Fast Forward

Fast forward a few weeks and here we are at 32 out of 40 weeks! Wow! That's eight months! Months eight and nine are left to go and my belly's got a lot of stretching to do during that time...

I would have kept the belly photos coming but both our laptops quit working. Mine died about a month ago. When you turned the computer on, everything would start up/wake up like normal except the screen didn't work. We took it to a local computer place and still haven't heard back - I'm guessing it's bad news or else they would have contacted us sooner. So when the same thing happened to Zach's laptop a few weeks later, we said, "Forget the local place. We're taking it to the Apple Store." And we're SO GLAD we did! They had great service and we had our laptop back all fixed, cleaned, and shined up in THREE days! Now to get mine back and take it to Apple too. Hmmm.

28 weeks

29 weeks

Somehow I missed a 30 week belly photo, but you get the idea - it gets bigger each week.

31 weeks

She wiggles and squirms in there just about all day. She's had the hiccups several times! :) Her favorite spot is under my ribs on the right side. Which I think pushes some other organ out of place because I've been getting an annoying pain in my back/shoulder muscle on that side.

It's starting to get to an uncomfortable point - it's hard to tie my shoes because I can't bend over so well. Sleeping is getting harder for several reasons 1. side sleeping is my only option and I haven't found a good pillow to prop the belly up yet so it sags and feels weird and 2. I have to go to the bathroom more often oh, and 3. I wake up SUPER hungry. In all honesty though, I really can't complain much. I'm not nauseous and vomiting, my ankles (or other body parts) aren't swollen, I'm not on bedrest, and she's healthy.

I do find it interesting that I'm touching or pushing on my stomach all the time now. I used to wonder why pregnant ladies were always touching their bellies and now I know. For one, the belly is just in the way of all the old places you used to put your hands: in your lap, on your hips, arms crossed. And now when you do those same motions, you touch the belly almost by accident because it's just there. The other reason I keep touching my belly is to try to move her pokey little body out from under my ribs! She's constantly in there and it hurts! The only problem is that when I try to push her, she pushes back - which hurts even more! I'm hoping this is not a sign of what personality type she is going to have...

Enough baby talk for now.

My best friend, Candace came up to Michigan from South Carolina last weekend to visit for the weekend and come to my baby shower! (I'll post some pictures from that later.) Her connecting flight from Cincinnati to Grand Rapids got canceled on Thursday so she had to spend the night in Cincinnati then fly out Friday morning. It all worked out okay and we were still able to meet up with some of our college friends for lunch! We all went to Michigan State and were in Spartan Christian Fellowship together. Some of us lived together our junior year. We live all spread out too but it worked out that day to all meet in Grand Rapids.

Candace holding Liam & Addy

Candace & Liam

Now we're all at different stages: dating, married, expecting, and almost one-year olds! I love these ladies so much!

Carlyn, Sarah, Sarah, Candace, Lo

One last thing, while Candace was here, I made a version of grilled cheese that Zach and I tried awhile ago. It's called Turkey Pesto Grilled Cheese and if you like pesto then you will definitely like this twist on a regular old grilled cheese!

Turkey Pesto Grilled Cheese

What you need:

• bread
• butter
• sliced provolone (or mozzarella) cheese
• sliced deli turkey
• pesto (about 1 tablespoon per sandwich)

What you do:

1. Butter one side of the bread just like you were going to make a regular old grilled cheese.

2. Spread pesto on one side of the bread (opposite of the buttered side).

3. Place a slice of provolone on top of the pesto.

4. Warm up the turkey a bit by putting it in the pan you are going to cook the grilled cheese on for a few seconds. Trust me - if you don't, you'll wait forever for the turkey to warm up while it is cooking and risk burning the sandwich. OR you eat it with cold turkey in the middle.

Place the warm turkey on top of the provolone cheese.

5. If you love cheese, put another slice of provolone on top of the turkey.

6. Put the second piece of bread on top and put the sandwich on a griddle or in a pan on the stove until both sides are crispy and golden brown.


That's all for now!

Love,

Sarah

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

Belly & Buckeyes

Most people in the area planned on a snow day Friday due to this big winter storm/blizzard thing - and they have already called it off in most places. But today was a little bit of a surprise! We got a snow day today too! My school called it kinda late (6:30AM-ish) but apparently it was bad out there. Big Rapids Public Schools didn't close in the morning and ended up closing down early and sent kids home at noon. 

I spent my day doing things around the house. It's days like today I wish our dog could come in the house and keep me company! Since we're renting and the lease clearly states "No pets indoors," and our landlords live right across the road :) , we can't really break that rule. Junebug had to stay in her kennel in the garage. 

Even if my dog couldn't keep me company, my bulging belly did! Ha ha! She was moving around in there a whole lot today!

24 weeks

Zach still had to go to work; he made appointments with customers and they had to install a new tank of some kind at the office - which had to be hauled up way into the air by a crane - which had to be unattached by someone in a harness when it got up there- which happened to be Zach... I don't think I would have worried as much on any other day but with the rain/sleet and high winds today, I was not thrilled to get a picture via text of this huge tank going up into the air... then when he came home he told me that they didn't have a harness so they rented a lift. But the lift didn't go high enough. So they used a ladder on top of that... in the high winds and rain. Good grief!

Later this afternoon I went down to my in-laws and helped make buckeyes! MMMMM! My favorite Christmas treat! Tyler, my brother-in-law, is usually the one in charge of rolling up the little peanut butter balls but since he was living out of state last year, I took over the job. He's since moved back home so we both sat at the kitchen table rolling buckeye balls. Once the chocolate on the stove melted, I dunked them in and put them on a cookie sheet to cool. I had to dip mine into the chocolate because I rolled the balls too big and they kept falling apart & making things difficult on mom. Whoops! They looked small when I rolled them!

Buckeyes

Currently, Zach is in the basement putting a coat of polyurethane on a buffet table we ordered from a local store called "Bare Furniture". The store sells wood items such as tables, beds, end tables and orders everything "bare" aka: no stain or polyurethane. So you either have to pay for them to stain/polyurethane it for you or you do it yourself and since my husband is so handy, he is doing that job in our basement. He must be enjoying it because I can hear him whistling and humming as I sit upstairs on the couch. :) Anyway, the buffet table is a light wood and will go in our kitchen. We commissioned a family friend do a set of paintings (which turned out AMAZING!) for us to hang above it. 

Four Seasons Paintings by Deb Rutkowski

It's a series of four paintings; each canvas is a season with countryside trees or a house or barn or tractors. They're very neat and we're so happy with how they turned out! Can't wait to hang them up!

Yesterday Zach said that if they cancel school Friday then he would take the day off work too - and they did! So we'll both be home tomorrow! This does NOT happen very often at all so I'm very excited. 

Our Christmas Tree - 2012

Well, I'm off to watch the last Christmas movie on our list: The Grinch with Zach. The others included: Elf, Home Alone, and A Christmas Story - which I had never seen until this year. Thanks to Katie & Kyle for renting it and bringing it over while you were here!

Love,

Sarah

Early December Update

Well, well, well. Another post! And so soon after the last!

Things have been moving right along around here. We finally got our first big snow of the year that stayed on the ground. We got a snow day out of it on Monday - it was debatable whether school should have been cancelled or not, but I'm not complaining!

June was hilarious in the snow for the first time! She just kept running around getting mouthfuls of snow and eating it! It didn't seem to bother her that it was cold or wet, she just wanted to eat it. But what doesn't that dog want to eat?! Then later that night when the snow was falling again, we walked her around and she kept jumping up in the air to try to catch the snowflakes in her mouth. It was quite the sight and I wish I had a picture or video of that.

June's first walk in the snow!

Trying to eat the snow 

Sunday afternoon we cut down our Christmas tree and put it up. We didn't get the chance to decorate it until Tuesday night... oh well. It's done now. I'm always so torn between wanting a pretty, matchy-match tree and wanting the nostalgia of a hodge-podge tree.

Hodge-podge.

You know. The tree covered with macaroni ornaments, clothespin reindeer, and puzzle piece wreaths with your school picture in the middle that you made in elementary school?!

Yeah, that one.

It's fun to get out each ornament and remember why you got it or who you got it from. They bring familiarity to the season. But the matching ones look so nice! Maybe next year I can talk Zach into having one of each...

Teaching has been going well. That's an understatement; teaching has been going VERY WELL compared to last year. It's amazing how different the groups of kids are each year. This class has been so much more easygoing, independent, and advanced than last year. It's been fun to do more things with this class because they can handle it and I'm not dealing with downright rude & naughty behaviors every two minutes. That's not saying this year has been an entire cupcake, easy, breezy class. I've got a few who are challenging enough to make up for the rest of the class when it comes to behavior.

The countdown to Christmas Break is on! Only 7 more school days! Our last day is Friday, December 21 and we've got a whole bunch of stuff packed in there: regular lessons, plus Christmas lessons, students making crafts for their family members, plus a fun sledding day and a Christmas party... whew! Somehow it will all get done!

Zach's been a busy beaver. He's still working at CPS. He was one of six people from the whole division who got asked to be on a new technology team. CPS bought their salesmen iPads and Zach's really good with that techy kind of stuff so they asked him to be on this team. They have to meet and put together a presentation about new apps and the best ways to maximize the use of the iPad on the job. They have to present for their big conference this winter which I think he's a little intimidated by but he'll do a great job. Especially since it involves technology and farming and teaching others how to use it to their best benefit.

He also got asked to go a weeklong event in February out in California where they will tour a bunch of farms... and something else that I can't remember... whoops. I need to listen better and ask more questions.... All I know is that not many guys get asked to go and they asked him, so that is pretty cool! I'm super proud of him! He works really hard and puts a lot of time and effort into doing his job right, solving tech issues, dealing with unmotivated co-workers, helping the guys in the shop, keeping schedules organized, and taking care of his customers. So it's great that others have been noticing - not just me! :) Had to brag him up a little bit!

Zach's also been going through Fire Department Training since September. He has class two nights a week and then one Saturday a month (which thankfully went down to one night a week starting this week!). He carries a pager/radio thing around with him now and has gone out on a few calls: one was a garage fire and another was a single-wide trailer fire. Since he's still in training he has to wear a bright orange vest that says CADET on it over the top of his fire gear - and he can't really do a whole lot at the scene besides stand around and ask questions. But he's getting his face around the guys which is good. The class goes all winter and into the spring when they test out in April... April 13 to be exact. Which is three days after our baby is due... Here's hoping she's three days late or that he can pick a different test date!

Baby's doing good. She's moving around lots in there! Being kicked and poked and prodded from the inside is a straaaaaaaange and very unique feeling... Here's a picture from this week:

23 weeks

There's no denying there's a bump! As you can see, I need to buy more maternity shirts since the ones I have stick out at the bottom because they're not long enough. It turns out that Big Rapids doesn't have maternity clothes at ANY of the few stores we have (Meijer, Wal-Mart, Peebles, JC Penney) so I'm going to need a shopping trip to Grand Rapids very soon. Plus, as you CAN'T see from this picture, none of my pants really button anymore and are being held up by a rubber band around the buttonhole. :)

Moral of the story: none of my clothes fit. And that's okay. Because I very happy there's a baby in there that we get to see and hold in April!

Love,

Sarah