Fun Nursery Finds & Baby Pics

 Since I've decided on a red, yellow, white country theme, it's been much easier to pick out nursery things. Either the item goes with the theme or doesn't. But it also means a lot more things catch my eye now and I can't go too crazy buying things until I know where they'll go or how I'll use them.

nursery items

The old red glass piggy bank I found it at Goodwill for $1. It's scratched up on the inside but apparently it's pretty rare that I found it in tact since children actually had to break the bank to take their money out (no rubber plug on the bottom!). And it's adorable! This gal has one for sale on Etsy and she took much better pictures: http://www.etsy.com/listing/104630296/christmas-red-glass-piggy-bank-by-anchor#

Another white lamp, some antique milk glass vases (I found four 6-inch rosebud vases at Goodwill for 99 cents each!), and a wood box with red heart detailing. It needs some cleaning up too.

Then there's this little guy I found at an antique store for 50 cents. I don't know if it's an antique but it's tiny and pink! It's maybe 2 inches long and 1 inch tall. For 50 cents I couldn't resist.

We're in week 28 we've entered the third trimester! Crazy to think there's only 12 weeks (3 months) left! The first three went by so slowly - I felt nauseous, we couldn't tell anyone yet - it felt like forever. The past 12 weeks have sped past and now there's only a little while left! Yikes!

At church this weekend, I got a lot of, "You finally look pregnant!" comments... Welp, we're in the last trimester now so I'd hope so!!! :)

Anyway, here's the picture from last week:

27 weeks

Many of you didn't know but at the 20 week ultrasound, the doctor saw a small cyst on the baby's brain. I got the call about a week after the ultrasound. She said it was a developmental thing that sometimes happens around 20 weeks and not to worry about it. They scheduled us a second ultrasound for 6-8 weeks later to check on it and most of the time the cyst is gone but if it's not, we would have to go to a specialist in Grand Rapids. So, after about 15 minutes of freak out mode (she called me at work) I decided not to Google it or worry about it and just pray about it. Pray that in six weeks the cyst would be completely gone but if not, that He'd prepare us. It's really hard to pray those prayers "God, Your will be done," especially when it's something hard.

That being said, the ultrasound was last week on Wednesday. The tech asked if we knew the gender and we said yes, they told us it was a girl. Zach asked, "But you're going to check again though, right?" :) He was still holding out hope for a boy. But the first thing the tech saw when she put that wand-thing on my belly was her little butt and she said, "Oh there's no doubt about it; she's definitely a girl and she's showing it to us!" She even took a picture and labeled it "BABY GIRL :)" but I'm not going to put that one on here for her sake.

27 week profile picture

The tech tried to get a 3D shot but the little lady kept her hands and arms up by her face the WHOLE TIME! This was the best we got: hands and forearms with a little nose peeking through. I guess she wants us to have some mystery left!

27 week 3D picture

Immediately following the ultrasound I had to go drink the "glucola" drink for my glucose test (checks for gestational diabetes). It tasted like drinking a cupful of melted orange popsicles: super sweet and syrupy. Ick! My stomach felt AWFUL after drinking that and I sipped water for the next hour, bound and determined NOT to throw up and have to repeat the whole process over again....From there we went to our regular monthly OB appointment and then back to the lab for them to draw my blood. Only  two little vials this time and I didn't throw up after. :) Success!

At our monthly appointment, the Doc told us the results of the ultrasound and blood test wouldn't be in until Friday - and then she was going to be out of the office on Friday - so we'd have to wait until early this week! I was a little frustrated about having to wait for all that info but God decided this wasn't a time to grow my patience and they called the NEXT DAY to tell us the cyst was gone! Praise God! And I passed the glucose test! Phew! What a load of my brain!

Now all we have to do is keep praying she grows strong & healthy and there's a smooth, uneventful delivery in 12 weeks.

Love,

Sarah

Nursery Inspiration

Baby is growing, growing, growing because my belly is certainly starting to stretch! I can feel her move a lot now - and not just little flutters! There's the occasional kick or poke, but sometimes I'm convinced she's doing somersaults in there in preparation for her  future Olympic gymnastics career. :) Lately she has discovered my ribcage and loves to wedge herself up in there. She's kicked my ribs so hard that I've jumped a few times because it was so forceful! She's pretty active in the morning and at night so when I lay down Zach can usually feel her twirling around in there. Love that surprised, amazed, big grinning face Zach gets when he can feel her.

26 weeks

We have started the process of nursery setup. Seems crazy that such a tiny person needs a whole room but I think we will all sleep much better if she's got her own space. :) We decided to move the office stuff to the basement and make that room the nursery. We figured that would be the best option since we wanted to keep the guest room available for visitors. Plus it's a huge room and this little baby doesn't need a ginormous room with an equally ginormous closet. Ha ha!

 Zach got a carpet remnant and moved his desk and file cabinets downstairs. He also rearranged the futon, TV, and treadmill so he's pretty much got a mini man cave down there now. There's still a few bookshelves and also a gun cabinet that needs to be moved out. The bookshelves will go down in the new "office" to make it feel more like a room and less like a cement basement. The gun cabinet will probably end up in our room.

Our first project will be to paint. Since we're renting we don't want to do something bold or elaborate on the walls since the house isn't ours so we're going to go neutral (tannish-brown color). And when I say, "WE," I really mean "I" because Zach doesn't really have a preference about how this whole decorating thing BUT he will be helping to carry it out. :)

The second project is the changing table. It's a dresser that belonged to Zach's parents and has sat in the house across the road (in storage) ever since Zach stopped using it.

changing table - BEFORE

I just love this thing! Well, I love its potential. We're going to sand it, repaint it (red), and put a changing pad on top. VOILA! Free changing table that will be perfectly functional as a dresser as she grows.

A third project is this adorable little rocking chair. It was also in the house across the road and it's currently in my classroom. I don't have a picture of it but it will need the same treatment as the dresser - sanding and a fresh coat of paint.

I think that's it as far as projects go. Other inspiration includes this quilt at Papa & Grandma Thornes. I love the colors and patterns on it: red & white gingham and yellow with bitty red flowers. I'm hoping Grandma will be willing to make a small one just like it.

I guess you could say we are going with a country/rustic theme. Big surprise, I know. But now that I've got a theme it will be a lot easier to find little accent pieces, like this little white milk glass lamp I found at an antique store here in BR. (This isn't my photo, but the base looks just like it.)

That's all for now. I've got to head in to my classroom and wrap up a few things before the kiddos come back tomorrow.

Ugh.

I'm not ready!

Love,

Sarah

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

I followed this gal's recipe to a "T".

So just click on the link and do what she says. :)

http://www.bigmamashomekitchen.com/2010/10/mini-pineapple-upside-down-cakes.html

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Food & Family

Christmas Break started off early with a few snow days! I tried my hand at a few new dinners on those days. On Thursday, I made Taco Pie. The pie crust was taco meat mixed with crushed tortilla chips. The filling was spanish rice, corn, salsa, beans, and taco sauce. I didn't take a picture - and it's probably a good thing because it didn't look that spectacular. Brown and tan food doesn't photograph that well... BUT it did taste good!

Friday night I cooked up Chicken Caprese with Bacon.

Of course we had to add bacon because Zach loves anything with bacon.

I actually took pictures of this one as I went.

First, I thawed out 3 chicken breasts and put them on a piece of foil in a 9x13 pan. Then I brushed them with oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

Next, the recipe said to top with a slice of fresh tomato and a fresh basil leaf... well, I didn't have either of those so I had to improvise. I topped them with canned diced tomatoes (that I drained first) and then sprinkled about 3/4 tsp. dried basil on top. (*Tip: if you rub the dried spices between your hands before adding it to the dish, it brings out the flavor more!)

Then came the bacon. The recipe had me cook it in the oven for a few minutes so it was partially cooked but still flexible before criss-crossing it over the chicken.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until no longer pink. Top with a slice of mozzarella cheese and put back in the over for about 1 minute (until cheese melts).

I served these with a salad on the side. Delicious!

We celebrated Cook Christmas on Saturday the 22nd in Frankenmuth at Zehnder's. There was a little room reserved for us and they served us a delicious, family-style dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat very much of it because my stomach wasn't feeling very well. I think I ate something bad a lunch the day before and had an upset stomach for the rest of the day. It got worse when I was trying to sleep and woke up every hour until I threw up around 1AM. Ick. I hate throwing up. But I felt better. When I got up in the morning, there was a purplish-blotchy rash all over my chin and up around my mouth. It looked like a bad 5 o'clock shadow... I did my best to cover it with makeup but it didn't really help. I called a nurse friend and asked about it. Since I hadn't started any new lotions, shampoos, or medicines, she thought it could be broken blood vessels from the vomiting. That's what it probably was since there were broken blood vessels in my eyes too. If those are the after effects of one vomiting episode - I'm not thrilled about what might happen when I have to push out a baby in April... Anyways, it was great to see everyone and catch up with them. Aunt Linda & Uncle Wayne got us a cute box of baby socks, a baby outfit, and this adorable little lamb stuffed animal.

Here's a week 25 belly shot. I've been told that it looks bigger in person that in the photos - so it's getting bigger than it looks! :)

25 weeks

The day before Christmas we got a package from Candace with this adorable pink John Deere onesie and socks. This baby girl is loved. :)

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents and family. Here's a picture of Simba hanging out under their tree.

Christmas Cat

Christmas Day (morning) we spend with Zach's family. I got a few things I was really excited about! One was an iPad from Zach! It's great and I've been trying to find time to play on it and use it often. The second was the Pioneer Woman Cookbook!

I first started following her blog a year ago or so. I liked that she put pictures of each step of her recipes on the blog and she also included step by step pictures in the cookbook too. There is a breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, beverages, and canning section.

Later on Christmas Day, we drove to Farmington Hills for Thorne Christmas. We headed back home that night because Zach had to work the next day. My parents stayed a few days and it was a good thing they did because my grandpa ended up going into the hospital. He coughed really bad all night, nobody slept, and my dad helped my grandma take him to the hospital in the morning. They admitted him and put him on a lot of antibiotics and did a few breathing treatments and he started to get better. Doctors think it was bad bronchitis. All his symptoms were almost identical to what happened to him the day after Katie's wedding in June. He spent a few days in the hospital before they discharged him on Sunday afternoon.

Zach and I went to Livonia on Saturday the 29 for O'Neill Christmas. My grandparents live about 10 miles from there so we went and spent the night with Grandma then went and visited Papa on Sunday.

We celebrated Tyler's birthday by eating dinner at Pizza Hut then going back to Zach's parents for dessert and presents. Instead of giving him a gift card or big bills in cash, we took 27 one-dollar bills and taped them together then rolled them up and put them in a box. So when he opened it he kept pulling out more money. It was hilarious! And much more fun than a gift card!

Happy 27th Birthday!

We spent New Year's Eve at the Morse's house with a bunch of family and friends. Katie & Kyle came up from Illinois again and Rachel & Jared were even there too! (The only one we were missing was Amy, who went to a college conference called "Urbana" for a week.) We had people sacked out all over our house so I got up and made a big breakfast New Years Day before we went out to my parents' house to watch bowl games and play some backyard football. Pregnancy has limited the contact sports for me for awhile so I stayed inside. It was either that or stand outside and freeze playing referee...

Well, that's all for now. Next post I'll add the mini pineapple upside down cakes I made as well as some nursery ideas I've got rolling around.

Love,

Sarah