but definitely more appropriate for the still 90+ degree weather. 

(this is actually my sister's latte...forgot to take a pic of mine!)

 

Let me just say how crucial coffee with my sister on Wednesdays and Fridays has become. It happens come rain or shine...and I definitely look forward to it! I'm hoping we can continue with it even after "the boys" get here...but we'll just have to see how they feel about that =) Our next stops were Hobby Lobby and Walmart to buy supplies to paint our little pumpkins and the actual pumpkins themselves.
Our plan was to get the cupcakes going and then start on the pumpkins. This is the recipe that we decided to attempt today (also mentioned on my sweet cousin Jessica's blog). We had to make a bit of a crucial change when we discovered that NO ONE in Columbus is carrying canned pumpkin right now! Seriously?! Canned pumpkin isn't some kind of rare and exotic ingredient! However, because we still REALLY wanted to make them, we decided to substitute sweet potatoes for the pumpkin. Luckily sweet potatoes were a great choice! The cupcakes turned out delicious! Here are a few pics...

 

 

 

In between all of the cupcake madness, we each painted 3 really cute, little "pie pumpkins"...my sister is going to blog about the pumpkin painting, but I'll post one picture of my final products...

 

It's hard to tell the colors with my fabulous lighting and cell phone pic...but we used gold, pearly white, copper and black (that had a bit of a shimmer to it). 

Not sure how long these little pumpkins will last...but I'm going to enjoy them while they do! I DO have a feeling the cupcakes won't last quite as long! =) 

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend...any ideas for some more (inexpensive) Fall activities?? I'd love to hear them!


~Amy~

The Adventure Ahead

I had my 30 week doctor's appointment today. I was in and out in 10 minutes I think. I'm measuring right on target and Elliot's heartbeat was 155, right where it should be...and I was outta there! 

Lately though, I've been thinking alot about how drastically my life is going to change in 9 (or less) weeks. Don't get me wrong, I'm SO excited about my little Elliot coming...beyond excited. But, it's a major life change! What will his personality be like? His sleeping habits? How will Matt react to fatherhood? Will me and Matt ever be able to spend time alone again?  I've read nearly everything I can get my hands on about what to expect...from books to blogs...my brain is FULL of information I may or may not actually use...but somehow I think on-the-job training is just about the only way I'm going to learn the job of motherhood. 

So with that being said- I've decided not to worry about the details...they'll sort themselves out. I'm just going to take a deep breath and try to live in the moment. Enjoy my little boy, enjoy watching my husband become a father (he's going to be great!), kiss him and love him and soak up every precious minute of it. 

Life will never be the same again- and that's ok with me! 

30 weeks!

Just wanted to post a quick baby update! 30 weeks pregnant...I'm on the downhill slide I think. So far everything has gone SO smoothly with this pregnancy...and right now, the trend is continuing. Occasionally my back hurts, I get up 3-4 times a night to go to the bathroom...and I have acid reflux pretty much every day...but compared to some of the stories I've heard- I think I have it pretty easy. So I'm not complaining!

I've been horrible about not taking pictures during my pregnancy. It's not a conscious thing...it just doesn't occur to me to take a belly pic every week. SO- starting NOW, I'm going to try to take one per week til my Lil Peanut gets here =)

Please excuse the fact that the pic is taken with my sad little cell phone...and that it's in my bathroom (my only full length mirror is a wavy-like Ikea mirror, no good for belly pics). I am however wearing my Ode to the Great Pumpkin- Charlie Brown t-shirt. Can you tell I'm ready for Fall? Anyways- here I am...hope everyone has had a marvelous Monday!

(I think the hand-on-the-hip pose was an attempt to make my arm look skinnier...we're going to say it was to keep it outta the way of the belly though)

 ~Amy~

Fall Favorites!

So a blog I love to follow, The Patriotic Peacock, is hosting a Fall Luv Blog Party. Since I LOVE Fall I knew I'd have to take part. Here are a few of my favorites:

I know the Pumpkin Spice Latte is the IT drink right now...and I like that one too...but the Gingerbread Latte is still my fave.

Even though the seasons don't change drastically here in Ga...I still love fall leaves and that refreshing nip in the air...ahh.

Pumpkins and everything that has to do with Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations. If I had the money, I'd probably go SO far overboard decorating for Fall...it's probably best I DON'T have it to spend =)

Hearty fall soups...with a chunk of warm, crusty bread...doesn't get much better!

Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. I think it has to do with the fact that my (extended) family usually gets together on Thanksgiving and then is with our immediate families on Christmas. Plus- there's all the FOOD. And this year my little Elliot should be here by Turkey Day!

Those are just a few of my Fall faves.

P.S.- This IS my first blog post using Blogger...I recently started a blog...but on another blogging site. I like this format and set up a little better...so I just started over. If I was savvy enough I could probably transfer my old blog posts to this site...but I'm not that savvy yet. It's ok...i'm learning!